In 1964, I was one of the “Red Hot” young instructor pilots at the Vigilante training squadron in Central Florida. The “Vigi” was being integrated into the Heavy Attack Wing there, an aviation community of older, more staid, more conservative pilots, some of whom were even crusty remnants of the Korean War. They tolerated us [...]
In their jointly written Wall Street Journal opinion column (Feb. 26, 2013), Sens. Corker (R-Tenn.) and Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, respectively, noted that “President Obama has repeatedly identified nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism as key dangers to the United States and its allies.” [...]
Tuesday, Feb. 12, marks a supremely happy occasion for me – the 40th anniversary of my release to freedom after seven years and nine days as a POW in communist North Vietnam. In the fall of 1972, Democrat Sen. George McGovern was running for the presidency against incumbent Republican Richard Nixon. From his campaign rhetoric, [...]
Like many Oahu residents, I have visited the USS Missouri several times. And I never tire of seeing the big dent in the starboard side, deck level, a little aft of midship. I always imagine the scene of the Japanese kamikaze (divine wind) plane smashing into the ship in a fiery crash, and the casualties [...]
It was inevitable. Just as John F. Kennedy was excoriated by anti-Catholics before winning the Presidential race in 1960, the anti-Mormon activists are coming out of the woodwork to harass Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney with claims that as president he would be torn between two masters – the Mormon Church and the United States. [...]
When was the last time you cuddled a 3-week-old baby of your own lineage? As I was recently reminded, it’s the most awesome reconfirmation of the miracle of human life. Baby Charlotte is our newest grandchild No. 9. We have just returned from helping the new mom and dad negotiate the first month of tending [...]
“Chaque Homme Est Un Tigre!” So read the giant sign over the entrance to the Battalion spaces of Pensacola’s Preflight Class 47-57 (the 47th class of 1957): “Each Man Is A Tiger!” The words arching over the visage of a snarling tiger. The photo of our preflight class grouped around that sign is one of [...]
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” The decision process for choosing the subject for a weekly column can be quite circuitous, and sometimes yields surprising results. I set out to document the growth of the federal work force under the [...]
Doing research for the best-selling, award-winning hit movie and inspiring book Sea Biscuit, Laura Hillenbrand came across the offhanded comment of the University of Southern California track coach Glenn Cunningham, who speculated : “Hell, the only runner that might be able to beat our Olympic miler, Louie Zamperini, is Sea Biscuit.” When Hillenbrand researched this [...]
OK, so some naive Australian “do-gooder” (far from your average Aussie, by the way) named Julian Assange, who fancies himself the Robin Hood of whistleblowers, founds an organization called Wikileaks with the goal of “disclosing secret documents to reveal unethical behavior by governments and corporations.” Apparently he is the sole decider of what is and [...]
