Captain Marvel and the Air Force Academy Chapel

While Colonel Steve Austin represents the Air Force of the past, perhaps no one represents the Air Force of the present better than Captain Marvel. While Carol Danvers resembles a normal female officer, she isn't actually Human. Instead, she's an alien living peacefully on our world, and a member of the Kree race. Yet she's brave, capable, and strives for excellence, like all cadets who attend the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. It's fair to say that she wouldn't naturally belong to the Protestant faith, to which the upper, and best known chapel, is dedicated.

While the Air Force Academy may impose many strictures on cadets, their choice of faith is not curtailed in any way. The lower level of the building hosts a Catholic chapel, which is also very beautiful.

Then there is the Jewish chapel, which was filled to capacity during our visit. 
 

While our world often pits one religion against another, cadets who would worship in the Muslim and Buddhist chapels enter and exit through the same outer door to reach their separate sanctuaries. As this would prove impossible without creating dissension and violence in some parts of the world, this exemplifies how the Academy strives to install a yearning for greatness in every cadet.
 

Apparently, there's even an All-Faiths room, which can be utilized by individuals and congregations of less popular faiths. And somewhere outside, those belonging to Earth-centered faiths such as Wicca, Paganism, and Druidism can practice their religions in the Falcon's Circle. Perhaps we would have seen the latter, had it not been raining during our visit. 

Thus, while Cadets cannot take freedoms like speech, time, and movement for granted, they are allowed to pursue the faiths of their choosing,  regardless of their race (or planet) of origin. While striving to impose order and discipline, and imprint their concept of a model officer on cadets, the Air Force Academy recognizes that celebrating diversity can make us stronger. 

Either that, or the leadership has been taken over by shape-shifting Skrulls, striving to make us all weaker, and preparing our world for invasion. Hey, it happened in the movie...

Dragon Dave

 

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

Steve Austin in Palmdale

After studying the SR-71 Blackbirds at the Blackbird Airpark, we walked across to the adjacent Joe Davies’ Heritage Airpark, where we saw a large number of other aircraft.  They had been parked out on the desert in this arid environment, which should preserve them from rust and decay better than if they were left in a more cold and humid area, such as San Diego.  It was interesting to see these planes up close, read about them, and see the engines that powered them.

Another plane being readied for display.

After our tour, we ate lunch, and then walked into the museum gift shop.  As we had a long drive ahead of us, we intended to have a quick look around.  But Bob, a retired wiring specialist who had worked on the SR-71s, noticed my “Six Million Dollar Man” T-shirt.  He told me that he had met Lee Majors once, the actor who played Steve Austin, while the TV show was filming an episode nearby.  The conversation gradually shifted to the space shuttles, which he had also worked on.  He confessed that he cried when the decommissioned Endeavor arrived in California to become a display piece in a museum.  He had helped the space shuttles embark on so many missions, and taken great pride in his involvement with the program.  Now that grand era was over. 

Bob had told me that Frank, the man sitting behind the counter, had piloted the SR-71s on some of their secret reconnaissance missions.  But he was talking with a family, and my wife had signaled her readiness to leave.  As I stepped into the doorway, Frank broke off his conversation and called to me.  He told me that he had known Bruce Peterson, the pilot who had piloted those heavy lifting test vehicles like the M2-F2 and the HL-10, just as Steve Austin had in the TV show (and in Martin Caidin’s original novel Cyborg). 

Peterson flew the HL-10’s first test flight.  According to Frank, Peterson had been preparing to land when the vehicle suddenly turned upside-down.  During preflight simulations, he had been forbidden to use any controls unless specifically directed by ground control.  But at this point, he started working with the controls, and figured out to right the aircraft before it touched down.  After that, Frank said, the “wiring folks” had some sorting-out to do!

In addition to his two previous flights, Peterson flew the sixteenth and final test of the M2-F2.  These heavy lifting bodies minimized the wing structure by shaping the fuselage to maximize its lifting capacity, but the M2-F2’s shape was rounder than that of the HL-10.  The vehicle began to roll from side to side, and while Peterson fought for control, he spotted a rescue helicopter in his path.  As it turned out, he wouldn’t have hit the helicopter, but by changing course while wrestling with the controls, he touched down before the landing gear had fully extended.  This was the crash made famous during the opening of “The Six Million Dollar Man” TV show.

After that, Frank and I spoke about the X-2 and X-15 rocket plane programs, and the missed potential of the Dyna-Soar X-20 rocket plane program that was cancelled to make way for the space shuttle.  Intensely interesting stuff, but my wife was waiting patiently in the doorway, and I knew we had spent far longer in the gift shop than we had planned.  Still, I felt enriched by those two conversations, neither of which would have occurred had I not worn my T-shirt advertising a forty-year-old TV show.

Isn’t it amazing how the stories we love help us connect with others?

Dragon Dave

Related Internet Links

Daleks on Vacation

The Blackbirds of Palmdale

Related Internet Links

Joe Davies Heritage Airpark

Blackbird Airpark

Daleks On Vacation

Recently, we took two of our Daleks with us on a weekend excursion.  They are named Salt and Pepper.  As this was their first trip away from home, they were understandably excited.

Salt: Long John Silvers, home of master's favorite fish!
Pepper: Remain calm.  Daleks do not get excited.

Salt: You don't think they'll shake us, do you?
Pepper: I hope not.  If my gun goes off, 
I might accidentally exterminate their food.

Salt: Mountains!  I see mountains!

Pepper: Joshua Trees really put the yuck in Yucca.

Salt: What are you researching, master?
Dragon Dave: Just our itinerary for tomorrow.
Pepper: Could you tell us a story before we go to sleep?
Dragon Dave.  Sure.

The Bears of Muroc: A Bedtime Story for Daleks

Once upon a time, three pioneers traveled into the wilderness.  Their names were Clifford Corum, his wife Ellie, and Clifford’s brother Ralph.  They settled on Rogers Dry Lake, built a house, and operated a store and post office.  When the Post Office objected to them naming their store and local post office Corum, they reversed the spelling, and called it Muroc.

Salt: Were they related to Corum Jhaelsen Irsei?

Dragon Dave: No, that's a character Michael Moorcook created for his novels. 

Pepper: Wasn't he an aspect of the Eternal Champion?

Dragon Dave: That's right.  Now shh. 

A few years later, a family of bears traveled to Rogers Dry Lake.  Their names were Army, Air, and Corps.  They had visited other dry lake beds, but either they found the dry lakes too small, or the clay of the beds was too soft.  They decided that Rogers Dry Lake was just right.  Initially, the bears used it for bombing practice, but later they used it for testing experimental aircraft, which they called Flight Test.  The bears called their new home Muroc Army Air Field, after Clifford, Ellie, and Ralf.  Later, they renamed it Edwards Air Force Base, in honor of Glen Edwards, who died testing an experimental Flying Wing bomber.  This was where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in his Bell X-1 rocket plane.  Later, the X-15 rocket plane helped the Bear family with the space program.  They also tested experimental lifting bodies, like the Northrop M2-F2, which helped NASA, one of the Bears’ children, design the Space Shuttle. 

Salt: The M2-F2 was the “flying bathtub” that Steve Austin crashed in, 

before he received his bionics arm, legs, and eye, right?

Well, the real pilot was Bruce Peterson, and while he lost sight in one eye, he didn’t get any bionics replacements.  It sometimes bothered him that the TV show featured his crash in the opening scene, but he kept a good attitude about it, and often joked that he should be called “The Five Million Dollar Man.”

Pepper: What happened to the Bears?  

The descendants of the original bears still live there.  The two oldest brothers are called Edwards and Dryden. 

Salt: And that’s where we’re going tomorrow?  

Only if you get your rest, and we can smuggle your guns past Security.

Salt: We will sleep!  
Pepper: Agreed.  Daleks will sleep!

Dragon Dave 

Those Utopian Dreams: Part 1

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.

Isaiah 11:6, New International Version

In The Bionic Woman TV show, Jaime Sommers teaches an elementary school class at an Air Force Base near her home in Ojai.  In the episode “Claws,” a student named Katie brings a male lion into the classroom for Show and Tell.  The lion walks into the circle formed by the students’ desks and lies on the floor.  Katie explains she is helping Susan Victor, who runs a wild animal sanctuary.  Jaime then allows the entire class to rise from their seats, and quietly approach the lion.  The children kneel down beside him, and gently stroke his soft fur and mane.  The lion closes his eyes, reveling in the attention.

Some of the charm of the bionic shows involves looking back on us, as a people, at an earlier stage in our societal development.  Before the rise of the Internet, and the so-called Information Age, people found it more difficult to share experiences and opinions.  Without detailed information readily at our fingertips, we didn’t realize how difficult it was to transform our dreams into reality.  Thus, when it came to embracing Fiction, we found it easier to suspend our belief.  We believed we could replace parts of our bodies that we had damaged beyond repair, and build better, stronger, and perhaps even wiser people.  There were no limits to what we could accomplish!  Through the application of Science and Willpower, we would return our world to the utopia depicted in the Bible.  Humanity would return to the Garden of Eden.  Farmers would sow and reap their crops, untroubled by weeds, insects, or pests.  Humans and animals would coexist harmoniously.  Like Adam and Even, even the fiercest species would bow to us, allow us to name them, and follow our every command.

With facts so readily available now, few still believe that bionic enhancements such as those Jaime Sommers and Steve Austin received lie in our immediate future.  And only a miniscule percentage of us still defy the Law, and keep wild creatures as pets.  There have been too many attacks, in homes, wild life sanctuaries, and zoos, to believe that we can ever tame such savage creatures.  Thus we can only look back on an episode like “Claws,” in which gentle children kneel beside a domesticated lion, as a relic of an earlier age: when we dreamed greater dreams than we do now.  Or, as Science Fiction author David Brin might say, at least until we can figure out how to uplift them.

Still, it's fun to look back.

Dragon Dave

Related Internet Links

The Bionic Woman: “Claws”

The Largest Outdoor Bookstore in America

As I wandered the streets of Ojai, I noticed bookcases lining the outside of a house.  As I neared, I realized it wasn’t a house at all, but a façade of painted wooden siding, interspersed with windows, and overhung with corrugated fiberglass panels to mimic a roof.  But the bookcases filled with books: they were real.

I perused the shelves.  Signs offered these books for sale or trade on the honor system.  The bindings of many looked loose.  The covers seemed faded and worn.  It was as if the books themselves, exhausted by poor handling and all who had read them, had grasped one final opportunity for someone to read and love them.  “Look at me,” they cried.  “Please, take me home with you!”

Callously, I ignored their calls and walked “inside” Bart’s Books of Ojai.

I found myself surrounded by alcoves, and hallways formed by bookcases.  All were sheltered directly overhead by corrugated fiberglass panels.  Some areas required electric lights to illuminate the titles.  I wandered through a wide selection of subjects and categories, each identified by hand-drawn cardboard signs.  Several times, a staff member offered to help me find whatever I might be looking for.  A few customers sat beneath umbrella-covered tables, reading or chatting as they enjoyed the drinks and snacks Bart’s also sold.  After finding nothing I wanted in the Fiction area, I headed for the Science Fiction section.

A few years ago, when I subscribed to Writer’s Digest, I remember the magazine proclaiming that something on the order of 200,000 books were published in the English language every year.  That’s 200,000 titles, multiplied by all the copies of each title printed.  Despite the rise of electronic publishing, I suspect the number of books printed each year, whether they be hardcovers or paperbacks, has risen since then.  All those books have to go somewhere, and some will inevitably be thrown out or otherwise destroyed. 

Libraries and bookstores cannot hold copies of all the titles ever printed.  Even when owners and communities care for their books, time, the elements, and disasters still take their toll.  Little survives of Pliny the Younger beyond his letters, and their existence was probably insured because he writes about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and because he speaks of persecuting and executing Christians.  Aristotle’s philosophical works have profoundly shaped how we view and interpret the world, yet only roughly a third of them survive.  SFWA Grandmaster Robert Silverberg has bemoaned that so few of the dramas written by ancient Greek and Roman playwrights are still available.  And me?  I was looking for copies of the four novels Martin Caidin wrote about Steve Austin.  I’ve had trouble finding them in bookstores.  Where better to look than Ojai, Steve and Jaime’s hometown? 

Nope.  Nothing by Martin Caidin, whether Steve Austin-related or otherwise.

In perusing the Science Fiction section, I found a few books that interested me.  When I pulled out the copies, they left a dusty feeling on my hands.  As I’m allergic to dust and dust mites, I reluctantly put them back.  Perhaps I’ll find them elsewhere.

Bart’s Books helps readers of all ages find books and stories that can add value and joy to their lives.  Where I to live in Ojai, I can envision many happy times sitting at those umbrella-covered tables, discovering a new book, sipping my favorite drink, and enjoying the company of my fellow readers.  But I can’t help thinking about those tired and worn books outside, or the ones “inside” that were slowly disintegrating as I held them.  I know that nothing humans create can last forever.  Yet I can’t help thinking that those books, the products of creativity and hard work by thousands of authors throughout the course of human existence, deserve a little more protection against the elements.  Just a little bit more.

What do you think?

Dragon Dave

Related Internet Links

Bart’s Books