When people ask me why I take safety as seriously as I do, it’s because simple mistakes kill plenty of good people. Aviation is full of those lessons.

Nineteen years later. If that tragic day never occurred this year Aircrewman Owens, dead at nineteen before he could legally drink in his own country, would have lived twice as long as he did.

Rick Tafoya, Brian Cerino. In the next two years you two would have been twice as old as when you died.

I know Rick and I would be hanging out today – two California boys getting gray hair and talking about the stuff we used to do, maybe watching Eric Sass’ boys playing Little League. We knew each other from Pensacola, maybe also from barracks time in San Diego during the core training for SERE.

Duncan, Cerino’s roommate in Tennessee and my good friend here during training twenty years ago never seemed to be the same afterwards.

Maybe none of us were ever the same. Simple mistakes kill good people and they give out awards for those of us who get OCD about preventing the mistakes that kill and call it a safety program.

Miss you guys. You’re gone but never forgotten.

The Final Patrol by David (Devo) Devarney

Schedule checked
Another all-nighter, dawn patrol
Last beer drunk, hit the rack
Waken, first day of spring
Crew rest, waken again
Grab bag, boots tied
Last pat on the head
Last embrace
Lips touch
Love you, see ‘ya in the morning
º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º
Main gate, ID card flashed
Attend brief, get tapes
Check books, read MAFs
APU started, preflight begins
Buoys loaded, plane fueled
Last geedunk run
Last smoke
Planeside brief, props turning
Chocks pulled
Thumbs up
º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º
Taxi
SET 5, set
Approach end
SET POWER
Brakes released
ON THE ROLL
7000……….…6000….5000…4000
REFUSAL, ROTATE, airborne
GEAR UP
º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º
Left turn, intersect
Woodside VOR
SET 4, set
SET 3, kilo alfa
SET 2, break out the cards
Dinners cooking
DESCENT CHECKLIST
Check in, WE GOT IT
THANKS GUYS, SAFE FLIGHT
On stay
º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º
Spit buoys, BUOYS SWEET
Patience, gain contact
Track, BELOW 1000
LPAs ON, SET 1
SIM ATTACK
DOORS OPEN
STANDBY MAD
MAD…MAD…MAD
WEAPON AWAY, SUS AWAY
Continue tracking
º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º
Relief checks in
TACAN lock, got visual
Swapping altitude
Closing…closing
C O L L I S I O N, F I R E B A L L
E X P L O S I O N
W A T E R I M P A C T
Cold…..dark
Silent
º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º
Wreckage floats, slicks shimmer
No survivors
TAFOYA – CAVUOTO – SMITH
DYER – HEIKKINEN – MCNERNEY
HOGUE – DABBS – CERINO
OWENS – SPOSATO – TISDALE
NEMECEK – CARMODY – HAMILTON
METCALF – REDMOND – WILLIAMSON
CHAIKIN – COX – SHIELDS
BECKNER-¨ GERMEAU – FARQUAHAR
DAVIS – HALL – RICE
Husbands and daddies…..lost
Sons and loved ones….….lost
Friends and shipmates…..lost
Gone…………..…….Forever
º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º
Chaplains visit
Friends console…hug…support
Services, present colors
Reddened eyes
Tears spilt
Sobs choked
Hands held
Backs rubbed
Eulogies and epitaphs
Folded flags
Bowed heads
Supreme sacrifice
Grateful nation
TAPS, guns and bells echo
Flags wave, tears stream
º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º º
Searching for answers
Wondering, wondering
Empty beds
Days turn to weeks
Weeks turn to months
Months turn to years
Years pass on
The first decade has arrived
Tears still wet
Memories not faded
Friendships not forgotten
Love never lost
Still on the flight schedule
Still flying, still on-station
Still wearing their Wings of Gold

—–

My Personal Heroes Pt 1

My Personal Heroes Pt 2

So Others May Live | Memorial Day 2008

Andy Brewer passed away three years ago. I just wanted to put this up here in case anyone wanted to share sea stories about Andy so I can put them up on the main site. Leave a reply with your memories.

I got enough time recently to put an email I received up as a memorial page on the site.Two of Andy’s shipmates in that picture, Dewey Thompson and Keith Poole, were instructors of mine as I went through VS-41. [note: site url is unavailable, hence the repost here]

As a personal note, I met Andy at the 2004 decom ceremony. He may have passed on as a civilian, but he will always be an AW, and his legacy lives on.

Ironically, I first met Andy just a week prior to my son being born in 2004 and they share the same name – Andrew Charles.

Quoted from Knoxville News Sentinel:

Charles A. (Andy) Brewer

BREWER, CHARLES A. (ANDY) – age 43, of Holtsville, California, passed away Sunday, March 25, 2007. He served in the United States Navy 10 years and most recently with Homeland Security as a U.S. Customs Officer.

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For some reason this year has been nostalgic for me. Martin Luther King Day I wrote about my family. Memorial Day I write about my other family. I write about my Navy family, and in particular, those who didn’t make it home.

They are my family, my fallen brothers and a sister. I will tell my children about them and they will live on in name and story and in our hearts.

This is off topic and an indulgence. I would be however, as Shakespeare put it regarding St. Crispen’s Day and the Battle of Agincourt, holding my manhood cheap would I not honor those who I know who have fallen with at least a nod today, nearly eighteen years later.

    From this day to the ending of the world,
    But we in it shall be remembered-
    We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
    For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
    Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
    This day shall gentle his condition;
    And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
    Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
    And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
    That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

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