More ‘Pearls of Military Wisdom’ from Cdr. EDDIE DANIEL (4803-1996), AirOps on one of America’s aircraft carriers:

Flight Instruction

While I was never the best pilot that the Navy had even seen, I managed to be okay most of the time. You’d never know it though from listening to my Flight Instructor. He once told me,

‘Tell ya’ what – if they ever expand the list of the Seven Wonders of the World, I’m gonna’ make sure that you’re on there twice!’

How can one argue with logic like that? We have more of these bits of logic that EDDIE provided. Thanks EDDIE.

Chow Hall

Because of the unusual duty hours at a Naval Air Station, you could pretty much find something to eat at almost any hour. At one Chow Hall, the Chief in charge always used to post a sign:

“Sorry, we are open!”

Marksmanship

Marksmanship rates very low on most Aviator’s priority lists, and I guess it irritated the hell out of the Range Instructor, a Marine. A bunch of us were trying to qualify one afternoon and of the six men firing, not one even hit the target from 100 yards.

The Sergeant shouted,

“Cease firing! Cease firing! Fix bayonets and charge! It’s your only chance!”

Sex Drive

“Back then the theory was that if aviators were fed saltpeter it would reduce their sex drive. Wouldn’t ya’ know here it is over 30 years later and the damn stuff’s just started to work.”

Simulated Tactical Situations

“Some of those simulated tactical situations that they gave us were so easy. One instructor said. "You have two enemy craft on your tail closing at 400 knots. What’s the first thing you do?"

How simple can you get?

The obvious answer should be – you do 450 knots.”