Happy Easter - I'll Miss You Wes

Here are two of my company mates Rich and Wes. Rich, on the left, died of a massive heart attack a few years ago. Wes, one of the few classmates I've kept in contact with over the years, passed last Wednesday April 20th, 2011... Just after midnight.

Looking back it seems that a few hours after Wes died, my door bell rung. It was around 2:00 AM and when I opened the door nobody was there. Nothing was moving, there wasn't a sound, it was dead calm. I remember how odd this was. Both arms had goosebumps and the hair on the back of my neck was sticking up.

I was so unnerved that for the 1st time in my life I got my shotgun, loaded it and put it under the bed. Basically I was freaked the F&$# out.

Little did I know that about 90 before my door bell rang my dear friend Wes had lost his struggle with life. He had bleed out from a internal surgery he had a few days prior. Something became loose and his doctors couldn't stop the bleeding. I believe he was wide awake when he died.

Wes, it wasn't your time!

Wes was strong and he fought for nearly half a day to stay with his wife, step son and 10 year old daughter. His mom called me the next morning to let me know that Wes had died the night before a few days after a "successful" elective surgery

Wes, I wonder if it was you who rang my doorbell and visited me that morning? I would like to think so as I will miss our talks and laughter. You were of my tribe and may God rest your soul.

Flying on a rough Tuesday afternoon... Figured out our auto pilot tracks an ILS down to the runway... which is a good thing. However, intercept wasn't all that great and it would be wise to be on the localizer using the heading mode and then engage the auto pilot. Still, it's pretty neat watching the old bird track those donuts... Or would that be donut? I'm not sure but I'm getting hungry.

I've realized - too late...

I've likely always knew

it would have been enough

if my life's work consisted

of loving you and raising kids.

                                                                            

My skipper's boat going into the water. Turns out my flight instructor is a awesome skipper and the boat Tantrum is not known by her name but by "That F*^#ing Red Boat" Seems that I've been asked to crew with some serious sailors and I couldn't be more pleased. Our next race is Friday and if events work the captain will be back from Ohio and it's off to the races.

EX Wife Flys and Two Die

It's been one of those weeks...

What a weird week to say the very least. Last weekend I took my EX wife (married 21 years) to CT to attend the funeral of my EX sister-in-law's father. I know what most people would think... STUPID. Not really considering the folks in CT are really my tribe if not my siblings.

My EX really didn't want to go but like a good friend of mine told me years ago... Dave, no one remembers who came to your wedding but you will remember, for the rest of your life, who attends your parents funeral. So I offered to fly us and she immediately commented she wasn't paying for gas. LOL, nothing every really changes does it? Actually, she offered to pay the $10 parking fee which was nice.

The bad news is on the way back, I got bored and felt a need to test the recently repaired auto pilots ability to track a VOR. When I engaged the auto pilot the plane jerked to the right and I cussed OH SHIT. Seems this was scary to a novice small plane passenger. Once again my EX wife is teaching me things. I now make a point of fully briefing passengers of anything unusual and do my best to keep my verbiage more positive.

PS On a somber note, my home airport experience a double fatality about 20 minutes before we landed. A very experienced pilot was showing off his home built to his sister. An engine failure upon takeoff resulted in an attempted 180 return, stall and crash. It was a sad day for general aviation and I doubt my EX will every fly in a small plane again. The good news is I would guess she will do what ever it takes to keep the life insurance policy she has on me current.

The Virginian-Pilot
© February 21, 2011

Living on borrowed time

Re 'Cuts not slashes,' front page, Feb. 15: Reading about the federal budget was like getting hit upside the head with a tire iron. The administration plans to spend $3.7 trillion, with projected revenues of only $2.6 trillion.

Really?

If one were to apply this strange math to a typical Hampton Roads family, it would be hard to explain how a family earning $80,000 per year could possibly survive while spending $114,000. Anyone able to understand budgeting knows this will result in bankruptcy for the family and, inevitably, for the nation as well.

So what can be done?

The biggest slices of the spending pie are entitlements. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid eat up 41 percent of the federal budget. So it stands to reason that our politicians should be talking about entitlement reform, right?

Wrong!

Even though a family spending $114k (while earning only $80k) will walk a short road to bankruptcy, it appears that most of our politicians can't apply the same reasoning. It's time to increase the Social Security retirement age and apply means testing to qualify needful beneficiaries.

Perhaps it's not fair for a person to pay more than 15 percent of what he earns over the course of his life and then get nothing in return, but the reality is that disability insurance, survivor benefits and a lifetime-income-safety-net have untold value. It's kind of like car insurance for someone who never has an accident.

We must have entitlement reform before we bankrupt our country. Our politicians surely must know this.

David Beemer
Virginia Beach

The Virginian-Pilot
© September 15, 2010

RE 'PRIVATE liquor stores and public roads,' op-ed column by Gov. Bob McDonnell, Sept. 10:

I'm from one of the 32 states with private liquor stores, not ABC-run outlets as in Virginia. By all means, Virginia should end its active role in the distribution of distilled spirits. But after reading McDonnell's column, it seems the political pendulum has swung too far to the right. 'A large amount of the 1,000 licenses will likely be purchased by stores that already sell beer and wine,' the governor wrote.

Does that mean I'm going to walk into Walmart and see Jim Beam sold on the shelf next to the soda? If so, we are going from 322 ABC stores that effectively made the purchase of hard liquor an adult endeavor to the desensitization of our young people who prowl the aisles of Walmart. Let's get the state out of the business of booze, but please don't make it so mainstream that it is being sold at the local supermarket.

David Beemer
Virginia Beach

Too Much Smog on CO2

The Virginian-Pilot
© July 6, 2009

Too much smog on CO2

The cap-and-trade bill passed by the U.S. House is generally based on the 'science' that the world must curb carbon dioxide emissions or face the consequences of global warming.

I'm not arguing the Earth isn't warming and that CO2 levels aren't rising. As an environmentalist, I'm concerned that the focus on CO2 a clear, odorless gas that we exhale, which is essential to all plant life has taken our eyes off other issues like toxins, soil erosion, animal waste runoff, ocean pollution, species loss, heavy metals, trace pharmaceutical drugs in our water supply, etc. It would be tragic to see the latter list of issues mar our planet (and therefore our lives) irreversibly while we continue to debate and legislate a single focal point: CO2.

Cap and trade is serious, long-lasting legislation that will adversely impact everyone's wallet. The bill declares that CO2 emissions must be curbed through taxation to spur development of alternate sources of renewable, non-CO2-emitting energy sources in order to save the planet.

In consideration of other pollution woes and the cost of implementing cap and trade, I believe working to fully understand what caused the last four climate changes on Earth makes more sense than proclaiming CO2 guilty; new evidence suggests it may in fact be an innocent bystander.

David Beemer
Virginia Beach

The Virginian-Pilot
© November 17, 2008

It's not a tough call

Re 'How he died denies Marine recognition from state,' front page, Nov. 12: Seriously, are you kidding me? A Marine dies when his helicopter goes down in an Iraqi sandstorm, and he is not afforded the honor of being included on the Virginia War Memorial?

I served eight years in the Navy and never came remotely close to combat; during Desert Shield, my ship was in dry-dock while Desert Storm was under way, defending against engineering inspectors.

I can see how someone might not consider me a veteran because I never 'fought,' but telling parents their son or daughter died in a combat zone but will not be included on the state's war memorial is something even the 11-year-old sitting across from me at the breakfast table knows is just wrong.

David Beemer
Virginia Beach

Are you happy?

I was reading the other day that Steve Irwin's widow, Terri, when asked what she missed most about Steve and she thought and replied that he was fun...

Try to do something fun each and every day.

The Virginian-Pilot © July 16, 1996 "VMI GROWS UP"

The Virginian-Pilot
© July 16, 1996

Headine:  VMI GROWS UP

Carol Simpson, mother of a VMI cadet, attacked the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to allow women to attend VMI (letter, July 17).

Speaking from experience, VMI is in for significant changes. As a 1987 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a career officer for more than eight years, I can testify that women have served and will continue to serve our country with honor and distinction. The idea that a female pilot can be blown out of the sky but shouldn't be allowed to "break out" as a VMI rat is ludicrous.  Most of the harassment and hazing that Mrs. Simpson thinks are so critical to the development of the VMI cadet have nothing to do with the founding traditions of VMI.  Its roots can be traced back to the admission of Ivy League students who brought with them their associated fraternal "birth right," of the freshman initiation. That's where the negative "bonding" comes from that Mrs. Simpson so easily associates with character development.

Yes, VMI is going to change. Women's heads will not be shaved clean. And women will not be required to run as fast, jump as high or do as many push-ups as male cadets. So what?

What VMI will become is a taxpayer-supported school providing the best education and military indoctrination possible, a unique and very different education experience offered to all members of our society, not just young men.

David Beemer
Virginia Beach, VA