brickhistory

Mkopeck, Silver Star? Respect. FAFTS, it's always interesting to know what you find out if you ever post the entire story here.

Try the National Archives and Records Administration. Word of warning however, a lot, I mean a lot, of WWII individual records were lost during a massive fire at the St Louis facility in the early 1970s. Following that, there are loads of WWII sites Army Air Forces as but one good one.

In that case, may I recommend: South Carolina Driver's Manual Bazinga...

"Wings on my Sleeve," by Eric "Winkle" Brown. Royal Navy (Fleet Air Arm) pilot and famous test pilot. Flew a gazillion different types including many German ones during and immediately after WWII. One included the Me-163, not something for the faint of heart. He did a lot of other firsts - first jet carrier landing, a bizarre experiment the Brits tried with having a rubber flight deck and a jet with no landing gear (how'd that work out?!) The original is kinda old now, but it's in reprint as well.

And now for something completely different in a concealed weapon. For me anyway. Charter Arms Bulldog Pug, .44 special. Decent price, impulse buy.

Now that's funny right there, I don't care who you are...

Jumping off the mocking train for a second, anyone detecting the growing trend in Big Blue never mind the rest of the DoD? MQ1/9/MQ-X/RQ-4/Cyber Command, etc, etc. Clock's ticking...

In twenty plus years, I missed that one. Except by some clueless member of the media, air traffic control was never mentioned when describing or referring to weapons controllers/ABMs. Well done.

Following Vietnam, the Pentagon decided to never again go to war with only part of its forces and only part of the pain being tied down to draftees/active duty. They made a concious sp?) decision to put combat, combat support, and other capabilities needed to fight a war in the Reserves (not as much) and the Guard (a lot). That way, if the bell rang, and Uncle sent us off to war again, everybody would know it - the sudden disappearance of those ARC folks would help ensure that the political will for a war was there as well as the hardware. Come the post-Cold War drawdown and the never anticipated use of our forces for such a protracted period witout the plus up in forces needed to adequately fight these wars, you see the pendulem swinging again to get assets back into the AD since the being activated thing repeatedly doesn't play well politically. You can't fight a war on the cheap. Either you buy enough AD to prosecute it or you use up the ARC to make up for it. Either way, the bill's gotta be paid somehow.

Selective noting, but whatever.

And my money is on the Guard every time. The good senators and congressmen are very jealous of their perogative and guard it zealously. The JSTARS example used earlier is perfect for my point. Big blue decided it wanted to move hardware without consulting with the states and senators involved. The blended wing was the bone thrown to keep Georgia's political help in line. It sure wasn't because ACC wanted to do it. Big Blue took one on the chin for their lack of S/A. Sure, stuff may get moved and the particular mission may change because of it, but the state will keep its Guard forces alive. At the cost of funds from the federal treasury and USAF's budget. Money maybe better spent elsewhere, but it will go to keep Senator ME happy. Every time. USAF as a whole is not in the same political league.

13 years AD, 10 years Reserves. Glad I did both. Was an IMA for a couple of years and glad I had a job because being a 'bum' is a tough way of life to earn enough to feed the family. Being an AGR was the sh1t - best of both worlds. Reserves are so much more like AD the last couple of years that the line is getting very fuzzy to see why doing it was worth the pain. edited to add: Can't address your question about airframe as I wasn't a pilot.

I got to do five sorties back in the day (VAW-114 Hormel Hawgs)on a boondoggle. E-3 guys went aboard the Kitty Hawk, E-2 bubbas got to get off the boat for a few weeks. Egress training was standard but sobering. Two pilots sitting side by side had to hunchback down and aft from the flight deck and do the WW II-era B-17 leap out of the hatch on the left (if looking forward) hatch. Three mission crew sat fore and aft for take off and landings (although worked the scopes facing sideways). Same duck crawl forward while waiting for the guy in front to move it to find the hatch and jump. Not a lot of room to get in and out in a hurry and wearing a 'chute. Stats then for all five getting out weren't great. RIP.

Damn, that William Parkar guy can write! He's effin' brilliant with words...

Hi, I'm Brick and I was a dumbass. But with some therapy and more photos like the bookworm above, I can recover.

Now that's funny right there, I don't care who you are...

Well played.

I don't believe the Navy would accept the publicity (although I'm surprised by the lack of it) of relieving a female O-6 over a little butt hurt. While the media most likely didn't/doesn't have all of it, there's something to this or she wouldn't have been canned. Besides, that, "time outs" and the like is not what I'd wanna see in a wing commander or ship's captain. You just don't do that to your subordinates in public.

They, the Afghans, knew at the time we were using them. They knew it, they let us because it fit their needs at the moment. It's a little bit patronizing to assume that they weren't wise to the deal at the time. We didn't create the Taliban, we didn't make Afghanistan the suckhole that it is, has been, most likely always will be.

World War II Combat Squadrons of the United States Air Force: The Official Military Record of Every Active Squadron. Author, Maurer, Maurer (no, not a typo) USAF Historical Division, Air University, 1992 Some contenders for your 20th ASOS: 20th Bombardment, 20th Pursuit, 20th Recce, 20th Tac Recce, 20th Troop Carrier. This last one looks like it might be the granddaddy of your current unit - 20th TCS - 20th TASS - 20th ASOS. Contact the 9th AF/HO and get them to do the research. A letter signed by your squadron commander (maybe even an e-mail) should do the trick. If you should get the gouge, it would be interesting to know.

1. Go to the base historian. That's his/her job. Every base is authorized one. If the billet is empty, go to your Numbered AF and/or MAJCOM historian's office. 2. Contact the AF Historical Research Agency (or whatever they are called now) via a letter. Signed by the Sq/CC or better will work best. Horsepower = faster response. 3. PM me with the unit or post it here for everybody, there are some awfully smart people on baseops who may have something you can use. If not, maybe I can help or know somebody who can.

AMF! Say "hello" to that other fat corrupt dead bastard, Ted! Thanks for your service as a grunt Marine. Too bad you forgot some of the concepts - right/wrong, being a servant of the people, not wasting taxpayer money, or sticking by your fellow servicemembers until a court finds them guilty. Somebody wants to lecture me about class? Riiiigghhhttttt.......

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/special-forces-obituaries/6962966/John-Leavitt.html Godspeed, sir.

Carl from "Slingblade" voice to ON: "Uhhmm, some folks call it "feedback," some folks call it defending an indefensible (and retarded) position, uhhmmm." Voice to OFF.

DEFCON-2 by Norman Polmar and John Gresham. Mostly tactical account of the Cuban Missile Crisis - what the American and Soviet crew dogs were doing getting ready to "go toe to toe in nukler combat" to quote Maj. Kong. While the sabres rattling over Cuba were held by POTUS and Kruschev, an off-course U-2 over Alaska was intercepted by MiGs who were met by nuclear-armed F-102s sent to bring back the U-2. USAF and Soviet captains could have started the Big One. And a Soviet diesel sub loaded a nuke-tipped torpedo before deciding to surface after being tagged by the USN. Likewise, a USN LCDR or his Soviet counterpart could have kicked it off despite what Moscow and Washington wanted.