jango220

Wasn't that just optional before? The Uniform board is reaching pretty far back for this piece of heritage.

From a cursory glance at this new edition, it seems that an all out war has been launched on the flight suit. In addition to the aforementioned hate on the black shirts/boots and Friday shirts (unit cohesion? we can't have any of that), an updated "definition" of zipper placement has been added: Old version New version (emphasis mine) There goes the tried-and-true "bottom of the patch" that I sport every day.

One of the -60 guys from Tuscon (he might be on here too?) posted some recent pictures over on Jetcareers.

To be fair, I think matmac might be using this as a SA building exercise...

Hell. F$#king. Yes.

Has anyone seen/shot an American Tactical C45? It's a Turkish import, from a company called Tisis Zigana. From what I can find online, some people are really happy with it, mainly due to the price, even though there were some issues with quality and workmanship. Having a bit of difficulty finding any extra magazines, holsters, parts, etc. though, which is what is currently preventing me from getting one. The company has some youtube videos of their full-auto 9mm too, complete with 20-round capacity and sweet James Bond music.

High Desert Brewing Company. Trust me on this one. The place might not look like much, but damn is their beer tasty, and their food is pretty decent too. Never lived there though, just stopped one night on my way home from a TDY.

XL 11-01 Drop Toners MC-12/C-17 Chucktown C-17 McChord C-17 McGuire T-1 FAIP E-3 Tinker MC-12/C-5 Dover C-5 Martinsburg, WV (ANG) KC-135 Kadena RPA x 3 Creech C-130J Little Rock And I know there's at least 1 more C-17 and I seem to remember a KC-10, or maybe just an assignment to Travis, but memory is too hazy... 38s 38 FAIP T-6 FAIP F-15E x 2 SJ F-16 Luke C-130J Little Rock

There are a bunch of fellow Purdue guys on the forum, but I didn't go through the Professional Flight program there. If you want more specifics on that program, try asking in the ROTC forum. However, I did do my flight training at the local FBO there. Biggest difference is that while it is cheaper to do the pay-as-you-go route through a FBO, taking it as a class will guarantee that you get your ratings in a semester, instead of the months/years that it would take doing it part-time. If you have any more Purdue-specific questions, hit the ROTC forum, and if you still have further questions, shoot me a PM and I'll ask some of my friends. Also, Purdue is buying a couple new Embraer Phenom 100s, and supposedly the plan is to have every student in the Professional Flight program get some no-kidding jet time before graduation.

I'm another one of the Purdue guys on here and Gentz was two years ahead of me. To sum it up in just a couple of words - which is just barely the surface - he was an outstanding trainer and all around great person. Here's an article from his hometown paper about him: Family of First Lt. Joel Gentz shares memories of airman who died in Afghanistan The duty that any member of the CSAR community undertakes is incredible and I truly am proud to serve with any and every one of you.

Link As usual, no details released yet. There's bound to be a ton of information from your local safety shop about this one, folks, so stay tuned...

As long as you have 15 or more credits, have your transcript sent to AFIT. This site has the address and explains it all. Check vMPF and/or AMS after a couple weeks and it should be updated. Pretty easy to take care of, considering it required about 6 mouse clicks and some copy and paste of the address into my school's online form.

Dude, Navy flying clubs are where it's at. I was a member of NAS Willow Grove's flying club when I was in college, and it was some of the best flying ever. Navy clubs are not always 141 schools like all the AF clubs are, they are a true flying club. However, from a brief perusal of the NAS Jax club's website, they do appear to be. And almost all of them usually have a T-34 or two, and it is absolutely worth it to get checked out in one. Anyone stationed in the DC area have any info on the Fort Meade Flying Activity (what Army MWR apparently calls flying clubs)? I have a couple friends stationed up there who are thinking about joining.

XL 10-04 Drop (T-1s only) RPA - Cannon T-1 FAIP - XL T-6 FAIP - XL C-17 McChord C-17 Charleston C-130 Dyess C-130J Dyess C-130 Little Rock EC-130 D-M KC-135 Scott KC-135 Fairchild? edited to add the slick to Dyess

If you are going after a rated slot (pilot, nav, ABM, etc) from ROTC, then getting a direct-ascension AFIT slot will be very difficult (read: near impossible). When I applied for it, they actually quoted that not only was I ineligible due to being a 92T0, but since I was a December grad, I was even more ineligible - if that makes sense. I pleaded my case up several levels to no avail, including to the 3-star AU/CC when I was at Maxwell for ASBC. From what I can gather, if you want an AFIT slot and fly, either go the 62-route and try to apply for the rated board, or get your wings then apply to AFIT. I definitely recommend the first option over the second after talking with some friends who are at AFIT currently and some who already graduated. For me, I just stuffed the AFIT idea and got to work on my masters (a M.Eng. actually) while I waited for UPT to start. As far as post-AFIT, the only stipulation is that you have to work in an Advanced Degree (AD) coded position upon graduation. However, if you are going to UPT or UNT, that requirement is waived. You keep your assigned AFSC throughout AFIT, and just go on to your job after graduation. If you still are interested, make sure you completely read all of the associated AFROTCI's, Holm Center I's, AETCI's, and AFI's having to do with AFIT Direct Ascensions. When you make your case, it always helps to have ammo.

I seem to remember a B-52 fuselage at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patt that has some kills accredited to it. Could just be smoking crack as well. Can anyone who's been there recently confirm?

Quick question, does anyone have any info on a shooting range near Laughlin? I've heard rumors of a ranch just outside of Del Rio but have yet to be able to locate this mythical place. I've got a new toy that needs sighting in so I can fill my freezer with venison soon.

On-base billeting is $27/day for University Inn. If you are coming straight from ROTC, you'll be at ASBC for 45 days. Most people don't know billeting rates off the top of their nugget, but hey, you are just starting. Pretty soon your brain will be chock full of useless knowledge like that and how an ATO is developed (enjoy that hellish alphabet-soup lesson). Consider it a lesson in financial management. Usually things like billeting are put on your GTC anyway, but that's another thing us ROTC grads don't get until we inprocess at our gaining base. FYI, drinking at the O Club is much much cheaper than anywhere off base.

You won't be receiving your full TDY money until after you report to your gaining base and file your travel voucher. Assuming all of your finance info gets inputted in a timely manner, you will receive your standard base pay within 2-4 weeks (it took 2 full pay periods to get mine started). You have the option of taking an advance on both your TDY pay (about $1200 if I remember) and on your salary. I didn't take either, but in your situation I would suggest taking the TDY advance. Everyone that took that got that payment within a week or two, as it processed separately from your base pay. You'll be dropping about $1200 on housing alone, and that doesn't even take into account all of the eating and drinking that I guarantee you'll be doing there. Expect to have some high balances on your credit card(s), so make sure you don't have any large or outstanding balances going in. Also, if you have USAA, you can call them and request to have your credit limit raised since you are on active duty now.

In D1 too. To track along with what Tekray said, MAKE SURE ALL YOUR BLUE THUNDER GEAR IS PACKED SUNDAY NIGHT! Also, do a commissary run to get some food the night before as well because you will get 1.5 hours (more like 1 hour when you count in running to/from SOC) to eat lunch and pack for a week. It sucks, but you'll get over it. Being out in the "field" wasn't bad (if you think that tempur tents, air conditioning, hot food, and hot showers counts as being in the field). You will essentially be on your own from 6pm on, so bring a book or something. 2 dudes in my flight even hauled out laptops with air cards so we had internet access as well ha. Also, only 2 sets of ABUs are really needed for the week, so save yourself from hauling out crap you don't need. Also, in true Air Force fashion, they think that mobility bags are backpacks, so spend some cash and get yourself a decent bag that wont destroy your shoulders and back. This is the one that I have: Kelty MAP 3500. And get yourself a decent camelbak. Get one before you get here too, because the BX and Clothing Sales are slim pickings after ASBC/SOS/ACSC etc roll through and buy them. Also, don't be like half the dumbasses in D1 and show up without your uniforms and/or nametapes/rank sewn on. Get them purchased and sewn on BEFORE you get here. That more or less goes for the ROTC en-route people, because some detachments are apparently dropping the ball on that one.

For pictures like this:

Had a civ gate guard salute me at NAS Pensacola while I was in civvies. Returned it, and then realized the oddity of it as I was driving away. The Navy guards (actual, not contracted) rarely salute anyone in civvies at the gates, which was more or less confirmed by the guards at Willow Grove when I happened to ask one day. I guess the double-negative turned into a positive? In the end, no harm, no foul, and we all lived to salute another day.

From what I can gather from reading the Code One article and a bunch of other things online, it was designed as a lead-in trainer for the Viper. Korean studs would go from the Il-103 to the KT-1 (similar to the T-6) to the T-50 and then ultimately the KF-16. It's a whole package deal too, including the electronic classroom (which from various youtube videos appears to essentially be mass death-by-powerpoint), basic and 360 degree sims, and the jets themselves. Or how about an actual one? The wiki claims that the Koreans have an Israeli EL/M-2032 for their fighter lead-in models, but the design prefers an AESA system (either the AN/APG-67(V)4 or SELEX Vixen 500E). As for producing a brand new aircraft to replace the T-38, I think it's just plain stupid to spend large amounts of money on R&D developing something else when there is a great product already in production - something the DOD acquisition process is infamous for doing. And I think there is a Lockheed plant in Marietta, GA, that might have some extra production capacity soon...

I've always been partial to the Lockheed/KAI T-50. ROKAF has had a lot of success with it. Code One magazine has a pretty good story for more info.

Thule is completely dependent on the date and length of time you are there. If you are there anytime during July-August for up to 2 weeks, like I was, it's fantastic! Great sights, awesome food, lots of distractions, etc etc. But then you start realizing that there are storm survival kits everywhere, and you hear horror stories of people being trapped in buildings for up to a week during a bad storm. Toss in the 24/7 darkness for 4 months a year and -40 temps, and yeah, starts to suck a little bit. But hey, at least global warming has kept the polar bears away recently.