Twenty years ago today, I was a young Navy public affairs officer (PAO) stationed in Dallas at the Navy Office of Information (Southwest). I can't remember which of our
overlords in Washington called to say that we needed to be sure the F-14 flyover from the fighter squadron at NAS Dallas be part of the coverage.
I asked him how and he said, call the base, get the direction of approach, then go over to Dealey Plaza and tell the TV photographers where to look. I did that and, with "they'll be inbound from the east" ringing in my ears. I headed over, sidled up to the gaggle of TV cameras (Alan Berg might have been with them) and gave them the heads-up.
They replied, "we heard they're coming from the west" but I replied "this is the official scoop. Trust me."
So, at the appropriate moment, we heard "the sound of freedom" and the trusting shooters dutifully swung their lenses to the east, ready to capture a fitting, historic tribute to a fallen president who was also a naval officer.
As they scanned the empty sky, the Tomcats majestically screamed in from the
west in precise formation and they missed the whole g0ddammed thing.
Whatever word conveys the opposite of "mission accomplished" is what I managed that day.
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