Astronaut Steve Austin and the Air Force Academy Chapel

The Chapel at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado is a beautiful place, both outside and in. On the day we visited, clouds filled the sky, and falling rain made it hard to take photographs outside without water spotting the camera lens. Inside the Chapel, the cloudy sky prevented the stain glass from radiating at optimum brightness and color. Still, the building's beauty was apparent.

We all idolize people like Air Force Colonel Steve Austin in the TV series The Six Million Dollar Man for his accomplishments as an aircraft pilot and astronaut. Our reverence for him stems from his real life counterparts, such as the young people who attend the Academy, and go on to  brilliant careers in the United States Air Force. Even the interior of the Chapel reminds us of their highest aspirations: to fly a jet or spaceship at incredible speeds, defend our country, and explore the unknown. But do we recognize the price these heroes pay to achieve these lofty goals?

Like this monumental Chapel, each cadet's future achievements are grounded upon their experiences--and sacrifices--at the Academy. During their Academy years, everything the cadets have ever relied upon, and called their own, is stripped away from them. Chief among these losses are freedom of choice, freedom of time, freedom of movement, and even freedom of speech, perhaps our most cherished right of all. 

Like Colonel Steve Austin after the wreck that ended his career as a test pilot, the cadets are stripped down to their component parts, and gradually reassembled according to the Air Force Academy model. Perhaps they don't leave the Academy with artificial organs or bionic limbs, but they graduate only after a substantial transformation. To paraphrase Oscar Goldman, the director of the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI), they leave "better, stronger, and faster."

Every aspect of popular culture teaches nonconformity. To be a great person, first one must be popular, and therefore different. To become popular, one must be irreverent and disrespectful. To get ahead, one must step on toes and break the rules. Only then can one achieve great things. 

The Air Force Academy teaches an older, more staid approach. To become great, one must first learn to be respectful, to obey the rules, and to pull with the team. Only through submission, conformity, and respect for others, can one in turn gain respect and become a leader. 

Religion can also share in this older, time-honored approach to greatness. I speak not of religion which allows all influences, and therefore empowers disruption. Nor do I speak of religion in which participants and leaders play off one faction against another. True religion respects all, especially those who have traveled before. True religion doesn't merely allow or okay, but seeks to understand the meaning underlying all choices. True religion views compromise and conformity as a way of navigating the present toward a better future for all.

I don't know how cadets relate to the Air Force Academy Chapel on a daily or weekly basis, but I'm guessing that an "anything goes" philosophy plays no part whatsoever in their teachings and worship services. If the introductory film shown at the Academy Visitor Center is anything to go by, I suspect that the Chapel enhances cadets' Academy experience by helping them belong more fully to their fellow cadets and superiors, and craft a spiritual life which makes them better, stronger, and faster leaders. Based on the people we admire, like Colonel Steve Austin, I imagine the Chapel plays a strong role in fashioning them into Air Force officers, fighter pilots, and astronauts. 

Out of all who join the Air Force, and train to become officers, only a select few are chosen to attend the Academy. Hopefully, the applicants are chosen according to merit, and for their ability to achieve greatness. They have their course to pursue, and you have yours. Which path to greatness will you choose?

Dragon Dave

July 2013 in Review

While a few of "My Ten Most Popular Posts" have swapped positions, no new entries have climbed onto the list.  So, instead of listing the old numbers and positions for you, I thought I'd share with you the posts that generated the most interest in July.  (As always, I've listed the titles as links, so you can review any posts you might have missed).

Oscar Goldman.  Yeah, he's cool.

1. My Meeting with Oscar Goldman (40 Page Views).  I posted this last October, and it only got a few page views initially.  But people love the Bionic TV shows, and I'm glad some people found it, and shared it with their friends.  

2. James Herriot Trivia (36 Views).  I posted this back in June, but as it came well after I posted the rest of my James Herriot-themed entries, I think it took those readers awhile to find it.  

3. Daleks Versus Monsters (34 Views).  This was the most popular post for July.  This came as quite a surprise to me, as I had intended it as a lead-in to what I thought people would really get a kick out of, which was the appearance of Captain Skaro, the Dalek equivalent of Captain America.  (As it happened, Captain Skaro to the Rescue! fell below the Dalek average).  I guess it's just as well I never got into playing Poker.

4. Norman Clegg's TV House (28 Views).  Despite how Blogger continually juggles its Page View numbers (see My Ten Most Popular Posts for an explanation), it's rare that a month goes by without a few people checking out my post "Catching A Glimpse of Norman Clegg's House."  When a reader alerted me to the fact that the house Norman Clegg lived in during the production of the TV series "Last of the Summer Wine," I knew I had to return to Holmfirth and check it out.  Oh, it would be neat to live there.

5. C. J. Cherryh: Exceptional & Accessible (22 Views).  Meeting this Science Fiction luminary was a real treat.  I enjoyed my long chat with her at a convention, and we've corresponded once or twice since then. I really, really like her.  Obviously, other readers do too.

6. Understanding Kimi Raikkonen: Part 3 (22 Views).  This was one of a series I did last year, when I compared Kimi Raikkonen not only to other Formula One race car drivers, but also to test pilots of experimental aircraft.  This idea seems bizarre in retrospect, but if you never act on an idea other people might regard as crazy...well, maybe you're too busy playing Poker.

7. Pocket Dalek Knitting Pattern (20 Views).  People like my Dalek posts.  People like Daleks.  People obviously want to knit Daleks for their very own home.  What's even remotely crazy or bizarre about that?

8. Catching a Glimpse of Norman Clegg's House (17 Views).  See!  See!  See!

9. Indulging my Inner Cow with Superman (17 Views).  I suppose it's possible that people were interested in my review of the Superman movie "Man of Steel," but personally, I think they just liked seeing me in a funny outfit.

10.  Robert E. Howard's King Kull in Comics (16 Views).  It's amazing how high profile readers, critics, and historians continually denigrate Robert E. Howard's writing.  It's equally amazing how fans of his literary efforts usually denigrate adaptations of his stories and characters, particularly in comics.  But my Robert E. Howard comic-related posts get a fair number of views, usually in excess of my Dalek entries.  

Well, there you have it, what you and other readers found most interesting at The Dragon's Cache in July.  Thanks for reading, and recommending my posts to your friends.

Dragon Dave

Steve Austin’s Retreat

Everyone needs a place to escape to now and then.  In the two-episode story “The Bionic Woman,” written by Kenneth Johnson, Ojai became Steve Austin’s place.  Of course, Ojai was also his hometown: it was where he grew up, and where his mother and stepfather lived.  But there’s much more to Ojai than just the town.  In many ways, the best part of Ojai lies above town.  And it is this area of Upper Ojai in which Steve Austin decides to buy a ranch, set up house, and reside, when he can, between missions.

On the surface, Ojai seems an odd choice.  As a small town in California, it’s a long way away from Washington D. C., where Oscar Goldman, and therefore his life, is centered.  But the astronauts who rode in those fragile capsules called Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo were always crisscrossing the country during their training.  Most of them belonged to the military, as Steve did, and therefore had access to small jets that could transport them vast distances in relatively short spans of time.  They had reasons to do so, as they might be working at Kennedy Space Center (or Cape Canaveral) in Florida, or at the Johnson Space Center in Texas, or interfacing with the people who built their capsules in California.  Also, as pilots, they needed to log a certain amount of flight time each year.  So I can understand Steve’s reasoning in setting up his retreat in Ojai: his little place of calm, away from the frantic storm that constituted the normality of his life.

Of course, the problem with having an escape, especially one a long way away from where you live, is that when the storm of life grows too frenzied, you may not have the time to retreat there.   If you rush off there anyway, you may not be able to truly relax.  Another problem with a home-away-from-home is that we tend to forge connections wherever we go.  Steve no sooner buys his retreat, fixes it up, and renews his ties with his mother and stepfather, than he learns that Jaime Sommers, a woman he grew up with, is visiting Ojai.  So he pursues her.  Doing so will bring a deeper personal investment in Ojai, and therefore attract the busyness and commitments that constitute normality to his retreat.  But he pursues her nonetheless.

Sadly, by the end of the story, Steve realizes that Ojai can no longer serve as an escape for him.  By renewing his ties with Jaime (and all that followed), he has dragged to Ojai much of the personal baggage that he had hoped to leave behind.  Humans are social creatures.  We cannot help but make connections with others wherever we go.  Yes, everyone needs an escape now and then.  But perhaps such an escape should be closer to home.  Instead of seeking to escape the storm, a better choice might be to find the place of calm at its center.  A room in your house, or even a closet, or a patch of grass under a favorite tree in the back yard: anywhere can serve as a place of renewal.  Or perhaps it’s not a place you need, so much as a sport, hobby, or some other activity that will quiet your mind and renew your spirit.  Finding that place or activity may prove difficult.  Sometimes it may seem that you are too busy to even search for such a place or activity.  But the rewards of doing so will make the search worthwhile. 

Ojai is too far away from San Diego to serve as my retreat.  It grows too hot in the summer for my tastes.  But I can understand why those who seek a moment of respite from the busyness of Los Angeles escape here.  For, as Jaime enthuses in "The Return of the Bionic Woman," (also written by Kenneth Johnson), it does seem peaceful here.  Where do you escape to when the storm of life blows too hard, tossing you in directions beyond your control?  In what place, or activity, do you find renewal?

If you live in Los Angeles, Ojai might be just the place you need.

Dragon Dave 

My Meeting With Oscar Goldman

My wife and I have been watching “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “The Bionic Woman” on DVD recently.  During each show’s ending credits, the phrase “Inspired by the novel Cyborg, by Martin Caidin” came up.  This aroused my curiosity about Caidin’s original conception of Steve Austin, his bionic enhancements, and the people and governmental structure that supported him.  I’ve read the summary of the novel on Wikipedia, and reviews at sites such as Amazon, but that’s not the same as reading the actual story.  So I checked the novel out of the library, and enjoyed it so much that I read it twice.  (Then, sadly, I had to return it).

Television and movies tend to simplify literary works, and Caidin’s novel is much more involved than either of the shows it inspired.  But one area that the shows expand, and even improve, is the character of Oscar Goldman.  In Caidin’s novel, Goldman is the second-in-command of the Office of Strategic Operations (OSO).  He’s the governmental bureaucrat that Steve Austin, Dr. Rudy Wells, and the bionics staff interface with.  In terms of technical knowledge, Caidin describes him as holding a Master’s Degree in Electronics and Computer Systems.  But Steve only meets with Oscar Goldman a couple times, and no appreciable warmth or relationship develops between the two. 

The television show enlarges Oscar Goldman’s role, not only by making him the head of the Office of Strategic Investigations (OSI), but by making him Steve’s chief protector and friend.  He’s always concerned about sending Steve into unnecessary danger, and constantly refers to him as his pal.  He seems like Steve’s older brother, offering advice when the situation calls for it, and acting as a buffer between Steve and those in the government who might expect too much of their super-operative. 

In “The Bionic Woman,” Oscar Goldman regards Jaime like a father.  He’s even more reticent to send her into danger, and usually keeps in direct touch with her while on assignment.  When danger presents itself, his first instinct is to pull her out.  He constantly puts his hand around her, and his eyes glow with concern as he talks with her.  His pride in her successes is equally clear. 

These days, Oscar Goldman goes by the name of Richard Anderson, no doubt due to security concerns.  (After all, he was once privy to a wealth of Top Secret information).  When I spotted him at Stan Lee’s Comikaze, I approached him respectfully, and just intended to tell him how much I enjoyed watching him in both series.  But I found him so warm, friendly, and engaging, that time sped past as we talked about Martin Caidin’s novel, his experience with the author, the enduring appeal of Steve Austin, his hopes of producing a feature film, and the current state of bionic enhancements for the handicapped.  When his associate took a photograph of us, Oscar Goldman placed his hand on my shoulder like he always did with Jaime (and like he probably would have done with Steve, had the Air Force Colonel not been such a man’s man). 

My meeting with Oscar Goldman was unscheduled, and came as a complete surprise.  It lasted no more than ten or fifteen minutes.  But of all my experiences at Stan Lee’s Comikaze, it was the one that most touched my heart.  I sincerely hope he succeeds in his mission to bring Steve Austin to the big screen.  If he does, I’ll support him in any way I can.  Mr. Goldman, sir, you can count on me!

Dragon Dave

Related Dragon Cache entries

Bionic Dreams

Building a Bionic Reality