There Goes my Hero: Code Yellow (Part II)

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There Goes my Hero: Code Yellow (Part II)

“Are you ready for the dance tonight, dude?” Lieutenant Harrington casually asked me as we climbed up on the Rhino, outside of the hearing of enlisted men, or “blackshoes” who checked all the tags and ordinance hanging off of the Hornet they prepared to catapult off into the ink-blue night.

As we both settled into the routine of pre-flight checks in the cockpit of the highly complex, computer driven F/A-18 Hornet aircraft, it stretched comprehension to think that this flying machine descended from the heavier than air model that the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk in 1903.

In just a little over a century, aviation went from analog to digital; the awareness of this complexity lost on the aviators, but not in history. The Hornet was so complicated, the pilots did not know what they did-not-know about this evolution from clothe and pulleys on the dunes of North Carolina to gigahertz and nanoseconds cruising on the Persian Gulf. Could aviation’s complexity eventually take human beings out of the cockpit? That question was not on the agenda tonight.

Idling on the deck of the USS John C. Stennis, they both knew in the far reaches of their “leadership grey-matter,” that possibly they could be one of the last crews back on the carrier. The chaperone waits by the door until everyone makes it home safely from the party. That is just the gentlemanly thing to do.

“Hope the Texaco jocks are warmed up and sharp tonight,” I said partly to myself. If this was a long ordeal, many of the jets would probably re-fuel while in the heavens.

The Lt. replied, “This could turn into a Turkey shoot before that,” the landing process, although a dangerous part of the evening, was more of the business side of this mission; Lt. Harrington’s fangs were out, clearly focused on engaging bandits before the serious landing maneuvers started.

“Can’t you see the guys in the con-tower placing their side-bets on Bubba Bolter,” the slang name for the pilot who makes multiple attempts at the tail-hook. My bombardier-navigator focuses also sharp, still picturing the SNAFU routine of the pitching deck at landing time.

Carrier landings are actually controlled crashes. The fighter jet rams into a lurching runway, hoping the large titanium hook jutting out of his tail slaps across the thick steel cord tightly wired across the deck, known as the crossdeck pendant.

Once the plane hits the ship’s surface, hopefully lined up straight down the runway; the pilot throws the throttles forward full. This full speed tactic instantly allows a hookless Hornet the opportunity to get back off the carrier and try again; otherwise jets skid off the runway and into the ocean in front of the ship, adding insult to injury.

Blue-water ops in the dark, an opportunity to excel as Lt. Harrington liked to remind us. “You look like a lost nugget tonight, J.O.?” “What’s wrong?” “I’ll take you out partying tonight, little brother, promise.”

“It’s gonna be a long night, Lieutenant,” trying not to complain. “At least we don’t have to plow through the Goo,” meaning bad weather that makes it impossible to see.

“We’re in the Navy to have fun, remember?” I was looking at the back of his helmet by now; we were conversing on the intercom. “Don’t forget the Code:Yellow gouge we got in the readyroom?”

“Copy, Rocket One.” I was done with small talk and wanted to light the two fires on the Hornet’s tail and get up in the sky, where even though I was not flying the aircraft, I had the best seat in the house.

©Mark H. Pillsbury

(aviator fiction series #2)

Dave's blu Gibson in case you watched the YouTube video "My Hero" on Letterman

Rousseau and Obama

“Barack Obama presented himself early in the 2008 campaign as the man-of-the-earth candidate; the politician able and eager to speak to — and listen to — all sides.” –Bill Bishop in “The Big Sort,” (Houghton Mifflin Co. 2011). The American electorate had not fallen for a candidate as they did for Barack Obama, in a long time.

Benjamin Storey, assistant professor of political science at Furman University, wrote recently about the psychic phenomena of “admiration,” the capacity to be awed and moved by human beings we find impressive. Prof. Storey believes admiration is central to political life. Journal of Politics Vol. 73, No. 3 July 2011 Pp. 735-747. [This is an “academic” article but useful].

However, to Rousseau there was no such thing as a rational admiration:  “Society always romanticizes something, and idolaters of wealth, enlightenment, or power are no more immune to this passion than are the fanatical followers of prophets.”

Howard Univ. professor Brian Gilmore discussed Barack Obama as the new “American Rousseau” at Thurgood Marshall School of Law in 2009 in the first year of his presidency. Prof. Gilmore’s presentation was called American Rousseau: Barack Obama and the Social Contract. I attended this speech.

The Social Contract, is complex, yet systematic; outlining how a government exists in such a way that it protects the equality and character of its citizens, keeping in mind the balance between the supreme authority of the state and the rights of individual citizens. It is a social compact that protects society against factions and gross differences in wealth and privilege among its members. I will not try to delve deeply into that document, but Gilmore discussed it in the context of the Barack Obama movement of 2008.

With the election about a year away, these professors caused me to think about questions involving the President in light of the life and philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778):

Q: Is Barack Obama the idol of a generation, a new American Rousseau?

Q:  Did the 2008 presidential election illustrate political “messianism” in the electorate?

[at this point, Rousseau would have us ask the question: In our social and political lives, it is not whether we have heroes, but what kind of heroes we have?]

Q:  What kind of hero is Barack Obama?

From reading about Rousseau, I think Barack Obama’s presidency was born out of a romantic nationalism in which the special appeal of charismatic leadership dominated over rational analysis. This can be called admiration over observation.

Republican democracy requires that people pay attention and participate in public affairs. The intention of this post about Barack Obama is to allege that the electorate was blinded by the celebrity and charisma of his candidacy, not willing to thoroughly analyze his prior experience and record. 

My thought is that “admiration” for Barack Obama as the first legitimate presidential candidate-of-color contributed greatly to campaign success. Additionally, the mantra of hope and change became almost messianic for those swept up in this movement.

Rousseau understood the power of admiration for good or for evil, in fact he paints the tension between the “natural and the civil state” as great, but also sad:

“Fanaticism, although sanguinary and cruel, is nevertheless a grand and strong passion which elevates the heart of man, makes him despise death, and gives him a prodigious energy that need only be better directed to produce the most sublime virtues.” Rousseau believed that power and strength are an essential quality of those who can arouse it in others.

As a romanticist, Rousseau’s influence was profound.

“In human terms [a Romantic] prefers the unique individual to the average person, the free creative genius to the prudent person of good sense, the particular community or nation to humanity at large. Mentally, the Romantics prefer feeling to thought, more specifically emotion to calculation; imagination to literal common sense, intuition to intellect.”(Quinton 1996). This definition reminds me of Barack Obama. 

In numerous areas (ex, Obamacare legislation, debt crisis), this president’s policies illustrate how a “romantic democracy” imbued with the ethos of power and strength, lacking transparency, can slowly evolve into a “totalitarian democracy” as the balance shifts toward the supreme authority of the state. The administration uses brute force, passive aggression, and even guilt to influence legislation, often imploring legislators to just “trust him,” and vote for a his version of a bill, despite timing or length of the legislation. I believe the president relies on the fact that because many “admire” him, few will oppose him.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s portrait hung above Karl Marx's writing desk, maybe because Rousseau said, “those not willing to free themselves from their attachments would be ‘forced to be free’.”

To answer some of the questions raised here, I would say that Barack Obama was given American Idol status without singing a note. The 2008 election was a short period of romantic democracy, even political messianism; Barack Obama was the kind of hero people were looking for: Democrat, desirable, dashing, different, diverse, detached, deft, dapper, defiant, dynamic, deep, and dedicated to hope and change. I am not sure if the love will last, however.

©Mark H. Pillsbury

Unbroken

Heard Olympian, WW2 POW, Louis Zamperini tonight at Houston's First Baptist Church. He was the subject of Laura Hillenbrand's bestseller Unbroken which I cannot recommend highly enough, especially after hearing him speak in person.

Zamperini a humble, funny, charming 95 year old man with so many exciting memories to offer the audience. Does not consider "The greatest generation" such a great label; prefers to call his generation "hearty" because they were strong and persevered without complaining, just fixed problems with which they were confronted.

Simply amazing testimony of miracles, forgiveness, leadership, patience, dedication; all part of a great interview onstage by Pastor Gregg Matte. Overflow crowd tonight of 1,000 all blessed by the admonition of a true american hero:

1. be prepared for disaster, and be prepared to share the gospel quickly
2. discipline your kids so they know how to behave, teach them humility
3. forgiveness is only possible through Jesus Christ, who first forgave us
4. memorize scripture, it helps your brain stay sharp, and helps when you have to act fast (see #1 herein above) Zamperini eloquently told how Psalm 18 mirrored his time in the ocean tumbling downward wrapped in the wires and wreckage of the downed plane. He recited the Psalm and narrated how it related to this near-death experience being pulled down 30-ft. into the sea (Ps. 18: 3-6, 11, 15-16, 19) ending with how he miraculously re-surfaced to look out on the expanse of the Pacific ocean (see v.19)
5. author Laura Hillenbrand crafted the stories so realistically and authentically that reading Unbroken almost brought it all back to him (he suffered from PTSD after the war)
6. the world is so complicated now, so much has changed from when he was a boy in the 20s (he cited crime statistics, and mass communications)
7. Zamperini is pretty sure he would have broken the 4:00 mile before Sir Roger Bannister (1940 Olympic games in Tokyo were cancelled)
8. Hitler reminded him of a psychotic comedian, he actually shook his hand!
9. kids need something to keep them busy, like a sport about which they have passion
10. Miracles happen all the time, nothing is too hard for God (his heart changed on the spot, no more nightmares!)

If I make it to 95 years old, I want to be just as sharp as Louis Zamperini
What a privilege to hear him talk tonight!

Houston's FBC walkway welcomes Louis Zamperini (photo credit: Pillsbury)