The Sound of Freedom

What are your most memorable experiences of the sounds of freedom?

For some it might be the sound of a Coyote on a cool spring night. For others it could be the call of an Eagle in the serene beauty of the great northwest. For others not quite as calm it could be something manly like a 50 cal. bellowing out thunder or an AC 130 firing it's cannon or even Darell's electric motor.

I am blessed in so many ways. I get the sound of freedom nearly every day. It starts with JP5, Navy jet fuel and lots of it. They use it at a rate that would send cold shivers up Darrel's spine. I live 1 mile outside the front gate of Pensacola Naval Air Station, home to the Blue Angels. My office is 2 miles outside the gate of the base. Every Spring and summer we get at least one air show a week. They should be coming home soon from El Centro, their winter home. They usually practice at 8AM on Tues. or Wed. They fly the whole show every week here in town. If you ever get to P-Cola contact me prior to coming and I will set you up for a semi-private viewing of the greatest show on earth. There are normally about 200 people in attendance for a practice. I have spent a fair amount of time around those guys. They are all great patriots. My last squadron shared a hanger with them here on base. We have had a beer or two together at undisclosed locations in places far away. I was by no means one of their buddies I was just another one of the "bubbas" out in the fleet. They are no better and no worse than any one of the other Tac-Air guys in the Navy and Marine Corps other than they are celebrities for 2-3 years. So when we hear the rumble in the next couple of weeks we all leave our desk and stand outside to watch and hear the sound of freedom.

Hey Dave,
I grew up just outside Annapolis and used to see The Angels every summer. During alot of the rehearsing the week prior to the show over the Severn River at the Naval Academy, they would overfly my house alot and the noise was just beautiful. I think they flew out of Patuxent Naval Air Station. When they were in town. Thats a Good one
though. I'll have to think about it a little and get back to you as I've never really thought about it.

Later,
TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

DieselDave said: ...your most memorable experiences of the sounds of freedom?

There's probably many that could be listed. One that I think of is the sound of revolution every 4 years within our very own country. It is the quiet sound of a possible bloodless change of gov't every time we elect a new president. But...instead of the roar of tanks in the street or the rattle of gunfire in our towns, it is the quiet rustle of people waiting in line at voting stations all over the country.

One of the great inventions of our republic is that because of self-determination and protection of minority rights (two pillars of our system IMO), we don't have upset minorities within our own country blowing up shopping malls or killing off gov't officials.

We still have events like the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, but...such events are abnormal ...not normal, in our society.

So...although there are many sounds I could list, this is one that I think of first.

BTW...I have enjoyed a number of air shows at the Dayton International Air Show each summer. It is always a thrill to see and hear the Blue Angels.

[ QUOTE ]
DieselDave said:
It starts with JP5, Navy jet fuel and lots of it. They use it at a rate that would send cold shivers up Darrel's spine. I live 1 mile outside the front gate of Pensacola Naval Air Station, home to the Blue Angels.


[/ QUOTE ]

And there I was ... thinking it started with JP8 at Nellis, 57th WG, the Thunderbirds (50th Anniversary this year). Not only great sticks, but great "people people". /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Another tenant unit at Nellis trains some of the most impressive pilots in the world, at the Weapons School. Grads like Col. John Warden and Maj. Gen. David Deptula were the architects of the Air Campaign in Desert Storm.

One of my friends who was an IP at Willie in AZ reflexively says "the sound of freedom" whenever he hears fighter engines whether live or on TV.

I posted this in Webley445's "What light to take when baby arrives?" thread first. It was initially in reference to Darell's sig "The sound of freedom...", but thoughts of the F-15E blasting by in full afterburner came to mind, what it is, it's ultimate mission, and all those who support it and why we do...as well as all of those who have served, are serving, and will serve the United States of America and once again why we do it!

<font color="blue">We indeed have that right to vote in every election because of what has been done in the past, present, and future by those who have/do/and will serve!</font>
--------------------

I've seen and heard it hundreds of times...everytime the feeling's the same for me!

I don't know how many of you have ever had the opportunity to participate in a "Retreat Ceremony" (Just as reveille greets the morning of the official duty day, retreat announces the end of that day and the U.S. Flag is taken down.) But to watch the U.S. Flag as it is slowly lowered while listening to the "Star Spangled Banner" or "To The Colors" (don't forget "TAPS") and thinking of all those who have served, died, been wounded, captured, missing in action, and those who are serving now for the freedoms that we have!!!! Really an emotional experience!

Every time I hear the Star Spangled Banner at an event I get this "lump" and respectful feelings. (It's a sad thing that some in this United States of America do not get those feelings or thoughts and take for granted all that we enjoy! - Don't get me started!! We served so they could feel that way!)

This is the same feeling I get when I see/hear any of our United States Forces doing their jobs! That afterburner display is symbolic of so many things as well as icing on the emotional cake!

These respectful feelings of mine apply to ALL who have served in their own ways: military, civilian, those at home who baked cookies, sent care packages, letters, and cards to those who were/are serving...I could go on and on...many have served many different ways!

For me it's ( it was) the crackle of a police radio and the roar of a Chevy 350 V8 on a hot summer night, not knowing were your shift will take you.

For me, it was camping in the Uinta Mountains in Utah. I rode my motorcycle down into the valley around the Strawberry River and camped there. When I got up that morning I went down to the river and caught a couple of trout. When I was cooking them, just barely daylight peaking over the mountains, a bull elked bugled.

Makes the hair on my neck stand up just writing about it.

Hey look! My sig answers the question. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

If it makes the "freedom = sounds of the military" guys feel any better, there are electric Hummers (name makes more sense now, huh?) and tanks currently being developed. We already have hybrids that get twice the mileage. Turns out that fossil fuels are difficult to transport and store on the battle field... and an electric vehicle has a little better chance at surprise. Who'd a thought that we could fight for our freedom with LESS fossil fuel?

Well I didn't have to really THINK about it, it just came to me. Freedom to me sounds like a vintage Les Paul Junior plugged into a Trainwreck head with the volume on ten and the sound blowing through two 4/12 cabinets. That is a MOTHER. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif

Later,
TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ QUOTE ]
tsg68 said:
Well I didn't have to really THINK about it, it just came to me. Freedom to me sounds like a vintage Les Paul Junior plugged into a Trainwreck head with the volume on ten and the sound blowing through two 4/12 cabinets. That is a MOTHER. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif Later,TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
Could someone translate this into old persons English for me? I think it has something to do with some guy named Junior driving a locomotive and tooting it's horn before hitting a pair of huge 4'x12' pieces of furniture. Sounds dangerous if you ask me! I can't be sure it's the same guy but does this Junior fella happen to have a crazy cousin named Bubba Ray that lives 2 1/2 miles past the end of the asphalt portion of County Road 73 near the 4 strand bobwire fence that has a cracked post with a coyote carcass hanging on it?


[ QUOTE ]
Darell said:
If it makes the "freedom = sounds of the military" guys feel any better, there are electric Hummers (name makes more sense now, huh?) and tanks currently being developed. We already have hybrids that get twice the mileage. Turns out that fossil fuels are difficult to transport and store on the battlefield... and an electric vehicle has a little better chance at surprise. Who'd a thought that we could fight for our freedom with LESS fossil fuel?

[/ QUOTE ]

Darell, did you confuse this with an EV thread? The topic is "The Sound of Freedom," not "The sound of the EV nut on a soapbox". /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Dave,
I hate to be the one to tell you this but, you're too $@#*in' old. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ QUOTE ]
tsg68 said:
Dave,
I hate to be the one to tell you this but, you're too $@#*in' old. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess that means it's not the same Junior. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ QUOTE ]
DieselDave said:
[ QUOTE ]
tsg68 said:
Well I didn't have to really THINK about it, it just came to me. Freedom to me sounds like a vintage Les Paul Junior plugged into a Trainwreck head with the volume on ten and the sound blowing through two 4/12 cabinets. That is a MOTHER. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif Later,TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
Could someone translate this into old persons English for me? I think it has something to do with some guy named Junior driving a locomotive and tooting it's horn before hitting a pair of huge 4'x12' pieces of furniture. Sounds dangerous if you ask me! I can't be sure it's the same guy but does this Junior fella happen to have a crazy cousin named Bubba Ray that lives 2 1/2 miles past the end of the asphalt portion of County Road 73 near the 4 strand bobwire fence that has a cracked post with a coyote carcass hanging on it?

Ya' know gosh darn well he does.


[ QUOTE ]
Darell said:
If it makes the "freedom = sounds of the military" guys feel any better, there are electric Hummers (name makes more sense now, huh?) and tanks currently being developed. We already have hybrids that get twice the mileage. Turns out that fossil fuels are difficult to transport and store on the battlefield... and an electric vehicle has a little better chance at surprise. Who'd a thought that we could fight for our freedom with LESS fossil fuel?

[/ QUOTE ]

Darell, did you confuse this with an EV thread? The topic is "The Sound of Freedom," not "The sound of the EV nut on a soapbox". /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Actually David, that is the sound of freedom. In some other country, he'd be in prison for undermining the government's energy policies.

Dan





[/ QUOTE ]

Not the same junior, no. But I'll translate. The Les Paul Junior was a smaller less expensive version of the Gibson Les Paul model guitar, both created by guitar legend Les Paul in the 1950's. The early models are prized for the fantastic tone of their hand wound pickup the P90 (The aging of the magnets in the P90 has given the guitars a really warm sound). Trainwreck was a limited production, custom shop made, tube amplifier from the 70's and 80's. A four/ twelve cabinet is a speaker cabinet with four twelve inch speakers in it. The combination played at high volume is just a beautiful sound and a testament to the power of American Rock and Roll.

If Junior owns a junior though, tell him I'll buy it.

Later,
TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I guess the sound is a song for me, but hearing "Stars and Sripes Forever" always reminds me of the Navy airs shows I went to.

So I guess it's "freedom = sounds of the military" for me too.

TSG,
That's interesting,
I really do feel old. Maybe not old, I was never a guitar or rock and roll guy. I actually had guessed it was a band or singer you listened to on a high end stereo system. I was about as close with my Junior theory as my stereo theory. Now that I have it figured out could you please turn it down, we old folks are trying to sleep. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Freedom? The night. Where I grew up in upstate NY, 2 miles up a dirt road... peepers, croaking frogs, crickets, hooty owls. And here in the desert... silence. Perhaps the occasional rustle of the warm breeze through a palm tree or on summer nights, the coyotes running the washes. But overall... silence. That is freedom... no gunfire or sirens... no threats. My little world is safe... and free... in the night.

You know Sasha that is a close second for me as well. My favorite part of deer hunting is not shooting a deer. It's being in the country with the complete peace I get from the lack of noise. I get out of my blind at night and intently listen to the quiet and stare into the heavens.

Reference Sasha's and Dave's comments..."several" years ago, I was out hunting javelina in Southern Arizona (didn't matter if we got any, the wife said I "couldn't hang one on the wall because they were 'ugly'"...all the more reason the "wild" in me wanted to get one - though I really enjoy eating my game and that's what I wanted BBQ Porker...) anyway...

We were camping in the middle of nowhere, it was the middle of the night, full moon and the howling, "singing" sounds of the coyotes and their pups was just wild! Nothing else to be heard, so quiet except for them. To this day I wish I had taken a small recorder and captured those moments. We were camped in the middle of some land used for grazing free range cows...woke up in the middle of the night to "something" rustling in the brush outside the tent. Grabbed the flashlight, while half awake/half asleep and beamed it out the tent door...YeeeHaw - you ever see a cow's eyes reflect a beam? I thought I was staring into the face of a demon! Oh well...flashback...

Oh jeez, I wonder who was more rattled. You or the cow? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Dan