CRASH
Another Non-sequential fictional short
There is a saying that might go back ten thousand years. Any crash that you can walk away from is a good one. What was true at the first spark of human flight is true today. There is nothing new under the stars.
Every uncontrolled descent into a gravity well results in an inquiry designed to affix blame. I was told to admit nothing, deny everything, demand proof, and find a scapegoat who would take the fall. It didn’t matter that I bore no fault in the matter; blame fell to the lowest common denominator. Who was lower in the pecking order than the most junior ensign? I didn’t have much time to work that one out.
In the Empire’s Armada, the captain doesn’t go down with the ship or accept blame. There wasn’t a living being more vulnerable to the wrath of the tribunal than me. That got me thinking. We had holy relics onboard that were kept alive, attached to machines that circulated live-sustaining fluid. They had indeed been maintained in a vegetative state, but one of them, sentient long ago, might have awakened the slumber and, in their stupor, set a series of unforeseen events in motion, and thus, they’d be responsible.
Running back to the bent ship that would never fly again, I entered the temple of relics and sorted through the cryo-frozen heads of the great and near great. Most of them were too rotten ever to be brought back. Tens of thousands of years in an icebox, even a well-constructed one, doesn’t exactly mean there hasn’t been significant freezer burn. I found one living being sustained within a suit. Dusting off the living relic gave me a measure of hope. The connections were intact, power had been maintained, and hibernation numbers were in the green.
Punching up the revival sequence, I crossed my fingers, hoping my plan would come to fruition.
The suit’s Arc Reactor fusion power source flickered faintly. The palladium core retained a spark that might be sufficient to bring the relic to life. Even if alive technically, would the ancient relic be self-aware? The odds were long against me, but I didn’t have much to lose. It’s not as if scapegoats were wandering around, waiting to take the fall.
Suddenly, the mouth moved imperceptibly, and I put my ear close to try and discern the faint modulation, “I’m Iron Man!”
Clearly, it’s White Supremacy.
(link here) “Students in a Seattle English class were told that their love of reading and writing is a characteristic of “white supremacy,” in the latest Seattle Public Schools high school controversy.
The lesson plan has one local father speaking out, calling it “educational malpractice.”
As part of the Black Lives Matter at School Week, World Literature and Composition students at Lincoln High School were given a handout with definitions of the “9 characteristics of white supremacy,” according to the father of a student.
Given the subject matter of the class, the father found it odd this particular lesson was brought up.
The Seattle high schoolers were told that “Worship of the Written Word” is white supremacy because it is “an erasure of the wide range of ways we communicate with each other.”
By this definition, the very subject of World Literature and Composition is racist.
It also chides the idea that we hyper-value written communication because it’s a form of “honoring only what is written and even then only what is written to a narrow standard, full of misinformation and lies.”
The worksheet does not provide any context for what it actually means.
War is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength.
“There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always— do not forget this, Winston— always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. At every moment, there will always be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on a helpless enemy. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever.” (Orwell)
Charlie Don’t Surf
Bullet Point:
** Call me old-fashioned, if you will, but I’m thankful my mother was a woman.
Identify the Tracks
1
2
Identify the Aircraft
3
4,5,6
7
Another view
Identify the Tanks:
1. Stormer with Starstreak missiles
2. BAT-2 combat engineering vehicle
Identify the Aircraft:
3. Republic F-84F Thunderstreak
4. Boeing CH-47 Chinook
5. Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk
6. Kamov Ka-25 Hormone
7. North American B-45 Tornado
Solid!
I always liked the looks of the (USAF) Tornado.
I wonder what that helo exercise was?
– Kle.
Looks like South Korean markings. If so, I was wrong on the Ka-25 ID, it should have been the Ka-32 Helix.
South Korean Aircraft livery and, yes, a Ka-32.
Kle, it was an op in ROC some years ago. I wish I could give you specifics.
That’s okay, I get it. A lot of friends can’t even talk about things that are currently (and have been for years) completely open in the civvie world, because their service never unclassified them.
Looks like it was pretty cool anyway!
– Kle.
One of my more interesting jobs was my men and I being ballast for the Black Hawks they brought to Australia when they were trying to sell them to our army. A fun way to see some of Cape York in northern Queensland. I have also walked and trucked the same places and helicopter was easily the best.
One mission was to demonstrate the 80’s version of night vision. For safety the US pilots were told to be at 500’ to the side of the Cook River. The 500’ was for single wire power lines that didn’t show on most systems. They decided to show off and fly low over the river. They could not understand the strange logs that were a totally different reading to the rest of the background. Then an 18 foot “log” stood up and walked into the water. They quickly decided to fly to the side of the river at 500’ as briefed. It was very interesting reminding them next time that crocodiles outnumber people by about 20 to 1 in that region.
It’s not a good idea to autorotate down into a crocodile-infested river. Why is it that they are always hungry? People in the US who have experience with alligators think they must also be able to transfer that knowledge set to crocks – and they’re two different lizard species. I’m sure that there’s some cross-over knowledge, but crocks are far more aggressive. Far more willing to eat you.
I agree, flying is better than walking unless somebody is trying to shoot you down. Then walking is good.
I love the sound of The Clash in the morning, they sound like napalm stars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1nUkSHRb80
Or this version – depending on taste – still The Clash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1lc4rqh7ZU
I thought about that version too, but in the end went with the version with the Clint effects.
Welcome to the Weekend…this immediately came to mind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnvWWJozXzo
…considering the insane neanderthal times we find ourselves.
Often – I’m forced to walk away from the surreal crap that is going on in Clown World. The most recent ruling in NYC against President Trump is historically the largest pool of cess I can recall. The liberals are dancing in the street as they sew the seeds of their destruction. The precedent also applies to them, though they’d argue that it can only apply to the Orange Man.
Meanwhile, America feels this way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqSA-SY5Hro
Agreed…and wonder where he went? Maybe needed for a time.
To that end, this weekend is off that particular grid for me, vented the spleen in my final comment last night…otherwise it’ll kill the joy.
(BTW, as said before, i appreciate the allowance and deference to do so, most of the time I’ve convinced myself the words drafted (typos included) will be helpful to someone, especially those given in tongue and cheek fashion or an attempt at being funny, like the above Welcome to the Jungle link.)
That movie scene leaves me feeling glad I wasn’t on the receiving end of an Air Cav assault. I’m also glad I served at a time the Army had big balls leaders.
Milley had balls, they were made in China.
CBI from the Panama invasion.
Proofread WSF! CIB Combat Infantry Badge. Those who find some administrative way to be awarded a CIB cheapen themselves; not the award.
The war lasted 5 days. We took US casualties; 4 SEALs were killed while taking an airfield where Noriega’s jet was parked. And don’t get me started on that F-ed up op. But it was only a week-long war.
Oh, I dunno.
Ask the survivors of those Army aviation units who hauled troops into Laos during Lam Son 719 in ’71 or knocked out all those tanks at An Loc in ’72 about what it’s like flying choppers into heavily defended airspace and you might find a dissenting opinion.
“White Supremacy”
just a coupla thoughts from a color-blind American patriot:
Is BLM socialism just a snake or is it a hydra?
Why do we have to worship it (the above) for a whole month?
When will my grandchild (hafta) learn to communicate in Ebonics?
I know: I’m a baaad boy.
Your grandchildren should be speaking ebonics now. If they don’t point out women in the store and say, “Yo! dat straahght bahtch has a fly ass.”