bfargin

Awesome job dad. You should be proud of what your daughter has accomplished and what she is doing in service to her country.

I don't think the USO does anything with auto sales. AAFES has some buying services and many of the European car makers (Audi, Volvo, BMW, MB, etc) offer military sales programs (sometimes at good discounts). Shop around and price them. I know BMW and Mercedes european delivery gives a 5 to 8% discount on cars. You pick it up in Germany drive it around for a few days and then drop it off at the airport on your way back to the USA. https://www.mein-mercedes-benz.de/content/germany/retailer-6/niederlassung_frankfurt/de/home/passenger_cars/home/new_cars/our_services/rep_military_sales/rep_military_sales_faq.html https://www.bavarianmotorcars.com/bmw/?gclid=CJXIwL32-aQCFYrt7QodCVn3gQ For American cars search for military sales and you'll find some websites that cater to US manufacturers cars.

Nah, they just painted a big rooster with gloves on. In google earth you can see it as well as the batman emblem. The rooster is further South along the flight-line (the rooster is light colored, so a little more difficult to see).

I can imagine there are some differences but the FAA groups them all together. My type rating has B707/B720. Of course avionics as well as the boom etc make them different in appearance and I'm sure like many Boeing aircraft there were different lengths in different model series, etc but the -135 is the same smaller size in length as the B720 at around 136 feet. I'd guess there is tons of info on any aircraft out on the web in various places but didn't bother to look up all of the details. So, I'm going on memory from flying it years ago.

Probably an oversight ... but I'd definitely include the bombers in your list ... B52, B1, and B2

Why does the AF want to see your member from all 360 degrees??

Maybe, but they are pretty much idiots who happen to do the right thing every once in a while, as opposed to nonpolitical motivated defense of the constitution per se.

Porkchop, A thanks to all of you guys who are doing the job and making the best of it. I hurt for any of you who were non-volunteered to UAVs and salute those who volunteered. I can't imagine how pissed I would have been to have done well through UPT and end up flying a UAV. I really hope that the AF gives a real aircraft to the guys who want one, after their UAV tour is up.

+2 on that one.

A quick search found this website. https://www.usarmyaviation.com/lounge.html I'm sure there is tons of info out there, just search a little.

I'm biased but I'd definitely choose an International location. Japan (Okinawa specifically if you like hot and humid), Korea, Italy, Germany, England, Australia and Spain would top my list. I grew up in Asia (5yo to 18yo in Pakistan and Taiwan) but have lived for short periods of time in both Germany and England (just under a year each). There is a completely different culture in each country listed and each would have unique pluses and minuses but, I would guess any of them would be great for a 2 to 3 year tour. If you want to try different without having a huge language barrier go for England or Australia. Language can still be an obstacle at times for Americans in those 2 countries but we share more similarities than differences.

It was almost a tie. They are both Generals now. Maggie was a -135 A/C at Plattsburgh with me while Dan was flying the FB. I can see how she made rank, she was good with people (peers as well as bosses). Back in the day she wasn't too worried about PC crap and could hang with us on alert watching Dr Strangelove and talking feces with the best of us (and didn't make a stink about the occasional "hydraulic training" film that showed in the alert theater). I haven't seen her in years so no idea how much koolaid she drank but given that you have to drink some to make rank, I would imagine she has fallen in line with at least some of the AF way. I hope she has kept some degree of crewdog attitude but have no real knowledge one way or the other.

Godspeed

Good stuff. One of my good memories was a cross country T-38 trip to Beale AFB back in 1985 out of Willie. We were taking off right at sunset on one of our legs to get in some night work and a SR-71 was ready to launch. I was sitting at the approach end (still on the taxiway) waiting for clearance when the -71 was cleared for takeoff. They used a special taxiway that was at a slight offset from the runway and once they were ready they obviously had priority. Both of our canopies were still up when he started his roll and as I was lowering the canopy he was rolling right in front of my jet in full burner. The flames were at least 100 feet long (maybe longer) and you could see the distinctive rings of the AB stages. But, the cool look was secondary to the incredible sound. Even after we had our canopies down and locked the sound was deafening. I tried to cover my ears but the helmet was in the way. It took both of us in the jet (me and the IP) 3 or 4 minutes after his launch to have our hearing back enough to tell tower that we could now hear them and were ready to go. They said they had called us 2 or 3 times since the -71 had been cleared for take off. It was incredible to see that launch while waiting number 1. It was an amazing jet.

Zing!

No greater Love... PO2 Mike Monsoor is indeed a true hero.

Actually the Lancair isn't a glider except in this case where the engine was inop.

I hope he owns the entire state when this is all said and done. Unbelievable that this would/could happen, even in today's world.

Actually while I find the thread slightly amusing in all reality it is the tanker's job to make refueling as effortless as possible. That is our entire job (-135 driver was my last job in the AF), we should know it better and be better at it than anybody else. I do understand it takes 2 to tango but we should make it as easy on the receiver as possible. We should know the regs, and in so doing, be able to make decisions based on requests/circumstances to get the fuel to the receiver however we can (as long as it's safe). And, yeah, I know most of you do.

In all fairness it wasn't our fault, they took our Nav off of the flight right before takeoff. We didn't know what we were doing.

Ah, you're being too harsh. If you make the bar that high for driving ability/knowledge we would eliminate about 3/4 of our driving public.

+2

That part hit me, that song was a hit???

Yeah in UPT there were plenty of times out solo when I scared myself a little with too much spit and vinegar for my own good. On most of my T38 solos I'd get close to the top of the area and plug in burner and point it towards the ground to get through mach just to do it. On a few occasions I would get just past mach and level off and then bring the nose up until pretty much straight vertical and slowly let the nose ease over and level off near the top of the area. One time I kept the nose up too long and bled off most of the airspeed and ended up flaming out one of the engines as I shot through the top of the area. I got it restarted as I was making some excuse to Albuquerque center for busting out the top of my area by a few thousand feet. After that I ended up doing a border patrol for the next 30 minutes until time to go home. I flew back and did one to a full stop.

An instrument flight in Tweets during UPT. We flew over to Luke for some instrument approaches and on our way back to Willie we were level at 3000. I see a flash of light low and to my left (I was the student in the left seat). I turn in time to see a little private plane heading straight towards where we are about to be. I grabbed the stick (the IP was flying) and yanked hard right while yelling out "traffic". We missed that plane by inches (well, it was probably feet, but either way it was way too close). I almost over G'd that baby but we didn't hit anything. He bought me beers that night at the O'Club.