herkbum

Ahhh, Jack- known around here as "the nectar of the gods!!" If this happens, give me a heads-up. I live about 30 minutes from Lynchburg. We can start here and then move on down to the tour. My squadron buys a barrel or two of Single Barrell every year. You get well over 120 bottles per barrel and we sell it to squadron and wing members. All bottles have a medallion with picture of the herk and squadron/wing name. Jimmy Bedford, the head distiller signs every barrel. The first two ended up as a glass top table in the squadron bar. The last one was given to a visiting Belgian C-130 that came over and did some training/partying with us.

I wasn't an E-4 Sgt, I was at the very end of that system. I had to wait just a little bit longer for promotion so I could go straight to SSgt.

Absolutely incredible!! Great job!! God bless the and those that have given the ultimate sacrifice!

Give me coordinates for this guys' house and we'll make sure he has something to complain about.

Good on ya'!! We need more of this in our schools.

After reading TheBurt's answer to a question, I decided to post his response. I hope this will help many ANG members out because this is the best description of the different ways to get paid in the ANG. Again, thanks Burt. AFTP= Additional Flying Training Period. Each AFTP is a minimum of 4 hours, you can do a max of two in one calendar day. There are two types: ground AFTP, flying AFTP. Ground AFTP's are usually limited to a max of 12 per year, you can only do 4 grounds in a quarter. You can do a max of 16 AFTP's in a quarter, but are still limited to 48 per year. This is the norm for a ANG C-130 unit. There are other units and branches that get 72 AFTP's per year. You can do two flying AFTP's in a calendar day or a ground and a flying. You cannot do 2 ground AFTP's in one calendar day. AFTP's do not carry over the fiscal year, if you haven't used them, you lose them (yes there are exceptions). If you use all of them, (48) then you have to find another pay status to accomplish flying events, there is another category called a PT, but the commander doles those out and is not a preferred way to pay you. UTA= Unit Training Assembly otherwise called drill, again, a minimum of a 4 hour block. If you get excused from drill you can make up the UTA, either before or after the normally scheduled drill period some call it a RUTA, "Rescheduled UTA". Again, they do not carry over the fiscal year, exceptions, of course, it's the friggin' guard, however not the norm since the money has to be accounted for during the fiscal year. Title 32= active duty for training, usually the status you're in for :JA/AT's, taskings, annual training, some overseas deployments, some staff tours etc. Title 10= active duty, usually for contingencies ie. OIF, OEF, and others, however you can also be on title 32. OK, now, in one day you can do only one active duty day, or a combination of any of the following two: UTA, AFTP (ground or flying), technician's well another can of worms. You could do one AFTP or UTA in a day and do 2 sorties, I know one guy that did this because he wanted to get the max flying hours per year. However, I and others highly frown upon this, it sets a bad precedent, for many reasons (later discussion) State Active Duty= highway robbery, stay away from it if possible. Usually only "base pay" for your rank, ie. no flight pay, Bah II, subsistence, and each state's per diem form is a nightmare and requires your grandparents signature, state attorney general etc.

This kind of article is why I cancelled my subscription 2 yrs ago. I read that this morning, while on the plane, and started laughing my ass off! I asked the rest of the crew if they had their orders from the President- since we were covering a 4 state area on the way to Dyess, it was a prime opportunity to spread mind-warping chemicals. These people are idiots!

Maybe you need to get some deployments under your belt before you start telling stories that begin with "I have heard of...". Finance/travel makes it seem all money is coming out of their pockets. We don't do this job for the money, but we do feel like we should get what we deserve and have earned. If he lets finance/travel get by with this possible mistake, then they will never know they made one; therefore, committing it again. They are awfully quick to point out what mistakes we make when filling out their travel vouchers. This is a two-way street! [ 26. November 2006, 21:31: Message edited by: herkbum ]

My only real experience with this is when I was enlisted. We had a ROTC cadet that did drill with us. From what I remember, he was already in the squadron when he joined ROTC. I'm not sure but I think when he commissioned, his enlisted committment was fulfilled. This was over 10 years ago, so it may have changed since then. As for the activation or call to AD situation. I have personal experience with this- twice! Back in 1994 at the end of drill weekend, I was called into the commanders office and told I needed to be at Pope AFB NLT Friday (that's 5 days). I was in college at the time and I had no problem getting out of school. Just told the University what was happening and showed them my orders. Happened again in 1998. Nowadays, most colleges are used to this type of thing. But, most of these deployments are NOT involuntary, meaning you may not be required to go. It can be handled on a case-by-case basis. You do need to realize that if you join the Guard/Reserve you do have a commitment to do your job. This could slightly interfere with some ROTC functions. If you have not already done so, float these questions in the ROTC forum. There may be someone there with experience in this situation.

Remember-BRAC does not necessarily mean "closing", it also incorporates "realignments". So, yes, BRAC units can get a new flying mission. I am a member of a "BRAC'd" unit and there is a very real chance that we will get a follow-on mission. What will it be? Who knows, there are some options out there. But, the way I look at it, it's final when the new planes show up on the ramp. We are told that we will know what the mission is going to be in "two weeks". That started about 6 months ago. I'm not sure how other BRAC units are handling their UPT slots, we are still sending our selectees as if nothing has changed. So, as an optimist, there is hope for BRAC units. If you have any other questions, shoot. If I don't know the answer and will do my best to find the info for you. Basically, we will know the new mission when Big Blue decides they want to let us know. There is no way to predict when that will be. [ 05. November 2006, 21:37: Message edited by: herkbum ]

Chuck, No, there was a -17 that sat at Kandahar for a couple of weeks, back in Jul-Aug. It had a real bad right-handed lean going on.

Great pics. It's funny, I have some of the exact same pictures, namely the predator with only one Hellfire and some of the Russian aircraft. I saw the WB-57 in it's shelter at OAKN, but I didn't know what it was. Thanks for the info. Chuck, what was up with the off kilter -17 that sat at OAKN for a few weeks? [ 30. September 2006, 19:55: Message edited by: herkbum ]

I'm not saying MPD folks can't do this, I'm saying they NEED to be doing this. They are qualified to fly in both seats, but it is what you do or how you perform in said seat that really matters. As I stated earlier, performing left/right seat duties also refers to what you do outside of the airplane as well. Spend your time in the right seat, learn these things, then worry about moving to and making decisions in the left seat.

There is so much more to being an AC than just sitting in the left seat!! Flying from the left seat is mainly different in the t/o&landing picture, nose-wheel steering, sitting closer to the throttles, and flying with the opposite hand. What makes you an AC is the ability to make decisions. Not only decisions in the airplane, but how to take care of a crew during RON's and on deployments. MPD or CP doesn't make a rat's ass difference if they don't have experience as a CREWMEMBER! You can't learn how to be a crewmember in 35 hours @ LRF! This comes from flying the line, learning the mission by actually doing the mission; seeing different situations and what decisions were made to remedy those situations. That is why a pilot needs to spend about 1000 hrs in the RIGHT seat, learning the Herk and it's mission. Then you can move over to the left seat and the decision-making that goes along with having the A code behind your name. What is a good copilot, what Linda stated above is an excellent start. Coming out of LRF as a copilot, I knew how to file an 1801 & how to read a Form 59, but I was a prior navigator. Otherwise, I would have been clueless. You need to spend your time in the right seat learning to do these things, in addition to know about oceanic clearances, position reports, talking on HF, checking dip-cleared routing, expecting what controllers (both foreign and domestic) are likely to clear you to. Help the nav plan the flight, get with the loads and learn the Form F and how they plan on loading the airplane. Basically, as I said earlier, learn to be a crewmember before you lead the crew.

You are not too old, but you do need to get started immediately. You are going to be hard pressed to get everything done, but you have to try. Follow all advice above, particularly using the search function. There is tons of info on this site! You just have to find it. We will help as much as we can. Take your AFOQT, find a unit you are interested in and contact them, this should get you started in the right direction. Best of luck.

Don't be so hasty! You can fly quite a bit in the Guard. I was talking to a friend from UPT the other day, who happens to be AD; I have twice as many hours as him. He was floored how many hours we get in the Guard. The good thing about Guard flying is you can fly as much or as little as you want. Typically, when we fly locals, there are only two pilots on board. So you can bang out a ton of work in two hours. Our co's are getting as much time as they want. Talk to the Guard unit and find out how much flying they are doing before you make any big decisions. Also talk to some AD units and see how much flying time their co-pilot's are getting. You might try floating the question on the General Discussion board, I'm sure you will get some pretty good insight. Basically, do some research and see what you want to do. Don't make any decisions based off one question on a message board. Edit: I guess I need to read the General Discussion message board first. Wicked27, I didn't realize you were talking about fighters. I can't give you any accurate info on that side of the house. My post deals with the -130 side. Sorry. [ 01. March 2006, 21:42: Message edited by: herkbum ]

Last I heard- ANG to AD pilot is not possible. I believe it has to do with the overage the AD guys have now. You can check Air Guard Homepage -but this will have to be done from a .mil server. Go to Jobs, Title 10 Vacancies, there is a recall to AD section at the bottom of the page. My unit is on the BRAC and I called AFPC/ARPC when it was announced to ask this same question. That is where I got my answer- no recalls at this time and none scheduled in the future. Again, this did pertain to C-130's, I can't speak for other airframes, but I imagine it's the same story. Hope this helps.

That's funny. Every AD co I have talked to is complaining about the lack of flying hours they are getting. If he is not getting the hours at the Guard unit, he needs to sign up to fly more. There is no shortage of daily line flying with the units I have spoken with.

We had a TFAP guy assigned to us. He received a letter about half way thru his tour saying the program was being cancelled. He is now at the Rock, back with the AD. This is a great program because in the Guard, the co's get more flying time. I was talking with a bud of mine that I graduated Little Rock with and I have twice as many hours. Co's in the Guard get lots of stick time. I was shocked to hear how little AD co's are flying.

Why in the hell do they wear flight suits?! Is their computer going to catch on fire?

Play nice! Remember this board is to help people, let's not get in a pissing contest. You will lose.