disgruntledemployee

Uncle. You win. I throw in the towel. The Navy rules. They can teach flying better than we can. Crap, I forgot the sarcasm squelch. Out

Alright dude, I get the sarcasm. Or maybe you truly have no idea. But get this, I had to babysit an "experienced" Herk AC on an iron swap because he had never flown anywhere other than the flagpole and the deployed flagpole. Sad, on many levels. My FMS point was not a dig on the 44, but merely a comparative point. But I digress. I LOVE your point on the "old-school" and I want everyone to listen good. In the old-school days, crews knew everything about their planes. Everything. And it wasn't just a bank of knowledge that was contained in a unit, but a culture that pushed crew-dogs to really know everything they can. I believe the Herk community does a fair job of trying to maintain that culture, but its slipping. It goes down the toilet with the J model. I flew an OIF mission with them once, and they said that they didn't have to know ops limits...the computer would color code discrepancies red, yellow, etc. and they crew ran the same color checklist. Another old-school item is looking out of the aircraft vs heads down button pushing. Out

I may be one of the few active duty Herk dudes that came out of T-1s. Listening to my fellow students at LR discuss their training, I concluded that Corpus is not a benefit. So, if any AFR/ANG folks out there have a choice, take the T-1 for phase 3. You stay in place for a year, and the training helps prepare you for AC duties and exposure to the AF way of doing ops. AD, you're taking a big change that a Herk comes to your drop. I was surprised as to how little Corpus folks knew about how to operate an AF mission, from mission planning to TACC, overnight procedures, etc. Plus, in a T-1, you get a taste a real FMS; world-wide DAFIF or 200 way-points...you decide. On the other hand, none of my classmates struggled much to finish initial. Out

And don't forget to add this long-endured item to the list -- the EP is an asshole. Its always that kind of EP that dishes out the most hooks. Recall back in the UPT days the chats you had with your buds. Stud1: "Who did you get?" Stud2: "Capt Stan Evil Jerk" Stud1: "Sucks to be you, that guy is an asshole" Stud2: "Yep, I'm screwed" Out

I once met an O-6 commander that talked about promotion boards. This guy was extremely anal with looking up SOS/ACSC completion dates and comparing them to date of rank, thus giving higher marks to dudes with the smallest time gap. "It showed motivation," he said. So, if you know clowns like this look for this sort of crap, piss-poor officers can game his system and garner promotions, let alone in-residence PME slots. This is probably one of the reasons why good dudes leave the service and turds get promoted. Stepping on soap box. Commanders need to know their folks and thus take the time to do so. Group and Wing CCs need to trust their commanders. If they want the best, have a discussion after the weekly staff meeting and have commanders advertise their top people. Alternate units in case of a jump ball. No 1206 can top personal leadership. Otherwise, we're just as well off using a dart board. Opps, I forgot, that's AFPCs methodology. Still on soap box. Next week, we can discuss leadership by e-mail. I'm too disgruntled at the moment. Off soap box. Out.

I can't resist. What if the CP is a chick?

September 12th, 2001. It was an early morning flight out to Andrews AFB to lend any assistance we could. It was the quietest flight I've ever had. I snapped this photo as the sun came up over DC. We flew right by the still-smoldering Pentagon and saw the damage first-hand.

In a Herc, the lighter one decends faster. I've done hundreds of pen. descents...idle power, 250 IAS, and the lighter plane always takes less distance, and thus has a higher VVI. And if anyone argues with me on this, I'll pull my 1-1 out on you! Out

While I'm already on status, I talked to the doc and was told I have a spermatocele (sp?). It was felt up by two docs and scanned for good measure, but net result was no action and no change in flight status. But I also remember the days when doing the entry flight physicals and if they didn't ask, I didn't tell. If your doc says its no big deal, then leave it at that with regards to the AF. But I do suggest a second opinion. I learned that nut cancer is prevalent amoung the young; past 35 and you're mostly out of the woods.

Long time ago, back in the Camp Andy days, a bunch dumb ass shoes decided to have themselves a little picnic. Being resourceful for their beverage cooling needs, they found a container to hold the ice, cans, etc. It just so happens they ended up taking one of the silver human remains caskets from the stack by the road on the way to the CAOC.