Well, I have deviated from my original plan by a tad bit but what the hell... that's life! Lol. I'll be starting my Mkeri tales very soon and with it a series of photos from Africa. But first, I think I'm going to have to date myself here in this blog.
Now some of you, may have figured out by now that I am a little long in the tooth. Okay..., not THAT long! Lol. But long enough. This little snippet of my life is one that I will always cherish and is truly a highlight of my glory days.
Back in 1977 we were still in the middle of the cold war. I was an Officer Cadet with the Air Cadet League of Canada awaiting my training to become a 2nd Lieutenant in the Reserves. This was a time in our lives when air raid sirens were mounted high around our city's and tested regularly. Today, they lay in fields as scrape metal. A sad testament to a time when we were afraid. Afraid of nuclear war!
Our squadron was heading to the US. to visit Malstrom Air Force Base in Montana. This base was a Minute-Man missile base! Cool shit for those who were in the military and into those things. Our first line of defense when the Russians send their missiles across the Canadian skies heading towards targets unknown. Here's the rub..., they didn't know where the missiles would be going until 5 minutes before impact. Seriously - let's see you evacuate a city of 500,000 in 5 minutes! Yeah... it ain't happening!
So here we are with our squadron of cadets on this really cool Air Force base. I'm a strapping young officer [actually barely one! Lol - no Officer and a Gentleman for this kid!] and we have arrived!!! Marching our squadron towards the mess hall, I get saluted by non-other than - a Colonel!
Okay... let's step out of this story for a moment. First off you have got to know, that an Officer Cadet is so far below the rank of a full bird, that I barely make his boot heels!
Okay..., let's step back in again. Now back then, I was as an ambitious young lad who really wanted to impress - I'm fast on the draw and nobody can snap a salute faster than me! Well sort of. Hmmm..., I did notice however the dirty look I got? Okay - I was a little too slow but he really shouldn't have been so impatient! Seriously!!! I'm suppose to salute first - didn't he get the memo?
Actually... this behavior by the american officers continued not only that day but the whole weekend! Odd thing about it was, that the american officers wouldn't salute my commanding officer - just me... Okay, so I was in my glory! I admit it! Didn't know what the hell was going on - but who cares! I was living large!!!
Over the weekend we were treated to tours, movies and lectures - man were we blown away! We even were in the practice silo and underground command center for a Minute-Man Missile! Seeing first hand the actual silo with a missile in it, the two command chairs and control panels of the mightiest military hardware of the day! A nuclear ICBM [inter-continental-ballistic] missile! We even got to take turns practicing to turn the twin keys at the exact time to arm the missile after the presidents codes had been entered - which, we got to do! ...and, we even did a launch! Yeah baby! That's what I'm talking about! [patting my shoulder here with a proud puffed up chest]. That's right folks... we were well trained youth WAR MONGERS!!!! LMAO... :) I did mention that this was the training silo, right?? Yeah - not the real MaCoy.
Okay - seriously, it was very cool! On the final afternoon on that Sunday, we were treated to a dance in our honor hosted by the Civil Air Patrol - our american counter-part. As I was informed later, when I walked into the room, the jaws dropped on everyone one of the Air Patrols cadets. One who was engaged with my Warrant-Officer asked him if I was a little too young for holding the rank I did? He responded with "No..., he's about the normal age." he came back with "To be a General??"
I almost died when I found this out! You can't image how all the little pieces fell so fast into place. You talk about a puffy chest now? I was milking it!
You see, an officer cadet has a single thin gold strip on his sleeve and I had two brass maple leafs on my lapels. Not getting any clearer yet? Okay..., let me help you along. An american Brigadier General, has a thin gold strip on his sleeves and a single silver star on each lapel. Get the connection? So now I understood how for that weekend, I commanded salutes from all the officers on that base - even if they did do so with clenched teeth. They took the maple leafs as our version of a star.
...and THAT, is how I was a General for a weekend! Life can throw you some awful funny curves at times but some of those - you really need to get on it and ride it hard while you can!
Trip...
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