MD

Its for exactly this kind of dumbass crap the AF does that makes it the absolute laughing stock of the armed services. Sock checks and being called out at the gym? Postively pathetic. We keep this up, we won't need to work to lose wars, we can do it ourselves with our own asinine rules and regs. We're well on our way even now..... Why won't leadership do anything? Because we have to have actual leaders first, not square-filling place holder REMFs that we seem to always have.

Big Eye, College Eye, Disco, et al, as I understand were in fact EC-121s...the AWACS of the era. Crown was the HC-130, and the ABCCC EC callsigns Brick posted are true. Doesn't lend credibility to whiterock, though, just a clarification of the facts.

I did the same thing in the stinkbug. I think we were referred to as Category 5Cs.......akin to WSOs with landing currency; since the jet did everything else. lol Is this like the 1A flying category that the flight records people refer to us as? I'll have to ask our 1CO tomorrow what a 2A is, I'll clear it us for us.

In the pic below, there's a US flag underneath his callsign below the canopy rail. Does he also have an air-air kill of a US aircraft to his credit too?

Kind of like a 55+ year old using the colloquialism of "....Later, Mike..." in his signoff on the previous page. Something a 20 yr old would use. On a related note, I have the only Stinkbug air-air kill.......just thought I'd let that be known to the masses. And as soon as I complete the photoshop.....I mean, pick the pics up from the photo shop....I'll post them here.

For your entertainment, here's the results of an investigation and subsequent outing of a guy claiming to be an F-14 pilot from 4 years ago; turns out he did work at Pensacola as a civilian engineer. But he was all over the place with F-14, flying, and cruise stories that just didn't add up. Gave out tons of advice to civilian pilots about anything mil. But at least he could have gotten his facts straight, like saying he was flying out of Miramar NAS with VF-31.......in 2003. Was fun to nail the guy to the wall. The evidence and the bust: http://forums.jetcareers.com/general-topic...esentation.html The busted, complete with quibbling: http://forums.jetcareers.com/general-topic...logies-all.html Also outed a Swivel Chair Patrol cadet who was claiming to be an F-16 pilot with the 421st at Hill. Referred to it as the 421st Tactical Fighter Squadron all the time, which if he was in TAC for that to be true, he'd have been flying at 12 years old. Claimed to have gone from T-1s to T-38s in UPT and was turned down by the T-Birds for medical condition after (doing his math) having been Vipers for a grand total of 1.5 years! That's one fast burner. Dead giveaway was the pic of him in his flightsuit with the ROTC pin on the c-cap.

Kind of unrelated, kind of related question here: 1. Do all 130 crew get trained at Little Rock, to include USN, USCG, USMC? Is this initial qual for these guys and they get follow-on training from their own services? Or do they train their own from scratch? 2. Is it true that the USMC uses enlisted personnel as Navs on their 130s? Not being in the community, I've always wondered.

Some USN aircrews carried Glock 19s during Desert Storm. Can't remember if they were issued or not.

I see the point you're making. However on these examples here, I'm not sure AIS training would've made a difference. These two accidents weren't the result of some cosmic knowlege the crew didn't have; they were failures of extremely basic instrument procedures. Yes, there are many contributing factors to both, but the BL is back to the basics for these crews. Dubrovnik: Have the right and proper equipment for the approach you're going to attempt, not half-ass it. Jackson Hole: Know where you're departing out of and the terrain therein, and follow the stated departure procedure. Both of these accidents were stuff to have been learned in UPT. Both of these were needless tragedies that should be learned from. I'm not knocking AIS, however I don't think AIS training could've necessarily prevented the mistakes made on these ones. The advanced stuff doesn't help if the basics aren't known/followed, IMHO.

<thread revival> some more pics. doesn't get much closer than this. couldn't even imagine......

yeah, those parts that I saw. Was the real wild west before that from what I heard. Now, it seems to have become the new Langley of Afghan, complete with the BS. The 'Deid east, I suppose.

I remember back then there being only half a side of runway being open, left or right of center changing by week or so; and having to make the center turnoff when landing on 3, lest you roll out into the abyss at night and have to back taxi, or the night circling approach to 21 in the rain under NVGs cuz of the winds and the crappy runway lighting from that direction...... Sped was right at home there, though, at that time.

At Holloman, our A-models there were flown mostly by qualed 117 guys, although there have been T-38 only guys every now and again.

Same problem the A-1 had........massive torque from that giant R-3350 radial (worst with rapid power application). Bit both some of the inexperienced USAF pilots as well as the smaller-stature VNAF (South Viet) pilots flying the thing. It's a manageable thing though......all in the pilots finese (or lack thereof), IMHO. Real neat aircraft though. Same pointy-nose mafia as now, was in existance back then too.......didn't want a plane with a tailwheel and a prop; regardless of what kind of performance or utility it might have had. Would've been fun as hell to taxi into last chance to get armed up in one of these baby's.........if just for the sheer nostalgia of it. Would've made a great Sandy platform too, in certain environments......esp for the RESCORT. Least in the Hog, I got to do the closest thing to this plane.

This is the exact reason the USAF should've purchased the Piper PA-48 Enforcer.

Speaking of -135s, I don't ever remember seeing any E models in theatre during any of my deployments there. Were they not being utilized?

Reserve firefighter for the local county fire department.

Another one to add: At your ops squadron, whenever you're visiting scheduling and you happen to notice the daily schedule looking screwed up, just move the pucks around to where you think they should go. Scheduling always appreciates this kind of assistance to their puzzle and the initiative demonstrated will be duly noted.........

The T-39s are contractor operated, but I thought the T-1s were a Det of the T-1 squadron from Laughlin.

Maybe now the details behind the death of LtGen Robert Bond will formally be acknowleged. Rumor was his crash in the NTTR in April of 1984 was while flying a 4477th MiG-23. There's a small black granite memorial located in the middle of nowhere in the NTTR inscribed with: BOBBY BOND APRIL 26, 1984 HE WAS A MAN OF GREAT STRENGTH A WARM AND FAITHFUL FRIEND, WHO GAVE HIS LIFE FOR THE COUNTRY HE LOVED [ 17. November 2006, 23:54: Message edited by: MD ]

Best thing is, now, that units with a proud history will be converted or resurrected into squadrons, etc, under Cyber Command. The proud Vanguards of the 76th TFS, a longtime A-10 unit from Alex, have for a while been the 76th Space Control Squadron following the closure of England AFB. While the former 527th TFTAS, a longtime Alconbury F-5E aggressor squadron, is now proudly the 527th Space Aggressor Squadron.

For a baseball game flyover, I got the fun of being in the ground with the 113. Just for giggles, I gave the announcer a handwritten note of BS to read just in case things didn't go as planned. As can be guessed, the singer went faster than anticipated and briefed to expect as my Hogs pressed inbound. On cue, the announcer began to read the "Ladies and Gentlemen, please direct your attention to the north.........blah blah blah", which bought the little time needed to close the gap. Worked.

He was trying to get the gig to take over as CC of Cope Thunder.....and wrote a full email resume to some general detailing his "capabilities". IIRC, I believe E.O. Osteen got the gig instead, so Z showed up at HMN.

Oh how all that changes once you get out into the ops world. Those who fvck up and suck up, seem to move up. Those who kick ass, but are missing a masters degree...sucks to be you. There are guys that can look great on paper and in their records, but I wouldn't want anywhere near my wing in combat....not even want in the AOR with me. There are too many "Z's" of the world, guys who are great at punching tickets, raving about SAS and pro's at power point, but have little other use, yet somehow keep moving up. [ 12. October 2006, 16:03: Message edited by: MD ]

YGBSM. Yet more. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6092700996.html Again and again we self-censor. We pass restrictive laws supposedly to protect ourselves physically, and now society and its institutions feel it necessary to restrict our access to culture and ideas, so our minds and spirits are also now being restricted. And we're supposedly winning the GWOT. One may think a mere opera is unimportant, but the terrorists must be amazed we are giving in so quickly. Bin Laden said back in the 1990s when he was organizing that he suspected the West was a soft touch. Nice to know that the west (all inclusive) is proving him more and more correct.