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There I was at 30,000 feet
Boy, does this make me feel old: In early November 2007, the nose and cockpit section of a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C broke away from the rest of the aircraft during a training flight. The pilot ejected and survived. Here’s a simulation of what happened: Following the mishap, the USAF grounded its entire fleet […]
Gwen, one of my regular readers, alerted me to this story about Pentagon and pharmaceutical industry efforts to create a drug to suppress soldiers’ moral qualms over killing. Psychological Kevlar, in other words, to reduce or eliminate growing mental health problems in troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s the trouble with traditional methods of overcoming our aversion […]
Is air power the new face of successful war-fighting? Much to the dismay of the boots-on-the-ground zealots … the answer for today’s democracies may well be “yes.” During the summer, while U.S. ground forces in Iraq were distracted investigating potential war criminals in their midst, air power delivered a major success. … When thousands of troops […]
I came home yesterday and found a notice taped to my door: Weblog Protective Services says if I don’t hurry up and write some entries, they’re gonna take my blogs away and give them to Kevin Federline. So here’s what I’m working on: a letter to the authorities protesting first-class security screening lines at airports. The […]
Wow, the left side of the blogosphere is up in arms over this story, about the woman who demanded to be let off a departing flight after becoming frightened by Arab passengers she thought were acting suspiciously. Witness this blog entry, titled “racist hysteric apologizes for targeting DOD-approved swarthy people,” and particularly the reader comments below […]
My friend Dick Herman, in a comment to an earlier entry, asked for my thoughts on the warrior ethic. For a few years, back when my career was on fire, I was on the staff of a joint command, working with Army, Navy, and Marine officers. Army and Marine officers could philosophize about the warrior […]
Report Uncovers Astronauts’ Heavy Alcohol Use. Oh my. Here’s what I read between the lines of the linked article: NASA, in the wake of the Lisa Nowak incident, has been busy hunting witches in the astronaut program. Astronaut pilots, astronaut mission specialists, and astronaut flight surgeons are turning on each other. It must be a horrible […]
Okay, I cede the battle. Our ground squirrels and pack rats are smarter than the traps I set out for them. For now, they have the run of the property. For now, they scoff at me. Vermin take note: I have not ceded the war. Yesterday’s news today: our first 100-degree day; regular gas finally […]