contraildash

I understand the situation that the British are in, but I made my comments based more on our own Marines Other than flying off the LHDs, have the Marines made use of VSTOL in combat operations? Not throwing spears at them, just curious on my part. If not, why not just give them the C model and fly off big carriers / long runways?

Spent yesterday afternoon up at Lagunitas Brewery in Petaluma CA. Sample the full line, did the tour, finished with the "Undercover Investigation Ale". 8.5/10 9.7% ABV Nice smmoth ale, hint of pine with a little kick from the hopps at the end. If you ever see this beer on the shelf check out the label closely! Not an exact quote but here we go: "Dedicated to all the would be astronauts and in remembrance of the 2005 St Patrciks Day massacre in the brewery party grounds and the 20 day shutdown that followed. Did the crime, did the time, got the bragging rights!" The guy at the brewery told us: Basically they were investigated by undercover cops for employees smoking weed at the thursday 420 parties there (imagine that) after a few months they raided the place. The owner asked the agent who arrested him "is this what you want to do?" and the agent replied, "no I'd rather be an astronaut". After the legal proceedings ended they had to shut down for 20 days in January of 2006. Since then they've never looked back, demand has kept growing, the place is expanding, life is good.

Just a thought on that. I was under the impression that the whole point of the Harrier was to operate from austere forward airstrips to support the grunts. Have they ever really done that? Other than the small decks (LHDs) they fly off, why do they still need VSTOL capability? I read a book about flying the Harrier in Afghanistan (A Nightmare's Prayer, not a half bad read) and it gave me the impression that in our current wars the jet needed long runways and decent support infrastructure to operate with useful combat payloads. /sidetrack thought off edit: spell'n

Has anyone had the chance to put back some "Life and Limb" from Sierra Nevada? WOW. Tanilla Vanilla Porter by Knee Deep Brewing 8/10 Had it on tap at a local cigar bar. Simply put, it was good stuff. From the interwebs: "Made with only grade-A Tahitian vanilla beans, Tanilla carries a smooth chocolate flavor complemented by the delicate intensity of vanilla beans, and a rich aroma of coffee."

I was went through there back in 05/06 and recently retired F-14s were all over the place. Now there are like one or two. Apparently they have already scrapped the entire fleet at the boneyard. Pretty sad. F-14s Scrapped Edit: add link to the reason.

Free cheap entertainment. The Crazy Neighbor Show

Sounds like normal ops there...not on my list of favorite places I've been as far as airports.

Do those come standard with the 'chute? Never flown one, but heard they are nice planes.

Did you write such a paper? Actually makes sense.

When cadets go home for vacation, why can't they drink while traveling? Plus they never said he was drunk, just that he had a few beers. One article I read stated he was a senior at the time, so I'm guessing he was a few months away from commissioning. On that note: Sounds like he got the boot, and was forced to enlist (seen it happen to guys at USAFA). If he was booted for headaches and such, I doubt they would have made him enlist. Shitty deal all around for the guy. Get beat up with a concussion, miss out on spring break, get kicked out of West Point, and then forced to enlist. I hope he wins the lawsuit.

Looked liked a blown tire and/or brake fire. Either way, what caught my attention was the fact that numerous people were evacuating the jet with their luggage. WTF? I'm sorry, if I'm evacuating from a jet that's on fire...I'm not stopping to grab shit. Fox News Link

My cousin is escorting one of the guys home. Sad stuff. :beer:

definitely an interesting way to look at it It is kind of retarded to watch officers/enlisted artfully dodge having to give a salute in a parking lot or anywhere else. Really? I always try to acknowledge the rank when saluting...especially with other services.

You are hitting a good point, and it's not just the fighter community, a very high % of Class A mishaps involve experienced IPs and EPs. There's a multitude of factors that go into that discussion.

nasty

Read "Nightfighter" by Ken Delve. I remember something about what you are asking in there. Great read on the development of night fighters starting in WW1. Mostly talks about WW2.

Sent a copy of this to someone who's there right now. Response: I agree with you guys though, tell folks straight up why they are rationing water. Worked with my wife. Hey take shorter showers. Why? Because our water bill was 2 trillion Euros. So shorter showers or get a job. OK.

We train up there every few months. Awesome country, even better people. Love Norway.

Postin' from FL350 8hrs left to go....where is my whiskey???

Or...find a local guy that will file everything (correctly) for you. It's not free, but can save a lot of ass pain.

True. As long as you know the steps, how to do them, and when, the instructors are pretty cool about it. The big difference: the AF only has 6 boldface items, while you are expected to know 24 memory items at IQT. It's not hard at all. I know it changed between February and now. It wasn't hard, the review was pretty legit. To bust would take some serious buffoonery.

I'll add to that a bit: Before you make your hotel reservation, make sure you call the FSI folks and talk to the MC-12 program folks (Steven Bone was who I talked to). He hooked me up with a corporate rate ($79) at the Hilton Garden Inn. Parking/wifi/printing/copying are free. Because FSI booked my room for me, I also got vouchers for free made-to-order breakfast everyday. Dream it up, they'll make it. They also serve dinner for a decent price, and have some local brews on tap. Hotel laundry costs $2 and they sold detergent at the front desk. Fresh cookies everyday in the lobby...so you can get your fat kid on. It's a quiet/laid back hotel, the staff has been great. Everything else 2xAGM114 has said is spot on. Although I didn't study before coming here and had no issues. The note cards they give you are legit and make learning memory items and limits easy. Some things are weird, but just play their game and be done with it. As far as getting your type, there is no reason to get it here. After your deployment, just go to the local FSDO with your Form 8 to get your type. No checkride, just paperwork. If you want your ATP have at it. But if you want your ATP and have a centerline restriction, get it removed before coming here. EDIT: Check out the Manchester Arms. Don't order off the menu (standard pub fare), ask for the specials. F'n good food.

Exactly. How many people were getting run over because they didn't have reflective belts? If you took the total number of fatalities in that category over the entire history of the AF, it'd still be less than a couple months worth of car/motorcycle accident accident fatalities. So big blue should just not let anyone drive or ride. /sarcasm

yup