On Fri, 02 Jul 2004 01:31:34 -0400, Dweezil Dwarftosser
wrote:

Heheh. I was in a Wing QC outfit for a while at Ramstein.
We had some squirrel captain for an OIC (non-rated, to boot;
clearly, they had to find a job for this guy, where he
couldn't get in much trouble, and we were stuck with him).

I think it was 1983, when AFN radio gave the news of our
invasion of Granada. We listened carefully. As the broadcast
ended, Capt. Fuzz [1] blurted out: "DAMN! I would give
anything to have been there!" About a dozen gray-haired
MSgts and TSgts (all Vietnam War vets, most with multiple
tours) responded - unrehearsed and almost in unison -
"Great Sir! You can take my place, next time!"

Hah! Luvvit!

Similar thing happened to me. I was flogging an AT-38B at Holloman.
Passed over several times for O-5. Promotion list came out and the
Wing DO had the task of informing those in the zone of the outcome. He
caught me in the hall and piously intoned his regret that I hadn't
made it (again). Then he continued:

"Ed, with all your combat experience and the great job you've been
doing, I'll tell you honestly, if we go to war again and you get to
lead, you're gonna make it immediately. You'll be advanced right
away."

I, rapidly becoming the senior major in the entire USAF and with
nothing to lose, looked at the colonel and with great humility said,
"Sir, if we go to war again, it'll be somebody else's turn."



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8