The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 09

[Duleigh]

I just came across a Literotican who has 69987 favorite stories.

I am boggled.

-Annie

I find that a lot of my favorited stories are just favorited as a bookmark. One day my number will go up about 40 stories, then a bit later the count goes down one by one. I've seen readers that had so many favorites that the computer I had at the time couldn't display his entire list (Maybe the same guy?)

 

[Belegon]

Watched a doc tonight called "The Cold Blue" about the US 8th Air Force in WW2. Those guys put me in awe over what they did and how they did it, and yet if you watch interviews with them they always say things like, "I'm not a hero. The heroes are buried in France and Germany." I understand the value of their humility. But they are Fucking Heroes!!!! To do that job, where the survival rate was only about 25%???? I find it hard to imagine. 75 guys out of every 100 never made it home. If you're in that 25%, I can't believe you don't deserve the title of hero.

My Godfather flew fighters for Great Britain during the Battle of Britain. He survived and even earned the designation of Ace because he shot down six German planes. I know I honored him and loved him when I was a boy, but sometimes I wish he were still here so I could tell him even more how in awe of him I am and how in awe I am of what he did. I am happy that before my dad passed I made him aware of how brave and honorable I believed him to be about his service in Vietnam. These gentleman created the world we live in with their service and their perseverence and ability to make it through the horrors they faced. Yes, I think the US was wrong to be in Nam and that we were on the wrong side, but that doesn't change my admiration for the boys that served there.

We have a lot of people out there who have served, who once wrote out a blank check to our country that basically said, "I will give whatever is necessary, up to and including my LIFE." If you are one of those, like my brother and father, I want you to know that I honor and love you for it. Thank You.

 

[Duleigh]

To do that job, where the survival rate was only about 25%???? I find it hard to imagine

The first year of the 8th Air Force was a slaughter house. The Cold Blue was put together with film taken when filming the Memphis Belle. Memphis Belle was the first B-17 (and crew) to survive 25 missions and were sent home to sell war bonds and train new crews. That was sadly an unobtainable goal for many. Nothing was done to help the mental anguish of those men in their British bases. There was no money, so they were sleeping on cots with one wool blanket to stay warm. The only way to get another blanket was to claim one off your dead buddies cot. Same way with uniforms, there was no "Clothing Sales" at the PX, if you needed a new pair of trousers or socks, you got it from your dead buddies foot locker.

25 missions was such an insurmountable goal that when Jimmy Stewart flew his 20th mission, they recalled him to Hollywood to film propaganda films, and he was flying B-24s which had a much worse record than the B-17s. They couldn't fly as high as the B-17 so they were an easier target for the Germans but the B-24 "Hot Stuff" made 25 missions 3 months before the Memphis Belle.

I am proud to have served in the 8th Air Force but I was on B-52s in the 80's and 90's, in fact I took the last B-52s off Nuclear Alert when the Strategic Air Command (The House that Le May built) was dismantled into a mish-mash of confusion that the US military sank into after Desert Storm. Luckily I was a member of the team at a time where "Project Warrior" made sure the Airmen of the 20th century knew about the sacrifices of the past. Now the USAF is more concerned about pronouns.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

Another cold morning with the birds all huddled up trying to survive the cold weather. I know the snow birds (dark-eyed juncos) are thinking that they didn't go far enough south this year.

Anyway, the coffee is hot and fresh and the teapot is full and hot. There are chocolate-chip pancakes on the counter. and an assortment of pancake syrups (including Aunt Jemima). Enjoy!

@Duleigh - I, too served from late 70's to late 90's in the Air Force with my last four years in HQ AFMC. When they started relaxing dress requirements in the office (i.e., casual Friday) I resisted by wearing my Class As every Friday, trying to set an example to counter the slip in professionalism. I hate to say it but I don't recognize the Air Force I served in anymore.

 

[jaF0]

Some opinions are better left unstated as they may diminish the views others have.

 

[NotWise]

I had too many things to get done this morning, but I took a break for this photo. I had to hurry a little to keep the light.



You've seen the top and right before. The flower at the bottom left is "Sweet Star." It's going to be flowering for a couple weeks. The second act is starting soon for a couple varieties.

With that, I've posted pictures of all of seven varieties I have.

 

[Duleigh]

I resisted by wearing my Class As every Friday, trying to set an example to counter the slip in professionalism. I hate to say it but I don't recognize the Air Force I served in anymore

CASUAL FRIDAY??? What did they wear: Jeans and t-shirt? OMG. (If the answer is yes, please don't respond) I love the push back. When I left Minot in 93 the big push was to force the Chairborne troops (Office folks) to wear their BDUs on Fridays, and a lot didn't have them, they had the old OD green fatigues. I ended up with BDUs in 3 flavors - European camo, Desert camo, and Chocolate Chips.

It was so sad to see SAC become a kindergarten experiment. It was more important to have 0% rate of smoking than a 100% rate of fully mission capable aircraft. If a woman didn't want to go out in the cold and work all she had to do was threaten to take you to social actions and complain she was being harassed. I saw it at least 7 times in my unit. (My response was, "Hop in the truck, I'll drive.")

A year in Kunsan was so refreshing - all we did was fly airplanes, drop bombs and prepare to kill bad guys - the REAL Air Force!!! So many happy, funny things happened to me over there I realized that I had to write them down or they'd be lost, so I did, then I wrapped a sexy romance around it. Friend Zoned is one of my most popular stories.

A fellow I loaded bombs with ended his career at HQ AFMC also, he was a first sergeant there in the 90s. I always wanted to go there and see the museum.

 

[jaF0]

One memory is straddling an F106 Delta Dart trying to replace an antenna during an ORI in the middle January with high winds and below 0 temperatures.

 

[jaF0]

Another is walking over to Records and out processing rather than do something unpleasant to a T-Sgt that caused me an issue.

 

[Duleigh]

One memory is straddling an F106 Delta Dart trying to replace an antenna during an ORI in the middle January with high winds and below 0 temperatures.

If you were at Minot, I challenge you to name a January that didn't have sub zero temps, high winds, and an ORI.
One memory for me was loading weapons on a B-52 with windchills of -80 because an alert plane was leaking jet fuel on live weapons and had to be changed out... on Christmas Eve.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

@Duleigh - Yes, by 'casual,' I meant BDUs.

 

[JGittes]

Mr. D.

I sent up weather balloons at Thule AFB from 1972 to 1973. They had those huge and wonderful DEW Line radars pointed north for early warning of missile launches from the then USSR. At least they told us they were DEW Line.

I heard much later that the real early warning system were the survailence aircraft aloft 24-hours to report when Thule was incinerated in an H-Bomb cloud. They expected Thule to be the first radar facility hit by a surprise attack, and the aircraft would report and give a little more time to bend over, put your head between your legs, etc.

Can you verify any of that?

 

[Duleigh]

Mr. D.

I sent up weather balloons at Thule AFB from 1972 to 1973. They had those huge and wonderful DEW Line radars pointed north for early warning of missile launches from the then USSR. At least they told us they were DEW Line.

I heard much later that the real early warning system were the survailence aircraft aloft 24-hours to report when Thule was incinerated in an H-Bomb cloud. They expected Thule to be the first radar facility hit by a surprise attack, and the aircraft would report and give a little more time to bend over, put your head between your legs, etc.

Can you verify any of that?

My Uncle John was an army radar operator on the DEW line in Alaska in 1962 and he considered it a private communications system. My mom said that John spent most of his time in Alaska talking to his high school buddy Howard Krigbaum back in NY on the AUTOVON phone line. I asked him about 10 years ago what he thought of the DEW line and he said, "The *#$@&ing thing was obsolete before I *#$@&ing got there."

When the DEW Line was built, there were no ICBM's, it was designed to look for manned bombers and cruise missiles (Yes, they did exist back then. Here's the Republic-Ford JB-2 "Thunderbug" Look familiar?) The moment the Soviets launched Sputnik, the brand new DEW line was obsolete. Yeah, they probably did have a bombnik aimed at Thule, damn son, that's only a few hundred miles from Russia. I doubt you'd have time to bed over, let alone report what you saw. But face it, for one quarter of a millisecond you'd have the tan you always dreamed of having.

As for the flying aircraft, they were probably talking about the Lockheed EC-121D which flew high cover from 1949 to 1972 when it was replaced by the E-3 AWACS. Yes they did have flying EWS planes and still do, the thing with remote radar installations like the DEW Line is, they rarely fall out of the sky or refuse to work on a foggy day.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

My Godfather flew fighters for Great Britain during the Battle of Britain. ... Yes, I think the US was wrong to be in Nam and that we were on the wrong side, but that doesn't change my admiration for the boys that served there.

We have a lot of people out there who have served, who once wrote out a blank check to our country that basically said, "I will give whatever is necessary, up to and including my LIFE." If you are one of those, like my brother and father, I want you to know that I honor and love you for it. Thank You.

Thanks for the reminder. My grandfather never spoke about his service in WWII - the first we found out about it was from the medals shown at his funeral. When we tried looking up the records, I could only find the regiment - all other info was locked until 1 Jan 2025. Which has now passed, so I can apply to the National Archives for the details.

I assume the records were locked solely on grounds of age and some of the cohort potentially still being alive - Granddad didn't have enough education to end up at Bletchley or the like.

 

[Belegon]

neither of my grandfathers ever talked about it, and my godfather only talked with me about it after I had found out from my Dad and my Dad and I built a Spitfire and Me109 plastic models and gave them to him. This was enough to prove to Mr. Frank that I had already heard about some things and then he did tell me little bits over the next few years before he passed. I was still a kid. He never really talked about combat, but he talked about having to drop everything and run for his plane and he talked about things like coming back from over the channel and how he felt seeing England coming towards him. My Dad never talked about Vietnam until I was an adult and asked him some questions. I think I developed some of my love of history from these conversations.

 

[NotWise]

Dinner was roasted brussels sprouts with balsamic vinegar and a strip steak.

I cooked the strip steak on a stove-top grill. I should have kept the exhaust fan higher, because I pegged the indoor air quality monitor's scale for medium and fine particulates. It was smokey in here, but I never triggered the CO2 alarm, which my wife does all the time.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Curtis Le May. The story is that his driver drove through a SAC checkpoint. The guard, following orders, opened fire - and missed. The story continues with Le May ordering the driver to halt, getting out and tearing the guard a new one for having missed. Apocryphal, but such was his reputation.

 

[Duleigh]

Curtis Le May. The story is that his driver drove through a SAC checkpoint. The guard, following orders, opened fire - and missed. The story continues with Le May ordering the driver to halt, getting out and tearing the guard a new one for having missed. Apocryphal, but such was his reputation.

There is a scene in the movie Strategic Air Command where the commander of SAC (in the movie) General Hawks, Hollywood's answer to 'Bombs Away' Le May, walked up to an airplane with a lit cigar. A sergeant said, "Isn't he afraid the plane will explode?"

Colonel Holland (Jimmy Stewart) replied "It wouldn't dare."

It's a SAC Legend that this really happened. Don't forget, Curtis Le May created the Strategic Air Command BEFORE The US Air Force came into being. He was a scary dude.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

Good morning everyone! I've got a fresh pot of coffee brewing and the teapot is hot. There are donuts on the counter and some muffins I got from My Favorite Muffin.

I'm going to try to get some writing done but I seem to have lost my mojo. It's frustrating that I just can't seem to get excited about writing and keep it once I get it.

 

[Belegon]

moning, CK. Thanks for keeping the coffee on point. ETA: and those double berry muffins sound like they are right up my alley

 

[Belegon]

Looks Like Goodbye, My Love has gotten about 1000 views so far. Not bad for Letters and Transcripts, which I remember as being a category that slides by unnoticed. I'd like the scores to be higher, but it's not a happy piece and that tends to drag down scores.

 

[Duleigh]

I've got a fresh pot of coffee brewing and the teapot is hot.

None for me, it's my quarterly jaunt to the Mayo. I'm in the cafe wearing a beret and sipping sparkling water like I'm a hipster. If it wasn't for the gray beard and the cheerful outlook, I'd fit right in with these Gen Z doctors milling around.

 

[MrPixel]

I have a tip for doctor visits - don't argue with your wife before leaving. I got suckered into a "You always X!..." heated discussion as I was going out the door, and the nurse had to take my BP three times before it was below "serious hypertension" levels.

Just sayin'.

 

[Duleigh]

I have a tip for doctor visits - don't argue with your wife before leaving. I got suckered into a "You always X!..." heated discussion as I was going out the door, and the nurse had to take my BP three times before it was below "serious hypertension" levels.

Just sayin'.

That's definitely a pro tip. Also, don't let them attach the cuff until 5 minutes after you sit down. Mayo Clinic is known for half marathon distances between appointments

 

[yowser]

Of course this must be the AH. We're talking about numbers and how to improve them.