outbreak

Class size depends a lot on the detachment. I had over 300 just in my AS100 class at Riddle. Out of that, 35 went to field training. A handful less commissioned, but that's tough to count because of all the 5-year types. We also had a disproportionate number of rated folk compared to the rest of the country. But that's Riddle. Almost everyone wanted a slot, so the number that got one is higher.

I've never been saluted by a civvie gate guard. Only the uniformed SF guys do that. My current base is the only one I've been to where SF actually guards the gate on a regular basis. What really confused me the first time was when I rolled through in civvies, just goin to the class 6, and the SF guy saluted me.

So there I was, walkin out of the squadron, unable to avoid two MX E's walking in. One dude legitimately had his hands full, so I wasn't expecting one from him. The other guy transferred his headset to his other hand to "fill it up." They gave a verbal greeting, I'm not the type to chew out some E in the middle of a parking lot (or anywhere for that matter) so I just kept walking. The E-7 who was 5 steps behind me wasn't so forgiving. He tore into the headset carrier for not saluting an officer, blah blah blah. I was putting my bag in the car when the E-7 passed me, saluted sharply, "Good afternoon, sir!" and then dropped it before I could get my hand past my name patch...struck me as ironic that he bitched out some kids for not saluting and then didn't even salute me properly. When I'm the lower-ranking, I always went with the "LT's don't salute each other" technique. I always salute O-3's, even when they don't want me to, because I know I'll find one that does at some point. I return salutes even when I'm walking with higher-ranking guys. I salute higher ranking officers even when I'm walking with one. Just cuz I'm walking with a Major doesn't mean a Capt doesn't outrank me. ETA: Anyone find they don't expect officer rank on BDU/ABU's anymore? I almost missed an O-4 a couple weeks ago because he had all subdued rank on his BDU's and his cover, and I rarely see officers in anything but blues or bags.

The rumint isn't much better here. Word on the street is the J model will be at the 40th within the next couple years, but the 39th will still be flying C-130's for a while. +2 on Sharrons. Abilene Indoor Shooting Range is a small but nice facility. I still gotta check out Abilene Gun Club. They have $35/year military membership. The Southwest side of town feels like any other suburb. The mall, a Lowes AND a Home Depot, just about any fast food you could want, a couple sit-down chains, all the comforts of suburbia.

Hmmm...Lockheed job, Hogs in the guard. I smell Martin's. I have a buddy in the Army guard that was deployed 6mos after going to work for Homeland Security. They stuck him in a short-term admin slot for the first six months and told him he'd get to his real job when he got back from the desert. No problems. Legally, they have to hold your job for you while you're off in service of Uncle Sam.

I figured he walked on water over to the lifeboat, touched his toes, set up a teleprompter and talked until they killed themselves.

Dude, $100 at the mall will get you a decent suit. I have 2 dark blue suits in my closet. One is my blues, and the other one fits right. Go at least buy some nice pants.

How long does it take Pops to finish a jacket. If I make a stop at Incirlik, will I leave Turkey with my jacket or will it have to be shipped home? I don't have a clue how long its gonna take my squadron to get my jacket.

Maybe they could use some of this money to get more of the current uniforms on the shelves, instead of only stocking XXXXL PT gear.

+1

The Monogrammer does all our uniform stuff at Dyess, at least for the Herks. I think they did them for about $5 each. http://themonogrammer.com/

Uhhh...Merchant Sailors can't defend themselves because your wife is afraid of guns?

I went to visit a friend at Scott while I was at the schoolhouse in Little Rock, and it happened to be the weekend of the airshow. We went over late on Sunday and end up at the C-130H3 from the Rock. I have no freakin clue about anything on the H3, so I'm lookin at the flight deck and talking to the Eng when a woman and 3 little kids climb up to the flight deck. She looks at the Eng and says "This airplane looks kinda beat up. how old is it?" Eng: "Ma'am this airplane was built in 1991." Woman:"Wow, that's really old!" Eng: "Its actually one of the newest in the fleet." Me: "I flew one last week that was built in 1964." She had this total shock look on her face and got off that dangerous antique as fast as she could.

That's "Commander" rank, according to the reporter.

Accelerated Nav program? hahahahahahaha. Thats funny. Closest thing to that would be what I did. No IFS (its been almost 2 years), no ASBC, 6 weeks casual before I classed up, no rolling. Its more luck than skill, and its certainly not an accelerated program.

We had our drop tonight at the Auger Inn. I got slick 130's to Dyess. I'm fricken excited! The Nav drop had: C-130 Dyess C-130 Cheyenne C-130 Little Rock MC-130 Eglin AC-130 Hurlburt K-135 McConnell (X2) B-52 Barksdale (X2) E-3 Tinker Everyone was happy. I forgot the EWO drop, but I can post it later.

did you send him out for a spool of flight line, or a box of grid squares? how bout a bucket of prop wash.

We just had a drop on friday, and there were a few Navs going to AFSOC including a new Spear to Cannon. A couple EWO's got Gunships and Talons. I haven't seen a Shadow drop in a while. We've been hearing the rumors about no AFSOC drops for Navs for a while, but they keep dropping. I've also never seen a drop reported in the Wingspread, but the graduations are always reported, along with each grad's aircraft and base assignment. I drop in 2 weeks, but I put down Slicks. The 562nd/563rd are moving to PCola in 2009-2010 from the briefing we got last week. They'll be a 19th AF detachment ops group or something. They'll be pumping out true CSO's at that point, with everyone getting Advanced Nav (low level, airdrop) as well as Advanced Electronic Warfare training. Everyone will start in the T-6 and move to the T-1, as well as new Simulators currently in development(I've seen them. F-ing cool system). The T-43 Strike Pigs will be retiring to sunny DM.

Not really a problem. A parent can legally buy a handgun for their child (basically it would be their until he turns 21), and in most states its not illegal for a private sale of a handgun as long as the buyer is 18.

I wouldn't think it would be an issue anymore. Didn't we change to a us.af.mil format without the name? shouldn't the emails have stopped?

one of my CFI's used to set all his radio calls to music. He would get a song goin on his phone, hold it up to the mike and then transmit. Practice area freqs and the company ramp freq were plagued with animal noises while he was employed there.

A friend of mine (we'll call him Joe) used to work ground at a civilian airport in FL. He had a hand held and a base station in the gas truck that would listen to tower for some early warning. The local news helo had just taken off, and tower gave them departure instructions to stay south of the LOC rwy 9L. apparently someone heard, spoke, or saw something wrong cuz the helo flies his standard departure. Tower: ### I TOLD YOU TO STAY SOUTH OF THE LOC RWY 9L. I GOT TRAFFIC ON THE ILS AND YOU'RE NOT DOING WHAT I CLEARED YOU FOR!!!! helo: Roger Tower, correcting back ###. (short pause) THAT STUPID BITCH, DO YOU BELIEVE THAT SHIT...(profanity ensues) Joe: hhhoooootttttt mike. Tower: ### THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR. CALL TOWER WHEN YOU GET BACK HERE!!!! helo: sorry about that, tower, I'll give you a call. (short pause) THAT DUMB FU(KING BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!(more profanity ensues) Joe: hhhooooootttt mike. helo: shit...

Here's my contribution

Agreed. I thought she was good, and better looking and more professinal than most of the contestants I saw before her. Nice little PR spot before her audition too.

Stateside, I wouldn't care much. Your average Airman is not as easily identified in the CONUS and could easily blend in with the crowd. This happened at Osan and that carries two problems. 1) Americans are easily identified overseas, especially in Asia and the Middle East. That brings on the second problem which is that we represent the United States at all times but especially when overseas. I don't want the countries that host our bases thinking we're all a bunch of thugs that don't know how to wear clothes that cover our a$$es. IMHO, regardless of race, people that have to hold their own pants up as they walk around look like fools that don't understand the purpose of a belt. I don't want to be grouped in with those morons.