contraildash

Over here, you only get what the Germans who run the housing office think your place is worth. So while my cap is 1200 Euro, and I talked my landlord down to 1000 Euro, the damn housing office says it's only worth 820 euro. They base it off of "living space" square footage. They say they add some value for garages, but barely, and I don't have one. Since the heated/finished basement rooms are only accessible from the outside, they don't count as living space. No value was added for the shop out back. The example the guy used basically showed that "their calculations" said my free-standing house (with two heated rooms in the basement, a huuuuge backyard, two-room building/shop) was worth the same as an apartment with the same sq footage. It's complete BS.

I touched it's titty a few years back: When leaving German controllers, everyone usually throws out a "tschüss". The other day on my way back from Aviano, we heard a JAL flight get handed off and it was "aarr-shroooss-ra". So stereotypically priceless. I wish I could record that kinda stuff....

Hoss: did you even know at the time? Or was it an after the fact "oh sh*t!"...those suck. For me it was going off the end of the runway at a little place called Gila Bend (E63) in a Cessna 310 full of gas after our brakes failed on landing. Stopping before the ditch was nice though.

...that's what she said... I don't look forward to the day when I have to grow up and start arguing about having more dudes around in the jet. Enjoy your meat-fest.

Well thanks to the Canucks, Wittman experienced that on the 8th of August 1944.

I just finished my taxes through H&R Block online. I used TurboTax the past 4 years, but this year their program was a pain in the ass. Plus you have to pay to file your state taxes electronically. I like the free and easy H&R stuff I just used! I also like going TDY to tax free/combat zones...made a huge difference! Side note/question: I did a partial DITY to put stuff in storage prior to my OCONUS PCS, but only got around $250 for it. But didn't see a W-2 for it (like some of the posts above are concerned about) Do I even have to worry about that?

I had to go through PIPS when I in-processed here at ETAR. It was a pain in the butt and my impression was that it just filled in the voucher for me. It was cumbersome, crashed multiple times, and about two hours slower than if I just rocked out a paper voucher. Our SQ RA sucks so I'm still not in DTS, so all my recent vouchers have been done paper style, by me. It's sad that I can fill out a voucher, attach orders and receipts, get the voucher signed by two people, make copies of the whole thing, then drive over to finance and drop it off all quicker than going through PIPs or DTS. I have been getting paid much quicker than I ever did through DTS, let alone the PIPs thing. At this point I'm not exactly pushing to get my DTS account un-fvcked.

Saw a history channel type show about this guy recently, trying to prove who killed him (Brits or Canucks) Captain Michael Wittman I love the sportscar and submarine part.

The A-10

the A-10....enjoy

Badass of the Week note: Randomly came across the site when I googled Captain Ronald Speirs: Anyways, there's some funny-ass stuff on the site, the A-10 entry is great, a good read if ya need to kill some time. edit for quote

Games: Jelly Car (not the crappy second one) AC-130 Spectre 33rd Division X-plane Racing / X-helicopter Cube Runner Tap Tap Revenge 2 (use it to get random music mainly) RC helicopter Paper Toss Parking Lot Air Hockey Amateur Surgeon Flight Control Coast Defense Gun App Flying Stuff: AeroWeather Sports: FlyCast (still can't quite get it to work though) Misc: Convert - The Unit Converter Currency Coverter Flashlight BumpIt German Tutor Wi-Fi Finder Around Me Skype Shazam Facebook Mixologist

The famous point of order. Not to be stereotypical, ok, to be stereotypical we had this skinny 4 eye'd geek kid with no athletic skills (everyone knows the type). He pulled the point of order crap during ultimate frisbee (ultimately gay frisbee). I lost my temper, told him to stuff it, play the game, and subsequently I stood on the sideline for the rest of the game saluting my peers. Fun times. Also played the whole "decision making process" vs "getting sh*t done" at OTS. The mission argument came up many a time. Felt the underlying tone of "shut up and color". ...I really hope I never have to get an ammo can full of rocks across a moat and over a frick'n wall...

We were thinking about submitting a video to AFN based on this, they are running a deal right now "think you can do better? submit your video to AFN." With the ridiculous scenarios we've come up with, I doubt it'd get played, but funny none the less. Holy cow man...that's seriously over the top. both

Definitely a WTF, but upon closer review a hell yeah! The Department of Public Safety says 25-year-old Richard Anthony Flores Jr., 25, was arrested on two counts of reckless driving and one count of criminal speed stemming from three separate incidents. Flores was also served with seven civil speeding citations. According to DPS, Flores was caught on camera November 11 around 6 p.m. traveling west on the U.S. 60 near Mesa drive at 79 mph while standing through his open sunroof. The posted speed in the area is 65 mph. Just two minutes later, DPS says Flores was captured again standing through the open sunroof near Alma School Road traveling at 78 mph. Flores had also been caught on camera November 6 traveling 90 mph on the San Tan Loop 202 near Lindsay Drive, according to officials. DPS says between October 14 and November 18, Flores' vehicle activated photo enforcement cameras a total of 14 times. Investigators have been able to id the suspect in eight of the 14 violations at this point. Officials say Flores has a California license plate on his vehicle with a louvered plate cover in an attempt to obstruct its visibility. He apparently has a California driver's license but investigators discovered that Flores has a local address in Chandler. When investigators contacted a family member at that address they advised them Flores needed to contact DPS. Flores apparently called the same day and turned himself in the next morning.

Thanks for painting the real picture Bergman and Skinny....I already feel pretty damn lucky with my job, this kinda stuff just shores up that idea even more.

Congrats man! How'd ya like the smell? I had mine done back in 2002, been loving it ever since. Keep those drops handy and going regularly and you'll be in good shape.

I have a dime. Suckas! OTS was my third and final hope...glad it worked out. P.S. AS200 was like the only "A" I had that semester!

Cycles though...my old man was telling me about all the DCA's going through the USCG in the mid-to-late 80's to get Falcon time and then peace'ing out ASAP to FedEX to fly said Falcons. (FedEX, UPS, ect are still sweet gigs from what I've been told) Who knows when the airlines will recover, if ever now, but I expect it'll continue the cyclic trend and improve at some point. Not sure what the NetJet type gigs are like these days. Last time I talked to a friend that flies Challengers, it wasn't all that great either.

I laugh, but then realize that someday I'll be in the same situation looking at some old pics with some young-whipper-snapper! On a side note, I got to support some U-2 stuff recently. While not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, it was still pretty damn cool to me.

Slideshow of the early U-2 program. Sweet and random find. U-2 slideshow

I fly C-21s in Europe...whats NOT to love about that???

Back stateside, I've had maybe five or six meals bought for me while on lunch-n-backs. Personally, I think the American public is more excited to see us in bags than in blues. I've been out in public in both uniforms and had very different experiences in them. So the AF may not want us out and about in bags, but the civilian population sure does like it.

Had to drop by the local 'Practiker' here in Germania on my way home the other day. German's stare enough as it is...ten times worse when you are in a bag.

In UPT a year ago, the Friday afternoon debrief with beer was standard. Studs and IPs alike drank together, no big deal. Those that didn't drink, still hung around and had coke or something. Don't have to drink to be a bro. In my current SQ, the commander just left and from what I've seen and been told, there was no culture for traditions at all. My impression was that our prior CC felt "officers should not drink, especially in public." But we do, and he just seemed to tolerate it. Depressing. Hell, while we aren't a fighter SQ, we are based in the old fighter facility, so to me it's sacrilegious that we don't make use of the decent bar area that we have. The new CC sat down with the SQ last week and said he looks forward to getting together in the SQ bar on Fridays for a few beers, stories, the 'occasional F-bomb', and more SQ based activities. You could feel the weight lifted off the SQ in that room...actual sighs of relief.