On Gonzo Station, Part Seven (T.R. Brown and his Radar Intercept Officer Frank “Personal Friend of Mine (P-FOM)” prepare for a ten second flight. Photo USN.)   It was the usual day. Up two hours before two hours before launch to prepare the first four of eight cyclic event briefings. An early chat with […]

On Gonzo Station, Part Six   Gentle Readers, Doctor Hayes, current minion of Papa Doc Anderson, freed me from captivity at Walter Reed Medical Center yesterday. “You are not completely healed, but there is nothing further that we can do for you here in the Cast Clinic. The rest you have to do yourself. Papa […]

On Gonzo Station Part Five (USS Nimitz All-Nuclear Task Group transits Gibraltar en route the Indian Ocean at best speed, December, 1979. They say when the group turned the corner at the Cape of Good Hope the carrier was throwing a rooster-tale. Photo USN). Gentle Readers, this is a Walter Reed Day, and I am […]

December, 1979 I stood on the flight deck this morning to watch the sunrise. It was a sky like a watercolor painting by John Singleton Copley, and the wind was brisk. The pastel colors were perfect. The Marines were doing Jody Calls as they ran around the quarter-mile circuit on the flight deck. It was […]

On Gonzo Station, Part Three Editor’s Note: It is Raven’s birthday, my father having been born August 8, 1923. He would have been 89 this circle around the sun. This is the first of his birthdays he is not here to enjoy. Meanwhile, I am out of the real world, ignoring the endless campaign and […]

(On Gonzo Station, Part Two) 21 November 1979 Editor’s Note: This account was contemporaneous to the events in Iran, 1979-80, and was discovered in the chaotic Socotra archives. Attitudes and descriptions are as they were some 32 years ago, and are preserved only in the interest of historical accuracy. In keeping with the novelty of […]

Anatomy of a Crisis IN THE GULF OF OMAN “USS Midway CV-41 relieved USS Constellation, CV-64 as the Indian Ocean contingency carrier on April 16, 1979. Midway and her escort ships continued a significant American naval presence in the oil-producing region of the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf. She conducted naval exercises with the RAN […]

(Image of Damascus yesterday as Government forces attempt to crush the last rebels in the capital. Nearly 50 Iranian “pilgrims” were detained not far away. Photo USAToday and AP.)   I got some updates from the Northland yesterday, part of another of the lost weekends that characterize this lost summer. It is high summer there, […]

(The Pahlavi Crown was the crown of the Shahs of Iran.  It was originally crafted for the coronation of Reza Shah on 25 April 1926. To quote Wikipedia, “A staggering 3,380 diamonds, totaling 1,144 carats (229 g), are set into the object. The largest of these is a 60-carat (12 g) yellow brilliant that is […]

(“Reza Pahlavi was born in Tehran, Iran on October 31, 1960 to the late Shah of Iran and Empress Farah Pahlavi. As Crown Prince of Iran and the oldest of four siblings, he left Iran at the age of 17 for Air Force training, during which time the establishment of the clerical regime in Iran […]