These were some not entirely inadequate posts, from two summers ago, before many of you became regular visitors. Sea stories, for the most part, which seem to be popular. Also a brawl. They’d been lonely, residing over on the old sod. Which is a real drag to transfer posts from: The iBlog app was a lovely starter set, complete with training wheels, but it had a nasty habit of tossing stray html tags around like they were beaded necklaces for willing co-eds at Mardi Gras.
I have spared you all the fetid electoral passions of those days. You should thank me.
- Air strike
- Ejection seats I have known
- A little not enough gas
- In-flight refueling
- The fly in
- Trusting the LSO
- The goat locker
- Maybe I’m just anti-social?
- Single seat fighter aviation
And speaking of thanks, my appreciation goes out to Phil T, who noticed the new PayPal tip jar on the right. Even though I hadn’t said anything. Being all, you know: Circumspect. And everything.
Now that’s a perceptive reader.
Let me know if there’s interest in this sort of thing – I burned through any number of sea stories back in the old days, and sea stories always seem to please.
Please continue on with the sea stories, Lex. It’s what brought me here in the first place, FWIW. I’ll never get to fly a fighter jet or land on a carrier, but at least I can live vicariously through these dits. And it seems to draw out tales from those who comment, many a hidden gem waiting to be overturned.
And I never fail to click on an interesting Google Ad.
Whoa..CAPT..
A whole basket of nailbiters.
Tks : ))
Yup, these are always pleasers. As a new reader starting ~3 months ago, I’ve been slowly working my way through the “best of” on the old blog. As the old saw goes, “out of sight, out of mind”.
And, what Chris said hits home. I would have given the left side of the family jewels if it would have fixed my eyes when I was out of high school, thus giving me an honest chance to make flight school in the service (I wasn’t picky which service at the time, silly me). But, it just wasn’t meant to be. Thus the closest experience I get to flying fighters, and please do laugh at the parallel I’m about utter, is doing aerobatics in a lil’ole piston powered prop job. Sure, it’s all kinds of fun and you get to pull a few G’s (more laughter?!?), but, when you have to imagine closing in for the gun kill only to be yanked back into reality by the sound of your own breathing broadcast on frequency due to absently pressing the PTT as it’s the only button to push on the stick, well … [sigh] … it just humbles this reader and makes stories like yours all the more interesting for pedestrian fliers like me.
Ohh, and Rhythms[1] was pretty good, too.
It is, after all, how I stumbled into your lair.
Thank you for sharing,
~john
[1] I apparently can’t spell it either — caught it just before pressing send.
Thank you, Lex, for sharing those stories. I am awed and proud of the caliber of men and women who serve in our various armed forces. You, as a Navy pilot who has flown some of the greatest machines operating on the font lines, have seen the bleeding edge as well as the cutting edge of our military technology. Thank you for serving, and thanks again for sharing some of the incredible experiences as well as the lore, culture and honor of the US Navy.
After a cruise or work up, after the air wing had left the boat, and we finally got some downtime, I’d slip away from the gear and scrounge for copies of Approach. (Which I now read diligently on-line)– so I for one appreciate the links to the older stories as well as all the others you post.
Thank you.
You’re kidding, right? All of your articles are great, Lex, but the icing on a very rich cake, are your Tales of the Sea Service. You sure you didn’t teach Ward composition styles? He sure sounds an awful like you;)
[...] Lex dug back into his old blog and recycled some great sea stories so if you’re in the mood for some flying tales go check them out. [...]
Lex,
I have some “no s**t, I was there” stories about Marine F-4′s, and Marines. I have some written down in an old logbook, and would be willing to type out one or two of the better ones. If you have any interest,
send me an email.
Semper Fi,
ASM826
Speaking for myself, *I* definitely have interest.
The part the movie did not show………..
In the process of digging out from my move, I came across this little tidbit from my days back in Nevada. The folks I had working for me loved to “alter” Dilbert cartoons and post them in our coffee break room. Seeing this particular cartoon brou ……
I really enjoy the stories, so please keep them coming.
Thanks for them by the way.
Lex,
One day you will become one of a dying breed much like my dad and all the war stories he never told us about being a crew chief in a B-17. Those that never had the honor of serving as you did hunger for these stories. Even the boring stuff is valuable to us who have been confined to a life on Terra Firma. So, if it isn’t too much of an imposition, we would love to hear more of these tales. Your delivery style does not detract from the tales these stories tell one bit.
Please keep them coming. Few of us served in the Navy. Fewer still as pilots. And still fewer as combat aviators.
BTW, thank you for your service. Being in the military can be thankless and hard, but it is a job worth doing. You have obviously done it well and for that you have my eternal gratitude.
Respectfully Submitted.
LOL.
M-God, someone played Italian on your wife’s arse! Right in front of you?
What composure. No dental work for that buffoon. he’s lucky!
B2
Capt Lex: Former squadron mate vectored me to your web sites. Press on with the sea stories and carrier aviation nostalgia. It’s a great oportunity for former tailhookers and LSOs to reminisce, get misty eyed and recharge their pride in being part of that very special breed of cats, carrier aviators.
Hope you can also elicit some tales from troops who worked the flight decks as well as the squadron maintenance types. In my view, those in the bottom of the trench have never recieved the recognition due them. They were as fundamental to Naval Aviation as those of us who were privilaged to fly the fruits of their labors. Thanks and BZ. Ray