contraildash
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Posts posted by contraildash
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Read up on the UK Falklands campaign. AV-8s flew off of container ships. STOVL allows the Marines to fly out of much smaller airstrips than a conventional fighter can use. In the last several wars the US has fought, we have had access to significant stretches of concrete in countries that were willing to host us. That might not always be the case.
I have. It's a great read. The Falklands campaign is a bad counter example. The entire reason the British used Harriers: they were the only carrier fighter they had. And even then they didn't have enough. They supplemented the Sea Harrier squadrons with RAF Harriers / pilots. The British used two container ships to bring in extra Harriers to replace attrition losses. They didn't operate off them, but were in fact transported from Ascension Island along with a dozen or so helicopters. Once close enough, the Harriers were flown to the two carriers. Not sure if any were lost when the Atlantic Conveyor was sunk by Exocets.
I'm pretty sure that if the RN still had the Ark Royal, they would have had a SQ or two of F-4s wreckin' havoc on the Argentinians.
If anything, Surely's point is a more valid argument for retaining a VSTOL fighter capability within the USMC.
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STOVL is only a requirement because of the MEUs embarked on the LHDs.
THIS
Other than flying off the LHDs, when have AV-8Bs actually needed to use STOVL in a combat role? From what I've found, they've mostly operated from long runways (as they do now).
I say scrap the F-35B, give them the F-35C, fly off CVNs / long runways. Save money.
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How many of us, when we sit down to eat a meal while wearing bags, or any long sleeved top for that matter, push up our sleeves? Hell I do it every time. Why? I don't want my sleeves to get into my g-damn food.
Apparently pushing up your sleeves whilst eating, is good enough reason for my previously mentioned chief to interrupt meals. UFB
....still waiting for this doucher to say something.
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After hearing some of our enlisted aircrew were getting harassed by a Chief, in the middle of eating, I've been having my crews eat together. We've seen said chief, but he hasn't come over to play while us O's are around. We anxiously await.....
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Complain to your Flt/CC that you're getting treated unfairly because you're a chick. This will force your Flt/CC to rank you #1 because he's scared you'll go up the chain with your complaint. Then you'll get your sweet revenge on track select when a -38 pops up on the screen while the rest of your bros go to Tones. Not that this has happened before. Wait, what?
Repeat process in '38s, change bases, repeat again, quit. That'll teach em.
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As far as which base is better...well I don't think it really matters. You don't have a choice, and just because you are going to one, doesn't mean you are actually going there. Even if you get boots on the ground. So in the end, make the best of what you get. Fly your ass off for 6 months.
We laughed about Bagram going full retard recently. Then the Army and Air Force teamed up here and hit everyone (NATO, TCN, local nationals, ect) with reflective belt DEFCON 1. The Marines opt'd out. Words of a Gunny "we take pride in our uniforms, and look both ways when crossing the street". Made my night.
Of course they enforced this on the boardwalk...where chances of getting run over are nil. Ever seen a MSgt tell a Canadian Colonel that he either has to buy a reflective belt or leave? Full retard.
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Ok, question on 36-2110 interpretation in reference to the "300 days in a 18 month period" rule.
I'm stationed in USAFE.
When January 2012 rolls around, I'll have been TDY for 9+ months. Except for 9 days, that's all consecutive. That said, only 179 of those days will have been spent in the AOR. The rest were deployment training back in CONUS.
Do the TDY days in CONUS count towards a short tour?
If they count, I can more than enough make up the roughly 30 day differnece to meet the 300 days w/in 18 months requirement with all my TDYs around Europe and Africa.
Actually now that I think about it, in this calendar year alone, I will have been TDY almost 280 days.
edit spelling
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I understand the situation that the British are in, but I made my comments based more on our own Marines Other than flying off the LHDs, have the Marines made use of VSTOL in combat operations? Not throwing spears at them, just curious on my part. If not, why not just give them the C model and fly off big carriers / long runways?
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Spent yesterday afternoon up at Lagunitas Brewery in Petaluma CA. Sample the full line, did the tour, finished with the "Undercover Investigation Ale".
8.5/10
9.7% ABV
Nice smmoth ale, hint of pine with a little kick from the hopps at the end. If you ever see this beer on the shelf check out the label closely! Not an exact quote but here we go:
"Dedicated to all the would be astronauts and in remembrance of the 2005 St Patrciks Day massacre in the brewery party grounds and the 20 day shutdown that followed. Did the crime, did the time, got the bragging rights!"
The guy at the brewery told us: Basically they were investigated by undercover cops for employees smoking weed at the thursday 420 parties there (imagine that) after a few months they raided the place. The owner asked the agent who arrested him "is this what you want to do?" and the agent replied, "no I'd rather be an astronaut". After the legal proceedings ended they had to shut down for 20 days in January of 2006. Since then they've never looked back, demand has kept growing, the place is expanding, life is good.
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If anything, it'll be the B mod (VSTOL) version that gets the axe.
Just a thought on that. I was under the impression that the whole point of the Harrier was to operate from austere forward airstrips to support the grunts. Have they ever really done that? Other than the small decks (LHDs) they fly off, why do they still need VSTOL capability?
I read a book about flying the Harrier in Afghanistan (A Nightmare's Prayer, not a half bad read) and it gave me the impression that in our current wars the jet needed long runways and decent support infrastructure to operate with useful combat payloads.
/sidetrack thought off
edit: spell'n
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Has anyone had the chance to put back some "Life and Limb" from Sierra Nevada? WOW.
Tanilla Vanilla Porter by Knee Deep Brewing
8/10
Had it on tap at a local cigar bar. Simply put, it was good stuff.
From the interwebs:
"Made with only grade-A Tahitian vanilla beans, Tanilla carries a smooth chocolate flavor complemented by the delicate intensity of vanilla beans, and a rich aroma of coffee."
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I was went through there back in 05/06 and recently retired F-14s were all over the place. Now there are like one or two. Apparently they have already scrapped the entire fleet at the boneyard. Pretty sad.
Edit: add link to the reason.
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The parking plan is horrendous and towing ops are crazy. Huge planes everywhere, planes taxiing through the crowds - it's nuts.
Sounds like normal ops there...not on my list of favorite places I've been as far as airports.
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Do those come standard with the 'chute? Never flown one, but heard they are nice planes.
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It's a psychology thing. People under that amount of stress and confusion act irrationally by trying to act normal. They default to what they know by gathering their familiar belongings and exiting the plane. There are people holding coats and bags standing on the wings of a jet in the Hudson river. Some survivors of United 232 were found walking around in the field, severely burned, carrying their luggage.
Interesting stuff if you're into that sort of thing; or if you need a topic for an ERAU master's paper.
Did you write such a paper? Actually makes sense.
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When cadets go home for vacation, why can't they drink while traveling? Plus they never said he was drunk, just that he had a few beers.
One article I read stated he was a senior at the time, so I'm guessing he was a few months away from commissioning.
On that note:
In spite of the drama, King is confident he will be able to soon return to his military duties.Richard King will proudly serve his country wherever he is deployed. When he completes his 18 month tour of duty, he will reapply to West Point
Sounds like he got the boot, and was forced to enlist (seen it happen to guys at USAFA). If he was booted for headaches and such, I doubt they would have made him enlist.
Shitty deal all around for the guy. Get beat up with a concussion, miss out on spring break, get kicked out of West Point, and then forced to enlist. I hope he wins the lawsuit.
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Looked liked a blown tire and/or brake fire. Either way, what caught my attention was the fact that numerous people were evacuating the jet with their luggage.
WTF?
I'm sorry, if I'm evacuating from a jet that's on fire...I'm not stopping to grab shit.
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My cousin is escorting one of the guys home. Sad stuff.
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Could this potentially be a case of non-judicial punishment? Nothing would humiliate me more than to pen a queepy article and have it posted on af.mil to forever enshrine my commitment to the Party line bullsh*t our AF has become. That would be a creative commander.
definitely an interesting way to look at it
It is kind of retarded to watch officers/enlisted artfully dodge having to give a salute in a parking lot or anywhere else. Really?
I always try to acknowledge the rank when saluting...especially with other services.
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I remember seeing a statistic that showed the number of Class A mishaps where the MP was a FWIC graduate. It was staggeringly high, especially considering the low percentage of FWIC grads in the general pilot population. It made me think about my own experience and it made sense, a big chunk of the Class A mishaps I could think of involved patch wearers.
There are a number of ways to look at that statistic but I would say, at least in fighters, there are more patchwearers crashing jets than there are guys with Q-2/3 dings in their FEF.
You are hitting a good point, and it's not just the fighter community, a very high % of Class A mishaps involve experienced IPs and EPs. There's a multitude of factors that go into that discussion.
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Apparently you didn't watch the last scene...
nasty
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Speaking of making aircraft stealthy, I read somewhere that the Germans used some device to fool British radar into thinking the aircraft was some distance behind its actual location, thus causing the British to send fighters to intercept a ghost. Anyone have any info about this device?
Read "Nightfighter" by Ken Delve. I remember something about what you are asking in there. Great read on the development of night fighters starting in WW1. Mostly talks about WW2.
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Sent a copy of this to someone who's there right now. Response:
HOLY FUCKING SHIT...that is spot on. They have stickers all over the place and sometimes the fucktards sit there and time people. They even have stickers at the sinks instructing people to turn the water on/off while shaving or brushing teeth. Really? This dude's story is not an exaggeration, it is a frequent occurrence, with the exception of punching." They have fist sized rocks to keep the shower curtains from getting "pulled" in by the water. I keep one on the little shelf in the shower for any potential attempts to fuck with me while I'm doing my business.
I agree with you guys though, tell folks straight up why they are rationing water. Worked with my wife.
Hey take shorter showers.
Why?
Because our water bill was 2 trillion Euros. So shorter showers or get a job.
OK.
Marine Corps Raptors?
in General Discussion
Posted
Historical comprehension. Operations in the Falklands didn't require STOVL. RN ops in the Falklands required carriers. The only carriers in the RN were the short decks w/ Harriers. As far as the Ark Royal, I was just stating that had it still been operational it probably would have been down there to fufill the operational requirement.