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| Captain John F. Schork US Navy - July 1999 |
John F.
Schork graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1972 and went on to spend 26
years in Naval Aviation, flying the iconic Grumman A-6 Intruder.
During his
career, he accumulated 4,000 flight hours and over 1,000 carrier arrested
landings. Operating primarily in the
Pacific theater, he took part in Operations Frequent Wind, Praying Mantis and
Southern Watch among others. As the last
Executive Officer of the USS Midway (CV-41), he took part in Desert Storm and
the evacuation of US personnel from the Philippines following the eruption of
Mt. Pinatubo. He commanded an A-6 Intruder Squadron, VA-95 and Naval Air
Station Whidbey Island.
His final
tour was as the Chief of Staff of the Kitty Hawk Battle Group.
He's the
author of eight novels and currently resides with his wife Carole in Sammamish,
Washington.
In these unsteady
times I long for stability. I look for it in people I know. Unfortunately three
of them who were paragons of it are dead. They are Sean Rossiter, Mark Budgen
and Abraham Rogatnick. Blog links to them below.
Another
stable person in my life was my wife Rosemary. We were married for 52 years and
she made all the important decisions. On May 12, my male cat Niño died. When he
looked at me I felt the comfort that nothing could go wrong with him around.
In my stint
as a conscript of the Argentine Navy between 1966 and 1967 I had a hard time adapting
to the military discipline. Because of my English I was seconded to the US
Naval Advisory Group. This meant that I had the privilege of having my own desk
and I was allowed to smoke my pipe with Edgeworth pipe tobacco. I even had an
Irish/Argentine secretary who typed up my handwritten output. I spent quite a
few days in the military clink for disobeying orders and for refusing to have a
haircut. My boss, Captain Onofrio Salvia USN one day told me, “Alex it is
obvious that you will never get along in the military. My advice is for you to
fit in now and when in later years you may have a position to change the
system, do so.”
Looking at
Salvia’s face in my memory is one of a trusted stability.
The portrait
of Captain USN John Schork which I took in July 1999 at the Whidbey Island US
Naval Air Station has always been special for me. Americans have the
expression, “I would buy a used-car from this man.” This is just another way of
expressing the trust one may have a just-met person. When I looked at Captain
Schork’s face I knew that with him in the military with his Grumman A-6 Intruders,
all was well with the world. Captain Onofrio Salvia would have agreed.
