The fighter jock told the C-130 pilot, 'Watch this!' and promptly went into a barrel roll followed by a steep climb. He then finished with a sonic boom as he broke the sound barrier. The F-16 pilot asked the C-130 pilot, "What do you think of that?"
The C-130 pilot said, 'That was impressive, but watch this!'
The C-130 droned along for about 5 minutes and then the C-130 pilot came back on and said: 'What did you think of that?'
Puzzled, the F-16 pilot asked, 'What the heck did you do?'
The C-130 pilot chuckled. 'I stood up, stretched my legs, walked to the back, went to the bathroom, then got a cup of coffee and a cinnamon bun.'
Moral of the story: When you are young and foolish it is speed and flash that seems a good thing. But the older and wiser you become, the more you realize that comfort and slow is not such a bad thing after all.
Think about it.
27 comments:
I read this post first on Feb 6th Friday. There are some advantages to subscribing to Wade's blog through Google Reader.
I realize the moral of this post. The older I get, you want to slow down in life. When you are young, you think you are going to live forever.
I also notice that, the slower your mind works, the faster you go/grow/learn. A mind that is faster is no good. A mind that is unfocused is no good. A mind that can hold one thought or it's attention on one thing is very good.
Thy Peace,
I have appreciated your comments and your spirit. You have been a blessing to many of us.
Wade
LOL! I love the C-130 pilot's sense of humor. But I'd still rather be the one with the missiles and fancy targeting system at the end of the day. :)
I agree, Wade. Some of us, myself included, could learn a lot from the way "Thy Peace" responds to people, even when they attack him for absolutely no reason.
You make the C130 sound like a commercial liner when it's not. It's a warhorse of its own.
1. It is used to support SOG operations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbP89YAVblg&feature=related
2. C130 tears up a Decepticon at 2:13 into the clipping: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5KwiC-JiS8&eurl=http://video.google.com/videosearch?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&q=ac130%20transformers&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa. Caution: Content may be unsuitable for all audience members. View discretion is advised.
Link to above.
"Content may be unsuitable for all audience members."
Especially the comment section.
I was being lazy with the hyperlink. But since you linked 1 and not the other for me, I'll repost with the link.
-----------------------------
You make the C130 sound like a commercial liner when it's not. It's a warhorse of its own.
1. It is used to support SOG operations.
2. C130 tears up a Decepticon at 2:13 into the clipping.
Caution: Content may be unsuitable for all audience members. View discretion is advised.
Oh, sorry. There was so much gobbledygook in the second link I didn't notice the first one.
Will, I was ignorant and I stand corrected. Thanks for the information.
I'll take the older and wiser but not the comfort and slow. I'd rather wear out than rust out.
Harm landed a C-130 on an aircraft carrier on "Jag". It was impressive.
That thing can drop out of the sky and land in a short jungle airstrip. It has been known to perform a loop in the sky.
When armed as a gunship it is massive and destructive.
It is an "air-mule" a real beast of burden.
Wade,
Thanks for continuing to share the truth. Your blog is daily reading for me. As a C130 that is daily aging, I find the walking and stretching necessary. I work in a squadron of F16s and have to function quickly, but find that I am moving more and more like the c130. Praying for you.
Ken Colson
Thanks, Wade, for this bit of wisdom. Having gone beyond the half-century mark, I can make the following observations:
1. If it isn't hurting, it isn't working.
2. When I attempt to play any kind of sports with my kids, my mind is writing checks that my body can't cash.
3. The older I get, the better I was.
4. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and I need to take better care of it.
5. Finally, thank God for each day. Take life slowly, be comfortable in God's love....and show his love in all we do.
I wish a correlation always existed between growing older and becoming wiser; on occasion, I cross paths with an old fool . . .
Prayer lifted to our Sovereign God for those affected by the tornado in OK. Specifically those in Edmond, Pawnee, Lone Grove, and other cities in the path of destruction. May your losses regained and your spirit be sustained as the people of God rally to your side.
k
Will,
As a Veteran I am a bit of a stickler, I can't help myself. The plane you are referring to is an AC-130 Specter Gunship not to be confused with a C-130 Cargo plane.
Wade,
Good post. This month I have been at my church for 8 years. The lessons I have learned about patience, both with God and people, have been priceless. I once had a professor of OT at Union University tell me that if he were in charge of hiring faculty, he would never hire anyone in the religion department who had not spent time in a ministerial capacity in a local church. At the time I was not sure I agreed with him. Today, I know what he meant.
Job 12:12
"With the ancient is wisdom; and
in length of days, understanding."
My own personal interpretation of this scripture goes like this:
'the ancient' may refer to
the Eternal One;
and the older I get, the more I understand to 'lean not unto thine own understanding.'
Having sorted this out,
maybe I do now have some wisdom, after all. ?
P.S. Hi, it's me L's
My Coast Guard son who is an electronics instructor in Petaluma has now been asked to do curriculum development: this is quite an honor for him and I am thrilled. He is SUCH a good person.
I AM SO PROUD OF HIM !
Proud Mom. (BIG smile. :)
Hi Kevin,
PRAYERS for Oklahoma are being said by my community of faith and other communities of faith with whom I am blessed to visit. Thanks, Kevin, for reminding everyone to pray here.
Love, L's
Wade,
Interesting post and example. May I take the metaphor a bit further?
The KC-130 that the Marine Corps uses can carry upwards of two platoons of Marines (depending on a lot of variables) and land them in some very austere environments. While this mission might not look as flashy on YouTube, I can assure you from personal experience that a platoon of Marines is a precise, sustainable, highly adaptable, darn-near-unstoppable weapon of mass destruction that can be reused over and over. Thus the long term impact of a KC-130 mission on the battlefield is arguably much greater than the potential impact of an F-16 mission (this is a broad generalization of course).
As a metaphor, we Kingdom workers would do well to remember the long-term and far-reaching impact of the slow and steady workers among us, the prayer warriors and faithful givers and deacons whose ministries will never be on GodTube, but they enable the advancement of the Kingdom in ways that only the King fully grasps. I think when we reach Home we'll all be surprised at the rewards that some folks will receive for their faithful service.
There's a balance to be kept as well. The C-130 needs the F-16 to establish air superiority and keep him safe from enemy air attack. The F-16 needs C-130s for aerial refueling. And the list of interconnected tasks goes on. They both have vital roles, and THEY NEED EACH OTHER.
One example that comes to mind is George Verwer, founder of Operation Mobilization. Here is a man who has been mightily used in the Kingdom, founded a big and God-used ministry, lots of people know his name. But let's remember the little old lady on whose heart God laid this teenage porn-trafficker in metro New Jersey, and she was faithful to pray for him until his salvation. That young man was George Verwer. How great was that lady's impact?!
Things to ponder.
Hooah!
those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint
Ray, I too am a veteran, and understand your stickler. My point is that the C-130 may be outfitted as a cargo plane, but it can be outfitted to be just as lethal and deadly as any other attack plane. Thus the designer "A"C-130.
I have not read all the comments so I hope I am not repeating this but....
There is a reason we send 20 year olds into battle. Forty year olds stop and think. (Usually)
:o)
Earliest clue that it's "just" a story:
Half billion for an F-16? Off by a factor of 10 or more depending on the time period, configuration, etc. That's F-22 Raptor range and mostly because Congress cut back the purchase from 650 to around a quarter of that.
Greg Harvey
Greg,
This is confidencial information. I will have to kill you if you tell anyone.
General Characteristics
Primary Function: Multirole fighter
Builder: Lockheed Martin Corp.
Power Plant: F-16C/D: one Pratt and Whitney F100-PW-200/220/229 or General Electric F110-GE-100/129
Thrust: F-16C/D, 27,000 pounds
Length: 49 feet, 5 inches (14.8 meters)
Height: 16 feet (4.8 meters)
Wingspan: 32 feet, 8 inches (9.8 meters)
Speed: 1,500 mph (Mach 2 at altitude)
Ceiling: Above 50,000 feet (15 kilometers)
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 37,500 pounds (16,875 kilograms)
Range: More than 2,000 miles ferry range (1,740 nautical miles)
Armament: One M-61A1 20mm multibarrel cannon with 500 rounds; external stations can carry up to six air-to-air missiles, conventional air-to-air and air-to-surface munitions and electronic countermeasure pods
Unit cost: F-16A/B , $14.6 million (fiscal 98 constant dollars); F-16C/D,$18.8 million (fiscal 98 constant dollars)
Crew: F-16C, one; F-16D, one or two
Date Deployed: January 1979
Inventory: Active force, 732; Reserve, 70; and ANG, 579
Point of Contact
Air Combat Command, Public Affairs Office; 115 Thompson St., Ste. 211; Langley Air Force Base, Va. 23665-1987; DSN 574-5014 or (757) 764-5014; e-mail: acc.pai@langley.af.mil
October 2001
Half a billion for an F-16.
Great weapon for offense in Iraq.
Not much good for defense against roadside bombs.
In the New York Times dated
May 23rd, 2004, we find this:
JERSEY CITY, May 20 - Before his unit shipped from Kuwait to Iraq in March, First Lt. Christian Boggiano, 23, made a special appeal to his mother, Mary, by e-mail message. Please, he asked, scrounge around for a few old police bulletproof vests and mail them to me.
"Once I get up north, we'll use them on the doors and floors of the Humvees so when roadside bombs go off they'll catch a lot of shrapnel," wrote Lieutenant Boggiano, a 2002 graduate of West Point.
His request created a home-front, mini-crusade to help protect American troops in Iraq. It started in the Jersey City Police Department and eventually stretched to the state police and about 50 other police departments across New Jersey. Mrs. Boggiano, a speech therapist in an elementary school here, and her husband, Richard, a Jersey City detective, started the campaign by sending fliers soliciting vests to the police precinct houses here. Then their friend, Brian O'Neill, a Jersey City police lieutenant with a nephew in Iraq, took the appeal statewide by sending a request for old vests over a police teletype that reached all departments in the state, Mrs. Boggiano said.
Over the last two months, state troopers and police officers around New Jersey have donated about 1,000 outdated, surplus bulletproof vests they owned, all in the spirit of making the thin-skinned, vulnerable Humvees safer for the soldiers and marines who ride them, Mrs. Boggiano said.
The war in Iraq has cost more than $100 billion so far, but with fighting dragging on into a second year, troops are complaining that equipment is lacking, and what is there has been worn with time. National Guard troops are saying they are being sent off to Iraq without the necessary gear to protect them from the roadside bombs and sniper shots that have become the everyday business of the war.
The Boggianos said they shipped about 360 vests to their son and six of his military friends and former West Point classmates now in Iraq. And earlier this week, they said, they gave about 650 more vests to a National Guard company of medics based in Jersey City that, along with four sister companies, has been put on alert for possible call-up and shipment to the war this summer."
American ingenuity and generosity.
How many young soldiers are alive today because their parents and volunteers gathered materials and sent them over to Iraq ?
For an F-16, half a billion dollars is a lot of money.
But the live of even one American soldier is worth infinitely more. L's
I work with a gentleman who is retired Air Force and former F-16 pilot. Here is his response to me after reading Wade's post:
"There are two types of aircraft in this world: fighters and targets. Here endeth the lesson."
My dad served on a navy training carrier (where they teach the pilots to land on a moving carrier)during Korea and later worked in the defense industry as an engineer (fighter jets) and he says there is a saying....
"There are bold pilots and old pilots, but there are no old bold pilots."
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