Crog

Did anyone else catch this little tidbit in Stripes?: "the aircraft hit a ground object as it was ascending" I'm curious how many here have done go arounds/aborts/early rotations in the AOR for uncontrolled vehicles/people/troop formations/etc using the runway at all hours? I can think of a dozen-plus incidents I've seen or heard of. Right up there with that sucking feeling after that RPA flashes past you. http://www.stripes.com/news/us/victims-of-c-130-crash-in-afghanistan-identified-1.371654

C'mon, no one here would be irresponsible enough to post the unit, wing, base and perhaps even a photo of the exact tail number, would they?! I'm hoping the families receive notification before seeing it on social media, where it's spreading like wildfire. Sincerest condolences.

Face it - everybody wants a Herk ride! (too soon?)

....and that was exactly what made my mind up. Watched my OG/CC at his retirement apologize to his family for placing them far down the list for the sake of his career. Talked about trying to make up for lost time. Never forget the dismissive, half-pissed, half-asleep scowl his punkish looking teenage son wore.

Shocked. Had no idea. Great guy with a great sense of humor. Would also appreciate a PM

Made me think of this....

Looking at their latest newsletter, the good news is that it's unlikely any of them will end up in the military. The repainted rock in question made page 4.... https://www.kappasigmaepsilon.com/attachments/article/48/Spring%202012%20Newsletter.pdf

Never say never or impossible. A check of any random AFRC unit would prove you both wrong. No branch is immune from this kind of crime.

The point is you have no data to support your claim, besides your opinion or impression - meaning "not familiar or not objective". AFRC's structure might have helped to prevent this particular case, but there are lots of senior folks in the AFRC system who never move (just like the ANG), and, in my opinion, as bad if not worse than what you attribute to the ANG. By the way, a quick Google of "Air Force Sex Scandal" is rife with AD cases. Wow, an nonobjective look might attribute that to all the PCS'ing!

Really? Supporting data? C'mon, it's all about metrics, and I'm calling you out on this one!

Not always, though he may have a disadvantage over this one currently flying for UPS. Linky

Agreed. I'm not saying there aren't good flags out there who play by the rules, or a culture where these relatives are afforded lots of slack because someone whispers "Do you know who Lt XXXX is?!" without the flag having any idea. Unfortunately, in several of the cases where "mere mortals" would have been hammered/denied, but a pass was miraculously given, I've seen the fingerprint of a flag. In the service academy example, the furthest this Firstie honor hit ever got to the door was CS-41. Once his Dad realized the Comm wasn't going to "fix this" without intervention, the phone in CW rang. Thusly, the prodigal son arose from the bowels of Sijan, to graduate, on time. Unrelated story - 1995: Squadron going on a phenomenal overseas deployment to a choice location. Borderline back-stabbing to go, since we cant take everyone. Roster is set 2 weeks prior when a brand new 2Lt shows up in squadron, who's Dad is a well-known 3-star at the deployed base. SQ/CC tells me we need to make room for new 2Lt. See, he got a call from Daddy saying how nice it would be to have the new Lt around for a while. We punt good guy/hard worker to make room for 2Lt. Daddy meets 2Lt at airplane, which was great, except 2Lt can't even give a tour because 2Lt is completely unqualified/not on mob status/kind of useless. 2Lt gets in Daddy's car, and we occasionally see 2Lt at the BX, the O'Club, etc... but at work, not so much, since 2Lt isn't qualified to do anything. And the 2Lt could never understand why they got treated like an outsider in the squadron!

Wow! A senior officer used his influence to give a son/daughter an unfair advantage?! Say it isn't so! In the 5 minutes it took to read the article I thought of no less than 4 instances where I have seen a flag officer "influence" the course of a relative's future.... In no particular order: reverse a service academy expulsion for cheating, influence a UPT assignment (x2), influence selection for UPT. I can probably think of about a half-dozen more that were relayed to me by others. I guess they were serious when they said "We need to run this place like a business"!

Got to check out his myspace photos at Air Force Italian. Hopefully that title will help him as he applies for next season of the "Jersey Shore" The only thing I can tell for sure is that he was a maintainer at Langley, did a Kadena deployment with the 27th FS in 07, and probably a RF. Somehow he still had time to crosstrain! Man, one thing pose as a fighter pilot, but a Combat Controller?! That's a pretty dramatic increase in the personal harm risk index!....

1. ANG is GS. Federal employees that converted to NSPS banding are now converting back. 2. Yes, I believe that's standard across the ANG. 3. You start step 1, and if you're not a complete douchenozzle, a step a year until step 4, then one every 2 yrs until....then one every 3 yrs...until you reach step 10 just before 20. Don't have the exact increments, but you get the picture. 4. No. Civil Service steps are not influenced by your "buy back"

Steve, I was in the second (or third) UPT class to go through "banking" in the summer/fall of 1991. This was a result in an overall reduction of available cockpits, and the concept was to put UPT grads in a "pool" by MWS type ("Tanker", "Airlift" or "Fighter") which they could "choose" on assignment night depending on their class rank. The history went something like this: Early in T-37's, a rumor floated that ~10% would have to wait as long as 6 months to start follow on FTU. By the time we started -38's, the number was ~25% would have to wait a year. On assignment night, it was 65% of my class "banked" and the delay ended up being about 2+ years. During that time, the "banked" pilot would be assigned a support function at a like base until returning for requal(The "banked tanker" pilot would go be a MX officer at Minot, for example). I could probably write a book about all the memories of this period: We stopped calling "Unsat" rides "Tacos", and humorously referred to them as "Bank Tanked". The Navy had the same problem the USAF did, but chose instead to lop off the bottom 35% of it's students and send them home (the USAF system didn't seem that bad then!). Since we had no idea what the final "banking" percent would be, it didn't really affect how our class behaved with each other. We still stayed cohesive, and were learning very early that "the Air Force cares for it's people, just not you". The controversial part of this was how class ranking was determined. If I recall correctly, 30% was academic test, 30% was daily grades, and 30% were checkrides. The remaining 10% was the arbitrary T-38 "Flight Commander Rating". Well, at first glance you would think that was a pretty fair system, except when the data got crunched on the first 3 areas, after a year of "highs" and "lows", the spread between #1 and #23 was about 2%. So, the FC's final rating basically determined who got airplanes, and which airplanes they got. This is good if you have a solid, stable T-38 FC, but if you happened to have a frustrated "fighter pilot wannabee" KC-135 pilot who loses his solo on the Wing, then yells at him over the radio while center is trying to get the FC back in his area ("I'm not lost, you're lost!"), or brings the solo on the Wing back through the WX to mins, or discusses working on your crosscheck by driving your car around the local high school playing field checking out all the underage tail while eating McDonald's, or openly discusses how he's using his bonus money to give his wife a "bigger rack" while she's standing next to him at the formal dining in, then comments on the student having martial problems "I wouldn't have gotten a KC-135 if it wasn't for my wife", well then, in these examples I've just TOTALLY made up, it's not so good. With this kind of freak, a solid guy with exceptional skills might find himself a MX officer at McChord because he didn't charm the FC at the last flight cookout. An below-average skill guy who just so happened to join a golf league with the FC ends up #3. The good news was that by the time the "banked" pilots were ready to return to the cockpit, the pendulum had swung the other way and they rapidly progressed along their career tracks. I don't know of any who were hurt in the long run, and the smart ones who got their masters actually returned ahead of the lucky few who got "real planes". And for the record, I was one of the lucky few. And no, I don't play golf.

For the record, SNAPs are not a new phenomena....

Saw the same thing last week at the Country Inn and Suites in Marietta, Ga. This time, it was a MSgt MX troop. In his defense, the crock pot with grits looked pretty deadly.....

I was told a version of this story in 1992 during my first assignment in the Pacific. I have occasionally tried to verify it, until a few years back I accidentally saw it mentioned in another Air Force journal/article. It debunked it completely, and gave the real reason for the "ZZ", which I can't recall at this moment. Needless to say, it was pretty boring in comparison to the rumor. One story I can relay as more than 10% true was the nickname of the 67FS at Kadena during that timeframe, "The Biting Cocks". There was an allegation of a gay pilot/crew chief being caught in the act in the mid 80's. This, of course, became the source of much entertainment to other fighter units in PACAF, specifically the F-4 guys at Clark. A very talented and darkly sinister WSO in the Peugeots dropped into the local PI sticker shop with a special request: thousands of stickers of a modified 67FS patch, but this time labeled with the new nickname --- and, if you look at the patch, imagine the rooster, mouth wide open, holding a large fleshy protuberance. These spread like wildfire in PACAF, until the new CinC of PACAF, the original "he who shall not be named" (rhymes with "Prick-Geek") put out a policy letter: He would immediately fire the WG/CC of any base at which he saw that sticker. With much scraping they were gone in a few weeks. In 1994, the last example was seen under glass in the base ops at NAS Agana, Guam. I've been told it is no longer there. Thanks to "Dirty Todo" for verifying all the sordid details of this story. That, and letting the fellas trash your house during an extended stay/drinkfest!

We might be getting played.... ...but on the chance we're not, Juan has himself a thread revival on AF.mil: Linky I'm getting more popcorn!

I perused "Jakes" bio. Seems light on combat related medals....meaning none. Yes, yes, I know some get 'em and some don't based on career track and assignment. But hell, I figured with his assignments he'd be looking at a DFC or at least ONE Air Medal! After this tour, he'll undoubtedly add a Silver Star! I'm seeing lots of MSM's and ONE Aerial Ach Medal (requirement = pulse while airborne). This may be a twisted memory from one of my mekong-soaked brain cells, but I was once told U-2 guys get AAMs after so many successful landings. True? Sorry, I just got that whole "Combat Doc" vibe from this guy....... - Crog P.S. Should you actually list RQ-4A as an "aircraft flown"? http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=8906

I know quite a few. They're called Guardsmen, and generally the O-6 IS THE IP...... I realize as an AD O-6 your ability to stay proficient is hindered by a multitude of other responsibilities, but again, the person in question had the "needs a senior CP" secret-scheduling restriction as a Captain. Not hearsay. I was there.

WOW! Imagine my surprise when I finally figured out who we're all talking about. Story pending. Too sober. As a teaser, wasn't she on the IP on the RJTY C-130 that taxiied into a tree on an LZ in Alaska? Yea, it could happen to anyone, but IIRC, she "visually inspected" the dent in the leading edge and decided to fly it back to Elmendorf without talking to MX. Pilot in the left seat was eventually found at fault, though she was the A-coded IP in the right seat (tree hit right wing). Again, memory is fuzzy, but I can remember the other pilots name, the LZ name, most of the crew and at least two other stories, so I'm pretty sure the booze hasn't kicked in yet........ Too bad the other guy wasn't pre-annointed for "Big Blue Greatness"! ....oh, and thanks baseops.net for opening the Vault of Painful and Embarrassing Memories!

The best question in this whole thread.....to paraphrase: "Why are they so fixated on this minor issue when so many other real problems exist?" Simply, they are either unable or unwilling to address the real problems, make real changes, but instead choose to spin their wheels waiting for the next promotion, next assignment and praying every night that they can get through to the next PCS without a career ending incident. For example, a new hard-charging OG takes over at a base I'll call "Zeromorale". Base "Z" has a 25% launch reliability, ~220+ days a year TDY rate (pre 9/11) and retains pilots past commitment about as well as a New Orleans levy holds water. He is out of his depth from Day 1, completely unqualified and unable to deal with the real problems. So, he defines the problem as: The crews are pusses/whiners! In fact, the problem is not enough tough love! Launch reliability falls, pilots punch to go work at Starbucks. The OG can't figure what happened and moves onto a retirement ceremony in which he admits his career was only possible because he sold his family out (presence of quasi-male teen with the multiple piercings in the front row at the ceremony confirms this.....). Next problem solver arrives. He thinks that not only are the personnel of Base Zeromorale whiners, but completely undisciplined! He outlaws baseball hats in-flight, bans the use of camelbacks by MX folks who are slowly turning to leather fixing these deathtraps, and yes, makes scarf wear mandatory. He runs around in circles implementing one stupid policy after another. He keeps everyone off balance and off-focus on the real problems. Plus, this OG is better connected to like-thinkers higher up. In fact, they think this OG is the second-coming, and not just because they can see their reflection in his boots! He reports to them on all the very important problems he's fixing, they nod and accept politely. He moves on to bigger and better, but in reality continues as the running joke of the community. How's that possible? In both cases neither OG reported that their Wing was anything other than C-1. Yep, 25-35% launch reliability for 3+ years and that Wing was (on paper) good-to-go! The short answer is that no one above the jackass you're dealing with cares as long as they can deny they were aware of the real, "difficult to fix" problem. They just want to be able to say "Well, I was aware Col Z had a serious sleeve issue going on, but how was I to know they were fudging their bomb scores?!" From my experience, the most ridiculous ideas (AFSO21, TQM, uniform changes, scarf/sleeves, "little books", "Combat Doc", etc...) usually coincide with the USAF at it's lowest. We're in a very expensive war, doing a poor job of redefining our mission, and if it wasn't for bad press wouldn't be in the news at all. The leadership responsible is generally ill-equipped to fix the problems and has to show how hard they are working to fix all the other "gross" issues. If we were on the upswing, the right leadership and focus wouldn't tolerate it such silliness. I've had a couple of drinks, so I could be wrong.....

OK, I'm going to cite something which will probably demonstrate my ignorance.... Foglesong to me was always that guy who came up with crazy ideas and put the word "Combat" in front of it, as if that would make it sound more important. In reading (and enjoying) all the articles/post from MSU, I clicked on a link to his bio, and you know what? I can't find any evidence that he served one day in "Combat". In fact, his medals seem scant on "flight related" (AA 2OLC is all I could find). Now, I know that combat time was hit or miss with a lot of generals during this timeframe, but I'd say the majority had the good sense not to come up with programs like "Combat Cop Ride Along"..... Reminds me of a Deputy OG who once claimed to have "over 1,000 hours of combat time" (and by implication, we all sucked). Of course, when we found out he was assigned to as a C-47 IP to the SVN AF for a total time in country of 100 days, we assumed he flew 10.0 every day taking his students to Hanoi and back.....