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Survival and Rescue

The recent rescue of the colonel weapons systems officer who ejected over Iran felt very personal to me. I spent six years as a weapons systems officer in the back seat of the F-4 Phantom II, flying combat missions in Southeast Asia and logging about 1,000 hours in that role. Thinking about this, I realized that many people might not know what a weapons systems officer does or how we were trained…

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The Initiation

There comes a moment in a man’s life when everything changes. For me, that moment arrived at Luke Air Force Base in October 1972. After nearly 10 months as a nav student in the Air Force, I was now a graduate-rated navigator, ready for the next step: my initiation into the world of the fighter pilot. Initiation is the correct word. On the runway, the Aircraft Commander Instructor Pilot (IP)…

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Two Mentors

I was luck to have two men that guided my Air Force career, many don’t even have one. The first was Major Theodore “Ted” Shorack. He was lost on 9 June 1966 over North Vietnamwhile on a rescue mission of an F-105 pilot. But I first met him as an ROTC student at Hobart College in the Finger Lakes area of New York. Major Theodore James Shorack, Jr. was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, March 6,…

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Christmas Past touches us still

Christmas is truly a time for reflection. This year, we took a nostalgic journey by revisiting all our old holiday videos. I started filming Christmas morning in 1977, the year our daughter was born in Alaska. At first, I used Super 8mm Kodak silent films. Then, in 1983, we transitioned to videotape, allowing us to finally hear the laughter and joy of our family celebrations. One memorable…

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The Strangest Thanksgiving Ever!

Everyone has a mental image of Thanksgiving that is right out of a Norman Rockwell painting: the family around the table, Dad carving the turkey, the children beautifully dressed and smiling. Well not all Thanksgivings are like that. I have spent Thanksgiving in Thailand eating gummy fondue and bagels heated on a hotplate, Thanksgiving in Alaska on alert, and Thanksgiving with folks who were mad…

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Mr. and Mrs. Halloween

If you’ve known me for a while, you know Halloween is my favorite holiday.  My Halloween memories began when I was about five years old. I can still vividly picture my dad carrying what seemed like a gigantic pumpkin. We sat together at the table while he carved it into a Jack-o’-Lantern. The soft, golden light of a late fall afternoon streamed through the kitchen windows, creating an atmosphere…

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Back in the Pit

Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone… Joni Michell “Big Yellow Taxi” 1970 Last weekend, I had the chance to revisit a place where I spent six years—over 1,000 hours—in the backseat of the F-4 Phantom II, also known as “The Pit.” I attended the annual open house hosted by David Garbe, who has reconstructed the cockpit of the F4D 720. This aircraft was…

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Becoming a "Lifer"

Many veterans and active-duty military members are well-acquainted with the term “lifer,” although it often carries a negative connotation. When I embarked on my active duty journey nearly 60 years ago, we could easily classify the military into three distinct groups: The older “lifers” who had served in World War II. The middle-aged “lifers” who were shaped by the Korea conflict. The younger…

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Remembrances of Deacon

2025 is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. It was not the war that killed Deacon; it was the years after the war. I had known Lt. Ed (Deacon) for two years before we became roommates. We flew combat missions in the backseat of the F-4 out of Udorn, Thailand. Deacon and I had gone to Navigation Training together and worked as a team during the Trek at Survival School. I was not…

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Complacency Can Kill

When you fly for a living, as I did for nearly 15 years, you learn to always remain vigilant while in the air. However, vigilance is not the fundamental principle of flying. Flying isn’t solely about skill levels, air traffic control, or aircraft maintenance. The key rule is to avoid complacency. Complacency is a trap, and I fell into that trap even before I began flying. My first assignment was…

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Snap Shots of Christmas

Writing our annual holiday letter this year was a challenge. At age 80, not many things have happened in our lives. In the past, we often had exciting or interesting news. In 2021, I had a large section of my colon removed as it was leaking; this provided a great deal of material for our letter. The pandemic, of course, allowed us to discuss how we were coping. Then things settled down for us,…

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Citizen Soldiers are the bedrock of the Nation

I come from a long line of American veterans who served our nation. My earliest ancestor was a captain in the Virginia Colonial military, and the family line of service has carried in every war with my father serving in the Army in World War II and Korea and me in the Vietnam Air War. We are good examples of citizen soldiers. The concept of the citizen soldier became deeply rooted in American…

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Respecting Fellow Veterans

There are three watchwords for military men and women who have served: duty, honor, and country. In the early 1960s, General Douglas MacArthur famously pronounced these words, and each veteran understands them differently.  For me, duty meant dedication. I have always thought of honor as trust.  Country means loyalty—loyalty to something greater than oneself. These three words—duty (dedication),…

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On turning 80

My wife and I both turned 80 this summer.  According to those who know, we are members of the Silent Generation (born 1928-1945). These folks exhibit the following characteristics:  traditional values, such as hard work, loyalty, and thriftiness; financial prudence, interpersonal respect, determination, a strong work ethic, and self-sacrifice. While I agree with sociologists about the above,…

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Raging Mice--A Vietnam War Story

Tom Lucas’ engaging new novel about the Vietnam War has a most unusual title: Raging Mice. Raging refers to a Rager. For a certain generation, a Rager was a party or event with a great deal of alcohol. Mice scurry about, for the most part, and live their lives or less undetected, much like the lower ranks of the military, who live their lives below the radar of the officers and others in…

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Coming Home

In his remarkable memoir of the Second World War: Quartered Safe Out Here, George MacDonald Fraser shares his experiences in the Burma Campaign as a 19-year-old private in the Border Regiment fighting the Japanese during 1944-45. In this work, he deals with many of the universal experiences of men in combat; he notes: Nobody in his right mind longs for battle or sudden death.  But once you’ve…

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The Road to the Future

In 1966 I was commissioned a 2nd Lt. through my college ROTC program, and then went to graduate school. While there my vision changed and I could no longer pass a flight physical. By 1968, I went on active duty at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. There, I reported to the 1100th Security Police Squadron as one of its officers. I did not know before I arrived that this was the Air Force…

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