Thanks everybody!
I feel for ya. Some day, you'll look back on your career and say to yourself, " With a little luck, I could have been a senior NCO."
Doc.
And now my keyboard has coffee all over it. It's funny you mention this- at our Majors' promotion party at the club last night, I was consoling one of my Flight Engineers who's trying like crazy to make E-7, so far unsuccessfully. I told him his moping is BS- he's been promoted twice as many times as I have!
Congrats Major. I haven't said anything to the gang here, but I will share with you that my grandson LURCH just made SSGT with ten years in the Marines. I asked him a little about the process and he said there were only 78 people on the list, He was 76. Then he said the first guy on the list had nine years in grade, and here he was with three years in grade. He is a fine young man and a super representative of the Marines. May you fly high and your yonder be blue.
Ed, congratulations to you and Lurch- I see he posted this news as well. Ten years as a Marine is not an easy way to go, but he's a better person for it. It's always nice to hear from proud family members.
1. U.S. National Anthem
2.
A- Harry C. Aderholt (born 1920) was an American Brigadier General in the United States Air Force and a prominent figure in air force special operations.
B- His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star Medal with oak leaf cluster, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal with eight oak leaf clusters, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Presidential Unit Citation Emblem, and the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Ribbon with oak leaf cluster. He is a command pilot and wears the Parachutist Badge.
He was promoted to the grade of brigadier general effective May 31, 1974, with date of rank May 25, 1974.
3.
Base- Pope Air Force Base, N.C.
Squadron - The 8th Special Operations Squadron (A.K.A. Black Birds)
Good ID on the poem/song, but I was looking for the rest of the verse too. Good guess on the unit as well, but they weren't 8th guys out of no-hope Pope.
1) The Star Spangled banner
Oh! thus be it ever when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation,
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
2)
Brigadier General Harry C. (Heinie) Aderholt is commander, U. S. Military Assistance Command, Thailand, and chief, Joint U. S. Military Advisory Group, Thailand, with headquarters at Bangkok.
General Aderholt left for Okinawa in January 1960 where he became commander of the 1095th Operational Evaluation Training Group. During this assignment, he contributed to the pioneering of special air warfare techniques, and was instrumental in developing the Laos airfield complex known as Lima sites. These fields were used throughout Southeast Asia as support sites for special warfare operations and as "Jolly Green" helicopter forward staging bases for rescue and recovery operations in Laos and North Vietnam.
3)
7th SOS, Det. 2 1st SOW
Ben, great Google-fu-- you nailed the 4th verse and got a quote from Aderholt's last official bio. His work in Laos was huge- it would have made any other man's career- but he did a LOT more as well. In your last guess, you didn't ID a base for the 7 SOS.
Congratulations on the promotion Barry! It is always nice to hear when people are doing good and moving up in the world.
For your contest, if it hasn't been answered already. Here is what I think...
1. Finish this verse and tell us where it is from: "Oh thus be it ever, when free men shall stand..."
United States of America National Anthem
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, "In God is our trust"
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
2. Who is Heinie Aderholt and why is he noteworthy (read that: bad@ss)?
Heinie Aderholt is a highly decorated Air Force General who was the driving force behind the formation of the Air Commandos during and after the Korean War. During and after the Vietnam War, the Air Commandos' air missions included special cargo and personnel airdrops, combat missions using specialized aircraft, and intelligence and other missions for the U.S. military and the CIA. Aderholt also had to fight to protect the unit from other Air Force leaders, who thought it was out of step with the world of more conventional and exotic tactics and weapons systems.
3. The lead aircraft in the Son Tay prison raid was an MC-130E Combat Talon. The crew came from which base and squadron?
7th SOS Ramstein Air Base, Germany
Joe, fantastic job- you won!
The fourth verse is far and away my favorite of the Star Spangled Banner. I had to memorize the entire poem during my SMACK year at the Academy, and it's always stuck with me. The first verse, which most Americans think is the entire song, is more of a question on the part of Francis Scott Key- uncertain and fearful. The mood builds through the second and third verses, so by the fourth the mood of the poem is defiant- our citizen-soldiers will defend our country at all costs, and here's a very elegant middle finger to anyone who would threaten it. The final two lines are not a question like they are in the first and second verses- the lines are an exclamation, a declaration of our freedom. When I hear the Anthem played as an instrumental, the fourth verse is what goes through my head.
During his distinguished career, Heinie Aderholt was a classic "outside the box" thinker that paved the way for AFSOF today. His mantra was to not get overly concerned with BS- get the mission done because lives are at stake. I don't have the time or energy to type out all of his incredible accomplishments in his career or the flak and blatant disrespect the fighter-mafia gave him and all of the Air Commandos in Vietnam, but Joe, you captured it very well.
The Son Tay prison raid was a Hail Mary op in which American SOF penetrated deep into North Vietnam to rescue a handful of POWs. Precisely rehearsed and planned, the details of the raid's true objective were kept secret even from the raiding forces until they were enroute to SWA. When the raiders got to the prison, they found the POWs had been transfered out and the prison was empty. The press blasted it as a horrible blunder, but after we repatriated our men at the end of the war, we learned that the North Vienamese leadership was shaken to their very core at the thought of Americans invading their soil to rescue only a few prisoners. POW treatment improved dramatically after that and in hindsight the raid was actually a huge success. The lead crew was from my squadron, the 7 SOS, stationed in Germany at the time. We take GREAT pride in the fact that the 7 SOS had a part in this historical op.
Congrats to Joe again. Ben, I see you've got an addy in your profile. Emoshun, please send me yours. No Ramon Allones for you guys, but I think consolation fivers are in order. After all, I've got a pay raise coming soon, right?
Contest's over. Thanks again to everyone!
