Insubordinate & Churlish

Gunfighter has always been my favorite P-51. Now I like it even more! Any more where that came from? And my contribution:

I used the Princeton Review GRE prep book. (I did not use any of the others, so I cannot make any comparisons.) I thought the book was worthwhile. They teach you how to play ETS' game. - The tips given for the math section are very helpful. They'll help you dredge up some of those math skills that have atrophied since high school. - They give you a cookie-cutter format for writing the essays (since the essays are graded from a rubric). I just followed the format to the t for my essays, and I, an average writer, scored well. - The vocab words given in the Princeton book were on the test. I made a flashcard out of each word and went through the whole stack a few times. Then, I took out all the cards that I know the definition to, leaving just the cards you have problems with. You can learn 300 definitions pretty quickly this way. -PD

Perhaps it was the the corporate culture of "the guy ahead of me got in without requesting a different runway, so can I." It's not an excuse, but that may be his reason.

As of the 2007, there is no aircraft identification in BMT.

I started flight training the July before my junior year and completed it mid-August the next year later. (A quick look at the logbook shows that I did very nearly 50% of my flight training while in school and 50% over the two summers.) It took me 59.5 hours. 60 is considered the average. There are some large gaps when I did not fly. As a fledgling aviator, this is no good, both from a financial and skills standpoint. But it's definitely possible. I didn't work 16 hours a week during school, but I did run cross country, winter track, and spring track. With each practice lasting 2.5 hours, by the time it was all said and done, I "worked" 12 hours a week while in flight training. I had weekends at my disposal. Nothing to it but doing it (and having the money). -PD

Yeah, expect an additional average of $7000-9000 per school year in flight fees. I go to a fellow Big Ten school, and that's about what I paid in addition to tuition. Can't answer your question about financial aid specifically, but I'd imagine it would cover flight training, else practically no one would have the money to go through the program.

Once on a DAL flight (not in uniform, not on orders), I went to pay for a drink with my USAA credit card. The flight attendant asked if I was military, to which I responded yes. She gave me the drink for no charge. That's some pretty good SA on her part for knowing the (potential) implications of being a USAA member. It was a small thing, but still cool none the less.

HUGE bump Not quite combat related, but this is the best thread I could find to post in. When our replacements came to Iraq in September of last year, we got ERO'd them off the 130 while we were wearing a tuxedo t-shirt and shirts that read "Iraq, It's the Bomb." The loads were taking video/pictures as we walked up to the plane. If someone could get a copy of the video or pictures, that'd be awesome. It's a long shot, but I figured I'd try. -PD

Just got out of a PRK vs. LASIK consult with the in-town eye surgeons. IMO, they clearly had a pro-LASIK bias. I'm currently -4.00 to -4.25 and approx. 20/400 in both eyes with no contraindications for a certain procedure. They do the bladeless LASIK (iLASIK or whatever they call it) and am frankly leaning towards the iLASIK. I've been talking to the eye doc at my Guard base, and he said the following, which I'd like to hear one other doctor confirm for me (Traditional enlisted Guardsmen, not currently aircrew, applying for a Guard UPT slot in a year): 1. LASIK is approved for someone in my situation, right? 2. The Guard doc said that all I need to do (besides getting the required signatures from my CC, UDM, MGG/CC, etc) is get a copy of all the paperwork the civilian eye surgery works up on me, both pre and post op. Correct? 3. I am currently a GA pilot. From what I've read on AOPA's website, once my eyes stabilize, I'd need to have the surgeon fill out some FAA form and send it in to the FAA. Anyone have any experience with this? Sorry for all the questions, I'm so close to finally pulling the trigger that I'm getting a little nervous. PD

Care to elaborate as to why?

Like (I think it was Bergman said), the idea of commercial aviation as a career at 32 with a wife and kids is questionable. A family friend retired as an O-5, and is now a plumber on a FedEx 727-200. Imagine going from flying the Viper and being a squadron commander to becoming an FE on a 727 who does not reasonably expect to be a line pilot for three years i.e. three years on reserve. To keep the family happy, he commutes to work by catching a ride with some truckers for the 1.5 hour drive to his home airport. Now, fortunately this guy has a retirement check coming his way, but consider the lifestyle change. Could you deal with that?

Regarding the first question as to whether or not squadron bars are still around... We tried to get alcohol in our Port for the end of drill days. We were told that we need TAG approval for it. No one is willing to fight that fight. It makes me sad because I always only ever hear people talking about "how much things have changed" i.e. no more alcohol around the Port. Hell, we're not even allowed to have a snack bar anymore. The three years I've spent in the Guard have been great, but it sounds like it could be much more.

While walking around the Deid in August, day or night, when aren't you "sweaty?" So I can be turned away from the chow hall because I broke a sweat while walking from the BX to the chow hall?

'3' I'm at the Deid right now as a transient coming out of an Iraq COB. We got away with murder at the COB and had a great time doing it. We rarely wore reflective belts, we ordered custom baseball hats with our names on them and wore them on the flightline, and had a great time. When our replacements showed up, they were pulled off the plane by a tuxedo-shirt clad Porter. It was a memorable shoe-less time and place. You won't see that at Deid. Blue skies, PD P.S. WTF is up with the Opstown bus playing "Verbal Advantage" over the speakers?

You must have never loaded an AN-12 before. They can't even figure out a load plan. Lord knows how they even keep their planes flying.

Very cool. The interface is much more user-friendly and sleek. Point of note: Once you have selected a state, a list of cities in that state is populated. However, EVERY city in the state is listed, not only those with a job opening. Is it possible to get rid of 99% of the cities, for which there is no use? Blue skies, PD

I cannot speak for other ATOCs, but I can guarantee you that, at my station, you will not wait because ATOC guys are "taking their time." There are so many communication break downs with the pax terminal (ran by KBR) and the CSH (ran by the Army). It is absolutely not for a lack of motivation by the ATOC guys. Trust me, I hate standing there on the ramp wondering how much money is being wasted as you guys sit there with engines running. Furthermore, I hate thinking about the crew and pax sitting aboard the plane, armored up and sweating their balls off. Somewhere, there is a flaw in the system that causes these delays. I don't know enough about the whole system to be able to get answers, I'm just a SrA pushing pallets. But trust me when I say that the ATOC guys are not "taking their time." We bust it for you guys, we want to get out of the heat too. I'm not being confrontational at all, but I think if we understood each others jobs a little more, things could go more smoothly and there would be less inter-AF bitching. Guys on this trip with me have told me that on previous deployments, they refused to work planes that were not in LSGI. I personally think this is professional misconduct (people need what you have on your plane, and it is my/our job to get it to them, no matter how hot), and situations like what you and I described give my people a bad name. Blue skies, PD

I'm not M2, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I use a Don Hume Leathergoods H715 Soft Pocket IWB holster for my 4" XD9. You can conceal with a t-shirt on while wearing this holster (as long as your careful about it). And it's only $18 to boot! The only bad thing about it is that the mouth of it is not reinforced, so reholstering is not as easy. There is a model that is the exact same as the Soft Pocket except that it is made out of leather, and it fixes this problem. I was talking to a trusted gun store owner and when I asked about internal lasers, he said that he's heard of some problems with reliability and their ability to taken the abuse of a lot of rounds. I'd be interested to hear what you find, MegaPieBoy.

"Instrument flying, I had concluded, is an unnatural act, probably punishable by God." -Gordon "Bax" Baxter, tail dragger pilot extraordinaire

That's sounds like something straight out of Drury's "My Secret War." Read it. It'll just go to show that some things never change. https://product.half.ebay.com/My-Secret-War...nfoQQprZ1411327

Don't get me wrong, I'm an ATGATT rider and fully agree with you, but it just doesn't fit the image of a Harley rider to be fully decked out in protective gear.

For anyone who rode while in college... I park my bike in an underground albeit unsecured parking lot. True to form, (presumably) drunk college kids kicked it over. Just to put the cherry on top, I think they peed on it. Needless to say, I'm kind of pissed right now, and am looking for some ideas. Are there any solutions other than to find some secure parking? Edit: I read the Maddox article. Point taken.

As cool as that would be, no. The former A-10 driver, along with pretty much every other military person on set, appears to be actors. Source Edit: The A-10 pilots character's name is Tom Garrett.

Is that quarter speed present arms an escort/ honor guard thing?

Over the course of a few years, I've put together the following aviation pictures that I have set as my screen saver. Not all of it is military, but there's plenty of Herc porn, along with some F-16s and heritage flights. There's a lot of GA stuff related to my flying that you may not be interested in (Cubs, Citabrias RVs, etc), but it's a collection to at least start from. There's also a few cool sunset pictures. You need WinRar to extract the files. Also, I'm new to the whole archiving via WinRAR thing, so if it doesn't work, PM me and I'll try to fix it. Hope you enjoy it! Airplane Screen Saver