18 Year Old Masons

The Grand Lodge of Florida passed legislation at its recent Grand Communication which will allow Lodges to accept petitions from 18-year-olds for membership. Among the reasons given was that since an 18 year old can serve in the military, he should be allowed to become a Mason. I find it strange that Lodges in the mid 1800’s did not feel a necessity to allow 12 year old drummer boys to petition their Lodges. I have a feeling that the membership gains anticipated by the backers of this legislation will be realized for only a short time, followed by record numbers of suspensions for Non Payment of Dues (NPD). The same thing has happened in the past when Grand Masters have allowed degrees to be conferred without a demonstration of proficiency. I know that my Lodge raised at least a dozen Master Masons during that time and we only have one that actually participates in Lodge now. The majority of those people have since been suspended for NPD. The VFW has also gotten into a similar pickle because of a membership drive they have used recently. This program gave a free first year of membership to active duty soldiers. While this was well-intentioned, what has happened is that a good number of those soldiers have not renewed after that first free year, resulting in many Posts having difficulty in attaining 100% for the year. All this comes down to what I have said many times—any time an organization reduces the requirements for membership, the result is usually not what was sought in the first place.

Bobfoot’s New Blog

My good friend of over 30 years has just started a new WordPress blog ( http://bobfoot.wordpress.com/ ).  He is a master of the random thought and I have always enjoyed his insights.  Please check him out.

Shrine Membership Requirements

When I origiinally became a Shriner, one had to be a Knight Templar or 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason in order to submit a petition.  This had been a requirement from the time the AAONMS had been founded in the 1870s.  Some time in the 1990’s the requirement for York Rite or Scottish Rite membership was dropped.  This was in reaction to the decline in membership that has been experienced by all fraternal organizations.  Over the past few years I  have heard rumblings that the Shrine may do away with the requirement for any sort of Masonic affiliation for its petitioners.  Though these may be only rumors, it brings up an interesting question..at what point do we stop changing requirements in order to increase membership statistics?

Many Masonic jurisdictions have changed their requirements for proficiency in the Blue Lodge Degrees.  “One-day” classes abound in the Blue Lodge, York RIte and Scottish Rite in the quest to increase membership by making it more convenient for candidates.  I’m not sure how successful this has been as far as membership statistics, but I do feel that candidates are receiving less value for their money by receiving their degrees in this manner.

Teach a Kid to Shoot

This afternoon I had a great time teaching one of my nephews how to shoot a .22 rifle.  I know he has shot before with other people, but we pretty much started with scratch as far as safety, shooting positions, and other basics such as breathing, stock weld, etc.  We really had a great time and it had been a long time since I had done any training like that since my sons have already finished college and it has been several years since they went through gun training with me.  I recommend that all gun owners with children or young relatives take the time to provide them with at least rudimentary firearms training.  This has three benefits:  (1) Gives the children safety training that they might not get elsewhere.  (2) Might lead to a life-long love of firearms and outdoor sports and (3) Gives you some real quality time with youngsters.  Just be sure to emphasise safety and basic marksmanship skills.

Blue Lodge Involvement

In case you haven’t noticed, most Blue Lodges have an attendance problem. I have been Worshipful Master of Lodges in two different Grand Jurisdictions and I have visited all eleven Lodges in my District, and I have noted the same thing I have seen mentioned in the Scottish Rite Journal and other Masonic publications—Brothers are not attending Lodge. Go to almost any Lodge meeting and you will see this—about 3/4 of the officers, five or six old-timers and one or two guests. These figures are independent of the total number of Lodge members. In Tennessee we had 450 members in here in Wewahitchka w have about 60 members. Both Lodges average 10-12 Brothers at every meeting.

It is too easy to blame low attendance numbers on the fact that most adults today have too much going on—Little League, television, internet, etc, and that they have more important things to do besides sit in a room for an hour and hear the minutes being read and approved. I think that we have failed our members in couple of ways. First, by not adequately educating them as they go through the Three Degrees, causing them to not feel as much a part of the Fraternity as they should. Worse yet, sometimes we have fallen into unfortunate situation of progressing new Masons through Degrees short of time and not requiring proficiency prior to advancement, thereby sacrificing quality to obtain quantity. Four of five years ago, my Lodge ran what I described as a McMason assembly line. Man, we were really cranking them out. Of the herd of Master Masons we raised that year, two or three have already been suspended for Non Payment of Dues (NPD) and only one or two ever attend a meeting. They don’t have the same appreciation for Freemasonry that someone does who spent hours with an instructor and stood before the Lodge on trembling legs demonstrating their proficiency. Secondly, many times we don’t get the newly-raised Master Mason involved in the activities of the Lodge. Next time you get a chance, check out the names on your Lodge’s list of committees—does it include any names of newer Masons? When you have a fish-fry or cookout do you ask some of the “new guys” to help or do the same group of “old-timers” do all the work? We need to find out what areas the new Masons are interested in and get them involved in them.

Low participation numbers are a problem for many organizations, not just out Lodges. Most VFW Posts have low attendance as well (at the business meetings, not in the canteen). I am interested in discussing any possible remedies that may be floating around out there.

General Patreaus

I have been thinking a lot the last couple days about General David Patreaus testifying before Congress. I would be willing to bet that at least 75% of the politicians in attendance could care less about what he has to say. Most want to make sure that they can advance their own agendas by wording their inquiries that they are in the form of political statements rather than questions. It kills me to watch these clowns talking to an American patriot like he is some sort of errant child. One of the things that makes this country great is that our military answers to civilian authority. Unfortunately sometimes we have to watch a dog and pony show like the one going on in D.C. this week. Hopefully the American people are bright enough to see through all this buffoonery and know that these politicians care less about the security of our country than they do about their careers. Wouldn’t it be nice if Congress could actually consider and pass some worthwhile legislation instead of conducting endless hearings and investigations?

I had the privilege of taking General Patreaus on an orientation flight in the AH64 Apache back in mid 90’s. He as just a lowly Lieutenant Colonel back then, but he really impressed me. Not with his military knowledge or insights on international geopolitics, but the way he conducted himself. He had no problems with taking instructions from a mere CW3 and he seemed genuinely interested in the aircraft and in what I had to say about attack helicopter operations. He just struck be as a really nice guy. He seemed to feel no need to impress me with his rank or position. While humility and courtesy are not requirements for promotion to flag rank, they are definitely good traits to have. I feel now as I did then—Davis Patreaus is a man o honor and integrity and the United States in fortunate to have him leading the brave men and women who defend our country.

Last Flight

did a Google Search of some old friends’ names the other day and I found the following in a briefing paper used at Army Forces Command (FORSCOM). Interesting thing is…this is from an email I sent to friends shortly before retiring from the Army. I knew full well it would be passed along but it’s still out there and I know that most of this stuff still applies, so I’m sharing it here:

I made my last flight as an Army Aviator on 16 February 2000. During that flight, which ended a flying career of 4,541.9 mishap-free hours I reflected back on my experiences and also thought about some of the problems being experienced by today’s aviators.  Below are some random thoughts on where we came from, the problems, and where I think we’re headed.  A lot of this probably sounds like whining, but humor me,…I’ll be gone in August anyway.

1.  Senior Warrant Officers:

When I was a junior Warrant Officer, the most powerful influences on my career were the senior Warrant Officers in my unit. Guys like Roger Duprey, Dana Johndro, Ernie Tussey, and Bob Holmes. They were the true leadership within the unit.  If one of the WOJGs screwed up, it wasn’t the Commander or Platoon Leader chewing butt — it was the Senior Warrants, but out of sight of the RLOs.  A junior aviator is MUCH more likely to accept aviation and professional guidance from a 5000-hour veteran than he is from a guy still on his first pack of razor blades.

What I see today is that many times, instead of being a mentor and example for the junior Warrants, the senior Warrant is a henchman and hitman for the chain of command.

Instead of helping develop aviators, we see senior WOs concerned with career-building and “appearances”.  I think a big cause of this has been the introduction of the rank of CW5. In the ‘old days’, our senior guys weren’t worried about their next promotion because they had risen to the pinnacle of their profession and could concentrate on the task at hand-training aviators.

Yes, there were those that were Retired on Active Duty (ROAD).  Today’s CW4 is considered by many commissioned officers to be a guy that hasn’t made CW5 yet,  and therefore not necessarily credible.  And many CW4s are so concerned about that promotion that they are afraid or unwilling to stick their necks out.  (If you are wondering; NO, I have not been passed over for CW5).
We have become a group of bureaucrats and empire-builders.

2.  Aviation Branch:

Anybody remember when there was no Aviation Branch? The commissioned officers were Infantry, Armor, or Artillery officers and were quite happy and thankful to be doing a tour in a flying assignment.  Their goals were to learn more about the aircraft and do a lot of flying, not screwing with the troops.  For the most part, they realized that the Warrant Officers were the subject matter experts regarding aviation.  Then came Aviation Branch and we started getting 2LTs right out of college/flight school.

Also, at about the same time, it seemed as if Aviation started developing an inferiority
complex.  Commanders started talking about how Aviation had to prove that it was “relevant”.  This somehow manifested itself in the form of ABDUs and 4-mile runs.  Does anybody below the grade of O4 actually believe that the average Infantryman cares what flight suit you’re wearing as long as you answer his call for extraction or fire support?

We need to stop apologizing for being Army Aviators.  Maybe then we will attract some of the strong leaders we so desperately need.  So far, all I’ve seen Aviation Branch produce is new street signs at Fort Rucker.

3.  Platoon-Sized Companies:

This is closely related to Item 2: When Aviation became a branch, we had to produce our own “leaders” and for us the be “relevant” (as well as for our commissioned officers to be competitive with their non-aviator peers), we had to have Captains as Company Commanders.  In actuality, all we did was take Companies, redesignate them as Battalions and re-name the Platoon Leaders as Commanders.

I remember going to the briefings where we were told that all additional duties would be at battalion level, letting the companies concentrate on aviation training.  Didn’t happen that way, did it?

We now have all the additional duties that were once in a 60-aviator company in a 16-aviator company.  Warrant Officers are spending more time with additional duties than on their primary duty of learning how to operate their aircraft in combat.  Hey guys—the best key control roster in the world will be of no use when you need to perform an autorotation after a real engine failure.  Of course, that’s advice from a guy who’s received his last real OER……

4.  Simulation:

We have developed a dangerous infatuation with simulations.  I’m talking about flight simulation as well as battle simulation.  Flight simulators are great for many things:

a. Practicing emergency tasks,
b. Practicing gunnery tasks (not as a substitute for live fire),
c. Instrument flight training, and
d. Mission rehearsal.

They should not be used as a substitute for flying the aircraft but as an augmentation to the training program.  Flight simulators are great training tools, but their usefulness should be kept in perspective.  My thoughts concerning battle simulations are pretty much
the same as those regarding flight simulation — battle simulations should augment your field training, not replace it.

Computer sims are marvelous — they can task the leaders, exercise the communications piece (sometimes), etc, but they do not take into account such things as the fact that your crew chiefs are dog-tired because they were on guard duty all night or that it is harder to talk across the battle area than it is across the gym floor.

Battle simulations and staff drills should be used to prepare for real field training to avoid wasting the troops’ time while training the staff and to evaluate your SOPs, but should never be the end-all of tactical training.  I was in a battalion in Germany that did not do a single battalion battle drill during the three years I was there.  They did take part in several Warfighter exercises, but does anybody want to take a guess regarding how well the unit performed on our Bosnia rotations?  I mean the real deal, not what you read in the papers.

5.  Advanced Aircraft:

When all we had were simple single-engine aircraft, we were all better aviators. Sure, this statement may be the result of a “Wooden ships and iron men” attitude on my part, but I honestly feel that we took our craft more seriously back then.  Today we count on the fire control computer and the navigation systems to do the tasks we used to perform using our knowledge of ballistics and navigation. I would be willing to put almost any mid-80’s Cobra pilot up against almost any of today’s Apache pilots.

There are whole areas of aviation knowledge that are gone forever and Army Aviation is worse off because of it.  Another problem with advanced aircraft is that, due to their high cost of operation and maintenance requirements, out pilots just do not get into the air enough to be proficient. That is how you have 500-hour aviators as Company Commanders, 1000-hour aviators as Battalion and Brigade Commanders and fully functional Apaches slamming into the ground on CNN.

6.  Management vs Leadership:

My first Company Commander in Aviation was a very senior major with 1,500 flight hours, a Distinguished Flying Cross and 35 Air Medals.  We all admired him and knew he was capable of doing whatever he asked us to do.  When he had a problem with one of us, we got the chewing-out in person, loud and clear.

He was a leader.  What I have seen over the last 10 years is that our leaders have a pitifully small amount of experience and are not prepared to command their battalions.  Because of the policy of rotating commissioned officers through various staff jobs, we have officers who are incapable of and unwilling to lead soldiers.  They hide behind the office door and run the unit via e-mail. I saw my Company Commander in Bosnia getting his butt chewed by the Battalion Commander for not answering his e-mail until it was pointed out that nobody in the line units had Internet access.

This same “Commander” briefed us that he was going to run his battalion like the CEO of a corporation and that he did not have time to get to know his soldiers. (Here’s a hot tip for you, sir:  Lee Iaccoca never had to order his underlings out on a blacked-out Deep Attack)

Folks, the Army is not a corporation:  Our job is to train and be prepared to enforce the orders of the proper civilian authorities.  In other words — to be prepared to kill our fellow man at the risk of our own lives.  And you can’t inspire people to do that through e-mail and PowerPoint.

7.  Aircraft Maintenance:

Does anybody really think the Army just recently discovered all the maintenance problems with the AH64?  Or that they value the lives of aircrews above inflated reports of unit readiness? It appears that the leadership is satisfied so long as the numbers are right:  to Hell with training and safety (until it makes the papers anyway).

8.  Aerial Gunnery:

Another program receiving lip service from the brass.  When is the last time your unit conducted a gunnery that actually involved some sort of training?

I’m not talking about the minimal training required to meet the Army’s requirements for qualification (another PowerPoint slide), but training that improves aviators’ abilities and confidence in employing the aircraft’s armament systems.  An AH64 crew is allotted 100 rockets per year — 88 of those rockets are fired on scored gunnery tables (OER entry).

This means that they only have 12 rockets to train with, but these are used either for system validation (”we’ve been reporting the system as ‘up’, now let’s see if it really is”), or “saved” for use during dog & pony shows.

In the AH1 days, we fired a hell of a lot more rockets and everybody was much more
confident in their ability to actually hit a target.  Today, the standard is to place 1/3 of rockets in a 300 x 400 meter box.  Research would show that the scoring box has grown with every decrease I rocket allocations.  Yet another example of lowering standards to enable reporting meeting standards.

9.  Crawl, Walk, Run:

When I hear a leader state that “We need to crawl before we can walk and run,” I usually interpret this as “I’ve been sitting on my tail (in DC, on staff, at Fort Rucker, on embassy duty, etc) and am afraid to do any real training or allow you to train”.

With the Army’s policy of rotating commissioned officers through jobs every 12-18 months, very few units ever get out of the ‘crawl’ stage.  This gets frustrating for the Warrant Officers and NCOs ,because the unit starts over from scratch every year.

Solution:  Training detachments (NOT at Fort Rucker) that train leaders in the flying skills necessary to lead units.

BE SAFE,

Woody Jones
____________________________________________
“Gwell Angua na Chywilydd - Death rather than Dishonour”

Moslash Knives

My good friend Gary Lunsford makes custom knives.  These aren’t “Ninja” fantasy knives like you see on TV.  These are tough working knives that also happen to look great.  He puts so much care and craftsmanship into every knife he makes and his knives are not only works of art, they are tools for the real outdoor world.  I own two of his knives (so far) and they are sure to be heirlooms passed along to my sons.  Check out Gary’s site at http://www.flealess.org/moslash/index.html

Great Masonic Book

If you’re looking for a good book to read about Freemasonry, I recommend you check out Complete-Idiots-Guide-Freemasonry by Dr. S. Brent Morris. I read it over the course of two or three evenings. If you’re a Mason, you will already be familiar with much of the information in the book. I’ve been a Mason since 93 and I still learned a lot. And for non-Masons, this is an excellent introduction to the Fraternity. Dr. Morris does a great job of separating gossip/rumor from fact and does so using easily-understood terms and language. This book would be a great gift for a Mason, potential petitioner, or for the merely curious.

Goering & Freemasonry

Tonight I watched a show on the History International Channel called “Nuremberg: Goering’s Last Stand”. During one sequence it was revealed that shortly after World War I, Hermann Goering had shown up at an appointment to be initiated into Freemasonry. While waiting he saw a pretty blonde that he knew and decided to spend time with her rather than attend the meeting. Had he been initiated into the Masons, he would have been ineligible for membership in the Nazi Party. For details on how the Nazis treated Freemasons see http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/nazi_fascist_persecution_freemasonry.html and http://www.masonicinfo.com/nazism.htm . Isn’t it interesting to speculate how different history may have turned out had Goering been introduced to the principles of Freemasonry and had perhaps taken even a portion of them to heart?