Herk Driver

IIRC, IP.

That's not all the Honor Guard does. Matter of fact, I was the officer that presented the flag to a servicemembers NOK once. Never been honor guard. Got volun-told. No higher honor as far as I'm concerned.

Most coaching jobs at AFA, as I recall, are hand selected. The Twin Otter jobs are advertised on the AFPC website, last time I was looking around on there. If you are talking teaching Iraqi's to fly over in the AOR, then I rememeber several years ago when they were coming aorund asking for volunteers to go do it. Those guys were getting the 179 day TDY for that job. Don't forget that Navs were over there too since they were teaching them to fly -130's at the time. No book, but the AFPC website is a good place to start or talk to your CC.

Where'd you hear that? Maybe here? Nice try. If at first you don't get an answer and your thread gets locked, try, try again. Try doing some research next time. In other threads you will see AFI 48-123V3 referenced several times. It can be accessed on this site (also referenced on this site several times) and has the answers you are looking for. Page 53. A4.20. Abdomen and Gastrointestinal System. A4.20.1. Flying Classes I, IA, II and III. A4.20.1.6. Wounds, injuries, scars, or weakness of the muscles of the abdominal wall which are sufficient to interfere with function. Does the scar cause you any problems? If not, I would say that you are probably OK, but I'm no flight doc. How do you think they did appendectomies before they came up with laparoscopic methods?

Change for the sake of change. Again.

Not to mention the balls it took to go back up after his first jump which went down like this: Col Kittinger averted disaster on his first jump from 76,000 ft when his stabilization chute opened too early. It caught him around the neck inducing a flat spin and unconsciousness. He was saved when an emergency chute opened at 10,000 ft. The program was almost shut down but he lobbied successfully to keep the program alive.

I'm not trying to p!ss in your corn flakes, but I read the LM citation for that DFC in Air Force Crimes back in the day. I have to say that a LM getting a DFC for backing a C-17 on a dimly lit or not lit runway, scanning in flight for the possibility of SAMs and small arms fire is a bunch of BS. The DFC may have been deserved for what they did but damn, someone should have at least written the citation better.

You're right my question wasn't very pointed, but that's because the initial answer made it sound like you don't have a prayer no matter what happens. Yet, I had heard Kittinger's story when I met him and had dinner a little over a year ago. It is amazing he didn't have more damage than he did especially since he suffered the failed glove on the way up.

The USAREUR driver's test was re-written in 2001. If you don't study, you will fail it. And just for clarification, a rental company will let you rent a car with only a US license. ETAR SF will not give you a pass to drive on base unless you comply with the following taken from the USAREUR website. "Military, civilian component and family members must have an U. S. Forces Certificate of License BEFORE driving any vehicle (except a Government vehicle) in Germany. The only exception to this rule is if they have obtained written approval from their appropriate commander to operate a vehicle in Germany for the first 30 days with a valid country license with an international driver license." You can go here to check it out for yourself on the front page. (bottom right under reminder). Good luck with the exception to policy. Some places are more restrictive about this than others. When I was at ETAR in '99, no way you could drive a rental on base without the license. At Stuttgart, no one even knows that policy exists. This only applies if you PCS there; so it is not applicable to TDY or leave personnel. Oh yeah, another new thing. Make sure your stateside license doesn't expire while you are here. If it does, your USAREUR license becomes invalid. For example, a few states like Montana, IIRC, let your license never expire while you are in the military. It still has an expiration date, but you are exempt from renewing until you get out. You would not be allowed to get a USAREUR license with that stateside license anymore. The expiration date printed on the license must be valid for the 5 year period of the USAREUR license. Here's the actual verbiage from 190-1 reference the rental question above: SECTION IACQUIRING A U.S. FORCES CERTIFICATE OF LICENSE 2-1. LICENSING POLICY a.Military and civilian personnel and their family members must have a U.S. Forces certificate of license to drive in Germany. This does not include the operation of Government vehicles, which can be operated using OF 346 or Air Force Form 2293. To get a U.S. Forces certificate of license, military and civilian personnel and their family members must have a valid country license (glossary). OF 346 and Air Force Form 2293 may not be used in place of a valid country license to obtain a U.S. Forces certificate of license. The minimum age to apply for a class 3 U.S. Forces certificate of license with a valid country license is 17 (table I-1). Individuals may operate only the class or classes of POVs indicated on their license. Appendix I, paragraph I-2, lists vehicle classifications.

Thanks for the levity. The reason I ask is that Joe Kittinger jumped in a pressure suit from 102,900 feet with temps as low as -94 degrees F, reached speeds over 600 miles/hour, became the first human to exceed Mach 1 without an aircraft or space vehicle and endured a failed pressure glove. Yet he lived through it, went on to command the Triple Nickel and fly F-4D's in Vietnam, spent 11 months in the Hanoi Hilton and retired as an O-6 in 1978. I met him over a year ago and he has some pretty amazing stories to tell. So I guess besides the you have the rest of your life to figure it out routine that you do actually have a little time. Or maybe the swollen hand that he suffered from the failed pressure glove that returned to normal (or normal enough to continue to fly) was a fluke.

So how long does it take for a problem with the suit to become fatal above 63K?

I have to say that I understand your point, but have to disagree. It comes down to the fundamental question that Boxhead brought up about wearing the mess dress to the wedding at all. The groom either chooses to wear the uniform like it supposed to be worn and that comes with having someone show up with more bling than he has possibly (since he did pick his groomsmen, it's not like you just showed up out of nowhere), or he decides to forgo the "embarrassment" factor and has everyone wear a tuxedo. At some point, the groom has to grow some stones and pick his poison. Asking someone to show up out of uniform (sts) is not the right answer, IMHO.

Not that I'm aware of.

Steve, are you asking if the Juwan Johnson beating, specifically, was the reason. If so then, no. The decision to wear PT gear was before Sgt Johnson was killed in K-town. Overall, the reason may have had something to do with it, but I would find it hard to believe that anyone in the USAF was looking that far ahead. Anyway, the story as I hear it was that the higher ups at desert Base x toured the SECAF and some others around the base. The CENTAF/CC at the time, was appalled at the civilian attire that some of the troops were wearing to the bar. Some of the females were wearing what some females wear to bars (i.e. short shorts and shirts that exposed their midriffs, ect). Also, there were stories of some females bringing several large bags of civilian clothes (one was said to have brought an entire suitcase of shoes) to the desert. These extra bags were, of course, either extra weight that burned more gas on MILAIR or extra bags which costs more taxpayer money on COMAIR (contract flights included). They made the policy about civilian PT gear that ultimately was to be replaced by USAF PT gear when it became available. You know more professional looking, etc, etc. This actually makes perfect sense because it is the typical knee jerk reaction to a few boobs hanging out. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I disagree--there are lots of airshows that have tons of exhibits and great aerial demos and have no fatalities...it's only bound to happen if the plan doesn't cover the contingencies. I sat through the flying brief at RIAT 2001 at RAF Cottesmore when I had the opportunity to go. The plan had the aerial demo show line over the top of the audience...a clear violation of the rules with respect to placement of the show line to ensure that, IF, something happened that it was less likely that the crash would go into crowd. One of the pilots called BS right then and there and the line was moved to ensure crowd safety. I know that we aren't talking about a crash going into a crowd yesterday, thank goodness, but having rules that everyone acknowledges, understands, and abides by are one of the keys to a safe airshow. As far as I know, none of the crashes yesterday appear to be the result of mechanical malfunction or neccessarily violations of the demo rules. This is not meant to be a critique, in any way, of any of the people that were involved in the unfortunate mishaps from yesterday. I know that accidents happen...that's the nature of flying, but it is not inevitable that someone is going to die at an airshow. I don't think that any airshow organizer goes into an airshow thinking that a crash is bound to happen this weekend, so let's do what we can, but... I've been to airshows in the states, Sweden, England, Germany, Poland, and Moscow and have been fortunate to have not been at one that has had a mishap. Mishaps are not inevitable; most are preventable. Once again, don't take this as a damnation of the folks that lost their lives yesterday, it is not. I just have heartburn with the idea that these mishaps are inevitable and there is nothing one can do to prevent them. Whatever the cause of each of these, here's to the pilots, the crews and their loved ones... A Toast.

I agree on the apology bit. But, trust me the Krygyz gov't is happy to get their check each month from Uncle Sugar for the lease and gas, etc. You wouldn't believe the amount of money that Manas costs each year.

I'm sorry. What? Since the Academy rape scandal, which is what started most of the current system, we have the whole dual reporting process with SARC's and the whole nine yards. The USAFA rape scandal is what brought all of this to the forefront and got us on the road to where we are now, which is much better for victims than it ever has been before, IMHO. The track record before the USAFA rape scandal might not have been the greatest, but I think it is pretty damn good since then. Every case that I have seen in the military in general has been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, especially the most recent ones. That of course is for the victims that come forward and opt to prosecute. This includes several cadets/midshipmen and at least one Lt that was accused after commissioning for an act that occurred while a cadet. I'm sure there have been plenty AD as well, they just don't get the media attention that the Academies do. Maybe she didn't want to have an exam done at Bagram or wherever because if there were complications from some surgery, it would have been all too obvious since she wouldnt' have been healed completely. Either way, none of this is an excuse for going AWOL.

'Nuff said.

You give me one reason why we should besides what you wrote below. Fixed. I assume you know that Sinn Fein is the political arm of the IRA. If you haven't noticed, Sinn Fein is a major party in the Irish government. So we don't deal or negotiate with Ireland? On second thought, how did the cease-fire between the IRA and the UK come about? Didn't the US chair the talks between the UK and IRA? IIRC, former Senator George Mitchell served as the intermediary between the UK and IRA that resulted in the Belfast Agreement, aka Good Friday agreement, in 1998. Monitoring the IRA is nothing but a distraction from the GWOT. We have our own homegrown terrorists that we need to be watching. You think the UK gives a d@mn about monitoring the IRA right now. Nope, they have their hands full monitoring UK born, radical Muslims that want to blow up everything in the country. So let's keep wasting our time instead of pursuing more important things like border security, shipping container security, and helping to build allies capacity to help prosecute the GWOT. A simple question: Do you think that the US should normalize relations with Libya? Don't get me wrong, I always like a good game of dominoes.

In my experience, many civilian dentist will try to "sell" you dental work. Your wisdom teeth may not need to come out at all. A relative of mine has been a dental hygienist for over 30 years and in the last 5-10 years, she has been told by her boss to "sell" dental work to people if they are even the remotely close to needing anything done. She refused and has since retired. If you are not on a tight timeline, I would suggest that you go to Brooks and see what they say. Go ahead and schedule the work for maybe a week after Brooks and if Brooks says that they have to come out then do it. Otherwise, cancel the dental work and leave those teeth alone. It will costs you a week to have it done after and could save you a good bit of money if nothing comes of it.

Your grad physical is your FC1 and if the waiver was approved you're good to go...stop worrying. You should just have to get your yearly physicals done now. Find out if the waiver needs to be re-done each year and give yourself some extra time if it does so the paperwork can be accomplished (i.e. don't go in for your physical on the last day of your birth month).

Like the domino effect that was going to take hold if South Vietnam fell to the communists?

All my comments are in italics, in the text.

Toro, I'm at EUCOM now. Been here about a year. Most of the highlights were hit above. One correction, there is no "commute" to the BX/PX anymore; they just finished a new one at Panzer (6 months or so ago). The location is awesome. The job; not so much, sometimes. As was said, this is the Swabian area of Baden-Wurtemberg, but more Bavarian in feel than ETAR. Lots less Americans (16K or so versus the nearly 50K at ETAR). Much more of a big city feel versus the country atmosphere around K-town. Stuttgart is a very industrialized area (Porsche, IBM, HP, Mercedes) and therefore many more of the locals speak English than in some other areas. The summer has been dreary and wet, but the sun is back out and the rest of the summer to go, but the winter was mild this past year. I have been told that is not typical though. Unless you want in on the ground floor, I would avoid AFRICOM like the plague, right now. PM me with/for specifics. Not sure what job they are looking to send you to, but that may tip the scales for you from here to ETAR or vice-versa. The "joint" tour definitely has its drawbacks with the Army running this joint (pun intended). Unless you are up for CC after you get here, you will most likely serve out the entire 36 month tour versus leaving in 22 months. Most on-post housing has been or is being renovated. It isn't bad but you can get a much larger place off-post and the OHA ceiling is fairly high. You can find a lot of nice places, that are not a bad commute, for at or under your OHA ceiling. If you have specific questions or need any more help, let me know. FYI, If you PM me, I won't get back to you until Monday sometime since I'm headed out of town.

It's been a while since I went through UPT. AC-130's are spec ops. You would select T-44s out of Primary UPT and go to Corpus (there are still a few Herks that drop out of USAF UPT bases, but not many and not sure if they have dropped an AC ever). When you get to Corpus, pray to the assignment gods that an AC-130 will be in your drop and that you will be high enough in the class rankings to be able to select it. If you finish first in the class, you get your pick of whatever is in your drop. If no AC is in your drop then you still get to pick first and you chalk it up to the "needs of the AF". You don't select "special ops aviation".