I have written before about my thoughts about whether that was actually me, as Tom Reagan, towards the end of the 1980 film "The Final Countdown" as I filled the role of the automobile driver for those admirals. That would make sense that I would fill that role in the film, if that is even actually me. The part that makes sense is that in fact I was the General of the Armies of the United States as a 21 year old and I was also a midshipman attending the United States Naval Academy and pretending to be an actual midshipman while I was also creating military policy for the military of the United States Armed Forces. I am not certain of that was me in that scene, as the driver, although I was already an established military pilot, but I continue to wonder about it because that sailor was wearing a United States Navy uniform with the three green stripes on his sleeve that indicated he was an Airman rating and E-3 paygrade. Kerry Burgess was once an E-3 paygrade sailor but he was not an Airman in the United States Navy and he wore the three black stripes on his uniform to indicate he was a Seaman of the United States Navy and not an Airman with the green stripes or Fireman with the red stripes.
That film premiered in August 1980 so Tom Reagan would have been starting his 3rd year at the US Naval Academy when that film premiered.
JOURNAL ARCHIVE: 9/22/2006 5:11 PM
After I awoke from a nap this afternoon, I felt compelled to write about a dream I had just before I woke up but then did not write about it. I started feeling that need to write about it again but may have forgotten some details by now. I have started thinking that the dreams I have just before waking up mean something in their own right.
In the dream, I was wearing a Navy uniform. I didn’t have anywhere to go though and seemed to be just walking around what I guess was a Navy installation. I decided to go into a building to ask if another Commander was still there even though I knew he wasn’t there. I spoke to a Navy enlisted person who appeared to be an Airman judging by his three green stripes although I couldn’t make out his rating symbol. He asked me a question but I didn’t hear his question and I asked him to repeat it by saying “Sir?” to him with an inquisitive tone. He asked me how I could not know that the other Commander was already deployed and I said something about how I just did not know. I left and walked down and out on some kind of spiral staircase, although that part isn’t that clear and I find myself wondering about that part. There was another spiral staircase ahead of me, there seemed to be dual staircases on either side of the front door to that building, and a Lt. j.g. came down the other side. I want to say he was someone I should know but I can’t picture him as someone I knew. I want to say it was him that spoke something to me at that point but I also want to say the voice came from behind me. He said, or someone else said, something about me being “a little off.” I wondered if he meant that I was wrong about some of these details. Then I wondered if he meant I was a little crazy, but I think I started thinking that last one after I woke up. I think after he or someone said that, it made me start thinking about the uniform I was wearing. I found myself thinking after I awoke that it seemed to be a Marine Corps officers dress uniform. I seemed to be wearing the dark blue Marine uniform with white pants. But I am confused about one detail as it seemed I looked to my left shoulder and saw Navy shoulder boards with Captain stripes. Or was it just an epaulet, I am not sure, but there was a pair of sunglasses clipped under it. I was walking down the sidewalk and there were two people ahead of me. One may have been that Lt. j.g. Another was a female officer, Navy I guess. Somewhere along there I realized I had forgotten to wear the appropriate cover for that uniform and realized that I was still wearing a ball cap, although I had actually taken it off as I went outside. I realized I couldn’t return anyone’s salute. Then I started thinking that the ball cap had USS Wainwright printed on it but I don’t remember actually looking at it and I may remember that detail in the sense that someone was reading details to me, they were telling me what the name was on the cap. I also remember that it had a frayed bill just like the Nike cap I have now. I remember I was walking very slowly. It was hard to walk and I was limping. I have thought several times before that if I do start wearing the uniform again, I should use a cane until I get my leg back in better shape. Then I was in a parking garage and I had to cross a street into a parking lot, I guess to find my car.
[JOURNAL ARCHIVE 22 September 2006 excerpt ends]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_dynamic_modes
Aircraft dynamic modes
Spiral dive
There are two types of possible lateral dynamic motion. The first is called the spiral mode. If a spirally unstable aircraft, through the action of a gust or other disturbance, gets a small initial roll angle to the right, for example, a gentle sideslip to the right is produced. The sideslip causes a yawing moment to the right. If the dihedral stability is low, and yaw damping is small, the directional stability keeps turning the aircraft while the continuing bank angle maintains the sideslip and the yaw angle. This spiral gets continuously steeper and tighter until finally, if the motion is not checked a steep, high-speed, spiral dive results.
http://www.cswap.com/1996/Star_Trek:_First_Contact/cap/en/25fps/a/00_53
Star Trek: First Contact
:54:10
Dr Cochrane, I know this sounds
silly, but can I shake your hand?
:54:17
It's such an honour to work with you.
:54:21
I never imagined I'd meet
the man who invented warp drive.
