Saturday, June 11, 2005

PAY ATTENTION, MAGGOT!!!


I'm a big fan of "Mail Call" and the Gunny, R. Lee Ermey. Friday night the Gunny went to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to fly the 2nd seat in a B-2 bomber. The Air Force doesn't let you fly in a B-2 without going through some extensive training and tests first.

The Gunny passed with no problem.

Our entire B-2 force is assigned to the 509th Bomber Group out of Whiteman. 21 bombers at $2 billion a pop, and it looked to me like we got our money's worth. After the Gunny's flight was complete, the Group's commander presented Ermey with some items to remember the flight with. One item was the squadron's patch with the number "341" added to it. This signifies that the Gunny is the 341st person to fly in the B-2.

The Gunny also added some trivia about the 509th at the end of the show.

General Paul Tibbits (ret), who piloted the "Enola Gay" over Japan in 1945, was also in the 509th Bomber Group. Today, the 509th has a LTC Paul Tibbits IV flying for them, the General's grandson. (And, for Chris at Lucky Dawg News, when Gen. Tibbits was a 2nd LT, he shot Skeet with LTC George S. Patton.)

Semper Fi.

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