Crate of Thunder

After the last softball game of her travel ball career, took my daughter to Disneyland while we waited for our red-eye home. She wanted to start the day with a Ronto-Wrap and then take a spin on the fastest hunk-of-junk in the galaxy. We opted for the single-rider line that takes…

SASC proposes keeping 103 Hogs in the inventory... While that's good, what's still in question is the timeline for retirement. The released articles don't say if that's keeping in-line with the 2028 final retirement, or if it's a general stay of execution. There's rumor that…

It won't win any oscars, but it was a great ride that paid perfect to tribute to the original! "You jackass!"

Interesting find in SoCal— DMC still exists and they had two mockups of the Time Machine out front— the original and the future-modified one! Fully tricked out inside and out— the future mod even had a hoverboard in the front seat!

Queep observation Disney… but if you want these fighters to truly look “operational,” you gotta clean the canopies— nothing more frustrating than flying a jet with a dirty canopy… It’s also the mark of a great crew chief who wouldn’t think…

Take one off the top turnbuckle today in tribute. Godspeed Hulk, we’ll rip the shirts down here.

Give this mil-comic a follow! It’s an outstanding mix of vet humor and hard-hitting reflection with his latest series! @PvtMurphy2025

The last missions associated with Operation Red Wings (and the follow on named operations) were executed 20 years ago yesterday. It was a search, rescue, and recovery mission the likes of which we had never considered-- CSAR took 3 hours from first wheels up to last wheels down,…

youtube.com/watch?v=Wm2hW0… Worth the 30 minute length of this video— thanks @TobeortodoJBoyd for sharing it with me!

Sandy, Earned. Nellis Air Force Base, 2008 My fingers dug into the skin on either side of the bridge of my nose, trying to rub the stinging from my eyes as they again stared in disbelief at the lying hands of my wristwatch. Dammit it’s late. One a.m. and we were just about to…

14 July, 2005 Mission Complete Groundhog Day, I thought as I pulled on a flight suit that was beginning to take on a life of its own. As soon as this is done, I’ve got to do some laundry, I mulled. My boots, too, were beginning to develop a funky smell that likely had not been…

New A-10C ladder door in the works!

Good looking bird... and a reminder that one of the USAF's GOATs was a hand-me-down from the Navy. Because we didn't focus on the mission ourselves. Maybe relevant again soon. I dunno.

From the short film, "Grunts in the Sky"

Four Bombs: The Final Mission Duck and Sponge stood together in the mission planning room. Though it was not uncommon to see both the commander and DO together, it was usually as they were handing off their supervisory duties every twelve hours. Duck normally handled the day…

Godspeed: The Red Wings Fallen Start Their Journey Home The loudspeakers over the base echoed the ominous call to formation. “Fallen Comrade Ceremony, ten minutes!” The words would fade from speaker to speaker as they rolled across the base through the stillness of the night.…

11 July 2005, Continued... Part 2 What the hell is wrong with this damned jet? I thought. Of course, no pilot ever assumes that the problem lies with the stick actuator, but that something clearly has gone wrong with the aircraft. My hand rapidly moved the stick in all…

11 July 2005, Continued... Part 1 And so it was, as SAC and I climbed into that black cocoon of the night sky and pointed our noses eastbound towards the Korengal Valley. The thunderstorms were already building, and the familiar pillars of wicked looking clouds embossed with…