'Go get 'em, boys! Go get 'em'

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ^ | 10/14/01 | JEFF DEAN

[Jean S]

Patuxent is about 30 miles away, across the Chesapeake Bay, and though the jets occasionally cruise over, they've never done anything like this. It makes sense that they would use the Wicomico River to practice; there's nothing here, no one to see them.

I wish I could paint the picture for you. It was a beautiful sight. They looked like two eagles courting, if you know what that looks like, these two shining birds circling each other, higher and higher, closer and closer, engines screaming until one plane broke away and went straight up into the sky where it stalled and plummeted back to earth, the second plane doing the same a little lower, reengaging, passing within what looked like feet of the first.

This went on for about three minutes before I looked around completely dumbfounded at what I was watching and realized I was the only one watching.

The only one.

My neighbors were gone for the day and there was no boat traffic on the river, and across the water, directly under the planes, there's nothing but wildlife preserve.

So I stood there, alone, watching, watching my protectors prepare and I burst into tears.

I don't know why, a combination of elation and fear and sadness and pride, I guess. I didn't care. But then I thought, what does a person do in a situation like this? So I ran back in the house and grabbed our American flag and ran back out to the end of our neighbor's pier and started waving it over my head, yelling, "Go get 'em, boys! Go get 'em, goddamn it!" with tears streaming down my face, jumping up and down, yelling over and over like a maniac, as loud as I could.

They stayed for about 15 minutes, looping, circling, flying away and returning, thundering over the nothingness, and the whole time I waved my flag until they finally broke away and started south, back, I assume, toward Patuxent. But their departure felt more final than that.

It felt like they were not heading back to Patuxent but to war, right that minute, and it was awful.

I glanced up the river again and saw I had been wrong; I hadn't been watching all this alone. A waterman who crabs that stretch of river every day had come around a bend and stopped his boat to look up, too.

And he was out on his boat in the middle of nowhere, like me on my pier, in the middle of nowhere, waving his American flag over his head, waving his arms, agape at the sight of his protectors preparing. That's all we could do; two little people at the end of our desolate finger of land in this great big world, waving flags at pilots who couldn't possibly see them.

And I thought, united we stand.

Jeff Dean is a freelance writer who wrote this for the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader.

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Oct. 14, 2001.

[firewalk]

Very nice! BTTT

[Crusher138]

That was beautiful.

Thank you for sharing it.

[lodwick]

A most excellent post! Thank you, JL

[DainBramage]

Good one Jean! Its a great feeling to feel patriotism. I only wish some in our country knew what it felt like just once.

[Skip Ripley]

Those are OUR jets now....

[RoseofTexas]

OH GOSH, here I go again, getting teary eye(it's been happening a lot lately), and I wasn't even there! Thanks and keep waving that flag!!

[OWK]

There's a target ship just a ways off Patuxent Naval Air Station. That's where I do a fair amount of charter fishing. Not unusual to see F-18's zipping back and forth in numbers. It is an inspiring sight, particularly in these times.

Thanks a bunch for the post.

[XBob]

what can I say? simply ....... WOW !

[classygreeneyedblonde]

Very very nice!!

[McGavin999]

So I stood there, alone, watching, watching my protectors prepare and I burst into tears.

An hour before our president announce the bombing had started in Afghanistan, I went outside to do some yard work. I heard a jet overhead and smiled. Then I heard another off a litter farther away, when I looked up I caught the glint of the sun on another and I realized what was happening, I knew the bombing had started and the jets were up there making sure nobody headed toward our nuclear generating station or any of the other plum targets around. The feeling is overwhelming when you realize that they are there protecting you, even when you're not aware of them.

[McGavin999]

Thought you might like this one.

[Delta 21]

It does my brothers in arms good to see this kind of patriotism.
Whether we are marching by in a parade the day after returning from a 30 day field exercise, looking down at you from the turret of our tank in the middle of 30 day field exercise or even if we just catch a glimpse of Old Glory as we scream past you during an inverted roll, from the cockpit of our jet fighter. It lets us know that you are supporting us, and that you also believe in the same things that we do.

Delta 21

[Rogmonster]

Cool.

[JoeSixPack1]

This one brings it home! Good read.

[angcat]

i'm 10 miles from the pp&l berwick PA power plant and i look forward to seeing my protectors every morning and evening i also feel safe knowing they are there.

[Idlewise]

Most of the people who live by military air bases seem to find the jet noise annoying, during peace time anyway. The residents near NAS Oceana, Va. really complained when we had to send aircraft out at 1 or 2 am to practice field carrier landings prior to going to the ship. I didn't much care for the late hours either or being away from the family for months during the cruise. I still appreciate the "sound of freedom" years later and sometimes when they fly low overhead on approach, its a little loud but it isn't annoying to me, in peace time or now.

[Lizavetta]

"Go get 'em, boys! Go get 'em, goddamn it!"

Yes, indeed.

[Joe 6-pack]

"This one brings it home! Good read."

Thanks for the flag...

As one (of the last) Army ROTC cadet at Gettysburg College, our early morning PT runs would wind through the battlefield and parts of the sleepy little tourist town. Highly motivated cadre would boom double time cadence calls wich were enthusiastically echoed by the junior cadets. This was nixed when local residents and hotel guests complained to the college president. All I could think of at the time was, "...but this is the sound of freedom!"

[JoeSixPack1]

Yes indeed!! It was the sound of freedom on both sides!

Screaming a cadence during 10 mile runs kept me in shape
so I could defend the rights of the civilians
insuring the freedoms that gave them the right to tell me to shut up!

Americans are so cool. !! :-)
Semper Fi Joe!

[Miss Marple]

Thanks! Indeed I do like this one!

[nancetc]

Thanks...a Proud American story.

[riley1992]

This is the most wonderful thing I have read in a long, long time. Thanks for posting it, Jean.

[KLT]

Our military at work....This article sent chills up my spine...God Bless America, I'm so proud!

[Joe 6-pack]

LOL!! Thanks for the perspective!

[wingnuts'nbolts]

In Ft. Lauderdale we have an imense airshow every June. These defenders of the Republic practice overhead for 2 days prior to the show. It brings tears of pride and awe at thier power. I would not want this power brought against me.

[Gadsden1st]

BUMP!

[Blue Eyes]

I work at Patuxent River Naval Air Station. My work is regularly interrupted by the sound of jets flying overhead. I am never bothered by it, and I usually stop to listen. When I am outside, I always look up to see if I can spot the plane.

It's the sound of freedom. I never get tired of it.

[Sabertooth]

ping!

[SurferDoc]

Out in my beloved Mojave Desert I often get to see jets flying low and fast overhead. It is always a thrill. God bless them, preparing to go in harm's way for me/us.

[CheneyChick]

Wooo Hoooo! This is a good one for the canteen thread! Print it out!

[Think free or die]

We're near an air base too. I never tire of hearing the military aircraft flying overhead, especially now.

[2nd amendment mama]

Thank you Delta for being there to protect us! Please let all your brothers know that there are indeed many patriots left in this wonderful country of ours that are concerned for your safety and that say our prayers every night for your safe return home!

[Snow Bunny]

This is wonderful,good idea CheneyChick !!!!!I will print it out and send it to the troops in our next box we are sending.

And thanks JeanS for the thread!!!!!!

[Dog Gone]

Yep, most excellent. I could see it in my mind.

[rockfish59]

jeff dean....one of those rare journalists these days! (the others are 'urinalists' and wouldn't give a military person the time of day).

on a motorcycle web site the other day a guy posted pics of a B-52 that made a bunch of passes right over his house. he said the windows shook and the pics were amazing. this was in arkansas.

[JoeSixPack1]

Thank you JeanS !

BTTT

[LiberalBassTurds]

BTT for this great story!

[Jean S]

Thanks for the bump and welcome to Free Republic!

This article brings tears to my eyes everytime I read it. I am so proud of our military.

[rockfish59]

we got buzzed by two fighter jets in death valley (appropiate place) and it scared the crap out of us, while at the same time was awesome as hell!!

[Stentor]

Missed it the first time. Thanks.

[real saxophonist]

Summer of '89, I spent on beautiful, sunny Parris Island. It so happened that anytime my platoon was being 'dug', a pair of F/A-18s from MCAS Beaufort would be flying over. The trick to surviving the pit, and most other things, was to take your mind elsewhere. My mental escape came in the form of those Hornets. Very surreal experience, overall. That's one of many memories.

[LiberalBassTurds]

Thank you JeanS. It had the same same impact on me. It was so incredibly touching I saved it in my archives. All the best to you.

LBT

[sam_paine]

I attended a funeral for a relative a week after the 11th in Ft. Worth. He was a B-17 pilot with 70+ missions over Germany!! (After 25 you could go home, or something like that, but he stayed anyway.)

Anyway, I stepped outside and noticed an F-14 (or 15...I dunno if Carswell is still and AFB...whatever) but he kept circling the area low with his wings locked forward in sub-sonic config. He was probably practicing, but you KNOW that early in this debacle, he would have had to been on a personal High Alert just because.

Anyway, the thought of that young pilot flying his advanced fighter "over" the old bomber driver, protecting those who had protected us before, well, it didn't matter if I misted a little....nobody could tell.

[LiberalBassTurds]

My pleasure, was great wasn't it.

[Northpaw]

Those are OUR jets now....

Many on this forum won't catch on to your reference. I did. LOL and AMEN!!!!!

[LiberalBassTurds]

BTTT!

[LiberalBassTurds]

For the B1 crew that went down in the Indian Ocean today. We're all standing on the docks for you.