lj35driver

I thought we got rid of stickers due to a DoD wide policy stating that having them on our vehicles was counter-productive to force protection. Now I hear the Army and Navy are requiring them to drive your vehicle onto their facilities at the joint bases such as Charleston, McChord, and Ft Dix. WTF guys, it's a joint facility so have a common access policy. ContrailDash- that BS is all too normal for Keesler. Even the civillian guards try creating and enforcing policies of their own. They attempted to require your vehicle to have a current inspection sticker from the state it was tagged in. A MS one was't good enough for them. Look out for the local cops while you're there too. The city of Biloxi loves making revenue off the military. Almost 40% of the Biloxi Police force are former SF, so they've got a hard on for ticketing the military every chance they get. At one time, we had a third of the sqd get tickets all in the same week.

I was based at Tinker and had just dropped my oldest child at pre-school when my wife called to tell me what happened. I was supposed to be mission planning to go to the Travis airshow for a couple of days, but instead got put into crew rest and was sent home. I ended up over NYC that night for 15 hours. It was definitely the weirdest flight I've ever been on. As soon as we took off the pilot called back and told us that we had been cleared direct to NYC from Tinker. After we got all the systems up and running, the surveillance officer wasn't sure if the radar or IFF was working correctly since there was nothing airborne to produce a track on the screens. It was eerie seeing those blank screens and the hearing the utter silence on all the radios.

Anyone try this stuff yet? I picked up a pack of the Imperial White and the Double Bock the other day. It's kind of expensive at 10 bones for a 4 pack, but it's some of the tastiest beer I've had since leaving Europe.

"2"

I was issued ACUs for the ILO deployment I did in 07-08 and think comfort wise it was a pretty decent uniform. Its very light and the practicality of the pocket design made it far more useful in a combat environment than the ABU. The color is the same obvious mistake we made with the ABU. It does nothing to hide you in a woodland environment nor in the desert. It was easy to pick up a group of soldiers from long distances over open sand until the uniform is caked with sand and dust. I got a couple of sets of the ACU 2 piece flight suits as well for convoy ops. I'd switch to that uniform in a heartbeat for flying purposes if the AF would go for it. Don't think I'd I'd feel the same about it if it were done in the ABU pattern/color though. A good illustration of how inadequate the ABU is when you see pics of airmen who routinely work outside the wire (EOD, CCT, TACP, etc). They are almost always wearing ACUs because as usual, the uniform boards cared more about the shoes in the air conditioned offices than the people who the ABU was really intended for. While it's got a crappy service life of only 4-6 months in that environment, at least it breathes somewhat under IBA and all the other crap we have to wear over it. When I showed up for CST at Ft Jackson, the DI's expressly forbid the AF guys from wearing ABUs during the training there due to heat exhaustion issues. Since then, they claim to have had no problems even in the worst months of the year. BTW- anyone seen the Navy's new blue digicams? I'd hate to be the poor sap who gets blown over the side of ship wearing that thing. You'd be extremely lucky to ever be seen in the water.

No, bought both BMWs used. I don't know how far you're willing to travel to pick up the car, but try www.luxurymotors.com. They've got pre-owned BMWs out the yinyang. You could buy a newer E90 3 series through them for between $18-25K which I think is doable as an Lt. New is nice, but let someone else take the hit on depreciation. The only way I'll ever buy a new car again is if it's something I plan on keeping for a long time and I want it configured a particular way. The other option is to wait an try to get overseas where you can order through Pentagon and save a good chunk of change. The more expensive the car the bigger the discount, but a three series starts out around $5K off stateside price not to mention the tax break.

I've owned three BMW products now-a 535, a new Mini S, and a 323 and doubt I will ever own anything else other than a BMW from now on (although the Audi S5 is looking really good to me right now). All three cars had great build quality and weren't anymore expensive to maintain than most American and Japanese cars. My 1999 323 has over 150,000 miles and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Other than replacing the radiator expansion tank, I haven't spent any other money on the car except for normal wear items like brake pads, belts, hoses, and oil changes. It gets 26 mpg around town and 31 on the highway, so it's pretty damn good considering I don't drive it like a grandma. Parts for the 6-cylinder BMWs are fairly inexpensive with the exception of the M3. Any of the V8 and V12 powered BMWs can be expensive to keep up and tend to be maintenance intensive as they age. I can echo what Improv said about how well they'll take a hit. Mine got rearended by a full size Dodge kingcab Ram. It took out the bumper and turned the trunklid into a mess, but didn't do a thing the underlying structure/unibody. The truck left on a flatbed since the engine got pushed back into the firewall! Find yourself an E46 since they're plentiful and you'll have an easy time finding one with the options/color you want in your price range. Look for a car with documented maintenance/service history first of all. An owner who really loves his BMW is going to keep every scrap of paper from everything that has ever been done to the car. The manual transmissions are fairly bulletproof and so are all the sixes put in the E46 as long as you regularly service the cooling system as it tends to be the weak link. The automatics are kinda delicate and can be expensive to replace. I R&R'ed the transmission in a friend's 2003 330 and he paid $3200 for a rebuilt one. The last 2-3 years of E46 production offered the ZHP package and brought the 330 up to 235hp and added a special suspension packages. These are some of the most sought after E46's since the suspension performance was considered nearly equal to that of the M3, but with a better ride quality. The E36 might offer some options to you, but the newest ones are 1998 for the sedan and 1999 for the convertible and coupe. The integrity of the unibody and the quality of the interior materials isn't as good as the E46. However, the first 6 cylinder M3's were E36's and there are some very nice, low mileage ones to be had out there. Expect to pay a premium for them though.

Congrats to him! I flew him numerous times during my time at Ramstein. He was defintely one of the most personable DVs I flew and was always appreciative to the crew. He was one of the few who would sit up on the jumpseat and BS with the crew during longer legs.

Keesler had DUI signs at the two primary gates which listed the offending sqd and the number of days since the last one. Said sqd had to update the day count by 0700 everyday. The boards were mysteriously taken down after two consecutive DUI's by the SFS.

I can attest to that as it usually took 8-10 days between sending a movie in and getting the next one. Just wasn't worth it. We bought a multisystem TV right after we PCS'd and did British Sky Satellite through Axel's Satellite Sevice. We had one minor issue when our card renewal didn't get done on time and that cut the service for about 2 days. Other than that, it worked great and we got a lot of current series of American programming that the Brits buy plus we didn't have to deal with Doc's commercials.

Shut thy filthy cakehole!! Don't give the shoes any ideas about bringing that uniform to reality.

"2". Fly your jet and sort it out on the ground. The controllers in our local training area give us grief as well for following RA's on traffic they claim they called out. I've had 2 in the last month while sitting in a much used holding pattern as VFR traffic that was in contact with approach control proceeded to descend through said holding pattern. The controller had a fit and then gave me their number so I could "explain" my actions when I landed. I avoid that airfield as much as possible now. Keep doing what the reg says and file a NASA safety report anytime they question what you did, especially if they tell you to give them a call. Just make sure you CYA by getting the report in before you talk to a controller, though.

They've got to have something to do when they return from their "combat" rotations in Kuwait and Qatar. Seems like that is the only skill SNCO's learn during a deployment nowdays.

I remember flying with her as my MCC and she was always one of the most incompetent, indecisive people I've ever had to occupy an aircraft with. Go figure with all the games that have been going on in the 552 recently.

I was doing a static display on the E-3 at Yuma MCAS about 10 years ago when a young Corporal walked up and said, "My wife told me that AWACS was the kind of plane that could look over your shoulder from 30,000 ft and read what was on the newspaper that you're holding." I told him, "We're not quite that good, but we can link into internal circuitry and cable lines from that range. You guys ever have sex in front of your TV?" The dude turned beet red and quickly walked away.

Hadn't heard about the issues with Collings. Are they trying to take the F-4 from them? I loved seeing that beast fly.

The SNCO mutawa! That's pretty f'in funny! I could see some E-9 pulling a club out of those ridiculous pockets on the inside of the blouse and giving someone a beat down for not having their shirt tucked in. How much er can deployed life get? Just forget about training for the fight, keeping supplies moving and supporting troops in contact. Mission number one is blues Monday, instituting assinine uniform policy, and filling sandbags. I couldn't believe it when a MSgt stopped me on the way to the jet a couple of weeks ago and asked why I wasn't adhering to CSAF's policy and wearing blues. It wasn't like I didn't have a pubs bag and flight gear in hand. I gave him my office number and asked him to call me for an appt so we could talk about it and also address why he found it necessary to go out of his way to interfere with my takeoff time. The guy didn't even bother to salute when he approached me about my uniform "infraction" as he was so sure he was nailing some Capt for being in the wrong.

JSTARS navs sit in the back of the tube with the only window being the overwing escape hatches. C-130 navs sit up at the pointy end with a view. Where would you really rather be? Seriously, unless you really like flying 10-15 hours at a pop and landing back at the same place then there's no question about which one to choose.

My first sqd CC at KTIK had a way of squashing that crap from the beginning. When he did his spouses orientation, he'd ask them to sit in the auditorium rows according to their rank. He'd tell them, "You all know who the Lt Col's are, then the Maj's in the next row, Capt's, Lt's, MSgt's and so on towards the back." After a few minutes of them floundering around, he started shouting and asking them what the hell did they think they were doing and to sit where they were at. He would then state that if any of them ever tried to wear their HUSBAND'S rank or hold it over another spouse's head, their spouse would report in every morning in blues for a month. Kind of a draconian way to get the point across, but thanks to that, it did away with the rank BS in the spouse's group that has been uber present in all my other sqd's.

I arrived at TIK from tech school in 1995 not long after the OKC Federal Building bombing occured. I flashed my gov't Amex card instead of my ID the first time going through the gate and was waived through. I tried the same thing again a couple of weeks later with the same result. I stopped at the gate this time and told the SSgt that I must have the Greek warrior look going on today. I think he turned about 5 shades of red and purple while I pulled out my ID and drove on through. About 4 years later, I walk into my office and my supervisor asks me what the hell is going on at home because the SP's called and are waiting to serve a protective warrant on me. I'm as puzzled as he is, so we give them a call. I'm told by the desk sgt that the OK county sheriff's dept is waiting to serve an order brought against me by my wife. I tell them there must be some mistake and she says that's what they all say and that they know I've been beating my wife. I tell them there's no mistake and could they do something to verify that I'm the correct person since I've got a fairly common name and have had some credit fraud issues due to another person of the same name living in OKC. She refuses to and says she's prepared to dispatch a unit to take me into custody if I'm unwilling to come over immediately with my supervisor. We go over where I'm cuffed and read my rights upon entering the building. As I'm sitting there in disbelief being served a warrant, I notice the address isn't mine and neither is the SSN. I ask the OK sheriff to pull my wallet out of my flightsuit and verify the it against my ID. Yeah, wrong person $hithead! Turns out the dude with the same name they were looking for was an SP sitting in an office about 2 doors down from where I was sitting cuffed. The same dude was the source of my credit problems. He's gotten a credit card and a student loan that he'd defaulted on using my SSN. I can't say the one's here at Keesler are much better. We're constantly battling their flightline patrols about violating clearances around aircraft and parking next to or on taxi lines. They like to fall asleep in their truck while parked within about 10 feet of the taxi line that leads out of our area to the parallel. I stopped the jet about 50 ft behind the truck one day after ground can't get hold of them. It was pretty obvious that the SP was out cold. I'd been waiting about 5 minutes at this point, so I popped the thrust reversers which produced enough noise to get his attention. He turns and looks at me like a deer in the headlights and throws it in drive and floors it. He takes off towards 2 parked -130Js and drives under the wing of one of them. Yeah, not the smartest thing to scare the guy, but WTF! These guys somehow manage to get a flightline DL and drive out there often enough to know where not to park.

Agree with you on that one Cave. I've read a few cases recently where the guy did XX successful missions traveling between xx different FOBs and got bronze star, but no mention of any actual combat action. The problem was even worse with the Navy guys in ILO spots doing the same job I was doing last year. Most of those guys were fobbits and were given a bronze star at the end of their tour. Before you blame the Army for that one, the Navy handled the submission/awarding of decorations for their people assigned to Army units. A lot of it was a sense of entitlement due to the guy they replaced having gotten one as well. I went into some scary @ss places with the MiTT teams I taught EW to and heard a few rounds plink off the Humvees I was in. The guys on those teams were lucky to get a bronze star after a year of doing this on a daily basis, facing random fire fights every few days, and being involved in numerous IED events. There was no way I would ask for or expect the same award they got when I only went out a few times

I've got pretty much the same experience that the guys above have mentioned. Keep on wearing them until you graduate UPT and then wear them on your service and mess dress if you want. You worked way too hard as a sweaty to just throw them to the wayside.

I'm about fed up with them and have been shopping around in anticipation of taking all my acounts and insurance elsewhere. I've been with them for almost 14 years. -They screwed up my checking account to the tune of about a $1000 within the first 6 months after we PCS'd back to the states. It was all due to incorrect entries on their part, one being a check clearly written for $50 that they entered as $650. It caused a couple of payments to bounce. which they quickly corrected after about an hour on the phone with them...then several more calls/hours with a couple of other creditors to get the missed payments off our credit record. Yeah, thanks for helping clean up the mess you created with that one USAA -I've been getting quotes for home insurance for an upcoming move. USAA has been the most expensive so far by several hundred dollars per year for matching coverage. They then tell me they're thinking about not writing new policies in Charleston to begin with and that I'll probably need to look at getting my renters insurance with someone else if I end up renting instead of buying. -Home buying program- yeah, the realtor they referred me to is about useless. I asked them not to forward my contact info to the guy until Feb. I get a call from him the next day and the dude acts annoyed with me for having to contact me before I'm ready to start dealing on a home. - Our van got side swiped by a local shortly before we PCS'd out of Germany and were unable to get it fixed prior to the vehicle being shipped. The USAA office in Frankfurt handled the issue and got everything set up between our insurance companies for it to be fixed in the US. When we tried to get it fixed, I was told that I was going to have to pay the deductible. Well, the accident was the other guy's fault so we weren't about to pay. I had to threaten to pull all my business from USAA to get them to waive the deductible that they shouldn't have been trying to collect in the first place. - I had a military dependant (also insured by USAA) fail to yield and run into my car outside the front gate back in Oct. Even after receiving the police report stating that she'd been cited as being at fault in the accident, her USAA adjuster initially denied payment for the claim on the basis that "she" wouldn't admit fault herself. When I asked my USAA adjuster what I could do his response was to " go and nicely ask her to do the right thing." YGTBFSM!!! What happened to your responsibility to help your policy holder out and make sense of things? He said the only other option if she didn't "do the right thing" was a lawsuit. They finally decided to pay about a month after the accident. Thank God my car was still drivable during that time. - I filed a claim for damages/missing items from my PCS move shortly after returning from a deployment last year. I had a couple of big items that went missing during the move including a large toolbox. Since 2006, fed law requires that your private insurance settle their portion of the claim before the military does their part. The whole process got drawn out over 5 months due to USAA not doing their job. USAA refused to do their part first and even screamed and cussed at the AF claims center rep when they called and tried to explain why USAA had to settle for the missing items first. I've heard the tape of the conversation and there was nothing said by the claims center to provoke the woman into turning into the screaming banshee from hell. The AF ended up paying the entire cost, including the stolen items, for my claim as well as about 2 dozen other USAA customers who were in the same boat. Aparently, USAA's policy on moving claims is still counter to fed reg's and has become an issue that has gotten notice at the 4-star level. The worst thing is all of this has taken place in the past 2 years. Before that, I've had almost no issue with them. I'm waiting for the day I call customer service and get someone in Pakistan or India instead of San Antonio.

Some of the Army commanders were doing the same thing with their people during my ILO tour last year. Gen Petraeus found out about soldiers being denied awards and even end of tour medals and promptly sh1tcanned those commanders. While passing a PT test is part of being a good airman/soldier/sailor/marine, it isn't the only factor in determining whether or not you can do a great job. Just because you're not capable of getting 90+ on the PFT doesn't mean you're a sh1tbag who's undeserving of an award.

As seen on many doors at the MPF- We apologize for the inconvenience, but all office personnel will be attending PT from 1100-1300 Mon, Wed, and Fri.