Our Universe Today: Airplanes, Anniversaries and Astrocations

To readers who enjoy this column, please accept my deepest apologies for the nearly month long absence. April is an amazing month for our family and this year, April took on a very special meaning as my wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.

Who says romance, commitment, patriotism, adventure and most of all, love are outmoded in our society?

You be the judge after reading this little story of Michelle and Max.

After getting my “wings” in the Army as a full-fledged Aviator, I had to be re-trained to fly airplanes with wings that don’t rotate about the machine (non-helicopters, or what most folks call airplanes).

This was good, because I originally started flying airplanes at age 13 and that’s what I wanted to do in the military.  So in1986 as a young lieutenant,  I packed up from Alabama to Arizona to complete the final phase of my training on a very special intelligence airplane, known as the Mohawk – or unofficially, The Widowmaker.

Heck, I was one of seven junior officers from the entire Army chosen that year to complete the transition, so when I met a lady through another officer one night, my ego sort of got in the way. Thankfully, after much reclama and sweet-talk, the young lady considered speaking to me.  Since I was leaving for Germany in seven weeks, the last thing on my mind was “getting hitched”. But let this story unfold.

My post was at the Army Intelligence School at Fort Huachucain southeast, AZ and the gal I had met and fallen for happened to live in Reno, Nevada which, for the geographically challenged, is about a 15 hour drive or 900-miles as my airplanes flew.  Thankfully, after our first meeting, she agreed to see me again.

Max and Michelle Corneau

A couple days later I called her from about halfway there and asked her to drive to the middle of nowhere, Tonopah, NV to come get me. You see, I had “bummed” a ride in a very hush-hush military shuttle plane supporting some things going on up in those parts.  She politely refused and I was on my own.  Turns out, luck was on my side.  The manager of the local civilian aviation facility that my Army buddy dropped me off at said he would let me “ride” on one of his canceled check delivery flights for $100 each way to Reno. He thought he had me by the shoelaces.  I was saddened that he would take advantage of a young lieutenant in a jam but didn’t let on. Later when his pilot came in smelling strongly of stale Budweiser and packing a flask of what looked like something out of a bad still, I offered to call the local FAA inspector to come out and see his operation.  The owner glared at me and demanded my intentions.  I threw my pilot certificates including commercial everything and flight instructor on the table and boldly stated that I would become his new “weekend pilot” for the next six weeks between Tonopah and Reno in exchange for allowing me to stay over the weekend with the airplane in Reno.  This would allow him to find a sober pilot and allow me to see my new lady friend.  The plan worked, as I was a commercial pilot, flight instructor, military pilot  with  more training than time under my belt.  I must say that the first late-night approach to Reno got my attention at Rattlesnake Hill.

We successfully courted for six weeks from almost a thousand miles.  Around week five I asked her to come with me to Germany and she scoffed until I asked her to give me her hand in marriage.  Her dad was away in Korea with the Army so I couldn’t very well ask him.

Later, I made it official by dangling the engagement ring on a napkin at a senior officer farewell before the 9th Infantry Division departed for its Korea deployment.  The Commanding General’s wife was brought to tears and we all rejoiced.  But the Army wouldn’t let  us join in Germany until I secured housing.  How fun was that?

Eventually, I found us a place that had been former German nursing quarters across from the hospital in Esslingen, Germany –  a nice little 1,200+ year-old Schwaben German village.  It was a quirky place made even more unnerving by the constant ambulance sirens coming from the garage across the street from us.  Back then we didn’t have cell phones or even the internet.  What, no internet? So she came over with a verbal description and orders, carrying a cat, a dog and a couple suitcases.  Of course, all of our stuff got boxed up and mis-directed in shipment to Hawaii instead of Germany.  I checked and that’s as far away from the destination as it could have gone.  We never would have found it had I not demanded to see the shipping paperwork where the word “HI” had been stamped in the destination from a previous carbon paper stack.

Those years all seems so distant now.  We made a life of selfless service in the Army with three amazing children, 11+/- different duty stations in 24 years, three major combat operations, a few surgeries, incredible tragedy, loss and continued living and loving. There certainly were ups and downs but through it all, we stuck together and now our two children are moving on in the world, confident, poised, well educated and capable of making their own way.

Not only would I marry her again, I did marry her again, right there in front of the rock wall at the courthouse thanks to our wonderful Methodist minister.  We renewed our vows and exchanged some upgraded “hardware” symbolic of our love. Of course, I didn’t spring this on Michelle as we counseled and prayed about our vows. My son warned me not to try and surprise mom because she is “Houdini” when it comes to figuring stuff out. So after the renewal of vows, she thought we would have a quiet dinner across the square in Rockwall. Instead of quiescence, I had invited a bunch of our friends to celebrate with us in a good old-fashioned surprise party.  So the crowd greeted her enthusiastically when we entered the door to the restaurant.  With great astonishment she looked in my eyes and whispered, “Honey, you surprised me for the first time in 25 years.” We all celebrated the silver anniversary in style with abundant  food, drink and fellowship.

In life, it is not the things we have, or the diplomas on the wall that mark success. Our spirits and our love are what get us through the toughest of times.  We are blessed to be Americans, blessed to live in the greatest country in the world with incredible resources and unlimited opportunity.  I’m honored to have served and lived a life of adventure, service and sacrifice that so many can never know.  I’m blessed to have met Michelle and made a life with her.  Despite the challenges, I would do it all again. Actually, I have committed to this again.

I’m convinced there are other worlds in the Universe. Just based on the astrobiological evidence, it’s pretty obvious that we are not alone. I hope and pray that others in the Universe rely on love and doing what is good and right so that if we ever encounter them, there is not strife.

In closing, I spent a week or so on AstroCation (it’s what astronomers call a vacation). Where does one go on Astrocation? While most of the very dedicated amateur astronomers flocked to the Texas Star Party (TSP) at Fort Davis, I went to my friend’s place in New Mexico.  His skies are better than TSP (we’ve got the data); I get a bed, no lines, great food and great friendship.

The first image I captured and processed from the trip turns out to be the greatest globular cluster in our galaxy.  Known as Omega Centauri, this “glob” contains over a million stars and is only visible to us in the north a couple months each year, including now. Please take a moment to consider that each of the stars here are Suns just like ours, the bluer ones are younger and the red ones immeasurably older than even our own galaxy and there are over a million just in this “ball of stars”.  How can we possibly be the only ones here?

Next week, I’ll attempt to explain how a four kiloton blast near the California-Nevada border didn’t even make the local news and how we are no better off than the now extinct dinosaurs when it comes to saving ourselves from big, dangerous metal boulders hurtling in from space.

Max Corneau, aka AstroDad, of Rockwall

Our Universe Today is a column written by Blue Ribbon News special contributor, Max Corneau, who has lived in Rockwall with his family since 2000.

Max retired from the U.S. Army in 2009 as a Lieutenant Colonel, Senior Space Operations Officer and Master Aviator.  He amassed over 3,200 hours as a pilot of Special Electronic Mission Airplanes.  Since 2004 he has been a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, is a Master of Astronomical Outreach through the Astronomcial League and built his own astronomical observatory. His amazing images can be seen at AstroDad.com.

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