The other component of it for me relates to my screen name. Ever since I can remember, odd and awful things happen around me. Not (usually) because of me, but around me nevertheless. So I learned how to handle crises out of self-defense. Preparing for them now is second nature.

My shipmates used to refer to the area around me as the "Bo Zone". The " Bo Zone " is a circle more than 50ft from me and less than a 1/2 mile from me. In the Bo Zone, cars collide and go flying through the air and land on pedestrians, a person has blown himself up in a small truck (both in NOLA), fire fights break out, and all kinds of other things go wrong. No wonder I had an interesting and unusual USCG career for a Quartermaster!

I wonder if the airedales I have flown many missions with were aware of the Bo Zone. Of course, aircraft are small so the air crew and aircraft were all within the 50ft radius.