Why I Could Never Be A Military Guy
Dean
I looked and looked and looked at this photo of an Air Force Lt. Col. and couldn't see anything wrong until I read the comments. Apparently this poor schlub is going to be chewed out and/or made fun of mercilessly by his fellow officers for quite some time.
I am by nature so absent-minded I sometimes have to remind myself to put on pants. I probably wouldn't last five minutes in the military.
Oh, I dunno, Dean. Who knows, if you could make it through Basic? :)
I recall a pilot name of Jay Zeamer, who was never checked out in the B-17 aircraft at all, and who used to fall asleep during bomb runs as a B-26 copilot.
Zeamer eventually got hold of a damaged Fortress, repaired it, -almost literally with baling wire- and scrounged a crew composed of what one witness called "the worst screwoffs in the outfit," and took possession of the bomber. They were short-handed enough that no one made an issue of his non-checkout, and somehow Zeamer always brought that clunker back home.
Including their last mission, when that plane came back home with over a thousand holes in it; that's when someone stopped counting; he said that after the first thousand holes, it doesn't matter any more...
But what's interesting about this mission was that this was the only plane, and only mission, where two men were awarded the Medal of Honor; Pilot Jay Zeamer, and Bombadier Joseph R. Sarnosk (posthumous). Zeamer lost his left leg, and they took over 120 pieces of metal out of his body. That's all they had time for while they tried to stabilize him, but he survived.
Not bad for a couple of screwoffs...
Damn. Now I want to write a post with more detail!
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.