Although in his heart of hearts, I bet he just wished he was being recognized for the excellence that got him there, rather than for the fact that he is some way a “first”:
USS JOHN C. STENNIS, At Sea
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Good for him!By lex, on May 14th, 2007
May 14th, 2007 | Tags: sea stories | Category: Uncategorized
26 comments to Good for him! |
Targets of Opportunityblog advertising is good for you Credo"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones "Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra" "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche "A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke “You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier "Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas "Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex Amazon AssociateFor the Effort!Winnar! Subscribe CategoriesPagesTagsacademy
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Cap’n,
Me too. My first flight was in a Piper Tro-Pacer that my fiend’s father owned. I was 10 years old. When we landed, I had not only swallowed the hook, you could see the barb coming out my navel.
I had built my first model plane when but 5 years old. My grandad helped me with it, and I can still remember it. It was a 1/72 scale F-101 VooDoo w/ spring-launched ejection seats.
I’d had been attracted to all things aviation since then, and when I got that 1st flight, it started a love affair that is still strong today.
In my heart, I’m still that little kid whenever I get around airplanes or aviators.
Congratulations, Commander Khan. May God bless you and all you lead into harm’s way.
Respects,
Ummm…
That would be “Piper Tri-Pacer”
Piper Tri-Pacer
Dang nabbed html…..
Piper
Their squadron only has 6 jets? I mean, I knew they were getting rid of them….but six?
VS squadrons never went to sea with more than 8 birds and that was when we were the only tankers on the deck. With the coming retirement and the super hornet taking on the role of organic tanking it doesn’t surprise me that the remaining squadrons have been chopped to 6. Also may have to do with available space on the deck and in the hangar with the shifting airwing composition – the Viking takes up a good bit of room.
Khan is the first Muslim to take command of an operational aviation squadron in the U.S. Navy.
Not to take anything away from him, but that is a pretty bold statement – how do they know that? Been lots of COs in the history of Naval Aviation. Is there a block on the CO application for Religious pref?
N
Hey AW1 Tim – you corrected Tro-Pacer but left fiend as is? I can only assume you meant it, then.
Yup, I too was that little boy, imagining himself in an SBD whistling down upon Hiryu.
Front seat or back, didn’t matter.
There was a Robb White story about an SBD aviator and his rearseatman that I read when I was about 8 years old which seriously permanently warped my head in the direction of viewing Naval Aviation folks as doublepluskewl&manly.
I was particularly impressed by the part about the Aviators wearing the dog tags on cotton string instead of bead chain, so that the string would just burn up in a fire, instead of melting its way into one, like the bead chain.
Hey, I was eight!
Now that I’m a putative grown-up, I can of course put up with a certain amount of clay-footednes from Lex and his shipmates and comrades. Hell, I’m glad to read Skippy’s stuff, and think I’ve learned something by doing so.
No, really. The boy does have some thought-provoking statements that he’s made.
Hmm, I wonder about that claim. Recall Ralph Kahn Zia – skipper of VAW-125 and the one who ran the Egypt Air intercept who very convincingly persuaded the pilots of said EA flight that they’d better comply with his instructions lest enforcement come from the F-14′s that just went lights on next to their airliner…basically had one of those “take no prisoners” voices on the radio. And yes, he was related to the Zia’s of Pakistan…
- SJS
I couldn’t help but wonder what his c/s might be – often they’re mentioned.
Like I’ve said at the other popular milblog, which BTW has some intemperate comments, I’ve met this guy professionally, he’s a Pro. Best o’the Best. He’s a Naval Aviation teamate
Steve,
“Never” means a long time, doesn’t it? In the olden days (well before you my son) the A-6 squadron in an airwing had 25 birds, the F-14 squadrons- 20 birds each, S-3A squadrons- 10-12 and an A-7 squadron x 2= 18 each. On a CVN o’course (same carriers we have now)- now we have 65 total aircraft..That’s my lament from time to time in here. Re- Viking: 180 S-3′s were built total in a 3 year period 75-78..you remember the squadrons- do some division, less the KS-3s.. Sunsequently, 120 were modified to S-3Bs, 86-93 and 16 ES-3As were made from same batch. In 1992 an experiment was made for one cruise with 6 (PAA) and that quickly backed up to (8) (pushback from fleet). Starting in late ~2002, after the Sundown Plan was quickly rammed through a Shoe CNO with smoke & mirrors, the decision was made that when an airwing gained (1) SuperHornet squadron, the S-3 squadron embarked would go to six..This happened on maiden SuperHornet deployment aboard Lincoln, where BTW, the S-3 squadrons during OIF had all 6 topside w/F-18E’s doing mission tanking…
Which leads us to VS-31 aboard Stennis, where they have six. In non-Viking airwings SuperHornets pick up the role for ovhd tanking (& additional ASuW if that’s deemed important)..1/3 tasked on any given flight day as simply “tankers”… I pound this point home regularly here, because, I’m both a taxpayer AND a Naval Aviation proponent.
I may be considered an old-folk in here but nothing is wrong with my memory!
SJS- maybe Kia was a Christian- it was emphasized in the release that Khan is a Muslim..
b2
I had a pretty big “first time ever” myself this weekend. Old hat to you fighter jocks, but very exciting for a bug smasher like me:
http://tinyurl.com/25l95z
B2
Like a tack, sharp as, too.
V/r
-SJBill
Tim still has trouble when the hook coughs up into his mouth and the line wraps around his fingers.
I stand corrected! 8 Vikings during my watch – sometimes 10 while ashore but the extras were usually hangar queens. (Never say never…)
I’m with SJS on the issue of religious preference – who was the first Jew, Catholic, Baptist, Buddhist, etc? Were it not for today’s political environment, the fact that “Tator” turned over command of the Topcats to a Muslim would never have appeared on the radar.
CDR Khan’s callsign? Chaka, of course. (Might have been spelled Shaka.) I knew of him when I was a flight surgeon in Jax and he was a department head in VS-31…good man. Glad to hear he made it.
Bob-
?
Bob-
“Never” means a long time, doesn’t it? In the olden days (well before you my son) the A-6 squadron in an airwing had 25 birds, the F-14 squadrons- 20 birds each, S-3A squadrons- 10-12 and an A-7 squadron x 2= 18 each. On a CVN o’course (same carriers we have now)- now we have 65 total aircraft.
I cruised on Sara in 92. 2 X F-14, 2 X F18, 1 X E2, A6, EA6, S3, H3. When we flew on for cruise, we flew on for cruise, as I’m sure it was for you.
A few years later, on GW it was 1 X F14, 3 X F18, and one each E2, S3, EA6, and H60. We had to fly on, CQ, and fly off for the night because they “couldn’t work with all of those jets.” Drives me crazy how it gets easier and easier for them, but they make it sound harder and harder.
Ryan – Why Chaka “of course”? Why not Ghengis, Kubla, or Aux?
Best,
N
N-
“Drives me crazy how it gets easier and easier for them, but they make it sound harder and harder.”
Ahh. The socratic method works! The light comes on. Welcome aboard the reality train! I’m pleased! I wonder. Have they downgraded the Handler job to a LTJG yet?
Steve- S-3 with wing/fin folded has about the same deck space profile as the little Hornets wing butt to wing butt.
It’s Shaka from what I heard from the dude who annointed him with it in JO tour (stopped by my cube yesterday on unrelated bidness). I am impressed that Nose was able to spout several other equally good callsigns immediately. That is an attribute highly sought after in Naval Aviation- give him an “A” for headwork!
ENS Tim-
Work hard, exhibit Zero Defect and someday YOU may command a det of (4) SuperHornet “G”‘s! Or perhaps (4) E-2D’s or may (4) SH-60R..It’s just a numbers game eh? We wouldn’t want to reduce command opportunities, would we?
b2
“Have they downgraded the Handler job to a LTJG yet?” LOL
b2, you need to go on a fishing trip brutha.
Actually Craig the Handler Job is sometimes filled by LTJGs. This is because all the handlers are now former AB LDOs. Although I love ABs and almost always got along with the handlers I dealt with, I also think they aren’t hard enough on “their own”. Hence GW couldn’t do with 65 jets what Sara did with a smaller deck and 78 jets.
Nose
Oops, want to correct my statement. Sara had 87 fixed and rotary wing, GW had 76.
Nose,
And before you, Sara used to carry more. Point is you see the slope.
Lex,
I’ll take that hint ONLY because you’re being respectful! BTW, I only ram my point home because I don’t fully trust the ‘present generation’ to understand the historical facts that have got us to our present situation.. for the record so to speak.
b2