Torch

Fun talk from our WG/CV the other day regarding this issue. Its not an issue with culture, its an issue with the climate. Culture change (if you can define it) will take years to put in effect, climate change can happen in a day - "You're fired" and introduce someone in where they need to be. To change the climate of the crew force, there needs to be a new emphasis on what is acceptable and what isn't when it comes to failure and training. Regarding training: Missile guys take their monthly trainer rides in which if they screw up they're castrated, examined and then racked/stacked so everyone knows about it. Failures on these rides have a direct impact on your shop tour (fail and you can be dropped back to line crew) which leads to the enviornment of "no error" accepted. These are trainer rides, currencies..if you will from the explanation. He voiced that training rides are where mistakes should be happening within a enviornment to accept critiques and fix those mistakes...kind of like if we go out and do a sortie and screw something up, we'll debrief it, I'll learn, and should recall it again if a situation arises. This would hopefully lessen the "stress" level that comes with standard rides to where there is an expectation of knowledge and proficiency, but also the availability to make mistakes in a learning and improvement minded enviornment. For once, it was the first time I saw hope for some of the guys I know that are missileers and have talked to regarding what the hell is going on inside their organization. A lot of voice goes towards the ways to stratifiy within the squadron and the "100% Perfection is the Standard". This is changing. Perfection is the expectation, excellence is the standard. As pilots, we all know we take something away from every flight as a way to improve; hopefully the nuke force will start to get this understanding.

I've only ever been told 1 spare pair on your person by the docs.

They should Kaputt. If you're still wondering about Glasses vs. Contacts, I flew all my flights with contacts even through Helos, carrying a spare set of the AO glasses incase anything bad happened.

I call "bullshit" that he needed a second job, much less a third job jerking it to pay off 90K in loans. I graduated college with ~80k in loans and have been paying them off since. I don't have youtube channel making any sort of extra money, and am still coming out ahead to be finished within 5 years of graduating. If he was married at the time, I call even MORE BULLSHIT considering you now are getting dependent BAH as well. I'm sorry, I have no sympathy for this. This is more a question on staying disciplined with your paycheck, which might come at the expense of having all the flashy toys that other LT's get. Even now with the 1LT pay raise, I'm still able to live on my 2Lt Paycheck comfortably, without feeling like I'm limited from doing anything with friends or family. I dont know how much a wife will suck away, but if that was really the issue, that comes down to having a long hard discussion on what we can and can't buy every month and budgeting accordingly for the future.

What are these alert altitudes you speak of? Our Radar Altimeter just flashes "Low" with a light if we get below whatever we set. I do ~125ft for flare altitude/dont bust 100ft (regs), and then at night, just on, and then covered in duct-tape so only the digital readout is visible.

why? its still worth a discussion over.

TAWS/TCAS. Just give me my NVG cockpit already.

Pretty sure the Fire Suppression System went off.

As they're not quoting assets used, could have been something as simple as using the -60's on site to suppress/neutralize enemy forces or maybe Apaches coming in and vectoring them on target? Total speculation

Update: Bought a Remington 870 Tactical (basic version without the door breaching choke, 18 1/2 barrel, 6+1) and could not have been more happy. Got it home, did an initial disassembly, cleaning, and assembly, and took it out to the range to get used it it. Shot both 2-3/4 and 3, and forgot how it was shooting a shotgun after a couple years. Needless to say, definitely happy I went with it vs. blowing straight into Semi-Autos. Can already appreciate the fact of learning the basics behind a pump and working on skill. Next on the list will be the S/W M&P .40

Still do it at Rucker. Kiowa pilots were the worst... they'd fly through the pattern and just say "Kiowa XX inbound from the south, landing to refueling", and just screw over everyone.

Since Kirtland, never, but thats because I'm still waiting for my gradebooks. And from what I hear.. IMC Avoidance is more "House/Powerlines Avoidance".

I remember specifically while doing Instruments and on in T-6s at Vance, it was standard procedure to say "Clearance Delivery, XXXX 69, clearance on request, ready to copy" - at which time they'd give you the clearance, you'd read back, brakes off lets go. I did that at Rucker, first time and my IP said "what the hell are you saying", from which point I just said "dunno.. but, its what we always did". Henceforth, "Clearance, XXXX 69, <insert departure> <insert destination etc>". Receive squawk, have a great day. Actually it doesn't. "Roger" is the controller saying "I've heard you" but it is not a clearance to do whatever you asked. Affirmative is the "I've heard you, and approve your request" response. Made that mistake once, and never forgot it.

Yea, I hear you Helodude, just taking it all in right now (phrasing?). I've shot all 3 of the handguns, I listed (3 different times) and as stated, the .40M&P felt the most controllable, and the better fit. It'll be the one I buy regardless. From looking at the advice here, I'll work on getting a pump and get the basic skills down before possibly progressing (long way off). Looks like the Remington 870 as suggested is a solid buy.

No. Again, just from what I've read. flame on with the "you don't know shit", now that I've ousted myself. I've only been considering it recently (hence all the website research references). Reason why I'm posting trying to either approve or correct the myths/misconceptions I'm finding before I drop serious cash on something that isn't what it should be