Clayton Bigsby

I'm in a C-17; no chance for personal gear, besides what I have in my baggage/backpack. The parachutes and seat kits stay with the plane, and a strong rumor has it those may disappear as well.

Japan has been the one place (well, besides Diego Garcia, but they just don't have service at all) my phone hasn't worked - they're running quad-band shit, all way ahead of what we are. As has been said, text messages are the way to go. W/ Cingular, the International plan is another 10 bucks a month I believe, plus whatever charges you incur using it internationally. The rates vary from place to place. Also, I haven't had to do any code or sim card BS, it all just works. Have a Moto Razor for a phone. For me, it doesn't cost me too much, as I'm single - I don't have a girlfriend or wife at home to help run up the charges. Honestly I have it for emergencies, so people like my landlord or family can get ahold of me if need be, friends can sort of stay in touch, etc, etc. I actually use it as my alarm clock wherever I go too. The tanker guys at the 'died (Forko Grande at the moment) have squadron iridium phones, so they can stay in touch with family, no matter where they are...and avoid the "morale line" issues you get with the DSN system.

I do - mine (Cingular w/ International) works fine. I get signal at Manas, the 'deid, Ramstein, etc...no idea how much it costs, I just got the phone recently and haven't quite had the chance to budget it, but it does work. only beef is Caller ID doesn't work. So, I'll be sleeping (or doing whatever) at the 'deid, and a friend will call, doing the usual BS they might do back home - kind of sucks to be paying 3 bucks a minute or whatever it is to listen to BS games. Sucks to be a dick and say "listen, I'm overseas, make it sweet", but that's what you gotta do. I wish they somehow had some sort of secretary voicemail prompt thing that said "hey, I'm overseas, but press 1 to go ahead to call me, otherwise just leave a voicemail and I'll talk to you when I get back" That way necessay stuff gets through, and the BS waits for when you're back home.

Funny; this approach didn't work out too well for old -141 people switching to the C-17!!!

ahh yess, the old "control+alt+delete"

Watch the words here on baseops...there are many "lurkers" out there, who may also be in your unit and can figure out who you are. just my thought.

Does the boom still work on that plane? I see it hasn't been removed...

Those devices have been in place on Bell helis (Hueys, Cobras, and Kiowas) for years.

How do they make up the pay differential - specifically, are they being paid BAS type I, or II? If they're getting all the active-duty goodies but flying with the Reserves, then that's a sweet deal.

I doubt they'll be cutting C-17s anytime soon, and especially with the production line being shuttered at 180 jets, their importance will only go up!!! At least until the FRED is up to par (if it ever does get there...). And have fun out on the stage... good luck with your UPT applications.

Eurofighter ain't french...if you'll recall, computer glitch issues have caused two F-22 crashes also... [ 08. February 2006, 21:07: Message edited by: Chuck Farleston ]

and why did the canards go full nose-down? wouldn't you want them up as long as possible for dynamic braking, and to smoothen the impact of the radome on the runway?

the problem with those are they're too crowded with posts like "OMG, I JUST SIGNED FOR THE 1A2X1 CAREER FIELD, WHAT DOES THIS JOB DO, ALL OTHER LOADMASTERS PLEASE HELP!!!! OMG OMG OMG!!!" never mind the fact that if you signed for a job that you have no idea about, you're a complete dumbass...but sh1t like that just completely fills that board.

Atlas LCC? Atlas or Titan I say. [ 27. January 2006, 13:23: Message edited by: Chuck Farleston ]

I see the A-models' a/c nozzle is optimally placed to cool your balls...guess it helps the gold bond...

no se. U-2?

what the dude said

Supposedly multi-ship formations like that 'exercise our surge capability' or some other crap like that. It's also a fair bit of reminiscing the good 'ol days, such as the overnight invasion of Northern Iraq out of Aviano...as a maintainer, I never bit into much of this crap, since it was a real b1tch to get that many planes airborne all at once with the limited manpower resources of just one shift. This game of one-upmanship on who can throw the most airplanes in the air at once is getting pretty I mean, so CHS throws two more birds in the air than TCM - who really cares?

"wanna get high?"

you know what'd be cool? if this guy disappeared, mossad-style. guess I've been watching too much Syriana.

Heh, I asked my dad what he knew about this guy today (dad worked under him back when Doc was the DO @ Homestead in the late 80s), and he didn't really have all that much to say. He just showed me the guy's bio from the af.mil site, and showed "see, not many commander slots here, but a whole lot of 'special assistant to the so-and-so', and a lot awards and decs from places like Ecuador or Guatemala or whatever..."

slight hijack, but related, here are some similar photos (but of American hardware) from the most recent airshow @ Edwards.