Scooter14

Which came first, the oologist or the ornithologist?

Thanks buddy, good to be home! I do miss ATIS banging on the wall of my office during the O&I though…

It was an AFRES C-141 crew… https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/11/23/air-force-probes-crews-nba-itinerary/8eac108e-76c5-4bed-84b1-ef9ba37565b6/

Yup, there it is. Thanks for the point out, I remember complaining about that during my last round of stan/eval testing and then forgot due to old age and 20+ years of referencing an 11-217. I also found a briefing from AFFSA that describes how I feel. I’m the short guy in the picture.

I was asked a question today by a fledgling aviator regarding instrument approaches. Instead of shooting from the hip, I decided to fire up my iPad and open up the AFMAN 11-217, but alas, it (the AFMAN 11-217) was not there. I went on to e-publishing and it’s not there either. I found a copy from 2019 on the Columbus AFB site via Google, but what am I missing here?

Wait, so are you trying to tell us that arguing on the internet doesn’t change peoples minds?

I looked at the obit earlier today. When I just tried to pull it up to show someone else…gone. This keeps getting weirder…

The book is by far the best. The original movie is also very good. It’s amazing to me how relevant the book still is as it relates to life in the military and the stifling bureaucracy that surrounds us. I can take examples from the book/movie and directly compare to situations that I have lived through. I swear I could write a “Catch-22 part deux…the desert years” with my own tales of pointless exercises, manufactured crises, administrative frustration, paperwork for the sake of doing paperwork, medical standards buffoonery and overall ridiculousness.

Captain Major! Yes! One of my favorite scenes from the original…

I’d say about 3 months after you leave training. The flying for me definitely made more sense when you get to the line, but I’m a hands on learner anyway. It’s like the difference between FTU sims/FTU flightline and then MCT back home. It’s the same…but different. You’ll pick up a lot of tips and tricks for the scheduling part from the regional guys in your class, the captains you fly with and your guard/reserve buddies (if applicable). I’m lucky to have about 20 guys in my Guard unit that all fly for the same airline I do, so I’ve got access to that tribal knowledge plus the knowledge of my classmates as well.

I flew on 582 multiple times as a Nav. I got checked out on her in Aug 2001…we were having the Offutt Air Show and they kicked a bunch of the oddball jets off station. We flew it to Hickam along with one of the TC-135s and provided air refueling training support since it still had a boom at the time. It was a fun jet back then but it was an oddball for sure.

^SuaSponte about sums it up. I only had one personal interaction with him when he was the OG at the Died. My crew shared a bus with another tanker crew that had the “pleasure” of flying with him. He was basically an asshole to my entire crew from the time we picked his crew up on the bus until we got back to tanker Ops. He basically berated the crews, talked about how awesome the B-1 was, how much the tanker sucked…to two tanker crews under his command. When he started giving us shit I thought he was joking, but nope…he’s just a prick. Like, I just met this dude when we got on his bus. O-6 OG/CC. There was no “how was the flight?” Or “what base are you guys from?” Nope. Actual quote as we rolled past 3 row: “You guys think you’re the top of the spear? That’s the tip of the spear right there (points to B-1 out the window).” He helped us carry a total of zero bags through customs and helped us carry zero bags back to the bus and helped us unload zero bags once we got back to ops. Thanks asshole. He flew with another crew from my base on that trip, smoked and joked with them the whole time since they were both patches, And then after the flight he marched right into the squadron commanders office and jacked him up for allowing his crews to have mustaches out of regulations and morale patches. I knew two of the SQ/CCs at the time and he made their deployed lives hell. I also would not piss on him if he was on fire.

Ok, ok…holy shit I hit a nerve! My bad! I thought he finished as the Little Rock WG/CC… I know he started as a tanker guy, that’s why I tried to push him over to you guys….All in jest. Also, based on my interactions with him out here as the 379 OG/CC, I would say he fancied himself a “tip of the spear” (his words) B-1 guy. That’s all he talked about to my tanker crew after flying with my squadron mates on the bus ride to customs. Jackass. Also Huggy, I don’t know but hopefully as far away from any of us as humanly possible.

So was the Rhat, or are we talking about the same guy?

It’s also why the IG exists and your congressman exists. I would explore both of these options.

That’s not really the point. He’s asking about leave when you’re mobilized. Im currently deployed, and half the people I work with are “deployed” to Shaw. I think they fall under the same rules we do out here, meaning if you’re less than 6 months you can’t take leave. I’ll ask the guys when I go in.

Sec 622 of the 2013 NDAA authorized DoD to create a comprehensive Space Available program. Up until that point the latest guidance was some sort of joint transportation Reg from 1994. Everyone got all excited and thought “Finally! After 12 solid years of fighting alongside our active component counterparts and countless mobilizations we finally get to take our spouses with us when we get home and go back to being drill status guardsmen! Horray!” But…no. It never happened. So even though the NDAA authorizes it, someone has to actually do some work and create it.

I remember signing a petition on some GeoCities website (remember that) around the turn of the century. The fact that reservists maintain the exact same quals but only got paid 1/30th of the flight pay per AFTP always irked me. I hope it goes through but much like expanded Space A benefits for reservists (which made it into the NDAA but never got implemented) I’m not holding my breath.

There are a lot of hospitals in the Northeast and all the Guard/Reserve bases that i can think of (besides Bangor) are within an hour’s drive to either Boston, Hartford, Providence… As I think it through with the exception of maybe Bangor, Mansfield and Grissom all the other Guard/Reserve bases are pretty close to urban areas. Minneapolis, Detroit, OKC, DFW, Denver, Phoenix, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, Charlotte, etc. What’s your definition of a major hospital and what’s your definition of close?

Thank you for posting, I’m working my way through it. There’s a lot to unpack here.

That’s not true, it’s all a hoax. That’s what they want you to believe. The student pilots don’t need some experimental accelerated pilot training program that got rushed through and put into circulation. The IPs just need to give them some ivermectin and the students will fly better and the IPs won’t need to work so hard. Oh wait, wrong thread. Sorry about that…

Well they have been trying to reach you…

We agree on almost all of it, to include the fact that the media sucks. …until the consequences of those who get really sick due to no vaccine and flood the hospitals causes a lot of extra work and delays the treatment for cardiac patients, cancer patients, etc. and others that have other potentially life threatening illnesses. I got a text from a buddy today who’s wife is a nurse at a local hospital. 20 COVID in the hospital 18 unvaxxed, 2 vaxxed. 2 of the unvaxxed on ventilators, in their 30s. That sucks. I know crowded hospitals and health care shortages have happened before as you pointed out but I personally feel like severe illness and hospitalization due to COVID is all but avoidable with the shot (in conjunction with exercise, Vitamin D, good sleep hygiene, etc.) and that allows the medical machine to keep moving. I know, big pharma and all but we are where we are. If hospital overcrowding doesn’t happen and everything is running smoothly, I would not care about one’s choices at all….but even now it’s a choice (except mil soon) and all we can do is educate ourselves to what we think are the pros and cons and ORM it. I’m gonna go get a steak.

Valid points. I’m honestly not stressed and she’s not bitching. I did not mean for it to come out that way. Seeing and hearing what we both view as somewhat preventable is hard to see play out here and elsewhere. Yes we are both vaxxed, we exercise, try to eat as well as we can and, to your point do not feel as though we are in any severe COVID danger. I will feel bad for people if the census of the hospital is such that one cannot receive non-COVID care. I saw a story about a gentleman in a rural hospital in TX that died of some sort of gallbladder thing, completely preventable but they couldn’t fit him in to any hospital in Houston.

You’re more than welcome to come over anytime, and I 100% could never survive as a vegan so bring something to grill. Honest opinion: I think (this is just my opinion) the demographic that is hesitant is younger females who believe the verdict is still out on reproductive effects. There’s not a lot of holdouts, but there are a few. Mind you, this is in the northeast. I just saw a CDC slide this AM about this area having a very high vaccination rate, probably the highest in the country. My wife has a friend down south and was shocked at the low take rates at the hospitals down there. A lot of the consensus down there was “ive been working in crowded COVID wings for 18 months and I’m fine, why do I need a vaccine?” I’m not saying it’s right or wrong and it’s second and third hand from her and her friends, that’s just what I’m hearing. Again, I don’t think a mandate is the right way to go, I just think the risk of developing long term complications from COVID is much higher than any risks associated with an mRNA vaccine and people need to understand the ramifications of their decision making process. I feel like (another opinion) there was a very defined line and when the vaccine came out people started to fall on one side or the other very quickly. Many were undecided. But, as time went on the undecided chose the prevalent school of thought. For example, when it first came out, my wife was one of the first. Her father is in a long term care facility and being vaccinated and able to see him was very important to her. Many of her colleagues got vaxxed right off the bat. Those who were undecided saw that and said “well, Karen and Rick got it two months ago, that’s when most side effects happen, they seem fine to me…meh, I guess I’ll get it too.” Other places there was resistance, so when people didn’t get it the undecided said “well, Becky didn’t get it and she’s been around COVID for 18 months and she’s fine so i guess I won’t either.”