2

in arriving at personal commitments; one sooner or later comes to a
fork in the road. As Harvard's philosophy great, Alfred North Whitehead,
said: "I can't bring half an unbrella to work when the weatherman pre-
dicts a 50% chance of rain." We are all at that fork in the road this
week. Think it over. If you find yourself rationalizing about moving
your bomb release altitude up a thousand feet from where your strike
leader briefs it, or adding a few hundred pounds fuel to your over
target bingo because "the Navy needs you for greater things," or you
must save the airplane for some "great war" of the future, you're in
the wrong outfit. You owe it to yourself to have a talk with your
skipper or me. It's better for both you and your shipmates that you
face up to your forks in the road here at 140 [degrees] East rather that later,
2000 miles west of here, on the line.

Let us all face our prospects squarely. We've got to be prepar d [sic]
to obey the rules and contribute without reservation. If political r [sic]
religious conviction helps you do this, so much the better, but you' e [sic]
still going to be expected to press on with or without these comforting
thoughts, simply because this uniform commits us to a military ethic -
the ethic of personal pride and excellence that alone has supported some
of the greatest fighting men in history. Don't require Hollywood answers
to "What are we fighting for?" We're here to fight because it's in the
interest of the United States that we do so. This may not be the most
dramatic way to explain it, but it has the advantage of being absolutely
correct.

I hope I haven't made this too somber. I merely want to let you
all know first of all where this Wing stands on Duty, Honor and Country.
Secondly, I want to warn you all of excessive caution. A philosopher
has warned us, that of all forms of caution, caution in love is the
most fatal to true happiness. In the same way I believe that "caution in
war" can have a deleterious effect on your future self respect, and in
that sense, surely your future happiness. When that Fox Flag is two-
blocked in the gulf, you'll be an actor in a drama that you'll replay in
your mind's eye for the rest of your life. Level yourself now. Do
your duty.

FOOTNOTE:
No one came forward with reservations. By the time ORISKANY returned to
San Diego in December 1965, her pilots had earned a record total of
military decorations for Vietnam carrier deployments. Of the 120 pilots
addressed in this talk, 13 did not return with the ship. (8 were killed
in action, 1 is still unaccounted for, and 4 - including the speaker -
spent 7 1/2 years as POW's in Hanoi.)