Donald Rumsfeld is a former Naval aviator. Did you know this?

site ^ | 2002?

[dennisw]

He is an alumnus of Princeton University and former Naval aviator who first went to Washington, DC, in 1957 to serve as administrative assistant to a congressman. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois in 1962 and was re-elected in 1964, 1966 and 1968. He resigned from Congress in 1969 to serve in the Nixon administration. He served as U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels, Belgium, for a year before returning to Washington in 1974 to serve in the Ford administration. Under Ford, he was named the 13th secretary of defense, the youngest person to serve in that position in this country’s history.

[Taxman]

He was pulling your leg!

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

I think I either saw or read that interview. I think I remember reading that one of his desks is more like a wide podium -- a desk that he stands at.

I remember seeing a picture of him in his navy whites as a young man. He was so handsome. (And still is.)

[Taxman]

LOL! You have it all wrong, Vet. There is nothing quite so satisfying as catching a three wire on a black a$$ SOCAL OPAREA night, with the deck pitching and rolling to the limit of the FRESNEL lens stabilization computers!

Gators don't get to have that kind of fun!

[Taxman]

Well, it is a hellofalot rarer!

And sometimes can be a hellofalot more exciting!

Not quite as satisfying, though.

[Taxman]

BTW, thank you for your service. I was not aware that you were a Naval Officer.

[Bernard Marx]

Damned right I knew it! I've followed his career for years. He's downright brilliant.

[A Navy Vet]

"A pucker factor caused unintentional touch and go landing on a large, grey floating bird farm, generally occurring at night when there is no bingo field and no gas in the air!"

Spew! Where's that backup keyboard?

[A Navy Vet]

"I think "Brown Shoes" and those nifty boots are legal again."

Cool. I saw an E-6 Recruiter on the street the other day wearing a black piss-cutter with his winter working blues. Looked sharped. Say they initiated them about 4 years ago. The dixie cup always looked stupid with that uniform...actually it looks stupid anyway.

[exDemMom]

I saw Rummy speak in person a little over a year ago. The person introducing him listed off his many accomplishments, after which Rummy stepped up to the podium and said, "Well, you make it sound like I can't hold a job!"

What a great guy.

[dennisw]

 

He even has a real cool briefcase. And his shoulders are pretty broad for an old geezer

Wed Mar 5,12:35 PM ET

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld leaves the White House after he and military commanders met with President Bush (news - web sites) and his national security team Wednesday morning, March 5, 2003. In a strategy Pentagon (news - web sites) officials are calling ``shock and awe,'' U.S. forces plan to drop 10 times the bombs in the opening days of the air campaign in Iraq (news - web sites) than they did in the first Persian Gulf war, officials said Wednesday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

[Taxman]

LOL!

Well, what would you have had me say?

[Taxman]

Got a picture of that uniform? I've never seen it.

[cousair]

TOP:GUN MATERIAL I would say!!

[pabianice]

"The three greatest joys a man can experience are landing an airplane, having an orgasm, and taking a really good dump. A carrier landing lets you experience all three simultaneously."

[A Navy Vet]

The enlisted winter [working] blues are a black long-sleeve shirt, black trousers, and a black tie....the same Chiefs and Officers wear or wore? Youse guys wear the combination cap, E-6 and below "wore" the dixie cup, now the garrison cap (apparently an option). Maybe the "working" thing thru you.

[A Navy Vet]

Oops, my bad, the winter (working) blue is black shirt and trousers without tie or ribbons. The winter blue is with tie and ribbons. According to the Blue Jackets Manual - can be worn with either the black garrison cap or the white dixie cup.

[oyez]

I liked the cat shot better. I wasn't looking at two acres of steel cumming up at 110 mph.

[A Navy Vet]

"There is nothing quite so satisfying as catching a three wire on a black a$$ SOCAL OPAREA night, with the deck pitching and rolling to the limit of the FRESNEL lens stabilization computers!"

Actually, in my Seaman recruit delirium I asked to be transferred to the Ranger upon receiving orders to the New Orleans. Boy, was I naive. Anyway, we had our moments on the helo carrier. Harriers are fun. And fully loaded CH-53's give off enough 360 degree rotor wash you better have a low profile or your in for a swim. Still, there's no question Big Deck personnel have one the most dangerous jobs in the Navy.

[facedown]

Another little known fact:

Donald Rumsfeld was born in 1932 in Chicago, Illinois, attended Princeton University on scholarship, served in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) as an aviator, and was All Navy Wrestling Champion.

THE HONORABLE DONALD RUMSFELD

[Taxman]

It is all dangerous, my FRiend -- big deck, Gator, tin can, silent service, AORs, small boats, SEALS, whatever. I think we all earned our hazardous duty pay!

But, what the Hell, we were young, full of pi$$ and vinegar, and were going to live forever, weren't we?

They got us young, trained us well and let us do our thing. And we did it, fair weather and foul. We worked hard, drank too much on the beach and worked too hard on the boat. We bitched a lot and we miss it a lot, right!

But we never forgot that "The sea is unforgiving of human error."

And we survived to tell these tall tales! LOL!