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From: Stewie I said earlier, "In a battle of intellects, I got my money on Mike". Pay up Gerry. I was expecting better from you, but you lost your cool and abandoned the intellectual high ground. I hope you didn't unravel like that in combat. You lowered yourself to a childish, arrogant attack of a man with impeccable virtues, moral qualities and character. You showed your true character. Mike was my teammate on the USNA hockey team. One that we both played on for four years. He is one of the toughest, smartest and most talented hockey players I have ever played with. Our bonds of friendship were forged through blood and sweat on the hockey rink. He is a decent man who served his country proudly as a helicopter pilot. I'm sure you look down your nose at pilots like him. Yet, they hang their asses out on the back ends of small buoys pitching feverishly in the night, bringing us our mail, beans, bombs and bullets. Without them, we could not do our jobs. They remain the backbone of our Naval Aviation team and a community of unsung heroes. Enough said. You blew it Gerry. Or as Theodore Roosevelt once wrote in the "Outlook" (March 31, 1900), "Bodily vigor is good, and vigor of intellect is even better, but far above both is character. It is true, of course, that a genius may, on certain lines, do more than a brave and manly fellow who is not a genius; and so, in sports, vast physical strength may overcome weakness, even though the puny body may have in it the heart of a lion. But, in the long run, in the great battle of life, no brilliancy of intellect, no perfection of bodily development, will count when weighed in the balance against that assemblage of virtues, active and passive, of moral qualities, which we group together under the name of character; and if between any two contestants, even in college sport or in college work, the difference in character on the right side is as great as the difference of intellect or strength the other way, it is the character side that will win". Furthermore Gerry, you also insulted ALL of my fellow servicemen in Naval Aviation. Are you suggesting your generation of aviators was better? More heroic? Why don't you respect our generation Gerry? We grew up respecting yours. Guys like McCain, Powell, Stockdale, Galante, Krulak, and McDaniels. Not guys like Gerry Atkinson. Guys, who fought with courage, returned with honor and did not go off the deep end. Our Battalion Officers, flight instructors and initial Commanding Officers were from your generation. We cut our teeth on them and learned from them. They were role models that mentored us, yet didn't think they were any better than we were. You obviously have a chip on your shoulder Gerry. Nobody asked you for your brag sheet but you certainly were eager to share it with us. Now, I fully understand how someone with an ego like yours feels offended when some lowly member of the "Boomer Generation" criticizes the propaganda you spout for your social and political agenda. Any respect that you thought we might have for your record, evaporated in your arrogant attacks and political diatribe. Although your record might impress you, you are one in a hundred amongst my fellow current day Naval Aviators who have equally or more impressive records. My Navy is full of heroes but I won't bore you with a long list of names (as you did) to try to impress you. We have served in more conflicts and operations than you have night traps Gerry. We won the Cold War, one that you did not. We survived Tail Hook and all the political correctness that followed. Moreover, we continue to do more with less. My generation has been shot at, won Distinguished Flying Crosses, gone to TPS, flown in air shows and done it all without bragging and measuring manhood on the Internet. We are proud warriors. Bottom line is none of us had a hand in creating the wars that we fought, nor the generations we were born into. My generation has fought our wars and conflicts with the same pride, resolve and courage as our fathers. Our Wings of Gold shine the same as theirs. Be happy there are guys like us around still proudly serving this great nation and protecting your rights to Freedom of Speech so you can publish your Right Wing sensationalism. Gerry, in case you did not know, Pipper Burns is a friend of mine. We served together in VF-2 when I was XO. At the time, he was in the press (I am sure you had a field day with him) while undergoing investigations for his involvement in being a "whistle blower". I gave him my full support and respect. We certainly had some great discussions while deployed on what is right and wrong in today's Navy. He was the leader of our Ready Room, a key player in the "Monkey Tree", he never wore his troubles on his shoulder, never tried to socialize his position with the Ready Room, was the best in the air and was our #1 JO come FITNESS Report time. (I am sure you already knew that Gerry since you have access to all of our records. Clearly, you are a product of the McCarthy era.)
Gerry, the HAZREP I released while I was CO of VF-2, was not some self-fulfilling maverick attack on Senior Naval Leadership. It was the proper use of a tool that the Navy gave me as Commanding Officer, to communicate my Safety Concerns in-house to my superiors AND peers. Guys like you blow things like that out of proportion and sensationalize them to grind your ax and serve your agenda. Shame on you. Your generation's Navy was troubled by lack of parts and flight time also. Certainly, a man with a superior record like yours must have risen to command. Please share with us how you handled those austere times as a Skipper. I know it must be hard still fighting the ghosts of your past, it's too bad you are still fighting a war gone by - one that YOU never won and worse, you are still looking for a fight to win. Gerry, unfortunately, you are an attack guy, not a philosopher. You seem to think that the way to bring others around to your point of view is by poking them in the eye with a sharp stick repeatedly. I believe your heart is in the right place and that you are genuinely concerned about the welfare and future of the Navy and carrier aviation. If you abandon your childish attacks and political rhetoric, someday you may become a very useful advocate of carrier aviation. Today you are widely viewed as only "one dimensional", "white noise on the hill", "aims at the wrong targets", "radical", "enjoys no credibility in academic circles, publishes his work using a vanity press, which is very lame" and "a bit off the deep end". The adversarial nature of your writings does more harm than good. We are all on the same team trying to fix the problems hurting today's military - but you are one of our worse players Gerry! Gerry, I know you pride yourself in being book smart and a scholar with a PHD. So, tonight when you sit down to read more of your extremist books in your home study (one that certainly has an "I Love Me" wall the size of Texas) pick up a copy of Theodore Roosevelt's "Citizenship in a Republic, Speech delivered at Sorbonne, Paris on April 23, 1910". In it Roosevelt states, "I believe, of course, in giving to all the people a good education. But the education must contain much besides book-learning in order to be really good. We must ever remember that no keenness and subtleness of intellect, no polish, no cleverness, in any way make up for the lack of the great solid qualities. Self-restraint, self-mastery, common sense, the power of accepting individual responsibility and yet of acting in conjunction with others, courage and resolution -- these are the qualities which mark a masterful people. Without them no people can control itself, or save itself from being controlled from the outside." Or inside for that matter. Then ask yourself Gerry, what do you want to be remembered as? It would be a shame to depart the pattern remembered only as an angry old man. In the meantime, try to avoid polluting our world. Your Bolshevik propaganda, personal attacks, and condescending comments do not have a place amongst my generation of proud Naval Aviators, servicemen and warriors. We still prefer to discuss in our Ready Rooms, our OK-3s, what's for Midrats, Guns Kills, Roll Ems, next liberty port, last liberty port, the target we shacked, beating brand-x into the break, the latest tactics, etc. NOT POLITICS. Again, thanks for confirming my belief that you are truly from another world Gerry - please stay there until you change your ways. Only time will tell. |
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