Thank You, Mr. Musk

In her book TEAM OF RIVALS Doris Kearns Goodwin describes how a group of petty, jealous, ambitious, men with extraordinary and unique talents, was able to be corralled by President Abraham Lincoln. He used his own unique talents at critical times and by the skin of their teeth they helped to save our Republic. Lincoln as history has shown, was a cut above all of his cabinet members, but when they all assumed office that was not well understood by the citizens and most importantly by the rivals that formed his war cabinet. It is rare that great men can come together in pursuit of a common goal or purpose. That is why so often the best team on the field in football often loses the game. The better team often beats itself, or because the talent cannot work together to make the team bigger than the sum of their parts, the lesser team has a chance. People who can coordinate talent are unique and rare. Elon Musk is such a person, and he has proven his own talent over and over again. Respect is due.

Very few times in my life have I been present when two great people could come together and because of the security that they had in the knowledge of their own individual accomplishments, they are then able to discuss and explain with respect, how they approached a common problem from the unique perspective of their individual disciplines.

I was present at such a meeting many years ago. I had the honor of “conning” our ship The USS Virginia into Sandy Hook New Jersey (across the channel from the Statue of Liberty) under the watchful eye of Captain George Washington Davis—who would several years later be Vice Admiral Davis and head of our Pacific Command—Cin Pac Fleet. Waiting on the pier for me was my Uncle Ron Brenner who was the CEO of McNeil Laboratories—think Tylenol, and later was to become the acting COO of J&J. Captain Davis invited my uncle for a tour of the ship. I am sure Ron had never placed foot on a Naval vessel before, but the two spent the next eight hours together. They toured the Reactor Compartment and the engineering spaces, the bridge, but they spent most of their time in the Combat Information Center(CIC), where we had just several months earlier deployed the new Navy Tactical Date System (NTDS) and weapons upgrades. The two men spent hours running through mock battle scenarios and each took a station on the more than thirty computers and “battle boards”. At the end of the long session Ron asked the Captain after watching our ship engage 125 mock targets the big question. “With so much data how do you know what is real”. The Captains answer—”That’s the ;problem”. The two men had spent their lifetimes seeking accuracy and precision. Even though they came from different disciplines, they were mature enough to understand that they shared a similar quest for perfection—and that perfection would always be out of reach. I also believe they shared similar feelings of being “The Captain of their own ships”—loneliness of command is understood by few.

I was reminded of their meeting yesterday when I watched the Space-X capsule land safely. Watching Elon Musk’s team attend to the safe recovery and medical care of the astronauts, I was proud to be an American. During the live coverage on Fox, Scott Kelly the famous astronaut and twin brother of Mark Kelly also a famous astronaut and now Senator from Arizona, downgraded and minimized the Musk led Space -X recovery mission, I was surprised by his comments. Both brother astronauts have led incredible lives. Between the two they have logged almost one thousand days in space. Both are Navy Captains, and both have racked up over 300 carrier landings—each. Both have flown in combat.

Scott opined to Brett Baer that this wasn’t really a recovery mission. The day before Mark made a Face Book post saying he was trading in his Tesla because Elon Musk was an” A—hole”—his words. I guess global warming is not really the “existential” issue that the EV loving environmentalists have been warning us about since Al Gore became a PHD Eco-meteor—geologist. Seems for both hero brothers’ politics “Trumps”—love that word, values and principles.

Scott and Mark are both accomplished and their careers should be respected and honored. The same can be said for Elon Musk. He never was a pilot or an astronaut. He did create and was the engineer in chief and project manager during the early years of Space X. He has built 7 other companies into billion-dollar businesses and employed hundreds of thousands of people and created systems and things that have made the world better for most people. Those kinds of accomplishments should be applauded just as much as the accomplishments of an astronaut or war hero. WE needed brave war heroes to win two World Wars and to maintain peace and liberty in our world today. Just as importantly we needed industrialist with names like Westinghouse, Ford, and Dupont, and companies like Boeing, Lockheed, and Rockwell. Every pilot and every astronaut in the GOLDEN AGE OF FLIGHT including Alan Shepherd and John Glenn was on a first name bases with the giants of the industrial world and always acknowledged the fact that it was American ingenuity and the men and woman that made rockets and space capsules and shuttles who were just as heroic as the pilot astronauts themselves. Humility, gratitude, and respect for others always depends first upon respect for oneself. Those qualities along with a dash of swagger and self-confidence were what came to be known as “the right stuff”, in years past.

That sense of respect and reverence for the engineers, technicians, and industrialists that made their journeys into space possible seems to be lacking in the “rocket boys”—Mark and Scott. They may be great pilots but their words and actions this past week aren’t consistent with the traditions of their profession. Rendering respect, where respect is due, is certainly one of the marks of a great person.

Just say thank you to Elon, and all his legions of hero workers and engineers and support staff. As any pilot, or worker or scientist will tell you—it takes a team. RESPECT YOUR TEAM—Including the Captain Mr. Elon Musk.

Steady Even Pressure