When Morrill Worcester was 12, he won a trip to Washington D.C. that included a trip to Arlington National Cemetery. This trip left a lasting impression on Worcester, who later founded the Worcester Wreath Company (Wreaths Across America). At the end of the 1992 holiday season, Worcester’s company was left with a surplus of wreaths. With the memory of the trip still on his mind, Worcester decided to use this opportunity to honor the veterans buried at Arlington. Worcester, assisted by Maine Senator Olympia Snowe and others, arranged for wreaths to be placed in a section of Arlington Cemetery that … Read More

As a US Air Force fighter pilot, Jay Waitte flew against the Warsaw Pact in the 1970s to guard against another surprise attack: December 7th is the 79th anniversary of the attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. There were over 3,500 military and civilian casualties. The attack seriously damaged the U.S. Pacific Fleet, including permanently sinking two battleships. Of the 402 American warplanes stationed in Hawaii, 347 were either damaged or destroyed outright. Bombers, pursuit fighters, patrol seaplanes. That’s a casualty rate of 86%! It was all over in 90 minutes. Jump ahead to the 1970s. I was deployed in Europe, … Read More

When it comes to the personal insurance business, one of the good things is that both my brother and I are retired military fighter pilots. We are very good at assessing an individual situation. We are very prompt at getting back to the person. We try to get back to them on the same day with an answer. Now, sometimes they might not like the answer we give. But in our minds, it’s the most ethical and the proper way to do things. It may mean they might have to spend more money on premiums than they would with another … Read More

That’s just a part of life when you’re flying combat aircraft. One of the best ways to learn how to train for air combat is to take off and look for other fighter jets to practice against. You would go fly a specified low level. And the next thing somebody would “jump” another country’s jet and try to get behind them and “shoot” them down. And then somebody would jump behind them. It was quite an experience. Well, that is what happened to a friend of mine in Germany. He was flying and two Germans tried to get behind him … Read More

I was stationed at Hahn Air Base, West Germany, in 1978, a 28-year-old Captain. The Air Force wanted me to either go back to the Academy to become a professor or go to the Pentagon to be a staff officer. I did not want to do either. I wanted to keep flying. Maybe eventually I can change my career path, but that is not what I wanted to do right now. So, my father, who at the time owned Waitte’s Insurance, said he knew the Assistant Adjutant General for the Connecticut Air National Guard, since they were both Shriners – … Read More

A retired Air Force pilot describes how, whether it’s in New England or the Middle East, our extended military families gather to celebrate their blessings. Happy Thanksgiving! Back when I was a cadet at the Air Force Academy, I was able to come home to Connecticut for most Thanksgivings. I was lucky, but a lot of men and women in the military can’t make it home to be with their families. Fortunately, there are a lot kind local families who can act as substitutes, at least for one day. For example, sailors from the local submarine base in Groton, Connecticut, … Read More

How flying an A-10 Warthog from Connecticut to West Germany has aspects you might be able to guess, and some you might not. Many times when we deployed overseas, we would take off from Bradley International Airport. They would have us stay in a hotel and eat a special meal. You would eat steak and eggs the night before, to make sure you would go to the bathroom prior to takeoff. You wanted to make sure that you were “empty” because some of these flights are from 12 to 14 hours in a single-seat cockpit. You would take off around … Read More

Sometimes problems with a jet come and go…and those are the most dangerous. On a mission over Norway, we finished the dogfight training, then flew back to base at about a hundred feet over the fjords. It’s a very, very beautiful country. But when we came to the end of the fjord we needed to pull up. Well, I tried to pull back on the stick and it didn’t want to move! I finally said to my Weapons Systems Officer “There’s got to be something wrong with the little control box area under the control stick.”  I tried to pull … Read More

Online insurance is a great deal…until you need it! People ask me, “Jay, why should I use someone like you, instead of staying home in my puffy pants and using something like Esurance or Progressive?” And it’s true. A lot of people – young people especially – are doing all their insurance on their phones. The problem is that they have no idea what they’re buying. That’s the biggest thing. They aren’t getting the right professional advice. And then a lot of insurers, even Geico, just give people the minimum policy to keep the premium costs down. I mean, if … Read More

During the Cold War, the Warsaw Pact would test NATO’s air defense system. NATO’s air defense was set up in four different layers. An air defense identification zone (ADIZ). A buffer zone (BZ). A political border. And finally, the actual border. The Warsaw Pact would start flying some of their jets directly at the border. Not parallel, but perpendicular, at a fairly high speed. They’d probably be going Mach 1. They were testing our response times. Our radar sites would see if they were getting close to one of these different zones. NATO wants to make sure they are not … Read More

One winter, I was flying as a wingman over the North Sea. Suddenly, my leader’s F-4 jet engine caught on fire. He had enough time to make a Mayday call – or a “Save Our Souls” call – before he and his backseater ejected from a nice warm cockpit into the 40-degree water and heaving seas. An unprotected person in that kind of water has less than a half-hour to live. Not only is the water near freezing, but there’s also the fact that you’re scared, and you’ve got the adrenaline going. At that time, we were made to wear … Read More