For John, BLUF: There but for the Grace of God...
I have mentioned, either here or on City Life, my friend Juan Paron. No, not that Juan Paron. The one I know comes from Minnesota and lives, along with his beautiful wife, Carolyn, in Woodbridge, Virginia, on Powell's Creek.
Juan is a retired US Navy Captain and former Naval Aviator and hydroplane operator. His path and mine have crossed several times. He was on the staff of NATO's FIVE Allied Tactical Air Force (ATAF), up in Northern Italy, when I was on the staff of Allied Air Forces Southern Europe, down in Naples. When I was at Thirteenth Air Force, at Clark Air Base, in the Philippines, I helped plan an exercise in Australia that his Squadron, at Cubi Point, in the Philippines, participated in several months later. On the Joint Staff we actually met and had offices a couple doors down. Juan was doing NATO forces at the time I was in the Strategy Division. Later, as Commander of US Naval Facilities in Italy he lived about six doors down from where we had lived when we were in Naples a decade before. We both taught at the National War College. Juan was the Chief of Naval Operations Chair and I was the Chairman's Chair. Then we both worked at Dynamics Research Corporation, on the "Universal Joint Task List" (UJTL), a tool for increasing military unit readiness.
But, back a long time ago, Juan had a very direct experience of joint service cooperation, when his Section passed through an ARC LIGHT mission and one of the bombs from a B-52 went right through his tail, taking out a chunk. Spectacular photo:
For those who wish to know, a Navy A-7, CORSAIR II. Otherwise known as the SLUF, for Short Little Ugly Fellow. Thus the saying, "No weapon is too short for a brave man".
Regards — Cliff
5 comments:
Yes, "fellow". The military often uses the word "fellow" in acronyms containing the letter "F".
Yes, we do, but sometimes we have find other terms, like for the C-5 GALAXY, aka FRED, or Flying Ridiculous Economic Disaster.
Regards — Cliff
SNAFU was the one I was taught first, with the "F" in that case purportedly standing for the word "fouled". I had no idea the military was so varied in their "F" words!
And then there is FUBAR, Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition.
I am sure Neal will find some other examples.
Late to the discussion.....was it really a discussion?? At any rate, given the rearward visibility of the SLUFF, I am certain that Juan must have been doubly amazed at his luck.....and superb airmanship when he saw the REAL damage to the vertical stab.
But to the "F's," actually, the military (at least the one I spent 33 years of my life in) prefers and uses the word "fraternity" much more often that fellow. Of course, I (and my fellow warriors) use that term in the most encompassing way, to include our female members as well. When I comes to "FIGHTING" and particularly "FLYING" the FEMALES have done one FABULOUS job. I recall the young blond Captain with a ponytail do a post flight walk-around of her A-10 that by every law of aerodynamics was so damaged it shouldn't have flown...let alone landed. In fact, her SqCC told her to punch out. She saved the jet.......and her record as a Warthog driver is FIRST rate. We also have some pretty frightening Fighter pilots in the F-16 (The Electric Lawn Dart) as well as the F-15 C and E (aka "Strike Eagle"). So we can and do include the women in our warrior fraternity.
The military uses a lot of F words....but the one most important to all of us is FREEDOM.
Post a Comment