I would have sent a PM but cannot. I wish you cou

I would have sent a PM but cannot. I wish you could have met my Dad. You both were cut out of the same cloth. He was a career Navy pilot, started in torpedo bombers (Avengers) in WWII off a jeep carrier (USS Tulagi, squadron VC-92), transferred to jets for Korea and Vietnam, then was head of the F4/F8 programs during Viet Nam and had to give briefings to McNamara, finally was Ops Officer of the Oriskany and had McCain's father on board. He knew all the original astronauts, remembered in WWII when finding the carrier after a mission was as dangerous and risky as the mission, went after all unidentified contacts/UFOs/etc that entered US airspace as he was CO of VFAW-3 out of NAS North Island in San Diego, and had VF-151 (F4s) out of SD and made a cruise to the 25th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea while stationed on the USS Coral Sea and they were treated royally by the Aussies as it was considered the turning point so that Japan could not overrun Australia. To be around men like him and those who came to visit that were also WWII pilots was an honor and made one quite aware of the price that was paid for us to live in the land of the free. The sad part of history is that those that fought for freedom seldom speak of their time of duty and the suffering and tremendous loss they were forced to witness, but every little pissant that evaded duty or never had to put their life on the line feels free to belittle this great country every chance they get. Same goes for our freedoms, those who fought enjoy them but never abuse them. Those that didn't seem to think it allows them to act like fools and hide behind their "rights". We owe our military vets, our first responders, etc all that this country can provide but we seem to think that every loser cause and even non-citizens deserve care before these vets. Way too often the Silent Majority is not doing themselves a service by being silent. Thanks for the great post you made and I hope your life continues to be as exciting and fulfilling as it has been to date. I can say it is humbling to live with a true hero but it makes you never stop trying to become as close to what he stood for as you possibly can.