General Discussion

This is actually my first time to post on baseops, but everyone has really given some great information on here. I just received my assignment to McChord on Friday. My guess is that I would be reporting possibly 6-7 months -- haven’t received my orders. My question after some searching through other posts is, after reporting to McChord, how long will I be looking at until I get started. I have heard anywhere from 1 week to a month and a half. Also, is there anyone who is there or has been there recently who can give my wife and me some good guidance to a good start there. Thanks!

Uncle Sam was pretty good to me Friday night, I got my drop...C-17s to Charleston! My wife and I are both very excited. We're thinking about buying a house there after we get done with Altus. Does anyone know what the housing market is like? I've done some research online and it seems surprisingly reasonable. Do most of the people from base live in North Charleston or more towards the coast? Any info I could get would be great. Thanks for your help!

I can't believe nobody has posted that USAFE is now free from the reign of terror and CSIPs of Doc Foglesong! We're free! And there was much rejoicing in USAFE...

what is the deal with red/green pills. do they still issue those, and to whom.

Since a lot of you have "been there done that" I could use some advice or words of encouragement on UPT. I've only been going for a few months now and it's a lot different than what I expected. I thought I could handle stress, and flying planes, but this is a whole different ball of wax. Basically, I suck flying and I'm probably the worst in academics. However, I'm not ever going to give up and I'll take it one day at a time. Just wanted to know if anyone else could relate to what I'm going through and if you had any ideas on what I could do in order not to get so down on myself.

Are there any models of C-17's that have the stick located on the side instead of the center? I have heard that they are mounted on the side from several people but all of the photos that I can find show that it is in the center.

About 4 years ago at Ramstein I was in the O club eating lunch. The waiter asked me and my bud if we wanted a beer. Naturally I said I wanted one but since it was the middle of the duty day and I was in a public-ish restaurant, I'd pass. As only a dedicated German would, he actually tracked down some reg that stated I was allowed to consume 2-8 ounce beers per day during duty hours. I was obviously very pleased and shocked, and then enjoyed a couple of Bitburgers. The best part was when a penis major rolled up on us and asked if we thought it was profesional to be drinking during the work day. We asked the waiter to cite the reg, which he happily did, and the major …

Word here at Laughlin is that as of this morning all team sorties in the T-1 have been cancelled here on out. Love them budget cuts!

Gotta love politics (and fear tactics) in action... Cheers! M2

Ok, I got the approval for a thread that basically you can ask questions that otherwise you wouldn't. The questions HAVE to relate to USAF in general or military flying. The idea of this thread is to cut down on all the new threads for people that just need to ask one question. The mods are going to be a little more lenient with this one than usual but ask a stupid question and you will be publicly mocked by everyone else. Usual wardroom rules apply - no wives, no religion, no politics AND DON'T ask something that has been covered 10 times already that can be easily found by searching. To get this started - I was watching a documentary on Vietnam air-power…

How hard is it for a pilot/rated officer (with 96 gate months met and 2 masters degrees) to get an assignment to the Academy? is it easier as an academic instuctor? or flight instructor? is it possible to do both? Will volunteering for some bad assignment, allow me to get there afterwards? Thanks in advance.

I've run into a bit of trouble processing ICM/AFGM/GWOT-Es and hoped some of the wiser folks out there might be able to help me out. For the last two years I've been submitting people for these medals as they reach the magic 60 non-consecutive days in or over country required by the regulations. Because we (C-17s) don't stay in country we've been counting dates for each medal as we visit either Iraq or Afghanistan. We, of course, don't count the same date twice but if we go to Iraq during one CDD/FDP and to Afghanistan on the next CDD/FDP we've been giving credit for both. I figured this was totally legit; we're fighting a two front war and eventually amassing 60 da…

OffAviation topic... We had a great little snackbar with all kinds of sandwiches, cakes, candy, chips, drinks, subs, etc. It made enough money that we never got hit up for dues, never had to pitch in for going-away plaques, and had a great Christmas party last year, FREE. Last week, the AAFES boss got pissed that we were making money, and he was not. So he got legal involved....long story short, we were ordered to shut everything down. I'm sure the expenses will remain (going-away gifts, Christmas party, etc.) but the income will now be painful...dues, etc. NOW THE POINT: I know there are regs on this, and legal issues that MUST be adhered to. My question is: …

Please forgive my ignorance, but what exactly is fix to fix flying?

hey my campus has a pershing rifles service org here. i was wondering what u guys thought of them? if i pledge and become one would it help me any in my AF career? so far our AAS squad doesn't want me here so i think im gonna pledge PR instead. my army rotc homie is one and it seems like fun atleast. lmk

Just for my own discussion/knowledge sake, I've been trying to come up with the mininum runway lengths for our various AF. Do these #'s sound right? F15 - 8000' F-16 - 6000'(Forward Zone) & 8000' normal T-6A - 4000' C130 - 3000' combat and 6000' normal T-37 - ? C-17 - ?

I've seen a lot of people around work wearing "under armour" shirts under their bags. Ever seen the stuff? Really thin fabric...like a polyester/spandex blend that's supposed to keep you cool and wick water away from your body and keep you dry when you're sweating. Well, I know that dudes in Iraq are lovin the stuff for under their BDUs, and professional athletes totally swear by it. I used to wear it as an under shirt when I'd run a lot, and I loved it. What about pilots? As far as safety, I've heard two schools of thought. Some people think that the flammability factor isn't really huge when you have a nomex bag over it, but our local flight docs aren't huge …

My squadron CC had his class picture at PIT in front of the new grey and black schemed plane. The final shade of grey will be similar to the light grey on the T-38's and it will have black on top of the cowling (like it does now) and on the leading edges of the wings. It looks pretty cool. He said AETC is still deciding the final shade but it should be approved and on the T-6's in the next year.

I just got done with PIT. Can I take a copy of my initial instructor qual form 8 in the T-38 and have the FAA add an instructor rating to my FAA license or do I need to have a check ride in order to do that? Thanks!

For deployments of pilots, how long are you gone and does your family generally come with or stay behind? Does it differ from airframe to airframe?

what the hell is the member rating all about?

All, As many of you know, the C-21 is getting phased down - and eventually out. Congress approved a reduction by 50% a few weeks back. Here is the "unoffical" listing from a buddy of mine who works Chief of OSA/VIPSAM Planning at AMC. Andrews 13 to 6 WP 13 to 5 C.S. 10 to 3 Scott 14 to 9 (to include school house aircraft) Keesler 5 to 0 School house will move to Scott and be assumed by AMC. AAFSA will move to OKC. Ramstein 14 to 8 or 9 Yokota 4 to 3 The rest of the aircraft will probably go to the Navy as trainers, TC-21s and fly out of Randolph and Pensacola. All of this will happen by the close out…

Disclaimer: Like a good forum goer, I used the search function, with not good results. Anyone got any good info on what to expect at AATTC (?Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Center?) at St. Joe? Thanks. FourFans [ 30. March 2006, 09:08: Message edited by: FourFans130 ]

TheBurt made a good point from another thread; that being we were getting into a topic that did not have to do with the original topic. With that said...holding came up as a topic, and I have to admit that I do not hold at all as a private pilot, and very, very rarely do I send someone to the penalty track. With that said, is it often that commercial airliners or military, doesn't matter, ever hold. And do you only hold to a) fulfill the FAR requirement, or B) teach something to a young pup. This thread may be pointless, but I believe, holding to be a thing of the past (think NDB) due to extension of runways, larger airports (gates to park a/c), greater attention of…

I was fortunate enough to go on a base visit to Tyndall not too long ago and couldn't help but notice some of the QRF-4's on the flightline and some painted in a camo similar to SEA style. I asked one of the pilots if they were drones as well, but turns out they are used for pilots to maintain currency according to him. I guess my question would be under what circumstances would you get to use the phantoms for proficiency? Is it a thing for the Eagle/Raptor guys? ... Or a weapons testbed for different missiles/weapons? Phantom Phantom Take Off Phantom landing roll