Loach

If this is true, it's really sad news: according to this website, 4 of the 6 crew have died. I got to do a TACC mission for about a month with 2 of the loads from CLT a few years ago. Both really nice guys. My thoughts and prayers are with the crew, their families and friends. I know nothing about this site -- just came across it a few minutes ago, but it provides a lot more detail than what's in other news sources right now. http://wildfiretoday.com/

How can you say it's not "earned"? Is it because you're equating military retirement/benefits with social programs? Social programs require (generally) no action. You simply apply, and receive benefits (with some exceptions, I know). Hell, you don't even have to be a USC to receive some benefits! To get that military retirement, one has to sacrifice and "EARN" it. Whether it be your own physical health; stress on your family from missing b-days, births, anniversaries, or picking up and moving your family every couple of years to some armpit of the world, it's EARNED and it's a SACRIFICE. How often have you heard someone be given the option to "be there for conception or be there for the birth, but not for both" when pondering an activation and deployment? And no, I'm not bitching about it -- it comes with the job, but at the end, so does the retirement and benefits and the hope that I'll be able to take my kids trick or treeting while they're still young; that I'll be there on a Christmas morning when they're opening gifts and still believe in Santa Claus; that I'll be there when my son does whatever the hell he's going to do in the future that most parents take for granted! I can pretty much guarantee you that no one collecting social security disability (rampant with fraud) or TANF has spent Christmas day "earning" their benefit, as the post office is closed that day (and that's the most anyone of them needs to do to earn their benefits is walk to their mailbox and collect their check). Whatever happend to JFK's message of "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country?". It seems today few people do much for their country. Instead, many (around 40%) are looking for their next gov't handout instead of looking to improve their lives and make this a better place. Service in the military is something I signed up to do 25 years and about a dozen deployments ago. I wonder what you and others on the left have done? Sure, some of you have joined the military -- but what about the 90% of Americans (or more) that haven't ? What have they done for the USA? paid their taxes? I do that too. Voted? I do that too. Jury duty? I do that also. So, what sacrifices have they made? I'm not asking for some unbelieveable pension and GM style healh care package. Hell, even State employees (in NJ for certain -- I worked in State Gov't) have MUCH better plans than TRICARE for retirees. Yet,you're so quick and willing to take from those few who have served, and by serving, I mean more than our civic duties of paying taxes and jury duty -- I'm talking about real sacrifice. EARNING that retirement! Your're despicable.

Actually, makes him sound like he's senior leadership material in the future -- probably a DP just b/c of that on his next PRF! Nothing against flaming homosexuals faggots, but we all know it's good to be "diverse" and being a flaming, homosexual faggot is the latest and greatest in diversity right now!

. However, I believe a career in teaching would greatly complement being a loadmaster/pilot in the reserves for two main reasons Like 1/2 the nav's at the DANG were teachers at one point! No kidding. It seemed to work out well for them.

Remember, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away!

How ironic this comes out today... Not that this changes my opinion. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/jetblue_captain_goes_berserk_on_A4AFpyyOXCuUvryqgykKwI

HeloDude, on 28 February 2012 - 10:43 PM, said: If a state wants to tax the $hit out of their folks to give free handouts to folks, then so be it--I don't have to live in that state. Why is this ok for a state but not for the nation? You don't have to live in the United States either. Doesn't logically make sense...either it's a good idea or it's not. nsplayr: I'm going back to my freshman Poli Sci class (Fall, 1991), but if I dust off the cob webs in that seldom used wing of my brain, I seem to remember that sovereignty resides in the states. The 10th Amendment says something about the powers not specifically delegated to the federal gov't are reserved to the states and the people. It's the concept of federalism, and the notion that the states (as they were sovereign entities) were best at knowing the needs/wants of their citizens. That's why criminal law is generally a state issue (and yes, I'm familiar with USC 18, as I'm a gun carrying federal officer when I'm not on military leave). The states decide how we live, not the federal gov't. If we don't like it, we can move to another state. So, you want high taxes and every social program in the world, move to a liberal NE state (where I unfortunately reside). You want low taxes and the ability to carry concealed w/o having to give up your first born, move to Tx or Wyoming (as an example -- I really don't know the laws of those two states). This was the agreement that was enterd into when the Consititution was ratified, as some states were reluctant to join the union. The purpose of the fed gov't -- defense, printing money, appointing ambassadors/foreign affairs, customs, etc. I think we've expanded on that in the last 200 years, wouldn't you agree?

Humm...any sources that are not ridiculously biased? I was unfamiliar, but after a quick once-over of their website it's perhaps a little slanted. The author of that particular article is from the Washington Times upon further googling. And upon further googling you would've seen that this is the case (that the Prez' 2013 Defense budget has exactly those potential costs in it for Tricare). And while this has been known for a while (that the Pres. was going to propose this), it doesn't change the fact that it's any less pleasant for us to hear. I'm not sure of your status, nsplyr, but when I was a little younger I was at Sheppard AFB and the civilian instructors were furloughed for a few days (back in 1995), and those who were military retirees spent their time off picketing in front of a Whichita Falls recruiting station. They were unhappy with the changes back then and the fact that the DoD was fighting in court to say that they were not entitled to free healthcare for life. I didn't quite get it then, but I understand it now... When I first enlisted in the 80's, this was a fact: 20 year retirement and healthcare for life. Since then and through this very day, I've held up my end of the bargain. Just because I'm willing to make sacrifices for my country doesn't mean I'm willing to continue making sacrifices upon my retirement. After 26 years (and probably significantly more before I call it a day) I look forward to enjoying missed time with my family and being in my own home w/o picking up and leaving for some armpit of the world. I'm sure you've deployed many times, as have I and everyone around me. I'm not willing to let those sacrifices to my family and my own well-being (physically and mentally) be gobbled up so quickly by the same gov't that made those promises to me in the first place, and all so that ultimately this President can deliver on a claim of providing universal health care to the masses.

When my AFRC unit and base was closed (30 Sep 2007), we were given 3 options when they officially announced the closing: 1. Retire, if eligible; 2. Find a new base/ARC unit and continue serving; 3. Transfer into the IRR and finish your commitment there. As far as I know, no one was "released" or just "walked away" (at least in terms of "O"'S). Most of the flyers wanted to stay in, and several of them moved (significant distances) to continue to fly. Some took non-flying, minimally performing jobs at other ARC units (as "Bush did" -- do we really have to get into this again?). The only people I know who "walked" were in my ANG unit, and it had nothing to do with the unit closing. Most of them were guys who were well past their service commitments anyway, and weren't planning on retiring. Several of them were recalled to the unit after 9/11 -- it was funny seeing them again. They were recalled not to fly, but just to outprocess. I suppose that after 9/11, there was a need to see what the actual manning was vice what was on the books. We did have guys who were less than stellar performers, and they were generally sent to other units (and we got the same from other states) -- a good rule of thumb is if a guy is in an ARC unit and after 10-12 years doesn't get a full time job, then applies for a full time position in your unit, you probably don't want him. Or someone is a career co-pilot but his unit says "we'll upgrade him before he leaves if you give him a job" -- another bad sign (kind of like the check is in the mail or I won't blow in your mouth). We got burned twice that way -- for AGR positions no less (the one guy basically threw up the med card as he knew our Wing was trying to get rid of him. He was medically retired, and then, unfortunately took his own life). I think if you're in training and your ARC unit closes, you'll have no problem finding a new unit, depending on your willingness to travel. There's generally never too many Lt's in ARC flying sqdns (at least not in the units I've been in -- all MAF types), so that's on your side as well.

So according to the details that were released yesterday, the Air Force is going to retire a total of 65 C-130's. The Buffalo Times has a story this morning stating that Niagara Falls ARS may be at risk. I'm sure they're guessing/speculating but as there will be two more rounds of BRAC (at least DoD is going to ask for that), and Niagara was in the sights to be closed the last 2 BRAC's, I'm sure there's reason to be concerned there. Guess we'll have to wait for more details. As I've said before, it's getting harder and harder to stay in, as the bases close or lose airplanes.

I'm a full-time GS for CBP (Customs) and fly 130's part time as a nav. No problems at all taking time off to fly. B/c of the nature of my job (my specific duties working in Passport Control -- i.e. a "stamp monkey") I can pretty much call out at will, as there are usually about 30-50 officers on each shift at the airport. This means that me not being there isn't much of an impact, so they don't care that i take mil leave (and I take a lot -- currently on a 3 yr AD tour). I've gotten called by scheduling at night to come in the next day, and all I do is call my port and tell them I'll be taking mil leave the next day and will get them orders or a letter (for IDT) either later that day (by fax) or then next day that I come into work. No problems at all. Before working for CBP though, I worked in state Gov't. I ran a small team in an office for the judiciary, and they gave me a lot of grief when it came to taking time off, as me being out of the office equated to 20% of the team not being in. It created a lot of problems, and I wound up leaving (for other reasons as well). So, my advice to you, is do some research on which gov't agency you want to work for and see how they are regarding mil leave and in particular a flying position. Be up front and let them know that your commitment will be more than the average "national guard soldier" (I'm the only flyer at CBP - everyone else is Army guard/reserve non-flyers, doing the basic 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks a year), as that's the perception most of have when you tell them you're in the guard or reserve. I did a lot of night flying, and could usually get by just taking 2 hours of mil leave on a Thurs to fly that night (and get a double FTP). Depends on the hours you work, how far you are from your base, etc. Also, in any job you take, if it's a 1 deep position, and you're the person in that position, you'll probably catch some grief about being out too much. While they can't "officially" give youi grief, b/c of USERRA, they do. I called the state ethics officer for the guard, and he said the biggest problems they have with employers is state and local gov't giving guardsman and reservists a hard time about their commitments. He called the office I worked for and talked to HR, and the "overt" grief went away, although my manager was definitely even more pissed about the whole thing.

I can't answer this completely, but I know there is some kind of an AFRC program that will pay the expenses incurred in traveling to UTA's. However, the latest email I got about this says that it's restricted to certain jobs (AFSC's) and there's not much money for the program this year, so there's no guarantee that people will get paid. I know that isn't much of an answer, but it's a start. I also know that in all of my ARC units (over the last 20 years), there've been a lot of guys who traveled great distances to come in for UTA/IDT etc. Almost all of the people I knew who did this though, were commercial airline pilots, so they were able to do the travel using their airline connections (jump seat and other ways, that I'm not too familiar with). They seemed to have no problems doing so. In my case, I lived a little over a hundred miles from a previous base. I got nothing for coming in (unless on some kind of active duty, when you get mileage). I did get to stay in a hotel though, on Saturday night. Less than 100 miles commuting distance and no lodging was authorized for the UTA.

Not an AFRC issue, but has anyone heard anything about any ANG units closing? I thought I heard someone at my reserve unit (leadership) say that one of the ANG AOG units was closing down (Connecticut, I thought I heard). No aiplanes involved if so, but really makes it difficult to stay in the ARC, as more and more and ARC units close.

I worked (in a previous life) in landlord-tennant court in NJ. The laws in NJ favor the tenant (in some states they favor the property owners). I would definitely talk to an attorney -- there may be someone on base (the legal office) who can help you with this for free. A lot of the Landlord Tennant litigants were self represented (pro se) as it's not complicated law and the expense of an attorney is usually a lot compared to the amounts of money involved (in NJ landlord tenant court solely dealt with possession of the property, and nothing financial i.e. getting a deposit back required filing a claim in small claims/Special Civil). There are also a lot of intricasies (again at least in NJ) that have to be followed to legally evict a person. A lot of landlords didn't do this correctly resulting in illegal lockouts, and other things that actually got them (the landlords) in trouble. I'd be willing to spend a little money talking to an attorney just to spite the landlord. There are 3 of you after all -- it might cost each of you a couple of hundred dollars, but it will cost her more, not to mention the aggravation it will cause her.

12XU2... My experience was that if you were from within your unit, you had a leg up on outsiders. This was definitely the case for me when I was selected for a UPT/UNT slot. I did the interview, and at the end of the interview, one of the board members asked what unit I belonged to (I said the ###th LMS). He looked kind of shocked and said "oh, you're one of us?". I thought they knew that, but I guess not (was wearing blues for interview, so no patches). As I got up to leave another one of the board members slapped me on the back and said "Don't worry, we take care of our own here!". I felt pretty good about things, especially when I saw the other two people (civilians) who were also waiting to interview (1 was a female). I got picked up for both a UNT and UPT slot at that interview (but could only get a UNT slot before I turned 27 1/2 a few months later). Good luck to you -- I really think being in the unit in some capacity will help, as you'll have a "track record" there, and it's easy for someone in the ops group or flying sqdn to call over to a friend in mx and ask for a real assesment of you, vs. what they learn from a stranger in a 45 minute interview.

Junglejett: I agree with what you said. I've been in 2 different guard units and am now in my second AFRC unit. I too want to get back to the ANG. Way too much a$$pain in both AFRC units I've been in. The guard could be a little difficult in terms of it's incestuous nature, but as long as you're a decent person, do your job well and help the unit out when needed, it's not a problem. The reserves though ... just to do a friggen FTP required 2 separate pieces of paper that all had to be signed beforehand to authorize the FTP! Both guard units I was in didn't require anything like that -- just tell the scheduler you wanted to fly (or fill a hole he had) and come on in and fly and fill otut the FTP log and you'll get paid! Much to anal in AFRC, in my opinion.

This is a video the pilots in the scout platoon of the company I was in made in 1988 (B Co. 4-229th AAHR) at Ft. Hood, TX during our unit's start-up and reciept of the AH-64 Apache. It's a parody of the "Apache on the Move" video made by MD to tell the world how awesome the Apache was back then (and it really is, but after a while it got tiring to always hear about the Apache -- I mean the OH-5.8 had been around since the late 60's)! To really understand the parody, you should watch the actual "Apache on the Move" video, if you have time (about 10 mins). Here's the link: As far as the OH-58 Parody (called "Kiowa on the Move"), it's here, and is also about 10 minutes long: Enjoy. PS: for anyone who was at Ft Rucker in the mid-to late 80's, the helicopter we had at Ft. Hood and that was used in the video was tail #353 -- the same one that was on the postcards sold in the PX at Ft. Rucker (the OH-58 with the orange paint and white letters).

Actually dual citizenship is something that is allowed in most cases, although is officially discouraged by the US Gov't. You may retain your US Citizenship if another country automatically grants you their citizenship (i.e. you marry a foreign national and that country automatcially bestows citizenship to spouses of citizens, or your parents are citizens of another country but reside in the us, such as LPR's and when born their country automatically recognizes you as a citizen of their country as does the US through jus soli (having been born on US Soil -- in most cases, as there are exceptions to that as well)). However, if you actively apply for foreign citizenship voluntarily, the US Gov't considers that person to have given up their US Citizenship. So, taking a position such as this could cause one to lose their US Citizenship. The only people who really face a difficult time about coming back to the US after revoking their US Citizenship are those who renounce soley to avoid taxes and military service. This is all based on my experience working for US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and CBP -- my current employer when I'm not soaking up all the MPA days I can (such as now)!

I would think that unit at Pope AAF (or whatever it is now) is safe. If they close the 440th, then there'll be nothing based at Pope for direct support for the 82nd and XVIIIth Airborne Corps. If they shut down a reserve unit that's co-located with a Guard unit (like Niagra Falls or Pittsburgh), what does that mean for the guard unit located there at well? Seems hard to think that there'd be much savings from simply reducing the number of tails at a location (i.e. somebody still has to pay to maintain a "base", right)? Although the guard did stay open at Willow Grove (w/o tails). I agree that it would probably make more sense to close/consolidate a stand-alone unit (not that I want to see any body close) like Youngstown.

I thought Pittsburgh was saved from the 2005 BRAC? As I remember it (having been at Willow Grove at the time), both Pitt and Willow Grove were on the BRAC list. That forced the PA congressional delegation and governor to pick one to fight for, and they chose to make the case for Pittsburgh, and it was taken off the list. I always thought they wanted to close Willow Grove, but knew that if Pittsburgh didn't make the list, that the PA congressional delegation would fight hard to save it. By adding Pittsburgh, they out-politicked the politicians.

According to the attached article, which I first saw about 10 years ago, B-52's (apparently) had their own design flaws that the USAF refused to acknowledge. I'm sure there are other examples... http://www.salisburypa.com/buzzonefour.html When I was active duty army, we lost an Apache (AH-64A) to a wire strike that killed both pilots. One of the spouses tried suing MD, and a friend of mine was flown to Tx for depositions with the same firm that sued GD in Afterburn (he was in an OH-58 and witnessed the crash). I don't remember the specifics, but it probably had something to do with the capabilities and limitations of the Apache PNVS. Nothing came of the case though (as far as I know). I do remember reading the Army Aviation Center's publication (I think it was called "FlightFax") which addressed army aviation mishaps, lessons learned, etc. Regarding our accident, they attributed it also to "pilot error". I remember reading that they came to this conclusion based on comments from other pilots in my company including one who said that "he (the PIC that night) knew the helicopter like the back of his hand" (something similar to that). From that comment, they (the investigators) concluded that the PIC was overconfident, and that was a contributing factor to the accident! That was a bunch of BS! He knew it well b/c he was our Apache MX officer, and he'd been flying for probably 15 years SAFELY! We knew him -- they didn't, yet based on a few hours of "investigation" they knew exactly who to blame and what caused the accident. In reality, there were a lot of reasons, but over confidence was not one of them. http://www.salisburypa.com/buzzonefour.html Cold War mission ended in tragedy for B-52 crew By DAVID WOOD NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE Editor's note: National security correspondent David Wood came across the ghost of Buzz One Four on a backpacking trip in western Maryland in 1996. This is the first time the full story has been told about the B-52 bomber's last flight from Westover Air Force Base in Chicopee in the middle of the Cold War. l

I didn't see anything in what I got this morning (an AFPC generated Force Management presentation) about 15 yr retirements. Most of the changes dealt with High Year Tenure (being reduced) for E-4 through E-6's. All of the officer stuff I saw (except for the expanded Palce Chase program) said that officers with the AFSC's of "11X, 12X" and a lot of 13's are NOT eligible for the programs being offered (i.e. waiver of TIG for O-5, reduced from 10 to 8 yrs for prior service O's commissioned time). About 3/4 of the presentation dealt with enlisted force issues. The presentation states that the Air Force is projected to be about 3K over authorized end strength at the end of FY 13.

Just thought I'd remind everyone that the new BAH rates came out today. Got a nice increase (almost $300) for my duty zip code duty station. Here's the direct link to the calculator. http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/bahCalc.cfm

Also sad to hear about this. I used to fly scouts (OH-6A and OH-58 A/C) back in the day and can recall the hazards that come with flying NVG's (PVS 5's then) low level/NOE. My prayers go out to these four aeroscouts and their families.