Arizona Man Apologizes For An Ill-Timed Noise Complaint
By Kevin R.C. 'Hognose' O'Brien
In a recent Aero-Views, "Ingrates on
Afterburner," I teed off on one Tom MacRae, who wrote
a sarcastic letter to the editor when jets flew overhead early one
morning. The paper followed up with a query to Luke AFB, whence the
jets launched, only to discover that the planes had been flying low
for a solemn purpose -- to conduct a "missing-man"
flyby and properly send off a young, promising Air Force officer
who perished in the crash of an Iraqi Air Force utility plane.
After reading this exchange in the letters and op-ed pages, Mr
MacRae wrote back to the paper, the Arizona Republic; he said that
far from being some kind of anti-American or anti-military person,
he himself was a Navy veteran of Vietnam, and he did something
rare: he apologized. His apology deserves to be quoted at some
length:
"I read with increasing embarrassment and humility the response
to my unfortunate letter to the Republic concerning an Air Force
flyby.
I had no idea of the significance of the flyby, and would never
have insulted such a fine and respectful display had I
known....
This was simply an uninformed citizen complaining about
noise.
My heart goes out to each and every lost serviceman and woman in
this war....
Please accept my heartfelt apologies."
The fine art of apology, an art often thought lost in this
tumultuous age, is alive and well in the hands of Mr MacRae, who
displays the utility of a sincere apology in transforming a crass
act to a class act. This apology was a class act. The least we can
do is share it with all of you.
Thanks to the Aero-News readers who tipped us to Mr MacRae's mea
culpa -- first of them was Jim Little of New River, AZ. Thanks,
Jim.
After the original editorial, we received a number of tips,
several of them including Mr MacRae's telephone number, which
apparently was widely circulated (and which could be found on
internet white pages services, just not the ones I tried). But the
most interesting fact we didn't know till after I wrote the
editorial is this: the officers at Luke AFB expected noise
complaints, and they had done their level best to get information
about the upcoming services for Capt. Jeremy Fresques (pictured
below), including putting notices in the Arizona Republic.
The sad truth is that hardly anyone is going to read that sort
of announcement in the newspaper -- I probably wouldn't. But
everyone is going to notice a four-ship of F16s on the deck; that's
just the way it is.
But I'd wager that the next time people in Arizona hear
low-flying jets, a lot more of them think about the missing man
formation. Some of them might even spare a thought or a prayer for
Jeremy Fresques and his family. If this happens, Mr MacRae's letter
and all that has resulted from it deserves its share of the
credit.