[Leadership at the 'Deid]

I'm at the Deid right now...been here for just over 4 months. I haven't had one beer the entire time I've been here.

Those stickers are still up...I catch myself staring at all of them too wondering WTF?

Then cough up the ration card and share the wealth!

[Tops in Blue (TIB) - WTF?]

OK, it gets worse...

They're modeling the new camo pattern for the ABU.

[Fear of flying?]

I'm not talking about flying in the goo at >25K.

I'm talking about flying through the goo to rejoin with the tanker in the wx at night, refueling on the goggles, letting yourself down below a 2K ceiling, 1nm vis, people shooting at you and you leading your flight and putting ordnance down inside 500m from friendlies on non-illuminated targets, landing at an FOL for mor gas/ordnance that is nothing more than a strip of highway in the desert and then going back to the target. The prospect of trying to do something like that is too frightening for most people to even attempt it. However, that's the mission and it needs to get done.

Those are things that you don't train for in peacetime because of training rules. Those are the types of things most people wouldn't try to do because it is too frightening and they can hide behind the skirt of "I tried to get in there but the wx was too shitty" or "there was a Roland 1 nm from the target and I couldn't operate below a 2K deck and no one will question it because they don't want that set as the new standard. People can only get past that fear if they have thought about it beforehand and they have a plan when the situation arises.

Poise under pressure keeps you from taking a stupid penalty, jumping offsides on the one yard line with 4 seconds left on the clock and wasting SA on dealing with fear so you have enough left over to get the mission done and survive.

And that's the point I was trying to make, although you did it much more eloquently. There's a difference between the fear that comes with that situation, and an actual fear of flying straight and level when its CAVU.

[Fear of flying?]

Seems like that would be a fear of the total situation, not necessarily flying. Sort of like you'd be scared if you saw a mack truck merging into your lane on the highway, but that doesn't make you fear driving. Not that having a mack truck merge into your lane is in the same league as flying in the goo in combat, but you catch the drift.

[What's in your CD player?]

Better Than Ezra

Fall Out Boy

Incubus

Barenaked Ladies

Toby Keith

Counting Crows

And an interesting mix of techno from the internet...Ian Van Dahl, Venga Boys, Captain Jack, etc.

[Pilot/graduation gifts]

A pilot is always interested in a watch (this has come up in numerous threads).

I recommend several:

Citizen Eco-drive Skyhawk - $200-300, aviation watch

Any Seiko Kinetic watch - $200-400

Casio Pathfinder 1200 - $200-300, multifunction watch with compass, altimeter, thermometer, etc.

A watch is something he will surely use in his flying (and non-flying) career.

I LOVE my Skyhawk! The wife got mine when I got selected for OTS, and I don't know how I ever wore anything else.

Along with the "cheesy shadowbox", we've got a place here that will do a three-picture collage in a frame. You get an 8X10 of your airframe, and underneath are two 3X5's of your training A/C (round these parts, that's a T-6 and a T-39).

[What's in your CD player?]

WTFO?

Pat Green and some Charlie Robison make for some good drinkin music

Don't knock it until you try it.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendid=30789697

[What's in your CD player?]

Jonathon Coulton, with favorites like "Skullcrusher mountain" and "Re: Your brains", as well as a folk remix of "I like big butts".

[I'm in a dilemna - Pilot or WSO?]

Dude, are you kidding? Flying anything as a pilot is 10 times better then being a passenger in any capacity. A so-called type A personality would know that.

I'm sure all the WSOs out there appreciate being called passengers. I know I did.

[Air Force Heritage]

I think we do have a strong heritage, but it gets buried. Reaching back from the Army Air Corps all the way through today, we've done some pretty amazing things as a service. I do think that the bigger part of our problem isn't that we don't have a heritage...it's that we try to manufacture new ones every time some general gets a new idea or wants to leave a mark. That's why the Marines have a sense of camraderie...they DON'T reinvent their heritage every ten years.

We've got plenty of heritage...we just need to stop masking it with a bunch of organizational BS.