Ken and I wrote down the list and I posted it on the Internets in 1998. Back when I was new at this. Since then "The List" has been ascribed to every branch of the U.S. Military, The Delta Maintenance folks in Dallas, American Airlines, NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Quantas. I'm sure there are others.
In adoption as in birth, there can only be acceptance. That the child be healthy, have ten fingers and toes and maybe good spelling grades.
Jamie and I finally knuckled under and decided to register on the Nevada Heath Exchange. I figured we sign up and I'd bang out a quick post about the experience. Not so fast Sports Fan.
"F Arba Ashara! Yalla! Yalla!" In English, that's "F-14! RUN! RUN!". A common radio call for Iraqi fighter pilots in the Eighties.
The Tomcat made its combat debut during Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of American citizens from Saigon, in April 1975. F-14As from Fighter Squadron 1 (VF-1) and VF-2, operating from the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), flew combat air patrols over South Vietnam to provide fighter cover for the evacuation route. Tomcats of the U.S. Navy shot down two Libyan Su-22's on 19 August 1981.
But Iranian F-14's had been blasting Iraqi MiGs out of the sky since September, 1980.
As I turned to the runway, 269 was just lifting off and "flop" the left wing folds up. I was thinking, "Where's this thing going to crash?"
Ever get to fly in an F-16 fighter? I have. Many of my friends have. Sometimes I forget that everyone doesn't get to do this. Savannah Guthrie of the Today Show got a ride. From her big brother no less. LtCol Camron "Arlo" Guthrie is assigned to the 158th Fighter Wing of the Vermont Air National Guard. The Green Mountain Boys. For the record. I got two rides.
My Dad was Walter J. Chamberlain Jr. He served in the Army from 1937 until 1967. In 1967 his division at Fort Carson was alerted for Vietnam. He said, “I got clipped in Italy and then again in Korea. Some Shave-Tail Butter Bar is going to get me killed in Vietnam”. So with 33 years service (including time in C.C.C.’s) he retired.
Attention Nerds.
