ClearedHot

Thanks for the correction.

I am truly speechless. Tom was my T-38 IP during UPT and a genuine good guy. He never complained about getting FAIPed and his positive attitude paid off when he was selected to fly the Eagle and again on the exchange program. We just attended the ACC SQ/CC course together in March. He had already taken over the 65th and was loving every moment of it. I believe he was known as "Zues" in the Eagle Community?, be he will always be "Boo Boo" from Ice Flight to me. Rest in peace brother... Him Him

Where do you come up with this crap?

Ok, I've been drinking bourbon and after 18+ years it’s time for a rant to you young dummies out there. I am sure some will scoff and a few more will certainly roll in on me, so let me launch a pre-emptive fuck you up front, I don't care, deal with it. Yes I am old and I have probably been promoted beyond the rank of usefulness, but I’ve seen a few things along the way and I am going to share them whether you like it or not. I will give my disclaimer up front; yes I’ve been to school a few times and endured the Air Force Koolaid funnel, but at least in my pea brain, I’ve kept perspective and still consider myself a warrior. I could give a rats ass about scarves, especially when the air conditioning in our building is not always the best, which is why I’ve never said a word about your sleeves being rolled up, and not only do I condone Friday morale patches, I wear mine with pride. Given that perspective, there are a few things that make me want to mercilessly clown the offenders on the following axioms; 1. Grow the fuck up! Ok I get it, you are 20 something and you made it through years of training, upgrades, Weapons School and you are at the top of your game. That being said there is no….I repeat NO freaking reason to be an idiot. Step out of your testosterone filled melon for a second and truthfully tell me how you would react to seeing one of your bright and shinny instructors in his corvette sliding sideways at 80 MPH through the main intersection to the front gate. Was that supposed to be cool? If you will do something like that when you think no one is watching, what are you doing in the jet when I am not around? Hear me clearly, I want you to be aggressive, I want you to think about killing our enemies and doing as much as possible with the equipment the American taxpayers have purchased for you…Hell I want your fangs poking through the bottom of the cockpit when the balloon goes up. HOWEVER, I also expect a small amount of common sense and the personal integrity to know when to “push it up” for the right reasons and when to drive like a normal human being so I don’t have to waste my nonexistent free time keeping your ass out of a sling with the Wing/CC. 2. Take some personal responsibility for your own career. I didn’t make the rules, I can’t change the rules, all I can do is compete you within those rules. I know some of you profess not to care about getting promoted, I have also had a few of you moping in my office when you did not get picked up for school. Of course luck and timing can play a role and yes sometimes butt snorkelers get a leg up (although they usually crash spectacularly), but you are not doing anything to help me or more importantly yourself. Do you think I enjoy sitting in my office 14 hours a day working on OPRs and PRFs when I should be out flying with you and teaching the young guys. I would like to see how your Shakespearian skills would transform “Flew 83 tac lines, restocked the squadron snack bar, and contributed to CFC into a working OPR. I am NOT saying you have to volunteer to be the wing voting officer, but for the love of god give me some details about those 83 lines. You are doing god’s work training yourself and others to protect democracy. Take 30 seconds and write some of that crap down so I can leave my crap hole office before 2000 each night and perhaps eat dinner with my family and tuck the kid into bed once in a while. 3. If I have put you in a position of responsibility, try being a leader. Chances are that if I made you a Flt/CC or an ADO, it was not for the purpose of creating more work for myself. See bullet #2 about OPRs, but interject the careers of the folks that work for you. Take a few minutes out of your busy schedule of talking about porn and American Idol and try writing something more than “Johnny is a good pilot”. I fully understand that everyone can’t be a general. Trust me I’ve worked up close and personal with the dudes at the very top and I don’t want their job. HOWEVER, unless you want the shoe clerks running the show (which might happen anyway), we need to promote someone who understands what we do and can lead. 4. Make a difference. Not everyone is as smart as you are. While it is far easier to help the dude who learns quick than it is stick it out with the dude who struggles, you are failing if you overlook the kid with heart. Some of you are getting just enough experience to become a little jaded and it is almost comical to watch you make fun of a new kid as he struggles a bit. How much would it hurt your ego to learn that many of us old timers said the exact same thing about you just a few short years ago. I promise you it is far more rewarding to help the dude with heart, and when the light bulb comes on, the reward is something that will remain with you forever. 5. Try expanding your mind. Kudos to the dude who just wants to fly his plane around the flagpole everyday. In years past we would probably survive with a bunch of dudes like that. However, today we are in the fight of our lives. We are engaged in two combat theaters, our senior leadership has been removed, we are being minimized as a service, we are most certainly facing a large reduction in our budget, our airframes are old and tired, our people are worn out, and many of our adversaries have found a way to asymmetrically defeat our technological advantage. The bad guys are determined and more importantly, they are our-breeding us 12:1. Enjoy this little factoid I recently saw in a presentation. Something like 5% of our kids are born gifted. Reference countries like India and China…they produce more “gifted” kids each year than we do kids all altogether. Unless you want this country and our way of life and more importantly the way of life of our children to go screaming down the shitter, you need to understand the application of war a little bit more than aiming five mils high on a proximity round delivery. Try reading a real book about war and strategy, we are going to need your experience someday and since you volunteered to be a professional officer, try acting like one. I have reached the pinnacle of a very mediocre career. This is the job I always wanted and I could care less what happens after this. In fact, unless it is something that is a perfect fit for my family, I will retire and let the next moron try to lead you. I genuinely love each one of you bozos and I would do anything for you. When the balloon goes up, I won’t tell you what to do, I will show you and lead the way and I will expect you to be on my wing as we fight like stormtroopers of the apocalypse knocking on the gates of Armageddon. That is all.

Maybe they have...

I was trying not to dogpile, but if you insist...

HONOLULU - Rescue crews were searching a vast area of floating debris and a sheen of oil Monday for crew members of an Air Force B-52 bomber that crashed off the island of Guam, officials said. At least two people from the bomber's six-man crew were recovered from the waters, but their condition was not immediately available, the Coast Guard said. Six vessels, three helicopters, two F-15 fighter jets and a B-52 bomber were involved in the search, which had covered about 70 square miles of ocean, said Coast Guard spokeswoman Lt. Elizabeth Buendia. "We have an active search that's going to go on throughout the night," she said Monday. The Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force and local fire and police departments were involved. The B-52 bomber based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana was en route to conduct a flyover in a parade when it crashed around 9:45 a.m. Monday about 30 miles northwest of Apra Harbor, the Air Force said. The Liberation Day parade celebrates the day when the U.S. military arrived on Guam to retake control of the island from Japan. The Air Force said a board of officers will investigate the accident. The accident is the second for the Air Force this year on Guam, a U.S. territory 3,700 miles southwest of Hawaii. In February, a B-2 crashed at Andersen Air Force Base shortly after takeoff in the first-ever crash of a stealth bomber. Both pilots ejected safely. The military estimated the cost of the loss of the aircraft at $1.4 billion. The B-52 is a long-range, heavy bomber that can refuel in mid air. Since the 159 foot-long bomber was first placed into service in 1955, it has been used for a wide range of missions from attacks to ocean surveillance. Two B-52s, in two hours, can monitor 140,000 square miles of ocean surface. According to the Air Force's Web site, the B-52 Stratofortress has been the backbone of the manned strategic bomber force for the United States for more than four decades. It is capable of dropping or launching the widest array of weapons in the U.S. inventory, including cluster bombs and precision guided missiles.

Tell-all interview covers Iraq withdrawal, nuclear report, procurement and more The June 5 forced resignations of Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley — the first time in U.S. history the top uniformed and civilian leaders of any service were ousted simultaneously — shocked the Air Force and highlighted deep fissures between the Pentagon and Air Force leadership. Wynne sat down July 9 for a wide-ranging discussion with Military Times editors and reporters, explaining why he was really fired, what went wrong with the nuclear enterprise, what can be done about Iraq and how he sees the future of the Air Force. The questions, answers and order of questions have been edited for clarity. Q. Why were you fired? A. Secretary [Robert Gates] and I had some long-standing disputes about the funding for F-22. ... We had a dispute about the future. We had a dispute as to whether or not you should spend your time worrying about the strategic effects of the future, or you should spend your time on the war as it sits. So I think [me] going out and viewing a little bit about what’s the future was construed as the secretary of the Air Force distracted from [his] duties. ... If [Gates] didn’t want somebody on his staff, the [defense] secretary should pick the time and the place and tell [me] to leave. I’m just amazed at the circumstance. Why didn’t [he] just call me in and say, “Time to go”? Q. So you think the report by Navy Adm. Kirkland Donald detailing the Air Force’s nuclear problems was just a convenient excuse to fire you? A. I think it was. Q. Wasn’t Gates brought in to fix Iraq, and not as much to worry about the future? A. I would say it this way: He was hired to be secretary of defense. ... One of the things he has been doing very heavily is managing the war, but I wouldn’t say that was why he was hired. He was hired to be secretary of defense. Q. How did you and Gates envision the future, and where was the disconnect? A. He thinks the nature of our engagements is going to be these insurgent wars for the next 20 years, and that we ought to maybe focus our resources to provide all the equipment and all the means and methods to combat this insurgent war. And if you need money, where you should go for that money is in that strategic margin that I think he would characterize that we have against all the competition that you could surmise. [Editor’s note: The ‘strategic margin’ refers to the U.S. air and sea power advantage over other nations.] I made a big deal about maintaining the strategic margin … and that we’re going to be out of Iraq pretty soon and we better figure out how not to have an upset whereby we erode the strategic margin to the point where somebody thinks they can take us. ... The way we came at the subject clearly set up a policy differentiation. Q. Is Gates too closed-minded? A. I would offer only that when I was in sessions with him [my] views were not accepted. ... As secretary of the Air Force, I didn’t really feel engaged in the [war]. Everything was a straight line of command and control right through the combatant commanders, and sort of our contribution was a byproduct. Q. What should be done about Iraq? A. This is now a police action ... and the question is, when does this police action stop? ... I think the Army has done a marvelous job of corralling the insurgency, reducing the strife, creating auras of stability in many of the areas. And I think now is probably a good time to start taking advantage of that. ... [My withdrawal plan] turns out to be the use of the reachback ... to begin to extract administrative personnel out of Iraq. Essentially if I take a battalion of administrative people out of Iraq, I now take the force protection requirements for that same battalion. And if I can run it all using the Internet in a distant place, why not? In the same vein that the way the Air Force is currently running unmanned air vehicles from [the continental U.S.], why can’t I run some of the administrative attributes? It does worry me that we’re beginning to sell 52-inch TVs in the Green Zone. How long are we going to be there? And where is it in our psyche that we must occupy the capital of a country? ... How do we begin to reshape ourselves so that we can maybe steer a course that allows us to reduce our forces but not reduce the firepower that is so necessary for stabilization and governance? Q. What should you have done differently about the nuclear parts that got shipped to Taiwan? A. In 1991, the parts that were shipped ultimately to Taiwan were downgraded from being nuclear controlled to being just security controlled. ... It wasn’t really characterized and controlled as a nuclear item. That having been said, I think one of the things ... I could have done differently is gone back and [looked at] that as to whether all of those parts that were essentially taken off of the nuclear control list should have been re-entered. Q. What could have avoided the Minot-Barksdale nuclear incident? A. I think enforcing “train as you fight” would have helped. ... If we would have managed that and the discipline characteristics as if we were going to war, we would have probably saved ourselves the embarrassment. Q. What did you think of the Donald report about the Air Force’s nuclear management? A. He looked at us from a Navy perspective. ... I think his guys, because of their nuclear submarine background, did not see a shop with things on the floor as being a very good shop because on a nuclear submarine, everything has a place and needs to be in that place. So I think they just see things very differently than we do. The fact that we have 500 sites with nuclear components, and they don’t, leads us in different directions about how we delegate responsibility. I think all of that played into the report. Q. Why do you think the Air Force should buy more F-22s when we have no close competitors for air superiority? A. Right now, when ... you’re not sure if the F-35 is going to work, [ending F-22] is a bad decision. It’s introducing a little too much risk into the strategic environment. I’m concerned that [F-35] has not yet gone through testing and that it is at the very point where the F-22 was when it was delayed 10 years. ... And so I worry about our ability to escape and evade an integrated air defense system in the future if you’re going to restrict the number of fifth-generation airplanes that we might have. Q. Do you think the drawdown of the Air Force by 40,000 airmen was the right decision? A. We had to do it because we would never have gotten started on the issue of recapitalization without showing some pain and strain on behalf of the Air Force. We could not be big and new. We had to be smaller and arguably newer. Q. How did the Air Force botch the tanker selection process so badly? A. I think the Air Force overcomplicated it. They really wanted both competitors to be almost even so everybody had the best chance of [winning]. ... I think here is one of those cases where Boeing had probably assessed that their prospects were dimming. ... I would say they systematically began to build a case [for a protest], and I’m not sure that they shared everything that they could have shared with the Air Force along the way and essentially were building ... a “Pearl Harbor” file that could be used later [in a protest]. ... There’s a feeling in the Air Force that maybe we were as transparent as we could be and maybe Boeing wasn’t. Q. How can Air Force procurement be fixed? A. My sense ... is we became overcomplicated, and we actually need to go back to ... where you have a lot more subjectivity. ... If the products are in fact similar price and similar character, why can’t the customer then choose a best value? ... I would basically get rid of life-cycle procurement and go back to hard dollars. What is the government contracting for? ... Now all of the sudden it involves military construction, it involves [environmental factors], it involves all these aspects that I don’t have any control over in the future. Fuel usage and fuel costs in 2025? I can’t even predict them for August. Staff writer Erik Holmes compiled this report.

Very suspecious first post...

In the old days the Flt CC ranking decided everything. The first 6 guys in my class was separated by less that .01 of a point. We did not find out until later, but the Capt navigator in our class had served on a hard crew in BUFFs with the Flt CC for two years. The Flt CC moved the true #1 dude who had busted one ride in UPT down just enough in his rating to allow the Capt to finish #1, despite a 17 down grade "I" check bust. The really sad thing, the dude who should have been #1 wanted a B-52 from day one...he lived BUFFs, he finished #2 and in the days of the banking system, there were no B-52's as he ended up picking 9th in the overall draft (five UPT bases and we picked 4th). He got a KC-10 which the #3 wanted, did his time then separated, it truly fvcked the entire class. Perhaps that is why only 5 of 26 dudes in my UPT class are still in the USAF, including the Nav who should not have finished #1.

You guys kill me...I owe you ALL beers! Party at my house tomorrow (Saturday), @ 1500, if you can find it, beers, bourbon, and ribs are on me.

Gents, Thanks for the kind words, I am truly humbled. CH

Los Angeles Times May 6, 2008 Pg. B10 Man Pleads Guilty To Lying About Medal By Scott Glover, Times Staff Writer A Pomona man who once boasted of being awarded the Medal of Honor pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to lying about receiving the award, the nation's top military honor. A subdued Xavier Alvarez, 50, who sits on the board of directors for the Three Valleys Municipal Water District in Claremont, admitted to violating the Stolen Valor Act, a recently enacted federal law that makes it a crime for a person to falsely claim he or she was awarded medals for service in the U.S. armed forces. Last fall, Alvarez became the first person to be charged for making this type of verbal misrepresentation. "We have to guard the honor of our nation's military heroes, and this prosecution was a small attempt to do that," said Assistant U.S. Atty. Craig Missakian. Under the plea agreement accepted by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner on Monday, Alvarez probably will be placed on probation when he returns for sentencing July 21. Federal prosecutors said Alvarez portrayed himself as a Marine Corps veteran and war hero while campaigning for the water district seat last year. Boasts about his supposed 25-year career in the Marine Corps and his wartime heroics were so well-known that he was dubbed the "Rambo" of the water board. After his election, while speaking at a meeting between his board and that of a neighboring water district, Alvarez made the specific claim that he had been awarded the Medal of Honor by Congress. Prosecutors have a tape of the meeting. In court Monday, Alvarez wore slacks, a guayabera-style shirt and black-rimmed glasses as he responded to Klausner's questions. The judge accepted the plea after Alvarez said that no one had pressured him to take the deal, and that he believed it was in his best interest.

No

I shit myself while reading it.

How about you just STFU and not speak unless spoken to...or if you need to bark out "Two", "Bingo", "Leads on Fire", "I'll take the fat one", or "This round is on me". In all seriousness dude, in my experience, the fastest way to acceptance and thus upgrades, is to keep your pie-hole shut and stay in the books. The guys that impress me are the ones who don't make excuses, fess up when they make a mistake (I still make them on every flight), and apply lessons from their mistakes. One common trap that I saw a lot of young dudes fall into (except the really good ones), was what I called the "sigh factor". I would see dudes and dudettes who had been in school forever...elementary school, high school, college, UPT, survival & RTU...when they finally get MR checked out, they let out a big sigh and want to relax. They had passed all of the hurdles and for the first time in a long time they could take a breath. Then they would realize they are living in Destin with a great beach and tons of girls and crap to do. No longer being forced to study, they wouldn't. Six months after a dude became MR, I would give them a no-notice and Bam...most had forgotten at least 50% of what the learned going through RTU. Don't fall into that trap. The "acceptance" you mention will also happen after you go on your first deployment. You work hard and play hard and usually end up living in tight quarters. People will truly know what type of dude you are....good dude, good pilot, hard worker = acceptance. Asshat, hamfist, sherker = every Friday night line from here to eternity.

I just dumped USAA, I've been a loyal customer for 20 years, but they drove me to it. I own two houses in Florida, one I live in, the other I rent out, they cancelled the policy on the one I rent out. The truly maddening part is the house they cancelled is one that the USAA financial advisers advised me to buy (saying I could rent it out someday), I used the USAA buyers advantage program to purchase it, and I used USAA to finance the mortgage. BL- They told me to buy, they helped me buy it, they own the mortgage, but they won’t insure it? YBFSM!!! I sent them a note and taking the following actions; 1. Cancelled insurance on three cars. 2. Moved my wife’s Roth to another company. 3. Moved my Roth to another company. 4. Moved a conventional IRA to another company. 5. Moved my son’s 529 to another company. 6. Moved my checking account to another bank, closed account. 7. Moved my savings account to another company, closed account. 8. Moved my money market account to another company, closed account. 9. Cancelled Homeowners on another property in SC. 10. Cancelled Homeowners on primary residence. 11. Cancelled my USAA Visa. 12. Cancelled my Wife’s USAA Visa. In the letter I attached about 8 pamphlets USAA sent me promising to be there for the military family...whatever. F@ck USAA

Porn Star

AMX

It was briefed at ACSC...so it has to be true...in WWII, the U. S. Army Air Corps lost more aircraft and personal to training accidents than they did to combat.

At no point in your rambling, incoherent response was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul! #1. Flight 19 was a flight of FIVE, not four TBM Avengers, not F4U Corsairs. #2. A SINGLE TBM Avenger, not four....errr, five, was found during the Challenger recovery. The wreckage was raised in 1990, but positive identification could not be made. The only thing freaky is your nonsensical post.

Good read Brick. Oddly enough I met Harmer two weeks ago, he is the new 33 FW WG/CC, I guess the report served him well.

Things like "Ball Collapse"...