MD

My LS shop let me keep my out of service/unmodified -55 and mask too with all 3 different visors, along with both g-suits when I left.....of course, the 117 was going to the junkyard, so kicking stuff out of HMN was no big deal, I guess. TSummers: Why not get an old school HGU-33 with dual visors?

Rear Echelon MotherFucker. Classic shoeclerk.

Why not just use the leftover T-38 chase birds that are still at HMN for another few months? A few of my old 117 buds are still there keeping them going, last I checked.

Just the same as giving a guy straight "3"s on an EPR if he's just someone that shows up to work, does his job, and goes home.....nothing overly special. But he'd get royally screwed, even if that was the intent of the form.

Was Harrison Ford in it? Or William H Macy as the Master Nav-winged guy who didn't know anything about flying?

Well you know they say.... that its fun to play..... at the Y-M-C-A!

Please tell me you're kidding..... What's next? "Nose art" on the side of the trailers? How about black and white photos ala WWII bomber crews....we can have the UAV crew kneeling/standing in front of the nose art of their trailer with hellfire missile shot icons recorded next to the art and the crew in A-2 jackets with headset on head or around neck. Make it a black and white photo to give it a "heritage" look.

Never thought to check when I was there, but who's names are on the side of the MQ-1s at the 11th RS at Creech?

Wish someone would get that memo to the CSAF..........he seems a bit out of touch with reality, out the gate.

Agree. Here's another antiquated one: Under international law, as administered by the U.N., if you catch them in the act, you can blow them out of the water. However, if you capture them, you must repatriate them to their home country...ie- Somalia; meaning you essentially release them, since there's no functioning government there. Makes a good case for just killing them. Problem is, you have an area 5 times the size of Texas in which they're operating, and if you're not within a couple of miles of a ship that's about to get captured as it happens, they'll be aboard before you can get there in another ship. Makes the case for the above that you suggested.

Too bad no more D-model BUFFs left.....

Ahh yes, for point targets I see...I'm talking for their shore bases.....

Don't just want to go Vietnam old-school with internal/external M117s and Mk-82s? I mean, why waste the technology.....perfectly good GPS guidance unit and all? These guys are the perfect fit for a little carpet-bomb action....

If the Brit RN doesn't have the resources, maybe the RAF could help.....be a great reason to pull the Vulcan's out of retirement for a little carpet-bomb action? I agree regards the US, we'll likely drag our feet until we're directly affected somehow, then we'll act shocked that something happened to us, then we'll take action.

Thing is, the Navy dosen't have to be everywhere at once. These pirates obviously stage out of shore bases, and what functioning government there is in Somalia has given the green light to any nation and any entity (read: Blackwater) to operate at will against the pirates, and this is aside from it being an international crime. Instead of chasing around their Boston Whalers and trying to be everywhere at once, why not just shore bombard their staging sites? Stop the water at the top of the proverbial funnel? As is, we're following the Vietnam-esqe failed strategy where we tried to intercept supplies once they were at the end of the octopus tentacles of the Ho Chi Minh trail instead of destroying them on Haiphong's harbor and docks. The Navy is chasing it's tail out there in the millions of square miles of ocean trying to run these guys down. Escorting ships through sea lanes is simply reactive; hitting them where they live, taking out their livelihood, their homes, their families, etc....is proactive. Hit them back with what they give, multiplied by 10...they'll get the message.

This statement from the woman strikes me odd. I know one can't read emotion into the written word, but for some reason, this statement just comes across to me as "oh well...ho hum...yeah, that retirement dream of his is pretty much down the crapper.....oh well, thats life I guess". Just comes across as not giving two shits about, nor realizing the gravity of, what she did to her husband and his likely hard-earned savings. Just aloof sounding. Bitch. Stupid Bitch.

Dad- WSO with the Imperial Iranian Air Force during the Shah days and prior to emigrating to the USA. IIAF time paid for med school in Tehran, the career he picked up upon arriving in the US. Me- CBP pilot/agent, awaiting RWQC at Rucker (Reserve/traditional) for HH-60, current (soon to be former) MQ-1 (ANG), F-117, A-10, enlisted Firefighter. What an absolute pain it was getting the TS/SCI with that background.

I'll have to definitely look the guy up for the FAA certs, and am looking forward to Rucker. Starting the process of transferring from the Guard to the Reserve. Not looking forward to having anything to do with ATC again, but that comes with the territory, though I do love ABQ.....was one of the places to get away to from Holloman during my time there and when I didn't feel like driving all the way home to TUS. More tidbits on the move rumor. Still don't know if it's approved yet, but if it were to happen, it'd be something to happen in the next few years. Idea is, apparently, to replace the UH-1s at Fairchild by moving the 305th up there, however opening up a Reserve Associate unit down at DM to fly with the AD H-60s here of the 55th. At least that's all I know of the proposal, the progress of it....I'm not too sure of yet. Yeah, am big time looking forward to closing out my logbook fixed-wing wise, for the most part, and beginning it rotary-wing. As a sidenote, as much as I hate the B.S. of what I've come to know as the "Church of the Air Force" (courtesy to John Halliday's "Flying Through Midnight", for the term), I'm very much into many of the old-school traditions of the AF, most of which have fallen by the wayside these days. While deployed down to the Kun one Friday, I'm at the club which is bristling wth the usual suspects of the 8th wing. In come a couple of ROKAF guys that were with a couple of AF types, the patches, the method of outside-collar dogtag wear, etc, giving them away as SAR helo dudes. They approach the bar and order drinks....which they then begin to pay for. Wtf? Why are Jolly crews paying for their own alchohol? At a fighter wing, no less?? At the Wolfpack, no less??? Olds and James should be rolling in their graves right about now! Yet, no one seems to notice. Of course, this foul deserves a healthy ring of the bell, to when announced as to why...I get looks of puzzlement, even from a few O-6s (and some of my own O-5s......ex- F-4 and F-111 guys, no less). YGBSM. Are we that far out of touch with our own heritage? This crap would've never passed muster at places like NKP, Phu Cat, Zweibrucken, or Upper Heyford......at least I'd like to think that. Especially since a few years later, the same ROK unit will fish an 8th pilot out of the Yellow Sea. Realizing that yet another tradition has been replaced by CBTs, reflective belts, SARC briefings, etc, etc; I pay the tab for the crew and myself, slap down another round, and after some interesting conversation, retire back to the Q room, wondering what traditions there actually left that haven't been deemed "socially unacceptable" or "non-MEO compliant".

Are the stretched J-models still considered full tac-airlifters, in the sense of can they perform all the off-field/LZ landings that their shorter bretheren can? Or are there problems with tail drag, etc? Any differences training required? Or if you fly one, you fly the other?

Related: Does the C-5 do any airdrop like the 141/17 did/does? Or airlift only?

Sounds cool. PM me if you have any questions I could answer...at the least I could direct you to someone that could. Am always willing to help bro's out; I was helped out at times in my career, and you always pass along that torch IMO.

Last I heard, that was still rumor.....unless it's happened in the last month and its been kept close-hold. But the rumor is they were supposed to move to Fairchild to replace the 36th.

Not new of course, but they should've retained Block 10 A-models for the light weight, nose authority and maneuverability IMHO.

What they did at DM was add the AD Rescue Group with an HC-130 unit, an HH-60 unit, and a PJ unit (79th, 55th, and 48th, respectively); reporting to Moody IIRC (someone correct me if I'm wrong). The 305th is still here, with an AFRES PJ unit (306th) also, and reporting through their group to Patrick. Also, if I'm not mistaken I believe the 48th was the H-60 unit at Holloman in the '90s when I went there.

Good to know, thanks for the info. At least the dunker and training will be "one stop shopping", without having to go all over CONUS. I'll have to do that regards the FAA certs, just would like to get them soon after RQ (or whenever eligible) in order to get that out of the way for the civvie side. Going to the 305th in Tucson. Am from Tucson, went AD, PALACE CHASEd to the AZANG to the MQ-1, then got on with the 305th. My civi job is just down the road and a good number of 305th guys work there too, so it's convenient in that respect. Apprecite the info gents.