All of a sudden
(it was hot, it was blue,
we had finished a meal,
in what would be soon
once a home,)
a sound devoured the sky.

The sky remained blue for a moment,
but was gone from our ears,
young and old, torn open,
all of a sudden,
from outside in.

All of a sudden
the sky turned white
We could not hear.
All that was blue was gone.
The white turned gray.
Sand ate our eyes
in blinding bites.
The gray was gone.
What remained was far
gone from color.

All of a sudden rocks fell
from the sky. As big as heads
they fell. A steel beam fell,
a needle of stone
pierced my eye.

All of a sudden my son
was deaf forever. He would never
hear me say I love you!
all of a sudden forever.

An arm flew by
all of a sudden. I didn’t see the rest
of my wife, forever.
She took another son, too.
We never said goodbye, forever.

I’ve heard, in your country,
people rush up to the roofs
when they hear the sound,
to see. We flee down.
We chew the dirt to go even deeper.
We have already seen.

I have heard they are called
Blue Angels
in your country,
that thousands gather
to watch them fly.

If these are angels
of your heaven
I do not want to see them
forever.

Will Kirkland
October, 2009

In San Francisco, all afternoon
I listen to the music of Rumi
so when the creatures roar over,
making hearts and car alarms scream
I can let the tears go
pretending they come from joy
not fear
of angels and their men.

[I have written in previous years about the Blues. This is the worst weekend of the year in San Francisco, not only for the Angels falling blue to hell, but for the adoration shown, without a thought, the merest thought of what it really means.]

It’s the same one the Blue Angels fly over San Francisco every October during Fleet Week. How many deaths might have occurred with a similar crash?

It’s that time of year again. No wonder October was the favorite launch pad for my recurring depression. Through the sweet blue air of San Francisco, Saint Francis who talked to birds, the Blue Angels of the United States are burning the fuel of power and destruction. At my doctors for an annual physical yesterday the attendant with the four needles of health, two for each arm, asked with a lilt if I would be watching the Blue Angels this weekend. No, I told her. I know what they do.

This is an excerpt from an essay I wrote several years ago. You can read it all here.

This is what I see. So what are the San Franciscans seeing? I think it is the grace, the skill, the courage.

Oh yes they were graceful, these steel birds, lifting and circling while others joined and then wheeling together to accomplish their mission. And oh yes, they were brave these boys. Some would never come back. Some would be beaten and tortured in prisons. I may have watched the flight from the Kitty Hawk on October 27th that took McCain to his prison cell. But what I saw, always , brought on by the synesthesia that is part of my genetic heritage, was the mayhem; what I heard as the roar of the jet engines vibrated through our chests were the terrified screams of those who would hear the whoomp whoomp of the bombs being dropped, who would smell the flesh of a sister burning, would see the face of a five year old boy torn from the body, whirling, whirling…

What they are not seeing are the burned dollars floating down through the bright blue day. 1,300 gallons of JP-5 jet fuel per hour per airplane. At a $1 per gallon that’s $5,200 dollars per hour.

What they are not seeing I see too well –when this odd Tourrete’s syndrome of the spirit explodes within me, not with the obscenities of the tongue but of human behavior — the sheer purpose of the power. The enormous thrumming through the cavities of the chest as they pass over head is understood by my body as the enormous explosive power of their payload, to be delivered, to destroy, to turn a child into muddy bloody rain…

Here for example is the October 8 Air Power summary provided by the US Military.

In Iraq, coalition aircraft flew 45 close-air-support missions for Operation Iraqi Freedom. These missions integrated and synchronized with coalition ground forces, protected key infrastructure, provided over watch for reconstruction activities and helped deter and disrupt terrorist activities.

If you read it you will ask yourself: What are “General purpose bombs” and what do they do to the human body?

In fact, the recent attacks by Turkey over the border into Iraqi Kurdistan are carried out by F16s, comparable to the F/A-18s. New targeting pods on the Turkish planes make their targeting even better.

There has been news recently of US Navy ships being denied entry to Hong Kong harbor. The USS Kitty Hawk, one of the US super carriers, had a planned visit over Thanksgiving, with many families having flown in for the visit. After the initial cancellation it was reversed by China and the visits went ahead. More puzzling were two small US mine-sweepers being denied shelter from a storm. Today, yet another ship, the USS Ruben James, a guided missile frigate, was denied entry.

After initial claims of “misunderstanding” it is clear now that the Chinese have been playing the back-seat game: you nudged me, so I’ll pinch you.

China had “grave concern” about weapons sales to Taiwan, the International Herald Tribune said Friday.

U.S. officials expressed concern recently over China’s increased defense spending following announcements to upgrade Taiwan’s Patriot missile batteries for nearly $940 million.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said U.S.-Chinese relations were damaged by Bush’s recent meeting with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader.

UPI

Of course, with the growth of the Chinese navy, unprecedented in its thousand year history, perhaps we will soon see American Right Wingers given the opportunity to froth at the mouth over Communist Ships visiting American ports. Heck, maybe they could even come during Blue Angels week in San Francisco!

*

Speaking of the US Navy, you’ll forgive skepticism over the effusive reasons given for going, but Africa is now in our maritime circle of friends.

A United States Navy ship will depart Spain for a seven-month deployment to central and west Africa – designed to help nations around the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea beef up maritime security, say officials.

The amphibious ship USS Fort McHenry would provide training to officials on how to fight crime ranging from unlawful fishing to human and drug trafficking.

It would be joined later by another US Navy vessel as part of the Africa Partnership Station Initiative, which also involved officials from Britain, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain as well as non-governmental organisations.

“We all realised that a stable and prosperous Africa is not just good for Africans, it is good for the rest of the world,” said US 6th Fleet Vice Admiral James A Winnefeld.

US Navy to Africa

[And what are the fetching smiling girls hearing as they smile and wave...?]

It’s October again and again in San Francisco the Blue Angels, Fighter/Attack aircraft of the United States Navy, are sucking the breath away, turning the fine air into a roaring cauldron of noise made dim only by the forefelt explosions of their payloads.

I wrote about them last year. As I feel them pass by again and again it is not different this year. I have not been inoculated. Probably never will be.

Here’s what the Blue Angels can carry:

“Mark 82, 83, and 84 low-drag iron bombs which weigh respectively 500, 1000, and 2000 pounds each…. AGM-62 Walleye I and Walleye I ER/DL electro-optical guided bombs … Hughes AGM-65 Maverick television-guided air-to-surface missile … the infrared-homing Maverick … the 468-lb Rockeye II anti-tank cluster bomb units or 610 lb BL-755 cluster bombs. … Four conventional unguided rocket launchers, Mark 76 and Mark 106 practice bombs and the SUU-20 practice bomb and rocket … two B57 or B61 tactical nuclear weapons…”

Blue Angels and Flying Turtles

from October 2006

A bomblet from a “combined effects bomb,” one of the possible armaments carried by “Blue Angels.” [Scroll down to Armaments and visualize a while...]

It has come again, that time of year in San Francisco. It is dark and overcast this year; last year it was crisp and blue. The noise begins. Enormous noise. A noise that rattles my chest and gut more than my ears. There is no escaping it — not in loud rock and roll or in quick cups of cognac. I heard it today, forgetting the promise of the date. Friday. 15:36. First pass. Within seconds I understand, looking up at the normally sweet air. The Blue Angels are back.

Every year in October they come roaring into the Bay Area for three days — part of the Fleet Week celebration marking the goode olde days of WW II when San Francisco really was a Navy Town. I myself brought a US Navy tug in under the Golden Gate Bridge many years ago, hauling an enormous barge north to Seattle from San Diego. We came in more modestly than the Blues but San Francisco loved us, in our tight white trou. We were sailors then, and young.

On Saturday afternoon, tomorrow, the day after the dress rehearsal I am deep-breathing through today, Marina Green in San Francisco will be packed like the beaches of Coney Island on the Fourth of July. Last year there was barely green to be seen beneath the blankets and the bodies. At the southern end of the Green were two enormous day-time projection screens to add authenticity to the drama everyone was waiting to see.
(Continued…)