Brothers in Arms in General
- Aug. 27, 2022, 5:13 p.m.
- |
- Public
These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Someday you’ll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you’ll no longer burn to be
Brothers in arms…
Some of us stay in contact.
Some just fade away.
Occasionally word makes its way though the network. Recently a guy who was the CO of
VAQ-136 passed away. Cancer.
I was in refresher, and was just a body for his NATOPS simulator check. In the briefing room he looked at me and said “go.”
Not a big deal, but if it is your check, it is supposed to be your brief.
We manned up the simulator and every step I was confident we had it wired. But he was an A-6E guy heading toward EA-6B command and he was leaning on me significantly.
We got all the standard “engine flameout right at rotation.” Momentary shift of the upper half of the IPI.
“Abort, abort, abort!”
The hydraulic failure. The complete hydraulic failure. The dual engine failure that forced an ejection over the Olympic Peninsula, after I calmly asked for vectors away from populated areas.
Reset and another set of problems.
We landed, lost brakes and took the chain gear. He was driving, but I did all the work and he didn’t even thank me.
Rest in peace dude. My brother in arms.
I don’t know how the significant others do it. I knew how we did it, we just did it. But there was no guarantee that the person who left in the green flight suit was coming home.
No guarantee at all.
Last updated August 28, 2022
Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ August 27, 2022
:/
Crazy. Never heard that side of song before.
Jinn ⋅ August 27, 2022
It takes a lot of courage for soldiers and their significant others .