CityView Magazine

10 | May/June 2015 BY BILL MCFADYEN McFadyen's Musings My closest personal experience with participation in the military was as the commanding general of plastic Green Beret soldiers. They fought regular pitched battles against plastic Nazi soldiers. I learned to aim a Daisy BB gun while picking off the Nazis one by one and sending them tumbling down the hill in the back yard. In my war, the ill effects were limited to not being able to find as many toy soldiers as I had originally positioned earlier in the day. M y dad had several stories of his time in the Air Force aer David- son College. He wanted to fly. e McFadyens' genetically inferior eyesight rendered that an impossibility, so his stay in the USAF was relatively short. en, in 1987, my mom married another Davidson College Air Force guy, this one a pilot and a retired Brigadier General named Pop Pop. Now Pop Pop is full of happy stories of landing planes on postage stamps and buzzing rooops of girls who broke up with him. We know that he was active duty during three wars, but I have never heard him tell even one story that was as violent as were my wars with the plastic Nazi soldiers. Most of his tales include some far away glance at some- thing only he can see and some form of his laughter usually accompanies them. Only Pop Pop hears the ones he does not tell. Perhaps as I got older, I heard things differently. Perhaps as I got older, people sensed that it was safer to expose me to things that happen from the ends of weap- ons that produce injuries far more permanent than what my air rifle did. Pop Pop has a son-in-law who was a colonel. e colonel has a son who completed Special Forces training and who served as the medic on an SF team down range in To the Sentries of My Innocence www.faypwc.com Reduce Your Footprint (Little Feet Can Help Too) Energy- and water-saving habits are an important part of reducing your "footprint" on our environment. And there are many conservation habits the whole family can adopt. For example: • Turn off lights, TVs, etc. when you leave the room. • Don't leave the water running while you brush your teeth (or shave). • Together as a family, plant a tree to shade your home. The family fun activity will help cool down your house without using any electricity. For more valuable conservation tips, visit PWC's website. i Stay connected with PWC through

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