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2oosterr · 6 months

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capt. ryan 'orca' murdoch

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GENERAL

NAME: Ryan Murdoch

ALIASES: Orca, Oscar Actual

AFFILIATION: United States Navy, OSOD

RANK: Captain

DOB: March 6th, 1978

AGE: 45

GENDER: F

BLOOD TYPE: B NEG

SEXUALITY: Queer unlabeled

HOMETOWN: Rockland, Maine

CURRENT RESIDENCE: Redcorn Airfield, Odessa, Texas

NATIONALITY: USAmerican

EDUCATION HISTORY: K-12 [1983 - 1991]

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY: US Naval Aviator (Commander) [1994 - 2011], PMC Operator (Captain) [2011 - Present]

APPEARANCE

HEIGHT: 182cm (5’9”)

WEIGHT: 170 lbs

EC: Brown

HC: Black, White

BUILD: Athletic, prominent muscle definition

SKILLS

[23/30]

Strength: ▮▮▮▯▯

Speed: ▮▮▮▯▯

Intelligence: ▮▮▮▮▯

Experience: ▮▮▮▮▮

Perception: ▮▮▮▮▮

Communication: ▮▮▮▯▯

SPOKEN LANGUAGES: English (Native), Spanish (C1), Russian (B2), ASL

SPECIALISATION: Can pilot almost any aircraft, including helicopters and the C-130.

WEAPONS: Proficient in close combat, hand-to-hand, air-to-air, and air-to-land combat. Long range is a weak point.

RELATIONSHIPS

Alison Murdoch [Mother] [AGE: 66]

Louis Murdoch [Father] [DECEASED]

Aaron Murdoch [Brother] [AGE: 34]

PSYCHOLOGY

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Anger management issues

Chronic alcoholism

MEDICAL

GSW on right side of face

3rd degree burns on right arm

Dog bite scar on left arm

ENHANCEMENT

[GRADE 4 - Extremely Low Risk]

Individual had demonstrated the ability to walk on liquid. Note that individual can submerge in the same liquid when contact point is not the feet.

PERSONALITY

MBTI type – ISTJ-A; Introverted, observant, thinking, judging, assertive.

Orca is a natural leader despite her introversion. She commands attention, even from those who aren't willing to follow her, unafraid to put such people in their place with harsh words and biting insults. Her introversion leans more to the ambivert side of things, she prefers the quiet of solitude over a loud social function, but socialising is not out of her comfort zone, and she would never be afraid to speak up and voice her opinions.

The ends always justify the means to Orca. She is willing to do risky, and sometimes deplorable, things to complete her objective, leaving some to question her morality, but those close to her trust that she knows where to draw the line. She's self-assured, confident to the point of cockiness at times, because she's good and she knows it.

The opinions of others mean very little to her, with the exception of the few people she calls her friends – she cares deeply for those select few. It takes a lot for her to trust, and a lot more to consider someone a friend, but once you've proved yourself, her loyalty is fierce. It’s incredibly difficult, but not impossible, to lose her faith.

Even when she was in the Navy, Orca has never been a fan of authority. It takes effort to earn her respect, which many of her commanding officers never did. In a way, this makes her slightly hypocritical, seeing as she demands respect from those around her but doesn't give it so easily.

Although she appears to be a serious, no-nonsense Captain, under the stony facade Orca actually has a strong sense of humour. She's more than willing to indulge in the jokes her soldiers throw around, but she still reserves the ability to take things seriously when the need arises.

FUN FACTS

Orca learned to play the drums as a way to de-stress. She learned in bootcamp from one of the older kids, and kept it up when she could in the Navy.

Her biggest pet peeve is stupid questions. She’s been known to make people run laps until the sun goes down for not using common sense.

The streaks in her hair are due to a bout of Alopecia Areata that she suffered from for most of her childhood, likely stress induced, and when the patches of hair grew back, they were white. She also has a patch of white where her neck meets her skull, but she keeps that one hidden because she doesn’t think it's as cool as the other two.

Her hair is also the reason for her callsign, since it looks vaguely like the markings on a killer whale, especially when she wears it up.

Her favourite colour is red.

She owns an ungodly amount of orca plushies.

On a similar note, she also owns an ungodly amount of model figures of fighter jets.

She’s obsessed with Top Gun. Like, balls to the wall fucking insane about it.

Like, she references it daily.

Yes, it was the reason she joined the navy. She is not immune to propaganda

Orca actually attended the real TOPGUN in Nevada in 2000, and graduated top of her class.

In 2016, she bought a decommissioned F-22 Raptor thanks to an Admiral friend of hers, and has been slowly refurbishing it in her off time. She keeps it in hangar two, and nobody else is even allowed to go in there.

She does all the repairs to the OSODs aircrafts herself.

BACKGROUND

Ryan's fate was decided before she was even born.

Her mother, Alison, was known to carry the gene for a genetic disorder and as a result, when she was pregnant with Ryan, she opted for a genetic screening to see if it would be passed down to her. It wasn't, but it's thanks to this genetic screening that they found out Ryan carried the NLH gene – the enhanced gene.

From the moment she was born, it seemed that her parents had already given up on her. Neglectful would be an understatement, there was no love in the way they cared for her. It was nothing but a chore to them, having to raise their mutant child when all they wanted was a normal baby.

Her father died when she was five. Shipped out to Iraq in ‘83 and never came back. Her mother shut down after that.

Growing up was difficult. Rockland was a small enough town that most, if not all, of the inhabitants knew about the fact that she was enhanced. She spent the majority of her childhood alone, being avoided by her peers and ignored by her mother, and becoming more and more bitter as the years went by.

She was eight when she finally discovered what her enhancement was; the ability to walk on water. It's a cruel joke, that she never even had a fleeting chance at a normal life because of something so insignificant.

When Ryan was eleven, her half-brother Aaron was born, and she got to witness firsthand what it looks like when someone loves you. Her mother was a completely different person once she brought him home, smiling and cooing adoringly at her infant brother. The resentment for both of them would never leave her.

Enhanced individuals, as the official paperwork refers to them, are required to serve in the military whether they like it or not. Mandatory service, starting at sixteen, and ending when you die. There is no choice, not for those who are deemed sub-human because of a genetic mutation completely out of anyone's control.

Despite the unfairness of it all, Ryan was shipped off to bootcamp a few months after her thirteenth birthday. It was easier there, surprisingly; there were other enhanced kids – people like her, for the first time in her life – and the structure and regiment of it all was something she actually found herself enjoying. The one aspect she struggled with was the demanding authority. She has never been with being told what to to, being a follower, especially by people she has no reason to respect apart from their rank. Her commanding officers were just like every other adult that had failed her thus far, and she earned more than a few disciplinaries for the insubordination of her outbursts of anger.

The three years she spent there helped Ryan for some sense of identity. It was strange, and bittersweet in a way, but she thrived in the military – had she not been conscripted, she may have even joined of her own accord.

The only sense of choice people like Ryan are given is the liberty of choosing which branch of the military they go to, so when she finally reached her sixteenth birthday in the March of ‘94, Ryan picked the Navy. She was on the plane to California the next day.

Once again, her entire life and any sense of structure she had was thrown to the wind. The Navy was harder, she was alone again and this time she had no idea if she was the only one of her kind; outing herself as enhanced didn’t seem like the best idea, especially since being a woman already put a target on her head. They looked down on her, endlessly questioned her abilities with an arrogance that made her blood boil, but Ryan was determined. She would be an aviator, and she’d be leagues better than all the people who thought they were above her – no amount of discouragement from them could change her mind.

It was in the academy that she met her first true friend, Michael ‘Berlin’ Addams. He was Ryan’s wingman, her partner in the skies, and the only person in her life to accept her unconditionally and without question. From the moment they met it was like two puzzle pieces clicking into place, his easygoing and humorous nature was the complete opposite of Orca’s quick temper, but they worked incredibly together like two sides of the same coin.

After Orca and Berlin graduated from the academy, placed first and fourth respectively, the two of them quickly rose through the ranks together, thanks to their raw talent for aviation as well as the synergy they had. They were best friends, practically inseparable, and though there were others they got along with, no one else came close to the bond that they had. For the longest time it was just the two of them, but the incident of March 1999 changed that.

While offshore on a deployment, someone found out Orca was enhanced, and word spread around the aircraft carrier faster than she could’ve imagined. She lashed out, broke another pilot's nose, and had to mop the floors for two months as punishment. While she was cleaning she was approached by one of the sailors, Eric Reyton she would come to learn. He extended an olive branch, and almost got his head bitten off before he revealed that he was enhanced too. It was a relief, learning that she wasn’t the only one, she finally had someone who really understood again. Berlin did his best, but he would never truly know what it was like.

From then on, it was the three of them. Orca, Berlin, and Eric – Static, as they took to calling him – and for the first time she actually started to feel like she belonged. The boys were like brothers to her, the family she never had, and life finally felt like it was looking up after all those long, lonely years.

And then Berlin died.

Shot down over land while they were on assignment. He didn't even have time to eject before he hit the ground.

Orca thought she knew pain. Unloved by her own mother, alone for the first sixteen years of her life, rejected by almost everyone she'd ever met, none of it had been easy; but as she watched Berlin's plane disappear into the treeline, nothing could've prepared her for the agony that ripped through her chest.

The rest felt like an out of body experience. She ejected, sparing not a single though for her own plane as it went down too. The landing fractured her ankle but she ran anyway, through the forest towards the blaze. She clambered up the wing of his aircraft, ripping the cockpit open and paying no mind to the way the searing metal burned through her flight suit and then her skin.

She pulled his body from the wreck, collapsing onto the ground with his lifeless body cradled in her arms. That's how the evac team found her, hours later, still sobbing into his cold skin.

His body went back to his family in New Jersey, but Orca kept his tags. She stayed standing over his coffin for hours after everyone else had left, everyone but Eric. Nobody was closer to Berlin than they were. Nobody understood the gaping hole his death left behind.

They were approached, after night had fallen and they were on their way out of the graveyard. The stranger handed Orca a card and introduced herself – Colonel Ellis – telling her to call when they needed a change of scenery. Eric had to restrain her from clawing the Colonel's eyes out for her audacity.

After the funeral, Orca finally understood how her mother felt when her dad didn't come home. There was nothing that could help the pain, the anguish of losing her best friend, so she drank herself into blackout numbness to escape it. Eric tried to help her, but it only ended in her lashing out. It went on like that for months, the only time she wasn't wasted was on the aircraft carrier where she had no choice. In a desperate attempt to help his friend, Eric ended up calling the Colonel to get them both out of California.

They found out on the flight to Texas that the Colonel was starting a PMC solely for the enhanced. The 'Occult Special Operations Division', she called it, a counter-terrorism taskforce. At first Orca was sceptical, the idea of it seemed almost too good to be true, but Colonel Ellis's achievements spoke for themselves. She was a decorated officer, and there was no doubt she had the power and resources to create something like this.

For a year, Orca and Eric served under Colonel Ellis in the OSOD, along with Lieutenant Klaus Green, Corporal Badger, both marines, and Lieutenant Nina ‘Vulture’ Smith, an Air Force pilot and all soldiers Ellis had worked with for a long time. It was better, being surrounded by people like them, and the freedom they had now was infinitely better than what they had in the Navy, but they were still out of their element. While Ellis, Green, Badger were marines and had decades of experience with active combat and its many intricacies, Orca and Eric were just a pilot and a sailor. Still though, Ellis didn't give up on them. They learned surprisingly fast under her mentorship, picking up what she taught them with ease, and though they were still miles behind the marines, their skills were impressive.

In 2011, Ellis was arrested.

The NLH gene is a random mutation, not something that can be isolated and cut out like a genetic disorder. However, if at least one parent carries the NLH gene, then the offspring are guaranteed to be enhanced as well. Starting in the 70s, sterilisation became mandatory for the enhanced, the same as conscription, as another way to control the enhanced population. Colonel Ellis was born in the late 50s, and conscripted in the 60s; in other words, she evaded sterilisation.

It came out that she had a daughter, around Orca's age, and action was taken almost immediately. Colonel Ezikiel Ellis died two months after her incarceration. The details of her death were never released.

Her death was different. It was obvious foul play was involved, but Ellis's death didn't affect her the same way Berlin's devastated her. This time, she got the feeling Ellis had reached her time, that she'd accomplished what she set out to do in her life, and now it was Orca’s duty to carry on her legacy.

She took over the OSOD as Captain as soon as Ellis's death was publicised. Now down to just the three of them, it seemed like a logical course of action to find some new recruits, and it didn't take long to find some. Ellis's daughter, Sergeant Major Arctic, came to Orca shortly after she took over the OSOD, but despite it being her mother's creation, she showed no interest in taking Orca's place. She agreed to work alongside the OSOD, but remained a free agent.

In the same year, they met Sergeants Eastwood and Vantage, marines like Ellis and Green, and most importantly, both enhanced. They were by far the best of their unit and then some, with expertise between them from insertions to engineering. She hired them on the spot.

Orca got the scar in 2012. A mission gone south, an attempt to save a group of hostages, and a crack shot from the enemy. She took a bullet to the face. If she wasn't enhanced, there was no way she would've made it. As luck would have it, if you could call it that, a doctor was among the hostages, and saved Orca's life that night – Honey Rosenheim, an enhanced combat medic who would work with the OSOD for years to come after their unfortunate first encounter.

██████ ██████ ██ █████████ ████ ██████ ███████ █████. █████████ ███████ ██████ █ █████ ████ ██████ ████████. ████ ███████ ███ ██████ █ ██ ██████ █ █████ Badger ███ ███████ █████ █████████ ████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ █ █████ ██ █████. Badger ███ ████████ M.I.A. ██ ████ 2014.

[CONTENT REDACTED: SEE MISSION REPORT JUNE 11 2014]

It's 2019 by the time Orca meets Captain Price, through Kate Laswell and, surprisingly, their mutual friend, Nikolai. To say he didn't make a good first impression would be an understatement. Perhaps it's because of Orca's natural hostility and standoffish nature, but the two Captains butted heads constantly. Eventually he realised – with gentle nudging from Eric and the lieutenants – that she wasn't just an asshole for the sake of it, and she was actually a proficient leader. She slowly warmed up to him once she didn't have to fight for his respect.

Since the mission in 2018, the OSOD has collaborated with Captain Price, and subsequently Task Force 141, on multiple occasions.

It took significant work, but Orca was an accomplished Captain, with loyal soldiers and the ability to actually make a difference in the world. Her fate may have been decided before she was born, but Ryan is the one who made something for herself. She still has Berlin's picture hanging up in her office.

#ryan 'orca' murdoch #oc: orca #cod oc #cod oc art #call of duty oc #re did this and changed a few bits <3 #will probably keep fucking with it but itll do for now lol

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brokehorrorfan · 2 years

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Retro-a-go-go will release a set of EC Comics ornaments in the fall. Designed by Doug P'gosh, each hand-painted resin piece measures 5" tall with a magnetic display base.

The Vault Keeper is styled after the work of artist Johnny Craig with an issue of The Vault of Horror. The Old Witch is styled after the work of artist Graham Ingels with an issue of The Haunt of Fear. The Crypt Keeper is styled after the work of artist Jack Davis with an issue of Tales from the Crypt.

The set of three is available to pre-order for $90 with the coupon code EC4ME. Once in stock they’ll cost $130.

youtube

#ec comics #tales from the crypt #crypt keeper #the crypt keeper #horror comics #cryptkeeper #the cryptkeeper #retro a go go #toy #gift #the vault of horror #the haunt of fear #jack davis #graham ingels #johnny craig

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2inx4inx8inbrick · 1 year

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Air Methods medical helicopters (top) EC-135 N3842 landing at Miami Valley Hospital (bottom) EC-130 N344AM landing at KCVG

Camera info: Nikon d5500, 70mm, f/5.6, iso 350

#helicopter #aircraft #photograpy #daytonohio #cincinnati ohio #flyover #ohio #eurocopter #airbus #aviation #photography #aviation photography

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shadeops21 · 1 year

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PACIFIC AIRSHOW GOLD COAST 2023

Incoming photodump! I took literally thousands of pictures, and I have gone through and found what I feel are the better ones, which I am sharing across all my socials.

Will title the different acts accordingly! Pictures below the cut!

Jeff Boerboon's Yak-110

Royal Australian Air Force's C-130 Hercules & C-17 Globemaster III

Two-ship display of Matt Hall in his MXS (Silver) and Emma McDonald in her Extra 300 (Blue)

The "Freedom Formation", comprised of 1 Yak-55 & 13 different "RV" kit airplanes

Two-ship Aero L39 display

Hayden Pullen in his Extra 330LT

MV-22 Osprey of the US Marine Corps, doing a teaser flypast

CC-150 Polaris MRTT of the Royal Canadian Air Force

A BAC Strikemaster solo display

Lifesaver One of the Westpac Surf Life Saving Rescue Helicopter service, an EC-135P2, performing a rescue demo

The "Red Star Roolettes" in a pair of Nanchang CJ6s and Yak 52s

The MV-22 again, this time for it's performance demo.

Emma came back for a solo performance

#airshows #air show #airshow #aerial display #pacific airshow #pacific airshow gold coast

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casbooks · 1 year

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Books of 2023

Book 22 of 2023

Title: The Ravens: The Men Who Flew in America's Secret War in Laos Authors: Christopher Robbins ISBN: 9780517566121 Tags: A-1 Skyraiders, AC-47 Spooky, Ambassador Leonard Unger, Antonov AN-2 Colt, Aviation, B-52 Stratofortress, C-130 Hercules, C-46 Commando, C-47 Skytrain, CH-34 Choctaw, CIA Allen Dulles, CIA Hugh Tovar, COD Democratic Republic of the Congo - Congo-Kinshasa, COD Kinshasa (Leopoldville), COD Lubumbashi (Elisabethville), COD MNC Congolese National Movement, COD Mobutu Sese Seko, COD Patrice Lumumba, COD Simba Rebellion (1963-1965), CSAR, EC-47 Electric Goon, F-105 Thunderchief, F-4 Phantom II, FAC, Fast-FAC, FRA ADT Colonel Roger Trinquier, FRA ADT French Ground Army (Armée de terre), FRA ADT General Henri Navarre, FRA ADT General Raoul Salan, FRA ADT Marshall Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, FRA France, FRA Madame Lulu, From LAPL, HH-3E Jolly Green Giant, HH-53 Super Jolly Green Giants, IRN Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, IRN Iran, KHM Cambodia, KHM Cambodian Civil War (1967-1975), KHM Khmer Rouge, KHM King & President Norodom Sihanouk, KHM Phnom Penh, KHM Tonle Sap (Great Lake), LAO Attopeu, LAO Ban Ban, LAO Ban Ban Valley, LAO Ban Son, LAO Bataillon Guerrier 403 (Laotian Civil War), LAO Blind Bonze Pho Satheu, LAO Bolovens Plateau, LAO Colonel Deuan Sunnalath, LAO Communist Neutralists, LAO Defense Minister Sisouk Na Champassak, LAO Hmong Meo Tribesmen, LAO Hotel Lima, LAO ICC Internationl Control Commission, LAO Ice House One and Two, LAO Jungle's Mouth, LAO Khang Khay, LAO Khang Khay - Chinese Cultural Center, LAO King Savang Vatthana, LAO King Sisavang Vong, LAO Klick 11, LAO Lam Son 719 (1971) (Vietnam War), LAO Lan Xiang 9 - Raven Hooch, LAO Laos, LAO Laotian Civil War (1959-1975), LAO Les Rendezvous des Amis, LAO Lhat Houang, LAO Lima 35 - Paksane (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 103 - Phu Da Pho (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 108 - Moung Soui (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 113 - Moung Cha (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 15 - Ba Na (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 15 - Phong Saly (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 20 - Sam Thong (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 204 - Khang Kho (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 20A - Long Tieng (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 262 - Ban Xon / Ban Houei Pamone (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 276 - Lat Sen (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 32 - Boung Lam (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 36 - Na Khang (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 46 - Seno (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 85 - Phu Pha Thi (Laotian Civil War), LAO Long Tieng, LAO Luang Prabang, LAO Moung Soui, LAO MR Military Region (Laotian Civil War), LAO MR1 (Laotian Civil War), LAO MR2 (Laotian Civil War), LAO MR3 (Laotian Civil War), LAO MR4 (Laotian Civil War), LAO MR5 (Laotian Civil War), LAO Muong Mai, LAO Nong Het, LAO Operation About Face / Kou Kiet (1969) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Barrel Roll (1964-1973) (Laotian Civil War) (Vietnam War), LAO Operation Bedrock (1971) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Black Lion IV (1972) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Blind Bat (1964-1970) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Glass A (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Goodlook (1970) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Leapfrog (1970) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Nighty-Night (1969) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Northwind (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Pig Fat (1968) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Rain Dance (1969) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Shining Brass / Prairie Fire / Phu Dong (1965-1975) (Laotian Civil War) (Vietnam War), LAO Operation Steel Tiger (1965-1968) (Laotian Civil War) (Vietnam War), LAO Operation Tiger Hound (1965-1968) (Laotian Civil War) (Vietnam War), LAO Operation Westwind (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation White Star (1959-1961) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation X (1946-1954) (French Indochina War), LAO Operation Yankee Team (1964) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Padong, LAO Pakse, LAO Paksong, LAO Pathet Lao, LAO Phong Saly, LAO Phou Khean, LAO Phou Nok Kok (Black Lion), LAO Phou Tham, LAO Plain of Jars / Plaine des Jarres, LAO Prime Minister Phoui Sananikone, LAO Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma, LAO Prince Souvanna Phouma, LAO Project Waterpump (1964-1973) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Purple Porpoise, LAO RLA Captain Kong Le, LAO RLA General Oudone Sananikone, LAO RLA General Phoumi Nosavan, LAO RLA General Vang Pao, LAO RLA Royal Laotian Army, LAO RLA SGU Special Guerrilla Units, LAO RLAF CPK Chao Pha Khao Hmong Pilots/Backseaters (Laotian Civil War), LAO RLAF Lt Colonel Lee Lue, LAO RLAF Royal Lao Air Force, LAO Roadrunner Lake, LAO Route 13, LAO Route 19, LAO Route 23, LAO Route 4, LAO Route 6, LAO Route 7, LAO Route 7/71 Junction, LAO Route 71, LAO Sam Nuea, LAO Sam Thong, LAO Saravane, LAO Se Kong River, LAO Skyline Ridge, LAO St. Valentine's Day Massacre (Laotian Civil War), LAO Tchepone, LAO US Programs Evaluation Office (Laotian Civil War), LAO USAF Butterfly FAC (Laotian Civil War), LAO USAF Project 404 (Laotian Civil War), LAO USAF Steve Canyon Program - Ravens FAC (Laotian Civil War), LAO Vientiane, LAO Vientiane - US Air Attache (Laotian Civil War), LAO Vientiane - US Embassy (Laotian Civil War), LAO Wattay Airport, LAO White Rose, LAO Xieng Khouang, LBY Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi, LBY Libya, O-1 Bird Dog, OV-10 Bronco, Pilatus Porter, PT-76 Amphibious Light Tank, SpecOps, T-28 Trojan, THA Ban Vinai, THA CIA 4802 Joint Liaison Detachment Logistics Office - Udorn (Laotian Civil War), THA Nam Phang, THA PARU Border Patrol Police Aerial Resupply Unit, THA RTAF Royal Thai Air Force, THA RTAFB Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Base, THA RTAFB Ubon Royal Thai Air Base, THA RTAFB Udorn Royal Thai Air Base, THA Thailand, THA USAF ISC Infiltration Surveillance Center - Nakhon Phanom (Igloo White) (Vietnam War), U-17 Skywagon, US Air America Eugene Hasenfus, US Albert Hakim, US Ambassador George McMurtrie Godley III, US Ambassador Llewellyn Thompson, US Ambassador William Sullivan, US Averrell Harriman (Governor of NY) (Ambassador at Large), US CIA Anthony Posepny (Tony Poe), US CIA Burr Smith, US CIA Central Intelligence Agency, US CIA Dave Morales, US CIA Douglas Blaufarb, US CIA Ed Wilson, US CIA Frank Snepp, US CIA Henry Hecksher, US CIA Jerry 'Hog' Daniels, US CIA John Stockwell, US CIA Kham Sing (Gold Lion), US CIA Lawrence Devlin, US CIA Pat Landry, US CIA Phillip Agee, US CIA Richard Helms, US CIA Ted Shackley, US CIA Tom Clines, US CIA Will Green (Black Lion), US CIA William Colby, US COA CASI Continental Air Services International, US COA Continental Airlines, US Dr. Henry Kissinger, US Edgar "Pop" Buell, US Father Lucien Bouchard (Catholic Priest), US Iran-Conta Affair, US John Gunther Dean (Diplomat), US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, US Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, US Secretary of State Dean Rusk, US Senator Edward Kennedy, US Senator J. William Fullbright, US Senator Stuart Symington, US State Department, US T.D. Allman (Journalist), US Tom Corcoran (Diplomat), US USA Biological Warfare Corps, US USA General Earle Wheeler, US USA General William Westmoreland, US USA Green Berets, US USA United States Army, US USA USSF Special Forces, US USAF 14th Air Commando Wing, US USAF 1st Air Commando Wing, US USAF 1st Air Commando Wing - Det 6 (Laotian Civil War), US USAF 20th Helicopter Squadron, US USAF 22nd Special Operations Sqd - Zorro, US USAF 23rd TASS - NAIL FAC, US USAF 23rd TASS - OL1 - Rustic FAC (Ubon) (Cambodian Civil War) (Vietnam War), US USAF 56th Air Commando Wing, US USAF 56th Special Operations Wing, US USAF 56th Special Operations Wing - Det 1, US USAF 7th ABCCC Airborne Command and Control Sqd - Cricket, US USAF 7th Air Force, US USAF 7th/13th Air Force, US USAF Colonel Mike Heenan, US USAF Fairchild Air Force Base WA, US USAF General Curtis LeMay, US USAF General George Brown, US USAF General John D. Lavelle, US USAF General Louis T. Seith, US USAF General Richard V. Secord, US USAF General William Momyer, US USAF Generl Robert L. Petit, US USAF Gus Sonnenberg, US USAF Hurlburt Field FL, US USAF JEST Jungle Environment Survival Training, US USAF Lt Colonel George Vogel, US USAF Lt Colonel Mark Berent, US USAF Major General Harry Heinie Aderholt, US USAF Major John Clark Pratt, US USAF United States Air Force, US USMC Lt Colonel Oliver North, US USMC United States Marine Corps, USAID, USSR 1st Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, USSR Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, VNM 1972 Easter Offensive (1972) (Vietnam War), VNM Bien Hoa, VNM Bien Hoa Air Base (Vietnam War), VNM CIA Air America (1950-1976) (Vietnam War), VNM DRV Lao Dong Party, VNM DRV NVA 148th Regiment, VNM DRV NVA 174th Regiment, VNM DRV NVA 312th Division, VNM DRV NVA 316th Division, VNM DRV NVA 766th Regiment, VNM DRV NVA General Vo Nguyen Giap, VNM DRV NVA Group 559, VNM DRV NVA North Vietnamese Army, VNM DRV NVAF North Vietnamese Air Force, VNM DRV VC Viet Cong, VNM DRV VM 304th Division, VNM DRV VM Regiment 98, VNM DRV VM Viet Minh, VNM FRA ADT Cap St Jacques Military School, VNM French Indochina War (1946-1954), VNM Green Beret Affair (Vietnam War), VNM Ho Chi Minh Trail (Vietnam War), VNM II Corps (Vietnam War), VNM Nha Trang, VNM Operation Arc Light (1965-1973) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Igloo White (1968-1973) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Linebacker II (1972) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Pony Express (1965-1969) (Laotian Civil War) (Cambodian Civil War) (Vietnam War), VNM Paris Peace Accords (1973) (Vietnam War), VNM Phan Rang Air Base, VNM RVN ARVN Army of the Republic of Vietnam, VNM RVN Nguyen Van Thieu, VNM RVN Vietnamization Policy (Vietnam War), VNM US MACV Military Assistance Command Vietnam (Vietnam War), VNM USAF TACC Tactical Air Control Center - BLUE CHIP (Vietnam War), VNM Vietnam, VNM Vietnam War (1955-1975) Rating: ★★★★★ (5 Stars) Subject: Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.Laotian Civil War.Aviation.FAC.Ravens

Description: Officially the war in Laos did not exist - both North Vietnam and the USA denied they had troops there. In fact, thousands of North Vietnamese were invading the country and pouring down the Ho Chi Minh Trail on their way to the south, and the Americans were fighting a vigorous war against them from the air.

The Ravens were the pilots, all volunteers, who flew through heavy groundfire to identify targets and call in air-strikes. Their mission was so secret that they were 'sold' their prop-driven planes for a dollar apiece so they could be struck from US Air Force records. They wore no uniform and carried no identification. Refugees from the bureaucracy of the war in Vietnam, they accepted the murderous casualty rates of what was known as the Steve Canyon Program in return for a life of unrestricted flying and fighting.

Devoted to the hill tribesmen they fought alongside, the Ravens did their job with extraordinary skill and crazy courage and with a humour that was all of its own. This is the story, brilliantly told for the first time, of these extraordinary men. Based on extensive interviews with the survivors, it is a tale of undeniable heroism, blending real-life romance, adventure and tragedy.

Review: This was a great book with a lot of problems.

The #1 problem was that I was reading an ebook version from Apostrophe books that was, quite simply, poorly done. So many issues with the conversion... I’s became 1′s... places and names were spelled 3 different ways throughout the book... issues like that.

The #2 problem was that there were multiple stories being told in a book about one story. This book had some good info on the Raven FACs, but it also went deeply into the story of the Laotian Civil War, the French Indochina War, the Hmong people, Henry Kissinger and the Nixon Administration. All of these things are intertwined and important, but the author uses up a LOT of the books real estate for these topics which tends to take a lot of the focus away form the Ravens, which the book is supposed to be about.

It’s still a 5 star book because it does go deeply into the stories of the who, the what, the when, and the where. You get a real good feel for the cast of characters that made up the Raven FACs, and you learn a lot about the Laotian Civil War, the CIA, the political issues and more.

It’s really a good primer and a good way to get a feel for what happened in the region.

#Books #Ebooks #Booklr #Bookblr #nonfiction #history #military history #laos #hmong #laotian civil war #vietnam war #forward air controller #Raven FAC

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alexbkrieger13 · 2 years

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First retirement interview with Lisa. She says a lot of interesting stuff in it

https://www.fotbollskanalen.se/damallsvenskan/dahlkvist-om-karriaren-det-ar-svart-att-summera-/

Dahlkvist on her career: "It's difficult to sum up"

Lisa Dahlkvist has ended her career. For the Soccer Channel, the Olympic hero from Rio 2016 sums up his career. - It's little that people remember me for, she says to the Football Channel.

Umeå made it straight up to the women's league last year, but the stay was short and after a difficult season it was clear that they will be moved back down to the elite.

After a tough season, team captain and former national team midfielder Lisa Dahlkvist announced that she is ending her career.That after over 200 matches in the women's league and over 130 international matches with the Swedish national team.

- It is a decision that has developed over time.I've always had a lot of fun when I've played, and when I summed up this season, there are many different parts that have meant that I haven't had nearly as much fun.And it might sound strange that you only strive to have fun, but I think playing football should give you energy, and it kind of hasn't this year.And when I was going to summarize it all and thought if I should play another season, I realized that I couldn't continue anymore, says Dahlkvist to Fotbollskanalen.

The 35-year-old's career has been characterized by highs and lows.The midfielder believes that she may have been a little lucky along the way as she got to play in good teams and made decisions that were tough but that led to challenges that she has managed.

- It has made me a better player who was driven by being in good environments and who dared to take chances and risks.It has sort of impressed me in football that you have to stand your ground, she says and continues:

- But it is difficult to sum up.I don't really know where to start, there is so much.But this thing with risks it has built me up, but then of course you've hit the nail on the head as well.I have left the women's league, not being allowed to play in the national team when Pia came in to not be allowed to participate anymore.It is clear that there have also been bumps that have somehow been overcome.

What do you think those bumps might have meant to you? -Just when I didn't get to play as much with Pia, it was very tough and there I learned a lot about working mentally and that it's a lot about yourself and your own thoughts and what you should focus on.So I'm very happy that I got that insight early, it strengthens you as a player and a person.As a player you have to focus on yourself, there will always be a coach there and it is not the one who decides how good you will be or whether you will succeed, it is up to you.It was great, then when I wasn't allowed to participate anymore it was obviously tough, but there I had methods from my whole career to tackle things and I know I made an effort to get back and I'm very happy that I tested.But it's like sports, sometimes you just don't make it and that's okay.

Many may remember when Dahlkvist became a great Olympic hero in Rio after she took the decisive penalty against the USA - but it is not the penalties and what has become a thing in the media that stand out for Dahlkvist when she talks about the highlights of her career.

- It is clear that the penalties in particular are such a media highlight and a great many people remember the penalties in particular.It will be big in itself and for me as well, it's little that people remember me for.But for my own part, there are many moments, when you made your first international match, your first championship and in 2011 I got to play many matches in the EC and scored four goals in the tournament and had my big breakthrough in the national team.These are the parts you remember, the defining moments.Before the Olympics we had an Olympic qualification and I will never forget that;what it was like to play with a knife to the throat and we really came together as a team and set the stage for what was to come that summer.It is moments like these that you share with those who have been there.

And when she sums up her career, there is nothing that Dahlkvist thinks that "damn it didn't work out" or "I should have done that".

- It feels like I've had time to process it quite a bit, if it's something that rubbed off.It is clear that it would have been difficult if I had left the national team and stopped there and then.Now I still have time to play and when I was no longer in the national team, I got a different relationship with football.It was not all the time myself who would be driving and drive my own development, but I began to see the team in a different way and take more responsibility for the team's success and development.When you are in the middle of your own investment, you are selfish.I can say that I became less selfish after I left the national team.It was a lot of fun to just play football for pure joy and not have to push yourself and see both sides as well.

What awaits now? - Now it feels a bit normal that there is a bit of a break and that you have to start the pre-season, it will probably feel like normal that I am waiting for the pre-season to start.It will be incredibly nice to get back time that you didn't have before, especially when you have a family, to cook dinners and plan weekends and things like that.It will be a complete turnaround in life, she says and goes on to talk about the work plans:

- I have some ideas and have received some requests to work in football, not as a player, but other parts. It's something I want to do in the long term and keep football. But right now it feels like the focus is on becoming a police officer and then you'll see where it ends up.

#swewnt article #lisa dahlkvist

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