Murph

So it was a joke and not a throw back to heritage or anything else, sweet.

Saw a F-15E dude wearing a "100 Missions Afghanistan" patch (drawn up just like the Vietnam one) in the chow hall today. Maybe someone "in the know" can set me straight--is this a joke or is this dude really THAT proud of his 100 OEF missions--I didn't even know when I hit 100. Granted, it's not the easiest place to fly (especially during the winter) but seems like this dude holds himself in the same light as F-105 guys flying to route pack V. Maybe I'm missing something.

If you're talking about the short guy, yeah, i ordered from him this morning. The awesome part is that he's so stupid he doesn't know when you're making fun of him when you say, "I'm finnin' to get my Guinness on".

Military bearing is exactly right. You gotta wonder about a chick who can't keep it together when a dude forgets to dot a lower case "j" on an efficiency report. Is she going to be able to stay cool during surface warfare with China? Especially when part of her crew is playing the piano or walking her dogs.

Providing a blanket of freedom for this country one day at a time from Cannon AFB.

Welcome and keep those 5-lines coming.

Which is sad because before the friggin AEF rolled into KAF that place used to be awesome. Bunch of Brits who didn't give two shits about shoeish policies.

My favorite SOF moment was when I was told to go cold on the range 8 miles from the airfield during a ground emergency.

It's hilarious hearing the 15 different airline guys who scramble to tell some dude his check in with center was on guard. Is pt121 life really that boring?

Dude, I appreciate what you're trying to say, I really do. And there were people who said the same thing when we first moved out; they don't say it anymore. Jimmy pretty much hit all the "high" points. Spend a year out here and I promise you'll change the "some people will fill something to complain about anywhere" tone.

Good call. Like rain said, they sure showed those insubordinate, freewheelin crew dawgs.

Not really, especially when I'm on an alert launch at BAF and it takes some co-pilot 5 minutes to read back a clearance with all the "uhms" and "uhhs". Not to mention the unnecessary garbage like "on takeoff we will fly runway heading up to FL170 and then turn left to 210... uhh..., then over to Kabul Center on 169.00 and uhhh... Callsign XX will squawk 5560" instead of "Callsign XX, runway heading to 170, left 210, Kabul on 169.00, squawk 5560". Truth be told, though, I've heard some pretty brutal readbacks across to board (including our own guys). I appreciate wanting to defend a community but downrange is no place to fire off a long-winded readback; there's more going on downrange than an airland from OAIX to LTAG.

1. Maybe, maybe not. Dhtut comes from the old school of the 2x20mms so he may disagree, but I don't think we need an area suppression weapon... at least right now. Bringing a bushmaster w/ 200 rounds per minute and a 105 prox on the line at the same time should do the job, in my opinion. 2. Sorry, but technology will never fully replace experience. Doesn't matter if you threw a james cameron 3d FMV avatar system on the airplane. In the hands of the wrong guy, it won't save him from reporting a dog as a dude on a motorcycle. Same reason why crusty old warrants flying 64s in the korengal valley are almost always right about whats going on.

That's because you've (neither have the other nay sayers on this board) never flown a gunship in combat. I can think of plenty of reasons to have an engineer, especially if AFSOC is going to cut down the number of gunners.

"Did we just become best friends?! Yep!!!" AFSOC is trying to do the same thing with crew compliment. And the sopgms/sdbs are good but they are not a replacement for a large caliber gun with a hundred rounds to make things right. Grab a fire control package from the navy and shoot with a 1 mil system and theres your cat 1 accuracy. A bushmaster, 105 and a couple of glider bombs is a perfect combo. Oh and some mx 20s would be nice too. Edited for clarity.

Oh, sorry, hope I didn't steal your thunder.

Silly that AFSOC didn't pony up for this program, but from a manpower perspective, I can see why. Despite what Tex will tell you, this program has roots that extend beyond A-10s in OEF. Gen Harry "Heinie" Aderholt flew AT-28Ds and A-26s in the 606th Air Commando Squadron during Vietnam--and so did the Vietnamese. In fact, Tucano's have been used in South America for quite some time;

I hope not, for the reasons we "discussed" in another MC-130W centric thread. I can't imagine not being able to fit a 105mm on a "stubby". Of course, that assumes that we get off this "precision engagement only" band wagon and install a large caliber weapon in concert with SOPGMs.

Hopefully I attach these right... The first one is doing quick runup (30" manifold pressure) in the yak before taxiing out for takeoff. The second one is me taking off from an airshow at craig field, jax florida. I guess the photographer couldn't wait for us to bring the gear up, owell. Third is taxiing into lajes. Flying old ass planes is awesome.

I hear ya dude, you gotta look out for yourself. It sucks that your leadership won't back you up if you deviated from the -29. But again, for the guys like Bergman who arent afraid to refuel super slow while tobogganing past the recommended altitude, I appreciate it and I know the user does too.

I think this "niche role" that Buff's have coined for themselves, "heavy CAS", is cute.

Can't find anything online but rumor mill has it that the harvest hawk may be canx'ed.

Awesome stuff in this last page. To the guys in OEF who get scared about refueling a few feet below 5A, punch me off the boom when I ask for a toboggan when I'm just trying to get the gas and get the f to the tgt area: You suck. To the dudes who are at the track on-time/headed the right way, fly slower than published, and toboggan down to pretty gnarly alts all so I can get the gas and get the f to the tgt area: You rock. That's all.

Which is garbage--Corpus rocks!

Good stuff. Here's to Colonels with balls telling REMFs get a grip . I'm really interested to see what comes of the legal review--keep us non UAB'ers informed.