Category Archives: From Jim

The Camels Are Coming

Something to ponder…..

 

The camels are definitely on the horizons……….. !!!

 

The founder of Dubai, Sheik Rashid, was asked about the future of his country, and he replied, “My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I ride a Mercedes, my son rides a Land Rover, and my grandson is going to ride a Land Rover…but my great-grandson is going to have to ride a camel again.

 

Why is that, he was asked? And his reply was, “Hard times create strong men, strong men create easy times. Easy times create weak men, weak men create difficult times. Many will not understand it, but you have to raise warriors, not parasites.”

 

And add to that the historical reality that all great empires…the Persians, the Trojans, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and in later years, the British… all rose and perished within 240 years. They were not conquered by external enemies; they rotted from within.

 

America has now passed that 240-year mark, and the rot is starting to be visible and is accelerating. We are past the Mercedes and Land Rover Years….the camels are on the horizon.

 

The greatest generation consisted of 18-year-old kids storming the beaches at Normandy.

 

And now, two generations later, some 18-year-old kids want to hide in safe rooms when they hear words that hurt their feelings. They also want free stuff from the government because they think they are entitled to it. 

 

The “camels are on the horizon” for sure.  Something to ponder?

 

History has a way of repeating itself.

 

Happy Birthday !

The United States Air Force was established on September 18, 1947, when the National Security Act, which made the Air Force an independent branch of the military, went into effect. Fittingly, President Harry Truman signed the law aboard The Sacred Cow, the C-54 transport plane used for presidential flights in those days.

The beginnings of an American air-going force stretch back to 1907, less than four years after the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight, when the U.S. Army Signal Corps formed an Aeronautical Division. In 1909 the Army bought its first plane, the Wright Military Flyer.

When World War I started in Europe, the Army owned only five planes. By the end of the war, military strategists realized that to win battles, they must control the skies. During World War II, the U.S. Army Air Forces reached a peak strength of 80,000 planes. The critical role of air power led Truman to make the Air Force a full partner with the Army and Navy. Today the Air Force maintains about 5,600 active aircraft.

The U.S. Air Force flag is blue and bears the Air Force coat of arms. The shield carries an image of a pair of wings, a vertical thunderbolt, and lightning flashes – all symbolizing the power to strike from the air. Above the shield, a bald eagle perches in front of a cloud. Thirteen stars surround the coat of arms, representing the thirteen original states. The top three stars also symbolize the Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

Thanks Gatortec

Are you a fan of Apple? Thanks to Jim Dufek, has allowed his informational blogs to be syndicated here. 

Helpful  hints and tips that make Apple life easier are updated on the Gatortec page. We hope you find them helpful. 

Thanks again Jim, much appreciated!

An amazing post……..

Just read this story on Facebook. Thought you all would appreciate the read. Still have chills going down my spine…..

You never know when the moment will choose you…..
Mary and I were seated in the 1A&B bulkhead seats for our flight to Salt Lake City (connecting to SEATAC) as the plane loaded in Philly.  Just a regular flight like any other.  Mary and I were talking and over her shoulder I noticed a guy in line, coyote brown day pack with a MARPAT poncho liner rolled up and lashed to the side, khaki vertx cargo pants, crocks and a 2/5 Marines T-shirt.  What stood out to me was that he was carrying a folded American Flag.  My blood turned cold.  “Mary”, and I gestured towards him as he moved down the isle somewhere in the rear of the plane.  She turned around and then she looked back at my face and she knew too. “You think”? Asked Mary
“Philly is the closest airport to Dover AFB”, I replied.
Mary and I sat in silence staring at each other for a few seconds and then she said “I’m going to take his seat and send him up here, he needs YOU, Chuck”.
Before I could even reply she was out of her seat and moving to the rear.  A couple minutes later this Marine is standing next to me and he says “I was told to report to the bulkhead”.
“Hey man, I’m Chuck have a seat”. We shook hands.
Long story short, this Marine was a Company Gunny in 2-1 Marines and had just escorted 10 of his men to Dover AFB.  He was on his way to Pendleton after being relieved by other escorts to take his fallen Marines to their various places of internment. 
We talked and I listened.  This was his 6th deployment and he had worked Abby gate with his Marines for the past couple weeks. The things he saw at that gate are indescribable.  He called it playing God, as they plucked At Risk Afghans out of the crowd.
He was the Marine captured in a meme giving children drinks of his bottled water.  He was still in shock, his hands were still stained from the MASCAL.  The weight of that flag in his lap was almost overwhelming to me as I sat next to him.  I struggled with my own emotions as I got him fed and a cold beer and some water.  And then I let him rest, he was so impossibly tired.  Misha and I looked after him while he slept.  After we had been flying for a couple of hours he woke up to go to the bathroom. He got up still clutching the flag, then he turned and looked back at his seat and then at me…. questioning.  I nodded that it was safe for him to leave it.  He set the flag on his seat and went to the bathroom.  Now I was alone with the flag that had been over a coffin in a C17 hours earlier.  This symbol of it all, the whole damn 20 years sat there next to me and I couldn’t hold the tears back anymore.  I texted my Marines, Jake, and Paul others and told them that fate had made me a Ranger Buddy of Marines tonight.

My thoughts were with the Gunny, it hadn’t hit him yet.  Mary and I could see it in his eyes, he was running on auto pilot.
Where do we find such men????

I checked with Delta to see if there was a late flight from San Diego to Seattle but the last flight of the night had gone, so going the rest of the way to San Diego so he wouldn’t be alone was out of the question as I would be stuck there until tomorrow.  I made sure that his unit had transportation waiting for him when he arrived there, and we parted company in Salt Lake to head to our connecting flights.

I’m writing this not to virtue signal but to remind everyone that outside of their life and its problems, there are men holding the line, doing what must be done no matter what.  While my family stands down a hurricane and there is nothing I can do to help them tonight, God put me on a plane with a lone Marine carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, and Mary Pressburg made sure that for at least a couple of hours of his journey, that he wouldn’t have to bear the weight of that flag alone, and I love her for it.
Misha showed the love that only an animal trained to serve could and I’m grateful for both.
Sitting in 1A wasn’t the mission I deserved, but it was the mission that I needed tonight.
Semper Fidelis

National Aviation Hall of Fame

“There’s no way you can visualize the speed. There’s nothing you can see to see how fast you’re going. You have no depth perception. If you’re in a car driving down the road and you close your eyes, you have no idea what your speed is. It’s the same thing if you’re free-falling from space. There are no signposts. You know you are going very fast, but you don’t feel it. You don’t have a 614-mph wind blowing on you. I could only hear myself breathing in the helmet.”

#OTD in 1960, Enshrinee Joe Kittinger took a leap beyond belief. As part of Project Excelsior, a series of experiments to investigate the effects of high altitude bailouts, Kittinger established that it was possible to put a human into space. 61 years ago, he piloted a gondola to an altitude of 102,800 feet before stepping into the unknown. Joe set two world records…one for the highest balloon ascent and another for the longest parachute freefall.

What did you do today?

#enshrinee #legend #legendary #usaf #parachute #parachutejump #bravery #space