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Date Posted: 22:08:40 04/23/07 Mon
Author: Sylvia Mohr Bartlett
Subject: Absent Friends and Those Lost to Our Sight

Absent Friends and Those Lost to Our Sight


Part I

Harmon Rabb, Jr. walked into his office, closed the door
behind him and sat in his comfortable chair, whirled it to
look into the gray English skies. He was mourning the loss
of a brother pilot.

A Blue Angel had crashed and burned at an air show – he had
just gotten back the coveted Solo Slot Pilot position after
returning from an active duty stint in the Persian Gulf,
flying his Hornet off the deck of a carrier he and Harm had
once flown off of together. This man had truly been as
close as brother to him.

“Lord, his family…I need to call. Wait, Rabb…think…do the math, darn it. It’s 0dark30 GMT so where Gil’s family is the time is….Computer…that will work.”

He spun his chair back to face the desk, booted up his computer, searched his bookmarks for the GMT conversion website and entered it. He sometimes had to laugh at how intimidated he had been by personal computers at first.

Here he had been, a Top Gun pilot flying off carrier decks and using his on-board computer systems in his cockpit all the time, but the idea of a personal one sitting on his desk at home or in the office seemed to freak him out for so long. It took Bud, Mattie, Mac and half the Navy and Marines to get on his case and straighten him out that being ‘connected’ was a good thing, but now even Bud Roberts admitted that old Harmon Rabb Jr had become a King of Connectivity. His personal line rang.

“Rabb?” he answered as he continued to surf the information highway.

“Harm, I am so sorry. I just heard about Gil. Are you okay?”

“Sturgis, good to hear from you , my friend. Am I okay?

Right now, I’m worried about Gil’s family.”

“Well, stand down on that, Captain. My dad’s with her

right now, so is the chaplain from the Blues and a certain

retired Navy Seal we both know and miss!”

Harm let go a sigh of relief. “Thanks for telling me that

Sturgis. I’ve been going a little crazy ever since the

headline came up on PDA on the way into the office.”

“Yeah. I know. “Red Alert!” and you are off and running

to fly a rescue mission. We got your back, my man. Now,

answer my question. How are YOU?”

“I’m still reeling with the news to tell you the truth.

It’s been a hell of a week, Sturgis.”

“I heard what you said, Harm. Here, too.”

“I know. This is just ….well, you know….”

“Unbe-frickin’-lievable?”

“Yeah. V tech, Nasa, now this….I keep hearing that old CCR

song in my head….”


Sturgis’ warm throaty chuckle came through the phone. “I’m

feeling it – there’s a bad moon on the rise!”


“I’m trying to hold on to my sense of humor, but this just

sucks!”


“I know – the ultimate FUBAR of all time, huh?”

“I think I am going to stand down. There is a real nice

chapel not to far from here. I think I need to have a word

with the big guy upstairs.”


“Well, tell him hi for me! I’ll talk to you soon,

Harm….go, do what you need to get your head straight, my

brother. Talk at you later.”

“You got it, Buddy. My love to the gang?”

“Well, okay, but I draw the line at kissing Bud!” Sturgis

chuckled.

“Well, I wouldn’t ask that. Now his pretty wife…

“That’s another story entirely….” Sturgis said. “Go –

commune with the On High…we’ll talk later.”

“Thanks, Sturg…”

“Not a problem, brother.”

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