THE SONIC BOOMER
Two F-18 military jets crashed in the air over the Pacific last week. One of the Navy pilots was recovered, one lost, along with the planes.
As opposed to last week’s rehashing of the 9/11 tragedy, this is the kind of news that doesn’t really affect “The Average American” — that is, unless you have a son or daughter who is in the U.S. Navy, who is an F-18 Hornet pilot and who is stationed aboard the USS Carl Vinson. For example, my husband Mark.
The first call came in last Friday — not from the Navy but from Mark’s other son, Matthew. He’d seen the incident on the news in one of those brief blips that contains no names, grainy old file video and the tiniest bit of information, released on a “need to know” basis. The Navy is not that chatty in the first place, and they especially do not like sharing the news that they may have lost two of their best people. Not to mention the fact that each of the planes cost $57 million.
Mark would have easily given $114 million to know where his son Brad was at that very moment. He was almost in a state of shock.
“Did anyone call his wife?” I asked.
“I don’t know. The Navy does what it wants to do,” Mark replied.
He was too distraught to think. “No, I mean did you or Matthew call Brooke?”
Mark shrugged, then shook his head. I started dialing.
The line was busy. I started texting. No reply.
By this time, Mark was pacing around the room, wringing his hands. He alternated that activity with staring at his USS Carl Vinson cap, the one Brad gave him after our visit out there last summer.
“Don’t panic, Sweetie,” I said. “Brad is an excellent pilot. And he may not even have been flying today.”
But you wonder… did I meet the guys (or girls) who were involved? Did Brad introduce us during our tour of the ship? The pilots are a pretty tight-knit group. Whoever these two were, it was certain that they were his friends.
As Mark began spiraling down into a depression, both our phones buzzed at the same time. Brooke’s text apologized for not being able to get back to us sooner and, “Brad told me he was going to Virginia this week and, as far as I know, he’s still there.”
Mark perked up a bit, at least as much as the five little words “as far as I know” allowed. He began surfing the web for additional news while we waited for more confirmation. It took hours, but Brooke’s next text read, “Brad is fine. He just called.”
We’re still curious about what happened, and I’m sure Brad will tell us as much as he can when he can, but, for now, we are free to rejoin the ranks of “The Average American.” Thank God.
