• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Everybody saw this coming.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Republicans in disarray!

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Military / Final Flight

Final Flight

by John Cole|  September 26, 20063:33 pm| 9 Comments

This post is in: Military

FacebookTweetEmail

If you have the time, check out this Navy Times bit on the last flight of the F-14 Tomcat.

I am not the least bit embarassed to admit that this made me tear up. I know it will make no sense to people who have never been in the military, but it is really hard to describe how attached you get to your equipment. I remember spending hundreds of hours lovingly stripping my M1-A1 turret of all pieces, cleaning everything with a silk brush to remove all dust and particles, repainting, touching up, sleeping in the motor poll as the pieces dried, and then spending another day reinstalling everything. And I would do that 2-3 times a year, only to trash it on maneuvers a week after the paint dried. But I loved that tank, it truly was a modern mavel, and the damned thing was there to keep me alive. Years after I left active duty I saw a picture in the Army Times of the 11th Cav firing Table Eight, and I was immediately able to pick out my tank because of the NATO marker panel on the back.

Good times, and I still miss that tank.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « So Now I Am A Liar…
Next Post: Another Bush Hater »

Reader Interactions

9Comments

  1. 1.

    Davebo

    September 26, 2006 at 3:42 pm

    I know how you feel John.

    I feel the same way about my beloved old A-7E Corsair and especially so about the former USS America.

    I never understood why they couldn’t make a museum out of the America. It was a fine ship.

  2. 2.

    capelza

    September 26, 2006 at 3:51 pm

    Thanks for sharing that John. When my husband gets home I’ll make a point of showing him that. He still, after 30 plus years love to watch the air power shows on the military channel.

    He was in MAG 15 then Task Force Delta out of Nam Phong…F-4’s if I have absorbed the correct information over the years. I can identify a CH53, that seems to be the one he gets truly misty eyed about.

  3. 3.

    Bombadil

    September 26, 2006 at 3:54 pm

    Good times, and I still miss that tank.

    Funny — Mike Dukakis was saying the same thing just the other day!

  4. 4.

    Keith

    September 26, 2006 at 3:58 pm

    And the fading memory shall be a big, fat Duke Cunningham pumping his fist in the air as he tears down the road on his motorbike while Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” plays in your ears but from no discernable location.

  5. 5.

    Punchy

    September 26, 2006 at 4:20 pm

    Mr. Cole, a few questions:

    Did you see active combat (i.e., Bosnia, Iraq #1 (I don’t know your age), etc?)

    And…do you fear a call-up, with the IRR and such, and if not, why not? Are you cleared on never returning to combat?

    Thanks in advance. Sorry if these are dumb questions…I know little on how the military works.

  6. 6.

    Zifnab

    September 26, 2006 at 6:02 pm

    Wow. Stories like that make me want to join the military.

    Unfortunately, now does not seem like a good time.

  7. 7.

    CDB

    September 27, 2006 at 10:19 am

    Allons!

  8. 8.

    Krista

    September 27, 2006 at 11:10 am

    Good times, and I still miss that tank.

    Too bad you don’t have it now. Drive that puppy onto campus and see if your students pass in an assignment late ever again. :)

  9. 9.

    Michael Keyes

    September 27, 2006 at 2:43 pm

    Pretty good piece, but I have always been a fan of the F-14 ever since I was in the Navy.

    What will happen to the RIOs?

    If it takes an 18:1 ratio of fixing vs. flying, do you think that the Iranians are up to using the F-14s that they have

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - beckya57 - Copper Canyon, Mexico, April 2025
Image by beckya57 (7/31/25)

World Central Kitchen

Donate

Recent Comments

  • MazeDancer on The ACA in 2026 (Jul 9, 2025 @ 11:13am)
  • Citizen Dave on The Texas Flood Tragedies Continue (Jul 9, 2025 @ 11:12am)
  • David Anderson on The ACA in 2026 (Jul 9, 2025 @ 11:12am)
  • The Audacity of Krope on Goebbels In, Goebbels Out (Open Thread) (Jul 9, 2025 @ 11:10am)
  • Matt McIrvin on Goebbels In, Goebbels Out (Open Thread) (Jul 9, 2025 @ 11:10am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Feeling Defeated?  If We Give Up, It's Game Over

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!