Prosuper

I say we come to a compromise and sit down both the A-10 and B-1 and pull out some old F-4 D's,

The last Crow War Chief, saw this featured in Ken Burns "The War". https://www.mtpioneer.com/2013-June-The-Last-Crow-War-Chief.html

Wasn't this a problem inside the wire in the AOR, we had a so called friendly start shooting up our guys more than once then leadership told everyone to start packing even Airmen and those occurrences slowed or stopped. Being deployed and stateside are 2 different things like you can tell the guy you share a tent/bhut with , you can tell if things are not right with your bud and try to get him help, stateside you only see him on duty hours. We have this false allusion stateside everything is fine and we are safe, read off of drudge that Marines are losing more guys to car accidents than combat. Also read that we lose 22 G.I's a day to suicides. Hell as a commander I would think I would like to keep my guys in the shit, their safer, can shoot back, and staying off the interstates and bars and also they are not alone to handle problems. We have guys who doing this crap since 2001 and have been at war their entire career and doing multiple combat tours, now we are going to make these guys( caged tigers) garrison soldiers. I surprised that this doesn't happen more often. Anecdotal story here, one day we had a active shooter at KTIK when a divorce went bad and a Airmen killed himself along with his kids in base housing, my SP bud was ready with his team to go in but Base CC gave it to the county sheriff which took time and maybe the lives of those kids. The reason for this story is that Base CC would rather let it go down the way it did than risk losing a SP and losing his career. I saw the prick bastard smile when he was told the Airman was a 552nd troop ( tenant unit) and not a 72nd troop(Base Group). Now I ask the question with the current guys who are base CC's, non rated, finance, personnel , very very very risk adverse, tater tot serving type guys that they would trust us to defend ourselves?

As a grey beard who has maintained 707's and -135's I was saddened to read the report about the lack of training. These occurrence's have been with this type of aircraft since the B-47 was fitted with a yaw damper system. Better technology has been stuffed inside the aircraft since 1955 but for the outside the aerodynamics remain the same except for the engines. It's tragic that some of these lessons written in blood have not been taught to a newer generation. Excerpt from Tex Johnston The 707 wings are swept back at 35 degrees and, like all swept-wing aircraft, displayed an undesirable "Dutch roll" flying characteristic that manifested itself as an alternating yawing and rolling motion. Boeing already had considerable experience with this on the B-47 and B-52, and had developed the yaw damper system on the B-47 that would be applied to later swept wing configurations like the 707. However, many new 707 pilots had no experience with this phenomenon, as they were transitioning from straight-wing propeller-driven aircraft such as the Douglas DC-7 and Lockheed Constellation. On one customer acceptance flight, where the yaw damper was turned off to familiarize the new pilots with flying techniques, a trainee pilot's actions violently exacerbated the Dutch roll motion and caused three of the four engines to be torn from the wings. The plane, a brand new 707-227, N7071, destined for Braniff, crash-landed on a river bed north of Seattle at Arlington, Washington, killing four of the eight occupants.[17] In his autobiography, test pilot Tex Johnston described a Dutch roll incident he experienced as a passenger on an early commercial 707 flight. As the aircraft's movements did not cease and most of the passengers became ill, he suspected a misrigging of the directional autopilot (yaw damper). He went to the cockpit and found the crew unable to understand and resolve the situation. He introduced himself and relieved the ashen-faced captain who immediately left the cockpit feeling ill. Johnston disconnected the faulty autopilot and manually stabilized the plane "with two slight control movements".[18]

Is this the Congressman that everyone is referring to? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-the-air-forces-f-22-fighter-jet-making-pilots-sick/

Well at least your not in the Army as a company commander, this poor guy thought the same way I did when I was a flight chief with a bunch of knuckleheads who did not get it. https://www.duffelblog.com/2013/11/outgoing-company-commander-hate/

Safety CBT's have don't add anything or turn off the audience, I think we should change it up a little bit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5xPV27MxkF8

A blue water navy with one aircraft carrier that may or may not be able to do flight ops does not project power. A large sub force does not guarantee success either , just look at the Kriegsmarine in both world wars.

Probably why the 89th got a bunch of new C-32's. Boeing got the heavy mx contract for the 707's (C-137's) and when the first two go through they are found to have discrepancies beyond economical repair and are scrapped. What a coincidence. Boeing is known to go to customers flying older types they support and offer them a deal on newer airframes if they park their older frames. Kalitta has been asked a few times to park their 747's classics for newer -400's. Also it saves Boeing money by not keeping engineering and spares. If you look around the world at operators flying DC-10's and MD-11's the list is getting smaller everyday, FedEX , UPS, and World are the only U.S. operators that I know of still operating them in any numbers and they are buying new 777's, and 767's freighters. AAR Corp supplies parts for the KC-10's and the KDC-10 RNAF aircraft and the last time I got a part for the 2 CNS/ATM birds it wasn't cheap. On the flip side you have hundreds of parked C-135's at AMARC for parts so the USAF is better able to control costs. Plus it one huge pain in the ass to do any off station mx on that #2 tail engine.

The plane has a FE, watch out for the budget ax. Just saying.

Boeing subcontracted it to Rockwell Collins then RC subcontracted ARINC in OKC which did the first 2 birds. Then RC bought ARINC just for their avionics. The ARINC facility in OKC is finishing up its Navy E-6 contract then most likely be sold or shuttered. RC wants no part of the MRO business.

Ran across this article, it gives us the inside baseball stuff that goes on between the West Wing and the Pentagon. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/11/obama-vs-the-generals-99379.html

This is why as veterans we need to be active in all the organizations such as the American Legion, VFW, etc. Noticing our generation is just getting into politics and running for Congress, need to start having vets up there instead of community organizers.

Even Hitler the national socialist hates Obamacare.

This is a classic example of the saying " be careful for what you wish for". I have no sympathy for anyone who helps in sending Nancy Pelosi back to Congress. They got what they voted for. Elections have consequences.

The National Enquirer did break the John Edwards mistress story and using campaign funds to keep it quiet.

They did! They both got jobs away from the evil whiteys and got assigned to the EO office.

If it makes you feel any better they are parking KC-135R's at AMARC now. I am hearing rumors that some E-3's will be parked also so if want to go a plane that seems that won't get retired maybe the Commemorative Air Force is for you.

I remember as a young SSgt back in the 89th he came out to look at my C-137B with the Wing CC to ask questions about the jet for research for his next book 'Cardinal of the Kremlin". My mx crew and Tom had long visit, with Tom doing most of the questioning just sucking up everything we told him. I claim that as one of the highlights of my career, most of the info we told him made it into the book, in the book he embellished though by saying the Crew Chief "me" was a SMSGT that could teach manners to a linebacker. I liked the way he wrote that though.

Back in the early 80's at EGUN we had our Wing CC request in the base newspaper that everybody shave of their mustache before a ORI, remember a mustache out of regs means the Taliban win. Just wondering if Kandahar has been attacked since he has taken the job.

If I had to work on that Lockheed flying piece of shite I would be in a foul mood also, I'll take Buffs in ND then A C-5 in Dover. Also if your getting attitude you might be talking to dudes at a enroute i.e. Hawaii where its a good place to be broke for mx .In my day we preferred to break at Clark AB. Unlike Bagram where if you get the engines started to get some airspeed over the wings your going. Got nothing but kudos for my 737-400's and NG's I work on now.

It happens the other way too, back in the 90's in AWACS there were enlisted weapons controllers until they decided to make the officers rated and we all know enlisted can't be rated and do the same job. So if drone pilots are rated now does that make it impossible for enlisted to be ever pilots of anything? Another point would it be better to have enlisted pilots who would stay in the job and become very proficient for a long period compared to a officer on the command career track. In a other AFSC's like air traffic controller they have officer controllers but they do the bare minimum to stay qualified due to leadership responsibilities and the enlisted do the heavy lifting so there is the model we need maybe to look at. Compared to Army Aviation the officers fly but just to stay qualified even in the AOR where the CWO's fly the majority of the missions.

Little long but informative. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TqtCOxeGAHE

You have a point.