just sit tight. Help’s on the way.” The tower message in his radio receiver was like the word of God to Harry.
“Oh, and maybe you better not touch anything until they get there,” the angel added.
Harry sat on the raised bed in the doctor’s office. He couldn’t stop shaking. He didn’t really feel the needle when the medic
gave him the shot.
“Hang in there, buddy. This’ll make you feel a whole lot better. Really good drugs.”
Harry smiled a weak smile. He felt a warmth spreading from his arm and he seemed to be able to control his shivering a little
better.
“You must be some natural pilot. The tower guys said you made a perfect landing. Just like a pro. You must have had some lessons
or something, huh?“
“What are you talking about?” Harry looked at the young intern in confusion. “I didn’t land the plane. The colonel did.”
“Uh-uh. Couldn’t have. Doc said he was dead long before touchdown. Must have been a really severe heart attack. You should
have seen his face. We didn’t even know it was the vice commander until we checked his ID. He had to have been dead for about
twenty to thirty minutes.”
In spite of the drug coursing through his veins, Harry started to shake again. All of the blood drained from his face. The
young medic was startled.
“Hey somebody give me a hand here,” he yelled. “This guy’s going into shock.”
Well, yes,
Harry thought as strong hands laid him on the bed.
I guess it is shock. But it’s probably a different type of shock than they think.
It was the shock of recognition. Harry had just realized who had landed his airplane.
The colonel must have earned another set of wings… in another kind of air force.
SCHOOL SPIRIT
I ’VE been through combat and flight training and long late missions in an old aircraft in bad weather but none of these experiences
ever affected me as much as trying to help out in my wife’s preschool class. She’s a good teacher. Hell, she’s a great teacher.
Just ask her students. Some of them may be a little more difficult to communicate with than others. But she seems to get through.
There are many things that abound on military bases. Everyone knows they have a lot of weapons. They also have a lot of cars
and trucks and aircraft and tanks. Bases have a lot of signs and fences and locked doors. And they have a whole lot of serious,
efficient men and women in many different uniforms.
But military bases also have a lot of something else that you may not have thought of. They have a whole lot of children.
Believe it or not, military kids, or military brats as they refer to themselves, are really a lot like kids everywhere. They
go through the same feelings and foibles and fads that civilian kids do. They’re just like the kids on any block, with one
difference. They have probably been around a whole lot more blocks than most kids.
Military kids learn a few things that others kids don’t get exposed to. They learn that you never write your friend’s address
in your book in ink. They learn how to memorize a new phone number in record time. They learn how to find their way back home
even if they aren’t sure exactly what home is. They learn how to avoid the new kid syndrome or at least how to get over it
quickly. They can learn a new teacher’s name, a new street number, and a new zip code with relative ease. And they learn that
you don’t die from being homesick.
When a person enters the military, he is told time and time again that you have to be flexible to get ahead. But it’s the
kids who really learn the lesson. And they have to learn to be flexible not just to get ahead but to survive.
This is not to say that military people treat their kids poorly. Quite the contrary. The military family goes out of its way
to provide for its children.
When it comes to education, the military is in the forefront of involvement and innovation. The modern military has discovered
the
“Oh, and maybe you better not touch anything until they get there,” the angel added.
Harry sat on the raised bed in the doctor’s office. He couldn’t stop shaking. He didn’t really feel the needle when the medic
gave him the shot.
“Hang in there, buddy. This’ll make you feel a whole lot better. Really good drugs.”
Harry smiled a weak smile. He felt a warmth spreading from his arm and he seemed to be able to control his shivering a little
better.
“You must be some natural pilot. The tower guys said you made a perfect landing. Just like a pro. You must have had some lessons
or something, huh?“
“What are you talking about?” Harry looked at the young intern in confusion. “I didn’t land the plane. The colonel did.”
“Uh-uh. Couldn’t have. Doc said he was dead long before touchdown. Must have been a really severe heart attack. You should
have seen his face. We didn’t even know it was the vice commander until we checked his ID. He had to have been dead for about
twenty to thirty minutes.”
In spite of the drug coursing through his veins, Harry started to shake again. All of the blood drained from his face. The
young medic was startled.
“Hey somebody give me a hand here,” he yelled. “This guy’s going into shock.”
Well, yes,
Harry thought as strong hands laid him on the bed.
I guess it is shock. But it’s probably a different type of shock than they think.
It was the shock of recognition. Harry had just realized who had landed his airplane.
The colonel must have earned another set of wings… in another kind of air force.
SCHOOL SPIRIT
I ’VE been through combat and flight training and long late missions in an old aircraft in bad weather but none of these experiences
ever affected me as much as trying to help out in my wife’s preschool class. She’s a good teacher. Hell, she’s a great teacher.
Just ask her students. Some of them may be a little more difficult to communicate with than others. But she seems to get through.
There are many things that abound on military bases. Everyone knows they have a lot of weapons. They also have a lot of cars
and trucks and aircraft and tanks. Bases have a lot of signs and fences and locked doors. And they have a whole lot of serious,
efficient men and women in many different uniforms.
But military bases also have a lot of something else that you may not have thought of. They have a whole lot of children.
Believe it or not, military kids, or military brats as they refer to themselves, are really a lot like kids everywhere. They
go through the same feelings and foibles and fads that civilian kids do. They’re just like the kids on any block, with one
difference. They have probably been around a whole lot more blocks than most kids.
Military kids learn a few things that others kids don’t get exposed to. They learn that you never write your friend’s address
in your book in ink. They learn how to memorize a new phone number in record time. They learn how to find their way back home
even if they aren’t sure exactly what home is. They learn how to avoid the new kid syndrome or at least how to get over it
quickly. They can learn a new teacher’s name, a new street number, and a new zip code with relative ease. And they learn that
you don’t die from being homesick.
When a person enters the military, he is told time and time again that you have to be flexible to get ahead. But it’s the
kids who really learn the lesson. And they have to learn to be flexible not just to get ahead but to survive.
This is not to say that military people treat their kids poorly. Quite the contrary. The military family goes out of its way
to provide for its children.
When it comes to education, the military is in the forefront of involvement and innovation. The modern military has discovered
the
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