The Victors

The picture in the post had a scale model of an F-22 Raptor aircraft to the orange man's front right.

I started with the prime contractor of the F-22 on the F-22 program just a few days before the first pre-production aircraft flew for the first time. We obviously had the aircraft in a state that it could fly, but it was hardly to the level that a fully developed F-22 could deliver. Two of the main fuel tanks leaked, it was too heavy, it was overly redundant. Over the next few years we worked very long days, week after week, to make the (essentially) prototype into a lean, mean, flying machine. There were weeks that I gave 80, sometimes 90 hours to that gorgeous aircraft, mostly trying to get weight out of the airframe and improve performance. At one point I did close to 9 months straight without a day off (including Saturdays and Sundays). Over the next 15 years I put everything into that project. To me, it was worth it. It was a gorgeous aircraft that, if it did what it was supposed to do, would save American lives by letting all the other aircraft in the US inventory fly without fear of being shot down. We made sure it was able to do what it was supposed to do.

There's no question that it's still the baddest bitch in the sky. It can fly higher, faster, and less detected than any other manned aircraft known to exist. It can dole out punishment more effectively than any other air superiority aircraft created by the United States. And it's no slob at dropping bombs on people, either. There isn't a piece of evidence that any other air-to-air aircraft can match what it is supposed to do, despite what China might say. We won the Collier Trophy, which is almost literally the Heisman Trophy of the Aerospace Engineering world.

So, I love it, almost in the way that someone might love a child. As the dad to four boys, this is hyperbole but not by too much. And to see it on the desk of an odious, vile, incredibly awful piece of shit that has no idea of anything that went into developing the capability of that aircraft; someone who repeatedly violated every single security clearance that I had to give something up for, I feel sick to my stomach. What right does he have to put that gorgeous, sexy piece of precision speed and aerodynamics on his desk? Fuck that motherfucker.

Date Posted: 08:35:17 08/05/14 Tue
Author: HOF guy
Subject: GR Blue's introduction on NDNation

Introduction....
by GR Blue (2014-08-03 10:33:04)

Hi guys. First of all, I'm a Michigan grad and a Wolverines fan. But don't stop reading yet.

I've frequented a Michigan message board for several years. However, I've worn out my welcome there. That board permits political discussions (although it started as, and remains, primarily a Michigan sports board). You see, I am extremely conservative, and that board leans very far to the left. I couldn't bring myself to stay silent when other posters published their political lies and rhetoric. As a result, I made myself a target for some pretty hateful remarks. Granted, I didn't help myself as I could have by hedging on some of my principles and agreeing that perhaps Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid were in fact good and honorable leaders. But I just couldn't get myself to do it. And by the way, I can tell you from first hand experience that leftist tolerance is a myth.

My law partner is a ND grad, and while we have some fun with the Wolverine/Irish rivalry, we see eye to eye on most political issues. He suggested that I give this board a shot.

I'd like to try it out here. If you find my writing or thoughts to be offensive or even discourteous, let me know. I'm not here to make this board less enjoyable for the posters that are here now. I'm just looking for someplace I can express a conservative position without being told how intellectually deficient and dishonest I am.


Date Posted: 15:34:05 08/06/14 Wed
Author: Bruno95 from NDN
Subject: Hey, I'm also from GR!

Eat a cock.

This group has existed in some form since, I believe, at least the fall of 1996, which was the first football season for Greg's VV board, the one where you could see the entire post without even clicking on it. I joined on 1/1/1997. Tell us when you joined, roughly at least, and maybe one thing about yourself. My one thing: I wrote a book about this community (among other things). The beginning of the first chapter is below:

The first faint shiver of what one day would become this book came to me on the afternoon of New Year’s Day, 1997. I was surfing the Internet, with the vague idea of finding someone to talk to about the University of Michigan’s football team, which had just lost its bowl game to Alabama in a particularly absurd and excruciating manner. (The Wolverines were driving deep in Alabama territory in the fourth quarter. They – we -- had the lead, and were on the verge of scoring an apparent game-clinching touchdown, when quarterback Brian Griese tried to get rid of the ball as he was being hit by a blitzing defensive back. The resulting pass looked like something a small child would throw in a backyard game of catch; the ball fluttered forward for about five yards before landing in the arms of an Alabama linebacker, who immediately raced 88 yards downfield for the game-winning score).

I had just discovered the cyberworld, and I didn’t really know where to look. I don’t recall what search engine I used in that faraway time – Google didn’t even exist yet – but somehow or the other I stumbled onto a message board dedicated to discussing University of Michigan sports, meaning, of course, mainly football.

The very first post I remember reading on the board was an agonized jeremiad from “Brent,” that went into great detail about why this game illustrated exactly why, as he had been pointing out at length for two seasons now, the hiring of Lloyd Carr as Michigan’s head coach had been an unmitigated disaster. Indeed, only the most self-deluded of the board’s optimists could still possibly believe that things could get appreciably better as long as Carr remained in that position. (It would be uncharitable to point out that one year later to the day Michigan would win college football’s national championship).

On the other hand, Brent noted, the rejection by what he called the board’s “sunshine blowers” of his prophetic insights on this subject was only to be expected. (I would discover that “sunshine blowers” and “excellence demanders” were technical board terms, used to insult posters considered either unduly optimistic or too pessimistic). After all, the Gospels recorded how, in Biblical times, “they didn’t listen to Jesus either,” he reminded them -- or rather, us, as I read on in rapt fascination.

“Now in no way am I comparing myself to Jesus Christ,” Brent hastened to add. Somehow this nuanced caveat was lost on the rest of the board, which, already roiled in the kind of bitter arguments and recriminations that I soon learned were the inevitable products of any Michigan loss, unleashed a furious barrage of scorn and sarcasm against the self-styled prophet in our midst.

Here, I realized at that moment, are my people. And, nearly a quarter of a century later, I’m still there.