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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ManyMoose who wrote (88783)	11/30/2004 7:41:20 PM
From: Sig	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793698

To fight for this country must be a wonderful feeling of duty well done.>>> Gives one as unforgettable sense of being a part of something important (the USA) and of duty fulfilled. Useful trades are learned. As kid in Michigan in the 1930's, my interests lay in building rafts out of fence posts, fishing, or catching frogs. Completely and happily ignorant of what might lie ahead. After a few years of engineering college starting in 1941, I joined the Air Force and was assigned to work on the B-29's, the latest biggest and best. I was good at it, and felt really useful. Big letdown when I left in 1945 and returned to acres of no-help-wanted signs in Michigan. Found some work in Chicago at the Maremont Muffler company, $18.75 a week. Finsihed college in 1948. Got a job at North American in Inglewood CA. And was finally back to something interesting, The F-86, the B-45, the F-100. Met Charles Lindberg one day when I had an F-86 in a hangar with the nose pointed up 35 degrees to see if the fuel was still available at that attitude. Now wish I had the courage to have said some words to him but my mind was busy worrying about the tests. Went to Northrup Aircraft test division, on the F-89 ,for 4 years of testing that one. Later I moved to Rocketdyne in Santa Susana to test liquid rocket engines, to the Downey missile division to instrument the Navaho missiles, to the Douglas Military Aircraft division, and finally to Boeing Aerospace Dynsoar and Miunuteman missile programs, and then to TBC commercial flight tests of the 727 and 707's What the Hell did I think I was doing moving so much.? Engineers in those days did not get paid much, so I just did my best work hoping not to get fired. Never did. Quit a few times when work got slack and you could smell a personnel man coming with an axe. So I guess I went a long way from catching frogs to giving slide show presentations of crypto-secret data to Generals at the Ballistic Missile Division in San Berdoo. Or showing Tom Baker at NACA the Boeing test program for the Dynasoar vehicle. Just to say that when you set a good record in the Service then doors will open to endless opportunities. If you are now ready to join, I can put you in touch with a Recruiting station. Sig Later on I will expand this story for the grandkids, I will tell them about airplane flights where I was the only passenger, where we were given a real red-carpet treatment when boarding an airplane at LAX, when the Commander of Muroc dry lake facility drove us around lake chasinng rabbits in the dark. And I am not just an engineer By adopting Kerry's attitude I can present myself as a German Rocket Scientist.