TFL is about responsible firearms ownership. However, we might remember that a firearm is merely a tool—the weapon is the mind.
Obviously it is appropriate to recognize and honor our combat personnel. However, there are many military and civilian personnel who have served in potentially deadly situations without defensive tools of any kind. Through their efforts, these men and women saved many lives—perhaps even our nation.
[excerpt, bold added]
Cold War warrior receives Distinguished Flying Cross
by Tech. Sgt. David Donato; Air Force News; November 15, 2002
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- For the second time in his career, a former Air Force flight engineer has been awarded one of the service's highest combat honors. Only this time, the honor came 50 years after the fact.
John D. Goolsbee Sr., a retired senior master sergeant, was awarded his second Distinguished Flying Cross on Nov. 14 during a ceremony at the Air Intelligence Agency here.
The San Antonio resident previously received the DFC in 1945 during World War II. Like his first DFC, Goolsbee earned this one for his participation in a single mission.
During the course of that mission on Sept. 17, 1952, Goolsbee, then a technical sergeant assigned to the 38th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, and 11 other crewmembers on board an RB-50 reconnaissance aircraft flew 14 hours over the Franz Joseph Archipelago in the Soviet Union, collecting sensitive intelligence data.
The mission, classified at the time, was one of many conducted during the Cold War era at the direction of President Harry Truman in an effort to counter a potential threat to the United States by the Soviet Union.
As Maj. Gen. Paul Lebras, AIA commander, presented Goolsbee the medal, he lauded him for his efforts and called him a hero.
"The legacy of men like Senior Master Sergeant Goolsbee is largely unheralded," the general said. "They served in silence, with no expectation of public recognition, content with just getting the mission done. So, it's only fitting that today we honor this fine American hero. It is because of people like him that we won the Cold War and made the world a better place.
[snip]
In recalling the events of that mission, Goolsbee remembers severe weather and an almost aborted mission.
"We took off in zero-zero weather," he said. "And at one point we lost 700 gallons of our 1,000-gallon reserve fuel, due to a faulty fuel pump in one our drop tanks. So, we had to have a quick huddle to see if we could still accomplish the mission.
"I knew I had to do my best cruise control problem to date if we were going to get through this mission successfully. If we had aborted, there would have been no second attempt to fly the mission. The president of the United States had signed off on this mission and we wanted to see that it was completed."
Goolsbee and his crew finished the mission successfully, but were unable to be recognized for their efforts due to the mission's classification. It was not until the fall of the Soviet Union and the declassification of the mission by former President Bill Clinton in 2000 that Goolsbee or anyone on his crew was able to talk about it.
"Once we flew the mission, everything was removed from the aircraft and we never discussed it again," Goolsbee said.
[snip]
The Distinguished Flying Cross is awarded to any person, who, while serving in any capacity with the U.S. armed forces, distinguishes himself for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight.
[end excerpt]
The entire article is available at:
http://www.af.mil/news/Nov2002/111502803print.shtml
I have no idea what "sensitive information" warranted violating Soviet airspace for fourteen hours; however I can speculate (ie "guess").
Note the location of the Franz Joseph archipelago: approximately 80° to 82° N, 45° to 65° E. In other words, it is roughly across the North Pole from the forty-eight contiguous United States. Like the easternmost tip of the Soviet Union, such a location would have great strategic and tactical value; however the archipelago is much closer to Moscow (less than half the distance by air, less than a quarter the distance by most landline communications). The location would be ideal for both defensive and offensive operations.
Defensive operations could include facilities to detect (early warning radar) and defend against (fighter-interceptors and surface-to-air missiles) U.S. over-the-pole bomber routes to the heart of the USSR.
Offensive operations could include long-range bomber facilities, land-based ICBM facilities, and submarine-based IRBM/ICBM support facilities. Those bombers and missiles were aimed at the American heartland.
Therefore, knowing about Soviet intentions and capabilities would have been extremely important. Indicating to the Soviets that we knew about their intentions and capabilities (and our ability to negate their resources) would have a chilling effect upon Soviet confidence—a major consideration in our MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) deterrence policy of the period.
Whatever information this mission was supposed to obtain, this mission must have been successful and the information must have been important or no Distinguished Flying Cross would have been warranted.
Those who obtained such intelligence for America entered potential combat without the means to defend themselves and without support or defense by others. Many of these Cold War Warriors never returned and were never recognized for their sacrifice.
Unknown, unheralded, they served.
---------------------
... to gain a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the highest excellence; to subjugate the enemy's army without doing battle is the highest of excellence.
-- Sun Tzu
Obviously it is appropriate to recognize and honor our combat personnel. However, there are many military and civilian personnel who have served in potentially deadly situations without defensive tools of any kind. Through their efforts, these men and women saved many lives—perhaps even our nation.
[excerpt, bold added]
Cold War warrior receives Distinguished Flying Cross
by Tech. Sgt. David Donato; Air Force News; November 15, 2002
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- For the second time in his career, a former Air Force flight engineer has been awarded one of the service's highest combat honors. Only this time, the honor came 50 years after the fact.
John D. Goolsbee Sr., a retired senior master sergeant, was awarded his second Distinguished Flying Cross on Nov. 14 during a ceremony at the Air Intelligence Agency here.
The San Antonio resident previously received the DFC in 1945 during World War II. Like his first DFC, Goolsbee earned this one for his participation in a single mission.
During the course of that mission on Sept. 17, 1952, Goolsbee, then a technical sergeant assigned to the 38th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, and 11 other crewmembers on board an RB-50 reconnaissance aircraft flew 14 hours over the Franz Joseph Archipelago in the Soviet Union, collecting sensitive intelligence data.
The mission, classified at the time, was one of many conducted during the Cold War era at the direction of President Harry Truman in an effort to counter a potential threat to the United States by the Soviet Union.
As Maj. Gen. Paul Lebras, AIA commander, presented Goolsbee the medal, he lauded him for his efforts and called him a hero.
"The legacy of men like Senior Master Sergeant Goolsbee is largely unheralded," the general said. "They served in silence, with no expectation of public recognition, content with just getting the mission done. So, it's only fitting that today we honor this fine American hero. It is because of people like him that we won the Cold War and made the world a better place.
[snip]
In recalling the events of that mission, Goolsbee remembers severe weather and an almost aborted mission.
"We took off in zero-zero weather," he said. "And at one point we lost 700 gallons of our 1,000-gallon reserve fuel, due to a faulty fuel pump in one our drop tanks. So, we had to have a quick huddle to see if we could still accomplish the mission.
"I knew I had to do my best cruise control problem to date if we were going to get through this mission successfully. If we had aborted, there would have been no second attempt to fly the mission. The president of the United States had signed off on this mission and we wanted to see that it was completed."
Goolsbee and his crew finished the mission successfully, but were unable to be recognized for their efforts due to the mission's classification. It was not until the fall of the Soviet Union and the declassification of the mission by former President Bill Clinton in 2000 that Goolsbee or anyone on his crew was able to talk about it.
"Once we flew the mission, everything was removed from the aircraft and we never discussed it again," Goolsbee said.
[snip]
The Distinguished Flying Cross is awarded to any person, who, while serving in any capacity with the U.S. armed forces, distinguishes himself for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight.
[end excerpt]
The entire article is available at:
http://www.af.mil/news/Nov2002/111502803print.shtml
I have no idea what "sensitive information" warranted violating Soviet airspace for fourteen hours; however I can speculate (ie "guess").
Note the location of the Franz Joseph archipelago: approximately 80° to 82° N, 45° to 65° E. In other words, it is roughly across the North Pole from the forty-eight contiguous United States. Like the easternmost tip of the Soviet Union, such a location would have great strategic and tactical value; however the archipelago is much closer to Moscow (less than half the distance by air, less than a quarter the distance by most landline communications). The location would be ideal for both defensive and offensive operations.
Defensive operations could include facilities to detect (early warning radar) and defend against (fighter-interceptors and surface-to-air missiles) U.S. over-the-pole bomber routes to the heart of the USSR.
Offensive operations could include long-range bomber facilities, land-based ICBM facilities, and submarine-based IRBM/ICBM support facilities. Those bombers and missiles were aimed at the American heartland.
Therefore, knowing about Soviet intentions and capabilities would have been extremely important. Indicating to the Soviets that we knew about their intentions and capabilities (and our ability to negate their resources) would have a chilling effect upon Soviet confidence—a major consideration in our MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) deterrence policy of the period.
Whatever information this mission was supposed to obtain, this mission must have been successful and the information must have been important or no Distinguished Flying Cross would have been warranted.
Those who obtained such intelligence for America entered potential combat without the means to defend themselves and without support or defense by others. Many of these Cold War Warriors never returned and were never recognized for their sacrifice.
Unknown, unheralded, they served.
---------------------
... to gain a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the highest excellence; to subjugate the enemy's army without doing battle is the highest of excellence.
-- Sun Tzu