Foot-in-Mouth Disease

[Seret Sajet]

Someone posted this on the Official WoW forums and I thought I'd share it here as well. The original poster titled their thread "Perfect Example of 'Open mouth, Insert foot."

A letter sent to a local Air Force base:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... ts239.html

A wake-up call from Luke's jets
Jun. 23, 2005 12:00 AM

Question of the day for Luke Air Force Base: Whom do we thank for the morning air show?

Last Wednesday, at precisely 9:11 a.m., a tight formation of four F-16 jets made a low pass over Arrowhead Mall, continuing west over Bell Road at approximately 500 feet. Imagine our good fortune!

Do the Tom Cruise-wannabes feel we need this wake-up call, or were they trying to impress the cashiers at Mervyns' early-bird special?

Any response would be appreciated.

The reply from the Commander of the 63rd Fighter Squadron:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... ts282.html

Flyby honored fallen comrade
Jun. 28, 2005 12:00 AM

Regarding "A wake-up call from Luke's jets" (Letters, Thursday):

On June 15, at precisely 9:12 a.m., a perfectly timed four-ship of F-16s from the 63rd Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base flew over the grave of Capt Jeremy Fresques.

Capt. Fresques was an Air Force officer who was previously stationed at Luke Air Force Base and was killed in Iraq on May 30, Memorial Day.

At 9 a.m. on June 15, his family and friends gathered at Sunland Memorial Park in Sun City to mourn the loss of a husband, son and friend.

Based on the letter writer's recount of the flyby, and because of the jet noise, I'm sure you didn't hear the 21-gun salute, the playing of taps, or my words to the widow and parents of Capt. Fresques as I gave them their son's flag on behalf of the president of the United States and all those veterans and servicemen and women who understand the sacrifices they have endured.

A four-ship flyby is a display of respect the Air Force pays to those who give their lives in defense of freedom. We are professional aviators and take our jobs seriously, and on June 15 what the letter writer witnessed was four officers lining up to pay their ultimate respects.

The letter writer asks, "Whom do we thank for the morning air show?"

The 56th Fighter Wing will call for you, and forward your thanks to the widow and parents of Capt. Fresques, and thank them for you, for it was in their honor that my pilots flew the most honorable formation of their lives.

Lt. Col. Scott Pleus

Maybe some idiots should think twice before sending their angry little letters.

[Lok'i Vidaar]

Just so we have alittle a more information...

Snopes did a full analysis of the situation and well here it is...

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/wakeup.asp

[Jaminos]

Well I know about the missing man formation...a little too well. If someone ever said somthing like that about them doing that for my family I would make sure they would never be able to walk again. Then again that is me.

[Krusshyk]

Very sad. While reading it though, I find it tough to blame the guy who wrote the letter. Why? Because it makes me wonder exactly how much military tradition is the average citizen expected to know? I didn't know a 4 jet flight was part of a service. Did any of you? In that same vein, if you were awakened for some reason by by a jet flight, wouldn't you be irritated? At school, my university was one of the few hospitals in the area with a heliport. Coincidentally, the hospital was near my house...so the occaisional helicopter coming in with vehical accident patients from I-70 (missouri drivers are nuts) at odd hours in the morning would be an early wake up for me. I'll be damned if I wasn't irritated when it happened. I didn't complain because I knew WHY I was awakened. With that in mind, think of this other poor bastard. He hadn't a clue.

Ok...so he wrote a vitriolic letter to the paper asking about the morning noise. Maybe he works nights. Maybe he is a late sleeper. Whatever...he just wanted to know about his personal inconvenience. And he did so in a very caustic way. Was it the best way to do so? Absolutely not.

The manner in which he replied was overtly cynical, but to blame him (or anyone else for that matter) for being sarcastic in response to an irritating event would be pure hypocrisy on my part. How many of us use sarcasm or cynicism when making a point?

I suggest you read the article that Lok'i posted that explains what the man did in the weeks AFTER his ill fated letter got published. The guy recieved a slew of letters and phone calls, insulting and berating him for being so "un-american"...funny thing is...I bet not ONE of those calls came until the reply from the Air force personnel was posted. Where was their outrage the DAY that letter got published? How come they weren't beating down his door that very day? It's because everyone of those people was just as ignorant as to poor bastard who wrote the letter. But they jumped on the "I am a patriot" bandwagon to berate the unlucky sap who publically and sarcastically voiced his irritation.

Wow...hindisight really IS 20/20. Not a single one of them had any place to judge him for his actions.

Before we sit and judge others for being ignorant, let's just think about how we would have reacted ourselves. Something about the man who hasn't sinned can cast the first stone?

[Seret Sajet]

Damn Krussh had to go and start a discussion. Having the world's largest pair of stones isn't just literal for him folks.

As much as I believe in the old saying "Ignorance is Bliss" I still can't justify the original letter. The point is he sent a flame letter without having all the facts. I dont' care how annoying it is and how little we know about military service. Before you flame someone you better be have the whole truth. If you take the chance and flame anyway and get it thrown back in your face, making you look stupid as hell like the above letters do, then you deserve it.

Trust, I know this from experience.

[Lok'i Vidaar]

Damn Krussh had to go and start a discussion. Having the world's largest pair of stones isn't just literal for him folks.

As much as I believe in the old saying "Ignorance is Bliss" I still can't justify the original letter. The point is he sent a flame letter without having all the facts. I dont' care how annoying it is and how little we know about military service. Before you flame someone you better be have the whole truth. If you take the chance and flame anyway and get it thrown back in your face, making you look stupid as hell like the above letters do, then you deserve it.

Trust, I know this from experience.

I agree, Not that he didn't have the right to complain becuase he didn't know about the 4 plane formation and all, but he shouldn't have sent something. I mean it was 9AM after all, most people are out of bed by then. this guy just wanted to complain about something, so I think he deserved a bit of the berating.

[xyryn]

Four F-16's at 500 feet make a little less noise than a car with its base turned up to ear-destroying levels. He was in Viet Nam as Navy...he should have had a clue that the formation had a purpose.

At least he had the grace to apologize.

I'll bet that none of the people who berated him served in our Armed Forces. Service people are, unfortunately, too used to being misunderstood and tend to not fight back against civilian ignorance.

(I grew up Army and I knew that was a Missing Man Formation. So that knowledge does perculate thru all the Services.)