"Brick" Nelson a legend in his own right
Brick was serious old school... Supersonic below the deck fly-by for his CVW-3 Change of Command.. I was hot switching and thought for sure I was gonna launch an a SAR until he went vertical passing the bow.. If you every looked down in the tanker stack at night and saw burner plumes behind a Tomcat, get out of the way because here comes CAG thru the stack..
Yes he was and his JO's would follow him to hell and back (trying to stay up with him on liberty, some did :icon_wink)
Yes he was and his JO's would follow him to hell and back (trying to stay up with him on liberty, some did :icon_wink)
"Brick" was born and bred to be a warrior, period; he had legions of JOs, if not Dept Heads and above, trying to be in whatever command he held. When most leaders seemed to be bending towards PC, he remained a stalwart warrior of warriors. He looked the part and lived to the max.
When CVW-3 went in combat during OSW, he (as DCAG) elected to fly a Tomcat not because he needed a RIO to keep him out of trouble, but because "[he] wanted to kill something!" (as told to me afterwards). Those were pre-ATFLIR days when NITEHawk wasn't even close to LANTIRN in finding something to kill (Stalk can relate because we had same conversation about VFA-15 and LANTIRN vs NITEHawk over Kosovo when he was CO). He led from the front in the air on the ground during liberty. Definitely one guy who should have been a flag officer.
Sir,
are these some of the enumerated reasons he wasn't promoted to Flag, or did he elect to get out on his own??
It's a game of musical chairs for CAGs vs Carrier COs making flag; not enough chairs to go round when the music stops.
HJ,
This describes so many things in today's Navy; DH Screen, CO Screen, and the list goes on. Anyway, your comparison made me smile. Thanks.
-ea6bflyr
Worked with him while I was at the Pentagon. Great guy to have a smoke with and rehash old stories. During one of the the CNO briefs I was giving (intel) showed a video of his below the deck pass. Someone in the audience joked that maybe thats why he wasn't wearing stars.
He laughed...when I left there in 04 he was planning on retiring.. He shoulda been wearing stars.