Monday, April 23, 2007

USS Samuel B. Roberts FFG-58

The namesake for the USS Samuel B. Roberts FFG-58 was alive for 7808 days. I was that same age on 7/18/1980. That date 7/18/1980 was 3 years, 3 months, 4 days, after 4/14/1977.

From 5/12/1921 to 9/27/1942 is: 7808 days
From 3/3/1959 to 7/18/1980 is: 7808 days

Samuel Booker Roberts, Jr. (12 May 1921 – 27 September 1942) was a U.S. Navy coxswain who was killed in the Battle of Guadalcanal, and became the namesake of three U.S. Navy warships.


And the USS Samuel B. Roberts FFG-58 was commissioned on 4/12/1986, which is probably the reason I was on it on 4/14/1988 for my first deployment after recovering from my trek across Africa.

The Roberts was commissioned on a day that was 15903 days after Samuel B. Roberts died in combat during World War 2, and that commissioning date had probably been planned before I became a POW in Libya. The day after the next is when the prison I was in was bombed and I made my escape.

From 9/27/1942 to 4/12/1986 is: 15903 days

Commissioned: 12 April 1986

USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) is one of the final ships in the United States Navy's Oliver Hazard Perry class of guided missile frigates (FFG). The ship was severely damaged by an Iranian mine in 1988, leading U.S. forces to respond with Operation Praying Mantis.

The frigate was named for Samuel B. Roberts, a Navy coxswain who was killed evacuating Marines during the battle of Guadalcanal in 1942. FFG-58, the third U.S. ship to bear the coxswain's name, was launched in December 1984 by Bath Iron Works. Put in commission in April 1986 under the command of Commander Paul X. Rinn, the ship racked up numerous awards and commendations even before its first deployment.


I was shot down somewhere in Africa on 2/14/1986 and was a POW until 4/14/1986. It was the air strike that President Reagan announced on 4/14/1986 that allowed me to escape captivity and run out into the desert.

Address to the Nation on the United States Air Strike Against Libya
April 14th, 1986

My fellow Americans:


At 7 o'clock this evening eastern time air and naval forces of the United States launched a series of strikes against the headquarters, terrorist facilities, and military assets that support Mu'ammar Qadhafi's subversive activities. The attacks were concentrated and carefully targeted to minimize casualties among the Libyan people with whom we have no quarrel. From initial reports, our forces have succeeded in their mission.

Several weeks ago in New Orleans, I warned Colonel Qadhafi we would hold his regime accountable for any new terrorist attacks launched against American citizens. More recently I made it clear we would respond as soon as we determined conclusively who was responsible for such attacks.


In that list of announcements from President Reagan on 4/14/1986, the Libya strike was the second to last. The last announcement for that day is one that I have puzzled over for a while. Just after that announcement about the Libya strike, where I believe they bombed the prison so I could escape, was Proclamation 5459, which was about Pan American Day and Pan American Week. I followed a hunch that it was actually a clue about Pan American Airlines. I noted that Pan Am had been founded 59 years, 31 days, before 4/14/1986.

Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal international airline of the United States from the 1930s until its collapse in 1991. Originally founded as a seaplane service out of Key West, Florida, the airline became a major company credited with many innovations that shaped the international airline industry, including the widespread use of jet aircraft, jumbo jets, and computerized reservation systems. Identified by its blue globe logo and the use of the word "Clipper" in aircraft names and call signs, the airline was a cultural icon of the 20th century, and the unofficial flag carrier of the United States.

Pan American Airways Incorporated was founded on March 14, 1927, by Major Henry H. "Hap" Arnold and partners. Their shell company was able to obtain the U.S. mail delivery contract to Cuba, but lacked the physical assets to do the job.


So with that time duration of 59 years, 31 days, in mind, I noted a curious detail about the first flight of the space shuttle Columbia. That day 4/14/1986 was 59 months, 31 days, after 4/14/1981, the day the shuttle Columbia returned from the first flight. Technically, the duration was an even 60 months, but for some reason, my mind lingers on it, as though I am remembering a forgotten conversation. My mind lingers on it also because that was the time I recognize as when I saved the space shuttle by getting the starboard side rear landing gear down just in time, although I fell out of the shuttle as a result. I have no doubts the shuttle would have virtually disintegrated if that starboard set of wheels under the wing had not come down. The wing would have dug into the ground and then it would have rolled and bounced a long ways before all the pieces of it came to a stop.

I have written about how that event was incorporated into the movie “Star Trek: Generations” where “Kirk” was working to restore the “deflector shields” on the second “Enterprise.” I also wrote about my thoughts of how the Columbia could be considered the replacement for the Enterprise shuttle and how that could reflect in literary terms with the “Enterprise-B.”


The reason I was shot down in Africa at that particular time was because of my age at that time in February 1986. When I was shot down on 2/14/1986, I was 9845 days old. That was virtually the same age as Israeli Air Force pilot Ilan Ramon at the time of the 6/7/1981 strike on the uncompleted nuclear reactor near Baghdad. When I was working at Microsoft while undercover, they had that guy named Tom Devey working with me because he resembles Ilan Ramon. They had that woman named Ramona Ramadas working with me for the same reason. I remember how nervous Tom Devey looked when he came by my desk one time after the 9/11 attacks to find out that I also flying to L.A. for the Professional Developers Conference. He was nervous because he thought Microsoft-Corbis was going to kill us because we were evidence of the terrorists that maintain control of Microsoft Corporation, such as Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and Brad Smith, to name a few.

From 6/20/1954 to 6/7/1981 is: 9849 days
From 3/3/1959 to 2/14/1986 is: 9845 days

Ilan Ramon (Hebrew: אילן רמון) (June 20, 1954 - February 1, 2003) was a combat pilot in the Israeli Air Force, and later the first Israeli astronaut. Ramon was the space shuttle payload specialist of STS-107.

Ramon was a Colonel and fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force, with thousands of hours flying experience. In 1980, he was in the first group of Israeli pilots to fly F-16s donated to Israel by the United States. In 1981, he took part in the bombing of Iraq's unfinished Osiraq nuclear reactor (Operation Opera).


The next ship in sequence from the USS Samuel B. Roberts FFG-58 was the USS Kauffman FFG-59, which I have mentioned before. The USS Kauffman FFG-59 was commissioned in early 1987 during the time I was missing in Africa. I have noted several ships which represent my education, such as the USS Princeton CG-59, and the Kauffman reflects my training and experience as a U.S. Navy SEAL.

The USS Kauffman FFG-59 was commissioned on 2/28/1987. That was 3 months, 3 days, after 11/25/1986, the day I recognize as when my family had a funeral for me.

USS Kauffman (FFG-59), an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, is a ship of the United States Navy named for Vice Admiral James L. Kauffman (1887–1963) and his son, Rear Admiral Draper L. Kauffman (1911–1979), both experts in sub-surface naval missions.

Commissioned: 28 February 1987



The USS Stark FFG-31 was “accidentally” hit by missiles on 5/17/1987 and I believe that it was hit because I was onboard at the time. I can’t remember all the details yet, but I have been thinking that I completed my escape from POW captivity on 5/13/1987 and the USS Stark was transporting me to the U.S. Navy base in Bahrain in the Persian Gulf for medical treatment. I think someone arranged for the USS Stark to transport me because of the symbolism of the “Iron Man” comic book.

USS Stark (FFG-31), twenty-third ship of the Oliver Hazard Perry class of guided-missile frigates, was named for Admiral Harold Rainsford Stark (1880–1972). In 1987, it became the victim of the only successful cruise missile attack on a U.S. Navy warship.



Iron Man (Anthony "Tony" Edward Stark) is a fictional comic-book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963).


This reminds me of that Midas television commercial where the woman steps on the brakes before running over a kid that was picking up a lizard in the road. It's possible I have financial holding in this company. Or it's possible they know I have amnesia and don't know any better so they try to trick me into saying something complimentary about them which in turn will boost their sales. It is quite a devious trick because it tricks my associates as well. They have to sit back and wonder whether they should get into the act as well because they know someday I will get my memories back and maybe they start worrying that I will ask why they didn't say anything.

Iron Man (Anthony "Tony" Edward Stark) is a fictional comic-book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963).

Anthony Stark was born in Long Island, New York. He entered the undergraduate electrical engineering program at MIT while only 15 years old and graduated at the top of his class. At the age of 21, he inherited his father's company, Stark Industries, after his parents were killed in a car accident. One of the first things Stark did was to buy out the company that made the faulty brakes on his parent's car and correct the mechanical problem.


In Greek mythology, Midas (in Greek, Μιδας, often referred as king Midas) is popularly remembered for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold: the "Midas touch". Midas was king[1] of Pessinus, a city of Phrygia, who as a child was adopted by the king Gordias and Cybele, goddess whose consort he was, and who by some accounts was the goddess-mother of Midas himself.[2] Midas was known for being a hedonist, and an excellent rose gardener,[3] and according to Iliad (v.860), he had one son, Lityerses, the demonic reaper of men; but in some variations of the myth he had a daughter, Zoë or life instead.