ClearedHot

The answer as always is, it depends. Some are in favor of putting the GAU-8 on the new gunship, while another camp is DEAD set against that COA. An understanding of gunship employment is important because they way a Gunpig would use the 30MM is very different from the way a Hawg would. Nothing against the A-10 but they are obviously limited to forward strafe so they make gun runs using very accurate high volume short bursts. The Gunpig is always over the target and always pointed at the target (always in the bad guy WEZ as well), so it does not need the same high volume delivery. A-10 bubbas please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe you employ the GAU-8 AT 6,000 RPM...while the 30MM and 40MM shoot MUCH slower (200 RPM and 100 RPM respectively). Even when the AC-130H's had the 20MM there were "slowed to a respectable 2500 RPM because there were seen as suppression weapons. When I learned to shoot my old head IPs would have me spell my name in the dirt with the 20MMs so I could develop the fine muscle memory need to employ the 20MMs in a dynamic situation or against a mover. Employment of the 30MM and 40MM is much different, while you can put the guns into a rapid mode and sling a lot of rounds, it is usually better to act as a high volume sniper and that can shoot in VERY close proximity. On one rotation in Afganistan I was supporting a team that was about to be overrun, I ended up shooting the bad guys at about 17 meters, a lot of pucker factor but the slow, steady, accurate volume of fire from the 40MM made it the ideal weapon for that particular fight. The 40MM and 30MM (MK-44), are also very good in urban environments. On many occasions our guys would get wrapped up in house to house fighting and we would be forced to engage a target on the other side of a street...sometime the other side of a wall. If there is a draw back to the 30MM and the 40MM its that you usually need a direct hit to kill someone. Yes they throw frag and often the frag will wound, but we learned early on that the bad guys would go to ground and even though it looked like the frag was taking them out, we would come back a few minutes later to scan the area and the bad guys would crawl away. We changed our tactics and had a montra in the squadron, "shoot until they leak." No...a common myth was that the 20MMs would slow and "tumble...in reality as the threat drove employment to higher altitude and thus longer slant rangers, the velocity decay of the bullet resulted in a loss of enough kinetic energy to cause detonation at impact. The old 20MM fuses were very safe, I've been on the range with EOD types would will reach down and pick them up barehanded, I've actually seen dudes juggle undetonated 20MM's. The 25MM on the other hand is a different beast. The same EOD guys who would handle 20MMs on the range would see a 25MM, place a red flag, and keep a wide birth away from the projective.

Awesome!

And not a word about the AFSOC guys who flew to the X and actually picked him up...

The Gunpig community has made a living of tearing ourselves apart, first the hatred between the 16th and the 4th, then everyone looking at the 73rd with the stink eye and now a rift between the Whiskey and the Spooky. Because of this distraction we let the Pavelows and some Talons rule the world. Through some miracle we have successive gunship AFSOC/CC's and we are still fighting. I wonder how the dynamic will be when the entire fleet is AC-130J's, with everyone in the exact same platform will we just look for other reasons to argue and hate each other. The 4th is about to get a fantastic leader, motivated by good rather than hubris, the J is on track...every new platform has issues, but good men and women are working very hard to fix those issues and I personally believe we are back on track. JHMCS or a comparable HUD solution is on the way and will change the employment dynamic...for the good, the 105MM will round out capabilities especially in the close fight, and other solutions are well underway. The J with a 30MM, 105MM, SDB, GRIFFIN, and Hellfire will bring a lot of hurt and choices to the battlefield. Stop and look around young Jedis, a gunship guy is in charge right now but there is rising tide of acidic senior leadership from outside the gunship community, put these petty differences behind you and focus on the future.

I've never puked in an airplane, but once I came really close. Flying the AC-130H we typically tried to squeeze as much training into a five hour sortie as possible. One summer night I was a new AC in the Gunpig flying a Live Fire, Dry Fire, Pilot Pro mission at Hurlburt. The aircraft recently had some recurring sensor issues that maintenance had tried everything they could think of to fix. As a result they added a female sensor maintenance troop to observe the system in flight and make sure it was truly repaired. The Spectre has no real air conditioning to speak of and the start of a summer sortie was like sitting in a car in the hot sun with the windows rolled up typically you were drenched from head to ass crack, but we didn't care we were flying a freaking gunship! Once airborne we would climb to 6000 feet and slowly cool down over the next hour as we proceeded to the H area and knocked out a sensor alignment. Over the next fours hours you would be mostly comfortable as you conducted your live fire and dry fire, but once you dropped back down for pilot pro, the airplane would start to heat up again. On this particular night we had an IP and two extra copilots who needed some approaches for currencies. I flew most of the dry fire and half the live fire before getting out of the seat for the IP to grab the second half of the live fire and get set up for the pilot pro. I made my way down to the booth where the TV, IR, and EWO sit so I could strap into the red seats for the pilot pro. Unlike other C-130's most of the interior is filled with guns and at the time the only extra seats were pull up floor seats which meant sitting on bare metal for copilot pilot pro (a suicide mission at best), or one of the few red seats in the booth. While the choice might seem obvious, sitting in the booth was no picnic. There is absolutely no view outside the aircraft, it was even hotter in the booth than the rest of the aircraft, and the inhabitants of the booth are a very special and very sadistic breed. I opened the door of the booth to grab a seat and the female sensor maintenance troop was sitting on the end closest to the door so she could see the TV display. She was a bigger girl and when I sat down next to her there was not a lot of spare room and our legs were actually touching. We made our way back to the radar pattern, knocked out our decent checklist and dropped down to fly a few instrument approaches before jumping into the VFR pattern. On the first approach I made the mistake of looking over at the IR display as we were coming into the flair. Having been in the booth before I knew some of the sensor operators liked to screw with each other in the booth and would track the runway with the sensor, just after touchdown they would roll the sensor sideways or under the aircraft, if you weren't prepared the visual allusion would make you feel like the aircraft was doing something it should not. One of the more sadistic sensor operators was running the IR that night and he was having a good ole time screwing around so I looked away and focused on something else. The booth was getting hotter by the minute and the smell of rubber from the tires was overwhelming. Again, the AC-130H is different from other C-130's and with all of the holes and openings for sensors, guns, and other equipment, things like tire and gunsmoke instantly fill the inside of the aircraft. I've been on live fires with the 20MMs firing where you could not see the back of the airplane from the smoke. Not related to puke, but I must mention in passing how much fun the 20MMs were to shoot. We could put both 20's on the line with the 40MM at the same time and the result was staggering, 4100 rounds per minute of death raining down...the best part was the 20MM were pilots weapons, bolted to the floor unlike the other guns that were on trainable mounts and slewed to wherever the sensor was pointing. As I mentioned earlier, the airflow inside the plane was such that the gun gas filled the inside, for the pilot in particular the effect was even better because the gun gas from the 20MM's rushed forward onto the flight deck and curled over your head and in front of the HUD while you were shooting. I will never forget the smell or the instant stiffy that followed, I loved that plane. Flashing back to that mission....I was doing my best not to watch the sick fuck sensors as they played their game I noticed and when I looked to the right I noticed the maintenance troop was sweating profusely, in fact, I could feel it on my leg...her nasty sweaty leg rubbing on mine...combined with the tire smoke and sensor operator constantly rolling the ball...for the first time in my career I was feeling less than perfect. I took a drink water and tried to think of something else as we came in for another touch and go, just as the tires touched the runway and a rush of smoke and stink hit the booth I heard a roaring noise coming from my right and barely snapped my head around in time to see a rope of projectile vomit coming out of every facial orifice on the maintenance troop and on to my LEG! It was surreal and it took a minute for my pea brain to process the wet hot vomit soaking my flight suit and running down my leg. In an instant I realized what had happened and suddenly I felt my own vomit rising up...it took every bit of self-control and mind power to prevent my own giant chunder in the booth. If not for the fear of severe embarrassment in the squadron I would have sprayed her like a car wash. Mercifully the booth called up and the IP decided we had enough training, the next one was to a full stop...after we blocked in I skipped the MX debrief and spent 10 minutes in the parking lot taking a shower with the hose. Ahhh the things I will miss when I retire.

I flew gliders for many years both before and after UPT. One very hot summer my Mom and Step Father came for a visit and hung out for a week where we drank and BBQ's to excess almost every night. At some point during the week my Step Father said he wanted to go for a ride and do some aerobatics. If for no other reason than to put it on record, let me state that my Step Father is the hardest working man I've ever known, a proud farmer, and a damn good man. He treated me as his own from the time I was 13 and if he wanted to do aerobatics, I was gonna make it happen. That Friday night we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning playing poker and drinking...apfelkorn. By noon the next day we were feeling somewhat human and decided to head for the airport. On the way My Step Father insisted we stop at Burger king where he bought and ate a Double Whooper meal. The glider crew was already set up and launching so we were airborne in minimal time. A quick tow to 2000' and I quickly found a thermal up that took us up to 8,000'. I started off gentle with a few loops and rolls, then moved on to a cloverleaf, he seemed to be handling it well so coming out of the cloverleaf I got a ton of smash and pulled straight to the vertical and held it there...As we slowed to a stop I kicked in full rudder and held the stick full aft and right at which point we departed into a very healthy spin. After the recovery I asked him how he was feeling to which he replied "I'm ok, but got damn its hot!" I looked up at the mirror and in the back seat I could see he was covered in sweat. I didn't want to get him sick so I rolled out straight and level and started heading back to the field. He was really quiet for a few minutes...then all of a sudden he yelled out "LAND THIS FUCKING CRATE!!!" .69 seconds later I heard him let go with a thunderous BURRRAHHHHHHH! Followed by another and a "GOT DAMN!!!!" The smell was overpowering and for a minute I thought I was going to puke. The glider has a solid plexiglass canopy with small squares cut in the side for airflow. I put my left hand out the vent on the left side and bent down with my face to get fresh air. I also dropped the nose and flew back to the field at maximum warp...or as much warp as you can have in a glider. I came screaming in over the trees, popped the spoilers and landed in the grass. We had no even stopped moving and I had the canopy open as I unstrapped and jumped out of the glider. I took a few steps and looked back and he was just sitting there covered in puke and laughing. In one hand he was holding my wife's camera and flicked his hand..."Here, Take a picture!" When he made that movement a chunk of hamburger came flying off his hand and almost landed on my leg. He got out and unstrapped and started to clean himself off...the worst part was when he knew he was going to get sick he was afraid he was going to throw up on the back of my head and somehow make us crash, so when he actually started to get sick he puked down his shirt...it was truly disgusting. We walked over to the hanger where he proceeded to take an outdoor shower with the garden hose. My Mom and wife jumped in the car and drove over to Walmart to get him some clothes. As he is stripping down and washing himself off he tells me he has lettuce in the crack of his ass...later we would learn he puked into the battery compartment of my wife's camera...we laughed so hard we cried.

Sounds like he is banged up but alive. A PT-22 perhaps? Engine failure on takeoff, tried to turn back to the runway but could not make, crash landed on a golfcourse.

Again you are COMPLETELY wrong and I will be sure to pass your moronic regards to the two dudes who work for me that lost their pay. Seriously, choke yourself.

Sadly, your statement is true. Regardless of what some well meaning senior officers will say, you are just a number in the endless machine. YOU can change that at an individual level by leading, teaching, and mentoring. After 24 years those interactions at a personal level are the thing I am most proud of. At this point in my life I have one simple litmus test to grade my career, can I look at myself in the mirror, thank god the answer is yes. I was FAR from perfect, but I did my best to lead, teach, and mentor and I hope I made a difference in a few lives. Good luck with the next chapter.

From what I have seen there is a gaping whole in the RPA incentive pay program. Under the current rule set 18's who go to the staff lose their flight pay, EVEN if they were prior rated. What Einstein came up with that idea when you are trying to develop a professional community of well-developed RPA operators?

At the risk of changing the topic from the Chang Show back to original intent... Some clear messages out of this board and the O-6 board...when other things are masked...strats matter, being an IP made zero difference, AFSOC's run is OVER.

There has to be a big markup because the stock 747 does not come with the escape pod standard.

Open source reporting that they did not bother to interview most of the major players including the lead Air Force Doctor who lead part of the program. The purposely distorted his qualifications and IGNORED that fact that he helped design AF SERE program. He worked in this field for 30+ years and until recently was prohibited from speaking publicly because of a non-disclosure agreement that he actually honored (unlike the partisan hacks who skew everything). In a recent interview he discussed the tactics and the fact that the repeated waterboarding and intense interrogation of KSM was based on intelligence that led investigators to believe AQAM had smuggled a dirty bomb onto U.S. soil and they were very close to using it. I hear and respect the debate...there is no easy answer when extremists find an asymmetric to challenge all the freedoms we enjoy in this country and we try to balance that against the basic freedoms we given by the Constitution...the major difference in my mind (and a simplistic point of view), they were not Americans so they don't get those protections. Regardless, the debate becomes somewhat jaded when viewed in 2014 without the context of events and public opinion in 2001.

For my area O-6 with dependents went down 8.6%....O-6 without dependents went UP 7.3%...WTF, am I supposed to ditch the wife?

Way to completely AVOID the question like a puss....they have your kids, you know you have the guy, what do you do?

Probably none, but we will never know. This discussion was not meant to suggest we actually stopped a nuke attack it was meant to stretch the limits of the argument. I don't condone or condemn the interrogation program, the report was EXTREMELY partisan and simply ignores or lies about some of the intel that was retrieved. Furthermore, it was a reflection of the time period right after 9/11 when we did not know if more attacks were coming and the majority on both sides of the aisle were in favor of doing whatever needed to be done. To suddenly judge one side based on a lack of context and a partisan report is a bit shallow. As has been pointed out above it is odd that folks object to waterboarding and sleep deprivation but are ok with jamming a Hellfire into a car full of people including American citizens. I thought the more interesting argument was what would you do if you captured the person who kidnapped your kids. I guess all you pacifists would get him some tea and discuss his mommy issues while your kids twist in the wind.

Excellent discussion on Hannity tonight (I don't watch often but happened to be flipping through). The discussion included a taped radio segment with Justice Antonie Scalia (had the opportunity to debate him 1v1 in an academic environment...discussion for another day but a wicked smart dude), in this segment Scalia posits an extreme case where you capture a person who you know for sure has information about a nuclear weapon in Los Angeles that WILL kill millions of people in a short period of time...he wonders then if people would still say torture is terrible. Immediately afterwards Ken Roth from human Rights Watch chimes in and says that is a straw man argument. Roth then goes on to classify the Scalia scenario as a "hypothetical", "I live in the real world." Hannity then hits Roth with a scenario about his children being kidnapped and he catches the person that has his kids, "What would you do to get the information about where your kids are"....Roth answers, "well as a prosecutor I've found it effective to establish rapport with the person I was interrogating." UFB!

Champ Kind!?! How far we've fallen. Welcome aboard.

He was absolutely NOT washed out of WIC for writing this paper or contacting the AFSOC/CC. To preserve what little dignity this chucklehead has, I will leave it at that.

Supposedly he did this stunt himself.

She didn't handle it very well? She is a U.S. citizen who is NOT sick, has NOT committed a crime and was forced to live in a tent in New Jersey. I would think a few of you might be upset given the same circumstances. The question then becomes where do we draw the line? Influenza is airborne and a far bigger threat in the U.S., on average the "flu kills 36,000 people in the U.S. each year, why are you not quarantining everyone who gets the flu?

Oh brother...like when the Talons tried not to fly into ORBI at night...then the shame when they found out the slicks were going in during the day.