Stress: Your Body's Way of Messing You Up

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The defense Department has an embiggened budget for next year, but the Navy has been told to cut back. Fire 25,000 or so; slow down ship and weapons procurement.

Because the Taliban isn’t using submarines to attack us, unfortunately.

The news today provides one of the first to go: Lisa Nowak, a Navy Captain (O-6, like a full Colonel) who was one of the women to graduate from the Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1985. She went on to test pilot school, post graduate school, marriage, three kids, and a space flight as an astronaut mission specialist.












Oh, and attempted kidnapping and shoddily-alleged murder in a non-romantic love triangle with another astronaut and a woman ten years younger, a Zoomie (sorry, an Air Force officer).

Without this, she was a contender for Admiral. For PR billets, recruiting command and non-operational stuff.

She lists her hobbies as piano playing, bicycling, running, skeet shooting, sailing, gourmet cooking, rubber stamps, gardening, reading and crossword puzzles. Plus being married with three kids.

Stress? Well, for sure, yes. Her whole life focused not on her family, but on a 13-day space shuttle ride where she got to use the robot arm some. There are 100 astronauts in the pool, and very few shuttle flights scheduled before the program (gratefully) goes away in 2010 or so. So, she is done in space. After NASA, she is done in the Navy since she no longer has leadership or war fighting skills. I suspect that her husband lost it when the court sent cops out with a restraining order for Lisa to stay away from the younger Air Force Captain Shipman, prompting thrown dishes and a separation.

We went to the same school, which teaches everyone how to cope with stress, 24/7. She obviously went over the edge. I don’t believe the attempted murder charge for a minute. To me, the only fair charge is assault with a can of Mace. She apparently didn’t even violate the court order, which is valid in Houston, not Orlando. Shipman has now also filed for one in Orlando.

I feel bad for Lisa, and worse for her family.