Interview with Musicman30mm

Take it away ArghMonkey...

Frostcloud seems to attract longterm contributors, in the top 20 list of most posts this forum has people with a lot to say.

Each of us have a different story, different perspectives and for those curious enough to ask there are many people here prepared to offer their viewpoint, I contend that this variety gives all of us a better picture of the world, in that sense we are, in a small way, experiencing what it means to be someone else and that gives us the ability to reflect on who we are, presumably making all of us more deep, even more reflective and hopefully more wise.

Musicman30mm was nice enough to chose me to ask him some questions, about his views and about his life.

To start I supposed we could talk about my limited understanding of who Musicman30mm is, your name is curious, though I dont think I ever asked pointedly I have always assumed your a musician and if I didnt already know better I could assume your in the military, from talking with you before I understood that you were (are?) a recruiter in the army, a thoughtful guy and you seem able to open yourself up and I sense your active in trying to make sense of the world and yourself.

So tell us, where are you in your life right now? Are you still in the military?

How did you come up with your nickname?

What role does music play in your life? What kinds of music do you like and what kind of instruments do you play?

First, thank you for conducting this interview. I trust that you will ask some provocative questions, and hope to be challenged.

I am still in the military, but big exciting, changes are on the way. Looking at the Excel file I made entitled "Countdown to Freedom," I have precisely 8 Days 12 Hours 47 Minutes and 22.7399998 seconds left in recruiting command. I'm an optimistic, make the best of what you have, kind of guy, but recruiting has been the single most negative experience of my life. It was prolonged too, two years to be exact. On the 17th of Jan I'm officially done. Let's just say I'm pretty happy about that.

After, I'm going back to Korea for about a year to finish up my contract in the Army fixing Apache helicopters.

I've been attending a civilian flight school, so just obtained my commercial helicopter pilot's license. I'll pursue that career path after I get out from under Uncle Sam in January 2009.

I play the guitar pretty proficiently. There's a link somewhere in FC to some of my recordings. I love music profoundly, and there was a time when I was very serious about studying and creating it. However, I would not say that I am a musician- at least not any more. I don't think sitting down to noodle on the guitar for a couple of hours a week constitutes being something.

Hence the name musicman30mm. Musicman was already taken, so I had to add a few characters. 30mm is the size of the cannon rounds the helicopter I work on fires, so it is easy to remember.

What truths have you found about the human condition that you feel you have only learned through your travels?

What was your perception of the military before joining and whats your perception of it now?

What has working in a war machine taught you about the nature of peace?

If the military was a song what song would it be and who would be the singer ?

I'm short on time. For now only one of those questions brings forth an immediate and confident response:

Nothing, the singular focus of it's teachings has been war.

'too many men for just one man'

I'm not sure I can give you a very accurate answer to the before part. I'll try but a feeling is fleeting, and that was five years ago. I can say the most attractive feature of the Army was the level of disiplin they maintain. In that respect I have found what I expected. I probably had in mind the same images propagated by movies that most people do. I was pleasantly surprised when I no one flogged me in basic training. The thing I didn't take into account was the isolation. It's like joining a cult. Everyone is indoctrinated, and whisked away, stored like equipment at places called Ft Benning or Camp Humphreys.

I could write at lengths on current my opinion of the Army, and am sure I will be for years to come. In short, I'm very glad to be leaving it. More so, I'm happy to be leaving recruiting. I was warned wat a miserable occupation it was when I found out I was being ordered to it. I assumed it would be hard, and was dissapointed to be forced out of my chosen occupation. But I resolved to be a good recruiter. I figured it would be easier that way, and it would be better than bitching about something I couldn't change for two straight years. That lasted for about a year, and won me a shiny gold badge (literally) and trophies for tops in the tri state area 1st quarter fy07 (dec06-feb06) and tops in the Twin Cities FY06. It also sucked me a little deeper into the innards of recruiting than I wanted to be. Let me just say I have found it to be the most negative and corrupt organization I have ever been a part of. It's important that I distinguish the corruption: The recruiting command is corrupt internally, but by-in-large, the guys out on the streets passing out flyers and begging kids to join are honest to the applicants. I know there are videos of recruiters telling huge life wrecking lies to kids, but I believe these to be the few.

In an ends justify means philosophy, the Army has been god to me. I have always wanted to be a pilot, and have accomplished that along with aircraft mechanics certifications. I have grown up. Weather or not those things would have happened without the military in my life will go unknown, but optimistically, I believe the positives I have taken away to be perminant assets, the negatives temporary suffering that only occured in the moment.

Hangar 18 by Megadeath

It's a wild ride, but if you pay attention to the words, you will find it quite juvenile.

I have been to Canada, Mexico, Beliz, Costa Rica, Peru, Bolivia, England, Germany, France, Belgum, Netherlands, S. Korea and Japan.

My travel companions have all been westerners. I knew a few Koreans, but not intimately, so my experience of those places have been shared with like minded folk. I have wittnessed things though.

I have seen lots of poor people, and evidence of the presence of rich people. The poor and desperate people all over the world know the same words, "Misa, misa please!" I guess we're all essentially the same. If your travels have been extensive and you claim to be a nationalist, you are either a freud or inhumane. As much as we all struggle with the same base troubles and celibrate the same joyful occasions, the specifics are vastly different. I'm not sure if we can or should ever come completely together.

You sound disappointed in many things about the military, given the choice to do it over again would you still join?

What is one thing you want everyone to know about the military?

What is the biggest thing in your life that defines you? I get a sense that discipline was something you were searching for, what is it that makes you wake up, driven, every morning, what is ur bliss?

Time for a left field question, do you have a girlfriend?

It sounds like being a pilot is the path you want to chose outside of the military, what attracted you to it?

What is ur best memory of childhood and who is someone that means the world to you, family, friend or some sort of mentor?

Yes, I would join the Airforce though.

I think I've said my piece on the military. There's not one thing about it that I think needs to be said, just be careful and stand up for your self if you wind up in the enlistment process.

Optimism. I've always had a sense that I was capable of doing exceptional things and living through exciting moments. At the time, it's all about flying. The knowledge that in a year. I will be moving from the most difficult phase in my life to a career I have always dreamed of, makes it easy to keep going.

The last serious girlfriend I had was way back the last time I was in Korea. I dated a girl for a few months semi-seriously (wrote about her on this forum), but it didn't work out. Actually, it wound up pretty sour.

It's one of those things I started dreaming about when I was a kid, and never really lost interest in it. Even now, flying pretty much every morning, I get a huge thrill out of it.

You think of a pilot taking off, engaging the auto-pilot, napping for three hours, landing. That is the way a fixed wing airline pilot flies. Helicopters are a real skill though. No auto pilot. In-fact, if you let go of something called the cyclic controll, you will roll and crash in less than two seconds. It requires diligent concentration. I had been told by numerous chopper pilots how amazingly touchy, responsive and just plain counter-intuitive the controlls were. Still, I was shocked at how difficult it was at first just to keep the thing from torquing out of control.

Here's a vid of some rich guy who went against his flight instructor's direction and tried to fly solo after his first lesson. He actually does better than I would have after my first flight hour:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iGvut-vpi0M

It's such an unwieldy machine, but when tamed it's an amazing feeling. Flying helicopters is an endless learning game.

The amazing views, working outside in the wide open skies, travel opportunities, being able to say "helicopter pilot" when girls ask what your job is, and a pretty solid paycheck round out the rest of it.

Ironically, the first thing that comes to mind is a trip to Canada. My dad, my brother, my best friend, his dad and I went to one of the most amazing places I've visited. I was young, so it's a little vague, but I remember driving probably four hours after crossing the Minnesota-Canada border. Then we got off the highway and went about a half hour down a logging road, then four weelers down a long trail to a lake. We crossed the lake (45 min or so in a fishing boat), portaged, then crossed that lake and camped out at an old abandoned cabin Canada's natural resources people hadn't found and tore down yet. My dad was friends with a guy who owned property on the first lake, but I'm still not sure how even that guy could have found the place. It was the defenition of remote. We fished, and explored the most unaltered wild I can ever remember. My brother caught a big Northern. It was awsome.

My whole family means the world to me, and I have a few friends I am close to. I identify with my younger brother more than anyone else. He's 25, an architect in Austin TX, and he wrote the line in my signature. We don't see each-other too often, but when it's time to look for a pilot job, I'll start in Texas.

What is it you want out of life?

Lets say your out of the military, have the different flying credentials your looking for, whats next?

How would you define yourself? politically, faith-wise, personality-wise ...

Coffee or Tea?

Whats your favourite vice?

Whats your favourite virtue?

What would you want someone to say about you at your eulogy ?

Wonderful replies Musicman, probably one of the most interesting ones of late.

I got a question for you.

Are you a fan of jazz and if so who would be your favorite jazz artist? Oh and heyyyyyyyyy nice to see you back.

Man, when we got married and went to Hawaii for our homemoon, we went on a copter to fly around the island. If i were to see that video before going up, i would of been really nervious.

You know, that's a really fundamental question, and I'm not sure I've ever seriously asked myself. I guess I just want to be good, good to others, good at everything I do, good for someone-special, good for myself. I wish I could be more specific, it would make things easier on me, but I can't.