I love football. I don’t celebrate New Years on January first, I celebrate on August 15th or whatever August date the NFL schedules it’s first preseason practice games each year. That’s how I measure the passing of another year; out of the darkness into the light. I have always loved football. When I was a … Continue reading Ringing in a New Season →

Two weeks ago I was privileged to attend the “Change of Command” ceremony whereby the command of all Pacific submarines “Commander Submarine Force US Pacific Fleet” (COMSUBPAC) transitioned from one Naval Officer to the next. All such Naval ceremonies are steeped in tradition, but this one–held on the deck of the submarine USS Jacksonville–in which … Continue reading The First Navy Jack’s Significance →

As a kid’ I saw Gary Cooper in the movie, Sergeant York, the Tennessee sharpshooter of WWI fame. A Pacifist by nature, he became an unlikely hero when, nearly single-handedly, he took out several German machine gun nests and captured 132 German soldiers. According to the film, he picked off 17 of the gunners with … Continue reading A True American Patriot, Hero →

The worst thing a Navy carrier pilot can do is to land short of the landing area on the flight deck. When that happens the airplane either hits the deck where it curves down behind the ship (called the ramp), or it misses the flight deck altogether and hits the rear-most part of the ship … Continue reading Pilots Must Be Hands On →

En-rout to the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA. the eight big shiny buses (truly the limousines of tour buses) carrying returned Vietnam POWs and their guests–mostly wives or other close family members–made their way down Yorba Linda Blvd to the cheers and waves of hundreds of local folks. My enduring impression, through misty eyes, … Continue reading A Reunion with Vietnam POW’s →

In 1964 I was one of the “Red Hot” young instructor pilots at the Vigilante training squadron in Central Florida. The “Vigi” was being integrated into the Heavy Attack Wing there, an aviation community of older, more staid, more conservative pilots, some of whom were even crusty remnants of the Korean war. They tolerated us … Continue reading Spinning With the ‘Gooney Bird’ →

U.S. drone flies in the moonlight | AP photo I just don’t get it! President Obama has successfully expanded the Bush drone offensive against AL-Qaida and its ilk, and now the bleeding hearts have their undies in a bunch because a few of the targeted terrorists happen to be American, most by unusual circumstances. They … Continue reading Drone Critics Missing the Point →

Today’s Facebook edition includes my MidWeek column about the day I was released from Hoa Lo prison forty years ago today. That’s the north Vietnamese prison we called “The Hanoi Hilton”, just for the irony. In keeping with that irony, there is now an actual Hilton Hotel very near that site in Hanoi. And Hoa … Continue reading Today is the 40th Anniversary of my release from Vietnam – February 12th 2013 →

This coming February the 12th will mark a supremely happy occasion for me, the 40th anniversary of my release to freedom after seven years and nine days as a POW in communist North Vietnam. In the fall of 1972, Democrat Senator George McGovern was running for the Presidency against incumbent Republican Richard Nixon. From his … Continue reading Celebrating 40 Years as a Free Man →

Like many Oahu residents, I have visited the USS Missouri several times. And I never tire of seeing the big dent in the starboard side, deck level, a little aft of midship. I always imagine the scene of the Japanese kamikaze (divine wind) plane smashing into the ship in a fiery crash, and the casualties … Continue reading Skylar and The Mighty Mo’s Dent →