Jets freaking me out
Over the last 3 days, there have been a number of supersonic jets flying overhead here in San Francisco. Every time they do, I tense up. Each time, I am vividly reminded of a pair of military jets that flew over my house when I was about 10 years old.
The Cold War was in full swing. This was the period that movies like Red Dawn came out of. I was standing in my back yard on a slightly overcast day. I heard a noise, looked up and got a flash of 2 jet fighters flying maybe 500 feet above me. In that instant my eyes were actually focused on them, I could easily make out that they had various releasable appendages on their bellies. They were gone in a split second. A thunderous whooshing sound followed. The sound faded slowly. As it faded, I looked around and saw that my neighbor, Mr. Cosmai was on his upstairs deck looking at the jets too. I jokingly called over, “Here comes World War III”. The second I said it, a sense of real dread came over me. I could feel the blood drain from my face. We called to each other a little. I could hear the fear creep into his voice too. We told each other that we’d go inside our houses and check the TV for any news. I remember going in and changing channels, dreading the thought that I might hear that usually annoying Emergency Broadcast System beep or see some government newscaster telling us to duck and cover. I had it in my head that the regular newscasters wouldn’t give such news, it would be some neutral-looking, creme-colored jacketed newscaster sitting at a near empty desk with a blank gray wall for a background. And I knew full well that ducking and covering would be useless in the face of multiple megaton hydrogen bombs, stratospheric EMP nukes and fallout that would last 100,000 years.
Needless to say, our forces weren’t mobilizing. I went out and met up with Mr. Cosmai; he couldn’t find any news on his TV either. There was no cause for alarm.
Another jet just flew over my house. I can feel myself tighten all over.
I did that, too, for years. In fact, I only stopped doing it after watching an air show with stealth bombers. They would go right overhead even before I heard any sound. “After that, I figured that by the time I heard bombers, it would be too late anyway–a thought that was oddly comforting.
Hunh. I had the pleasure of being allowed to stand a walking guard post north of D.C. in the winter, at night. I always wondered if I’d be able to see the reentry heat of the warheads as they came in over the pole.
Odd fancies get ahold of you late at night. I was standing on what might have been a target. If they were on target I’d never know. A near miss would really ruin my whole day. What would I think if I looked up and hey – dozens of dull red glares in the pre-dawn night. Look – the end of the world!
I had it in my head that the regular newscasters wouldn’t give such news, it would be some neutral-looking, creme-colored jacketed newscaster sitting at a near empty desk with a blank gray wall for a background.
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