I Fly Much Better Than I Look

[336thF15E]

Put your game face on. Tally-Ho, left nine low - left turn - plus 7 - I'm in. Drop fuel - take'em low squeeze right and pull. 4....4 ....3.....2.... away 1-2 and 3. (confirmed) Coming off high - clear 6 (confirmed) - scope alive 360 - stay alert for trailers. Let's go home heads-up.
------------------------------

Those were pretty much some of the last words I ever spoke while defending my country overseas as a flight leader conducting what would ultimately be not only my last combat sortie flown, but one of the very last times I would fly a military jet full-tilt in a hostile environment.

I did it back then because I believed in the cause. I believed in a country that was lead by honorable Men and Women, and I had faith in the Representative Democracy that I was willing to give my life to, in its defense. I believed in its People and I believed that its People were at heart, honest and decent human beings.

A lot has changed since then, including my beliefs about the true nature and course of my country and its People.

After conducting surveillance of this board, I do not see many of the virtues that I once believed in as one committed to the cause of keeping this country safe. Many of the attitudes and behaviors on this board are vial and foreign to me personally and professionally. Is this what my country has become after all these years? I hate filled viper nest of ignorant people behaving badly and not having an ounce of moral decency and/or self-pride to see that their behavior is ultimately corrupt?

Is this what I fought for? Is this what proud Men and Women of character, honor and decency died for? Is this what they gave their life to protect and preserve? To come back to Internet Board such as this, one (of many) that calls itself a place for rational, well thought out, intelligent debate and discussion on the merits of the issues that face this great country, only to find that people have no more decency and self-respect than any common baboon in the wild, is a terrifying thing - far more frightening than being targeted and shot at by triple-A in the dark of night and in foreign land.

Is this who we are now? Haters of epic proportion having no more valuable insight into the things that really drive our nation and make it truly great - truly a place that so many People from around the world want to call home. When I read many of the outright un-American and hyper-partisan posts on this forum, it gives me good cause to be very concerned about our long-term sustainability as a truly free and independent Republic. I worry about our future - a great deal. I worry about the un-American attitudes and beliefs that have been apparently taught to our Youth, in gross error. I worry about the divisions and the lines and the coloring of States, as though our future is some kind of Crayola Crayon game of Russian Roulette.

We have a serious attitude problem in this country - mostly born of ignorance and failed education that leads to irrational hate, fear and intolerance. United, there is nothing this country cannot do, or accomplish. But, divided, there is 100% certainty that this country will crumble and collapse under the weight of its injustice, lack of wisdom and the inability exercise common sense and better judgment when we had the opportunity to pull together to do so.

This is my introduction.

Hello Brave New World.

 

[freedombecki]

Thank you for your service to this country, 336thF15E, and welcome to USMB. Please drop by the USMB Coffee Shop and touch bases. We don't speak politics there, but several of the gentlemen are veterans who drop in to chat there.

I know you can't tell who's who yet, but some of the people you think you're going to like the least often surprise you when you realize what good folks they are in their lives--either by preparing a good case for what they believe in; service to others; knowledge in a specific field that laypeople might not know about, etc.

About all you can do sometimes is state your case. Hopefully, you'll be on a thread where people are objective and will attack the issue and not commit character assassination.

Truly good wishes to you and all Vets and those who served. My mother always described those who served as "America's dearest and best." All of you are who love and serve your fellows by your loyal and true USA military service.



becki

 

[BecauseIKnow]

Welcome sir. . I read your intro and I think me and you will agree in many ways.

 

[AquaAthena]

Put your game face on. Tally-Ho, left nine low - left turn - plus 7 - I'm in. Drop fuel - take'em low squeeze right and pull. 4....4 ....3.....2.... away 1-2 and 3. (confirmed) Coming off high - clear 6 (confirmed) - scope alive 360 - stay alert for trailers. Let's go home heads-up.
------------------------------

Those were pretty much some of the last words I ever spoke while defending my country overseas as a flight leader conducting what would ultimately be not only my last combat sortie flown, but one of the very last times I would fly a military jet full-tilt in a hostile environment.

I did it back then because I believed in the cause. I believed in a country that was lead by honorable Men and Women, and I had faith in the Representative Democracy that I was willing to give my life to, in its defense. I believed in its People and I believed that its People were at heart, honest and decent human beings.

A lot has changed since then, including my beliefs about the true nature and course of my country and its People.

After conducting surveillance of this board, I do not see many of the virtues that I once believed in as one committed to the cause of keeping this country safe. Many of the attitudes and behaviors on this board are vial and foreign to me personally and professionally. Is this what my country has become after all these years? I hate filled viper nest of ignorant people behaving badly and not having an ounce of moral decency and/or self-pride to see that their behavior is ultimately corrupt?

Is this what I fought for? Is this what proud Men and Women of character, honor and decency died for? Is this what they gave their life to protect and preserve? To come back to Internet Board such as this, one (of many) that calls itself a place for rational, well thought out, intelligent debate and discussion on the merits of the issues that face this great country, only to find that people have no more decency and self-respect than any common baboon in the wild, is a terrifying thing - far more frightening than being targeted and shot at by triple-A in the dark of night and in foreign land.

Is this who we are now? Haters of epic proportion having no more valuable insight into the things that really drive our nation and make it truly great - truly a place that so many People from around the world want to call home. When I read many of the outright un-American and hyper-partisan posts on this forum, it gives me good cause to be very concerned about our long-term sustainability as a truly free and independent Republic. I worry about our future - a great deal. I worry about the un-American attitudes and beliefs that have been apparently taught to our Youth, in gross error. I worry about the divisions and the lines and the coloring of States, as though our future is some kind of Crayola Crayon game of Russian Roulette.

We have a serious attitude problem in this country - mostly born of ignorance and failed education that leads to irrational hate, fear and intolerance. United, there is nothing this country cannot do, or accomplish. But, divided, there is 100% certainty that this country will crumble and collapse under the weight of its injustice, lack of wisdom and the inability exercise common sense and better judgment when we had the opportunity to pull together to do so.

This is my introduction.

Hello Brave New World.

Hello, and thank you for a very thoughtful and worthy read. I hope you can stay here longer as so many of us will embrace you and all you stand for.

 

[Mr. H.]

Welcome. For the short time I've been here I've seen plenty of bullshit no doubt.

But there is in fact constructive, educated debate here from all sides. You need to read more and dig for it and be patient.

And have a little more faith. Sheesh.

 

[Bigfoot]

Hi, are you a dicker?

 

[336thF15E]

Hi, are you a dicker?

An entrepreneur and philanthropist in training.

What do you do?

 

[Noomi]

Hello and welcome!

 

[editec]

I share you concerns and disgust for the direction this nation is headed.

I also find myself wondering what has happened to the zietgeist of this nation.

Decades of propaganda have turned so many of us into Americans who loathe their neighbors.

As this board so clearly demonstrates.

 

[Sunni Man]

Anyone can point out the problems............but what's the solution??

 

[freedombecki]

Gettin' rid of the $16 Trillion National Debt! National Debt Clock has it at $16,225,840,000,000.00 right now.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Welcome to USMB but I have to ask:

Exactly how does dropping bombs on Brown people in the Middle East protect my freedoms here?

 

[Grandma]

Greetings, and thanks for your service. Don't worry, we aren't all asshats here, and most of the hardcore haters will no doubt vaporize after the elections.

 

[Grandma]

Anyone can point out the problems............but what's the solution??

Rational, cool-headed dialogue usually works. Some people are haters for the sake of hating. Nothing works with them.

 

[MikeK]

[...]

Those were pretty much some of the last words I ever spoke while defending my country overseas as a flight leader conducting what would ultimately be not only my last combat sortie flown, but one of the very last times I would fly a military jet full-tilt in a hostile environment.

I did it back then because I believed in the cause. I believed in a country that was lead by honorable Men and Women, and I had faith in the Representative Democracy that I was willing to give my life to, in its defense. I believed in its People and I believed that its People were at heart, honest and decent human beings.

[...]

Inasmuch as the actions you've described were performed in defense of the Nation I will assume you were flying in WW-II and I thank you sincerely for protecting us against the Third Reich and the Japanese Empire.

My military service did not consist of anything as admirable and as comparatively important as yours and it took place in peacetime. I enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1956. I could have waited to be drafted but was motivated by what at the time was a strong sense of patriotic obligation and intense admiration for the Marine Corps' glowing record of heroism earned in the Pacific during WW-II.

At the time I stood ready to sacrifice my life in defense of the U.S. and I firmly believed Government would not send me into harm's way unless there was a valid and unavoidable necessity to do so. Briefly stated, I was a stereotypical Gung-Ho Marine.

That was then.

The Vietnam debacle opened my eyes to an extremely disappointing reality. Fortunately I was separated from active service and my inactive reserve obligation had expired before Vietnam was foisted on the American People by a corrupt government. But my eighteen year-old cousin Thomas, who was more like a younger brother to me, wasn't so lucky. He was drafted, sent to Vietnam and killed five weeks after arriving there. For no good reason!

58,000 Americans were killed in Vietnam and tens of thousands more were physically or psychologically damaged -- and there was no reason for any of it. The North Vietnamese represented absolutely no threat to the United States. Nor did the specter of "communism."

Having obviously learned nothing from that debacle, our corrupt and incompetent Congress allowed the Bush Administration to dupe us into perpetrating a war crime in the form of the unnecessary and unlawful invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq. That criminally wasteful action has thus far cost more than 5,800 American lives , the physical and psychological maiming of tens of thousands more, and a massively damaging waste of treasure.

In addition to the war crime called the "Iraq War" we presently are emulating the Russian debacle in Afghanistan in which more Americans are dying and suffering severe injury -- for which there is no definable or justifiable reason.

The point I am trying to make here is the American People are seriously mistaken in accepting the notion that the sacrifice made by our troops in the unnecessary debacles our corrupt and incompetent government likes to refer to as "wars" have occurred in defense of our Nation. Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan were not and are not wars nor are they in any way defensive. Each example is a wholly unnecessary, totally wasteful, aggressive military adventure which has benefited nothing but the Military Industrial Complex and its corporate profiteers.

While it is important to acknowledge the brave and noble service of our troops, which in many examples is truly heroic, it is equally important to understand that these brave and noble warriors are being grossly misused. The lives of those who die in debacles like Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan are wasted, as is the suffering of those who are injured or physically or mentally crippled in these wholly unnecessary military adventures. It is important to understand that these wasteful military engagements are not only unnecessary but are entirely aggressive. There is nothing defensive about them. And to thank our brave troops for serving their country, when in fact they are serving a corrupt government, is to further mislead them and to encourage others who might be inclined to mistake pure exploitation for patriotic service.

The sad reality is that which is mistakenly referred to as service is in the final analysis gross but unintentional dis-service.

 

[Wolfsister77]

Hi and welcome, enjoy the boards!!