Marlow's Musings 9/24/23
Insights, adventures and fun stuff from this week.
Audio narration by David Marlow
Of Missing Men and Machines
This week’s event involving an F-35C Marine fighter jet that went missing after the pilot safely ejected was worldwide news.
I don’t even watch the news, and I heard about it. A missing top-secret military jet is a big deal.
Given that the pilot was safe, it seemed okay to poke fun at what appeared to be an unusual occurrence.
It’s not unusual, though. The military loses machines and men (and women) all the time.
As I made the final half-mile of my run along the beach, I spotted an orange rescue boat heading out into Kailua Bay.
“Something’s up,” I thought to myself.
A CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter had gone down into the ocean only moments before.
A few days shy of a month before an F-4 had lost power and crashed, the pilot and RIO safely ejected.
There is no ejection seat in a helicopter.
Our house was near the beach, not far from where the helicopter went down. For months after, I had a recurring nightmare that I would find the three crew members washed up on the beach.
No bodies were ever recovered.
“Corporal Marlow, take a couple of Marines and get over the flight line to see if we can salvage any of the ECM gear from that F-4.”
The plane was a mess, and we couldn't even get close to it as they were still cleaning up the fuel spilled on the hanger floor.
A Lance Corporal had returned the day before from a 6-month deployment to Japan and found his girlfriend 3 months pregnant.
Despondent, he went to work the next day and, without a word to anyone, grabbed the keys to one of the flight line fire trucks. He drove the massive vehicle slowly out to the end of the runway, did a U-turn, and then pounded the throttle to the floor.
Before anyone could react, the engine was racing down the flight line toward the hangers, where it rammed full speed into a parked F-4 Phantom jet.
We lost a fighter jet, a crash/rescue fire engine, and the life of one young Marine.
Another time, a young Marine was dumped by his girlfriend. He came to my house, falling down drunk.
My wife answered the door, and he gave her his car keys.
“Is Sergeant Marlow here? I need to talk.”
My wife put our boys to bed, and Doug and I talked. Memories of a mangled aircraft and smashed firetruck flashed in my mind.
Thankfully, the worst thing that happened from this breakup was he threw up on my carpet.
Trust me, he rented a cleaning machine the next day. Marine empathy includes an aspect of tough love.
While he scrubbed the carpet, two other sergeants and I had another talk with him about life, love, and handling disappointment. In part because he didn’t remember the first one.
He left the service, and last I heard, he was happily married.
It is hard to know how that F-35 got lost. What I DO know is that the story we’ve been told isn’t what happened. You can bet on that.
There was a Safety Standdown1 after the crash. A rather involved process that is part of the understand-learn-improve culture of the Marine Corps.
In each of the events chronicled here, save for the one involving the carpet; there was a formal review of what happened and a plan to prevent future such occurrences. In the case of the F-35, all similar planes were grounded immediately until an investigation was completed.
Even with Doug, there was follow-up, not for blame, for support and learning. Even when a Marine messes up, like losing a top-secret aircraft, the most important thing is the people involved and doing better next time.
Word of the Week
Meraki: (v or adv)
ma·'rak·ē
1: To do something with soul, creativity, and love
2: Putting your essence into your purposeful actions
Meraki is a modern Greek word derived from the Turkish “Merak” (labor of love, to do something with pleasure), typically applied to creative or artistic tasks.
Meraki in action means to do something with passion, absolute devotion, and undivided attention.
In case you missed it…
On LinkedIn, the week I went deep on Cal Newport's idea of Deep Work.
🔹 What is Deep Work?
Deep work is the capability to focus singularly and without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. No social media or other outside distractions while working.
Check out the five biggest takeaways I had from the book.
Ikiquest+
This week in Ikiquest+…speaking of deep, I went deep into Personal Kaizen.
Plus, subscribers can check it out here.
Quote I’m Pondering
Fall officially started this week in the Northern Hemisphere, which prompted me to consider this thought from Lauren DeStefano.
Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts
with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.
Lauren DeStefano, in ‘Wither’
Comment of the Week:
The comment of the week comes from Martinos on the Word of Purpose, Meraki.
very very nice! Thank you so much!
I love Meraki and Kefi. Not just because i am greek.
Not only was it marvelous to hear he liked it so much, Martinos gave me another new word…Kefi!
The word roughly translates to the spirit of joy, passion, euphoria, enthusiasm, and exuberance.
It’s like Ikigai in that it is a way of life. Though hard to translate literally, it can be the overpowering emotion you have when you completely let go in the moment, release inhibitions, and allow yourself to joyfully experience life.
Thank Martinos!
Fun Thing I Saw This Week
Many of you enjoyed learning about the documentary ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’ that I highlighted in the reflection for Meraki.
It so happens this week, I came across a terrific resource to help find documentaries.
Rocumentaries: Curated links to the very best documentaries
It claims to have links to 200 awe-inspiring films and series from your favorite channels.
As I scanned it, I found a number of interesting films I want to see and perhaps you will as well.
Final Thoughts
It’s weird how themes develop for a given week. For me, this one was all about making things a little bit better.
From the lessons I shared on missing fighter jets to Meraki and pouring my soul into continuous improvement in my work and my family, the idea of making things a little bit better kept coming up.
There are solutions to all of our problems. I believe we can always make things better than they are today.
I'm not talking about a pie-in-the-sky kind of optimism, rather one rooted in reality. I advocate a practice of both optimism and realism.
Some people would have you choose one or the other. Believing in one or both is a choice. When we hold on to them both, we keep optimism from floating off into naivete and realism from devolving into cynicism.
🌀Quest well
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https://www.marines.mil/News/Press-Releases/Press-Release-Display/Article/3529618/marine-corps-orders-aviation-safety-stand-down/
David, I just had to thank you for the Rocumentaries link. Love it!
Documentaries are probably my favorite film genre. Always looking for new ones to check out. Found several on there that intrigue me. Thank you!