JS

Or they could just set up satellite internet and say fuck the porn-hating Qatari's.

Herk guys still in CC, but the BPC gym and BX are indeed nice. The dorms look even nicer from the outside.

We definitely did it. Someone from our OTS class went out and got everyone a silver dollar. I think he got them for a deal and only paid around $1 for each of them. A lot of people literally gave theirs to the first person to salute them. For some, that was in the commissioning ceremony, for others it was a gate guard. My personal technique - I didn't "count" the commissioning salutes, and I had a waiver to not give the gate guard mine, because I kind of thought it was a waste. I waited until I got back to my home base and gave it to the first kid who saluted me there. It was some dude in the BX parking lot. He seemed to think it was pretty cool.

I thought I read somewhere that he flew T-33's before moving onto T-38's. That would make more sense since the T-33 was sort of the predecessor to the Tweet.

I bet they don't get half of that out of the T-1 either.

You know, that is the way that I first interpreted the article too, but if you read it again, I don't think that is what it says. I think it is simply saying that the last aircraft flown there, 68-8068, arrived at the base on Sept 25, 1969. It was just stating the background of the final aircraft flown there, and not implying that it was also the first aircraft delivered to CBM. On a cooler and more important note, I scanned through my old 781's from when I was at UPT, and it looks like I had the honor of flying 68-8068 on a hot April day several years ago.

So does anyone know if the MPD program is going away? I have heard a few somewhat strong rumors that the E-models were already in the process of getting rid of it and that the J-model program would follow suit. All rumors thus far, though.

At one game I went to, he flew a propeller plane for the flyover - and he royally screwed up the timing. I can't remember the plane, but it was some old radial/piston taildragger, I think.

They have now pre-positioned government computers in each dorm room (at least in all of the rooms where they put aircrew - I assume it is the same for other folks). You have to get your CAC activated and give them a copy of your latest Information Assurance certificate, but after that 15 minute process, you are online. No need to get your personal laptop waxed to get online. Plus they are saying there is a 1-3 week delay in getting your personal laptop cleaned out. The good news about the PC's in the rooms is that they have unblocked Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. Still no chance to get any normal streaming sites like You Tube or anything, plus sites like Skype and so on are blocked. More good news is that there is an "entertainment" link on the intranet here. It has links to a few streaming TV stations like CNN and a few Air Force Network channels. Also, they have hundreds of movies that you can stream to the PC. A lot of them are pretty good - war movies like Patton, comedies like American Pie, etc. Oh, and the PC's have DVD players in them, so you can watch your DVD's on the 19 inch LCD screen that they provide instead of having to watch them on your laptops (there are speakers with the PC too). On another note, I have heard from some higher ups that they are setting up a series of wireless access points around Coalition Compound that will allow you to get online with your laptops. Supposedly this is very near to completion. Some people have said that they can already get online periodically while they are testing the system. This means, as someone else mentioned, that you will be able to get online through an outside internet provider without having to go through the Comm Nazis. It also means streaming porn (at least until they put a stop to it) as far as I understand.

Just an update on the Deid. I have been here a few days and, knock on wood, I have been hassle-free so far. I am yet to wear a reflective belt anywhere because we were told it was only required in Ops Town, and only while in uniform (not PT gear) during night/reduced vis. Here is the latest sup to the reflective belt regs regarding PT gear and Coalition Compound: 3.1.2.3.1. (Added) Reflective Belts. The reflective belt is not required within the Coalition and CAOC compounds or while wearing PT gear. On duty, armed ESFS personnel will not wear reflective belts

If the "treadmill" matches the speed of the airplane wheels, the plane will still take off. If the "treadmill" matches the forward speed of the fuselage, the plane will never take off. It is all how the problem is defined. I believe it says the treadmill "matches the forward speed of the airplane." Read my post above for a better explanation.

Is the internet access from your room on your own PC, or is it the public computer thing? Can you get to normally blocked sites like Hotmail and Yahoo? What about using Skype to call home over the internet?

Standard day at 110K gross weight (20K of fuel and no cargo) the book says 36,000 feet for cruise ceiling. The charts top out at over 40,000 feet for even lighter weight on a cooler day.

To quote Forrest Gump, "I am not a smart man" - I get confused about American tons versus British tons, versus short and long tons, versus metric tons. Bottom line, a ton is either 2000#, 2240#, or 2204#. Either way, I think 37 tons would be at least 74,000# depending on which kind of ton.

The J can fly a lot higher than 29K, and you are correct, the latest block does not have the RVSM certification - I hear it may be in the next block, which will probably be in a year or three.

A snapshot comparison from the Airbus website versus the Air Force website: Pallets: C-130J – 8 A400M – 9 Troops: C-130J – 128 A400M – 116 Paratroopers: C-130J – 92 A400M – 116 Number of Litters: C-130J – 97 A400M – 66 Max Allowable Payload: C-130J – 44,000 lbs A400M – 74,000 lbs Top Speed: C-130J – 0.58 A400M – 0.68-.072 Range at Max Payload: C-130J – 1700NM A400M – 1700 NM I am a little skeptical of the max payload of the A400M. I found several lower numbers from other sites such as FAS.org and even from MacGyvers original post above, but I will give Airbus the benefit of the doubt. In the categories that the Airbus actually outperforms the C-130, it only beats the Herk by about 10% in speed, pallets and paratroops. Not to mention that the C-130 has better specs for overall troops and litters. So basically it is a plane that would cost 50% more than the J model but give around 10% more performance. Sounds like a good deal to me. :bash:

Sorry that I have not written in a few days - I have been on one of those multi-stop, min-turn, aggravating, week-long TDY's. And yes, there were problems at every stop. Stop one - Prime Knight doesn't work as advertised. Have to wait several hours for trans and billeting arrangements (after a 6 hour flight/9 hour day) and the hotel still does not have our non-A's. Stop two - we have to pick up our own rental cars and then head to the hotel. The hotel does not have our non-A's, and we can't check in until 3:00PM. This is at 0800 in the morning, after 8 hours of flying and a 12 hour day, so we have to wait around in our uniforms for another 5 hours. Stop three - not that bad. We had a hotel reservation and trans waiting, it just took the hotel an hour or so to check us in, and they didn't have the non-A's yet, plus they charged us too high a rate (not the Air Force's fault this time). It was at this third stop that Finance Guy must have tracked my IP address and radioed home about my postings on baseops.net. I just happened to check my latest LES while at the above hotel only to discover that I apparently "oversold" 2 days leave a year ago and they are withholding money to pay the nearly $2000 debt. I called home and they explain to me about overselling the 2 days of leave. I told him if I owed $2000 for selling 2 days of leave too many, then I must be making $1000/day in salary. I quickly conceded the $2K for the oversold leave as long as he would pay me $1000/day for every man-day thereafter that I perform. This obviously blew his mind and he told me to simply not submit any pay documents until they figure this out because it will keep deducting pay until the debt is paid off (I am a reservist, as you can probably tell). Finance Guy's friends strike again when I am told that the above rental car was not on my orders and that I will not get reimbursed for it. Even though the Mission Commander ordered the Aircraft Commander who ordered me to get the rental car, all because it was necessary for the mission. Plus my approving official signed the voucher, but that is not good enough. Now I have to go through a week of ass-pain to get the orders changed and resubmit my voucher, all the while delaying my other source of income, travel pay, for a few more weeks. So to sum up - no, the 2 hours in billeting is not the "real" problem. It is the fact that I take a few weeks out of my civilian life to serve my country and I have to go through multiple 24+hour days without sleep and/or messed up billeting arrangements, I wind up owing the government money for working for them for 2 weeks, and I can't get my travel expenses reimbursed because my word, the word of my mission commander, aircraft commander, and approving official is not enough to get my $200 mission-essential rental car reimbursed. So I return home a little poorer then I left, all the while I still have a mortgage and other bills to pay that I was kind of counting on the Air Force money to cover. I guess this is what emergency savings accounts were for, and thankfully I can dip into mine again this time to pay my bills. That, my friend, is part of the "real" problem. And I want everyone to know that I am not complaining here (I guess I complaining here on the message board, but I am not complaining in person) because I know this is how the "system" works and serving my country is more important than trying to fight everyone's little empire in the Air Force. I simply wanted to explain to you some of the things that are frustrating for myself and many other fliers here in the hopes that you may be able to provide some feedback to others to try and fix the broken parts of the system.

I try to greet some of my passengers, but more importantly, I get them safely to where they are supposed to be, and usually within a few minutes of the time they are expecting to be there. In short, I don't continually fvck up my job by losing paperwork that can potentially cause my "customers" to not pay their bills on time. Nor do I fvck up my job to the point where I have to argue with each passenger about what rules etc. I am supposed to folllow. I know my rules cold and they know I know my rules cold. I also happen to know a lot about their rules, and when one billeting guy tells me one thing, and then the travel voucher guy tells me another, and then a different billeting person tells me a third story - all in disgreement with their own regs, you can see how frustrating it can be for me. Finance Guy, I appreciate your candor for being a stand-up guy and coming into a flying forum to try and get us to see the other side of the argument. But like mentioned above, I am sure you can see some of our frustration with the entire finance system in the Air Force.

I love how the 24-hour RULE, that was designed to simplify and streamline short TDY's, is now considered a loophole that needs to be closed. Being that this is the Air Force, and it's main goal is to get aircrew and airplanes to move efficiently from one place to another, it has to be a bad thing or a "loophole" for aircrews to not have to wait at billeting for 2 hours when they only have 16 total hours on the ground anyway. I guess all of the aircrews need to remember that we are here to support the finance and services people, and not the other way around.

In that same billeting AFI, it talks about aircrew rooms and crew integrity - another issue that I seem to have to fight with billeting every time: 2.2.7. Transient Aircrew Lodging. Lodging provides a private room/private bath to transient aircrew members 0-1 and above (accommodations may include a shared kitchen and/or living area). For enlisted transient aircrew members, lodging provides a private room and a private or shared bath. Aircrew members are defined as anyone on the flight crew order. Ensure gender is considered when assigned lodging to aircrews. Crew integrity will be maintained--all members of the same crew will be housed together, either all on base or all off base. If a crew is divided into multiple buildings on base, no more than two stops will be required to pick up all crew members. NOTE: Exceptions may be made during contingencies. 2.2.7.1. When construction or maintenance in the vicinity of aircrew quarters could interrupt crew rest, general managers will not assign aircrew members to buildings in the area. 2.2.7.2. Lodging may assign other TDY personnel to transient aircrew accommodations if not required for aircrews and other on-base lodging is not available. When assigning other TDY personnel to aircrew accommodations, advise them of the varied aircrew members sleeping hours, and ask them to refrain from making any noise or disturbance that could interrupt crew rest. 2.2.7.3. Lodging will maintain aircrew integrity by housing the entire aircrew either on base or off base. If housed on base, lodging will house them as close together as possible. If lodged off base, lodging will house the aircrew in one commercial establishment. 2.2.7.4. The installation commander or the aircraft commander may waive aircrew lodging requirements on a temporary basis for reasons of military necessity. 2.2.7.5. Transient aircrews may use AF Form 2282, Statement of Adverse Affect--Use of Government Facilities, at Air Force, Army, Navy, or Marine Corps installations when available temporary lodging does not meet Air Force standards for aircrews. When adequate government lodging is available, but does not meet special mission support requirements or crew integrity requirements, or the host installation commander has determined that the requirements cannot be 24 AFI34-246 17 MAY 2001 supported, the members may obtain commercial accommodations at their own expense. In these cases, the general manager will not issue NA numbers. The TDY member is responsible for filing the AF Form 2282 at their permanent duty base.

Like Herk said, the military clause that is not in your lease is called the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a federal law. I used it to break a lease I had BEFORE I joined the service. At first, she did not want to let me break it, and then I went back to her and mentioned that I talked to a lawyer, who said that I am allowed to break the lease per the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. I was out of the lease that day. I did, however, stay in an apartment that actually did have a military clause. The military clause required me to give them 1 months notice to break the lease. In other words, all of this "military clause" lease stuff you hear about are restrictions that the landlords put on the lease IN THEIR FAVOR, not in the favor of the military member. In this case, I talked to a JAG and he told me that the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act does indeed give a landlord a right to require a months notice before breaking a lease due to military orders etc. This was sort of a middle-ground for the landlords and the military. It prevents you from getting screwed out of, say for example, the remaining 11 months on a lease. But at the same time, it gives them a little leeway (a month) for the guys who think they can show up the day before they leave on orders and expect the landlord to have the place rented out the next day.

That reg was entertaining to read. It is amazing to see how anal the Air Force can try to be in controlling something as simple and fun as drinking beer. I especially like the section about the "deglamorization" of alcohol, which details how they can't give out beer coupons, discount drinks more than 50%, host drinking contests, or - my favorite - how they can't use "last call" or other countdown events designed to promote last-minute sales. And then of course, every base, NAF, wing, and MAJCOM has a supplement to this all-important reg. Freakin hilarious.

Although this thread is kind of gay, I will throw out one thing that I carry that comes in handy a lot - the leatherman Micra. It is a very small leatherman that fits in the little knife pocket with the tampon string (no G-suit for me).

C-130J also

WTF???? :confused: Everyone I know has been using that site for a decade. While we are discussing it, I found a kick ass flight planning website that has all kinds of info on NOTAMS, weather, and flight planning. Also, I found a kick ass search-engine website that enables you to find anything on the web in no time at all.