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Regarding stories:
The great thing about this site is the feedback and comments. When I quit getting new comments, I guess it’s time to shut up. I hope this post encourages some of you with real military experience to consider writing out your stories about the A-10. Selfishly, I’d like to see postings for our site. If not for the public, at least for your friends and families.. They are very important to us.
My brother has a long career in the Army and he has much the same feeling about recounting what he has done. He was in Afghanistan much of last fall and winter returning home a few months ago. I kept asking him to tell me what was going on an he humored me by sending enough emails to let me know what was going on. Many years of giving reports and presentations have paid off because now I think he has become a very good storyteller. People like myself, who never served need to hear some of the stories. It helps us keep focused on what is really important and makes it a bit easier to sort the wheat from the chaff when watching the evening news.
At my request he wrote the first story on the teamwarthog.com web site. When I read it , I thought he had captured just what we needed to show others how important the A-10 is to national defense. It is a weapon that takes care of the men on the ground who are doing the dangerous work of projecting power and supporting our national interest.
The same can be said (at least in terms of what is intended) of every job in the military and every weapons system. I happen to be working on a project to raise money for the A-10 and so I need A-10 people to tell me what life is like with a Warthog. I want to hear from the ground crews and pilots. It would be great to hear from someone who had a part in the design of the aircraft. I can probably find out who the test pilots were, but what was it like to be on the engineering team? What was it like during DS? What is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq today? How does it feel to be in trouble on the ground, call for help and have it show up in the form of plane that is so ugly it is pretty?
Don’t sell yourselves short. My guess is most of you who serve are a lot like my brother. You tell people like me that your just doing a job, nothing really special, and besides, who wants to listen to more stories. . . . . . I do!
I would like to sneak in one more example of a story my brother sent me. I’ve used it before to help raise money for some orphans in Kabul. (Another thing our service men do in their spare time, when overseas, they take care of kids)
September 25, 2005
I know you will get a kick out of this, it is about culture, history, religion, and philosophy all rolled up into one little story... I was at the bazaar on Friday, the usual shopping day. The stalls are run by different sorts- some small boys working for their fathers, others old men who look like they simply brought a bag of whatever thy could find in their huts and spread it out on a carpet-more like a yard sell, typical smells and high stepping over items tossed about.
One small boy had an interesting set up with rocks and rings and other assorted bric-a-brac. In the back corner of his small table was a pile of pewter figures, sheep, cows, goats, men and women, even some very wise looking men prostrate with outstretched hands holding what appeared to be genie lamps. There was also a slightly out of place baby lying in what appeared to be a feed trough.
I asked the boy about his pieces and he proceed to tell me about each one of them with the kind of emotion you would use when you describe a friend or family member (a rehearsed sales job I am sure...“this is the cow, this is the sheep, this is the goat…” when he got to the man and the women (who we all know as Joseph and Mary) he said, “and this is my favorite, he is the beggar and this is the beggars wife who need some food to eat…” He also talked about the Kings, but could not understand why it was so important that I buy three, and he had no idea how the baby got into the feed trough.
I bought a complete set (he even found a third King) and I agreed to pay more then the pewter pieces were worth, I justified the money because the boy’s story was pure gold. END
Just before he came home, my brother sent the set to me. It is one of my most prized possessions now not because of the pieces, but because of the story that goes with them.
Even without the set, the story is ours forever.
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Where do I order a "jargon dictionary" or do I have to spend several years in the service to pick up what I need to know?