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I love reading all of the responses on this forum and hearing how officers feel about this situation. I would say from my experience as a support guy vs the ops world I live in now, that we literally are living in 2 different Air Forces. I remember when I was in Korea as a young SrA and I saw an A-10 or F-16 pilot with his shades hanging around his neck facing backwards. I remember thinking to myself that these guys get to do whatever they want and that an Amn couldn't get away with that. After cross-training some yrs later I would like to think that after actually flying and supporting the warfighter that I don't get wrapped around the axle by these minor issues. I'm not a big fan of correcting officers, I believe other officers should do that. The only time I have ever said anything to an officer was if something was obviously wrong (i.e ribbons upside down) to stop someone from being embarrassed. Officers should probably understand by reading 36-2618 that this type of crap is hammered into us from Basic trng and at every PME stop. It will NEVER end, it's sad but I don't see this ever going away. If someone corrects you and they are wrong, let them know it. Use the old adage, praise in public, criticize in private. I would love to see some officers grow some balls and correct some the crap going on in the AF. If a sweaty tries to correct an A-10 pilot after supporting a TIC in Afghanistan ( I actually heard about this happening) then it's the duty of said officer to "correct" this persons thinking/mentality of what is really important. I have an original photo from the Vietnam War in my man room hanging proudly. The picture is of 3 soldiers firing rounds from a Howitzer. The soldiers are obviously in the middle of a battle but they are far from being in the correct uniform. Priorities??? BTW, no disrespect meant by my growing balls comment, I just know it's what the AF needs right now in the crucial leadership positions.

Tebow, meet God.

So she's available...

How much you can squat?...are you fucking serious...how about this, you squat shit internet tough guy. Choke yourself...

Big '2' on living off base. I understand being nervous about it at first, but ask yourselves if you really want to go through the hassle of moving again after just a year. As far as the pets go, I've heard rumors that the quarantine is a thing of the past. It was still in effect when we PCS'd and we tried something called "pet scheme" that was supposed to allow us to do a sort of "pre-quarantine" so we wouldn't have to lock up the pets for 6 months when we got there. Problem was, the vet we used did one step out of order and the Brits didn't accept our paperwork. Whatever the current system is, make sure your documentation is perfect. As far as the vehicles go, a smaller LHD car is doable, but keep in mind that commutes will be along narrow country roads and it will be very diffucult to see around that JCB (tractor....they're all over the place in East Anglia) to pass from your seating position. If I had it to do over, I would've sold my US spec vehicles beforehand and stuck with RHD. If you have kids, consider looking in Ely. Nice village, not too far from base or Cambridge and you can get more space for the money. It will still be much smaller than what you are used to though....just be prepared to adapt your standards and live like the locals. Sans kids, live in Cambridge. Big picture, nothing compares to living overseas. There will be inconviences but if you go in with an open mind it has the potential to be a few of the best years of your life.

I can't help you with #2 and it's been a while since I left, but here's some info for you Do NOT get base housing! First off, much of base housing is not actually on base - when we were there, there was housing that was as far as 10 miles from base. The houses in England are small, and the base houses are no excepion. The only real advantage to being on base is that the outlets are 110V. There was a fairly new set of houses in (I think) Thetford that were actually pretty nice, but once you're on the housing list, you have to take what they give you based on availability and your rank. If you turn down an on-base house, the clock starts ticking on how long you have to rent a house. If you do want to live on base, Lakenheath and Mildenhall share many facilities, so there shouldn't be any difference for housing priority in being stationed at one place over the other. Most importantly, living off base lets you experience more of England - being within walking distance from the god pubs is always a must! A couple pieces of advice: - Ship your car and pack out as early as possible. As soon as you think you can do without your car stateside and have your household goods packed, do it. It can take up to a couple months for that stuff to get over. You will be given three separate pickups - one for household goods, one for "hold baggage" (several hundred pounds that goes via air and arrives quicker) and the stuff you put in storage. As far as cars to bring over, don't listen to people who say that larger cars won't fit - not true. We brought over an SUV and there are plenty of folks who bring over F150s, Expeditions,etc. They're not a problem on the roads, but sometimes it is a tight squeeze in the parking lots. If you have a second car, that will be on your dime to ship it. - Measure your furniture. With the houses being smaller, you may look at houses that have rooms where your stuff might not fit. When you're looking at houses, also consider the doors and hallways (which are also small) to see if you can fit the larger stuff through. I've heard stories of folks who had to cut king-size box springs in half in order to get them up spiral staircases to a second floor bedroom. - Storage: If you can do without it for three years, leave it behind. -- Put your large furniture in storage. We put our guest bedset, formal dining room set, and entertainment center into storage and it was a good thing we did. As I mentioned, the houses are very small, and it's tough to find places that will fit large furniture. We have minimal room in our bedroom with the bedset and dressers. -- Put your extra clothes in storage. The British houses don't have closets, though you'll get a few shrunks from the furniture office (two for each military member and one per dependant). Each shrunk is only a few feet wide, so there's not a whole lot of room for extra. Definitely bring a couple warm jackets, though. -- Put your small 110V appliances (stuff that costs less than about $30) and appliances with motors (vacuums, washer/dryer, microwave) in storage. Anything that is not dual voltage needs to run off one of the bulky transformer that furniture office will give you. Even if it is dual voltage or running off a transformer, the difference in volts/amps will eventually burn out the motors. As far as the good and bad, we loved most everything about being over there, but particularly the travel. Take advantage of the cheap airlines (Ryan Air, Easy Jet) and see as much of Europe as you can. For living, Newmarket, Cambridge, and Bury St Edmunds were popular locations with nice towns and a good nightlife (Cambridge more so of the three). They're all roughly south of the bases, but the first two are closer to London and the airports. That's what I can remember off the top of my nugget, but if you've got any more specific questions, I may be able to think back a decade and give you some answers.

We had lots of IPs with a SEA tours; probably half our IP force. They were almost all pretty low key about it. Besides, it wasn't "post-Vietnam" with Raz...it was 1968. I guess that would be "mid-Vietnam".

Throttle back, graybush. I was merely pointing out the double standard of withholding one guy's name and publishing another from the same goddamn squadron.

Boooooooooo!

Tebow 3:16! That's 316 yards passing... an obvious indication of the second coming of the Savior... and yes, this is solely to piss off Butters.