I had to take a wave off on Target Two yesterday, and though I regret it, the decision was correct and pulling the ejection handle was the right thing to do.

Target Three was accomplished this morning with a modicum of effort, since I only had to roll full left and nearly full right for external scrub on the Goodwin Rehab bed was required before the operator of Target 3 appeared in Room 138 and homed accurately on the target in bed “C.” If he had been carrying a regular lethal load I would have directed him to Bed “B,” but this mission contained good spirits and double chocolate brownies. It was accurate and complete.

Over the next hour and a half we rambled across events we shared since 1986, and where our lives are still entangled in daily electronic contacts across the years and places.

His current venue is in a Square State in the Far West that holds specials memory in Casper and sometimes the Chugwater Pass when particular correspondents pass that way. And how his morning walks on the vast prairie are framed by the Sunrise image in the Cowboy State Daily that sets the tone for the recovery ahead today through the internet version we share.

It was a marvelous visit, and included the accounts of the four generations we have shared, including the Mississippi home of his ailing mother that resembled the one in which we sat. we marked the conclusion of this recovery event with a account of the events at Kilroy’s Public House that had constituted Target Two. Even if virtual, the events of the lives of the people of the Fleet Ocean Surveillance and Information- the FOSIC – contained a buzz of action and adventure in the three officially-named Wars in which we served- COLD, DESERT and the TERROR one.
That service was in a variety of missions and functions and contained elements without words. Just nods. Target 3 had other mission elements on his daily Target List, and depositing some double chocolate brownies on the service table next to my bed and had things remaining on his target list. At the conclusion of a weep over a vast target complex, he stood tall and proud as he departed my room in the Goodwin Rehab Facility. My target list for the day was complete, and two out of three for the weekend ain’t bad.

So the milestones go in the books. Next on the list is ejecting from Goodwin. There is a myriad of real-world minutiae on how we successfully accomplish it, including moving Grace and I out of Big Pink and moving into new dwellings. Hopefully this coming week, and if there is angst or humor worth repeating you will see it. But with this recovery milestone complete, to a degree, it became apparent that new ones should be set. The Trillium Luxurious Full-Spectrum Living Complex is at the gates to Dulles International and it occurs to me that i should take advantage of it.

Talk at the Targets had held mention of an interesting event partially sponsored by the Naval Intelligence Professionals out on the West Coast there are rumors of an impending grandchild in the weeks to come, and there is one I have not yet hugged in her first year of life. There is also the opening ceremonies of the aircraft carrier (CV) USS Midway Museum’s refurbished Intelligence Center (IC). It has been a while since that hard-edged acronym was a casual reference to something like home. The Midway CVIC.

While assigned to Fighter Squadron One Fifty One, I lived on that ship without quarters ashore from late 1978 to early 1980.

Up forward was a steel box where I slept in a four man bunk room, the Squadron Ready Room was just forward of the island on the 01-level where we got our mail and listened to the Plan of the Day and then a walk astern to the CVIC under the landing zone. Almost every day on that commute for two deployments from Japan to the Indian Ocean. Those included a stretch of 110 days without sight of land northeast of Great Socotra Island. And two memorable port visits to West Australia and spectacular East Africa.

I don’t know if I can make it, but that is what mileposts are about. Mark 25 June on the calendar, and we will see if I can walk from the Uber to the terminal and up the jetway. And then take flight!

We’ll see how it goes. And we intend to keep you posted!

V/R,
JR