Scooter14

I see your point now. I thought you were being "that guy", which is not typically your style... While there are minor differences and a higher workload, a tanker "combat" sortie is orbiting and offloading gas to multiple receivers with real bombs and missiles (which is good, 'cause we ain't got none) on a longer duration mission flown out of a forward base over a place with a higher percentage of people who don't like you and would shoot at you except for the fact that AK-47 rounds, SA-7s and rocks don't reach that high. The basic flight pattern is the same. It's just over bad guy land. The durations are longer, the missions are more dynamic and challenging (most of the time, sometimes they are mindnumbingly boring) and the opstempo is high...-135 guys time out by the end of the trip. We log the time on the 781 as "combat." when we are overland.

Same things the KC-135's do. Orbit over the AOR and provide gas to Strike Eagles, Hogs, Vipers, gunships... EDIT to remove sarcasm born from being only halfway through a really long week

Yes they do, albeit not as much as the CONUS squadrons. There were two Kadena crews at the Died constantly. They also do a lot of PACAF exercises, RJ support, etc.

I've got it! Right next door is a large oval track with a cloud machine, a really bright light to drive towards and a big gray car. Two people get in the front, and one lies down in the back....not as exciting, but those people would have to stay in there for at LEAST 6 hours, so well worth the $$.

Nope, can't have me, I'm taken. I'll see what I can find out, since I just got back from leave.

I saw an e-mail last week welcoming the new AD squadron commander in a few days. We've had sponsor meetings, done up proposals for each office on how we're going to integrate the AD folks and I've personally met 3 people while I was deployed who had orders for this summer's PCS cycle coming to Pease, as well as knowing friends who have orders to March and Scott, so it seems to be rolling right along from what I can see.

What should happen: When you get there and inprocess, they should automatically know when to start your entitlements (HFP/Hardship Duty if applicable, CZTE). Lets say you get there on May 27th. You won't see anything in your end of month for May, but by the end of June, you should see May's taxes refunded, as well as no tax withheld for June. You should also see your HFP for May and June and also your HDP, which gets prorated. You should see no income tax withheld for your remaining paychecks, as well as your other entitlements until you get home and file your voucher, and then you'll see the income tax getting withheld again. It doesn't hurt to stop by Finance a week or so after you get there just to make sure you are in the system. Since you are in Rapid City, I'm gonna assume you're a Bone guy, which will lead me to my next statement...wear your reflective belt to finance at night or they won't help you. As for your tax return, yes, you will get a bigger refund next year. The tax free thing is nice...you don't get the taxes withheld while you are gone which equates to more money in your pocket. Then, next January, you'll see your taxable income on your W2 is about 40-50% less than it was in years you haven't deployed. A lower taxable income=less money owed. You'll be amazed at the numbers on your W2. As an aside, if any Guardsmen read this, the ANG process is a lot more painful. You'll have to work it all through home-station finance.

We had one last summer...tore through the town of Epsom, just south of Concord. Sorry to rain on your parade, pun intended. They are just more infrequent and usually less powerful, but every now and then, we get one. NH Tornado CT Tornado This one happened when I was in first grade, about 10 miles from my house. Wicked bad.

I heard they used to do this in the past...someone should write a book about that.

Nice. Way to tag the wing to the base, Mr OPSEC.

OK, I couldn't search for PT Uniforms...woudn't let me. But, every time I think of the AF PT uniform, I think of the Died, so... Anyone know how I can get my hands on aplain old gray AF PT sweatshirt? I saw them at Hanscom, but of course they had way too small and Omar the Tentmaker. No Large or XL in sight. I've got the MC Hammer suit, just looking for the sweats. AAFES.COM? No dice. Didn't even have my T-shirt size, so I've got that going for me, which is nice. If anyone sees one around (and/or a few Large t shirts), PM me.

I had orders to Pensacola, but at the last minute they pulled them and sent me to Randolph instead. That was right after I got comissioned. ...in 1995. In the past 18 years, they moved nav school from Mather to Randolph, RIFed all the navs, realized the RIFed too many, pumped a bunch of navs through, moved strike to PCola, started classes at PCola and shipped heavy guys to RND, moved EWO to PCola (Corry Station), handed out BUFFs out of Randolph, moved them to the strike track at PCola, moved them back, moved EWO back to the 563rd, moved it all back to RND except strike, changed the names to protect the innocent, and are now moving it all back to PCola, like it's some fresh new idea. The same stuff goes on forever, the rumor mill is huge. "Hey, you hear we are deploying to Base X?" "I heard we are deploying to Base Y because of (insert reason here)." "Nope, my buddy from pilot training knows this guy at AMC, and he walked into a briefing and saw we were going to Base X!" "Boy, I sure hope we go to Base X, Base Y Sucks!" <stepping off of plane at Base Y two weeks later> Yep, should have known it was too good to be true. Don't believe anything until you are "boots on the ground" in said location on training day one. That's when you will have at least half a chance of knowing what will happen to your training.

I stand corrected. Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq=Dinar. Saudi and Qatar=Riyal Anyway you slice it, if you don't deliver the booze, the distributor loses a lot of dough.

I was there once when the shipment was late. All we had was Gin and Smirnoff Ice for a couple of days. Not good. A few of our Services troops (who are the distro agency for booze in the AOR) are there, so I e-mailed one of them. Lots of hear say, most of which was already discussed on the board, but he said that the shipment was held up and it would be back any day now. That was two days ago. Looks like it's back. Besides, I did some research, and all the alcohol is brought into the country under one distributor. How much do you think that guy is losing on us? I'd say people drink 4000+ drinks a day there. That's a lot of Dinar. If you are a businessman, you care about one thing...the bottom line. I'm a cynical optimist. Of course I'm gonna offer to buy the first round, even if they say there is no booze. Ya gotta have faith. Afnav gets me in, he gets drinks on me. Cooter knows I'm good for it.

I'll see you there. Beers at the MUFF on me, all you have to do is vouch me in.

Portsmouth ain't Enid...Skiing, beaches, Portland, Lake Winnepesaukee, White Mountains, Boston, Cape Cod, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, fishing, hunting, camping, hiking, sledding, skating...you don't need an OSC to get a few families togehter to take a weekend trip somewhere. Matter of fact, all of those associate units are pretty close to major metroploitan areas. With the AD moving in, those things that AD is used to will probably move in too. They'll probably be looking for someone to start an OSC...that may keep you busy as well.

1 - Not really. Nothing formal, but we never had the turnover or the numbers before, so it was always the same people, so everyone knows each other. Also, we're pretty spread out, since a lot of guys are part-time. It's not uncommon for a part-timer to drive in 2 hours for drill or a flight. Guess that'll probably change, I'll leave that up to the spouses. 2 - Nope. There's a COLA if you live in Massachusetts and some other high cost of living areas, but it has no bearing on whether there's a BX or not. My state has no sales tax, so who cares about a BX anyway... 3 - What ATC said, and even more so since we're mostly locals, at least from the same region. We kind of blend in, since a lot of the Guardsmen also hold full time jobs in the community. It's a pretty low profile, like what Bergman said...the general public doesn't even really know there's a base until a fighter takes off at max AB and then the PA phones ring off the hook. 4 - They're still trying to work this out. I know...I've been to the meetings. Anything you hear is conjecture, so don't believe the hype. The plan is to have the AD crews deploy with a couple of the jets. That's great, except if you are an 8 PAA unit with multiple alert commitments. The Guard AEF cycle will probably remain separate, and it'll be Guardsmen who fill the Guard bucket, and AD folks who will fill the taskings for mother AMC. I could see them taking a jet and some crews to the desert, or maybe just the crews, and they stay current at their guard base and then hitch a ride over when a Fairchild jet drops in and picks them up, or they fly down to MacDill a day early and load up there, or maybe we run a swapout (what a deal that would be for a crew...). Again, more conjecture and speculation on my part. edit: It's going to be culture shock for sure (I can't believe that SrA just called that LtCol by his first name...oh my GOD!), but I'm optimistic. The rated pilot hiring pool's gonna get a lot deeper, and we'll know who we are getting after a three year IOE...

Tankers? We don't need no stinkin' Tankers!

Wasn't me, but I've had that conversation before.

Great...now who's gona vouch me in to the CAOC like you did my entire last deployment? Oh, wait, afnav's going for a year. OK...problem solved.

I propose we figure out what the booze situation is before we send afnav out there for 365. If he has booze, then he can go out there with something to look forward to. If there is no booze, the life will suck. Besides, I'm headed out there in the not-too-distant-future, so I want to know if it's just short supply or it's gone for good and I'll be making Listerine margaritas.

It's not an "Active Duty Liaison". It's Active Duty. Period. The Active Duty Liaison was one experienced pilot in that MWS who flew with that ANG unit. If you are in class 09-04 or later, you will go to Pease, Scott, B-Ham, Seymour Johnson or March and be in an Active Duty squadron that, for simplicity's sake, falls under the host ANG/AFRC wing. You will fly the ANG/AFRC tails. You will probably work side by side with the ANG/AFRC schedulers, training flight personnel, Stan/Eval folks, etc. Your OPR's and assignments will go up some AD chain somewhere. It's still all very new and confusing.

2. Last time I was there, we managed to lose 40 lbs as a three man tanker crew in 30-ish days. Our boom lost the most, I think for two reasons: 1 - He had the highest starting point. 2 - He didn't drink. Still, I was able to drop from 172 down to 160 pounds with a heavily marked beer card. I think the biggest things that help are: -Boredom -Doing it first thing after you wake up. no matter what time that is. -No snacks in your room like you may have at your house -raw veggies with every meal that fill you up instead of junk As far as the eating goes, I'm one of those people who has to work aout a lot to maintain my weight since my eating habits are not the best. At those chow halls, you have to force yourself to make the right choices. Chicken vs burgers, rice vs. fries (you could eat fried potatoes at every meal if you wanted, no shit.), not going for seconds. We pretty much used Toasty's philosophy and it worked.