polcat

So true. Thank God I'm no longer an exec. I hated this crap. By the way, the number of awards out there numbs the mind. There is an award out there for everyone, as long as you're not male, caucasian, rated, and an officer. Being a small flying unit, we would just send back negative replies to the group since most of this stuff wasn't applicable. About secretaries. We have one (retired MSgt) as well as a director of staff (a la head of the execs). The secretary would still do a lot of the paperwork functions and answer phone calls, but wouldn't touch any of the taskers or awards. At least he'd review EPRs and OPRs for us and would catch the miniscule errors that the group or wing would send back.

There is no doubt the waste of talent that is an exec. There are much more important things that person can be doing. We had 4 rotating execs in our squadron, with me as the only pilot in the command section. Even when it was my week to sit the desk, I'd still fly at least one day because we are so undermanned in the pilot section (~47%). By having more than one exec, the pain gets spread around and one person doesn't get stuck with all the bs in that job. Unfortunately, now that I've moved to another job and one of the other execs is at the WIC, we are down to two. And guess what, one them is getting ready for a deployment. I hope they can find someone else to help out. Oh, and this is a job we are all supposed to want as its good for our careers - what a joke.

Well, there have been a lot of blackbirds migrating through the area lately.

Best news in awhile. TIB at Little Rock has been cancelled! What an early Christmas gift this is!

I'm going to throw this out there for those of you who really want to stay downtown or somewhere else. Staying on base at LRF isn't all that bad, especially when you have to wake up at unearthly hours to make a sim or day flight at the FTU. I ended up staying on base for the last 2 weeks of IP school and it was a pleasure that I had a 3 minute drive to work. You have a really short drive (aka you avoid the atrocity that is 67/167 as well as the ridiculously long lines at the gate) and someone cleans your room everyday. Oh, and navs show earlier than pilots in the FTU.

Well, this is all news to me. I guess its not important to tell the guys at the FTU about this change. I wonder if they will send initial qual copilots for everything but formation (Phase 2 student) or send them to Phase 3 (everything) so they at least get an intro to formation. I really don't see this working well, especially at KLRF due to the fact that TOT blocks are limited enough. If anything, it would cause more of a headache. It's not just military at the DZ anymore, there's some civilians out there now. They're still not as good as Glacier. The things that I've seen/heard going into the drop, ugh.

I did what Hacker suggested and it worked very well. Because I have a high efficient top load washer (without agitator), I decided that washing it in the washer would probably not work as well and may in fact damage the jacket. First round, soaked/washed it for a little bit in the bathtub with cold water. Once it was dry, I used a less-than-stellar leather prodcut (aka kiwi). Don't waste your time with cheap leather care products and go with what Hacker suggested. Well after this treatment, my leather jacker had the touch of plastic. So much so that my helmet bags would slip off during the walk out to the plane. Round two. Therefore, I soaked the jacket yet again, this time for an hour, pulled it out and drained the water, rinsed it and then soaked it for another hour with a rinse afterwards. I let it dry for a little bit and then wore it for about an hour afterwhich I let it dry. I couldn't find Lexol around here, so I just ordered it online through amazon. Tonight, I used the Lexol and even massaged the leather and voila, the nicest leather jacket that the USAF will ever issue me. It's no where near the quality of Pops or Mr Lims, but it is much better. I highly recommend this method.

Hacker, That's some pretty interesting info on the A-2 leather jacket. Although I believe you in regards to washing a leather jacket, it still sounds wrong to wash a leather jacket in a washing machine. I would love to get that plasticky feel off of my A-2 and might try this. If anyone else has done this, please post your thoughts.

I have a buddy that did that gig. Didn't enjoy it too much and ended up getting extended from 6 to 8 months. At least you get a type rating.

Rant ladies and gentlemen. Finally, I was able to get some new flightsuits (our squadron got some money) because my old bags are falling apart (I've had to sew seems back together). Well, there must be some variations or just horrible quality control as I can only fit one pen/pencil in the pencil pocket. The other slot is sewn too close together to fit anything bigger than a toothpick (slight exaggeration). Also, it seems that the nametag velcro is placed higher (1" higher than old flightsuits) and closer to the zipper. Anyone else have similar experiences with new flightsuits or any uniforms?

It'll only be H2s, no Js. The 48th will deactivate and become the new 62nd AS once the 62nd closes its doors on legacy training. We've got a couple more years before that happens.

And you think it's going to get easier as your career progresses? Sounds like your making excuses and need to learn how to balance your responsibilities. There is no reason why anyone should be worried about checkrides unless you know that your GK and flying skills sucks. It doesn't take that long to check vMPF anyway. Besides, if you don't have your s%*t stacked tight, you won't have a career. It's the way the AF is and I wouldn't expect it to change.

Simply amazing!

So that's what the words are...

C-172s have diesel engines that suck, especially during the summer. A couple of guys I know said the caravans are much better. However, you most likely will fly both with Iraqi students as long as your doing the CAFTT gig up at Kirkuk. None of the guys I know that were over there were doing the combat caravan thing, so I've got no word on that.

Giggity

Niiiiiiiiiice! Why can't American women who protest topless look like these women, or for that matter look like these women? If you've been to Austin and seen the topless protest you know what I mean.

Doesn't sound bad to me. It might be a way to get a foot in the door for the guard or reserves and stay at Little Rock.

If the E/H schoolhouse become an AFRC squadron, will the 62nd stay the 62nd and is there any word if it'll be an associate unit? I'm sure I'll find out soon enough (PCS this summer).

Depends on what you're going there for. Just remember, if they give you a Non-A slip and ask you to return to billeting later on, you do not have to and you'll still get full per diem. I'd stay off-base, but the hotels nearby suck. I stayed at the Best Western and really didn't like it, but they did put in new toilets and flat screen tvs. Anyway, I've known quite a few guys stay downtown by the bars. Edited for grammar.

I was a sophomore at BGSU, being a Tuesday, we were wearing our uniforms for ROTC (blues). One of the cadets came by my room and told me no uniforms today. My Dad had also called me letting me know that an aircraft had crashed into the WTC. Like a lot of other people, I thought C-172 or the like. All classes were cancelled that day. We flew yesterday, which was a privilege, flying a combat mission on the anniversary of that tragic day.

Edit: Also, with the OA headpad there's no place left to stick the battery pack for your lip light.

To Quote: Desert 5 Desert Chiefs Desert Diamonds Top IV CGOC Top 3 Top 2 3/4 Top Dick Etc. Seems like salem is becoming more and more like the deid.

Would this sound crazy? How about new D-model F-16s as a T-38 replacement? Proven design, has the capabilities and performance, could "dumb" the systems down for SUPT studs, etc. Sounds like a good idea since we already have em, and eventually the 16s will be retired and replaced by F-35s...which leads me into the thought of remanufacturing old aircraft designs (like C-5 for example) using the technology of today to have a brand new and even more capable aircraft without the hassle of implementing a totally brand new aircraft. But hey, what do I know, I just fly old airplanes.