I really  have never  thought  about my accomplishments before  age  40 since  I was  doing my best  to keep USA free.  And  at  a  great cost  since.  I guess  to some that  freedom  won is  just doing any selfish , me  first, thing  you  wish on  the back of  others  and to hell with them.  When you  bury heros, you  hug  their  family , tell them you’ll try   see them somewhere sometime  if  assignments  allow , pause  a  time  and  go about  your  duty.  Roll call’s usually 8 AM for  flight  assignments  by  crew.  One unusual day you  can sleep past  8! Rest of  day totally  up to you to carpe forever.  Weird feeling I’ll tell you  fer  sure. All them medals  and  awards  don’t make  a  damn dime. What  does is  disability retirement and  some  wise  old Lt Col took your  ejection  seat one  day and  lived  to tell you  how  it  works.  Want  to know  a  soul brother? He lived through fire   by  sheer  guts. I always  told  Frank Fucich ,  he  was me that  managed to live. Pilot, best  friend  Ken, and  recent  new EWO Tony   crashed on  take off,have  a  spot in  Arlington. I was on  leave  delivering  a  Goony Bird  to Florida. Sqdn shitheads never  even managed  to  call  emergency form number  to tell me  I was to be  their  escort  officer.  Found  out  3  weeks later  when a  friend,  on my  hop going  back to Germany  asked  where I’d been.  It  was  a period early  70s   when EVERYONE I knew  was  in PTSD.   Combat flying  3  Stars  down to E-1 on  the  ground been in a  real shooting war where  EVERYONE in 4 countries were trying hard  to kill you many times  a  day. Didn’t  need  to look where on  a map. ALL! 8

I recall  buying  first  mine  share ever   in  USGL Oct  1998. Began to buy  down to .11 and  was  largest investor when Rob took it to $7 in ‘ 07.   Until to Jan 06 when first   saw initial million. Is  NOT baggers,  dumbo, is  the  millions made.   Makes  me  age 61 then  and  was  POG $300 era.  Then it  fell to $250. twice. Any  under  40’d  then have  had  12 years   from   2002 low  in  up to $1950 POG  and now  still remains   $1000 higher. Exact  period  to begin in  gold  and  pick the  best  risers.  EASY breezy  stuff.  Of  course  everyone knows now  that  brilliant  investor  darth gold of  the ” scary  names ”  Golds.  Way  you learn to tell a  coward  They  back off quick into a “but  but  but”  defensive  croutch.    As I learned from  experts,  best  kill them quick  for  the best put  out of  any  extended  misery. Nothing  to offer  but  tend  to hang  on and  require  one  to assist  the  death.  Does  anyone  have  ANY idea  who the  silly  Lout N Flouts actually are. Never  heard  from one  knows  by name. Creatures  of  the  night .  To even see  a  crazy ranter inform on combat  PTSD?   Deserves  a  fated nice  Phoenix  VA bed assignment. I’d  give  up any of mine at  Audi Murphy   VA (yep, a  personal, hero, local  kid here and like me   killed  few 100  enemy  too) where  they took my  skull apart  Mar  1980. How  ridiculous can one  silly  Lout  get?

A few  minor  incidents  to be  sure  got  me  to early  retired at  40.  In addition to  full 28 of  formal  education,   BA San Jose  St; MA Ball St;   EdD Tx Tech, course work completed; I ‘d  done  3  full years  of  toughest  technical flying  program going.  Enlisted day after  24th birthday Sept  25, 1961 . Meant  planned  retirement date as  reservist ,  midnight  Sept  24  1983  day I was  54.  Seemed  simple enough.

What  came  was  USAF, Basic  Tng E-1; ,  Officer’s  Trng School Reserve Commission  2nd  Lt;  Navigator Flight Tng,  rating Nav;  Advanced Navigator  Bombardier Traning , Nav  Bomb rating ;  AirCrew  Combat  Survival  School ( Winter);  B-52 Transition School, B-52 crew member, Nav  Bomb ;   Assigned 22nd Bomb Wing ( Heavy) March AFB CA, 2nd  Bomb Sqdn ground  school; B-52B  Combat  Crew  Certification Combat  Ready.  Now  I was  27 in Sept  1964 and  ready  to commute  monthly  to Guam on 15 min Nuc Alert  response.  Talk about  never ending  trainng! I was  very  expensive  meat  in  a  seat. Entire  program was  designed  by  Gen Curtis  Lemay ( big   boss man on only  atomic  drops on  Japan)  to deliver  a  bomb any place  any  time  by  getting within 25  miles  radar or visual range. Especially over  the  pole where  there are  no landmarks  OR  a  compass.  A thing  called  Grid  Navigation. Concept  is   a  world  where  neat  60 mile  latitude  blocks  are  laid  out  all in  the  direction  of  180 degrees  W.  Try  it  sometime.  BLANK MAP!  Use Celestial Navigation observations. Get on  a  known heading, unslave  the  magnetic  compass from Magnetic N Pole  and  enter  Grid.  Have already   charted  hourly  precession/recession/nutation  rate so apply to Grid  Heading on compass  to all fixes over  N Pole. When estimated  time  is  up exit  Grid  as an assumed   spot  on  a  real map and begin  using  radar  and  mag  compass  again. Prepare  to drop the  4  one point  one megaton weapons on  enemy  territory. Sound  easy?  No satellites, no GPS, even no inertial nav  system at  that  time.  Everything  self  contained  in the  brain and  BIG books you have  learned  to use  very  rapidly.  Do that  and  Curt  lets  you  go on his team. By then he’d  retired  as Chair  Joint  Chief’s after  time  of  Cuban Crisis Oct  ’62. I had  been in  Nav  School Waco and  our  Instructors  were  packed  to  navigate  C-123’s flown in  and  parked   with troops from Ft  Hood Armored  training school on a  short  notice.  Was  actually scarier  than  when I eventually went to war.  Was  calling  for even  Nuc  Response  until USSR blinked! Will never  forget  13 Days  In October! Doing  exactly  same  things  day I retired Oct  17, 1977! Head  out  to the  Soviet  Union and  take  them out some  fashion .  Call it  a  rough 16 years  and  a  month. But  I  was now  a  stay at home  dad!

On Guam we’d  replaced  the B-47’s  assigned  to March before  the  Riverside   CA runway was  lengthened  for B-52s. Called Reflex  Deployment it  put  them 14  hours  closer to Manchurian/Siberian  bases  to roll back. One  mission  assigned  was  to   recover  on  possible survival by landing unannounced  in  India. Surprise  surprise! No tanker  would   be  at  the  ending. Most just   trying  to get  out  of  USSR to fuel for  any homewards after  the  world  blew up.  Alert  tour began with crew  checking  on from last  alert  crew. Other than making  sure  the  system to get you  there  to drop them was  in order, one  of  the  2   Bombing Navs ( a  3rd  was  a  defensive  systems  operator for ECM and   radio control work) had  to certify to the other that the  dial readings  in  little clear  windows were  correct. Smaller  nav was  lifted by  larger to read them  by crawling  in between  the  4  large,  white, big  pointy  nosed  bombs hanging on  shackles foreward  bay. 2  bays were  the  same  just  called  front/  back for loading  weights/ measures . I was  the  smaller! So was crawling  over  4  Hydrogen bombs  before  breakfast! Just  once  a  tour  however. Nice  work If  you  qualify. Then a  rifle toting  guard  and a BIG dog made  sure 24/7  nobody  could mess  them up before  the next  crew check in.  Then  the  guards  on either side  AND dog made  sure  the  quard  was  there  awake. I understand  things  have gotten VERY sloppy! Curt’d  have  you  shot! 8

“Take him out and shoot him,” ordered General Dreedle. (21.86-90)

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