JeremiahWeed

The same people who made UFO went on to make Space: 1999. They do look pretty similar generally speaking. BTW, they also made the marionette series The Thunderbirds in the 60's. Talk about some seriously intricate modeling. Same kind of marionettes used in the Team America movie.

Always need to send some love and mucho respect to my rotary wing bros. But, I can't imagine making my living doing that. I had two rides in a helo. CH-53 to a carrier and back. Felt absolutely wrong. I shouldn't have been that high up with that little forward airspeed and not screaming like a girl. I'm glad someone wants to do that and if I was ever gonna be on one it was because they came to get me, under fire, risking their asses and I would have been far happier to be on that bucket of bolts getting out of Dodge than I would have been getting captured by the other side. Here's to you boys. 🍻

Land? of bad………possibly?

I was traveling last Friday and was kind of tuned out. A week late but……19 Jan was the 33rd anniversary of my first combat mission in DS and the kills #3 and I (#4) got that day while escorting the strike package. 1300z, day mission, 2x Mirage F-1s. AIM-7s. It was a good day. 😜

UPT was a while back for me, but I think the basics of taming the fire hose still apply. For me, the most important thing was repetition. Studying written/classroom material, learning procedures, boldface, instrument approaches, contact flying, etc. need to be ingrained to the point that minimal effort is required to recall and use the information. I will say, if you've gotten to the point that you have a college degree and a USAF commission and you don't know how YOU study written material and info delivered in a classroom, I don't think UPT is the place you're suddenly going to figure that out. For me, reading the source material prior to class was key. Notes taken in class can then be correlated with what you've already seen at least once during your reading. If possible, I would then go back and re-copy my notes (cuz I write like shit when I'm trying to follow along in class). This would allow me to cross-check the gouge and source material with what I wrote down in class and make sure the info in my notes is accurate and also allows me to see it all again. Now at least my notes are something I created that I'm familiar with and can be used to study from later. Take advantage of any free time during duty hours to sit down with another student pilot and quiz each other on the rote memorization that is required of everyone. Repetition. IFR rules for clearance limits, min enroute altitudes, holding entries/airspeeds, etc. all will come more easily the more you go over them. Boldface has to become like breathing. However, there's a secondary part of learning boldface that often gets neglected. It's one thing to be able to write them and say them without error. It's another thing altogether to be able to actually complete them in the cockpit. Once you've got the BF memorized, start making your regular pattern of repetition include sitting in a cockpit trainer or even just a paper cockpit and actually reaching for the switches and performing the steps. You're not memorizing BF just to fill a square. That shit is going to save your aircraft and maybe your life. Wind the clock, slow down to get it right and know exactly what each step of the BF is going to require you to do in the cockpit. Prepare for EVERY mission by chair flying it from stepping to the jet until you're back in the squadron. The more you think through every aspect of the mission at zero knots the less you'll have to think about it when you're actually flying. There aren't enough sorties and simulator periods in the syllabus for the luxury of only trying to master everything you need to while you're actually in those training devices. Go through the steps required of you on every mission from the walk-around, cockpit set-up, checklists, engine start, taxi, takeoff, radio calls, setting up maneuvers and entry parameters, instrument set up for approaches, etc. If you have to sit in front of a paper cockpit set-up in your room with some kind of stick and throttle substitute in your hand, then do that. If you can close your eyes and visualize what you need to, then do that. Radio calls you make at the same point with the same information in them on every sortie should require zero effort. Controls actuated and procedures necessary to accomplish a touch and go, closed pattern and another VFR approach off the perch should have no pause to think about what comes next when you're in the moment flying the jet. The bottom line is that if you wait until you're doing 200-500 knots with air under your ass in the pattern, working area or on an approach to think about these basics that are going to happen on every sortie, you probably won't have enough extra brain cells to deal with the new stuff you're trying to learn or any other curve balls that Murphy might throw at you on any given day. Repetition is your friend. Seeing a trend yet? Most of all - enjoy yourself. UPT was one of the best experiences of my life. If it's not, then in my opinion, you're doing it wrong. There's never going to be another time in your USAF career when all that is expected of you is to live, eat and breath flying, show up on time prepared with a good attitude and get paid to do one of the coolest, most challenging jobs on the planet. You will make yourself miserable if you constantly stress about your performance. The more prepared you are, the less pressure you will experience. Don't worry about class rankings or trying to be #1 and help out your bros. If you help your classmates get better, you'll probably make yourself better in the process. The rankings will be what they'll be. If you're a solo dick out for yourself that's probably going to back-fire. It's pretty hard to be that way for a year without people who matter noticing. Use Friday night and some of Saturday to blow off some steam and lower the stress level (whatever that looks like for you). Depending on what's coming, maybe spend some time Saturday in the books and for sure get back to it on Sunday so you're prepared for the next week. Know your weaknesses and do what's necessary to minimize them. I didn't want to deal with distractions. I didn't have a TV, I lived on base and until my T-37 cross-country I slept in my Q-room every night from the first day I set foot on the base to start UPT. Maybe that seems a bit extreme, but it goes by fast and the results you produce will stick with you for life. I hit the club hard on Friday nights, had a girl to hang with after that and maybe Saturday too and kept it simple. I was very lucky to get an Eagle because no matter how well you do there's always stuff out of your control. But I brought my A game, did my best and things went my way. That's about all you can do. It was a blast. Have fun.

Well there it is (35 years later). Thanks for finding it. Would love to know how.

Searching for my actual patch. No luck. Looked on line and found out our original patch from Columbus 89-08 has been hijacked by unoriginal PJs who couldn’t come up with something of their own. The square one is most like ours but their artwork is awful. Of course ours said “no ma’am we’re pilots, on a mission from DOD”

I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen a bigger justification for the Oak-leaf cluster used for US military awards. Homey could cut his sh!t by at least half with a few bronze and silver OLCs here and there. Jeezus!

I have not hunted coyotes personally. Same for feral pigs or other over-populated pests and predators that pose a threat to livestock, personal pets, crops, etc. It may be semantics, but I don't called culling those kinds of threats to the above mentioned assets "hunting for sport". There's certainly not any hypocrisy when compared with a dog fighting scheme with losers being strangled. Really? Me going out with a valid license and taking a white-tail for my own consumption or to donate to someone in need and reporting the harvest to proper authorities so I don't exceed my limit is hunting for sport in my opinion. Our ancestors hunting for food to survive is just "hunting". 😁 Discussing the "rights" of those feral pigs or predators like coyotes is a non-starter when their population has become a threat and been allowed to increase to such levels, sometimes by the misguided but well-meaning actions of animal rights advocates and politicians. Equating the dog fighting idiot with battery cables to farmers, landowners or helpful gun-owners going out to reduce the over-population of a species that is causing harm is pretty far off the mark.

What does "hunt purely for sport" mean?

Speaking of the CIA....... There I was - RFO (relief pilot for 2-man crew) flying MD-11 from Taipei to Anchorage. I've since learned the CIA presence in Taiwan is significant - more on that later. Deadheaded into TPE about 24 hours before departure, arriving about 19:00L and basically crashed. I had enough fun on the trip up to that point and was ready for some rest. Met up the the CA and FO at hotel pickup time the next night and headed to the AP for the flight. They had pushed it up the night before at a local watering hole called Canegies. Wed night, ladies night. In the car, they were exchanging recaps of the night and were also apologetic to me for not contacting me prior to heading out. I was cool with that since I was dragging, so no biggie. I just stayed in listening mode. The left seater was an old school dog and found his standard-one-each Filipino LBFM for the evening. The FO had ended up with an American chick who he later discovered was CIA. I'm pretty sure our driver didn't speak English since I saw absolutely no reaction to some of the rather graphic stories being shared. They both wrapped up the stories detailing the difficulties of getting their companions to leave the next morning. The LBFM wanting to clean the bathroom and organize toiletries and the American wanting to lounge around over coffee and room service. A good time was had by all in the end. So, a few hours into the flight. The CA is in the bunk and the FO and I are just chilling somewhere over the Pacific. I had a thought as I was listening to their stories that I couldn't keep from bringing up at that point. "Hey, I'm not judging or anything. I'm a huge fan of strange pu$$y. But do you think stepping out on your old lady with a chick from the CIA was the best move? I mean, if she turns out to be a Glenn Close/Fatal Attraction type, she's got some resources to possibly track your ass down." My man was visibly shaken for a minute and then said quietly - "You know, that's a valid point. Let's hope it doesn't come to that." I didn't mean to freak him out, but i always think of him any time I'm Taipei. Actually heading there on my next trip. Every round-eye I see there now is a potential spy. 😁

I really appreciate the advice and sentiments. I knew I could count on you folks. The bro level gouge made my own research easier to digest as I'm not wondering if what I'm reading really means what I think it does. I was able to forward research links to my new LT along with some extra info to put it all in context. You guys really helped me and that's huge. Cheers, JW

My daughter just started on AD, 2Lt, USAF. My retirement option was far simpler. All I really know now is there is a thing called TSP which can be a traditional 401k type vehicle or a Roth 401k. Anyone have some basic gouge I can pass along on how to get started and what might be the best option at her stage? She already has a personal Roth IRA that she has regularly contributed to since she was in high school. Thanks.

I’m just glad you guys sorted this out so I don’t need to do this difficult math. I’m still trying to figure out how the “born before 1960-65” thing works. Is it born before 1960, so the 61-65 is irrelevant? Or if you’re a ‘64 guy do you have some stink on you too? But less than the ‘63 guy? By the time I came close to wrapping my head around that Huggy had stepped in to save the day. 😜

A man (yes an effin’ MAN) willingly remove his junk, sooner or later that act is gonna hit home. Truly sad that some decide to take this path.