Saturday, January 12, 2013

Thoughts from the Roof


Today was a beautiful day, and as the first weekend after epiphany, so I get to take the outside Christmas lights down.  While I am up on the roof, basking in the sun, and doing simple tasks my mind wanders.  I think to a snippet of a conversation I had yesterday with a General.  I must be getting way too old, because it was too similar to the ones I would expect to have with a Lieutenant.
It is unfortunate the experience we provide future Generals, as they grow up, does not vest in them much more than a need change things and the belief they are superior to those around them because no one is willing to tell them they are not. 
 When I was younger there was a book I read about the foundation of the Air Force.  I can’t remember the title but it dealt with a group of officers who were Captains in the Army during the 1930’s, and who would later go on to be the Generals who, during the World War would build the greatest air force the world had ever seen.
These were the men who created the tactical doctrine that built the Eight Air Force, and eventually led to the recognition of the Air Force as a Service, equal to the Army and the Navy.  Names like Carl Spaatz, Ira Eaker, Jimmy Doolittle, and Curtis LeMay come to mind.
I wonder if they were different then the Generals we create today?

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