Important Life Lessons

Once upon a time, in a land far away I was young.  The world lay before me and I was living my dream.   I was, in my opinion, one of the lucky small percent (probably not 1% but pretty darn close) who was doing exactly what they had dreamed of for all their childhood.

C-130 skimming the wave in Panama

 I was newly assigned to a C-130 squadron in Texas and was on my first deployment outside the United States.  We were in Panama, at Howard Air Force Base, when the Panama Canal was still a US territory.  I was single and for the first time making more money than I really needed.  I think my salary was about $12,000, but in the mid-70’s that was enough.

Howard AFB

I was responsible for all the administrative support for the squadron, but flew about every other week.  I got to see the major cities of Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.  We bought Mahogany furniture for pennies on the dollar compared to what it cost in the US.  We flew to Brazil and broke for a week, and I got to hang with some people I knew from college who showed me what life was like for the rich in Brasilia.

Cathedral of Brasilia

I learned then that life was like being 19 forever if you were a flyer in the AF.  Regardless of the drudgery of any job, you could escape it with a flight suit and an airplane.  In spite of being a newbie, when I returned home I was markedly different then when I left High School to strike out for College, and when I graduated from College.  It was on this trip where I started to grow into who I am today.

There were wonderful new lessons.  I learned how to make a water balloon launcher that could toss a balloon over 200 yards down hill to hit the Wing Commander’s white roofed staff car.  I learned if you bought a puka shell necklace in El Salvador you could trade it for a date in Panama, and I saw the little two-man submarine the Japanese intended to use to torpedo a ship in the canal during WW II.  I got to fly in a little Cessna O-2 and drop smoke grenades from 1,500 feet up. I meet some of the most fun people I’ve ever had the privilege to hang out with, but it wasn’t all fun and games.

The Flying Tigers from Myrtle Beach 

I watched as a peer made poor choices that led to loss of his career.  I saw what happens to countries without a middle class.  I saw what government oppression leads to, what abject poverty does to the human spirit, and why people shouldn’t be drunk when you pour them into an airplane.  I saw how, to escape the poverty that overwhelms the countryside, men and women will do almost anything they are asked.