lj35driver

I don't disagree because there's still plenty of mil personnel who dodge it, just that the primary population you see doing it here aren't in uniform.

I've built 2 RV-4s with a friend I was stationed with at Tinker. The first one was from the basic "box o'metal" and the second was a quick build. The first took about year and a half of weekends/evenings, but the quick build was less than half that. It was well worth the money not having to mark, drill and dimple every last rivet hole and . It definitely wasn't as simple as automotive work since you've got to learn some specialized skills, but it isn't anything beyond what someone accustomed to using hand tools can do. Getting flush rivets to lay and squash correctly on the first try takes a lot of practice and patience. The RVs are definitely great performing aircraft. My friend powered the first RV-4 with a basic O-320 and fixed pitch prop and was pretty satisfied with the combo. On the next one, we hung an IO-360 w/constant speed prop. It was an absolute rocket.

This is the only thing truthful that you've manged to write. I'm a junior officer who is within a few years of retirement and have done more to support their sister services that most people in this group can begin to think about. WTF!?!?! Get off your high horse and take a second to read what has been said instead of feeling the need to publicly beat someone in this group down. I would've expected that little bit of respect from you based on some of your past posts in this group. Where exactly did I ever complain about personal comfort? I didn't because it's not there! If fact, my personal comfort on most of the AF deployments I've been on were far worse. Honestly, if you didn't do the job I was sent to do, you have absolutely no clue as to how poorly the Army did training me to do what was expected. How would you feel daily working with soldiers who ventured into the highest risk areas when you knew that you were inadequately trained to do the job. I trained, advised, and worked outside the wire with Military Transition Teams for 7 months as an EW/counter IED specialist. What was my expertise in this area? I had none other than the 3 weeks of training I mentioned. You take it and try to make the best of it, but the sh1t was so outdated compared to what was going on in theater it was ridiculous. I honestly felt like I was being setup to fail. It was a daily struggle to keep up with what was going on with limited resources and stay on top of what was killing guys and how to best to counter it day to day. The worst thing was those guys looking to me as a technical expert on something well outside of my realm and believing that I could protect them from any roadside bomb they might happen upon. Was any of this in description of what the job entailed? Not just no, but hell no! I'm sure you'll take that as "complaining" but it's about providing the right expertise to best serve those Soldiers. So yes, the Army wasn't truthful and put their own people at greater risk by doing so. Believe me, it got done and done well, but when it's your life on the line wouldn't you want someone who was adequately trained to do that job? Once again, where did I complain about comfort and a paycheck. Again, it's not there and you can't make it be there no matter how many times you read the post. In fact, I give those guys a lot of credit when I mention how many extended deployments they've endured in a short time. That takes a lot and even more so from their families. My post was aimed at the couple of guys in this thread who are about to begin career #1 and are wanting to ask for career #2 before #1 has even started. They're about to throw away an opportunity that 99.999% of people will never have a chance at and that someone else would've given their left nut to be sitting in their shoes. I wasn't knocking the Army or the Marines, just that people join for different reasons and they should've weighed that before asking Big Blue for a shot. My point- don't put yourself in a position you might regret because this is the one and only time it'll be offered. If you want to experience that side, then there will be plenty of opportunities in the future after you've been through UPT. Maybe you can get past name calling games long enough to not have such a narrow minded view. That's what is causing the so-called self destruction of the AF that you feel is happening. Like Apache mentioned above doing those things that are hard and doing the dirty work, it's not for everyone. I got to where I'm at now through the hard way and by taking on those things that are tough. I know the things that the average Soldier and Marine do are tough because I've done them as well with about 1% of the training they normally get. Being a MTT or BCT guy and kicking down doors on a daily basis isn't for me and that's why I made the choices I did. Doing those things though did give me the benefit of seeing and appreciating those ops from a perspective that most airmen will never see. I got to meet a lot of Iraqi citizens who believe in what we're doing for their country and show their gratitude for us being there. More airmen should take a trip out there beyond the comforts of their FOB and quit thinking that enforcing reflective belt policies and handing out towels is mission #1. The life they lead uses their people up mentally, physically, and emotionally. This doesn't even go into the toll it takes on the families who are left behind everytime someone is sent on deployment after extended deployment. It's a travesty when the Army CoS gets on AFN and talks about how families are so important to him. His own soldiers cringe and roll their eyes in the same way I saw the AF do whenever a "He who shall not be named" commercial came on. Either way you take what I had to say, I respect the hell out what those guys do. Ashamed, young, or foolish..not hardly.

While I was stationed at KTIK, I had an incident with a couple of dependents making a run for their car at the BX. My family and I were headed to our car when the music kicked off so we stopped where we were. That turned out to be behind someone's minivan parked on the same row we were on. Just after the anthem started playing, two women in high heels and with shopping bags flying ran past us and started getting in the van. The driver yelled at us to get out from behind her car to which I replied the anthem will be over in 30 seconds. She then starts her car and revs the engine while screaming obscenities and threatening to run my family over. WTF! Are you really going to run over my two kids and pregnant wife for what is now about 20 second of your time? After the music stopped, we start walking away and the bitch has the nerve to follow us up the row so she can write down my name and tell me how she's the wife of an important person who I'll be standing at attention in front of before the day is through. She also decides to throw out that he's the DO of sqd XX. After we take a quick visit to my sqd CC and relay the story and how we're considering filing charges against the woman for attempted vehicular assault, her husband was the only one standing at attention before someone "more important" before the day was over. I know there's no reg's that expressly state that dependents have to pay respects to the flag while on base, but damn it there should be. If my kids can stand at attention and put a hand over their heart for what amounts to 2 minutes, the so can everyone else. I witness a lot of the same crap here at KBIX. When traffic stops base wide for retreat, you'll almost always find someone driving around everyone else who is stopped.

Wow is all I've got to say...well, maybe get your fvckin' head examined as well, to all those wanting to xfer when they've got a pilot slot w/the AF already. If you really think life/opportunities could be that much better in the Army, do this- finish UPT, spend a little time in your new unit, then volunteer for the first ILO deployment(they're calling them JET deployments now I guess) you see in all the DPARobot emails you'll receive daily. Spend 7 1/2 months throwing on another services uniform and 80+ lbs of body armor, weapons, and ammo daily to go do a job that the other service wasn't exactly truthful on what it entailed and provided 3 weeks of piss poor training to teach you how to do. You'll wake up everyday of that deployment thanking yourself that you had the common to sense to join the AF instead of the Army. I didn't volunteer to go do my deployment, but it sure did make me see how MUCH better we've got it. There were alot of guys I worked with who were on their 4th 1 year tour in the past 7 years. What sort of life is that?

I've yet to have anyone I would really consider a mentor since becoming an O, even when I've sought it out. Feedback on a 724? Yeah, I usually see that form a few months after and it's been backdated to make the paperwork correct. Getting a straight, consistent answer on what it takes to get promoted from my leadership has been a challenge other than "do your masters/SOS." When I was enlisted, it was pretty clear cut well ahead of time what I needed for my BTZ board and first promotion testing cycle. The person I considered my mentor as well as higher ranking NCOs I worked with ensured it was common knowledge what it took to succeed and move up in the world. As an O, it seems everyone has their opinion as to what sort of jobs/positions/deployments are the right combination to get promoted. I'm about a year and a half from a Maj's board and I finally feel that I have a CC who's doing the right things and providing the guidance to load my PRF for when the time comes.

What ever happened to the "absolute last guys" getting E-3's and E-8's? That's what tended to happen since the only Hercs given out at assignment night during my time at Columbus were to Guard/Reservists.

I met Chris Cooper years ago when he was still 1Lt Cooper. I was an enlisted crew member on AWACS at a Red Flag exercise and was offered a couple of flights on the B-52. I was within a few months of submitting my package for OTS/UPT and was trying to get as much exposure to the different airframes before I settled on a goal. Chris was the copilot of the first crew I was scheduled to fly with. We arrived at our jet, 0029, to find that it had been incorrectly fueled. I'll never forget Chris furiously working his W&B computer and discovering that we'd need at least an hour to correct the fuel situation which meant our jet would be scrubbed for that go. Before I knew what was going on he was undoing my lapbelt and grabbing me out of the IP seat and leading me towards the door. Chris managed to get me in the other jet just before they began cranking engines. If it weren't for that, I probably would've never had that rare opportunity. After the mass debrief, Chris took the time to talk to me about what I wanted out of pilot training should I get there. He talked up the BUFF alot of course but passed on something more important-choosing a lifestyle and not necessarily a particular jet. I took that with me and threw that out to a lot of my buds in UPT who were struggling with which track to work towards and ultimately what airframe they asked for in the end. It demonstrated a lot of maturity from a young copilot not only from the pilot perspective, but also as an officer, and a person. His name stuck in the back of of my head when they released the crew names, but I didn't know why until I saw their pictures in this thread. I hate that it took this long for me to realize that someone who had a positive impact on my career had passed. Thanks Chris.