We got two late messages yesterday that set the tone of dreams. There was little else we could do about it, since we were horizontal and looking up into the darkness. One of them was a link to an old Senate transcript that featured our last live appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee. It was chaired by Senator Sam Nunn at the time and dealt with events in Iraq in 1991. We will not inflict it on you, or at least not today.
The other bit of paper was more poignant and personal. It was filed with a couple old pen-and-ink drawings. The one represents a symbol sketched on an old notebook depicting the completion of two hundred mission briefings to the aircrews assigned to USS Midway (CV-41) and Carrier Air Wing FIVE (CVW-5) in 1979. The other is below, and depicts the loss of an F-4J Phantom II jet on a catastrophic hydraulic failure on catapult launch:
That was quite a moment in an otherwise busy day at sea. Both crewmen- Meat and his Pilot, the legendary T.J. Brown survived without incident. The recollection of the two carriers on which we deployed included hundreds of events both more and less significant. The letter below references a new carrier (then) the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74). We tried to recall how many of those decks we walked upon when they were not tied securely to a pier. Nimitz, of course, out in the Indian Ocean when big Nuke ships were really new. Ranger, Constellation, Independence were some of the others. But this recollection fit nicely with the letter we could not open until this morning, with the sun bright under clear skies.
Today is Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice for one of the three big Patriarchal Faiths, and the only one committed to the destruction of the civilization that employed these big ships and aircraft to defend itself.
That was going to be the topic of this morning’s essay, since the festival commemorates the willingness of a Prophet to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God’s command. It was Father’s Day yesterday, and Legal told us to stay away from that or any commentary on the sincerely-held beliefs of those who are among us in increasing numbers. So we obeyed that command, and looked at a communication on official stationary almost a quarter century in age.
We decided to defer to it. It reflects a time when life seemed to make a certain amount of sense. The ideas we are expected to accept as “normal” today were not acceptable then. We accept a desire for Justice and Fairness and the other memes of our age, but the idea that we have to step over unconscious homeless individuals to do so strikes us as a society that has surrendered to something.
We like this on a sunny morning:
GENERAL DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE PROGRAM WASHINGTON, D.C. 20301-7400
CDR F.C.S, USN
Intelligence Officer
USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN-74) Box 19
FPO AP 96615-2874
Dear Fred,
I returned from leave to find your kind care package of STENNIS memorabilia. It brings back the last real ride on a big deck (it was that ancient Constellation) as I participated in the last Joint Task Force Exercise while assigned to THIRD FLEET. It was the moment when the last launch cycle began while I was underway. I watched the bow come into the wind and the intricate dance began on the flight deck to get the airplanes on the cats and hurtle them off to strike Chocolate Mountain or some target in the vast Western Desert.
I thought back ot an endless blur of jets over the years: Phantoms, Intruders, Tomcats and Corsairs that marked my most productive years in the Navy, and the thought that it was over at last made me contemplative, and proud to have served in the most magnificent armada in the world..
I envy you, despite the sacrifices of being away from the greatest homeport in the world- San Diego. Thanks for remembering, Fred. You are a class act!
Respectfully,
CAPT Victor C. Socotra USN
15 August 2000
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