Leadership at the 'Deid

[Coasta]

Because you want to be an 0-6

That's why I quit. Have fun working in your squadron's finance shop. Some of us want to fly and teach for a living. Good luck to all the future wing kings. Seriously, I'm happy to serve under all of you... Sans bullshit of course.

Coasta

[Vandal]

Not from the Deid but rather Balad. We are running LIDAR on base in the combat zone now. WTF??

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123081451

by Staff Sgt. Travis Edwards

332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

1/8/2008 - BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Maintaining a safe and secure base for deployed members would be impossible without the help of a group of Balad Air Base Airmen who took an oath, promising to serve and protect their fellow troops.

Ensuring a safe and secure environment here are the Airmen of the 332nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, Det. 1, Provost Marshal Office, or PMO.

"We're here to create a place that is secure for everyone," said Capt. Julia Jefferson, the 332nd ESFS Det. 1 Provost Marshal, deployed from Bolling Air Force Base, D.C. "We want to make sure that when an Airman or Soldier comes in from a convoy, he has a place that is secure so he can relax."

And although infractions happen, the captain said the number of offenses here are relatively low based on the population.

"I would contribute the low number of offenses here to leadership involvement and portrayal of expectations, along with PMO's community policing and presence around the base," the captain said.

Aside from keeping the base protected, PMO members also collect and destroy contraband found during inspections and in the amnesty boxes.

Additionally, PMO Airmen respond to indirect fire attacks. While most people take cover, PMO members rush to secure the scene of impact to protect others from any unexploded ordnance and confirm full detonation or other possible UXOs.

"The responsibility of our job really hit home when two of my patrolmen told me they saw a mortar hit 50 meters to the left of their vehicle and then another 100 meters to the right -- and then I saw the crater for myself," Captain Jefferson said.

Senior Master Sgt. Scott Powers, the 332nd ESFS PMO provost sergeant, deployed from Fairchild AFB, Wash., said the team is here to serve and protect deployed members.

"Their well-being and safety is our main concern," he said. "We are doing you a favor by stopping someone from doing something unsafe, preventing them from injuring someone else."

[Mambo]

Not from the Deid but rather Balad. We are running LIDAR on base in the combat zone now. WTF??

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123081451

The way the Army drives around Balad, I don't mind if the Sky Cops run radar.

[Guest MizzNav]

He looked a little heavy, didn't he? I guess i would be too if i was a huge assbag giving speeding tickets while i was AT WAR.

WTF

[Fozzy Bear]

Can you flipping imagine it. Breathalyzer at the died? Amazing.

CMSGT Stupidpenis: "What, no alcohol related incidents in MONTHS??? Bring out the breathalyzer!"

Airman Retardedface: "Oh ya! Ive always wanted to use this on an officer and feel more powerful (STS)" (STS mine)

General Gaypantshead "Thats a great idea, we dont want people enjoying themselves in WAR!! Lets have another ATSO"

I am personally so disguisted that I cant express my disguist in words. The sad and un-understandable thing is, someday one of you all reading this and agreeing with this post, will be in command, and you will change nothing. Because you want to be an 0-6

There's actually like a fight here each week, and they are always alcohol related. Two weeks ago one landed multiple people in the hospital. I think a skirt was involved. I've slept thru every exercise here (nice to have that sticker on your door) but I don't think any of them was a full-blown ATSO were they? That would inDeid suck ass. The asshole airman with too much power - I extend that one to most cops no matter what their rank. Although, one's pretty humble right now. Someone walked into a cadillac a couple weeks ago to take a crap and view some shitter literature, when they noticed something odd. Either some jackass tried the Swiss steak, or there was a friggin grenade in the toilet. Yep, evidently some SF guy was taking care of business when it dropped off his rigging. I feel bad for the dude - no idea how the story ended for him.

Yes, I probably will be an O-6, because there's like 4 or 5 captains left in the Air Force and since the one IP is at WIC, I'm feelin due for some serious upgrades in status. Since everyone else punched, I'm gonna grab some oak leaves when I get home and start wearin em to work; may get away with it. Bar tabs and hookers are expensive - I could use the money, even though since I'm aircrew I'm scamming Big Blue out of thousands of dollars each month in Ambien. We all are, right? That's what the FlightDoc thinks - must be true. It's so great to be treated like a crackhead anytime we flop flying schedules by 12 hours. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's the interrogation at Flight Medicine that's almost like SERE, but here, they really believe you're guilty.

edited to add:

B-1 guys, do you need a SOF? Do you use them at home station?

Edited January 9, 2008 by Fozzy Bear

[tac airlifter]

with 4 deployments to balad i have several ridiculous sky cop stories. but that article reminded me about the amnesty boxes all over balad and i thought of a funny story. one night we peeked inside a big box in H6 and saw all kinds of goodies, porn, booze and a ton of 9mm rounds and even a dildo. i'm totally serious. well my loadmaster had been getting into building stuff in the woodshop to pass the time, and after looking at all the fun stuff in the amnesty box he said "i'm going to build my own box and people will start bringing all the contraband to ME!"

well sure enough he built his own box, and after a few days people would start leaving stuff in it. he mostly got trash or rifle rounds, i think he was going to empty it when someone deposited porn. after a week or so of watching the box everyday and giggling at the pure genius of the idea we came home from a flight and it was gone. i guess the man found it and took it away. there was a small scandal on base while they tried to find who built the box and a flurry of emails to '332AEW all' threatening all types of punishment if the culprit was caught.

in the end we left without incident but building your own amnesty box still ranks as one of the best ideas from this war, in my opinion.

[Guest Boom]

with 4 deployments to balad i have several ridiculous sky cop stories.

Me too. Like I found out that when being stopped at a ECP on the -130 ramp there you should not start getting "aggressive" with A1C Cop and then have five Humvees pull up full of cops and get detained.

[Techsan]

with 4 deployments to balad i have several ridiculous sky cop stories. but that article reminded me about the amnesty boxes all over balad and i thought of a funny story. one night we peeked inside a big box in H6 and saw all kinds of goodies, porn, booze and a ton of 9mm rounds and even a dildo. i'm totally serious. well my loadmaster had been getting into building stuff in the woodshop to pass the time, and after looking at all the fun stuff in the amnesty box he said "i'm going to build my own box and people will start bringing all the contraband to ME!"

well sure enough he built his own box, and after a few days people would start leaving stuff in it. he mostly got trash or rifle rounds, i think he was going to empty it when someone deposited porn. after a week or so of watching the box everyday and giggling at the pure genius of the idea we came home from a flight and it was gone. i guess the man found it and took it away. there was a small scandal on base while they tried to find who built the box and a flurry of emails to '332AEW all' threatening all types of punishment if the culprit was caught.

in the end we left without incident but building your own amnesty box still ranks as one of the best ideas from this war, in my opinion.

Great story

[Chuck17]

True enough... SF was doing "random ID checks" of EVERYONE at the BRA (how is it random if it involves everyone?) and giving breath tests to anyone who seemed under the influence. This was last weekend...

FYI- we're back on 3 beers again. It was touch-n-go for a bit but the beer truck pulled through.

WTF??? Jeez... that makes getting back from the MUFF 3 times a week at midnight a little exercise in E&E doesnt it!!!

Chuck

[scawtiedog]

My last tour, we had one of our ADO's get pulled over by the cops for doing 1 MPH over the speed limit! Sq/CC just started laughing when he heard.

[Vertigo]

There's actually like a fight here each week, and they are always alcohol related. Two weeks ago one landed multiple people in the hospital. I think a skirt was involved.

Individuals are in my squadron, yes it involved a female and two males (the female is married to one of the males). No one ended up in the hospital... a few scratches was the most damage. The argument originated that the BRA but the fight took place in the dorms and the smoke pit outside the dorms.

[M2]

Individuals are in my squadron, yes it involved a female and two males (the female is married to one of the males). No one ended up in the hospital... a few scratches was the most damage. The argument originated that the BRA but the fight took place in the dorms and the smoke pit outside the dorms.

Big fucking deal, a couple of airmen butt heads and get into a punch-up. Used to happen all the time when I was enlisted and living in the dorms.

Logically, the next step is the First Shirt cracking their asses in the opposite direction. That is how things used to work in the USAF. Nowadays a bunch of counselors show up and everyone takes a piss test to see if they have been drinking, and the entire squadron gets some overblown punishment and/or restrictions as the commander wants to make O-6 so he can park closer to the BX when he retires and it is these dirty little smudges on his record that could threaten that!

Cheers! M2

[Stiffler]

Big ######ing deal, a couple of airmen butt heads and get into a punch-up. Used to happen all the time when I was enlisted and living in the dorms.

Logically, the next step is the First Shirt cracking their asses in the opposite direction. That is how things used to work in the USAF. Nowadays a bunch of counselors show up and everyone takes a piss test to see if they have been drinking, and the entire squadron gets some overblown punishment and/or restrictions as the commander wants to make O-6 so he can park closer to the BX when he retires and it is these dirty little smudges on his record that could threaten that!

Cheers! M2

Well said M2. People fight. Deal with it. We arent in gradeschool anymore.

hell, even in grade school, all you got was a detention.

Its insane. Just insane.

And for the person on here who used the fight example as a reasonable reason why they give breathalyzers, etc, I hope i never fall under your command. Geesh. Relax everyone, and Ill pour y'all the first Caffrey's.

[Fozzy Bear]

Well said M2. People fight. Deal with it. We arent in gradeschool anymore.

And for the person on here who used the fight example as a reasonable reason why they give breathalyzers, etc, I hope i never fall under your command. Geesh. Relax everyone, and Ill pour y'all the first Caffrey's.

WTF? As someone who is actually here, I was giving examples of how there IS in fact jackasses doing stupid things that result in less beer for me! That's it. I don't remember defending Jack Schidt! Thanks for skimming thru my post. Preciate it.

[Guest Hueypilot812]

I've talked to relatives that were in previous wars (WWII, Korea, Vietnam) and they didn't have to worry about uniform Nazis, etc.

I can remember back when we had to turn our patches in prior to flying, and stepping to an airplane that was broke. We figured we could use a "real" meal instead of grab-n-go sandwiches, and head for the chow hall promising to bring the crew members we left at the airplane some food. At the door we are all told by the uniform Nazi that we are out of uniform and we can't enter the chow hall.

I don't understand how we get yelled at for not having black or OD socks in the AOR, but then yelled at because we don't have our reflective belt on in the AOR. Then there was the collective rolling of eyes base-wide at Salem when the Fun Burgler sent out that multi-page attachment on how to properly wear a PT uniform (such as height and color of socks, allowed overlap of shirt over your shorts when tucked in, etc). I'm sure all of you love trying to outprocess while flying at night...the shoe clerks look at you like you have two heads when you tell them you don't have time between 0800L and 1600L to do paperwork. To them, it's as if the war stops and R&R begins at 1600 sharp.

[Skitzo]

B-1 guys, do you need a SOF? Do you use them at home station?

Yes and Yes

The latest practical joke Flt Medicine is playing is not telling anyone that they are now closed from 0000-0600, sucks for our bros going to go fly in Afghanistan who had no idea and didn't get their gos.

[HerkFE]

What's the latest on the billeting situation at the Deid? Some of my bros are heading over in a couple weeks...

[Guest Boom]

What's the latest on the billeting situation at the Deid? Some of my bros are heading over in a couple weeks...

I'll tell you in a few days, I'm going over there.

[Fozzy Bear]

MUD... everywhere. It's cold as hell and rainy. Millenium village opens this Friday. First in are aircrew here for 179 days or more, and others here a long deployment/ PCS. I think Bones are like the first in. I THINK.

[Vertigo]

It's extremely over crowded at the moment. We've got more people coming in than are going out. There's a wait for EVERYTHING. Throw in the cold and the mud...

[speedy782]

It's not that crowded out here. There a few more people in line for steak and shrimp night, but you don't have to wait in the caddy's or wait for laundry. It is cold both during the day and the night and I think we are in the clear from the rain for a couple of days. The pool is closed til March, so don't bring your swim trunks.

On the plus side, I have noticed a lot of the uniform nazis are staying inside or just keeping their mouths shut b/c it is too cold too worry about tucked in shirts

[Guest Yoda]

The Millenium Village is a shining example of the brains at work in the Deed.

Apaarently construction was completed early 07.....but then someone realized there was no plumbing. Ooops. Kind of a set back to put plumbing into structures "after" completion. They have had photos of this place on af.mil since I arrived in August. Yet, they still find ways to keep pushing back the opening. Who knows what the latest set back was.

Can't really pinpoint how the rack and stack will go as far as filling up these rooms, but common sense would say to fill it with permanent party folks, and folks with over 179 day tours.....but then what? Do you leave rooms empty? No way that place will be filled with just those folks.

Vertigo is dead on about the over-crowding. Just an FYI to new arrival's: your entire team does not need to travel together (ie... all 20 of you don't need to all go to the chow hall, then all get on the bus to the shoppette) THAT makes things crowded.

Cold as hell too.

[HoHum]

#1 sign that you're a REMF:

Desert Defender Photos

The Desert Defenders Association (DDA) is sponsoring "Defender's Pictures" near the ### ### on XX January from XX00-XX00. This is a chance for members of the community to come out and get their "This is what I did on my deployment" photo. You will get a chance to wear a flak vest and helmet while you pose with various military weapons and a HMMWV. Digital photos will be taken by DDA members and provided to you. There is no charge, but the DDA will gladly accept any monetary donation you would like to make to help support future DDA activities. Please come out and ENJOY the opportunity!!!

"So you actually shot a gun in the war?" "Ummmmmm....no."

Edited January 16, 2008 by The_Ginger

[tac airlifter]

wow, that is one of the most absurd things i have ever heard. fake military pictures for folks at the deid? as bad as some of the other spots are in the AOR, i do believe you'd get you ass kicked for doing that around the army.

[HerkDerka]

Apaarently construction was completed early 07.

Construction was "complete" in early 2006. That's how long they've been sitting there waiting for plumbing.

wow, that is one of the most absurd things i have ever heard. fake military pictures for folks at the deid? as bad as some of the other spots are in the AOR, i do believe you'd get you ass kicked for doing that around the army.

It's nothing new.

HD