Sam, I served with a lot of those Cobra pilots. They were Majors and Lt. Colonels, by the time I ran into them, HMLA 269 “The Gun Runners” were stationed at MCAS New River, when I was next door at Camp Geiger, I am in touch regularly with the CO of the squadron which he commanded circa 1979-81. They were a different breed! Friday night at the New River O Club often went from nearly crazy to full on crazy. They were wild. They suffered three noncombatant losses while I was there, and then the new CO showed up. He had flown UH-34’s and UH-1’s on his first tour and then converted to A4’s for his second tour, in Vietnam. By the time he picked up HMLA 269, they had lost their discipline and perhaps their “mortal attention.” He brought them back to reality, as if losing 3 birds and 6 comrades wasn’t enough. Back to basics and flying by the book, (he was no stranger to flying by the seat of his pants, but they needed to recover that which was lost, have to start somewhere)
In much of your posts you remind the readers of the fragility in which we endeavor to live our lives. Yet, we go about our days as if we are Pelle the Conqueror, without the tragedy of being Pelle. The cars have too much horsepower, and are built so well that they survive high speed crashes, smashed to the size of a go kart, the driver and passengers emerge from the wreck virtually unscathed. No lesson learned, and they have no sense of fear. But then they fear their very existence, “what if I get a common cold, what if someone says something “mean” to me,” you mean like you’re over weight and are going to develop diabetes, if you don’t put the barrel sized container of Cheetos down…The horror. Today it is chilly here 1 degree Fahrenheit, we might make it all the way to 20, but the sun is blazing as it is rising, while there won’t any need for mortal attention as such, 30 minutes out in the clear cold will remind the writer that we are only a warm down jacket and lined trousers away from freezing to death. Life is precarious in that way in the times we live in. Not so? Maybe we should find time to consider making a point in the day every day to consider something that requires our “Mortal Attention.” Hmm, that sounds very hard and scary!! Maybe just recognize that being up and taking nourishment, looking around your tactical area of responsibility, (TOAR) and using situational awareness will do!
Great post! As always you got my brain engaged early….
This is well said, Charles. The entire world is built to prevent this type of attention, and too many do not realize what is it they’ve never known unless it was through a truly challenging and life threatening event. Your point about cold is on point. I did hill sprints this morning in 15 degrees. My nostrils, fingers, toes—everything actually hurt, and it was good. I was fully awake. So simple and yet profound.
Great story. Hoping for follow up in regards to what happened after the crash. As we devolve into a tik Tok world, I suspect that today's youth will find it more difficult to comprehend the need for mortal attention. A sad time
It is sad but the solution is right in front of them. Maybe there will be a renaissance of attention. Marshall made it out and was picked up, and is still living a wild and unique life.
For most of human's time on earth we've lived in a steady state of attention, a hummm of attunement to our immediate surroundings. Heightened by periodic life-threatening events, but generally, we needed to pay attention to our surroundings, which, in turn, yielded a purpose we paid attention to.
In bringing your insight to the present moment I'm left wondering how we get some of that back. There are things we value and we would die for, but in the day-to-day, there's a lack of things to do that prevent a life of yawns. Without pharmacological assistance, how do we engage that unused portion of our mind on a daily basis? I'm fixated on figuring this out.
I'm here for the pursuit. The idea is growing more and more on my mind on the actual execution, though I find a great deal of joy in scoping out the problem itself. Thanks for the note Jesse.
Agreed- navigating what the hell is going on conceptually is enriching, but also critical for sustainable execution. Awesome stuff and I appreciate the synergy in our explorations here, Sam.
That’s a tough post for most of us. I came to conclusion that we all have a moment of truth when it comes to us. It may not be the same as our plan. The best I can do is do my best every day, and with every action.
It started this morning with not opening the small screen, avoiding the cortisol load for the day and having a glass of water before my cup of coffee.
Sam, I served with a lot of those Cobra pilots. They were Majors and Lt. Colonels, by the time I ran into them, HMLA 269 “The Gun Runners” were stationed at MCAS New River, when I was next door at Camp Geiger, I am in touch regularly with the CO of the squadron which he commanded circa 1979-81. They were a different breed! Friday night at the New River O Club often went from nearly crazy to full on crazy. They were wild. They suffered three noncombatant losses while I was there, and then the new CO showed up. He had flown UH-34’s and UH-1’s on his first tour and then converted to A4’s for his second tour, in Vietnam. By the time he picked up HMLA 269, they had lost their discipline and perhaps their “mortal attention.” He brought them back to reality, as if losing 3 birds and 6 comrades wasn’t enough. Back to basics and flying by the book, (he was no stranger to flying by the seat of his pants, but they needed to recover that which was lost, have to start somewhere)
In much of your posts you remind the readers of the fragility in which we endeavor to live our lives. Yet, we go about our days as if we are Pelle the Conqueror, without the tragedy of being Pelle. The cars have too much horsepower, and are built so well that they survive high speed crashes, smashed to the size of a go kart, the driver and passengers emerge from the wreck virtually unscathed. No lesson learned, and they have no sense of fear. But then they fear their very existence, “what if I get a common cold, what if someone says something “mean” to me,” you mean like you’re over weight and are going to develop diabetes, if you don’t put the barrel sized container of Cheetos down…The horror. Today it is chilly here 1 degree Fahrenheit, we might make it all the way to 20, but the sun is blazing as it is rising, while there won’t any need for mortal attention as such, 30 minutes out in the clear cold will remind the writer that we are only a warm down jacket and lined trousers away from freezing to death. Life is precarious in that way in the times we live in. Not so? Maybe we should find time to consider making a point in the day every day to consider something that requires our “Mortal Attention.” Hmm, that sounds very hard and scary!! Maybe just recognize that being up and taking nourishment, looking around your tactical area of responsibility, (TOAR) and using situational awareness will do!
Great post! As always you got my brain engaged early….
This is well said, Charles. The entire world is built to prevent this type of attention, and too many do not realize what is it they’ve never known unless it was through a truly challenging and life threatening event. Your point about cold is on point. I did hill sprints this morning in 15 degrees. My nostrils, fingers, toes—everything actually hurt, and it was good. I was fully awake. So simple and yet profound.
Going to be thinking about this one for a while:
“The point at which those in peace choose to live with mortal attention in a non-mortal world.”
It’s hooked in my mind as well. It is a test of some sort.
Great story. Hoping for follow up in regards to what happened after the crash. As we devolve into a tik Tok world, I suspect that today's youth will find it more difficult to comprehend the need for mortal attention. A sad time
It is sad but the solution is right in front of them. Maybe there will be a renaissance of attention. Marshall made it out and was picked up, and is still living a wild and unique life.
Just a terrific post. - Jim
I appreciate it, Jim.
For most of human's time on earth we've lived in a steady state of attention, a hummm of attunement to our immediate surroundings. Heightened by periodic life-threatening events, but generally, we needed to pay attention to our surroundings, which, in turn, yielded a purpose we paid attention to.
In bringing your insight to the present moment I'm left wondering how we get some of that back. There are things we value and we would die for, but in the day-to-day, there's a lack of things to do that prevent a life of yawns. Without pharmacological assistance, how do we engage that unused portion of our mind on a daily basis? I'm fixated on figuring this out.
Thanks for another great essay, Sam.
I'm here for the pursuit. The idea is growing more and more on my mind on the actual execution, though I find a great deal of joy in scoping out the problem itself. Thanks for the note Jesse.
Agreed- navigating what the hell is going on conceptually is enriching, but also critical for sustainable execution. Awesome stuff and I appreciate the synergy in our explorations here, Sam.
That’s a tough post for most of us. I came to conclusion that we all have a moment of truth when it comes to us. It may not be the same as our plan. The best I can do is do my best every day, and with every action.
It started this morning with not opening the small screen, avoiding the cortisol load for the day and having a glass of water before my cup of coffee.
https://open.substack.com/pub/everydayhealthtips/p/harvards-new-health-bombshell-its?r=o30r9&utm_medium=ios
That’s all there is to it. Thank you Barry. I’ll check out this link as well.