Hacker

The major airlines currently only give you PIC hours if you signed for the aircraft. Yes, this is different than the FAA Part 61 rules. For example, here's what Southwest has to say about it:

So...who is going to get the medal for "heroism in flight" in an aircraft that doesn't have any enlisted folks on board...your crew chief? Load toad? Ammo puke? Pro Super/expediter? I agree that the majority of the medals and ribbons in the Air Force could be sh*tcanned. This is why I like the "all, some, or none" policy for officers wearing medals on their service dress -- for the one time every 5 years that I have to wear service dress.

You have to submit the sortie worksheet for AMs and AAMs. Rotor, are you saying you filled out the sortie sheets, then refused the medals when they were presented? Or did you just not log the sorties or turn the logsheets in?

It's not any more complicated than it sounds. Have scheduling arrange range time, blue bombs on the jets, etc, for a couple days. Have the flight commanders ensure that at least everyone gets the opportunity to get across the range once. Several weeks prior to this, everyone in the squadron has an opportunity to bet on any pilot. You're betting that pilot will place in an event. Again, you can bet on yourself, or you can bet on someone else, it doesn't matter. I've seen it done where there could be multiple bets on each person (like everyone betting on the guy who has taken A-G Top Gun the last 3 quarters running), I've also seen it done where only one person could "own" each guy in the squadron. If you make it an auction, and only allow one person to bet on each "horse", then you could drive the prices up even more. The Snacko collects the dough (make a minimum bet of $5 or something), and immediately snakes 50% off the top for the snacko fund. The other 50% goes toward prize money. Then, the pilots go out and do their thing on the range. Standard range rules apply...wheels in the well buys the bombs, yada yada. Have the Weapons shop tally up the bombs and come up with a win, place, and show for every event -- 10LAHD, 20 LALD, 30DB, etc. Figure out how to divide up the prize $ in a way that the people who bet "win" get the most, "place" get the 2nd biggest chunk, etc. Reveal the winners at a pilot meeting or a roll call. Snacko, count all the fat ca$h you made while everyone else gets drunk and falls down.

Oh, come on. Rainman didn't question his patriotism...he questioned his priorities. My reply has nothing to do with being a d*ck. It has everything to do with a little dose of the real world. More importantly, how do you think a B Course stud whose priority is his MBA and spending time with his family will fare? Cheers.

First of all, no. I showed the video of a guided Roland SAM threat reaction. I followed that up with a run down of all the sh*t that I did wrong and how I all most didn't go home that day in one piece. The point I made to new punks on day one of fighter pilot school was that the fighter job is deadly serious and although we kill people, those same people are trying to kill us back. Second, since you think my war stories are so tired and lame, let's hear some of yours. [ 13. September 2006, 16:12: Message edited by: Hacker ]

You mean, 'this isn't a place where you're going to get stroked and told pretty bird, pretty bird'? I think that this forum gives gobs of great advice to people who are willing to hear what more experienced folks are trying to tell them, and not just hear the answer they want to hear. The straight talk from people who have been there is perfectly valid advice. In this particular case, if you don't like what you're hearing about a career in pointy-nosed fast movers, then interpret that to mean "take T-1s." Not sure where you fly, but if you're going to throw in your two cents by saying that 'there's nothing wrong with keeping family and career in mind' when track selecting, I suggest you qualify it by filling in what flying community you're taking about. Yes, flying fighters is a busy business that involves lots of hard work. I assume your 'd-bag' comment was aimed partially at myself and Rainman, since we're the most vocal (and verbose) fighter guys on this topic. Rainman is retarded (er, retired) and I'm on an AETC tour as a T-38 IP. How is it that I'm a douchebag because my AETC tour means that I have time to post on baseops.net? [ 12. September 2006, 19:42: Message edited by: Hacker ]

That's a good one. How do YOU know the strength of your resolve? I think until you've actually maneuvered past the AAA and SAMs to the fragged target, and delivered your ordnance on the correct DMPI on time, people have all the reason in the world to question it. I sure didn't know what I was really made of until I was staring down the barrel of 57mm in Hadjiland. The fact of the matter was I was scared sh*tless and wanted to go home to momma. That feeling was offset by professionalism, duty, patriotism, anger, whatever, and fortunately that stuff had the 50.0000001% advantage on that day. Of course, after I bombed the sh*t out of the AAA site that had been shooting at me, I felt much better...but that is beside the point. There's a Grand Canyon's worth of difference between "I wanna fight" when you're sitting here in the U-S-by-God-of-A and when you're actually in some sh*thole with the real chance of going back home in a bodybag. Until then, if you wanna prove your resolve to fight, do it by having your mind in the correct spot to become a warrior. As you can gather from the responses you've seen here, that spot is not currently co-located with trying to get your MBA or have more time with your family.

Can't wait for all the "fit to fight" promos that come out of this one. See?! If you're a marathon runner, you're physically and mentally prepared for ANYTHING!

Perm Decert because of traffic tickets? That's a new one on me.

During OIF our bomb hits were digitized and sent to the CAOC daily. That tape could be seen by damn near anyone, up to and including the CENTAF/CC or higher. The Wing CC at the 'Deid did not appreciate the "die motherf*cker" comments on the tapes, and apparently he'd heard from his superiors about it. Crap rolls downhill, as you can imagine. I find it's smarter to not bypass the opportunity to keep your mouth shut and let your good work on the film speak for itself, rather than having to explain yourself to anyone. Besides, any time you're talking in the cockpit, you are comm-jamming your radios and the RWR, both of which are higher priority than anything you have to say into your tape while in Indian territory. [ 08. September 2006, 04:05: Message edited by: Hacker ]

IIRC, He's a T-38 FAIP at Sheppard (ENJJPT type, not IFF), and they have been in the process of swapping their T-38As for T-38Cs. You're correct that the '38C is now the White Jet and Blue Jet standard. Sheppard is trailing the rest of AETC because of the White Elephant called NATO.

That's exactly where he is.

Yeah...shut your f*cking man pleaser. Anything you say can and will be used against you. You'll also be occasionally rewarded because everything everyone else says can and will be used against them, too. Stuck mics, especially. Sure, the lawyer types can use your tape against you, but if you're keeping it clean then your tape can also be used to keep you safe. That's happened to me more than once -- saved by the tape. So, the reality is that the rest of your career there's going to be a tape running, so get used to it now. Live by it and die by it. [ 06. September 2006, 20:06: Message edited by: Hacker ]

She's (or used to be, at least) the MPF commander at Moody.

"DCID 1/14" is essentially a euphamism for a TS clearance. It means "Director of Central Intelligence Directive" and references the location in that document where the definition and requirements for a TS clearance (and eligibility requirements for an SCI clearance) are located (chapter 1, paragraph 14, or something of the like). Recently I've seen another variation on that with two different numbers (instead of 1/14), so I'm guessing the DCID has been rewritten or re-organized. The new numbers refer ostensibly to the new location of the same information. According to a squadron security manager at Base X, they started using that on orders 5-10 years ago to avoid outright stating someone's clearance on official orders. It is probably not a requirement to use that, though, since I've seen all sorts of annotations on UPT grads' orders coming through IFF, from TS to SSBI to DCID.

Are you sure you guys aren't talking about an SSBI? Or some other obscure clearance-related abbreviation like DCID 1/14? SCI is required for very specific reasons. I can't think of any type of access like that which a UPT student (or UPT graduate) would need.

I know a number of guys who have used the long weekend ATP courses. Yes, they're totally legit, and many times they cator to military guys. The options generally are: ATP checkride only ATP written and checkride FE and ATP written, ATP checkride They all cost between $1K and $2K, depending on where they are and which of the options you want.

It's been that way forever. My dad, who is a Korean War-era vet said the same thing about when he was on active duty.

Correction...in my post above, the wording implies that the V device specifies the difference between heroism and achievement for the DFC and Air Medal, and that's not what I meant. What I meant was that the DFC and AM are both medals that, like the Bronze Star, can be awarded for either heroism or merit, and that it says which it was awarded for on the certificate. Just re-read it and wanted to clarify.

Exactly my point. Either it's awarded for heroic or meritorious achievement. The citation itself specifies if the medal was awarded for heroism or merit. The V device on the ribbon highlights the difference when it's worn. The same thing goes for a DFC and an Air Medal. I don't disagree that medals are given away like candy these days, but if you know what you're looking for you can see past the medal-hounds and ID the guys who were really out there doing the J-O-B and getting their proper credit.

Anyone with any sort of SA can tell the difference in value between a BSM and a BSV.

Personally, I think it's a pretty good idea...but not for the whiny-assed reasons that the pogue Captain in the other article mentioned. I don't mind seeing the guys who are on the ground get their due...and I don't feel particularly slighted as a pilot if I'm not eligible for it from the air. If I were an ALO, though, and I was excluded from being eligible I'd be f*cking pissed.

If that's directed toward me, the reason I piped up is because there are a lot of young punks who are looking to the more experienced guys to help separate whatever party line they're getting in UPT from the real word in the CAF. Do I care what you do? Nope. I do care if people are presenting personal techniques that could give kids the wrong impression. In this case...scoffing glove use...is the wrong message to send to a younger pilot who doesn't have the experience necessary to exercise their own judgment.

Same. Screws with the dexterity.