Once again, my countrymen are confusing “performance of one’s duty” with “heroism” by lionizing the crew of the captured Navy surveillence airplane. Perhaps the way the pilots brought the damaged plane in for a safe landing was heroic, but is delivering an aircraft full of sensitive equipment into the hands of a potential enemy all that admirable? Did the passengers perform in an heroic manner? How effective were their efforts to destroy the secret documents and equipment? Would the country have been better off had the pilot pointed everyone aboard toward the parachutes and the door, then scuttled the aircraft?
Gotta admit that this is a particular annoyance of mine, too. Merely acheiving ‘celebrity’ should not be enough to get one promoted to ‘hero’ status in our culture.
They performed their duty under difficult conditions. Bravo, I salute them. But there’s nothing heroic in that.
Robert E Lee discharged the Army of Northern Virginia after Appomatox by congratulating them on their ‘duty faithfully performed’. And that should be enough for anyone.
And happy 3000th, drop.
Yeah, here’s a big “me, too!” coming atchoo.
When did this start? The first time it came home to me was when Ronnie Reagan cited the brave heroism of all those Marines who were fast asleep in their bunks when they got blown up in Lebanon back around '82.
But I have to assume that the Carter-era Iranian Crisis featured many mentions of the embassy personnel who were heroically taken hostage.
<sniff> You’re the only person who noticed. <sniff>
/aside
Didja notice, after a year in captivity, how the newspapers STILL coudn’t find photographs of some of them?
No, the CIA didn’t have ANYBODY working in that embassy. :rolleyes:
At least, nobody who knew what was going on in Iran.
You know, I’ve been wondering about that. Tell me - when they landed in Huan, were they following orders, or at least proper procedure. Because if not, I’d think some court martials are in order.
Someone screwed up; otherwise, how did a hostile nation get a hold of U.S. soldiers and equiptment?
There was a retired Navy pilot who wrote a letter to the editorial page of the Seattle Times up here, stating that the pilot should have ditched but probably didn’t out of concern for the female crewmembers. As you would expect, he was flamed like white phosphorus in the next edition. I told this story to my dad, who confirmed that all the old zoomies at his VFW post shared his opinion.
I don’t think they’re just a bunch of hidebound misogynists, but are grasping for some reason in the modern military that would explain why a pilot would do something so unthinkable in their era.
As for the “hero” laurels: that seems to mean nothing to most of the old timers. Its just something the politicians cook up for their own aims. In one of James Jones’ novels he writes that the only decoration worn by fighting soldiers in WWII was the combat infantryman’s badge - everthing else was just a pat on the head from people who hadn’t been there.
This came up in the big earlier thread about the incident, and several people pointed out:
1)That the equiptment and information on the plane were not really all that vital–it is not like we are in a war and they were carrying plans or code books or something. Everything the Chinese found out they probably already knew or will be obsolete in 18 months anyway.
2)Apparently the structure of the plane made bailing out more or less impossible–had they crashed the plane all 24 would have died. There is some information that is worth 24 lives, but it seems unlikely that what was on that plane was.
It also occurs to me that the crew almost certainly did have some sort of specific orders about this situation–apparently the potential for this incident has been there for months. Since we haven’t heard anything to the contrary I think we have to assume that they did follow orders.
Furthermore, had that plane crashed and all 24 crewmen died, we would of had an international shitstorm. Can you imagene? “American Plane forced down by Chinese in international waters: 24 dead”. That mess alone would have caused alot more headaches than the Chinese possibly getting ahold of technology they didn’t already have. And, the crew may have done a very good job destrying stuff–we just don’t know.
So while I wouldn’t call them heros, I don’t think we have enough justification to insinuate that they were cowards, either.
WHAAAAAAAAT!?!??!
This is a friggin radio surveillence plane. OF COURSE it’s carrying code books. (Well, not actual books these days, but key information, regardless.)
Known-key cryptanalysis, while probably not leading to much actual information, can lead to a lot of meta-information about US communications, making further cryptanalysis easier.
2)Apparently the structure of the plane made bailing out more or less impossible–had they crashed the plane all 24 would have died. There is some information that is worth 24 lives, but it seems unlikely that what was on that plane was.
Now, regarding the OP: Yeah, I don’t think they were really heroes. They were the victim of an asshole (the Chinese pilot) and they performed admirally by landing the damaged aircraft, but I don’t think they did too much out-of-the-ordinary.
I agree. It’s like a cop arresting a drunk in public. That’s his job. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.
I agree with the OP argument regarding “performance of one’s duty” vs. “heroism” but I really can’t work up too much bile towards anyone referring to the crew as heroes. Heroism is in the eye of the beholder; besides, this crew obviously risked their lives in service of their country… many people land the “hero” tag for much, much less.
I’d rather spend my time being peeved at people who are “proud” to be an American. Yeah, I know what they mean, but I’m no more proud to be American than I am proud to have brown eyes. But having encountered more than enough of these people, it could be that they’re proud that no one has been able to drive them out of the country, as much as they might want to.