nsplayr

Uniform standards in the field consist of putting duct tape over your rank and then whatever your particular instructor says. In garrison during academics, no one gives a crap what you look like since everyone there is either a student or hairy-chested mountain man. At different times up there I wore BDU hat with pinned rank, floppy hats with no rank, flight cap, watch cap, balaclava, the crappy old field jacket they issue you, black & brown shirts, etc., hunting gloves and no one gave a crap whatsoever. And that was all on base; no one cared. It was kind of refreshing since it was a semi- break from the uptight world of AETC/Big Blue.

No different than and maybe safer than helos since they don't exactly stop and hover 10 feet off the ground in urban areas (i.e. extremely high-threat potential areas). It's just a risk you assume when flying low and slow...

First attempt at adding to the greatness that is this thread... Edit: what the deuce happened to my pic...FIXED

Sorry you guys are missing out! works fine in this neck of the woods...

Maybe this thread should be re-titled 2010 QDR since that's obviously the next venue for budget fights... Along those lines, we're apparently no longer going to live by the 2-war strategy (not that we realistically could have fought those two simultaneous wars anytime recently with current troop levels...) Source I say good on Gen. Cartwright for telling everyone to stop kidding themselves but my views on a potential near- or mid-term conflict with a peer/near-peer are already known.

On the whole overspeeding the flaps thing...I'd blame it on some faulty gauges. Who's airspeed gauges are 100% balls on down to each single knot 100% of the time? IMO a good A-code would call it that if anything at all and handle any real or perceived issues in the brief.

May be a stupid question...does Killer-Scout now possibly = RAOPS-C2?

Call it different if you want, but there's following the rules and then there's following the rules. Yea, I know it's nuke codes and etc. but seriously...like shooting yourself in the foot only more like right in your own face... Dude...if you wake up after a 6-9 min. snooze, realize you're out in the middle of nowhere, in an guarded room, with the codes still in their locked boxes to which only you know the combo and you're still holding the box...idk man...call me crazy but I STFU and don't let it happen again.

Agreed...huah for light fixed-wing

I've randomly seen some flyers rocking ABUs for no good reason; not sure why.

How did you manage to delay rather than going straight from nav school? Going in the winter blew... I'd bring the gortex anyways b/c it keeps you dry and being wet in the field is not fun. Some will argue that it's extra weight b/c you still have to carry the sh*tty field jackets they issue you, but those things were worth their weight in gold in the deep snow when I went. I think they should make this a required item...not sure how you carry an improvised pack and wield a flashlight while hiking through ridiculous terrain...a good, bright headlamp is clutch. Mine actually wasn't bright enough and it was harder to navigate more than 3 feet in front of me, so don't be afraid to get one that's a little heavier but is like a spotlight attached to your head. Yes...REI brand served me well and were a little cheaper than smartwool. I used some nice silk sock liners that kept my feet drier but in the summer might not be necessary. The problem in the winter is that you have to bundle up so much to keep from freezing solid when you're standing still but you still get hot as balls hiking around so it's a constant battle to control your layers and keep heat in vs. letting it out. Don't sneak food into the field b/c they'll bust your balls for it and take away more food. I was never that hungry but then again I was explosively sick for two days (not very stealthy when you're trying to evade...) so that may have contributed to not wanting to eat much... For winter I'd say a balaclava b/c it keeps your face warm but again, NA for summer probably. I brought a better knife (benchmade) b/c the ones they issue you aren't the best. I used the benchmade for finer work and used the bolt knife for chopping down trees and other stuff that I wouldn't want to risk damaging my own tool. Hand warmers were nice. Holy crap...am I reading this right??? I went in the winter and we got one MRE and 1 kosher meal with the snack supplement total, and they told us we only got the kosher meal b/c you need more food to keep your body warm in the winter. One MRE every day would have been gucci... The things they issued us were a crappy old field jacket and some wool mittens. The field jacket stayed in my ruck the entire time and I wore the gortex...well worth the weight in my opinion since there was about 4-6 feet of snow on the ground at the time. The mittens on the other hand were absolutely awesome! I was very skeptical because they were really scratchy and felt cheap but man were they warm! Being a mitten helped but that wool really did it's job too. I kept those after the fact for skiing. I bought some expensive wool ones and a backup pair of the ones they sell at just about every uniform shop for like 6 bucks. The ones from the uniform shop were actually warmer and performed just as well if not better than my $60 set. So that was $12 bucks well spent (they're green, have a hunter on the package, and are at the uniform shop...don't remember exact brand).

Reason #132 not to go the the Air Force Academy: Swine Flu! Source PC Disclaimer: I hope they all get better and grow up to be outstanding AF officers etc. etc.

Just finished First In by Gary Schroen. Excellent, day-by-day account of the first CIA operative that inserted into Afghanistan right after 9/11. Only covers a short period of time since the JAWBREAKER team members were rotated in and out before too long, but a great read. Follow-on would be JAWBREAKER by Gary Berntsen (who took over for Schroen after he left).

I guess we can agree to disagree. There are plenty of things out there that can shoot our boys down, but A) Who has the motivation to use them against us, and B) Is it a big enough priority to divert significant funds from other military needs. If you can answer those two questions reasonably then maybe you can make a pitch to Sec. Gates, the President, and Congress.

Accurate on gunship info, all slots are dropping from nav school last I heard (Nav, EWO, FCO for both models). If you go EW you can get T2s right out of nav school...guy in my class did it. Also had one of the goofiest guys from my flight just Q1 his H-model FCO checkride so if he can do it anyone can. I mean honestly, they can teach a monkey to fly a plane with enough rides under his belt...

If you're asking if I'm a fighter guy then no. Last time I checked though fighter guys aren't the only ones flying against threats... I understand the threats, but as the article on the Growlers shows, there are simply other priorities that we want to buy and buying fewer F-22s opens up a lot of purchasing power of other capabilities that can have a greater impact on future wars than more dominance in air superiority.

I'm forced to believe that 80% of this is about money and keeping jobs in the states that make the F-22. "I'm giddy with happiness over that one," Bishop said. "It's a major win for Utah and also the military," He noted that Hill Air Force Base maintains the F-22, and ATK in Utah manufactures the composite material used to make the plane and provide its tough-to-track stealth characteristics." Source Defense contractors are smart enough to know that if they employ people in enough states then their projects have a smaller chance of being cut. Not that having more -22s wouldn't help us defeat some far-off Russian or Chinese threat even more quickly than we already would, but I'm in the camp of wanting to ramp up funding to bolster our weaknesses by scaling back on things we already kick a lot of a$$ at. If this were the mid-90s and we had money coming out of our ears then buy all the -22s we can produce...that's not the case right now and you gotta make a choice, and if you buy more F-22s what in the DoD budget do you cut? An asymmetrical enemy will not go toe-to-toe with even a handful of -22s because he would lose quickly (what's the kill ratio against -15s again?). He's gonna hit us where we're weak and there are plenty of areas where we're much softer targets (heard of the massive cyber attack probably committed by North Korea over the 4th of July weekend?) Yea, cyber is compared to F-22 awesomeness but I for one do not doubt future US air superiority with our stable of -15s, -16s, -22s, and -35s, not to mention superior C2, tactical SAMs, etc. etc.

See 9th SOS at Eglin. Part of 1st SOW and still flying active duty birds. Been there since 1988. Got a friend at nav school who has it first on her dream sheet. The 711th flies the Talon I out of Duke from what I've read.

And the Papas (MC-130P). Based at Eglin and specializing in helo refueling but still capable of the other MC-130 mission sets. To quote from globalsecurity.org: "The MC-130P (formerly the HC-130P/N) Combat Shadow flies clandestine or low visibility, low-level missions into politically sensitive or hostile territory to provide air refueling for special operations helicopters. The MC-130P primarily flies its single- or multi-ship missions at night to reduce detection and intercept by airborne threats. Secondary mission capabilities include airdrop of small special operations teams, small bundles, and zodiac and combat rubber raiding craft; as well as night-vision goggle takeoffs and landings, tactical airborne radar approaches and in-flight refueling as a receiver." HC-130s. Again from globalsecurity.org: "The HC-130 is an extended-range, combat rescue version of the C-130 transport aircraft. Capable of independent employment in the no-to-low threat environment. Its primary mission is to provide air refueling for rescue helicopters. The HC-130 can perform extended searches in a permissive environment and has the capability to airdrop pararescuemen and survival equipment to isolated survivors when a delay in the arrival of a recovery vehicle is anticipated. Flights to air refueling areas or drop zones are accomplished at tactical low altitude to avoid threats. NVG-assisted, low-altitude air refueling and other operations in a low-threat environment are performed by specially trained crews. The crew can perform airborne mission commander (AMC) duties in a no-to-low threat environment when threat conditions permit." Good list so far. Keep an open mind and research, talk with your instructors, actually do well at nav school, etc. As a prior-enlisted and flyer I'm sure you'll do fine and should have some good stories to tell your LT classmates. Good luck man and feel free to PM with questions.

Yea, good advice from 08. IMHO either of the formerly WSO positions (F-15E & B-1) are pretty sweet b/c you go fast and kill people. Beyond that, it's really what you think you'd be in to. Lots of travel and working with army/hauling stuff = C-130. Bombardier = B-52. High-tech nerd with lots of cool toys and a gucci lifestyle = RC-135. All of these are caricatures of the real thing and if you don't talk to the instructors who've been there you're not helping yourself, but it never hurts to think about what you want to fly. And good on ya for considering 2nd, (and 3rd, and 4th...) choices. You never know if you'll be the #1 stud or struggle to get by. My recommendation is AFSOC but that's just me...

I'd pretty much say there will be plenty of nukes to go around. GSC is supposed to put the focus back on nukes so we stop accidentally hauling them across the country and shipping sensitive materials to Tawian, but that doesn't necessarily mean we have to stop reducing the overall number we have.

That's about the most egregious thing I've seen posted on here in a while. Popcorn is delicious and I'll defend it's goodness with my life...it's really the only thing I liked about the Transformers 2 sh*t-show outside of Megan Fox's fine self

Cool vid...you gotta be crazy to wanna do something like that man...

Wow, I can't believe she pulled the whole "blame him b/c he spoke Flemish and not French" line. Having lived in Beligum, Flemish and French-speakers really don't like eachother that much. And everyone I ever met in the entire country spoke decent english, so she's full of crap on that one...but what do you expect from someone who actually wanted 56 starts tattooed on their face?

Man, I'm glad I'm not a fighter dude. I suck at memorizing crap like that...