Today's Words of Wisdom
By Francis J. Kong
(The Philippine Star)
Updated January 14, 2012
This has to be my most unforgettable elevator experience: I was in an elevator in a Washington DC hotel a couple of years ago when an elderly woman wearing a baseball cap with “USMC” on it entered. Of course USMC stands for US Marine Corp. A burly gentleman wearing a cowboy hat remarked, “Oh, your son in the Marines Ma’am?”
The lady replied, “Yes he was. He died in Iraq.”
At that, the man, brawn and all, solemnly removed his cowboy hat, looked at the lady and said, “Well, Ma’am, I would like to thank you and your son for serving our country.”
There were smiles of agreement on the faces of all the passengers inside that hotel elevator. I had one on mine too.
We should respect our men in uniform. There may be a rotten few who have not served the country and the people well, but we should not focus on them. Rather, we should be grateful for the many good ones who have and who are continuous in their committed service.
Let’s lighten up the mood this time. Let me share with you some “Military Words of Wisdom” to live by which was emailed to me by my friend Katrina Lee.
Things you learn when you are in the military:
“If the enemy is in range, so are you.” – Infantry Journal
“It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed.” – a US Air Force Manual
“Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.” – General MacArthur
“You, you, and you .... Panic. The rest of you, come with me,” commanded the US Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt.
“Tracers work both ways.” – US Army Ordinance
“Five-second fuses only last three seconds.” – Infantry Journal (I hope those mindless people playing with firecrackers would remember this.)
“Any ship can be a minesweeper… Once.”
“Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do.” - Unknown Marine Recruit
Clean it, if it’s dirty. Oil it, if it squeaks. But don’t mess with it if it works! – USAF Electronic Technician
“If you see a bomb technician running, keep up with him.” – USAF-Ammo Troop
The same guy says: “Yea, though I fly through the Valley of Death, I shall fear no evil. For I am at 80,000 feet and climbing.”
“You’ve never been lost until you’ve been lost at Mach 3.” – Paul F. Crickmore (test pilot, SR-71)
A Navigator’s Definition of Latitude & Longitude: Latitude is where we are lost, and longitude is how long we’ve been lost there! – USAF Navi-guesser
“The only time you have too much fuel is when you’re on fire.”
“If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it’s probably a helicopter – however, it’s probably unsafe in any case.”
“When one engine fails on a twin-engine air plane, you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash.”
The three most common expressions (or famous last words), in aviation are: “Why is it doing that?”, “Where are we?”, and “Oh My God!”
“Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two out of three are needed to successfully complete the flight.”
“Mankind has a perfect record in aviation. We never left one up there!”
“Flying the air plane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground who is incapable of understanding or doing anything about it.”
“There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime.” – Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970
“If something hasn’t broken on your helicopter, it’s about to.” – Heard muttered by Dale Woods
“You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes FULL power to taxi to the terminal.”
As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrived. The rescuer saw the bloodied pilot and asked, “What happened?”
The pilot replied, “I don’t know, I just got here myself.”
My salute and greetings to the many uniformed soldiers reading my column and listening to my program. Love God, love your country and serve your people. And make this country better.
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