I hope that everyone has taken the time, before the brewskies, to thank the men and women who have served and paid the ultimate price. Please take the time to say a prayer for those left behind that carry on with their mission to protect everyone here in the greatest country in the world, the United States of America!

This is our simple flag, on a simple home, with a simple cause. Our daughters know the supreme sacrifice paid by so many so that they can enjoy so much. Today’s children, I suspect, do not know the history of our fathers, and the fathers before them.

We had a great time, as short as it was, yesterday. There are several members of the IMAA that get together and have a giant model aircraft air show. The best-est thing was that it took place on the old B-52 alert pads at Castle AFB! Oh yeah, to walk on the tarmac at Castle was a treat!

Well, ya think people see me coming, more appropriately going, with them thar stickers on my truck window?! Uh-huh, they do - not to mention my bright red cap with the 9th AMS badge in white and red! I’ll get a snap of that up here soon.

To top of the whole model aircraft air show was that a few gents, known as the Section 8 Air Force, place lights ALL OVER their radio controlled planes and fly at NIGHT! The girls had a ball, well, and so did the parents.

If you’d like to read a bit about this event, the Modesto Bee has a short snippet found here, and we met THE David Gunnin! He’s my Dad’s neighbor and a good man. He and his wife have been great, and have been very good to my Dad after Mom passed away.

Here’s a shot from the 2003 Event at Castle AFB

I’m telling you this because before the night flight show, I took the girls out to look for the “red line”. There’s a question out there in your head, I know, “What is the red line?”

That is the primary boundary between being watched and being “jacked up”! And, at Beale AFB, jacked up takes on new meaning, lemme tell you!

As we were wandering around the inactive alert pad, I’m explaining what all happened with B-52s, alert posture, and tankers at the ready during the cold war. I took them over to touch some of the taxiway signs and lights, we followed the path of the Follow Me trucks - on foot. Then, BAMMO! The red line! We jumped over it, then back, then over, then back! It was pretty fun for them, and a little bit of the way-back machine for me.

Then, we walked back to where everyone was sitting. I told the girls to yell out to Mommy, with arms raised high in the air flailing around, “I jumped the red line and didn’t get shot!”

Uh-huh, Dad’s a riot, huh?

Take care, God Bless, and God Speed to all those serving today!

TAGS: Fix4RSO, Milblog, Military, USAF, Cold+War, Memorial+Day

This entry was posted on Monday, May 29th, 2006 at 21:35 and is filed under Commitment, GreatestGift, USAF, WayPoint. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.