ASUPilot

GBock, I wish I was surprised. Having just PCS'd myself, I got the full run-a-round with JPPSO. I ended up dealing with their regional office in COS where I was compelled to unload a barrage of, well, let's just say less than flattering comments. Given you know me, I bet this surprises you. BL: the wife and I got what we needed from JPPSO/TMO only because I stepped on their collective neck. SM

I have a Kramer Custom MSP paddle holster (black) for a Commander/Bobtail 1911 is anyone wants it.

Being a Congressman or Senator has about as much prestige these days as the Boston Steamer I took this morning. What a stupid b!tch. We certainly have our problems in the military, but I regard our profession much higher than virtually anyone in Congress.

Dewey, Are you going to the T-6 or are you going to return to the Bone a little early? SM

"Also, Ellsworth > Abilene. Green trees, green grass, actual seasons, literally square miles of public land for hunting, fishing, camping and hiking...I'll be depressed when I get my orders back to Dyess." '2' same

Wow, you don't see that every day. Congrats and good luck.

New NRA member; I can walk to my local gun store/indoor range from my condo; just ordered a Sig P229 Elite Stainless. I don't know what took me so long...

"2"

I went to lunch the other day with a retired CMSgt and the current group CMSgt. This topic came up and I stated that I wondered when the hell did it become acceptable for an enlisted member to approach an officer and "correct" them on something as gay as uniform wear. I was told by said chiefs that the problem is that aircrew thinks it's "cool" to rebel against things like reflective belts and proper wear of PT gear, and that doing so is being a good crewdog. Something like "officers should be the best examples and if they need to be corrected then ANYONE should correct them." A robust conversation ensued. This would have never happened when my father was flying in the AF. It's weird to me that say an E-5 thinks it's okay to go up to an O-5 and tell him his flight suit zipper is too low, that his sleeves shouldn't be up, that his morale patch is unauthorized, or that he should have his reflective belt on...not having any clue what this guy was just doing or how long he'd just been flying. I don't say anything to O-5's. To me, this isn't about maintaining standards; it's about FAILED officer leadership allowing this sort of environment to exist. I'm a Captain, and I show Majors more respect than most enlisted cats show me. When an O-5 or above is talking to me, I stand up. I know the pecking order...I know where I fit in the hierarchy...I KNOW MY PLACE! Like everyone, I see things everyday, but you know what, it's no my job to correct a superior officer unless it's safety or safety of flight related. And if anyone says reflective belts are "safety" related, find the nearest corner and fvcking choke yourself. We're not all equal in the military...don't we have rank and pay charts to differentiate who is above who(STS)? Why is this so hard to understand? I worry about myself; I don't look for or say anything to my O-5 supervisor or O-6 boss, ever. I'm too busy with real work to even notice something as gay as a uniform infraction. Needless to say, the Chiefs didn't agree with me on much. But that's okay. I treat everyone very well. I don't run around telling people how high to jump since I'm an officer. In reality, as a Captain I'm usually the bottom of the food chain. I do, however, expect people to know their respective place...I know mine. The Chiefs were annoyed...maybe they thought I was a prick. Maybe I am, but the bottom line in my mind is that I'm higher than them in the food chain, period. Take away: know your place.

I agree. I'd been telling myself for years to ditch Windows and get over to Apple. Finally in August I purchased a 15" MacBook Pro. The difference, reliability, stability, performance, and pure cool factor, were instantaneous. I knew I had to get an iPhone...and I was one of the idiot braving the crowds on 11 July 08. With MobileMe, Apple just can't be beat IMHO. Since, I've purchased the 24" iMac for my home office. My life is completely Apple now and I couldn't be happier. iTunes 8 is incredible. If you're into music there is no substitute for the iPod, period. I can't detect anything better about the Zune vice the iPod. Oh, and bluetooth stereo headsets are coming for the iPods...and iPod + Nike...world domination, LOL.

My unit isn't going to participate in this blues thing given we're an ASOG on an Army base and our TACPs are war-fighters running around with Joe's. However, just for fun I tried my blues on...wow, not a good look for me. I suspect many fellow flyers had a similar experience this weekend. Even if I had a 32" waist it wouldn't look right. Blues are GAY.

Overmanned? I would say no. Am I looking at the UMD and cross-referencing a spreadsheet, no. However, reclama is the game being played right now. Requirements for Alpha Tours have not gone down; if anything they've increased. There's still a push to send guys to UAVs, ALOs, UPT (lucky) and the U-28(again, lucky). The Bone's have a schedule of 6 on and 12 off. So basically for almost 12 months the Commanders reclama everyone because if they don't, they won't be able to fill a combat deployment. They need guys for the months leading up to the deployment around so they can catch beans, upgrade and complete AOR spin-up. The real kick in the balls occurs about halfway through the deployment when the Alpha bill drops. It's a blood bath to say the least. So at any given time one squadron is taking the brunt of the Alpha bill is the ass. It's a sick game. The result is you have squadrons in the CAF with experience levels in the 30 - 35% range. Not the gospel, but I think I heard once in passing that squadron experience levels should be 55%. The Bones, like everyone, are in a experience deficit. When you Alpha a young AC or a WSO who's about to upgrade to IWSO, they're replaced with MQT dudes. It's certainly NOT a one-for-one exchange of equals. IMHO, things are so unbalanced right now, so backwards on a myriad of levels, that I've given up any hope of ever seeing common sense in the AF. I just spoke with a Viper brother of mine at HL and I am stunned at what's happening there. So this doesn't appear to be just a Bone or bomber thing.

So it sounds like mother Air Force is yet again par for the course...does anyone know what's going on?

A friend of mine who's a T-38 FAIP @ VN told me only the BUFFs went over to the Tone side. He also mentioned that Tone drivers were actually pretty excited about at least having another combat option out of Tones besides the rare Gunship or Comabat Talon that drops.

Standard...should we expect anything less? You know what...maybe it's time we cross-train her and send her to UPT? I hear we need more Raptor pilots. Regardless of what the outcome of the investigation is, she'll play the gender card and walk...right out of the Air Force and into a lucrative book deal/ABC after school special. Then she'll join the speaking circuit and charge $25,000 per speech. She certainly doesn't do too much to help the stereotype...but what do I know...I'm a Neanderthal.

I still run in my civilian PT gear around Coalition Compound in the evenings because the AF PT gear is attrocious to run/exercise in. Here's what the Deid has taught me about the AF: as a service, much like the country as a whole, we are severely obese. What are one of these senior NCO's going to do...run me down? I'd relish the opportunity to have one run with me. No disrespect to those senior NCO's who do uphold the physical fitness standards...I just haven't seen that 1 in 1000 yet!

Helitac, Post those pictures directly here in the message. We, forward deployed, can't view the pics from the hyper-link because the COMM Nazi's have it blocked.

I'm on my first deployment. This experience is nothing short of amazing. This is the best flying, combat experience, and squadron building "bro" factor I have experienced to date. I will stay here as long as they powers that be will let me. We may get extended to six months...and that's good news to me. I do miss the comforts of home-everyone does-but nothing compares to actually doing the J O B in the AOR with your bros. I can see how this could get old for the dudes in the mobility business...they're here in the AOR so many days/year. But if you're in a jet that kills people and breaks their shit and helps our dudes on the ground...I can't think of a better place to be. But what do I know?

For all of you seasoned guys out there with numerous deployments under your belt, how does the tax free pay deal work? Does Finance have a handle on this or do they pork it? I assume we get all of our Federal taxes back, but do we also get FICA and Medicare back? I think if I fly into the combat zone at least once a month (that won't be a problem) I'm also entitled to two additional pays...Imminent Danger Pay/Hostile Fire Pay ($225) and Hazardous Duty Incentive Pay ($175). Sorry for the amateur questions...just curious as I approach my first combat deployment. Cheers.

Yes...of course that's a true statement, myself included. My point was that not every Bone driver was "last" in their T-38 class. And truthfully, students don't know what they want, they only think they do. T-38s is so fighter focused, as it should be I guess, that all life outside of that is ignored. Almost all of my friends from UPT fly fighters right now and they say once they figured out how to hang on as a wingman it's the coolest job in the world...for the 3 or 4 hours a week they fly. The other 50 hours a week are pretty rough. I guess it "has" to be that way, but they were all pretty surprised at how much time they spend at the squadron. Not a lot of travel, skiing, surfing, or shagging women all over the country for them. Would I have preferred a Hog or a Viper over my Bone out of UPT and sold my mother to get one, yes. But quality of life is a premium benefit too...I only have to be at the squadron 10 hours a day, LOL! The other 2 are mine... [ 29. January 2006, 20:40: Message edited by: ENJJPT IP ]

At the Bone FTU we had, oh I don't remember, roughly 30 sims before we hit the flightline. By sim 5 it was pretty easy to do the CRM thing with the other pilot. "Hey dude, rolling slats, gear and half flaps..." Or, "dude, I'll take slats...half flaps...gear." I'm not a Tone trained guy, nor am I an airline pilot; I really don't see what the big discussion is regarding CRM...it's easy. When you're in a fighter(not me) 4-ship, that's CRM too...just in different jets. My point, CRM is instictive...not cosmic. Is that all the Tone offers...CRM? Single-seat guys have made the transition to crew aircraft for ever. I don't know everything, but I haven't heard of a dude washing out of anything due to CRM issues. Lack of skill, airmanship or flight discipline, yes...but not CRM. There is a compelling argument to scrap the Tone.

Believe it or not, not all Bone drivers are dudes who were "last" in their respective T-38 classes. As everyone knows, timing is everything. And beleive this or not, I can think of four younger AC's in my squadron who chose the Bone #1 out of T-38s. Also, we have quite a few dudes who either washed out of IFF or fighter FTU. In my opinion the talent has been rather good. Are there a couple of idiots, of course, but that's anywhere. Not to get into a pissing match with anyone here, but I think history would support that when track select comes, usually about 25 studs plus or minus, 5 T-38s drop. Simple math suggests 20%. Now does that make every T-38 pilot better than every T-1 pilot...? Absolutely not. But even the "last" T-38 guy is pretty good.

My roommate from Dyess is Herk driver...yeah, he didn't complain much. He and I live in two different worlds though. AD ACC is...wierd.

sadly when guys have the T38 grades and get rejected for 38's it makes you wonder wtf is up with that the the AF to pigeon hole pilots with little to no chance of an active duty x-over. Spend over a million bucks to wear the same wings yet leave no ability to x-flow doesnt make sense.

Thanks CH.