M. Short's Blog, page 10
December 15, 2020
Life Lesson #35
A Cock was busily scratching and scraping about to find something to eat for himself and his family, when he happened to turn up a precious jewel that had been lost by its owner.
“Aha!” said the Cock. “No doubt you are very costly and he who lost you would give a great deal to find you. But as for me, I would choose a single grain of barleycorn before all the jewels in the world.”
Moral of the Story: Precious things are without value to those who cannot prize them.
To see what a person really values in his or her life you must look at the individual’s priorities. What are your priorities.
A wise man once told me that JOY is a blessed state. When asked how you achieve joy his reply was, “You must first set your priorities in life. If we are to achieve joy we must put Jesus first, Others second and Yourself last.”
Don’t forget to check out my Science Fiction four book series: A Saga of Dogs of War-A Story of Mercenaries. Paperback is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B08JQRR122 My eBooks are available at Books2Read at https://books2read.com/u/4Dglpg . They make great gifts for only .99 cents each. what a great Christmas present for the Science Fiction reader in your family or in your circle of friends. You can’t buy a coffee for that.
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December 14, 2020
Across Country
OCh-54 Sky Crane carrying two UH-I helicoptersMy Guard unit in Meridian Mississippi received a mission to transport retired jet aircraft frames from Memphis Naval Air Station to Fort Leonard Wood Missouri. The mission required four CH-54 Sky Cranes to fly from Meridian to Memphis and then on to Fort Leonard Wood. The cross-country flight would be 222 statute miles or in aviation lingo 193 nautical miles.
In the military pilot-in-command (PIC) and second in command (SIC) are selected by rank. I was chosen as the SIC on one of the four aircraft. The PIC I was paired with Captain Walters who, when flying, struck fear into the hearts of his crew. The remaining crewmembers asked me to keep them alive. I told them I would.
Early on the morning of the mission a flight of four Sky Cranes lifted off for Memphis. One and a half hours later the flight of four landed at the Naval Air Station. My crew rigged the airframe so it would be at a forty-five-degree nose down attitude and also screwed twelve-foot 2X6 boards to the leading edge of the wings to prevent the airframe from flying up into the helicopter. After all the riggings were complete the Sky Cranes attached their loads and began the journey to Fort Leonard Wood.
Due to the weight of the frames and the reduced speeds the Sky Cranes needed to fly each aircraft could only carry one hour of fuel. With the required thirty-minute reserve restricted aircraft’s flight time to only thirty minutes. The 2.4-hour flight would require four refueling stops. In the decision-making process to select the airports for refueling the flight plan had to consider fuels offered at the airports to accommodate the aircraft’s turbine engines. Many small-town airports did not carry Jet fuel. Each Sky Crane burns 3800 pounds of Jet-A fuel every hour. Not only did the airport need to have Jet-A available but in sufficient quantities to refuel the four helicopters. The flight at each stop drained the airport’s fuel tanks. At two of the four stops the airport manager awarded the flight a case of pint whiskey bottles. One benefit derived from the large refueling bill.
The flight arrived at the aerial artillery range and unloaded the airframes, picked up the rigging and then repositioned to the main facility at Fort Leonard Wood. All the crews, after tucking in the aircraft for the night, went to dinner to celebrate cheating death one more time and in fine military fashion drained all the pints of Whiskey.
Don’t forget to check out my Science Fiction four book series: A Saga of Dogs of War-A Story of Mercenaries. Paperback is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B08JQRR122 My eBooks are available at Books2Read at https://books2read.com/u/4Dglpg . They make great gifts for only .99 cents each. what a great Christmas present for the Science Fiction reader in your family or in your circle of friends. You can’t buy a coffee for that.
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December 13, 2020
A Shocking Helicopter Experience.
After separating for the active Army, I joined a Army National Guard unit in Meridian Mississippi. The 2348th heavy lift unit consisted of CH-54 Sky Cranes. The Sky Cranes, predecessors to the CH-47 Chinook. had the capacity of lifting a gross weight of 45,000 pounds. The most popular external loading option, referred to as a sling load had a one hundred-foot one-inch stranded cable that could be lowered or raised by a motorized drum. At the end of the cable an electrical hook was mounted to remotely open the hook to release the load.
The units mission, if war broke out, was to unload supplies from ships in the harbor expediting the unloading process. But during peace time the unit supported the activities of the State of Mississippi. These activities included Forrest fires, state infrastructure projects and any missions directed by the federal government.
On this particular day the mission was the reinforcement of an aging dam located on a large lake with crushed rock loaded into two three-yard dumpsters. The loaded doomsters would weight 18,000 pounds each. This mission required that the aircraft be flown from the aft facing pilot seat. The aft facing seat allowed the pilot to position the aircraft over the load while maintaining visual reference with the load.
On the ground a ground crewmember would ground the hook with a grounding rod and then attach the hook to the load. This grounding rod was very important. A helicopter of this weight would generate enough static electricity to create an electrical arch of up to three feet if not properly grounded. The arch not being deadly still scared the crap out of you.
As I was approaching the load the hook was swinging three feet from side to side. With the wind generated by the helicopter Sam, the newest member of the unit and the ground crew member, was having a hard time staying on top of the dumpster and grabbing the hook. The hook swung by Sam and with out thinking he grabbed the hook. As he attempted to connect the load to the hook a blue arch shot out from the hook. Sam threw his hands up and in doing so fell backwards off the dumpster impacting the ground with a large buff of dust.
I radioed him, “SAM, you alright.”
Shortly after my radio call Sam sat up from his prone position, shook his head, then said, “Damn. What a shocking helicopter experience.” Sam never forgot the grounding rod after that.
Don’t forget to check out my Science Fiction four book series: A Saga of Dogs of War-A Story of Mercenaries. Paperback is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B08JQRR122 My eBooks are available at Books2Read at https://books2read.com/u/4Dglpg . They make great gifts for only .99 cents each. what a great Christmas present for the Science Fiction reader in your family or in your circle of friends. You can’t buy a coffee for that.
Remember! A donation of likes and follows keeps me feed. Thank you all for your support.
December 12, 2020
Night Extraction
flying helicopter at nightIn Vietnam one day, I was coming back to base after a long day of flying. As I landed in our revetment I was notified that A LERP team was in need of a night extraction. These LERP teams were made up of six men with the mission of setting up listening post and booby traps along trails that were suspected of being used to transport weapons and supplies to Viet-Cong units in our Area of Operation (AO). The LERP team was inserted earlier that day and had moved three klicks from their insertion point into the jungle. As darkness began to fall they started to pick up sounds of movement close to their position. The LERPS mission was not to engage but to monitor only.
Hearing the movement they called for extraction. By the time the helicopter was rigged to lift out the troops hanging from a rope (STABO rigging) and transporting them to a safe place, darkness had engulfed the area. Once the rigging was complete we set out with two Cobra gunships as our cover birds. Once again with the LERP team in the jungle an LZ was located that would allow me to hover down low enough to get the ropes to the team on the ground.
Just a bit of reference here for those non-helicopter pilots that are reading this story. Hovering at 50 feet during the day with trees all around you is difficult at best, but when you do it at night with landing lights shining brightly to reference the ground and the LERP team reporting movement of possible hostiles in the area, I was not getting a warm fuzzy feeling with this extraction, even with two blacked out Cobras gunships circling above. My crew and I had already had our cherry popped and we were not relishing the thought of getting stitched up with AK47 fire again so soon.
We arrived at the extraction site and lowered the helicopter into the trees for the ropes to reach the ground. The Lerp team put their feet in the loops and attached their carabineers to the rope and off we went. I would have to admit that the thought of dragging them through the tree tops did come to mind for punishment for this night extraction, but I didn’t. When we touched down back at the base the team was so grateful for the extraction they gave us all their packets of LERP rations.
LERP rations were a dried food packet that you added hot water to rehydrate. My crew and I went back to my houch and heated some water with a piece of C-4 plastic explosive. We ate good that night compared to the 1947 C-Rations that we usually had to eat. After dinner, I felt better about not dragging them through the tree tops after all.
Don’t forget to check out my Science Fiction four book series: A Saga of Dogs of War-A Story of Mercenaries. Paperback is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B08JQRR122 My eBooks are available at Books2Read at https://books2read.com/u/4Dglpg . They make great gifts for only .99 cents each. what a great Christmas present for the Science Fiction reader in your family or in your circle of friends. You can’t buy a coffee for that.
Remember! A donation of likes and follows keeps me feed. Thank you all for your support.
December 10, 2020
Free eBook!!!
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Chopping wood with a Helicopter
My mission in Vietnam as a 19 year old aircraft commander was to support special teams such as Tracker Dog, LERPS and Rangers. On one mission I was deployed with a team of Tracker Dogs to Song Be, some 60 kilometers from my base camp at Phuoc Binh. My aircraft was rigged for the team to repel to the ground from the helicopter via ropes.
The area consisted of tall trees and dense jungle. The patrol that called for the team had made a Landing Zone (LZ) by blowing down several tall trees with claymore mines to accommodate the 50 foot rotor system which would allow the aircraft to get low enough so the ropes could reach the ground. The only problem was that the patrol only made the LZ 51 feet in size. This left me six inches from the rotor circumference to the trees.
When I arrived at the location, I lowered the helicopter down into the trees as low as I could. Once I was established in a 50 feet hover off the ground with the gunners ready to return any fire, four of the five men repelled to the ground. The fifth man, the dog handler, then rigged the rope for the dog to repel to the ground. The dog, a 110 pound Black Labrador Retriever, was harnessed and prepared for the repel by the handler. Once the rigging was completed, he carried the dog to the side of the aircraft to repel to the ground As the dog was dropping to the ground the line fouled bring the full weight of the dog, now dangling halfway down the rope, to jerk the helicopter to the right side impacting the trees. Wood was flying everywhere as the blades were chopping the tops of the trees. With all the flying debris the troops on the ground took evasive actions to avoid the falling wood debris. Once I was able to stabilize the aircraft again the handler pulled the dog back into the helicopter to fix the fouled line. Then again the dog was repelled to the ground successfully this time. Once the handler was off the aircraft I raised out of the hover hole and headed back to a small base at Song Be, The helicopter was vibrating so hard that it was difficult to read the instruments.
When we reached Song Be, the aircraft was shutdown to reveal that six to eight inches of the rotor was gone. The honey comb mesh filling in the blade was hanging from each blade almost nine feet. The Tech Sargent at the small base told us that they had no way to really fix the aircraft and that we needed to take the aircraft back to Phuoc Binh base, some 60 kilometers away. The Tech Sargent did however push all the honey comb mesh he could back into the blade and taped it off with Duct Tape. Once he completed the quasi repair, we took off for the base. When we landed at the base, the Maintenance Officer looked at the helicopter and said, “Well you trashed another one Short. We need to give this one back to the taxpayers and get you another one.”
Don’t forget to check out my Science Fiction four book series: A Saga of Dogs of War-A Story of Mercenaries. Paperback is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B08JQRR122 My eBooks are available at Books2Read at https://books2read.com/u/4Dglpg . They make great gifts for only .99 cents each. what a great Christmas present for the Science Fiction reader in your family or in your circle of friends. You can’t buy a coffee for that.
Remember! A donation of likes and follows keeps me feed. Thank you all for your support.
December 9, 2020
Excerpts From
Launch date Jan15th 2021The poison was created and was now ready to administer. Emsaf was facing the task of finding an assassin to drop the poison into the king’s month without being detected by the king or the guards outside his room. Emsaf spent the next four months visiting, in disguise, known criminal elements of the area looking for the right person to complete his plan. During his search, a small 15-year-old boy working as a servant heard what Emsaf was wanting to accomplish. After Emsaf left the residence of one of the known criminals, the young boy approached him and said, “You want the king dead. I will do it.”
Emsaf turned to the boy and asked, “What makes you think you can kill a king surrounded by guards?”
The boy then produced Emsaf’s coin purse from his pocket and replied, “Did you see or feel such a heavy purse being lifted from your cloak? Of course, you did not. I am invisible to everyone.”
Emsaf asked, “And you think because you lifted a purse from me you can kill a king, do you?”
The young boy replied, I have killed six of the seven men that killed my father while they slept. The only reason the seventh is not dead is because I do not know in which room he sleeps.”
Emsaf chuckled asking, “Where does he live, in the king’s palace?”
The young man glared at Emsaf and replied, “Yes, his name is Zoskales.”
Emsaf stunned by the young man’s response said, “Your father was killed by the king and his men. Why?”
The young man replied, “My father, Ezana, one of the last of the house of Ityopp’is’, called the king an imposture and not the true king of the Aksum people. He was killed in the street by six men at the order of the king. I have killed all six of them. I now seek to kill the king, but I cannot find where he sleeps. I will help you if you help me.”
Emsaf said, “I knew Ezana well, he was the leader of the remnant of the house of Ityopp’is of which I was a member. He had a young son who attended the meetings with him. Is your name Reuel?”
The young man answered, “Yes, “I am Reuel.” Emsaf pulled off his disguise and took the boy in his arms. And then showed Reuel the mark of Ityopp’is’ on his right pectoral muscle. When Reuel saw the mark he too pulled back his shirt to reveal his mark to Emsaf.
Emsaf then said, “You Reuel will soon be the rightful ruler of Aksum. The house of Ityopp’is’ will once again take its rightful place as ruling family of the Aksum people. Come with me my brother you will live with me now. I will tell you there how we will kill the king and install you as the new ruler with me by your side.”
Emsaf and Reuel poured over the palace plans and where each room was located. Reuel would go out every night to find the best entry in and out of the Palace without exposing himself to the light. Being in the light at any time would expose him to the watchful eyes of the Palace guards. After weeks of Reuel’s slender body running across the roof of the Palace he was confident of his approach into the King’s sleeping quarters. Emsaf was finalizing the poison and a safe way for Reuel to carry it across the roof tops and then administer it into the King’s month. Emsaf designed a glass bottle which would fit inside a solid cylinder secured with a screw type top that only required one silent turn to open. The bottle had an eye dropper inside a cork that fit into the top of the bottle. That allowed the eye dropper to fill with the poison while the top was still securely on the bottle. The eye dropper would only hold two drops and two drops only, which was more than enough to start the toxins destroying the cells of the body as did the spider that the poison emulated. Reuel made three runs with the cylinder strapped to this leg to make sure he could still move quietly along the roof and in the King’s sleeping quarters. After two months they were both ready to make the final run into the King’s sleeping quarters to administer the poison. Emsaf had already done all the research of the Aksum archives that would reveal the true linage of the Aksum people and the rightful claim of the House of Ityopp’is’ to the throne of the Aksumite Empire. Everything was set and Reuel was more than ready to avenge his father and ascend to the throne of the Aksumite Empire. The day that was picked was the anniversary of Reuel’s father’s death 10 years prior. The day arrived and all the preparations were complete. In the wee hours of the night, Reuel strapped the cylinder on his hip and leg to make his way across the roof of the Palace. As He went to the Palace Emsaf was compiling the information to prove their claim to the throne. Within two hours Reuel was back at the quarters of Emsaf. Emsaf asked, “Is it done?”
Don’t forget to check out my Science Fiction four book series: A Saga of Dogs of War-A Story of Mercenaries. Paperback is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B08JQRR122 My eBooks are available at Books2Read at https://books2read.com/u/4Dglpg . They make great gifts for only .99 cents each. what a great Christmas present for the Science Fiction reader in your family or in your circle of friends. You can’t buy a coffee for that.
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December 8, 2020
Life Lesson #33
The Birds, the Beasts, & the Bat
The Birds and the Beasts declared war against each other. No compromise was possible, and so they went at it tooth and claw. It is said the quarrel grew out of the persecution the race of Geese suffered at the teeth of the Fox family. The Beasts, too, had cause for fight. The Eagle was constantly pouncing on the Hare, and the Owl dined daily on Mice.
It was a terrible battle. Many a Hare and many a Mouse died. Chickens and Geese fell by the score—and the victor always stopped for a feast.
Now the Bat family had not openly joined either side. They were a very politic race. So when they saw the Birds getting the better of it, they were Birds for all there was in it. But when the tide of battle turned, they immediately sided with the Beasts.
When the battle was over, the conduct of the Bats was discussed at the peace conference. Such deceit was unpardonable, and Birds and Beasts made common cause to drive out the Bats. And since then the Bat family hides in dark towers and deserted ruins, flying out only in the night.
The Moral of the Story: The The deceitful have no friends.
Honesty is again proven to be the best policy. Deceit and lies exact a tremendous price.
Don’t forget to check out my Science Fiction four book series: A Saga of Dogs of War-A Story of Mercenaries. Paperback is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B08JQRR122 My eBooks are available at Books2Read at https://books2read.com/u/4Dglpg . They make great gifts for only .99 cents each. what a great Christmas present for the Science Fiction reader in your family or in your circle of friends. You can’t buy a coffee for that.
Remember! A donation of likes and follows keeps me feed. Thank you all for your support.
December 7, 2020
Science Fiction or Speculative Fiction. Is there a difference?
In my research for this article I came across the definition of Speculative fiction. The definition stated that Speculative Fiction is writing about anything that does not exist in the world when the book was written. That would include civilization structures, technology and anything not in our world as we know it now. If that is speculative fiction then all the science fiction I had ever read would be considered speculative fiction. The words science fiction in itself conjures up spacecraft, different world governance, supernatural phenomena and new technology. All these examples lend itself to the Speculative Fiction genre.
Lets look at all the speculative fiction genres according to masterclass.com. There is Science fiction, Sci-fi fantasy fiction, Supernatural fiction, Space opera fiction, Urban fantasy fiction Utopian fiction, Dystopian fiction, Apocalyptic fiction, Post-apocalyptic fiction, Alternate history fiction, and last but not least Superhero fiction.
Taking in all this information about speculative fiction has led me to believe that science fiction is speculative fiction and are like two peas from the same pod. There is no real difference between the two.
Let me hear your thoughts on the subject.
Don’t forget to check out my Science Fiction four book series: A Saga of Dogs of War-A Story of Mercenaries. Paperback is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B08JQRR122 My eBooks are available at Books2Read at https://books2read.com/u/4Dglpg . They make great gifts for only .99 cents each. what a great Christmas present for the Science Fiction reader in your family or in your circle of friends. You can’t buy a coffee for that.
Remember! A donation of likes and follows keeps me feed. Thank you all for your support.
Star Trek, Star Wars or Neither
While some may say that the phenomenon of Star Trek and Star Wars were the more recent start of science fiction’s popularity, I would have to agree. In 1964 Star Trek, after only being on television for just three short years, created a huge cult like following that brought about 12 Star Trek Movies and a new TV series, Star Trek-The Next Generation, which generated an additional four more movies. In 1977 George Lucas’s Star Wars took the movie screens by storm and are still being made.
While the 1887 science fiction book War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells was not a movie sensation, but it did make a rather large splash on radio when Orson Wells recounted the H.G. Wells story on his radio program in 1938. The broadcast reportedly scared the public so much that Orson Wells had to apologize to his listeners who thought his broadcasts were describing actual alien attacks.
My passion for science fiction however started in my early years of childhood with the reading of dime comics books of Flash Gordon that originated in 1934 written by Alex Raymond. Of course we must not forget Buck Rodgers who appeared in the sci-fi book Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Phillip Francis Nowlan in 1928, which generated four films between 1936 and 1941 and 12 comic book episodes. In 1938 Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s character Superman appeared in comic books and in 1951 the Adventures of Superman television series appeared, running for six seasons. Superman also generated 10 movies between 1948 and 2013. The list continues with my favorite the 1950 science fiction story by Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles. Not many people know that Ray Bradbury was the narrator on the television episodes of the Twilight Zone.
While Star Trek and Star Wars, which I enjoy immensely, has increased the readership of science fiction in the late 20th Century and now into the early 21st century mainly due, in my estimation, to the movie screen and television, I still feel that the oldies but goodies as the source for my passion of science fiction. Check them out. You may start to see where Gene and George got their inspirations.
Leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts.
Don’t forget to check out my Science Fiction four book series: A Saga of Dogs of War-A Story of Mercenaries. Paperback is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B08JQRR122 My eBooks are available at Books2Read at https://books2read.com/u/4Dglpg . They make great gifts for only .99 cents each. what a great Christmas present for the Science Fiction reader in your family or in your circle of friends. You can’t buy a coffee for that.
Remember! A donation of likes and follows keeps me feed. Thank you all for your support.
