Off we go into the wild blue....

The Air Force is 60 years old this year. Congress and the President made it an independent service in 1947, co-equal with the Army and the Navy. I visited the Air Force memorial http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force_Memorial last weekend and came away much impressed. The memorial is a delight to visit and the Air Force band performed in the cool of the evening before a crowd of several hundred. The band members were neat, trim, slender and sharp in their summer uniforms and the music was delightful. Even more impressive was the high enlisted rank held by the musicians. Two soloists were introduced and each had a masters degree in music and song. With this kind of background it is easy to understand why the Air Force has promoted these enlisted persons into the top ranks.

An old friend from my Air Force service days (1951-1959) accompanied my son (also former Air Force) and my daughter-in-law for the evening. It is a new and exciting Air Force today I am sure, but I am proud to have been a member in those early days that were also new and exciting for us. The Air Force is also where I found my wife of 53 years, and we treasure the memories that bought a Yankee from Lowell, MA, and a shy, Southern girl from Georgetown, SC, together.

Sin pays and viewers enjoy it

I was relaxing at the kitchen table yesterday with a cup of coffee and having already gone through the morning paper I idly re-turned the pages until my eyes focused on a rundown of nine well known "soaps". I started reading and soon I was going through all the summaries. I discovered that the continuing story lines are based on seven cardinal sins widely committed ever since Adam was a lad. Each of these fictional dramas has gone on and on for years, undoubtedly snagging a lot of money for a lot of people - and giving a wierd vicarious experience to what has to be a strange, insatiable audience. I recall my grandmother listening to Stella Dallas on the radio, and there was probably a lot of double entendre that didn't register with a young boy, but I don't believe lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride were as openly paraded as in today's TV offerings. And, of course, radio was a listening experience requiring imagination whereas TV is a visual medium leaving little to the imagination.