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
He also flew one of the F-5s in the movie Top Gun.
Makes sense, since he was a TOPGUN instructor pilot in 1986 and probably flew F-5′s in the adversary squadron.
What’s next for Timbo, er, ADM Keating?
According to Wiki: They piped him over the side…gone fishing. 42 years of service.
Great man! Worked for him at the Northern VA penitentiary for wayward fighter pilots. Best Top Cover I’ve ever had in a Boss.
“Rat” Willard . . . you Navy guys make me so proud when I hear ‘handles’ like this. Truly. Takes me back to college and fraternity nicknames that stuck to quite a few guys.
BTW: I first saw “Rat” Willard somewhere else and at that time I was chuckling to beat the band, too.
I would like to know who the planning and operations guys are on Admiral Willard’s staff who are responsible for getting material to the right place at the right time and what contingency plans they have for back-up air transportation. Seems DTS (Defense Transportation Service) C5A Galaxy fleet the USAF are running are not able to handle the demand.
Maybe you oughta ask TRANSCOM, since they own and schedule all the C-5s.
XBradTC,
Thanks, know TRANSCOM well. With global DoD units utilizing available C-5 transport to Afghanistan plus the civilian contractors with restricted, secure and dangerous loads consigned to military units competing with Department of State, FBI, DEA, NSA and a host of other U.S. Government agencies with sensitive cargo, weapons, ammunition, flares, fuses, ignitors, scopes, batteries, toxic, flammable, explosive and you name it cargo for the limited capacity, the C-5′s are oversubscribed.
Shippers tell stories about 3-4 week “wait times” in order to book space on a C-5…..
As of now, the admiral is headed back east to rest up for a few months, then it’s “wait and see” as to what’s next. With his energy, I doubt he’ll be down for long.
Guess it is a good thing that 2008 was the Chinese Year of the Rat. Next Year of the Rat – 2020. Here’s hoping that Rat has a peaceful watch at the helm.
Had the pleasure of serving under/with him on good ship USS Abraham Lincoln. He came aboard in June 1995 while we were on deployment to the Persian Gulf. Always remember the first time I saw our PCO. He had a large broom in his hand and was out scrubbing the flight deck with the V-1 airman prior to pulling into port.
Mind you it was upwards of 115 degrees on the flight deck at the time.