JarheadBoom

Received my copy in yesterday's mail; started reading around 9 or so... and finished it at 4AM this morning. Awesome, simply awesome. Definitely will go on the "read it again" shelf. Damn shame that more of the maintainers didn't participate/cooperate - I'm biased of course as an aircraft mechanic, but I would have liked to have read a little more about the MX challenges of the program. Not Steve's fault, of course; he can't coerce people into interviewing... Thanks again!

Glad to hear the WG Tower folks are still at the top of their game...

That IS the sentence. Yes, it's OK. Here's the applicable parts of the reg for those of you who can't/won't look it up for yourself... And here's the text of Table 3.6. with the sentence in question: I find the NOTE interesting...

Back in the other service, we had a guy (civilian) run the gate and ride his motorcycle onto the line and the RUNWAY at Willow Grove (this was waaay before 9/11). Every Navy cop on the base was following this guy in a low-speed chase for like 20 minutes. The Navy mechs ran off their ramp into their hangar when he started weaving around the P-3s... and we all lined up on our ramp with any large tools we could grab (pump/jack handles, 15" crescent wrenches, etc). He rode toward our line... saw a line of jarheads with large metal objects in-hand... turned onto the parallel and never came near our line again. 10 minutes and 3 failed MP box-in attempts later, he rode BACK OUT THE GATE and wasn't seen again.

Dunno about "mini" AF wings (because, like you, I have yet to see them at the uniform shop), but miniature wings for USMC mess dress are like 1 1/4" wingspan - basically, they're a tie-tac. Classic...

Yes, USERRA requires your civilian employer to provide a position similar to what you had when you left. There are exceptions to the rule however... so if you work for AIG, Lehman Brothers, or some other company that lost their shirt in the last week or so, you may want to look for a new job while you're still on your school-tour orders. Your best bet is to inform your employer as early as possible, as soon as you find out for certain you're going on orders. Give them a copy of the orders as soon as you have them (USERRA requires you to do this). If it's gonna be last-minute for you orders, a letter from your unit should help smooth things out. Let them know you'd like to return when your school tour is up. Stay in touch with your boss while you're gone. An occasional phone call or email (maybe with a pic or two of what you're doing attached) will help show you intend to return. I don't believe so, but I could be wrong. When I went back to work after my school tour, I let them know ahead of time that I would have to work four 10-hr shifts each week, so I'd have a day every week to fly with the AF and maintain my currency/qualifications. I worded it to sound like I was doing them a favor by working this schedule - they didn't ask me a thing about it, and have never said a word about my quarterly 2-day sim requirement or my annual tour, either. I'm living a very similar situation with my civ. employer and AFRES. Works out OK for me.

No boobs, but funny nonetheless...

There's leadership at the 'Deid?? Based on the other thread, I thought there was mostly "seagull management" to be found there...

Would telling the pilot "Pick the fucking collective UP!" be considered overly assertive? I know someone who did that... at 20ft indicated on the radalt... over water... at night... on goggles.

I was in my first year of USMC Reserve, after 8 years of AD. The NAS Willow Grove Airshow had been the weekend of 9/7-9/9, and it was a drill weekend for us, flying the MAGTF demo for the airshow. We also had a 4-ship det at NAS Key West doing some JTF stuff. I was sitting at the computer that morning, looking for a civilian job after my wife had gone to work. I went to Yahoo for something, and I saw a news headline I'll never forget: "Airplane hits WTC tower". I looked out the window and thought "How could someone hit a freakin' skyscraper on a CAVU day like today?" Then I started noticing the not-normal sounds on the TV my wife had left on in the living room. Got up from the computer, walked into the living room, realized they weren't talking about a Cessna, and started wondering how incredibly bad things had to have gone for an airliner to hit that building. About a minute later, I watched as UA175 hit the south tower, and "incredibly bad things" took on an entirely new meaning. I will never forget what that impact looked like... and I will never, EVER forget seeing people choose to jump, rather than burn. I won't forgive, and I can't forget.

FAA is HQ'd in OKC... isn't it?? Biggest problem I've seen with the Federales (in my limited, A&P mechanic experience) is that one FSDO can tell you one thing, but another FSDO can tell you something 180* out, and STILL be correct by the FAR's. Too much interpretation...

And on Mondays, to show a "war-fighting ethos", we're NOT gonna wear the Airman BATTLE Uniform. Amazing how some AF people STILL wonder why we're the laughing stock of the DoD.

Still undecided whether I want to show my wife this one...

Because no one, with enough rank/credibility for those comments to have a no-shit impact on the CSAF, really wants to commit career suicide. One word, five letters, starts with an "S"... It's the same problem in nearly every large organization - the Boss sees what his staff thinks he should see/wants to see. If that staff has an ulterior motive (don't rock the boat, get the good-deal next assignment, get good OPRs, get promoted, ___________), then things the Boss SHOULD see get filtered because "the Boss doesn't need to see/hear that." In '95-96, when I was in the Corps, then-Commandant Gen Krulak saw the problem I addressed above, and decided to try something new. He started a program called "MarineMail", basically an email address that any Marine, from Private to General, could use to communicate directly to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. No one else had access to the email, unless the CMC chose to share it with the staff to address the issue. The only direction given was that if you were bitching about a problem, present at least one possible solution to it, to show you weren't just a whiner. Boy, did all the old-Corps dinosaurs bitch! "Good God, the Commandant's done away with the chain of command!" "Private Schmuckatelly is gonna run the Corps into the ground!" Guess what - the system did NOT get abused (with one exception I can recall). In fact, several Marines who sent issues into MarineMail ended up getting surprise visits from the CMC - most were presented with awards, at least one (that I remember) was meritoriously promoted on-the-spot, and a couple saw their "possible solutions" implemented (with only minor changes) as USMC policy. I don't think MarineMail exists anymore - several of Gen Krulak's changes/initiatives were reversed when he retired. My personal opinion is that in the US Air Force of 2008, a program like MarineMail won't work. Too many idiot Airmen out there who think that not having a hot-tub in the dorms is worthy of the CSAF's attention; too many SNAPs who think that because Maj Xxxy is tough on him, CSAF should give the SNAP a freebie and smash Maj Xxxy's bag. Back to the actual topic - I'm going in tomorrow (and the rest of the week), and I'm wearing my bag. BUT... it's only because I'm a "MOBEX player". The stuff I'll have to wear later this week will likely make one day of blues seem like a vacation...

Even better is hearing a female Navy pilot say "Penthouse (the ship's callsign), Sideflare xxx, our gadget is broken" on the radio.

You've never seen that - Marine uniforms do not have wings sewn on. All breast insignia (wings are a "breast insignia" in USMC uniform terminology) are metal, and are pinned on.

The "rules" are a little different for Marine officers. This important little fact was explained to me, in a lengthy one-way conversation, by a mightily-pissed-off Marine Major. 'Bout midway through a CAX (Combined Arms Exercise) at MCB Twentynine Palms in August, the E's of the maintenance department (I was one of them) were given a direct order to address each other by rank and last name ONLY, regardless of rank. No nicknames, no first names, no "Hey fucko! Get over here!"... but not 5 minutes after the order was given I heard the very same Major address one of his Captains by "Mike". So I called him out on it (with NO tact whatsoever - I don't think I said "sir" at all) at the afternoon maintenance meeting. Yeah... bad decision. I got the ass-chewing I rightly deserved, but no good explanation of why it was OK for him to ORDER us to use rank & last name ONLY, but at the same time it was OK for he and his fellow officers to first-name each other.... other than "the rules are different for Marine officers." This was almost 10 years ago, and I'm still not sure how I escaped being charged with disrespecting a commissioned officer...

Flightsuits.com Probably pricey, but it's a professional job.

Could that have something to do with AFRICOM being new, and therefore hasn't had time to become a self-perpetuating juggernaut like some of the other _____COM staffs?

Exchange tours are still out there. A pilot in the SQ next door to mine recently finished an exchange tour with the RNLAF flying the KDC-10. He said flat-out that he only got the job because he knew someone at AFPC who gave him a heads-up about it; otherwise someone else would've been at the right place at the right time. **EDIT** Good God, I can only imagine listening to a conversation between an Oklahoma-n and an Australian...

No shit... The best-looking flightsuits I have are the two I have left from when I got out of the Corps in '03. The three the AF gave me pilled-up on the FIRST WASH!

You obviously haven't learned the subtle difference between pointing out the facts regarding a policy, and actually defending said policy. Your opinion has been noted.

1. AF PT gear IS a uniform - it's in the AFI. 2. AF PT uniform wear in the gym, for everyone, at all times, is mandated at some stateside bases (including mine). I'm not at an AETC base, either. 3. It's already been pointed out that at some desert-type locations, saluting in PT gear is mandated by written policy.

I'm still amazed at how much of the airframe was still intact after the impact/fire...

With the exception of flightsuits and coveralls (for aircraft mechanics), there are NO unit identifiers on Marine Corps uniforms. No patches, no tabs, nothing.