JS

Rotorhead, Is there anyway you can make that slide show any smaller by perhaps resampling some of the pictures to make them smaller? I tried to email it out to everyone in my address book, but it got returned from everyone with an internet mail account (yahoo, gmail, hotmail). One of the few people who received it is a teacher and he says he is going to show it to his students (I hope you don't have it copyrighted). But I want to email it to more friends and family members to forward on, but 10GB is just too big for most email accounts. Thanks.

WOW. Brought a tear to my eye. On a different note, does anyone have any good ideas on volunteerism for helping with wounded or fallen soldiers from the war? I have tried to find contact information or any sort of foundation for the guys who have been killed or wounded that are from my hometown or even my home state, but there isn't a lot of information on the internet. The only thing I really volunteer for is a program that my local VA hospital has. They have a VA cemetery and every once in a while they bury a veteran who has no family members. They send out an email soliciting any military members who want to attend the burial since the member has no family members or friends. I am also looking into volunteering at the local VA, but I am not sure what kind of services I could offer. Just curious of anyone had any other good volunteerism ideas. [ 14. December 2006, 11:59: Message edited by: JS ]

Probably just the prototype.

I find it hard to believe that the AMS curriculum covers everything the OTS one does. The 12 weeks at OTS were pretty packed in. I don't remember many times where I was not totally busy and/or totally tired. Of course, the extra 6 weeks that you spend at OTS could just be due to extra BS type stuff that they just don't do at AMS - multiple CC calls a week, obstacle courses, volleyball, parades, etc.

I don't know much about how asthma is disgnosed, but a friend apparently has a mild case. He has never had an attack and has never used an inhaler. He played football in high school and rugby in college. He also runs regularly and has never had a problem. I think he was disagnosed in high school (not sure by what means), so that would be after he was 12 years old. Does this DQ him for AF flying? What about non-flying AF jobs?

Good Lord! Yeah, Opelika is about 60 miles to the East and is the home of Auburn University - good sports and women. Tuscaloosa is about 160 miles to the Northwest and is the home of the University of Alabama - good sports and women. You can also drive 90 miles North to Birmingham for some "big city" bars, restaurants, etc. Nice place to visit compared to Montgomery. There is also the University of Alabama at Birmingham up there - good sports and women. About 40 miles to the East is Tuskegee - obvious history there. Locally, don't forget about the minor league baseball stadium right there (Mighty Ducks, I think). Good cheap fun if you like baseball and are there during the season. There is also an Aero club on base, and if you get really bored you can walk over to the Air University Press building and pick up your free 10 books on airpower. Good luck.

No where near "impossible." In my unit, I would say that 4 out of every 5 new guys are non-prior guys straight "off the street." In my limited experience with Guard units, it seems that they are somewhat more clicky and are more likely to hire an prior enlisted guy, but I can think of several examples of guys coming off the street into guard units as well. Bottom line - it is not impossible, or even difficult for that matter, to get sponsored for a guard/reserve slot as long as you are qualified, interview well, and are liked by the squadron. Of course, it helps if you have flying experience such as a PPL when you apply. Good luck, and PM me if you have any other questions.

Tuition reimbursement programs usually only apply to enlinsted jobs, and high-demand ones in particular. I have not heard of any sort of reimbursement program for officers, or aircrew in particular, but you can only ask.

You should have plenty of time as a guard bum to go to school. Being a bum is probably one of the most flexible jobs out there. You should be eligible for the standard Air Force education benefits. Tuition Assistance pays $250/credit hour for advanced degrees and you can also use the GI bill to cover any expenses TA does not cover. Start in your Wing/Unit education or training office for more information.

You are missing something - it is called the Master Question File, and they are totally legal in "real" flying squadrons. Here is something black and white in all of this gray stuff: Studying and learning from the squadron-issued MQF = Good Taking answers from the MQF written on a Post-it into a test = Not So Good [ 11. June 2006, 13:49: Message edited by: JS ]

Not many people - MPD fans or not - will disagree with you there. But I do wonder about your logic here. Why can a MPD guy not do all of the aforementioned "copilot" duties? Just because someone is qualified in both seats does not mean that they are not learning basic planning and traditional copilot duties. I just don't see why MPD guys can't "be quiet," or "be a sponge," and so on for the first 750 hours so they can observe the day to day operations on their way to becoming aircraft commanders. Simply because a new guy flies every 5th ride or so in the left seat does not preclude that person from being a humble, eager to learn, know-when-to-speak guy.

Oh, about your other question regarding living quarters for married folks: Since PIQ is a 3 month TDY, there are not many options for good married housing. The default you can expect is to be put up in a dorm room on base. The ones I saw were former double rooms with shared bath, but they were converted into a single with a bedroom and a study/living room. Not too roomy for a wife, but you can make do for 3 months if you want. You can also refuse gov't quarters when you get to billeting. You are entitled to get paid the on-base VOQ rate ($27/day) and apply that for an off base apartment. The Links complex offers furnished apartments and there are several unfurnished places off base too. This might not be a great option because you are only there for 3 months. Finally, you may be put off base into some contract hotel - and that is a crap shoot as far as how accomodating your hotel room will be for a married guy. PM me if you have other questions about housing there.

To reiterate what GW said, if you are in the Harrisburg EC-130J unit, you will be at the Rock for 3 months of PIQ training only and do local mission training back in Pennsylvania. Since the entire course is in the Sim, they are usually pretty good about ending the sims a few days before Xmas and not picking back up again until Jan 2nd or 3rd, so I would not worry about having days off for the Holidays. The best way to find that info (your unit should have the dates) is to call the J-model schoolhouse directly. The registrar people are pretty friendly and helpful: Registrar: 501-987-7068 Academic section 501-987-5150 (listen for extension options) DSN 731-XXXX Good luck.

Did they actually get their second sim at the Rock? Last I heard it was not there yet. Is it operational?

I was told the Form 8 was unconditional because the sim was totally certified for everything including landings. I flew with an IP for my first ride in the plane back home, but I thought that was just a local policy (I could be wrong and it could be due to the Form 8).

I believe BUFF's cannot dump, that may be what you are thinking of. A BUFF guy told me that their Max TO weight is something close to 500,000 pounds and their max landing weight is somewhere around 277,000. This means that on a takeoff emergency they are droning with the boards out in max power for quite a while to burn some gas down. Maybe a B-52 guy can elaborate more on this.

Are all T-38 daily rides taped/recorded, or was this an AT-38 or something?

My advice: I would recommend the guard or reserves, but don't become a full timer (ART, technician, or whatever name people call it) because there are many miserable aspects that are similar to what you see as a FAIP.

My advice: At your earliest convenience, get the heck out of AETC - maybe give AMC a try (or ACC I guess for you). Second, get out of Active Duty ASAP. I would recommend the guard or reserves, but don't become a full timer (ART, technician, or whatever name people call it) because there are many miserable aspects that are similar to what you see as a FAIP. I would say that being a part-timer (working more days than I did while going through UPT) and belonging to the Alcoholics Moving Cargo MAJCOM definitely keeps flying fun for me.

Apparently the Tone costs less than half of what a -38 costs per hour to operate. Plus you have to factor in the fact that the jump seat guy supposedly learns from the other pilot flying (and he can log "other time" too). So basically the Tone is training twice the pilots at 1/2 the cost, which theoretically makes it 4 times as productive of a trainer. This info comes from the following website, so I am not sure how accurate it is (from 2001): https://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/blafacrates.htm

Just trying to include the cave pilots in our little game.

Yup. I figured not a lot of people would associate the BUFF prototype with tandem seats, but I guess there are not that many 8 engine jets out there.

Here is a good one.....

Shack - Titan. Good use of Google.