pcpilot

Came aboard her in Nov. 77 when she was in portsmoth Naval shipyard for 9 month ROH. We deployed to the Med in June 79 after a year or more in workups. Was in 4th Div as PO in Charge of the fantail. Yes, I was the one that painted all those pretty anchors on the bits back aft. Then moved to 3rd div to run liberty boats. Since ya put it that way, easy to see why the skipper would get his butt canned...too bad really. Cant take things for granted on a CV thats for sure.

Lol...why does that sound sooooooo true....lol.

Nesher, I think the IDF stands just as tall for freedom.... Can any of you guys UNDER 30 tell me who gave that very significant speech?

Whoa....I think I just wet myself... That is one incredible cockpit! Very cool plane...

There are some other cool vids in there too I saw. Thanks for the link to a nice website; hadnt seen this one before.

Kinda surprising they held the CO and XO so accountable for someone elses actions. I know skippers are responsible for the ship they command but seems a bit extreme. There are always idiots and mistakes; a CO cant cover everything....geeze... Maybe he just forgot to kiss the admirals butt one morning and the admiral never forgot... I was on the Independance back in '77-'79. We had a fire on that boat it seemed at least once a month on average. If the Navy has brought the fire frequency average down in the succeeding years, they've done well. Those boats are floating fire-bombs.

I was flying a campaign today in an AIM-9C equipped F-8 crusader against Parani Mig-17s. When I selected the Aim's, I never got a tone telling me they were online and ready. Got behind a couple migs on different occassions and never got a lock tone either. What gives? Arnt the Aim-9's all IR?

Thanks all. Learn something new everyday...

They have all hands make sure their grounded before refueling begins right?

Shinkazama, nice video. They arent easy to make are they, lol. Nice fisheye camera effect. What effects mods were you using? The gunfire and explosion effects were pretty cool. Any other enviorment mods too? Looked like you had a camera view mod also.

Good stories Rambler. Couldnt sleep this morning so came to CA and found your thread. I went thru them all and didnt even need a cup of coffee...

Ok, tryin not to laugh too much while typing this...glad I didnt have a drink in my mouth...

Kewl! Thats for the update craig...

Damn...another Spruance goes down...hope it wasnt the David Ray...

Whats next, walking stick control? re-bar possession laws? Umbrella use limits? Geeze... http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20080718/ts...unnervesbritain I'm no expert on the mentalities of Nations but it has occured to me that Europeans and the rest of the so-called old world are used to a LOT of goverment oversight in their daily lives. Heck, England has to be the camera capital of the world just to name one example. But the reactions of the people and the goverment is a little scary to me, an independant thinking American. Of course, to be fair, Im been seeing of lot of this regulatory mentality here too for the last couple decades. I know we just had a gun-control thread recently so not trying to turn this into a gunsrights debate even though Im a firm beleiver in gun ownership and the right to defend myself and family and home. I'll NOT rely on the goverment/police thank you. But the focus here to me is the mentality involved to constantly invoke goverment oversight everytime some perceived need or threat arrises. We think goverment can cure all our ills, the economy comes to mind, so I cant help but wonder if we all havent become more like sheep and less capable to take care of ourselves. That independant spirit we like to talk about and are so proud of disappears quick when a bad guy is near or the neighbor's dog barks too much. Call the cops and hope they get there in time...call the animal control shelter...etc., etc... Are we burying ourselves under an avalanche of laws? A couple years ago when I left California, they had that year alone enacted over a thousand new laws at the start of the year...dangme! Is this really nessassary? Everytime a new law is invoked, another chip in my freedom to decide for myself and think for myself is taken away.

Congartulations Mr. and Mrs. Laton...

Say, several different genres? Im sure this has been asked before but what other games besides sims are on your harddrive? Better yet; which are your favorites? Now of course, Im a big fan of SFP1 and First Eagles. I also fly IL2 a LOT. But other than sims, I am a nut for the Combat Mission series and am getting more fond of CM:SF as I play it and use the mission builder more. I also always liked Talonsofts' Campaign Series; had all three "fronts" plus Divided Ground. So broke down and bought the Matrix version and have been fighting my way thru several campaigns and having quite a bit of fun. Also a nut for Unreal Tournament, Call of Duty, any version, Homeworld 2, and Battlefield 1942. Get some mileage out of Nascar also. There's about 2 dozen other games on the HDD but these are the ones I play most. Soooo, ya think Im hooked? :yes:

I'll never forget that day. Despite the shock, sadness, uncertainty, and anger, it was heart-warming to see this good country come together like that. You know, I was in San Diego at the time. We were PISSED at how bad NY had treated our Tony Gwynn in the '98 World Series. Any NY'er was definately persona non grata after that. When 9/11 happened, all that disapeered. All San Diegans wanted to do was help any way they could. I was so proud of them during that crisis... And yes, to get back on topic, I might allow a certain agreement to your statement about the immediacy of a crisis. Even then, its tough for me to relinquish any of my liberties except for the good of the country on a very temporary basis. You know, this has really been an excellent, thought provoking discussion. Whats the old saying, two heads are better than one? Theres another one too...the more eyes looking at something, the better the perception.

Couldnt agree more...well said.

Couldnt agree more. The politics of polarization have poisoned the the ability of this country to compromise and function as it was intended. Moderation has become veiwed as weakwilled evil by both extremes when it is what reasonable men have pursued since the dawn of time. Wierd how that happens... I agree rights have obligations. That is the hallmark of any good civilization. But to search when nothing has been done wrong even if someone fits a so-called profile smacks of a rights violation in itself. Remember Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and countless other dictatorships. Its called un-lawful search and seizure. Americans hate it. Even if the search is completely un-obtrusive with modern technology, it still smacks of "Big Brother" watching us. What gave him the right to do that? 9/11 and the possibility of more such attacks? Im sorry, but aint we fighting a war because of that attack? They hit us, we hit back, simple as that. And law-abiding citizens dont lose the rights thier soldiers are told they are defending. We require a warrent here after due evidence has been demonstrated. Its in our Bill of Rights. In America it is presumed you are innocent till proven guilty. Yes violence has become more prevalent, only a blind fool would think not. But I, and the VAST majority of law-abiding Americans, should not be required to relinquish one iota of our civil rights to satisfy anyone elses justifications...that is wrong. To violate human and civil rights in the name of crime fighting, or terrorism, or whatever the "in" word is this particular day is taking the simplistic easy way out of a difficult issue/problem at the expense of freedom. Thats un-American. That is exactly the kind of goverment interferance this topic was started in protest of. Bill of Rights... Amendment IV The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Tradionally it was the taxes we paid that provided fire, ambulance, and utitlity services. So all that tax money is going where now? To pay for more goverment. And I havent seen an improvement in service even though some do function well since contracting them out. If there was a problem with the service ran by goverment, then why not fix it instead of contracting out? There certainly hasnt been the promised savings to the consumer/taxpayer. The contracters in Iraq sure aint impressing me. In San Diego, they even charge you now to use the ambulance that before was paid by your taxes. How do poor/low/fixed income people pay for the service? Thru medi-care or welfare, taxpayer paid for! Oh wait, you can buy ambulance insurance now, I feel better...

Yup, Mech warrior 2 was the last I had and it was pretty cool. Loved it when I got hit and everything shook. Someone also mentioned RPG's. My wife and I played Dungeonsiege all the way thru. That was fun. I forgot to mention I always liked the Age of Empires series, espesially AOE2. Havent tried AOE3 yet but hear its great. Been playing instead Rise of Nations; THATS a good civ builder game. Know what ya mean Jimmy, I have got to play a few rounds of COD4 everyday...lol.