SuperWSO

My favorite jacked up story happened to a buddy of mine who worked down the hall at the weapons school. Dyess was going through a period of increased emphasis on line badge use. They had jacked up several crews in a fairly short period. The prize winner was when a crew of 3 came back to the building after a flight. We asked where the other WSO was and they said he was hauled off by the cops. The best part - it was POST FLIGHT and they had just shut down and were loading their stuff on the crew bus. I can see the need to verify that people walking out to an airplane have a need to be there, but I have a hard time building a scenario in which the people climbing out of the plane following a sortie pose a threat. If they were going to steal the airplane, they probably wouldn't come back for the debrief. On the lighter side, I told the instructor in question that he appeared to have found an innovative way to get out of the usual Weapons School debrief. (usually 1.5x sortie duration)

Looking at the picture attached to the article, the "Battle" Airman is wearing an ACU helmet, armor, pads and all pouches. The only ABU stuff he has on is the shirt and pants. Calling this an "ensemble" is stretching things a bit. The Army was issuing Nomex ACUs to everyone in theater. This brings up the question once again - why not wear what the Army is wearing in combat so as to not look different? ACUs are available in nomex and all the associated gear is available in the same pattern.

Have you guys ever discussed installing an M-9 port in the ACs side window? GET SOME! GET SOME! I suspect job satisfaction is not hard to come by in theater. Nice pics.

One more change in the two years since people cared about this issue. Back then, the leadership said the ABU would only be for use in the CONUS. We would deploy with the Army uniform. Starting with this AEF, all AF personnel are going to CENTCOM in their shiny new ABUs, just in case the enemy is short on ammo. Didn't somebody ever mention to the folks at the puzzle palace that rule one in a combat zone is "don't look different"

To answer the initial question, yes it can be done. I was hired by the Kansas ANG back in 1995 to fly B-1s. I was commisioned through AMS in '96. I went through all the training and flew for about 3 years before the AF reorganized and pulled the Bones out and left the unit with KC-135Rs (no navigators) and some really cool desk jobs (they really were, no sh!t.) However, I hadn't hit my first flying gate and still enjoyed flying. I transitioned from the Guard to Active Duty. Many guys who have worked under both systems generally joined the Guard to get away from some aspect of the Active Duty lifestyle they didn't like. In my wing, I think only about 4-5 guys switched back to Active Duty. The other consideration is active duty manpower requirements. When I made the jump in 2002, the war had just kicked off and they were trying to get aviators any way they could - some guys were even being brought back after separating from the AF. Currently, the AF is trying to reduce numbers, so it might be harder to transition to Active Duty right now. Just like with uniforms in the Air Force, if you wait a year, that will probably change. There are other options to consider. I think there used to be some opportunities for Guard guys to take a 2-3 year assignment working in/with the active duty that were designed to provide "career broadening" Current guard guys can probably provide more info on that, but there are probably options there as well.

I've only been in since '95, but I'm an AF brat, and my dad has told many a story about deceased insect dating well before Animal House came out. His favorite was the time the squadron commander (F-100s at Holloman) had a few too many and somebody made a comment to the effect "Your queer if you can't dance on the bar." Several steps into the CCs dance routine, somebody else yelled "Dead Bug." Not one to be outdone, the SQ CC took a dive off the bar in perfect dead bug form (not good for PLFing). He was apparently DNIF for 2 weeks recovering from the injurys... but he didn't have to buy.