12. June 2008 by Elwood.

Not a lot going on in SC, including rainfall.  If your getting the deluge like Chuck, please pray a little our way, we could definitely use more, and you could definitely use less.

 James, I chuckled when you mentioned about not knowing things about your father–my father has been deceased 28 years, and I remember reading his performance reports that my sister obtained through the Army retired records section.  Boy, back in the day, they called it like they saw it.  Most were flattering, but I remember one, early in his career, that called him “the laziest bum” he had ever seen.  Now, I might say a lot of things about my Dad, but lazy was never one of them.  What I mostly got out of those reports was the admiration the writers felt–of course, that’s the stuff that a son would pick up on, but none the less, it was there.

I’m still doing all the usual stuff, remodeling the house, installing a range hood vent system, reseeding the front yard (and yes, paying out the wazoo for watering said grass), and taking care of little old ladies.  Two have been in the hospital lately but are now out and doing much better.

Just for grins, what is the price of gas where you folks are at?  It’s $3.69 9/10 here in Spartanburg, SC.

Hope everyone has a great summer.

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14. April 2008 by Elwood.

Not much going on in the South, especially since the Tarheels decided not to show up for the semi-finals of the Final Four.  OK, they did make a brief appearance in the first part of the second half, but the rest was so disappointing.  I’m done with the doctors and therapists, not sure if therapy did all that much, and since there was not progress, the doctor released me from care.  He said over the next year will determine how much more progress the fingers, wrist, elbow, and shoulder will make, but he did expect some. 
TBD

I am getting some work done in the yard, but it really aggravates me when a tool slips out of my left hand because I have no grip.  Everyone knows what a patient person I am.  Trust me, I’m worse on myself than I ever was anyone else.

Had my first real doctor’s visit 2 weeks ago, nice to have a doc sit down and take time to completely review you entire medical history.  The unfortunate part was my cholesterol was WAY too high.  Everything still works good, but I’m doing the Atkins diet again with exercise–it worked before, it better work again.  Not really wanting to go on Lipitor the rest of my life.  I just got lazy at the end and continued into retirement, so I know what I need to do.

For all you Minot-eer’s, how about the 72nd coming back?!?!  THAT was a good squadron, especially under the leadership of Ed Dixon.  I imagine the entire state of North Dakota is celebrating, and the realtors have just got to be licking their chops.  Maybe Trav can give us an update, if he reads this.

Chuck, if you thought I ever gave you d0-do about owning a Ford, you should have heard me ROFLOL when I read that you bought a Land Rover.  James Auclair, if any one remembers him from Griffiss or the 49th, had one, and I do believe that it literally was in the shop more than his garage, until he got rid of it.  Good luck, my friend.

James, bully for you on the marathons and your graciousness during your father’s passing.

Reed, I disagree about being richer on active duty, but then my circumstances are different now.  And were you just getting an annual check, or another upgrade?  Glad to hear a good pilot is still flying.

Cheers for now.

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12. February 2008 by Elwood.

Not a lot to update, the wrist is healing slowly. Had to take a steroid (methylprednisone) to reduce the swelling in my fingers, hand, and wrist, and it has helped get me back on track for therapy. It still aches, elbow still lacks full range of motion, and shoulder is apparently developing bursitis. Otherwise, feeling great!

Congrats, James, on the marathon. I used to be a wirey little bastard (32 years ago,) even ran cross-country in high school one season. Then I got a girlfriend, married her, and fluffed up. How does that happen? And why isn’t it reversing itself now? Ah, the mysteries of life!

Don’t lose faith yet, Chuck, the right person(s) haven’t read the book yet.

Weather has been great here, 70’s on some days even. Keep rooting for global warming, y’all!

Cheers,

Elwood

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11. January 2008 by Elwood.

Well, it’s been a couple of months since I wrote, not a lot to tell about recent times.  But, one big event occurred three weeks ago.  On 20 Dec, I broke my wrist and fractured my elbow in a fall from a ladder while cleaning my gutters over my driveway.  In whatever way you can call it good fortune, it was my left wrist and elbow.  I had already cleaned all the gutters up to the driveway, had the ladder properly positioned and balanced on a firm (hard) surface of the driveway.  However, the driveway has some slope, and when I was about halfway complete cleaning that portion of the gutter, the ladder started to slip.  I grabbed at the gutter, bent it some, but then fell 10 feet down to the asphalt.  I hit leg, hip, and then hand, with the elbow bent.  The pain was excrutiating.  I laid there a moment, then got up and walked around a little with the left arm hanging down.  After a few moments more, the pain started lessening, and I decided to drive myself to the hospital.  May I recommend that you not do this if you should ever be in this unfortunate circumstance; about 5 miles down the road, I started getting some shock.  Dizziness, flush, shortness of breath.  I turned on the air and controlled my breathing.  I never felt faint and made it to the ER OK.  X-rays confirmed the break, and I’m seeing a local orthopedic surgeon.  No surgery required, but setting it was almost as painful as the break.  Unfortunately, the orthopedic doc does not participate in TRICARE, so I’m uncertain how much of the bill I’m going to get stuck with.  However, I am healing well–I’ve got the use of my fingers back somewhat, since I’m able to type now.  For a while, I could only move my fingers with my other hand.  I still can’t squeeze very tight with them, and my elbow only has limited range.  The first 12 days, I slept on my recliner to keep the arm elevated and avoid rolling over on the injured arm, but I’m back in my regular bed and for the most part sleeping soundly.  My brother, who just retired from the Air Force, was in town and helped to finish cleaning the last ten feet of gutters and fix the gutter I bent.  In case you are wondering, all my relatives were at work or out of their houses.  I’ve got another 3 weeks in a cast then unknown time for rehab.  Overall, it could have been worse, so you have to give credit to God for his intervention, because it should have been much worse.
 
We are finally getting some much needed rain, so there’s not been a lot of work to be done outside, and I’ve just been doing enough to keep the house clean.  One thing I did discover–when you hurt, you really do not want to eat.  Actually forced myself to eat the first week just because I knew it was important to the healing to have proper nutrition.
 
My brother who retired from the AF had been a flight engineer, but he wants nothing more to do with flying.  He did not have the good experiences I did with flying, although he says he enjoyed ops better than he did maintenance, where he had been a crew chief on A-10s and T-37s.  In his last 8 years of a 20 year career, he accumulated 4000 hours flying, including many in the Middle East.  He did get a bachelors in Business Administration and started a Masters degree.  He’s looking for a job in management or operations supervision.  He’s had several leads and interviews, nothing exactly in what he wants.  He had a lot more hits from NJ (where he lives) than down here where he wants to retire.  He really wants to move to NC, where military retired pay is not taxed.  At any rate, the family is happy that he will be closer to home.
 
Glad to hear from everyone, but don’t expect a long letter like this in return, my arm is starting to hurt, so I’ll close for now.  Happy and prosperous New Year to everyone!
 
Elwood

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11. September 2007 by Elwood.

Guess I’ll be the first to tell you, John—ACM can only go on a pylon, won’t fit on a CSRL in the bomb bay.

And welcome to the soap opera “Marriages of the Young.”  I would say young and stupid, but I’ve had leading roles in that soap opera twice and don’t want to cast myself in that role anymore.  Cheer up, he’s smart enough to pick your daughter.

And DB, I can just about guarantee it was target-arms, Minot always used a pair of RN patch wearers for weapons preflights, call sign “Ogre”, short for OG.  Blame will be spread around, but I’m sure there is plenty of blame to cover the toast.

James, that’s great news about your father, hope the rebound keeps going.  As far as double wing commander jobs, it’s usually because they are too young for BG by the time their initial command job is up, and it’s tough to work them into staff when they are coming off the wing king job, so they give them the same job at top wings until they are in synch with their year group for general-ship.

Cheers to all (man, it’s great hearing from everyone!)

Jim

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11. September 2007 by Elwood.

All quiet on the southern front.  Still hot and dry, had some thunderstorms, but nowhere near enough rain.  Still taking care of the little old ladies in my family, but at least everyone is healthy.  Took a weekend trip up to Michigan to see the oldest of my two younger brothers, nice relief from the 90’s and 100’s, only in the 80’s and clear skies, no haze.  Doing well and enjoying the single life, like me.  My youngest brother, who is approaching retirement from the Air Force after a 20 year career as a crew chief and flight engineer, is looking hard for a new career and working on a master’s degree in Business Administration.  He’ll retire as a Tech Sergeant, such is the life of enlisted aircrew.  He knew that if he stayed as a crew chief, he’d get promoted more, but he wanted more travel and excitement in his life, and boy did he get it.  At one point, a couple of years ago, he had the most days TDY for his KC-10 squadron than anyone else, and that’s pretty hard to do for an AMC squadron.  If my memory serves me right, he had 421 days TDY over a two year period—and this was during the time when they were suppose to limit TDY’s to less than 400 days over a two year period.  He’s just gotten tired of the enlisted harassment program (similar to the old aircrew harassment program we used to experience on alert.)  The morning after he submitted his retirement application (done over the Internet these days), he was called into his commander’s office and asked why he didn’t tell them he was going to submit retirement papers—no question of why he was retiring, what he was going to do, or any sources of disaffection. I hate commanders like that.  His experience was obviously different than mine, an enlisted guy versus an officer, but he’s going to have a great future in any event.  He’s already had inquiries stimulated by his resume from companies like Norfolk Southern and US Airways about his experience in logistics movements and training (he’s a KC-10 flight engineer FTU instructor at McGuire AFB.) 

Our family research into our genealogy has traced our ancestry back to 1792, to Joseph Blackwood who died that year in what was then called the 96 District, of which Spartanburg County was a part.  He was my great-great-great-great-great grandfather (8 generations, 10 if you include my son and grandson.)  I’ve also been doing a lot of reading about the history of Spartanburg and South Carolina.  No historical figures stand out except the SC governor, I. C. Blackwood (a great-great uncle), during the Great Depression. 

Chuck, I like your article (actually, I like all your articles).  I remember that the aircraft commander was responsible for everything that happened on the aircraft, and we knew that as we got higher in rank and responsibility, we were going to be held accountable for everything under us, and we accepted that.  We didn’t like it, but it kept us on our toes.  That’s why pilots got promoted in SAC (oh, that’s going to piss off the nav’s), our willingness to accept the responsibility and respond properly to it.  I made mistakes, but the chain seemed to always pick up whether it was an error in my training or an attempt to break the rules and disciplined accordingly.  I’m hoping that Gen Raaberg has that good sense—I knew him at JSTPS when he was a Lt Col and I was a Major, and he always seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.  Does anyone know if it was a Barksdale aircrew or Minot aircrew that flew with the weapons?  I know it was Minot who prepped the weapons and loaded them, but then I think of the chain of events and where the error could have been detected and stopped.  The missile prep crew made the big mistake, not properly preparing the missiles for transport, but none of the commanders and supervisors along the way were asking the right questions, or any questions.  I was never surprised to see a white-top car in front of my aircraft during an alert swap-over.  We’d scoff that they were covering their a**, but we made sure we dotted the i’s and cross the t’s.  It was the right thing to do—you can trust your people, but you still need to get out of the office and check things yourself, whether you’re a colonel or a MSgt.

Pontification over, peace out, as Reed says…

Elwood

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11. August 2007 by Elwood.

Wow, it is the 11th already, isn’t it?  How did we settle on this date—the 11th Bomb Squadron similarity?  Nah, musta just been the flying fickle finger of fate.  I digress…

Is everyone else about to die of heat exhaustion?  It hit 105 degrees here yesterday, usually around 103-104 all week.  Still, I think back to the short 3-month tour I had in Kuwait (some of you had much longer tours in the “sand box”!!)  Temps hit 130+ before I left in early June—that will suck the spit right out of your head, won’t it?  Still, every morning this week, I did get out and get the driveway cracks filled and resealed the entire driveway.  20 gallons of sealer.  Usually, by noon or one o’clock, I had to head back inside, but the effort looks great.  I’m going to let it cure then put a second coat on next week.  Then, hopefully, I won’t have to worry about it for a long, long time.

My sister Joy started a project to find out about our family tree.  I fell in as assistant, but she really has the passion and is the driving force.  However, I made the greatest find—another Blackwood who has been working on this for 20 years, and has our Blackwood family history back to 1790.  His name is Harry, and we met at the Spartanburg County Main Library.  There, they have a room dedicated to genealogy.  You must sign in when you visit, and it has census records, land deeds, birth and death records, books of different family histories, etc.  The librarian had given me the tour and I was sitting down at a table contemplating my first move when I heard, “Blackwood?  Is he still here?”  I looked up and the librarian was pointing to me, and a gentleman was looking and grinning at me.  I got up and we shook hands and made introductions.  His grandfather and my grandfather were brothers—I think that makes us fourth cousins or something like that.  We chatted for about a half hour, and he told me that he had all the family on a database for Family Treemaker, which I have just downloaded the beta version of their 2008 edition.  I’m getting together with his next week and will get his info and see how far back we “dirt farmers” go.  He had one interesting story from this so far—another branch of the Blackwood’s produced a governor of South Carolina, I. C. Blackwood (Ibra Charles), around the era of the Depression.  When he would visit Spartanburg, he would send his limousine and pick up our great-grandfather, John Landrum Blackwood, and they would talk for hours while he was here.  About what, I do not know, but it’s interesting that a governor would talk for hours with a poor farmer.  Sis and I will also be looking all other branches of the family, but it’s great to find out more about our past.

My thoughts and prayers go out to you, James, for your father.  And, ouch, about your back.  Are you sure you don’t have kidney stones?  Trust me, the pain is right in your back.  You’re probably the best athlete of all us “old men.”

My best wishes for everyone, and good luck, Chuck, on finding a publisher—I’m sure they’ll be missing out on a great book!
Cheers,

Elwood

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