WISDOM FROM MILITARY TRAINING MANUALS

'If the enemy is in range, so are you.'
- Infantry Journal-
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'It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed.'
- US.Air Force Manual -
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'Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword, obviously never encountered automatic weapons.'
- General MacArthur -
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'Tracers work both ways.'
- Army Ordnance Manual-
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'Five second fuses last about three seconds.'
- Infantry Journal -
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'Any ship can be a minesweeper. Once.'
- Naval Ops Manual -
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'Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do.'
- Unknown Infantry Recruit-
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'If you see a bomb technician running, try to keep up with him.'
- Infantry Journal-
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'Yea, Though I Fly Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 50,000 Feet and Climbing.'
- Sign over SR71 Wing Ops-
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'You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3.'
- Paul F. Crickmore (SR71 test pilot)-
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'The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.'
-Unknown Author-
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'If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage it has to be a helicopter -- and therefore, unsafe.'
- Fixed Wing Pilot-
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'When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane, you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash.'
-Multi-Engine Training Manual-
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'Without ammunition, the Air Force is just an expensive flying club.'
-Unknown Author-
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'If you hear me yell;"Eject, Eject, Eject!", the last two will be echos.'
If you stop to ask "Why?", you'll be talking to yourself, because by then you'll be the pilot.'
-Pre-flight Briefing from a Canadian F104 Pilot-
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'What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots?
If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; but If ATC screws up, .... the pilot dies.'
-Sign over Control Tower Door-
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'Never trade luck for skill.'
-Author Unknown-
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The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in military aviation are:'Did you feel that?' 'What's that noise?' and'Oh S...!'
-Authors Unknown-
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'Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight.'
-Basic Flight Training Manual-
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'Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it.'
- Emergency Checklist-
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'The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you.'
- Attributed to Max Stanley ( Northrop test pilot) -
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'There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime.'
-Sign over Squadron Ops Desk at Davis-Montham AFB , AZ-
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'You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal.' - Lead-in Fighter Training Manual -
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As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft,
having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives.

The rescuer sees the bloodied pilot and asks,'What happened?'
The pilot's reply: 'I don't know, I just got here myself!'

A TWISTED WORD OF WISDOM...

Give a man a fish and you will satisfy his hunger for a day.
Teach him how to fish and he will drink beer and fish every weekend!

1981 Quote From Senator Barry Goldwater

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

On religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being.

But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both.

I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?

And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of 'conservatism'.
Barry Goldwater, September 16, 1981.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

This only is denied to God: the power to undo the past. Agathon (448 BC)

At any rate, I am convinced that He [God] does not play dice. Albert Einstein

Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish. Albert Einstein

Or what about the statue in California currently said to be crying bloody tears? Why worry about the alleged weeping of a plaster effigy when so many actual human beings have reason to cry? Anna Quindlen

God is not dead but alive and well and working on a much less ambitious project. Anonymous, Graffito

The gods too are fond of a joke. Aristotle

When you want something really bad and you close your eyes and wish for it-- God's the guy who ignores you. Caspian Tredwell-Owen, and Alex Kurtzman

You talk to God, you're religious. God talks to you, you're psychotic. Doris Egan

They say that God is everywhere, and yet we always think of Him as somewhat of a recluse. Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)