Memorial Day: The Blackbird and You

By Alan Caruba

It’s about one of the most remarkable airplanes ever produced by this nation, a spy plane that kept an eye on a lot of evil people in bad places. It was known as the Blackbird and was built to replace the U-2 in which Gary Powers was shot down over Soviet Russia in 1960.

It was built to fly three miles higher and a heck of a lot faster, but it was also built to be able to take a photo of the license plate on Nikita Khrushchev’s car or Fidel Castro lighting a cigar.

They only made forty of these remarkable airplanes. Only 93 pilots would ever fly the aircraft throughout the quarter century it served during the Cold War.

Affectionately the crew called it the “sled”. In 1986, the Blackbird flew over Libya when its dictator challenged the United States and it accelerated away from two missiles fired at it so fast the pilot and fellow crew member crossed the Mediterranean Sea and were just south of Sicily in mere moments. They had to turn around to be refueled over Gibraltar.

The last of the Blackbirds sits in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space museum in Washington, D.C. In its last trip there, the Blackbird broke four speed records from Los Angeles to its final place of honor.

I tell you this on Memorial Day so you will remember, not just the fallen who gave their lives for America or those who served until honorable discharge, but so that you will remember our men and women in uniform who are presently in harm’s way in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in other places, on board ships of war to protect the world’s sea lanes or flying over a dangerous world.

I want you to look at those old men in their veteran’s hats and remember, too, that they once were young and that they stood watch during the Cold War or braved and survived the hell of war so that you did not have to experience it on your street, in your town or city.

To be candid, I have no use for those pukes who are forever prattling about peace in a world that is armed to the teeth because it is full of evil and/or crazed people for whom the dignity of man and the whole reason for America, liberty, means nothing.

I chafe at hearing those who speak ill of those who put their lives on line to preserve for ourselves and to extend freedom where it never existed. Iraq is one such place. It borders Iran where they hang people for the crime of being human.

On this Memorial Day, only the discipline and sense of honor that military duty imbues will secure the Commander-in-Chief a salute. He has not earned it. He does not deserve it. All his instincts are opposed to the things for which this nation stands. He found it hard to put his hand over his heart or wear a flag pin in his lapel when he was campaigning.

But I will salute everyone else who ever put on the uniform of his or her nation, marine, soldier, airman, sailor, coast guard. And I will say a prayer for those no longer with us on this Memorial Day.

There’s a short film you can watch at
http://www.greatdanepromilitary.com/SR-71/index.htm

Axing the Air Force

By Alan Caruba

Not long ago, a friend with whom I went all through grade and high school sent me a video about the F-22, one of the most remarkable fifth generation fighter jets I have ever seen. He is now a retired Air Force General.

You can see the video at http://vimeo.com/3437045.

What I know about military affairs you could put in a bug’s ear. I served in the U.S. Army so long ago that the last crisis I recall gearing up for was a possible 1962 invasion of Cuba because of the missile crisis.

The latest news from Cuba is that a delegation from the Congressional Black Caucus, eager to embrace Fidel Castro, just returned with glowing words for his communist dictatorship. That should send a chill up your spine.

The reason I thought of the video was a recent statement by Michael M. Dunn, president of the Air Force Association, in which he took note of how that branch of our Armed Forces is being hung out to dry by the Obama administration and, in the process, leaving America and our allies that much more vulnerable to our enemies.

Production of the F-22 has been terminated. It is a fighter jet that would give us complete domination of the skies. Fortunately, most of the contract has been fulfilled, but it’s worth noting that such cutbacks also mean layoffs and lost jobs at a time when the nation is in a recession.

Production of the C-17 has also been terminated.

Production of the Combat Search and Rescue Helicopter has also been terminated.

Production of the Multiple Kill Vehicle has also been terminated.

F-15s, F-16s, and A-10s will all leave the Force with no replacements.

The budget of the Missile Defense Agency has been reduced by $1.4 billion.

“This budget guarantees that the oldest Air Force in the history of our nation will get even older,” said Dunn, adding that “B-52s, built in the 1950s, will have to be kept on duty for a minimum of another 15-20 years.”

Did I mention that the missile defense cuts mean that there will be no increase of ground-based interceptors and that the Airborne Laser program has been terminated?

“The decisions,” said Dunn, “are not just programic nuance, but will impact core Air Force functions to include Air Force ability to deter, to conduct an air campaign, and to rescue our downed airmen.”

These cuts come at the same time that North Korea just tested a missile that could hit the West Coast of the United States. One would think that a robust missile defense, to include the anti-ballistic laser, would be a good idea.

We are all learning that President Obama is strong on tough talk, but the evidence suggests he is weak in respect to dealing with the hardware of defense.

If you’re thinking that the United States has become more vulnerable to attack in an era of non-state terrorism as well as places like Iran that keeps testing their missiles, you’re right.