On my first deployment (>20 years ago, OSW, KC-10, BO), I was getting ready to refuel some Vipers. Pretty standard OSW cake walk sortie. I'm in the back feeling proud to be hacking the mission like a big boy. When the fighters get closer, Flight lead lets me know that we have a long cable trailing out of our tail. My mind immediately thought about a caution I had made fun of in the -33. Basically, recovery procedures if you're a dumbass BO and lower the boom without the hydraulics on. The FE was a SMSgt with tons of hours. He asked if he needed to come back there and I told him no, I figured it out. Humbled, but I at least I know why that caution was written. There was another dumbass BO like me who did the same thing. BO was a great job to have in my early 20s. It was like being a rock star. Traveling the world, forgetting checklists items and chasing fat chicks. Back when Anna Kournikova was hot.