Now that he's not here to defend himself....

aloft

New Member
Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

I thought I'd take the opportunity to do a little "trash talking" about MikeD.
wink.gif


As you may recall, we had a little fire in my neck of the woods a few weeks ago--you may have seen it on the news, or even in this thread. As you may also recall, I'm a Civil Air Patrol member. Part of the support the Air Force provides CAP is what's called the Reserve Assistance Program, a program by which inactive Air Force reservists (called Individual Mobilization Augmentees) contribute their time and experience to local CAP units in exchange for points toward retirement.

One such reservist, a major named Steve (a former C-141 driver who presently flies for American) works with the local unit here in San Diego. Steve lives in the Scripps Ranch area--the hardest hit by the "Cedar" fire--and his home was burned to the ground along with many of his neighbors'. Steve and his family had literally no advance evacuation warning early that Sunday morning and got out with pretty much just the clothes on their backs. They've since taken up residence in a hotel as they begin to put their lives back together.

Despite all the upheaval in his life over this situation, Steve showed up to the following week's CAP meeting as usual, only sporting sweats and running shoes instead of the usual green flight suit, which was destroyed along with the rest of his AF and AA uniforms and everything else he owned. Needless to say, we were all pretty impressed by this show of dedication. Being an IMA reservist and no longer on flight status, however, meant that the AF wouldn't be replacing his uniforms lost to the fire, and given the fact that there are no AF installations nearby meant that it'd be a while before Steve got himself back into uniform. That night, I decided to set out to see what I could to for him in that regard, and sent out feelers to a handful of people I know on flight status in the AF to see if they or their squadronmates might be able to help out with getting Steve back into uniform. MikeD was the first to respond, and even though he was only a week from deploying to Iraq, six days later I had in my hands a brand new flight suit from him for Steve, which I delivered last night.

Gang, I'm here to tell ya that even though MikeD puts on a good tough-guy fighter pilot front, the dude's got a heart of gold. I don't know him outside of our JC connection and he doesn't know Steve at all, but that didn't stop him from pulling a few strings to help out a fellow officer and pilot hit with some unfortunate circumstances. That's the mark of a true gentleman.

Good on ya, Mike.
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

From what I have seen from Mike - he is a gentleman! Definately a guy I would like to have a beer with!
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

I've known MikeD since 1989 and the guy is pretty much the one guy you can absolutely depend on in any circumstance. Whenever my pretty boy Fresno-ass got stuck in the snow in Prescot during college, he would fill his barely-running piece of crap Chevy Suburban and go pull me out and never accept a dime or even a few cold "frosties" in return.

I still remember the time that Mike took a "GPS-direct" course from our apartment to the nearest "Circle-K" after a snow storm to go pick up some overpriced firewood to light the fireplace with...

I'm on a comfortable layover in SAN at the Westin Horton Plaza this evening, and the poor guy is proabably sitting in a quonset hut in Iraq as we speak.

MikeD, "you're da man", come home safe, bro.
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

Hey fellow night owl Taylor...next time you've got more than a short layover here let me know and we can rent a 172 and check out the fire damage...it's pretty intense. That, or maybe just "sterilize" a few brain cells in the Gaslamp or PB/La Jolla.
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

I have never met him but from what ya'll are saying he seems like a guy I would like to meet. I second the statement about mike coming home safe.
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

I only know of MikeD from JC but from all I have read on his post he is one outstanding guy. To bad there arent many more like him in the world..he parents should be proud. I hope kicks hiney over there and comes home safe. We need his kind here in the US also.
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

I've met Mike twice outside jc.com and he's about as down to earth and straight shooting as they come. He definately goes above and beyond the call of duty.

Mike, you're a stand-up guy. Get home safe.
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

Definitely my kind of peeps!

Outstanding in the truest definition of the word!
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

Just from reading the first three posts, MikeD gets a ton of respect and love from me. (I'm talking about the "you my boy" type of love. I don't get down like that LOL).
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

This is all so nice. Kristie you should print it out and include it in his care package!
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

Great suggestions Michelle - we'll do just that!
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

As I have said before, MikeD is the REAL DEAL.
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

Wow, thats a good fuzzy feelings story. I'd like to meet the guy some day. Hope he's kicking @ss over there.
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

[ QUOTE ]
This is all so nice. Kristie you should print it out and include it in his care package!

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey, here's an idea for his care package. Ever seen where those college kids took the pink flamingo from the lady's yard and sent it all over and had its picture taken in wierd places, sending the pics to the lady? Why don't we get something and have pictures taken of it with each of us and send them to him from all his friends at JC. It'd be kind of cool to see what everyone looked like and where they decided to take the pic. I mean, he's gonna be there for a while, we could get it sent around in a month or two if no one hangs onto whatever the momento was.

It'd be a big, "We're all thinkin' about ya, big guy," kind of gesture.

My vote, the first pic from the guy in his new flight suit.
smile.gif
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

Man, what a guy. I have so much respect for MikeD and any soldier fighting to defend my freedom. I have even more respect for Mike seeing all this stuff he has done, for some people he doesnt even know and people he meets of a forum.
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

From reading his posts here on JC he's an exceptional person and pilot. Get home safe
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

Ive never met MikeD outside of JC but he seems like a awsome guy to be around and hang out with. Come home safe MikeD! I have a can o spam with ur name on it...
laugh.gif
 
Re: Now that he\'s not here to defend himself....

This is kinda sad, but....

When I first saw the topic for this thread, I thought it was going to be about Michael Jackson....

oops.....

cj
 
Back
Top