In late March this year I noticed a difference in my hearing while visiting with high school friends who were visiting Florida. I thought it was the acoustics of the patio we were sitting in; everything said around the table came to me as an echo to my right ear. The next day when answering a call on my cell phone I discovered that it wasn’t the patio, but the hearing in my left ear – it had suddenly gone from salvageable with the help of a hearing aid to kaput all at once. My tinnitus also changed from ringing and high-pitched tones to that of bubbling water and occasionally as a windstorm. I am not writing this story for sympathy, but rather to inform and educate those of you whom might experience the same thing in the future. The process in finding out what might have caused it, and then how to fix it, if possible, took three-and-a-half months of visits and treatments – all to no avail on healing the “most likely cause” of the loss (an MRI eliminated possibility of a tumor, so the most likely cause was determined to be an infection of the inner ear). One slight consolation is that I received new hearing-aids from the VA – the “cross-over” hearing aid wherein the left ear houses a microphone to receive the sound from that quadrant, which is then wirelessly sent to the receiver in the right ear to make it possible to better discern sound from that direction. It also has Bluetooth, so I can pair it to my phone, iPad, and the like. The new hearing aids help somewhat, but I still have difficulty with sounds coming in from my port-side.
One thing to remember is that this condition is not all that uncommon – it seems about a third of the people I’ve mentioned this to have either personally experienced it, or have knowledge of someone who has the same issue. The main thing to know, and remember, is that if you experience “sudden” loss of hearing, the best chance of retrieving it is to commence treatments with a specialist within three days of your first indication. The success rate for recovery declines to nearly zero if treatment is delayed beyond the three to four-week point. The VA and major health providers should treat this as an emergency situation if you use the term “sudden” versus “gradual” degradation of your hearing. I did use that terminology, with both the VA and the Mayo Clinic, but the schedulers were apparently unaware (as was I) and got me the first available hearing test, which was four weeks out. I received the treatment anyway, but it was unsuccessful. When I learned the importance of the timeliness of treatment I asked why, if it was so important, was I not moved to the head of the line. Mayo and the VA said I should have been, and that it had been marked as a “red flag” error in their systems. Had I only known – had I only listened to my wife! She told me from the onset that I should have called back and insist on being seen ASAP. But, alas, I didn’t.
Take this as one of those “It is best to learn from the mistakes of others” lessons.

I had the privilege and honor to be the guest speaker for a fairly large audience on Saturday, 28 May 2016, for an early Memorial Day Commemoration ceremony in a local retirement community. There were 160 in attendance, including eight World War II veterans, and 39 widows of deceased veterans included in the audience. While we were getting settled in and waiting for the ceremony to begin, I reflected on my emotions, and what events trigger that emotion. My father was rather stoic about such things and rarely showed much emotion, although I knew he felt it. But an uncle of mine was quite emotional, open to tears on what at times seemed to be events of not much consequence to others. I seem to be more like my uncle than my father in this instance. But, while I contemplated this at this Memorial Day observation, both before and after my remarks, I honed my list down to my top three triggers, and they all involve the American Flag and that which it represents.

Coming in at number three is hearing any rendition of The Star Spangled Banner. My first memory of becoming emotional with our national anthem was after my first week in the Indocrination Battalion of Aviation Officer Candidate School. Under the watchful eyes of our USMC Drill Instructors we were marched to the Chapel for our first visit there for religious services. When they began that service, with the broadcast of the national anthem, I remember swelling with pride, feeling a lump in my throat, and choking back tears. Still,to this day, when I hear the anthem and imagine that star-spangled banner yet waving, o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave, I swell with pride and and choke back tears.

Next, at number two, is the rendering of Taps. I had a sense of sadness with this tune prior to my military service, but it grew in importance to me during my active duty where one hears the lone bugle every evening at sunset when the Flag is lowered for the day at all military installations, and then again at memorial services for fallen shipmates. The important part and significance of Taps at all military funerals or memorials elevates its emotional quotient exponentially. I cannot hear Taps now without being overwhelmed with emotion which can lead to tears and wet cheeks.

But the top of this emotional trigger list has happened directly with me only one time, and will not occur again. That instance was the ceremonial presentation of a folded flag by an Honor Guard Officer to me at my father's memorial service.  Whenever I witness the bestowal of a folded flag to the survivors of deceased Veterans, the memory of my experience overwhelms me, and I cannot help but weep. I can hold it together until the senior Honor Guard Officer kneels and solemnly presents the folded flag, with the words "On behalf of a grateful Nation."  I will lose it every time.

At the Memorial Day Observation on Saturday, all three elements came to play as it opened with our National Anthem, and ended with a ceremony of recognition for the widows of those deceased Veterans, which included the playing of Taps by a lone bugler. The solemnity of it all lead me to imagine those 39 widows each being presented the folded American Flag with the words "On behalf of a grateful Nation . . .." It was tough.

Lest we forget.

I retired from the Navy 28 years ago, but it doesn't seem that long. I belong to three different Associations related to my days in Naval Aviation, and serve as an officer in two of those organizations.  Each Association holds periodic reunions and I attend every one if physically able. That's what us old geezers do, we go to reunions.  We re-live those adventurous days of our younger years, we reconnect with old friends and shipmates, and we mingle with the younger men and women who have followed us into the profession of Naval Aviation and confirm that our aviation heritage and national defense are in good hands.  We share humorous stories, often embellished, and we recall the sad stories, all true.  And, occasionally, we find an unexpected gem. 

The A-7 Corsair II Association recently held a mini-reunion at the Sun-n-Fun fly-in and airshow in Lakeland, FL where about 40 of us spent a day doing all of those things.  My roommate from my first cruise, Mike Smith, and I were walking to the Association registration desk and noted that our president Bill Thomas was talking with a gentleman with great interest, and signaled us to come over when he saw Mike and I heading that way.  The man was not an A-7 pilot, but he was hoping to find some US Air Force A-7D pilots at our gathering.  We have USAF and ANG A-7 members in the Association, but none were at this specific gathering. This man, I think his name is Larry but I forgot to get his full name, was a B-52 Co-pilot who participated in Operation Linebacker II conducted 18-29 December 1972. For those unaware, Linebacker II was put in action to bring North Vietnam back to the Paris Peace Talks, which they had abandoned. It was the reopening of airstrikes north of the 20th parallel to hit major targets in and around Hanoi and Haiphong.  The Air Force flew nearly 800 B-52 sorties during the operation, supported by hundreds of support sorties flown by Navy, USMC, and other Air Force aircraft. In those eleven days of strikes the USAF lost 25 aircraft including 17 B-52s. Counting all aircraft, 55 USAF crewmen were listed as KIA, 38 as POW, and 39 as rescued. The man I call Larry was one of those rescued B-52 crewmen, and Air Force A-7D "Sandys" provided air-cover for his rescue. I had to tell Larry how awed I was each night as I watched the B-52s flying in their huge conga-line of three plane formations making their runs against Hanoi and coming under the fire of hundreds of SAM launches each night. I told him I experienced the same overwhelming sensation of awe at the courage they displayed as I experienced when I stood at the low stone wall on Cemetery Ridge visualizing Pickett’s charge, and the courage of those making that charge on that final day of the Battle of Gettysburg, and when I read accounts of the attacks made by Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8) against Japanese aircraft carriers during the Battle of Midway.  Larry thanked me, but modestly replied with words to the effect of "I figured it was our turn; you guys were going into the North all the time while we were bombing in the South. It was our turn."  His humility was as apparent that day as his courage was 44 years ago in the skies over North Vietnam.   

During these eleven days of Linebacker II, USN and USMC aircrew kept busy as well, flying normal daytime Alpha Strikes, and then supporting the B-52 raids each night with anti-radiation missile and combat air patrol cover. The combined USN/USMC losses while conducting these missions tallied up to eight aircraft with a total of 18 KIA, 5 POW, and 14 rescued. Our airwing lost an A-6A and an RA-5C with one listed as KIA and three as POW.

As it turned out, I was not airborne the night Larry was shot down, but I was airborne on five of the ten nights we were involved (enroute from Hong Kong on Day-1), and observed six B-52 losses.  But, the B-52 brigade continued without flinching each night until North Vietnam capitulated and returned to the Paris Peace Talks. It was their turn, and they performed with courage. For just a few minutes, Mike, Larry, and I held an ad-hoc session of the mutual-admiration society. And, for me, this was one of those occasional gems one might find at a reunion.

I shop in a local grocery store four to five days a week, and I always wear my "FLY NAVY" ball cap when I go. I check out every ball cap I see as I prowl the aisles for that day's groceries and I usually see at least one other, often more, with one military logo or another. If we pass face to face, or are in line together, I usually strike up a conversation with a sharp quip like "where'd you serve" or "hello Shipmate" and we usually part with the now familiar "thanks for your service." This term is wide-spread these days and it is always nice to hear it aimed your way. But, today was special. As I was perusing the pastries in the Bakery section, I was approaching a man about my age wearing a Vietnam Veteran ball cap with all the campaign ribbons embroidered across the front. We stopped as we approached each other, and I said "when did you serve?" and he replied "two tours from '65 to '69."  I said, "well you were there on the front end, and I was there at the end, in "72-73." As we split off to continue shopping he stuck out his hand for a good shake, and said "WELCOME HOME." It took approximately 20 years from the end of the Vietnam War for those Veterans to hear the phrase "Thank you for your service" and today was the first time since then that anyone other than family and shipmates said "Welcome Home" to me.  To all Veterans, especially those of the Vietnam era, I say now, and will continue to use the phrase, "Welcome Home."

I recently finished watching the Ken Burns documentary, "THE ROOSEVELTS: An Intimate History" via Amazon video, and I highly recommend it to all as an extremely well-produced historical account of this influencial family and of America itself. It covers the highlights of American history from the birth of Teddy Roosevelt in 1858 to the death of Eleanor Roosevelt in 1962 while chronicling the parallel lives of Teddy, Franklin, and Eleanor. I am a big fan of American history, and learned tidbits I never picked up in school. For instance, I knew FDR and Teddy were distance cousins (5th as it turns out), but I did not know that Eleanor was a niece of Teddy's, the daughter of his brother Elliott. It is in seven parts, each running two hours, so it takes a while to finish, but it is well worth the journey. It rivals, in my opinion, another excellent Ken Burns documentary, "THE CIVIL WAR."  Watch it if you can.

I recently read Hard Measures: How Aggressive CIA Actions After 9/11 Saved American Lives by Jose A Rodriguez, Jr and Bill Harlow, and highly recommend it to all readers interested in the CIA in general, and specifically in the question "Are EITs torture, or not?" Jose Rodriguez became the Chief of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center following 9/11, and he presents a compelling account of how the EITs came to be, how they were developed, how they were vetted and approved by the Justice Department, and most importently, how effective they really were. He also relates his own experiences with the CIA prior to 9/11, mostly in Latin American locations. This book is very well written, and it convinced me that those Hard Measures were necessary and effective, and did not constitute torture. I believe everyone should read this book before they make up their own mind on this topic.

I just finished watching "Spymasters – CIA in the Crosshairs," a two-hour documentary on the Showtime cable network covering the events leading to the disasters of 9.11.2001 and many events up to and concluding with the terrorist attacks in Paris earlier this month.  Every living CIA Director, whether "confirmed" or "acting," contributed to the discussions, and opened up to their true feelings and opinions. I would hope that every American could watch this excellent and historical treatise on our conflict with these radical Islamist terrorists with an open mind.  This documentary put the actions, observations, and opinions of those men and women in the trenches, all in one place, of what was known at the time, and the difficulty they experienced in their efforts to inform and convince the chain-of-command on up to POTUS (all of them; Clinton, Bush, and Obama) of the imminent threat. Some of their tesimony may well be self-serving to the speaker, but my take-away was that it all came out with sincerity and honesty.  A "must watch" wherever you may find it.

John and wife Pat after the Hornet fly-in with VFA-25 and VFA-113 on 23 August 1985. That's right, over 30 years ago the F/A-18 made its first extended carrier deployment in USS Constellation with CVW-14 with Captain J.J. "Swede" Zerr (ComCVW-14), CDR John "Rat" Leslie (CO VFA-25) and CDR Craig "Panda" Langbehn (CO VFA-113). We are now called "Legacy" Hornet drivers by the Super Hornet bubbas, but we were FIRST! Read about it in Chapter 22.