To All Our Vets...

Naval aviation is absolutely second to none in its destructive power! Kim Jong Dung take note.:mad:

Maybe the Air Force has even better weaponry that we're not being allowed to see:Shrug:
 
Unfortunately, as you see close to the end of the video, onboard ships ~ we honor, we remember, but then it's back to work before we have to honor another.

I spent time in the Tonkin Gulf onboard the U.S.S. Hancock (CV-19) and decommissioned the U.S.S. Intrepid (CV-11), both sister ships of the U.S.S. Essex. Only difference, by the time I served onboard, both ships had been converted to angle deck carriers but still had partial wooden flight decks.

Last ship was the U.S.S. Eisenhower (CVA-69), so much larger ~ but traditions and jobs on the flight deck remained the same whenever we lost someone.

Having spent so much time out there on the blue water, even though I'm from the desert, I have given thoughts to last wishes of a sea service.

I suppose time will tell, maybe I'll get around someday to making my own capsule.
 
I agree they should spend a minimum of 2 years in any branch of the military, full time not reserves.
 
While I agree to some degree with the "mandatory service" idea I question the effectiveness of such a program.



What branch of the service would they be required to serve in?

How much training (besides basic) would be available to these "2 year people"?



What would the effect be on morale in the receiving unit? From my Navy experience just one malcontent can (an usually will) affect both the safety and morale of the entire ships crew.
 
The two year mandatory is a good idea but I have to say, those that have no desire to serve and are forced to serve will not pull their weight and find every excuse to find a way out of service, as a former Army Platoon Sergeant, I personally initiated discharge paperwork on a few personnel because they were bad for morale and I frankly did not want to deploy with these guys because they would probably put good soldiers in unnecessary harms way.
 
India foxtrot. Yankee oscar uniform. Charlie alpha november. Uniform november delta echo romeo sierra tango alpha november delta. Tango hotel india sierra. Charlie oscar papa yankee. Alpha november delta. Papa alpha sierra tango echo. Tango oscar. Yankee oscar uniform romeo.

Sierra tango alpha tango uniform sierra.

Served twice US ARMY 1984-1986 and 2007- 2013. 25Q20 Multi channel communications equipment operator/maintainer. Fancy title for portable trailer mounted satellite communication system operator. Just paint a bulls eye on the dish and your good to go.
 
I watch the taped graduation ceremonies for the Navy every Friday, it is wonderful to see young people doing something positive and making something of themselves. We always seem to read about and see the 'Idiots', but never hear anything about the 'Good' ones.

This is where the videos are located and you have to follow the links to get to the taped version or if you're an early riser you can see it live.

http://navylive.dodlive.mil

I find it very enjoyable to see that there are young men and women who will defend America.

Dang, I wish I were young again, because I'd join them.

You can see today's graduation here: https://www.dvidshub.net/video/544608/navy-recruit-training-command-graduation

I wonder if the other branches of the military show the ceremony to the public. I'd enjoy seeing those also.
 
USN

I believe the Marine corps does also - we have a Grandson @ boot camp now-will check

with my Wife for particulars - myself, I was Navy!

Hoo Ra for ALL the services!!!!!!
 
Navy P-3 aircrew - acoustic and non-acoustic sensors, in flight technician, radio. Made E-5. Liked being a second class petty officer, but hated being a second class citizen in some officers eyes.
 
2006gold said:
Navy P-3 aircrew - acoustic and non-acoustic sensors, in flight technician, radio. Made E-5. Liked being a second class petty officer, but hated being a second class citizen in some officers eyes.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your service.

There's another good thing I do and many people may think its a bit odd. If I see a member of our military in uniform, I walk up to them, thank them for their service and shake their hand. Many are surprised when you do that.
 
​India foxtrot. Yankee oscar uniform. Charlie alpha november. Uniform november delta echo romeo sierra tango alpha november delta. Tango hotel india sierra. Charlie oscar papa yankee. Alpha november delta. Papa alpha sierra tango echo. Tango oscar. Yankee oscar uniform romeo.

Sierra tango alpha tango uniform sierra.

Not a vet but so many of the people I know and love are. Thank you for your service.
 
India foxtrot. Yankee oscar uniform. Charlie alpha november. Uniform november delta echo romeo sierra tango alpha november delta. Tango hotel india sierra. Charlie oscar papa yankee. Alpha november delta. Papa alpha sierra tango echo. Tango oscar. Yankee oscar uniform romeo.

Sierra tango alpha tango uniform sierra.

I am not a vet, but I do have a pilot certificate.

Thank you to each and every veteran for your service as well as those who are currently serving.

Lima Oscar Lima Alpha
 
Kilroy was here

I had a little plastic emblem of Kilroy on the bug shield of my Dodge D50 pickup truck. I used to tow the truck behind my motorhome as we travel throughout United States on vacations. There were a few people who recognized the Kilroy emblem but, most did not. Army veteran 1972-1975.
 
Great True Story

A pilot glanced outside his cockpit and froze. He blinked hard and looked again, hoping it was just a mirage. But his co-pilot stared at the same horrible vision. "My God, this is a nightmare," the co-pilot said. "He's going to destroy us," the pilot agreed.

The men were looking at a gray German Messerschmitt fighter hovering just three feet off their wingtip. It was five days before Christmas 1943, and the fighter had closed in on their crippled American B-17 bomber for the kill.

130308115741-exp-binderwarstories-00002001-story-body.jpg


Brown's Crippled B-17 Stalked by Stigler's ME-109

The B-17 Pilot, Charles Brown, was a 21-year-old West Virginia farm boy on his first combat mission. His bomber had been shot to pieces by swarming fighters, and his plane was alone, struggling to stay in the skies above Germany. Half his crew was wounded, and the tail gunner was dead, his blood frozen in icicles over the machine guns.

But when Brown and his co-pilot, Spencer "Pinky" Luke, looked at the fighter pilot again, something odd happened. The German didn't pull the trigger. He stared back at the bomber in amazement and respect. Instead of pressing the attack, he nodded at Brown and saluted. What happened next was one of the most remarkable acts of chivalry recorded during World War Il.

130307160303-young-franz-story-body.jpg


Luftwaffe Major Franz Stigler

Stigler pressed his hand over the rosary he kept in his flight jacket. He eased his index finger off the trigger. He couldn't shoot. It would be murder. Stigler wasn't just motivated by vengeance that day. He also lived by a code. He could trace his family's ancestry to Knights in 16th century Europe. He had once studied to be a priest. A German pilot who spared the enemy, though, risked death in Nazi Germany. If someone reported him, he would be executed. Yet, Stigler could also hear the voice of his commanding officer, who once told him: "You follow the rules of war for you--not your enemy. You fight by rules to keep your humanity."

Alone with the crippled bomber, Stigler changed his mission. He nodded at the American pilot and began flying in formation so German anti-aircraft gunners on the ground wouldn't shoot down the slow-moving bomber. (The Luftwaffe had B-17's of its own, shot down and rebuilt for secret missions and training.) Stigler escorted the bomber over the North Sea and took one last look at the American Pilot. Then he saluted him, peeled his fighter away, and returned to Germany.

"Good luck," Stigler said to himself. "You're in God's hands now." Franz Stigler didn't think the big B-17 could make it back to England and wondered for years what happened to the American pilot and crew he encountered in combat.

130307160518-wives-story-body.jpg


Charles Brown, with his wife, Jackie (left), with Franz Stigler, with his wife, Hiya.

As he watched the German fighter peel away that December day, 2nd Lt. Charles Brown wasn't thinking of the philosophical connection between enemies. He was thinking of survival. He flew his crippled plane, filled with wounded, back to his base in England and landed with one of four engines knocked out, one failing, and barely any fuel left. After his bomber came to a stop, he leaned back in his chair and put a hand over a pocket Bible he kept in his flight jacket. Then he sat in silence.

Brown flew more missions before the war ended. Life moved on. He got married, had two daughters, supervised foreign aid for the U.S. State Department during the Vietnam War, and eventually retired to Florida.

Late in life, though, the encounter with the German Pilot began to gnaw at him. He started having nightmares, but in his dream there would be no act of mercy. He would awaken just before his bomber crashed.

Brown took on a new mission. He had to find that German Pilot. Who was he? Why did he save my life? He scoured Military Archives in the U.S. and England. He attended a Pilots' Reunion and shared his story. He finally placed an ad in a German Newsletter for former Luftwaffe Pilots, retelling the story and asking if anyone knew the Pilot.

On January 18, 1990, Brown received a letter. He opened it and read: "Dear Charles, All these years I wondered what happened to that B-17, did she make it home? Did her crew survive their wounds? To hear of your survival has filled me with indescribable joy."

It was Stigler.

He had had left Germany after the war and moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1953. He became a prosperous businessman. Now retired, Stigler told Brown that he would be in Florida come summer, and "it sure would be nice to talk about our encounter." Brown was so excited, though, that he couldn't wait to see Stigler. He called Directory Assistance for Vancouver and asked whether there was a number for a Franz Stigler. He dialed the number, and Stigler picked up.

"My God, it's you!" Brown shouted as tears ran down his cheeks.

Brown had to do more. He wrote a letter to Stigler in which he said: "To say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU on behalf of my surviving crew members and their families appears totally inadequate."

The two pilots would meet again, but this time in person, in the lobby of a Florida hotel. One of Brown's friends was there to record the summer reunion. Both men looked like retired businessmen: They were plump, sporting neat ties and formal shirts. They fell into each other's arms and wept and laughed. They talked about their encounter in a light, jovial tone.

The mood then changed. Someone asked Stigler what he thought about Brown. Stigler sighed and his square jaw tightened He began to fight back tears before he said in heavily accented English, "I love you, Charlie."

Stigler had lost his brother, his friends, and his country. He was virtually exiled by his countrymen after the war. There were 28,000 pilots who fought for the German Air Force. Only 1,200 survived. The war cost him everything. Charlie Brown was the only good thing that came out of World War II for Franz. It was the one thing he could be proud of. The meeting helped Brown as well, says his oldest daughter, Dawn Warner.

130307160831-fishing-franz-story-body.jpg


They met as enemies but Franz Stigler, on left, and Charles Brown, ended up as fishing buddies.

Brown and Stigler became pals. They would take fishing trips together. They would fly cross-country to each other homes and take road trips together to share their story at schools and veterans' reunions. Their wives, Jackie Brown and Hiya Stigler, became friends.

Brown's daughter says her father would worry about Stigler's health and constantly check in on him. "It wasn't just for show," she says. "They really did feel for each other. They talked about once a week." As his friendship with Stigler deepened, something else happened to her father, Warner says "The nightmares went away."

Brown had written a letter of thanks to Stigler, but one day he showed the extent of his gratitude. He organized a reunion of his surviving crew members along with their extended families. He invited Stigler as a Guest of Honor.

During the reunion, a video was played showing all the faces of the people that now lived--children, grandchildren, relatives--because of Stigler's act of chivalry. Stigler watched the film from his Seat of Honor.

"Everybody was crying, not just him," Warner says.

Stigler and Brown died within months of each other in 2008. Stigler was 92, and Brown was 87. They had started off as enemies, became friends, and then something more.

After he died, Warner was searching through Brown's library when she came across a book on German fighter jets. Stigler had given the book to Brown. Both were country boys who loved to read about planes.

Warner opened the book and saw an inscription Stigler had written to Brown:



"In 1940, I lost my only brother as a night fighter. On the 20th of December, 4 days before Christmas, I had the chance to save a B-17 from her destruction, a plane so badly damaged, it was a wonder that she was still flying. The pilot, Charlie Brown, is for me as precious as my brother was.

Thanks Charlie.

Your brother, Franz

cleardot.gif
 
Retired Marine Write an Open Letter to the NFL's Roger Goodell

This was written back in September 2016 but still holds true today:

Commisioner,

I’ve been a season pass holder at Yankee Stadium, Yale Bowl and Giants Stadium.

I missed the ’90-’91 season because I was with a battalion of Marines in Desert Storm. 14 of my wonderful Marines returned home with the American Flag draped across their lifeless bodies. My last conversation with one of them, Sgt Garrett Mongrella, was about how our Giants were going to the Super Bowl. He never got to see it.

Many friends, Marines, and Special Forces Soldiers who worked with or for me through the years returned home with the American Flag draped over their coffins.

Now I watch multi millionaire athletes who never did anything in their lives but play a game, disrespect what brave Americans fought and died for. They are essentially spitting in the faces and on the graves of real men, men who have actually done something for this country beside playing with a ball and believing they’re something special! They’re not! My Marines and Soldiers were!

You are complicit in this!

You’ll fine players for large and small infractions but you lack the morale courage and respect for our nation and the fallen to put an immediate stop to this.

Yes, I know, it’s their 1st Amendment right to behave in such a despicable manner. What would happen if they came out and disrespected you or the refs publicly?

I observed a player getting a personal foul for twerking in the end zone after scoring. I guess that’s much worse than disrespecting the flag and our National Anthem. Hmmmmm, isn’t it his 1st Amendment right to express himself like an idiot in the end zone? Why is taunting not allowed yet taunting America is ok? You fine players for wearing 9-11 commemorative shoes yet you allow scum on the sidelines to sit, kneel or pump their pathetic fist in the air. They are so deprived with their multimillion dollar contracts for playing a freaking game! You condone it all by your refusal to act. You’re just as bad and disgusting as they are. I hope Americans boycott any sponsor who supports that rabble you call the NFL. I hope they turn off the TV when any team that allowed this disrespect to occur, without consequence, on the sidelines. I applause those who have not.

Legends and heroes do NOT wear shoulder pads. They wear body armor and carry rifles.

They make minimum wage and spend months and years away from their families. They don’t do it for an hour on Sunday. They do 24/7 often with lead,not footballs, coming in their direction. They watch their brothers carted off in pieces not on a gurney to get their knee iced. They don’t even have ice! Many do t have legs or arms. Some wear blue and risk their lives daily on the streets of America. They wear fire helmets and go upstairs into the fire rather than down to safety. On 9-11, hundreds vanished. They are the heroes.

I hope that your high paid protesting pretty boys and you look in that mirror when you shave tomorrow and see what you really are, legends in your own minds. You need to hit the road and take those worms with you!

Time to change the channel.

Col Jeffrey A Powers USMC(ret)

Nuc

​
 
A week or so ago, Mr. Goodell signed another lucrative, ($$$), 5 year employment contract.

Expect nothing more than "Business as Usual" from him, for the foreseeable future.

Sad....
 
I have given up on the NFL and the disrespect by the players, I refuse to listen to the games or purchase products from sponsors. The players should be on the best behavior when it is Salute to the Service and members of our military are in the stands, I know the NFL wants to sell the special hats and stuff for the occasion.

Our military puts on their uniforms everyday to fight real enemies, the NFL players put them on once a week to play a child's game. They should be ashamed of themselves (football players), they are doing nothing to protect America from terrorism and do not deserve special treatment.

I'm actually growing tired of these high paid athletes, their protests and disrespect. If America starts a draft, they should be the first to go. What they do is unimportant for America's security.
 
I retired from the Navy back in 2005. Since then I took a short job as a security guard, bad pay and crappy hours. For 7 years I worked at the shipyard in Pascagoula where we build DDGs, LPDs, LHAs, and Coast Guard cutters. About 5 years ago I rolled over to a company that deals only with the SONAR systems on DDGs and CGs.

The best part of the whole job is the interaction with sailors and doing sea trials.

Retired Navy.....yes.

Still go to sea on war ships.......YES !!!ThumbUp
 
Hell YA !!!!!! The best of both worlds there.

I was (am) a plank owner of DDG-4 (commissioned in '61), retired in '78 and went to work for a company that built some electronics for them. As a field engineer I was tasked to go back on DDG-4 for a 3 week Test and Evaluation period (mostly at sea). They would NOT LET me have my old bunk back, had to live with the zero's.
 
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