The Day
(Low clouds above entrenched German resistance at Omaha Beach.)
There is a bunch of stuff to talk about this morning, but I don’t feel like delving too far into the present. It is messy, lacks any demonstration of courage, and the portents are uncertain. Only in that does this morning share much with the one on this day 68 years ago, though the stakes might be just as high, though perhaps not as immediate and violently fatal.
They say that the term “D-Day” has no particular meaning. It does not refer to “decision day” or anything of the like. It just meant “the day,” a notional concept of when one thing turned into another thing on a gigantic integrated schedule-of-events, the scope of which dwarved the mobilizations that shook Europe to its foundations in 1914.
Ike took a look at the weather days ago, and shrugged. His weather-guesser said that conditions might rise to marginally acceptable. There was a limited window on the calendar which involved tides and lunar phases to enable the airborne component of the operation.
The vast machine could not be held in neutral for long- the complexity of the enormous logistics train that snaked to the sea-borne ports of embarkation had been put underway. The secret of where they were going- not the shorter route to the Pas de Calais, but a longer one to the beaches- designated “Juno,” “Gold,” “Sword,” “Utah” and “Omaha”- could not be held for long.
Some troops were already at sea, and could not return to their bases since the flow from behind for future waves had already filled them up.
Ike said: “go,” and turned to Field Marshall Montgomery to execute Operation Overlord, and commence Operation Neptune. He wrote a memo for the record and stuck it in his pocket. Should it be necessary, he was prepared to read it and accept sole responsibility for failure.
It certainly could have. But it did not.
This is always a special day for me. Whenever I see a particularly thorny problem, I think back to what they did then. Their answers were about matters of life and death, and acceptance and sacrifice. They prevailed against overwhelming force and the legions of doom.
Remember. There were times when there were leaders of real and personal courage. We could use some of that these days.
Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
The Day Between
(An image of a younger Elizabeth, in commemoration of her Diamond Jubilee.)
It is the day between- the dates that even at this distance ring with the poignancy of sacrifice. The Battle of Midway was concluding this day, with doomed ships and crews going down under the flags of Imperial Japan and The United states of America.
I got a note from The Good Doctor yesterday, and he reminded me of exactly who paid the bill for victory:
“My dad’s first cousin, Grant W. Teats, was one of George Gay’s wingmen in Torpedo Squadron 8. He perished on that day, June 4th 1942 along with everyone else except George. He was one helluva guy and athlete…
Now it gets even spookier. It turns out that my wife’s uncle, ENS Donald T. Griswold, also was killed in action that day, flying for Scouting Squadron 8 (also flying off the Hornet) and was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions that fateful day.
So both sides of our family were involved in action at Midway, the victory engineered by your good friend Mac. The ill-conceived torpedo bomber and scouting missions failed, but nevertheless were key parts of the Miracle at Midway.”
Having the unique (and historic) opportunity to hang out with Mac, it is no surprise that the triumph of Operational Intelligence takes pride of place in the annals of our little clan of Spooks. To be able to share his memories in person is a pearl beyond price, and the years between vanish in the recollections behind his blue eyes.
But we should remember that it was the Marines and Army Air Corps kids who manned up on Midway Island and went out to fight. They were flying aircraft that were no match for the aviators of the Empire of the Sun. Their training was spotty- to the extent that Marine dive-bombers were not even trained in the tactic for which their Dauntless bombers were intended.
The Navy kids were no better off. The torpedo planes had to line up and fly straight-and-level on the run-in, to ensure that the MK-13 fish would not destruct on impact. The Japanese who survived were amazed at the calm and steady manner in which the Americans lined up to die, one by one.
It was an insubordinate Naval aviator who ignored a direct order to follow an erroneous heading. He took his own flight direct to the scene of the action against the Kido Butai. If he had lived, he might have been court-marshaled. As it was, he was awarded the Purple Heart and the Navy Cross.
Here in the present, this is a day that passes for history in These United States- there is a recall election someplace, and we will hear a lot of it tomorrow, regardless of how it goes. It seems appropriate on this day between to join the residents of Shakespeare’s realm in the celebration of the diamond jubilee of Her Majesty, The Queen. She has served the people of her orb well with phlegmatic grace across the great divide between global empire and status as a plucky outlier of the Continent, and PMs from Churchill to Cameron.
A toast to her England, which Richard the Deuce described as:
This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,–
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
It is appropriate, since I turn my thoughts to a great friend and family member, Captain Richard Gile, U.S. Army Air Corps, who spent his time in England as a member of the 487th Bomb Group (Heavy), Station 137, Lavenham, Suffolk.
His day on the fifth of June was not in between anything. He was preparing for a special mission in the morning, 68 years ago tomorrow. Great forces were already at work all across England, preparing to hurl the largest amphibious force ever assembled across the Channel and conquer a continent.
(CAPT Richard Gile, USAAF. Photo Marshall Gile.)
I have told you before on other anniversaries of this day between: Dick lost an engine on his B-17 on take off roll, leaving him just enough thrust to get airborne. His fuel-and-bomb-laden aircraft lurched slowly, slowly into controlled flight, a slowly moving mass that could have blown up an English village if he could not wrestle it into the air.
Dick had the option, with good conscience, of dumping his bombs in the sea, burning off fuel, and returning safely to Lavenham.
He did not. He uttered an expletive and told his crew they were headed for the target, a bridge that would have enabled the Panzers held in reserve to strike the fragile toehold on the landing beaches. Private Ryan and his comrades were below, and they would soon know the closest thing to hell on earth that exists. Dick and his crew were not going to let them down.
So, on this day between, let me lift my mug to his memory, and of Private Ryan and his comrades in their landing craft, and make a special mention for Lieutenant Commander John C. Waldron.
Waldron was the insubordinate aviator who told his Air Wing Commander that he was screwed up, and headed off instead toward where he estimated, correctly, that the Japanese fleet lay.
His disobedience is worthy of the first ring of insubordination, reminding some of Nelson at Copenhagen in 1801. Waldron sighted the enemy carriers just where he thought they would be, and commenced his attack at 9:20 mid-Pacific time.
Here are his last orders: “If there is only one plane left to make the final run in, I want that man to go in and get a hit.”
Without a fighter escort, all 15 TBD Devastators of VT-8 were shot down like pigeons by swarming Zero-sen fighters. VT-6 followed Waldron’s lead and were also shot to pieces without a single one of the cursed Mark 13 torpedoes hitting a damned thing.
But if they had not done what they did, the Five Minutes at Midway would never have happened.
Here is a toast to The Queen, and to the men of the Mighty Eighth, and a special prayer for the soul of John C. Waldron. Bless them all.
(LCDR John C. Waldron, KIA. Photo USN)
Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Hawaii Calls
(Kimo on his way to the office at Makalapa, eagles and wash khakis, black tie and garrison cap.)
I got out of the house for new adventures in Geezerhood yesterday. ENS Socotra provided the mobility quotient, and it was a glorious day, crisp and sunny and a bit like the days when he was knee-high to a grasshopper back in the Islands of his birth. I particularly liked the electric scooter at the Commissary- it changes the usual shopping experience into something quite exciting- like the artichoke aisle meeting the go-cart track.
It is interesting seeing the world from the height of a four-year-old. It was a little strange, but certainly preferable to the view from six feet below.
Like many of us, I started out watching the markets this morning. They may go up on rumors of Fed intervention through a stealth Quantitative easing, or they may continue sinking, since Mr. Bernanke is really about at the end of his rope.
A Supreme Court ruling on the Administration’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) could drop from the Supremes sometime this week, and being protected and affordable are two neat ideas that don’t seem to have much to do with it. My current adventure in a single payer system shows the good, the bad and the ugly about what this system is liable to look like, if it meets the Constitutional muster.
There will be portents out of Wisconsin this week- Wednesday, voters to polls to determine the fate of Governor Scott Walker and the recall election, which will mean something or other.
Across the Pond, The Queen is celebrating her Diamond Anniversary, and the Thames is alive with river traffic in commemoration of a truly Great Briton. It is a commentary on the times to compare the Naval Review off Spithead that celebrated her Coronation to the one commemorating her sixty years on the throne:
Greek elections are two weeks out. I cannot bring myself to look at the 401K. Too depressing. I was going through the mail this morning as my pals in the mid-Pacific prepare to return to CONUS from the celebrations about the Battle of Midway. The actual anniversary of the events that determined the rest of that war will play out this afternoon and tomorrow, but Mac will be on the way home, and I am eager to great him on return.
My pal Kimo wrote yesterday from the scene to keep me current, and forgive me if I swelled a little in pride at the accomplishments of his generation of Americans, even as the memories of Midway morph into those of D-Day, the 6th of June, 1944, in the European Theater of Operations:
“Vic,
It is the day after and I am sitting here on the beach Henry Kaiser and Baron Hilton made so famous as the Hawaiian Hilton Village. It is 0700 the “morning after”.
I’ve just had a morning swim, as all true waterman do before breakfast, and am now contemplating all that this historic week with Mac had to offer. It is still hard to believe we’ve had this once in a lifetime opportunity to be present as Mac has demonstrates in person why America is so great.
He and his family arrived on Tuesday and he has been going non-stop ever since.
On Friday, he was the keynote speaker at U.S. Pacific Fleet Headquarters, telling the assembled audience of Flags, Senior Executives and staff members from PACFLT, PACOM and JIOC PAC about the vitally important role Naval Intelligence played in the Battle of Midway. In his morning speech he focused on explaining some of the common myths about the Battle, and he assured us that Hal Holbrook was the worst cast actor to play Joe Rochefort in movie history!
When he finished his prepared remarks in from the PACFLT HQ flag pole, he spent over an hour in the basement, home of the current day PACFLT N2/N39 team, shaking hands and talking to the crowd who filed into the basement to see the panels that display the history of OPINTEL in the Pacific. Mac was back for the second time to see these panels which he dedicated eleven years ago when Admiral Tom Fargo was the PACFLT Commander and yours truly was a LCDR on the staff working for the then PACFLT N2 CAPT Barb Bowyer.
Eleven years ago, none of us would have ever dreamed that Mac would be back for the 70th Anniversary, which made the morning and day so much the sweeter.
(Bruce, Paul and Kimo, left to right. The “Wheels” of Makalapa, 2012.)
An interesting side note, was surreal scene of having Mac and VADM Mike down in the basement looking at the board that displays the previous CPF N2s going back to Eddie Layton and through Watashi-wa. A more humbling moment I’ve never had in my life.
But this was not all for Mac, it was just the opening act, which was followed up by an early afternoon waterfront “Naval Heritage” event, what you and I know as an “All Hands Call”, where a hundred Sailors from around the Pearl Harbor waterfront listened to Mac tell the story of how Station Hypo contributed to informing Admiral Nimitz about the Imperial Japanese Navy’s designs on Midway.
Like the morning session Mac stayed for an extra hour to shake EVERY Sailors hand and sign autographs. If there ever was a Naval Intelligence officer with “rock star” appeal it is Mac Showers!
Not content to just go back to the Bachelor Officer’s Quarters, Mac had his family drove by Building1, the location of Station Hypo where they were arriving just as the Joint Intelligence Operations Center (JIOC) Commanding Officer, Rear Admiral (Sel) Bruce, was concluding a ceremony in the basement that was home to Joe Rochefort’s Combat Intelligence Unit (Station Hypo) some 70 years ago.
While I wasn’t present, due to real world affairs in the South China Sea, Bruce relayed that as the group was leaving the basement and they saw Admiral Showers car a small crowd gathered around and he again spent time shaking hands and passing along the message about the value of OPINTEL.
In a poignant moment, Admiral Showers was introduced to the grand daughter of one of his former basement mates at station Station Hypo, Marine Corps Officer, Alva “Red” Lasswell, who was a Japanese linguist. Truly a touching reunion, one that typifies this special weekend.
And the day wasn’t over for Mac, he was then the featured speaker for an evening cocktail reception hosted by the Pacific Command J2, Admiral Paul. Mac followed retired three-star Admiral Jake, who had challenged Mac about whether or not it was possible for Ensign George Gay (“Sole Survivor of Torpedo EIGHT”) to have seen every Japanese carrier and ship go down to Davy Jones locker, with another unique rendition of the Battle.
Mac not only brilliantly wove into his remarks a witty and authoritative response to Jake’s question about Ensign Gay. Mac and his family and close friends, the Purcillys, stayed at the reception held at the Pacific Aviation Museum for a long time ensuring everyone got a chance to talk to him.
Vic, I turn 50 this year and I am still amazed that a man nearly twice my age was able to conduct four separate speaking engagements. Truly, it was one of the most amazing and delightful events that I have had the privilege to witness first hand.
The next morning I met Mac, bright-eyed and bush- tailed at the Q. We drove over to the Pacific Aviation Museum (PAM) on Ford Island where yours truly was the opening speaker for the PAMs Battle of Midway two-day history symposium. You can imagine my trepidation at speaking to such an audience about the role of intelligence at the Battle of Midway. I could not have been more nervous, especially as Mac who was sitting in the front row!
Well, I’ll let Mac tell you how I did by his own account. I just know he was gracious to me and asked for a copy of my “power point briefing” that I had to use as my crutch! I may have been saved because of my attire – wash khakis with the old school black tie. It is still the most comfortable and classy looking uniform the USN has ever had…one can only hope we go back to it.
Anyway, after graciously enduring my recounting of the tale of intelligence and the Battle of Midway, Mac and family shifted colors to the Hale Koa Hotel on Waikiki Beach in preparation for the big night and culminating point of this commemoration weekend – the Midway Intelligence Ball!
The J2 and the JIOC Commander could not have done a better job.
Over 450 guests from across all services and national intelligence agencies converged on the Hale Koa Luau gardens outdoor ball room. Each table was beautifully arranged, thanks to Mrs. Loveless’ tender care. As the guests arrived, they were greeted with sounds of the Pacific Fleet band playing tunes from yesteryear. There is nothing quite like the PACFLT Band playing tunes from the 1940s to get the crowd “In the Mood”.
The evening is still fresh in my minds eye and while there are a million memories what stood out to me was the incredible speeches given by Mike, former Director of National Intelligence, and Mac.
Mike didn’t give the audience any sugar coating, instead he told us why “warning” is so important and then he warned us about the threat to our nations national security via the Cyber domain. These were words that would cause a normal audience to grow faint, but for this crowd it was a call to arms, to dig a little deeper, to in effect follow in the footsteps of men like Mac Showers.
In between speakers the audience was treated to the finest hula dancing available on island, as former Miss Hawaii, Kanoe Miller, awed the crowd with lovely moves from the wind and seas of these Hawaiian Islands. What made it most spectacular was seeing a full moon emerge from the passing clouds, a site that is simply to beautiful to describe in word.
Following the hula, I had the privilege to “roll” Mac out to center stage (he’s now a regular user of the wheel chair) for the presentation of his remarks to this inaugural crowd.
As he has done all week, Mac held the crowd in his hands as he told the story of what he and his teammates at Station Hypo did to give Admiral
Nimitz the intelligence he needed to prove to Washington that the Japanese were indeed going to send not just the Kido Butai to Midway, an invasion force as well, all part of Yamamoto’s master plan to draw out the Pacific Fleet and defeat it in a single battle at sea.
It was a fitting culmination for the week and one that kept the near 500 people in attendance long into the evening.
One person who stayed the longest was the current U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander, four-star Admiral Cecil Haney. The Admiral had not been expected to make any of the weekends activities due to required travel with some seniors from State Department, however, last minute cancellations allowed Admiral Haney and his family to attend the ball. He remarked that it was his pleasure to be present at such an august gather of intelligence professionals and that he very much appreciated the dedication of men like Mac Showers and the traditions and dedication to providing warning to today’s generation of commanders.
What a remarkable evening and weekend, a privilege and honor that I will never forget. The picture below, while of poor quality, best exemplifies the weekend – Mac as the star of the show!
Warmest of aloha,
Kimo
Copyright Kimo and Vic, 2012
www.vicsocotra.com
Midway and Cam Ranh
(USNS Richard E. Byrd, (TAKE-4) en route Cam Ranh Bay, SRV. Admiral Byrd was an early Naval Aviator and famed Antarctic explorer. Official USN Photo)
I am not supposed to be here, pondering the future from the living room at Big Pink. I am supposed to be in the Mid-Pacific, on the lovely isle of O’ahu, and celebrating the accomplishments of heroes seventy years ago on this very day.
Of course, there are a lot of us looking West this morning. SECDEF Leon Panetta was in WESTPAC yesterday, visiting the former US Naval Station at Cam Ranh Bay, Republic of Vietnam. The white sandy beaches there were the playground of the Rest and Recreation crowd, and there were all sorts of interesting things that went on around what many consider to be SE Asia’s best deep-water port.
The strange marine mammal program? Ask someone who knows why no Viet Cong Combat Swimmer ever made it to shore there alive. Flipper was always our friend. There are a lot of memories abroad in the vast Pacific today.
The Secretary stood on the deck of the USNS Richard E. Byrd (T-AKE 4) to ruminate on the historic significance of her presence there in the harbor, which I knew through my career as the largest Soviet naval base outside the Soviet Union, and a significant signals intelligence complex.
It was always irritating to look at images like this during my active duty days:
(High altitude imagery of the Soviet Facility at CRB. Photo DoD).
But things have changed. I was a small cog in the gears that normalized relations with the Vietnamese almost twenty years ago, and I am pleased that American emissaries are spreading out across the Pacific, reinvigorating old and new relationships. There could be one of the Navy’s new littoral combat ships assigned to Singapore, on the strategic Strait of Malacca, and perhaps even a return to Cam Rahn Bay.
The Chinese will have to chew on this one, hard, as they rattle the region with their “string of pearls” sea-control strategy and the astonishing claims to the entirety of the South China Sea.
It is worth talking about this morning, since my pals are halfway to China, in Hawaii, to celebrate the victory that turned the pacific war toward victory, and cemented a dominant presence in those waters for a half century.
The Administration has announced plans to change the center of gravity of the Fleet to reflect a 60% presence in the Pacific. This is the famous “pivot” in strategy to recognize that the only emerging and resurgent peer fleets- China, Russia and India- are Pacific and Indian Ocean powers.
‘Bout time, though I don’t know that objective reality will permit the plans to come to fruition. There is the matter of the pesky Iranians, after all, and the loose stack of dominoes in the CENTCOM area of responsibility. I mean, Saudi, Iran, Syria, Palestine and Israel all have their assorted interests and imperatives, and all get a vote on what will happen there, regardless of our grand strategy.
But at the moment, I would be delighted to see the faces of the Mandarins of the People’s Liberation Army- Navy (PLA-N) and the prospect of a bustling US Navy presence once more in Cam Ranh Bay.
It is a matter of national interest and tradition, and that is just one of the reasons I am really missing the commemoration in Hawaii this weekend and the opportunity to see it first hand.
(Left to right, Mac, Kimo, Matt and Patrick Driscoll, Deputy Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, addresses an audience of Naval Intelligence Professionals for whom this anniversary is so special. USN Photo Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class David Kolmel.)
Mac was there at Pearl, seventy years later. There was a press release about his historic return with the family, and that is why I could kick myself for not being able to travel and share the moment with him.
The actual anniversaries of the victory are strewn across the last month or more, when the men of Station HYPO teased out the secret of the Japanese Battle Plan, and schemed to come up with the definitive clues that would convince Admiral Nimitz to roll the dice with everything he had.
Joe Rochefort’s band of codebreakers managed to do it, and maximum force applied with maximum intensity at the point of attack enabled the victory.
That and the incredible courage of the aviators of the torpedo squadrons, who lined up one by one to be shot down as they lined up at low altitude to attempt to bring their steel fish to bear. As the Japanese combat air patrol swooped down to help shoot them, the SBD Dauntless dive bombers of Wade McClusky appeared overhead to provide the most memorable five minutes of combat action of the war.
The battle raged between 4-7 June, 1942, and God Bless the memories of the aviators from USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Hornet (CV-8), and USS Yorktown (CV-5) and the marine and Air Corps pilots stationed on Midway who made it possible for Secretary Panetta to stand on a US Navy Ship in Cam Ranh Bay, and confront an uncertain future.
Mac told the audience about the challenging process of his team’s intelligence work leading up to the battle. “It took time, and it took talent, and it took research, and it took a lot of effort on the part of a lot of people,” he said in his prepared remarks. He has unbelievable stamina, and this was only one of four major addresses they expect him to make on the Island.
I can’t wait to hear about it at Willow when he gets back. Then, maybe we can talk about what the struggle in the South China Sea was like the last time.
Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Road Test: Bledsoe Post-Op G3 Performance Brace
(The Bledsoe competition post-op crossover sport utility G3 brace with “dial-a-matic” flex control and sport black-out matte styling.)
I have had the privilege to share with you up-close and personal reviews of some of the most exciting cross-over vehicles on the road today. Caddies, Mercedes, Grand Cherokees and several other dogs have been flogged along the highway to the Northland and I kept meticulous notes on just how those astonishing cross-over vehicles performed.
Designed for one thing, they accomplished, to better and lesser degrees, something else altogether. I found myself at that sort of cross-roads yesterday morning, with the dread summons from Walter Reed to appear before the team of Baby Doc, The Marine, and Paa Doc for the first evaluation of the reconstructed leg.
It was Day Eight of the recovery, and I had not ventured further than the kitchen from the security and privacy of my bedchamber. It was a big deal. I could review the Bluesmobile, but you know how I feel about the lofty and imposing majesty of the police cruiser. I can report that the back-seat is splendid for the casual storage of the supplemental wheels.
As a competitive rehabilitation candidate, I prefer the Top End® Crossfire Titanium Ultra Lightweight Active Performance Rigid Wheelchair and its specific performance on highly polished surfaces like the new America Building 19 at Walter Reed.
(I will have to trade up to the TopEnd Transformer model competition chair with Dillon Presicison Products webgear. Photo InvaCare.)
Easily converting from casual transport to full out competition mode, the Crossfire combines lightweight high efficiency with instantaneous acceleration and lighting braking, if your hands work that way and the crutches slung across your shoulder do not get in the way. Tactical web-gear for equipment hauling can be found at Dillon Precision Products
We will review lines of competition half-gloves with Kevlar to minimize scarring incurred in jamming the chair thought the narrow kitchen door to get at the morning’s Dazbog-brand competition coffee.
But I digress, first things first. When shopping for my recuperative equipment, I prefer elegance and utility of application. The brace is paramount, since sudden motion out of the vertical will pop those staples in a heartbeat, and dislodge the fragile connection between the remaining deltoid tendons and the holes drilled in the patella.
Baby Doc directed the brace be unstrapped and the surgical bandages removed to assess progress. I was giddy with the idea that the leg might collapse- I mean, shaking. I like the weakness of a Spring leaf against the thunderstorms of the changing season.
For crutches? Naturally, I went with SideStix, a product line devoted to “specialized forearm crutches for hiking, snowshoeing, skiing, Lacrosse and assorted outdoors activities.”
(SideStix with attachments. Photo SideStix.)
SideStix is the “first shock absorbent sports crutch” with attachable ‘feet’ for a variety of terrains. I think they have a model with extended clip ammunition for Biathlon applications, but that can be problematic on military reservations these days. My SideStix are optimized for the difficult transitional movement from driver’s seat to the swivel to dismount the chair from the back seat of the police cruiser.
Did I mention the Ford Crown Vic Panther body-on-frame construction accommodates a brace with the formidable dimensions of the Bledsoe Post Op-G3?
You bet. The steering wheel flips up almost to the horizontal to accommodate any competition post-op appliance. As discerning professionals know, “Even if you go down, the Bledsoe Post-Op G3 will still be standing!”
Circumstances being what they are, I established a series of metrics to baseline the efficiencies of the equipment. The Bledsoe Post Op G3 is the Cadillac of braces- personally endorsed by Papa Doc Anderson and his world-class team of reconstructive Orthopods. When I awoke to discover that I would be Borg-like
The features are impressive and as functional as they are lean and elegant in design. The brace features “quick release” ski-boot tabs…sleek matt black finish…EZ-quick reposition Velcro patches for “on the go” adjustments…
Even better, the G3 is an AWD- excellent traction for that first lurch upright out of bed in the morning after that critical first decision- pee here in the plastic jug, or lurch to the bathroom?
The G3 is fully adjustable, with precision angle-control for that critical compliance with “limited to 30-degree flex” Doctor’s order. For the daring, you can go as far and adjustable for that “leaning in” 30-degree assault on “your personal best!”
So, this reviewer has to give the G3 a “five star rating.” It is a great brace, and beats the crap out of the one they gave me the first time at the ER. That would be the one that enabled me to heal wrong.
My fault entirely, not that of the surgical team. But of course, that is the nature of the single-payer military medical system. There are simply not enough Papa Docs in the system and they have to be protected from the mob who needs to get at them, some of whom as you well know deserve full attention a lot more than geezers like me.
By the way, did you ever see the Michelangelo video of his fall and recovery with pins and screws?
No metal here yet, at least not unless I screw this up. Baby Doc says I get the staples removed next week. All I have to do is pilot the G3 with the grace and delicacy of an outstanding design.
Less than a week to that, time to work on the hospital dis-mount from the Bluesmobile, and seventy-three days to Extreme Rehabilitation!
Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Talking Heads
(David Byrne of the famed art band “Talking Heads.)
And You May Find Yourself Living In A Shotgun Shack
And You May Find Yourself In Another Part Of The World
And You May Find Yourself Behind The Wheel Of A Large Automobile
And You May Find Yourself In A Beautiful House, With A Beautiful Wife
And You May Ask Yourself-Well…How Did I Get Here?
Ya know, I have not heard a lot about David Byrne and Talking Heads lately. Must be on hiatus of some sort, I imagine. The Talkingeads, writ large, the air-dried version who have every wrong answer it is possible to harbor, are in their element. I think the endless fratricide of the campaign has entered strange new turf as Mr. Aexelrod turns his spotlight on Mr. Romney’s time at the helm of the State of Massachusetts as Governor, perforce a moderate turn on the stage, since Blue Boston will always edge the Red mass of the rest of the state.
A reasoned consideration of how the Mittster did as an elected official in a fiercely divided partisan state is worth noting, I suppose, though I am curious why the Administration is holding up their elected record against his- it is about the same duration as their opponent, and Mr. Romney also actually had an other job or two in the private sector along the way.
The maturity level of the discussion was reported as being two howling mobs yesterday, so I am comforted that we will discuss nothing with any precision as we lurch through this phase of the campaign. Funny, though, I don’t think it matters much, and the Talking Heads are not…well….talking about what is going on elsewhere.
If I was not being summoned back to Bethesda this morning for an evaluation of the (hopefully) mending limb, I would have more to say on the major topic that no one is talking about.
Here is what we are likely to be talking about, and soon. It is about Syria at the moment, though talking about Syria is (of course) really talking about something else.
Here it goes, with your English muffin and coffee this morning:
Syrian crisis in shorthand: “Innocents slaughtered by fascist regime.”
Executive summary: Opposition in Syria is Saudi backed. Syria has a Sunni flavored majority population.
Asad Government is backed by Iran/Russia/China- union of authoritarian states and Shia expansionists.
Dramatis Personae: Saudis: Theological guardians of the Sunni branch of Islam, opposed to apostate Shia branch. Strongly opposed to Iranian nuclear program. Vows to get the Sunni Bomb (Pakistan proxy nuclear program was already bankrolled and will make this easy) to counter Iranian atomic capability.
US: reluctant to get sucked into Sunni-Shia clash. Elections looming. Reluctantly “Has Israel’s back.” Hates the position.
Israel: Convinced that the Shia bomb could be the end of the Jewish State. Must act.
Russia: Putin is back and itching to assert himself. Medvedev government only a placeholder.
PRC: Anything to further the Middle Kingdom’s rise. Major player behind the scenes.
Outlook: Saudis continue to fund opposition. Israel perceives time is short to de-rail Iranian bomb. Pressure to act before US Elections.
Unilateral action by IDF will bring in Americans? Wild card.
Nuclear-armed states involved: US, RU, PRC, IS, Pakistan. Iran moving closer to becoming one.
This, Gentle Readers, might be the topic of our summer discussion. It will likely trump the unemployment rate, sluggish recovery, and US domestic social issues.
Maybe we can talk more about this in the future? I dunno. I have to head for Building 19 at Walter Reed and talk about something else.
Letting The Days Go By/Let The Water Hold Me Down
Letting The Days Go By/Water Flowing Underground
Into The Blue Again/After The Money’s Gone
Once In A Lifetime/Water Flowing Underground.
And You May Ask Yourself
How Do I Work This?
And You May Ask Yourself
Where Is That Large Automobile?
And You May Tell Yourself
This Is Not My Beautiful House!
And You May Tell Yourself
This Is Not My Beautiful Wife!
Letting The Days Go By/Let The Water Hold Me Down
Letting The Days Go By/Water Flowing Underground
Into The Blue Again/After The Money’s Gone
Once In A Lifetime/Water Flowing Underground.
Same As It Ever Was…Same As It Ever Was…Same As It Ever Was…
Same As It Ever Was…Same As It Ever Was…Same As It Ever Was…
Same As It Ever Was…Same As It Ever Was…
– Same As It Ever Was, lyrics copyright 1986 Talking Heads/EMI
Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com