|
|||||
Hot Mic
SponsorsBloggers in Arms
BlogrollContinuous WavePaid to BlogReciprocating Engines
Smarter'n MeWingmen
|
Lost opportunities, IIIThe Good Wingman When I was a plebe midshipman at the Severn River Trade School, CAPT Dick Stratton came to speak to us one fine day in the fall. We were always tired in those days, always harassed and always getting “motivational” speeches from officers so senior to us that there was no real frame of reference to their experiences. We often dozed off. Captains were, after all, unspeakably old men. Ancient. But Stratton was different, we knew of him. We’d seen him over the summer during leadership courses, in grainy video clips and photos, wearing the gray and black, vertically striped sack that was issued to guests of the Hanoi Hilton prison system. He’d gotten bagged – or, to use his own words “shot himself down” – on an H&I mission over a northern canal system in January, 1967. He’d unloaded a salvo of 2.75″ FFAR – folding fin rockets – on a hostile convoy of barges bringing supplies to the Viet Cong down country. Some of the rocket fins didn’t open, they interfered with each other and the next thing he knew he’d taken debris down the intake of his single-motor A-4E Skyhawk. It ran rough for a bit even as he turned for the coast, but he punched out when the motor quit. He was treated roughly after capture and more roughly still over the next 6+ years of his captivity. As a POW, he courageously endured the worst forms of physical and mental torture imaginable and survived – like almost every one of them – with his honor intact. There are no heroes in lost wars, we are not permitted them, not at least for many years afterwards. But the POWs were the next best thing to heroes that we were allowed from what was still a suppurating wound of national disgrace in the fall of 1978 – it had only been three years since the fall of Saigon, and the bad memories, shame and blame-casting were still fresh. We stayed awake for Dick Stratton. We listened to him. There was a point in his speech to us when Stratton talked about the qualities he wanted in a “good wingman” – I forget exactly those he enumerated, because he summarized them thus: “If I ever find myself coming out of the weather and about to run into a mountain, the last thing I want to see as I blow up is my wingman augering in right beside me.” I have to admit that as a young man, it seemed a bizarre image. Wouldn’t it have been better I thought, if maybe the last thing would have been the wingman hollering, “Pull up!”? I didn’t understand – there was still so much for me to learn. Although our language would always be different, in time I came to appreciate what the good captain was saying about a good wingman – and it seems such faint praise to label someone a “good wingman,” doesn’t it? To the uninitiated it seems almost a left-hand compliment, as though being a good wingman meant that one was personally incapable of leading. Nothing could be further from the truth. A man who flies the jet well may be known as a “good stick,” but this will be thought little more than the grace that God has given him. He may be a called a “good ball flyer” for his skill landing aboard ship, but that is a merely technical skill, admirable enough in its own way, but not particularly special – as at any skill, some will always be better and others worse. To be known as a “good wingman” however is another thing entirely. A good wingman is a pearl beyond price. A good wingman is intelligent and disciplined, in the air and on the ground. He knows his machine and the mission he’s fragged for because he’s prepared himself – he doesn’t need to be spoon fed. He knows that it is the lead’s responsibility to develop the plan, and the wingman’s responsibility to support it, so he listens carefully in the brief, and he visualizes the lead’s guidance – he can see it all coming together. If there’s a part he doesn’t get, he’ll ask right there and then, knowing that once he’s in the air, with bandits airborne, the target approaching, the radar warning receiver warbling in his headset, the blood singing in his veins and smoke trails reaching out and weaving through the cobalt blue skies, the time for questions is irretrievably past. He knows that once he walks out of the ready room and stepped towards the flight deck he has officially passed the GICOT – the “good idea cut-off time.” From that point on he will fly the brief as it was delivered – he will be predictable, for his lead will have much to concern himself with and cannot afford for his wingman to be part of those concerns. If events unfold in such a way that the brief is proved to be in some way insufficient, he’ll listen up for the lead to call audibles and only then offer suggestions if none are forthcoming. If the lead doesn’t respond or isn’t capable, the wingman will fly wing satisfied, if not entirely content, in the knowledge that perhaps it was a good day to die. Which is what I think CAPT Stratton was saying, back in the fall of 1978. But these are only pre-requisites – necessary, but not sufficient. To be a truly good wingman, one cannot merely be a good follower – one must place oneself inside the lead’s cockpit. Understand what he understands, know what it is he’s thinking, predict what he will do even before he asks it. Because a good wingman will, like a computer that plays chess, analyze every possible move, rank and order them according to probability and – knowing the mission, knowing the brief, knowing the lead – anticipate his desires. When the order does comes – whenever and whatever it is, briefed or unbriefed – a good wingman will execute as quickly and indeed joyfully as though the lead had done it for him. It is very hard to be a good wingman, and an honor to be known as one. A little more than 20 years after Dick Stratton’s speech in that lecture hall at Annapolis, flying half way around the world at 27,000 feet over a dismal and broken tan terrain, spotted here and there with filthy settlements that looked like nothing so much as rotted teeth I had the honor and great fortune to have a good wingman in company with me on a day of lost opportunities. “Knob” was his call sign. (To be continued…) June 8th, 2007 | Tags: sea stories | Category: Flying
18 comments to Lost opportunities, III |
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 "Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas "Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex Relocating? SponsorsNearly 60k hits and 130k page views per month - low rates! Advertise with Lex! Stinkin' Badges For the Effort!PopularPagesTags1st Amendment afghanistan Araby army Blogging buffoonery china culture economy education Flying Friday Musings geopol GWOT Headlines History iran iraq Israel issues media Memory Lane Military Navy norks Oz pakistan people piracy politicians politics Politics and Culture pundits Russia seals sea stories silliness Small Stuff SoCal technology UAVs UK usaf usmc weapons WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better. Spam Blocked |
|||
|
Copyright © 2009 Neptunus Lex - All Rights Reserved |
|||||
Lex,
No contention, dispute or argument on the aviator wingman principle.
My question is in the context of non-av ops, where the principle of shoot, move, communicate is a long-standing paradigm. How would you compare or contrast those models?
I once worked for a USMC Col., retired, he’d flow n the propeller driven Corsair, then the F-4 in which he was shot down, who’d spent time at the Hanoi Hilton. Amazing guy, as I am sure virtually all the POW’s were and are (even Sen. MCCain, who I have otherwise grown to dislike as a politician). I treasured the time I had with him to hear his stories which were really good, especially the flying ones. I didn’t press him about the time in prison so much, but I do remember one day at lunch that I wanted to order liver and asked everyone if it was ok to do so, knowing that a lot of people gag at the sight of it. This guy lit right up and says, “hey, great idea. I like liver – it’s what they fed us to get our health back when they knew we were to be sent home.” Anyway, it’d be special to meet Richard Stratton…..I will never forget the series of photos of him doing the low bows when he was introduced to the press. What a man. What impressive men they all are and were.
Rattle off the cat Lex and let’s go!!!
Sidebar – how did he earn “knob”? Pulled the wrong one?
Psst, Lex…
You wouldn’t be thinking of pulling all these little pieces together at the end of the day and making something like a mini-blogvel now, would ya?
Perhaps “Lost Opportuntie” will someday become as famous as Rhythms
Oooh, now we’re getting to the good part!
Suspense and vicarious adventure, what more could you ask for?
Really, I do appreciate the thought processes behind the action. I know it’s moving so fast that actual thought isn’t happening, just full-blown decision flowing instantly to hands and feet. Those of us with normal-speed lives appreciate the break-down of the decisions involved.
… waiting patiently …
I saw Capt. Stratton speak a couple years ago. He is just as great to listen to now as he was then, I am sure. The room was silent and we hung on every word.
Every POW is special saint in my eyes.
All you need for this tory is an awesome soundtrack and you’d have the setup you’re looking for (Nirvanna or RHCP’s). All cool pilot stories have cool soundtracks (Topgun,bridges over Toko Ri,Tora tora tora )
Love it Lex – keep it coming
Speaking of wingman, the CSAF sent out a letter referencing the wingman for life concept, he mentions a story about Pardo’s push. Talk about a wingman!
Here’s a link to the story:
Pardo’s Push
Gray, I don’t know that I can compare the aviation ops to ground combat – I’ve only a very little bit of experience in the field with a rifle as a midshipman quite a few years ago, and never was really much more than playing at it.
We move first, it seems to me, communicate a little (in order to share the picture and lock it down) and then shoot the hell out of anything we can positively determine to be ‘bad.’ After that we try to clear the mess as best we can to rebuild the picture.
Sometimes we get jumped, and then it’s fight your way clear as best you can but the one thing you dead solid know is that your wingman won’t leave you behind.
That is he won’t if he’s a good wingman
Once again, I am hooked. Good stuff, you are finding your style.
___________________________________________
Mark, you said, “Every POW is special saint in my eyes.”
Not every POW is a hero. Read Bud Day’s new biography , “American Patriot: The Life and Wars of Colonel Bud Day”.
I will fully agree that most were honorable men in a horrible place, but some men are weak, and collaborate to the point of giving over their fellow POWs to curry favor.
It only makes those who deserve our awe and honor stand out all the more.
Steve, pulled the wrong “knob” sounds like a good guess. I was thinkin’ maybe a surname of Door or Dorman…No matter, if Lex says he’s a good one, I’m sure he is….can’t wait to hear more about Knob.
?
I’ve decided I shouldn’t read these until you have them all up. I’m feeling the pressure to hold my breath again.
I might forget to start back…
Lex? You are *such* a tease.
Lex,
You sure are a master wordsmith. I enjoy reading these so much… My only wish is that there would be fewer to be continued’s.
Jim C
Linked to:
http://n466pg.blogspot.com/2007/06/on-being-wingman.html
[...] little while back, lex spoke of the qualities of a good wingman. Today, comes the story (courtesy of a cell-, er, cube-mate) of another wingman, albeit from [...]