Now, riding horses and flying airplanes is an interesting comparison. At age 12 in deep East Texas I was riding my grandfather's favorite horse named Buckshot. Buckshot was a quarter horse from the King Ranch and a very proud animal. While riding Buckshot he decided he had enough of me and stopped suddenly, throwing me unceremoniously over his bowed head onto the hard dirt. I hit firmly on both buttocks and that was my final horse ride. That rude exercise would have been roughly equivalent to a bolter in carrier flying. It wasn't until 11 years later that I discovered I had an inclination for flying in Navy flight training. After no bolters in 300 carrier landings Buckshot had done that to me in one ride. Maybe there really is an inverse correlation between airmanship and horsemanship.
You didn't bolter in three hundred traps? Is there some kind of triple-centurion patch?
As a layman, familiar only with the terms and
broadly with what is involved, that is staggering to me.
-And I'm not easy to impress. I haven't made my living for the past couple of decades working in a bank. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!
)
Is that a record? Is it unusual?
I imagine it as almost inconceivable sir.
Hats off to you, you Scooter-stud you! I spent the past week in Oriskany, NY training, and because I'm a brat the location had me (no shit) thinking of guys like you.
-And here we are. Small world.
