tac airlifter

never been stationed at the deid but foolish people make their way onto every air base in the AOR. a few months ago i was walking to chow with my crew in balad, and a SUV rolls up on us and we hear a whistle. it was a first shirt from the fighter squadron trying to get my engineers attention. well i walk over there with him, and this guy says "hey airman (to my eng) i dont think the reflective air force logo on the back of your PT gear is as reflective as everyone elses. did you buy counterfit pt gear?" its one of the stupidest things i have ever heard. long story short, being the AC i had to handle this guy before my eng said something to aggrivate the situation. what the shirt wanted was for us to call little rock clothing sales (where the offending uniform was purchased) and ask the manager to be sure they are only purchasing pt gear from an approved seller. needless to say i responded "ok shirt, we'll handle it" and walked away. people don't complain about long days and hot ass sun, mortars and not having enough food. people complain about having to deal with bullshit like this.

although i don't have a copy of it, the best patch i saw was from a UPT class years ago that had a guy wearing a flight suit with a parrot on his shoulder and it said "i thought this was pirate training." but that nurse patch is HOT!

i wear dogtags on every flight, and since i am too stupid to remember them on every flight i just wear them all the time. i fly 3-4 times a week and it is eay to remember to always dress the same. also, i dont know any herk guys who fly with a scarf. in fact "rings and scarves removed" is a pretty standard part of the AC brief.

"We would save a lot of money if we never actually flew!! No fuel burn and no Mx costs, it's a little ridiculous!! We used to use a standard "ramp load" for training sorties, the we significantly reduced this load for "fuel savings measures", now instead of doing assaults at 120K we were doing them a 104K, very negative and worthless training!! Again, looks real good on paper, why go out and fly a training sortie if it's unrealistic, only to go try and do the real thing on a rainy cloudy night to a no kidding dirt LZ in the middle of Afghanistan at 125K and destroy the aircraft and kill the crew, because your training was flawed because of a fuel savings program, some of this stuff is not quantifiable to folks unfamiliar with Ops" i could not have said it any better burt. you are never saving anything by neutering training.

"In Herks, you don't want to tanker gas more because it's a performance/payload-limiting issue than a conservation issue" i guess that depends on how much gas you're talking about. if i take off at 125K vs 120K barring some unusual temp or pressure altitude it usually doesnt hurt my performance. and thats my point-- AMC fuel conservation SII prevents me from putting on a couple extra thousand pounds even though i think i may need it. so i understand the emphasis on strat air/tanker guys not putting on too much when you are dealing with tens of thousands of pounds. but i have flown maybe 5 missions where the 'costs gas to carry gas' performance data applies. mostly its me wanting more gas and being denied an extra 3 thousand pounds. i just dont understand the logic of trying to order hercs not to keep a little extra on when tankers are flying around with their gear down or dumping.

alright, here is what i don't understand about fuel conservation measures. how does putting less gas on board save gas? if you tanker more gas and have extra when you land, thats just less gas you have to put back on, right? i know you reach a point where it costs gas to carry gas due to a heavier weight aircraft, i've just never really been at that point. so is this only a real factor for the strat air types? because as a herc guy it all seems a little silly. AMC SII fuel conservation measures means i can't ask for an extra 5K on board to do pro after a tac ride; it doesnt mean any gas is saved per se, only that additional training was not accomplished. and deployed, i dont feel like i am saving gas since they fill it back up as soon as i land anyway. so if someone could offer some insight i would appreciate it.

you're right man, i forgot entirely about the C12 option. and i also knew a few copilots in alaska that were sent to C17s recently when they took over for no reason other than being in the right place at the right time. i know there are weird things that pop up every now and then, but for the most part phoenix is the primary means of switching airframes without leaving the MAJCOM. and you're also right that UAVs leave many options open for follow on. we'll see how it works out for those people counting on a UAV slot to give them J models to ramstein in 3 years. and i also neglected to mention the 89th for you senior IP types.

i have also never seen or heard someone doing phoenix out of the herk who was not an IP. and i have never heard of someone leaving the herk for any fighter track. from 130s you can get into other heavies through phoenix or go afsoc or white jets; those are the only ways to change airframes while staying active duty.