View Full Version : Brigadier General Olds
Beverly Carmichael
July 3rd 07, 01:46 PM
I should like to draw your attention to the fact that Robin Olds was a 
Brigadier General in the United States Airforce.
It is appropriate to refer to him as Brigadier General Olds. Not 'Mr' Olds.
Colonel Beverly Carmichael
US Airforce (Retired)
Shiver
July 3rd 07, 07:15 PM
> Beverly Carmichael > wrote:
> It is appropriate to refer to him as Brigadier General Olds. Not 'Mr' Olds.
Well Bev.... We have all met people like that.
Pompous people who even when retired insist that every one from
children to their parents address them by their title.
Why I'll bet a plugged nickle that on a saturday night down at the
lodge you insist that everyone call you Colonel instead of just plain
old Bev. And I'll bet the more beers you have in your belly the more
you insists on being called Colonel.
> Colonel Beverly Carmichael
> US Airforce (Retired)
redc1c4
July 3rd 07, 07:27 PM
Beverly Carmichael wrote:
> 
> I should like to draw your attention to the fact that Robin Olds was a
> Brigadier General in the United States Airforce.
> 
> It is appropriate to refer to him as Brigadier General Olds. Not 'Mr' Olds.
> 
> Colonel Beverly Carmichael
> US Airforce (Retired)
i'd like to draw your attention to the fact that he's dead, so he's the 
"late whatever title you use".....
also, you come across as a pompous lifer pig, so go make a Power Point 
briefing and leave the rest of us alone.
redc1c4,
"Officers exist to attend meetings and sign for ****."
-- 
"Enlisted men are stupid, but extremely cunning and sly, and bear
considerable watching." 
 Army Officer's Guide
Bobby Galvez
July 3rd 07, 08:19 PM
Beverly Carmichael wrote:
> I should like to draw your attention to the fact that Robin Olds was a
> Brigadier General in the United States Airforce.
>
> It is appropriate to refer to him as Brigadier General Olds. Not 'Mr' Olds.
>
> Colonel Beverly Carmichael
> US Airforce (Retired)
When did "Air Force" become one word?
Did we miss something?
BobbyG
David Pride[_2_]
July 3rd 07, 08:23 PM
General Olds is a triple ace who earned his title many time over, from his 
service in World War II through Vietnam.
You, on the other hand, are a petty little twit who cannot possibly conceive 
of what it is to serve one's country and lead a meaningful life.  Otherwise, 
you would not try to degrade those who are obviously better than you.
"shiver" > wrote in message 
...
>> Beverly Carmichael > wrote:
>
>> It is appropriate to refer to him as Brigadier General Olds. Not 'Mr' 
>> Olds.
>
> Well Bev.... We have all met people like that.
>
> Pompous people who even when retired insist that every one from
> children to their parents address them by their title.
>
> Why I'll bet a plugged nickle that on a saturday night down at the
> lodge you insist that everyone call you Colonel instead of just plain
> old Bev. And I'll bet the more beers you have in your belly the more
> you insists on being called Colonel.
>
>
>> Colonel Beverly Carmichael
>> US Airforce (Retired)
B-Hate-Me
July 3rd 07, 08:36 PM
"Beverly Carmichael" > wrote in message 
. 190.155...
>I should like to draw your attention to the fact that Robin Olds was a
> Brigadier General in the United States Airforce.
>
> It is appropriate to refer to him as Brigadier General Olds. Not 'Mr' 
> Olds.
>
>
> Colonel Beverly Carmichael
> US Airforce (Retired)
Make me my dinner, woman!
ŽiŠardo
July 3rd 07, 08:51 PM
David Pride wrote:
> General Olds is a triple ace who earned his title many time over, from his 
> service in World War II through Vietnam.
> 
> You, on the other hand, are a petty little twit who cannot possibly conceive 
> of what it is to serve one's country and lead a meaningful life.  Otherwise, 
> you would not try to degrade those who are obviously better than you.
> 
> 
> "shiver" > wrote in message 
> ...
>>> Beverly Carmichael > wrote:
>>> It is appropriate to refer to him as Brigadier General Olds. Not 'Mr' 
>>> Olds.
>> Well Bev.... We have all met people like that.
>>
>> Pompous people who even when retired insist that every one from
>> children to their parents address them by their title.
>>
>> Why I'll bet a plugged nickle that on a saturday night down at the
>> lodge you insist that everyone call you Colonel instead of just plain
>> old Bev. And I'll bet the more beers you have in your belly the more
>> you insists on being called Colonel.
>>
>>
>>> Colonel Beverly Carmichael
>>> US Airforce (Retired) 
> 
> 
What's "degrading" about mocking the pompous? If you'd read the message 
the man is mocking the "Colonel", not the the subject of the title.
-- 
Moving things in still pictures!
Andrew-S
July 3rd 07, 09:11 PM
Not if your a civilian..  Many such as myself prefer to use the title out of 
courtesy, however it is not required and some sticklers for protocol and 
etiquette would even argue against civilians using titles outside of formal 
circles.   When was the last time a Major in the American Army ever insisted 
upon still being referred to as Major in his retirement???  Other members of 
the military may call him by his title at formal events but rarely of ever 
at civilian events. Besides I seriously doubt that a man such as Robin Olds 
would take offence at your perceived slight.
But    Ms. Beverly Carmichael,       if you insist upon being formal in a 
civilian multinational newsgroup (many of whom come from nations with 
similar but different protocols), I don't mind at all.
Andrew
"Beverly Carmichael" > wrote in message 
. 190.155...
>I should like to draw your attention to the fact that Robin Olds was a
> Brigadier General in the United States Airforce.
>
> It is appropriate to refer to him as Brigadier General Olds. Not 'Mr' 
> Olds.
>
>
> Colonel Beverly Carmichael
> US Airforce (Retired)
Shiver
July 3rd 07, 09:33 PM
> David Pride > wrote:
> You, on the other hand, are a petty little twit who cannot possibly conceive 
> of what it is to serve one's country and lead a meaningful life.  
Your personal comments about me have nothing to do with the issue at
hand.
Many of us have met people under social settings where some priggish
asshole demands the respect due them by insisting that they be refered
to as Doctor, or Colonel, or even Brigadier General.
Today some (retired) Colonel came into this group to not only tell us
what was the appropriate salutation for this man, but to make sure we
all knew that they themselves were a Colonel (retired) in the
US Air Force.
Who the **** cares.
TO THE GROUP - CORRECT ME ( AS USUAL ) IF I AM WRONG.
I don't believe that anybody in this group spoke about 
Mr. Olds recent passing with disrespect when various individuals have
made positive comments about him, his career, with posted pictures as
well.
So why today is it necessary for some (retired) Colonel to tell the
adults in this group that some dead General should not be refered to
as Mr.
Are we talking ridiculous here, or just plain stupid.
I'll stand by my bet.
I bet one plugged nickel that Berverly prefers to be called Colonel in
public especially places like the lodge or legion when there's beer
in the belly and war tales on the table.
TO THE GROUP..... 
I'm sure that we are all old enough, and mature enough, to figure out
for ourselves what the proper way would be to address this person if 
we had ever met him.
Geoff  Miller
July 4th 07, 02:35 AM
Beverly Carmichael  > writes:
>I should like to draw your attention to the fact that Robin Olds
> was a Brigadier General in the United States Airforce.
> It is appropriate to refer to him as Brigadier General Olds. Not
> 'Mr' Olds.
> Colonel Beverly Carmichael
> US Airforce (Retired)
Yeah, and "Air Force" is two words.  I'd think that someone who'd
served in that service long enough to have retired from it would
know that.
Geoff
--
"They suffer from the same disease as other liberals; they have
 run out of other people's money." -- Margaret Thatcher
Bob Harrington
July 4th 07, 02:42 AM
shiver > wrote in
: 
>> David Pride > wrote:
> 
>> You, on the other hand, are a petty little twit who cannot possibly
>> conceive of what it is to serve one's country and lead a meaningful
>> life.  
> 
> Your personal comments about me have nothing to do with the issue at
> hand.
> 
> Many of us have met people under social settings where some priggish
> asshole demands the respect due them by insisting that they be refered
> to as Doctor, or Colonel, or even Brigadier General.
> 
> Today some (retired) Colonel came into this group to not only tell us
> what was the appropriate salutation for this man, but to make sure we
> all knew that they themselves were a Colonel (retired) in the
> US Air Force.
> 
> Who the **** cares.
> 
> TO THE GROUP - CORRECT ME ( AS USUAL ) IF I AM WRONG.
> 
> I don't believe that anybody in this group spoke about 
> Mr. Olds recent passing with disrespect when various individuals have
> made positive comments about him, his career, with posted pictures as
> well.
> 
> So why today is it necessary for some (retired) Colonel to tell the
> adults in this group that some dead General should not be refered to
> as Mr.
> 
> Are we talking ridiculous here, or just plain stupid.
> 
> I'll stand by my bet.
> 
> I bet one plugged nickel that Berverly prefers to be called Colonel in
> public especially places like the lodge or legion when there's beer
> in the belly and war tales on the table.
> 
> TO THE GROUP..... 
> 
> I'm sure that we are all old enough, and mature enough, to figure out
> for ourselves what the proper way would be to address this person if 
> we had ever met him.
Olds was a Mr. before he was a Brigadier General.  I would submit that it 
was the qualities and character of the Mr. that so well filled out the 
uniform of the Brigadier General - not the title itself.  (Did that make 
sense?)
I saw no disrespect in the use of "Mr. Olds" here.
Bob ^,,^
Tom Hayden
July 4th 07, 05:03 AM
Time for a little (somewhat related) humor -
Years ago I worked for a company that had an interdepartment baseball 
league. One Spring it came time to round up the usual suspects to form the 
teams, so forms were made available for people to sign up to play. Our 
Engineering Dept had recently hired a new VP, who was a pretty decent ball 
player. So he signed up.
He put down his name, address, telephone number, etc.
And when he came to the line that was supposed to find out whether he wanted 
to play first base, shortstop, left field, etc., it said POSITION?
And he wrote - Vice President of Engineering.
He never lived that down, not that he ever knew it of course!
Some people think of themselves primarily in terms of a title, I guess.
Tom
Waldo
July 4th 07, 05:58 AM
I am in a comenting mood today. This is rare so please indulge me.
Is there no point so small that you guys cannot blow up into a
mountain and have a good 'ol knock down drag out about??
For **** sake it is nothing - let it go! Have a beer and get on with
life. That's what I am doing right now!
Waldo.
Bob Moore
July 4th 07, 04:12 PM
Tom Hayden wrote
> Time for a little (somewhat related) humor -
> Some people think of themselves primarily in terms of a title, I
> guess. 
Copied from a post that I made to a pilot newsgroup a few years back.
:-)  :-)
You guys have touched on one of my pet peeves in aviation.  Pilots 
not knowing who or what they are.  :-) 
At the fundamental level, there is the "PILOT" as defined in my 
"Webster's" as being "the person who operates an aircraft or 
spacecraft" and the "COPILOT" as being "one who assists the pilot 
in operating an aircraft".  Actually, in the case of more than one 
pilot, perhaps they both should be "CO-PILOTS" since the prefix "co" 
simply means together. 
Then came the FAA (or rather its predessor) who insisted that 
somebody (preferably one of the pilots) really be in charge of the 
whole operation.  Thus the "PILOT-IN-COMMAND" concept came about.  If 
the pilots were equally qualified, the FAA required that the Air 
Carrier designate one of them as PILOT-IN-COMMAND (PIC).  This left 
"SECOND-IN-COMMAND" for the other pilot. 
Note....that to this point, PILOT and CO-PILOT go together and PIC 
and SIC share context.  The CFR for multi-pilot aircraft use the 
terms PIC and SIC.....not Pilot and Co-pilot. 
Then aircarriers (probably my old carrier PanAm) started flying large 
flying boats into foreign ports and in an attempt to gain the 
same level of respect for the flightcrews that the crews of visiting 
ships received, the concept of flightcrew officers with rank and 
title was born.  Following the nautical tradition, the PICs were 
given the rank and title of "CAPTAIN", but differing somewhat from 
shipboard terminology, instead of "First Mate" for the second ranking 
officer, he was given the rank and title of "FIRST OFFICER".  The 
Flight Engineer became the "FLIGHT ENGINEERING OFFICER" much the same 
as a ship's Engineering Officer. 
When aircarriers started employing pilots to train and serve as 
Flight Engineers, even though they held a Flight Engineer 
Certificate, they were in many cases given the rank and title of 
"SECOND OFFICER".  In addition to these and the "RADIO OFFICER", it 
was not uncommon on those early flying boats to have a Fifth or Sixth 
Officer. 
What purpose did "rank and title" serve?  First....rank served to 
specify the level of responsibility and authority of ones position 
within the flightcrew, and second, the title served as a means of 
showing respect when addressing one of the aircraft's officers. 
After all...in proper society, we are all entitled :-) to the title 
Mr./Mrs./Miss if no other title has been bestowed upon us.  One does 
not bestow a title upon himself nor use his title when referring to 
himself.  Being PIC of an aircraft does not automatically confer the 
rank and title of "CAPTAIN".  At PanAm, all of our copilots held ATPs 
and Type Ratings for the aircraft that they flew and in the eyes of 
the FAA, they were fully qualified to fly as PICs outside of an 
aircarrier environment, but the rank and title of "CAPTAIN" was not 
bestowed until they had completed the FAA required Initial Operating 
Experience (IOE) for PICs and an Initial Command Check. 
So now, we have three sets of words used to describe the two people 
up front in an airplane.  Pilot/Copilot, PIC/SIC, and Captain/First 
Officer.  These word pairs should be used in the same context.  I am 
constantly amused by those who write " I was Captain of flight XXX 
and my copilot was.......  It seems that once a pilot is told that he 
is "A Captain", he will never again refer to himself as mearly a 
pilot, but First Officer Smith is still just a copilot. 
Rank and titles should not be used as stand-alone nouns but rather as 
intended, as a title prefaced before a persons proper name. 
At least at PanAm, the Flight Attendants got it right in their pre- 
takeoff announcements, "Commanding FltXXX today is  Xxx Xxxx", 
and then  Xxx Xxxxx would blow it with his PA announcement by 
starting with "Good morning, this is your captain speaking." 
Yes, I know that many of you work, or have worked for companies in 
whose manuals the terms "Captain" and "First Officer" are used to 
describe positions rather than rank and title.  My own company, PanAm 
did that too, but I also knew the Director of Flight Operations who 
prepared the manual and I fully understood that he was no student of 
the English language and whose ego would never again allow himself to 
be referred to as a "lowly" pilot.  How about all those ads in 
aviation magazines that offer "Airline First Officer Training"?   
Don't they really mean co-pilot training?  Notice that the more 
professional of the schools do not use this terminology. 
How many of you pilots renew your FAA Medical Certificate with one of 
your local doctors?  I don't.  I get mine from a physician.... more 
specifically from an Aviation Medical Examiner (AME).  I honor his 
education, training, and position in life with the title "Doctor". 
Some will say, "Well, what about a ship's "captain"?  Actually, a 
merchant ship has a "MASTER" with the rank and title of "Captain".  A 
U.S. Naval ship has a "COMMANDING OFFICER", again with the title of 
"Captain" regardless of his actual Naval rank. 
Ah well....no one ever said that we had to be proficient in language 
skills in order to fly airplanes or write TV shows. :-) 
Bob Moore
Savageduck
July 5th 07, 10:14 AM
Bob Moore wrote:
> Tom Hayden wrote
>> Time for a little (somewhat related) humor -
>> Some people think of themselves primarily in terms of a title, I
>> guess. 
>
> 
> 
> Ah well....no one ever said that we had to be proficient in language 
> skills in order to fly airplanes or write TV shows. :-) 
> 
> 
> Bob Moore
Without doubt Robin Olds was a pilot and hero of that "Greatest 
Generation". He had the skill and tenacity to bring all his experience 
to several generations of combat fliers so they could succeed. He was a 
leader of men. Unfortunately he had to fight pompous military 
bureaucrats flying desks all of his career after WWII.
Robin Olds would understand the respect paid him by those addressing him 
as General, however a man of his modesty would prefer to be remembered 
as an old P-38 jockey.
Savageduck
Savageduck
July 5th 07, 11:07 PM
Savageduck wrote:
> Bob Moore wrote:
>> Tom Hayden wrote
>>> Time for a little (somewhat related) humor -
>>> Some people think of themselves primarily in terms of a title, I
>>> guess. 
>>
>>
>>
>> Ah well....no one ever said that we had to be proficient in language 
>> skills in order to fly airplanes or write TV shows. :-)
>>
>> Bob Moore
> 
> Without doubt Robin Olds was a pilot and hero of that "Greatest 
> Generation". He had the skill and tenacity to bring all his experience 
> to several generations of combat fliers so they could succeed. He was a 
> leader of men. Unfortunately he had to fight pompous military 
> bureaucrats flying desks all of his career after WWII.
> Robin Olds would understand the respect paid him by those addressing him 
> as General, however a man of his modesty would prefer to be remembered 
> as an old P-38 jockey.
> 
> Savageduck
  Also just to clarify Robin Olds' history, he graduated from West Point 
(where he was an All-American tackle) and earned his USAAF wings on June 
1, 1943. He was assigned to 479th Fighter Group in  February 1944 and 
shipped out to England in May 1944. Capt. Olds became one of the Eighth 
AF's few P-38 aces by shooting down two Fw190's on August 14, 1944 and 
three Bf109's on the August 24, 1944. Later in 1944 the 479th converted 
to P-51s and he shot down eight more enemy fighters giving him a WWII 
aerial combat score of 13. He has 11 documented ground kills (but real 
fighters never claim them, only the statisticians). He flew 107 WWII 
combat missions and as a 22 year old major commanded the 434th FS.
His WWII awards include two Silver Stars, two DFCs, 28 Air Medals, The 
British DFC and the Croix de Guerre.
Twenty two years later Colonel Olds commanded the 8th Tactical Fighter 
Wing in the Vietnam War. Flying F-4 Phantoms he added four MIG kills to 
his score at the age of 44.
For his service in South East Asia he earned The Air Force Cross, two 
Distinguished Service Medals, two more Silver Stars, three more DFCs and 
twelve more OLCs to his Air Medals. He retired from the USAF as a 
brigadier general in 1973.
A pilot's pilot, an example of leadership and a modest gentleman.
Savageduck
Felix D.
July 14th 07, 04:48 AM
"shiver" > wrote in message 
...
>> Beverly Carmichael > wrote:
>
>> It is appropriate to refer to him as Brigadier General Olds. Not 'Mr' 
>> Olds.
>
> Well Bev.... We have all met people like that.
>
> Pompous people who even when retired insist that every one from
> children to their parents address them by their title.
Oh,  please. You'd have to climb up on your mother's shoulders just to kiss 
Gen. Olds' ass.
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