Meet me in St. Louis

I'm back from my trip. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't bore you with the details of a business trip, but I'm making an exception here, given the developments of the past 24 hours or so. If you're not interested, then skip this post; I won't be insulted.

If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm a Product Development Engineer for a specialty fiber optics company called OFS (until recently, we were part of Lucent). We make optical fibers for just about everything except telecommunications. So we make large fibers used for laser applications for medical procedures, high-temperature fibers used for temperature sensing down oil wells, and fibers used as data links in high-temperature, high-vibration environments such as on fighter jets.

The trip I just got back from was to Boeing in St. Louis. They were looking to use a fiber optic cable as an early detection system for failure around electrical systems. Although I've been working for defense contractors for years, this was the first time I'd ever been given the chance to see the "end product" up close at the famous Boeing Phantom Works. I'm not going to get into too much detail – the Defense Department and/or Homeland Security might be watching – but I'm just going to make a few observations:

1.) Fighter jets are enormously complicated pieces of machinery. Parts of the planes were everywhere, held in space with huge positioning jacks as the machinists ran electrical lines, hydraulic lines, fuel lines, etc. It is an unimaginable jigsaw puzzle of technology. The corollary to this is…..

2.) You can see where all that defense money goes.

3.) On every wall is an oversized American flag.

4.) Also on the walls: numerous safety reminders, a checklist of progress (e.g. planes completed), and an urging for quality from young men in flight suits.

5.) The workers: a snapshot of America. Black and white, men and women, young and old, almost universally dressed in blue jeans. Lots of high-top sneakers and T-shirts with (American) Eagles and (St. Louis) Rams.

6.) In their personal spaces and tool boxes: pictures of Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes) pissing on Saddam Hussein's head, union slogans, some mild sexual humor, a sandstorm rising with an Eagle at the apex, and slogans like "The Aggressive Pursuit of Peace."

I guess what I'm saying here is that I was really proud to be an American today. Maybe "proud" isn't the word – more like "gratified." This country is extraordinarily blessed in so many ways, and I thank God that we have the will and the means to defend our way of life. Foreigners seem baffled by the patriotism Americans have for our country (that decadent America) but there's a simple reason for it, and it's summed up by (of all people) Demi Moore in "A Few Good Men":

Lieutenant Sam Weinberg: Why do you like them so much?
Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway: Because they stand upon a wall and say, "Nothing's going to hurt you tonight, not on my watch."

I saw a lot of people today standing on that wall. Sure, they're working for a paycheck, but they're also working for something more. And they're not going to leave a bolt untightened because it's close to quitting time, or half-ass the quality tests because they want to meet a quota. They're doing their best work for you and for me, and God bless them.

OK, that's enough of my sentimental crap. I gotta scroll through all the blogs I've been missing over the past two days. Love and kisses – Eric

(P.S. – Sadly, I didn't have time to get to the Budweiser brewery)