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Who won the dogfight?
9 times out of 11, it was the guy who was prepared as opposed to the guy who followed the plan. Sound strange?
Think about it. The word “planning” is typically connotes prudence and sticking to prescribed courses of action. But Life, especially crisis, doesn’t honor the “planned mind” as it does the “prepared mind.”
Yeah, it’s all semantics, but look at it this way:
A prepared mind goes into a situation and is ready to adapt to change because it has already worked out options and possibilities. It says, “regardless of what the future holds, I can answer to it.” The “planned” mind, on the other hand, goes into a situation and says, “I am expecting things to go X, Y and Z.”
Life is rarely X, Y and Z. If it was, the experts would never be wrong and there’d be no need for News. But if we’re prepared - in character, in conduct, in learning, in attitude, we can far better handle whatever dogfight we get into. Even the good dogfights.
CHECK SIX! (he he) Anyway, I hope this thought tickles your brain as much as it has mine.
“Snowballs” a North American F-86F Sabre flown by
Hank Snow, 67th FBS, 18th FBG
©John Mollison - all rights reserved - office21@mac.com
A THING I LEARNED FROM AN OLD GUY #3
“So what’s your biggest regret as a father?”
I won’t name the pilot here, but I will share what he said.
Scratching his thick mane of white hair, he hesitated, coughed, looked around his office as if trying to find something, then said, “I deprived my kids of a childhood of poverty.”
That was the first time I’d ever heard that phrase, but I could tell it wasn’t the first time he’d said it. I also discerned that his meaning was far deeper than curmudgeonly disgust at today’s prosperity.
“Back when I was a kid, we had nothing. Nothing. And I mean, nothing. But none of us had anything (he laughs). So, we improvised as a group. We played with balls we made from stuff we found and when we did get something like a PIECE of candy or a toy, it was a treasure. I’m afraid my kids don’t have to look to themselves very much. Problems get fixed, now. Just like that.”
Now, “poverty” is an evil word. It means lack of something essential. No good comes from depriving someone of something they need - money, food, affection, leadership, education, whatever. I’ve been there and it sucks.
However, the old guy’s statement made me wonder: What is more valuable - the kick ball that’s made from scraps of cloth bound together by an old inner tube or a new Nintendo Wii that for all practical purposes simply materialized one day in our home?
Anyway, today, he loves - adores - his children, grand children and great grand children. He’s also pleased to be able to still provide for them in big and small ways. Yet, of all the memories within his ninety years, he thinks about the boyhood toys that he made and the summer camp his parents couldn’t afford to send him.
And he’s strangely grateful for both memories. Unfortunately, I haven’t a clue.
A THING I LEARNED FROM AN OLD GUY #8
“The first sign of someone starting to lose it is when they start to grab the controls too tight. I could feel (the co-pilot) fight against me. Then he’d start to count the flak and get loud, get irrational... by then, they’re too far gone to get their senses. On the ground? Great guy. In the air? Dangerous.”
“So why didn’t you freak out? Why them?”
“I just knew, somehow, there’s so very little in this life that you can control...If you can’t accept that, it’ll eventually drive you crazy.”
For a generation known for its industry and self-reliance and for a group of individuals with a reputation for being Alpha Male, I’m continually surprised to find this resigned view of life. But perhaps that’s my own generation talking?
Just today, I checked a listing of “discussions” on a business-level social-networking site and was struck by how many people had the Keys to Whatever Kingdom. And I’m still surprised at my own level of confidence in the unknown.
Especially in today’s economy, I’m struggling with Wendell’s “Just chill” view. But you know, the worse it gets, the more it makes sense. And that explains the gratitude to the Fates that these guys feel.
A THING I LEARNED FROM AN OLD GUY #12
The record - so far - for the number of times I can tell an envelope has been reused is 4.
And, it happened just yesterday when I received a bit of gun camera footage in the mail. I counted 3 labels underneath the current return label. And to top that off, the envelope as it was received by me was obviously cut down from a larger one!
Now, it’s not that this particular veteran is impoverished. Noooo way. Nor is he being cheap. If I called and asked him for $100, he’s the type to send $500, “Just cuz I might need it.” Nada on ‘frugal’ too. Instead, he’s being - and this is the term to use - sensible. “Why would you throw away a perfectly good envelope?”
Strange...because my generation is more likely to say, “Why take the time to reuse an old envelope when a new one is right in the box?” Or, the more likely, “Gee. For an extra dollar I can get an extra-large...”
Not for me any more. Last month, I ordered a medium pizza when I could have nearly doubled its size for an extra $3. Instead, I ordered what we needed. There was no leftover, no shoving pieces into the freezer (and no throwing them out three months later) and certainly no over-eating. Nothing more, nothing less. Though I haven’t mastered the process, I definitely work to err on Need versus Want.
And in my short time on this earth, I have never, ever heard anyone say, “Gee! Thanks for using a brand new envelope instead of an older one.”
By the way, I’m returning the gun camera film in the same package, only this time, I turned it inside out, creating new, clean surfaces to stamp and address. I bet we’ll get at least 3 more uses of out it.
And he’ll call me “cheap.”
A THING I LEARNED FROM AN OLD GUY #15
One of my other interests is Organizational Psychology. Since I was a kid, watching people interact as groups has been a fascination. “Why do they do that?”
Most of the time, this practice is no more profound than drawing arbitrary lines in the stars above and calling it a Constellation. Perspective is relative - we see what we want to see.
But...
Why is it so common - so regular, so predictable, that I receive specific, direct “Thank you’s” from these guys, even when the act is insignificant?
Don’t misunderstand me - my deeds are not mighty. These guys are merely naturally, expressively grateful. To everyone. For the big, for the small, they’re continually acknowledging the positive work of others in their lives. I can confidently state that the men I interview have a well-wound spring of magnanimity in their souls. Why?
It could be a generational thing (I hope not) or it could be a reflection of intelligence, of a common temperament of fighter pilots...I don’t know. But I know that among my own, such courtesy and honor is noticeably less frequent. And when it does happen, it seems too casual and flip.
The other day, I watched one man thank another for helping at a meeting with a muttered, “Thanks” and no eye contact at all. My first thought was, “I wonder why Gary didn’t stand up, look Brad in the eye and say, “Thank you for putting in the time you did last week. You made it happen.”?
Expressions of courtesy and graciousness can’t be forced. To do that is, in my opinion, sin. Gratitude simply can’t ever be a burden. Yet, these things are learned, taught from grateful hearts. I should have been happy to see Brad being honored at all, even so off-hand.
Interestingly, my mental ‘correction’ of Brad’s thanks was spoken in the remarkable, baritone voice of a particular pilot who’s had a larger-than-typical influence on me....for which, I am especially grateful.
A THING I LEARNED FROM AN OLD GUY #20
Years ago, I asked a pilot if it bothered him that he wasn’t an ace. He’d been the wingman to a few notable scorers; it naturally fell to my mind that he’d be upset with his single confirmed aerial victory.
His answer took a long time to sink in. Years, in fact. To be fair, the answer was one I’d heard from many other pilots. “I liked being a wingman. I liked the idea that I had someone to protect and when they succeeded, I succeeded.” Then he self-consciously cleared his throat and stated flatly that Pilot-x (a fairly high scoring ace) was simply a phenomenal marksman almost in spite of being an inferior pilot. To my friend,, each were in their proper place - two gears in a functioning machine.
One ace put it another way, “I didn’t have time to watch my ass and I never was any good at watching anyone else’s!”
Yet, completing a triad of mutual dependency, there were the mechanical specialists back at the base that shared very little of the glory but without their tireless service, nothing was possible. I spent an afternoon with the crew chief of a very high scoring Luftwaffe ace (Erich Rudorrfer - 222 victories) and he said rather puckishly, “I made his airplane fly. He knew this.”
There are Kings, there are Priests and there are Servants. Each one serves the other two.
I could have learned that one a few years earlier. :)
A THING I LEARNED FROM AN OLD GUY #2
Yesterday morning, I held a bronze bust of Adolf Hitler.
On its mount was scratched the name of a man, the date and the reason for his award. Somehow, some way, someone was rewarded for their service to all-things Fuhrer.
In a while, I’ll post a photo of this strange relic of the past, but in the meantime, it reminds me of a common answer to a question I ask pilots - “Why did you go to war so readily?”
The answer is - at least among air crew - universal. “Because Hitler/Tojo was taking away people’s freedom.”
Hitler’s Germany and WW2 Japan valued the “Collective” above all else. Citizens were expected to dissolve into the national ideal and play their part - cogs in a great machine. However, the United States of WW2 still held to the patriotic belief that the individual was entitled to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
I’m no Republican. Nor am I a Democrat. Neither am I religious nor am I a zealot in any way save for this - I have learned that individual freedom is not a disease to be eliminated nor ideal to be striven for... but a basic right. Like Oxygen.
I am exceedingly grateful for the influence of these men to reveal the American spirit at its best - rugged individualism expressed in a way that is willing to sacrifice for the same in all, no matter where they live.
A THING I LEARNED FROM AN OLD GUY #5
