Bergman

I was looking for an excuse to post some newer pictures...this thread bump suffices. Used my crappy camera, so not as good as I would like...

At least the flamingo is wearing ABUs....which of course means that the wing will have to change its patch in 3 years when the ABU is phased out.

PLEASE tell me you had to look up all of those references!? If not, you need to get out more! Beyond that, thanks for the insight. You just might be the first willingly helpful and knowledgeable finance person I have run across.

I concur! It took me a while, but I finally stumbled upon this technique years ago and it works like magic. I have also found that if it does not work, being polite and asking to see their NCOIC, Superintendent, or OIC usually does the trick.

Having been laid off by an auto industry company a few years ago, I know what it's like - and can sympathize with the workers. Having said that, it is not my job as a taxpayer to bail an auto worker out because he chose to not get an education or a more broad work experience and thus can't find a job when his industry tanks. These union workers have been bending the Big 3 over a barrel for decades and laughing all the way to the bank. Now it is time for them to pay the piper, too. While I agree that poor management is a huge factor for the Big 3's problems (Pontiac Aztek, anyone?) - I think you have to admit that if the union workers were giving a 100% effort and truly turning out a top-notch product, their companies would not be struggling as much right now. Agree completely.

Oh, you mean those poor, put-upon UAW workers who are being "laid off" in January? The ones who get 95% of their salary for NOT WORKING??!?!

That sort of behavior is way worse than this sort of thing.. Or kind of like the CAOC having us take off with 185,000 pounds of fuel (~27,000 gallons) just to have extra gas airborne "in case we need it" and then shrugging their shoulders when we dump 80,000 pounds (~12,000 gallons) of it in order to land. Or even better...coming back to land with 20,000 pounds (~3,000 gallons) too much gas, and rather than granting a waiver to land over the supposed max gross weight, the Og/CC directs you to hold for 3 hours with the gear and flaps hanging to burn it instead, rather than saving it. Not that two wrongs make a right, but why is it that finance people typically act like it's coming out of their damn pocket?? In all seriousness, I wish every person who works in a finance office could "ride along" with a mobility crew for a week or two. Stay where they stay. Work when they work. Sleep when they sleep. Eat when/what they eat (cold meals for two weeks straight, anyone?) I think the tune would change. Could it be that billeting is terrible compared to off-base lodging? Also, trans is not nearly as good as you seem to think. How many times have you ever waited out on a sub-zero (or 120+ degree) flightline for 30+ minutes for trans to show up? Sure, it looks great when 3 aircrew hop out of the crew bus in front of lodging, but you need to realize that it rarely works as advertised and certainly isn't "a good deal". Not to mention that the crew you just saw has probably been at work for 16+ hours. Again. Exactly! When I am paying my own way, I make sure I am getting the most of my money...and that would rarely be billeting. I have also NEVER conducted personal travel without a rental car authorized, FWIW. A good example: this summer, I was in sunny Altus, OK, for 6 weeks. The gov't preferred method of travel was by air, from my town to Atlanta, and then to Lawton, which is 40 miles east of Altus. No rental authorized. When I asked our travel office about this, they said, "Well you're SUPPOSED TO TAKE THE BUS and then WALK AROUND THE BASE"...for 6 weeks! That is insane. They would rather have paid $1300 in airfare to fly me into Lawton, rather than $400 to fly into Oklahoma City and another $500 for the rental car. These are the same people who are telling ME to be a good steward of the taxpayers money? UFB.

3. It's best in the summer when you can sit outside along the river IMHO.

My Wg/CC pushed the "total force" aspect on my palace chase application (I was in the same situation as you, albeit a few years ago). The verbage basically said that the USAF as a whole would continue to have me as an asset for an additional 10 years following UPT, so it would make sense to offer the palace chase rather than have me separate as a nav in two years. I'll try to find my PC application and get you the exact wording if you think it'll help.

A novel concept, but I suspect this would get crushed by the first O-6 that heard of it. On a side note, it's amazing to me how the senior leadership seems to offer little/no support to the CGOs, yet constantly pander to the E-5s and below in an attempt to improve retention and morale. I don't know when or how it happened, but our pecking order has definitely gotten f*cked up. Another good story from this last trip: One of our staff ADOs (Major) had just finished his 12 hour shift and walked over to the coffee house to get a cup. It's is 0800 and about 25 degrees outside. He is wearing his gortex coat and a watch cap. His free hand is in his pocket. As he's walking, he hears from behind him, "HEY!! Get your hand out of your pocket!". It didn't register that the guy was talking to him, so he keeps walking. Again, closer this time, "HEY! I SAID GET YOUR HAND OUT OF YOUR POCKET!". At this point, he realizes that he does have a hand in his pocket (GOD FORBID!) and that the person might actually be talking to him. A few more steps, and the guy is now right behind him yelling about the getting his hand out of his pocket. My friend turns around, only to find a MSgt and 4 cronies standing there. They see the rank on his gortex and proceed to give him a half-assed salute, which they dropped before he even raised his hand to salute them (it was, after all, in his pocket). If you're going to be critical, you had better have your shit squared away too. Needless to say, my buddy is fairly agitated at this point. What follows is the most classic response ever. He says to the MSgt, "Well thanks for correcting me. You know what, now that we're all standing here with our hands out of our pockets, why don't we police this area for trash?" He tells one of the others, "Hey airman, run and go grab a few trash bags." The guy comes back with the bags, and the Major and 5 enlisted guys spend the next 30 minutes picking up trash. I would be surprised if any of those guys ever comment on someone's pocket usage again. A brilliant stroke of out-shoe-clerking the shoe clerks, IMHO. I just wish I had thought of it first.

I would have thought our "Shell" callsign was a good indicator of aircraft type, but apparently that was lost on TA. Oh well...we definitely didn't ace the program that night, but we got the jet on the ground safely after a long night, which is what counts in the end (sts). I can definitely confirm that, yes, Manas is much-preferred to the Died. I would pick Manas 10 out of 10 times before going back to OTBH. Unfortunately, looks like the ANG won't have a choice much longer.... As for the flightline diagram...the only one we had at the time was the airfield diagram in the FLIP, which of course doesn't show the individual taxi lanes on Delta ramp. Our crew binder was much more robust after this little incident. My overall impression is that the divert kit was designed by/for people who had been to the Deid before, and thus had taken a great many things for granted. We addressed those issues with the staff and hopfeully have things straightened out now. DRFRASH, I hear ya bro. The problem is that, as has been mentioned before, you can "do the right thing" and have a conversation with said E-8 or E-9, and win that particular battle on that particular day. The problem occurs when your O-5 or O-6 boss calls you on the carpet and chews your ass because the E-8/9 in question has been making a stink about some Major telling him to STFU. Ultimately, you may win the battle but lose the war. It's complete bullshit, and believe me I am not one to lay down and take it (sts), but after being hammered by an O-6 who is more interested about not rocking the boat and protecting their career than "doing the right thing", you quickly learn which battles to fight. It really is a complete failure of leadership at the top levels, but there isn't much hope when you're fighting an O-4 vs. O-6 battle.

I may have to put my name on this rule. We diverted in there last month from "up north", where it was literally freezing cold and had snowed two times in the previous week. Fortunately, the forecast on this particular day called for good weather and normal ops, which was good since no one on the crew had a divert bag. As you might imagine, fate intervened at the 4.0 mark of our sortie when, once we were offload complete, we were directed to "head for homeplate SOUTH due to WX". A quick sat call to ops confirmed that unforecasted ice fog and smoke from burning trash had taken vis down to a no-shit 50' or less. So, off we go. I can now say from personal experience that flying the boulevard for the first time ever can be interesting when you start it from the north having originated at a base with no corporate knowledge of the process, flying with an inexperienced crew, in the middle of the night, and not real happy about your fuel situation. Several hours later we land at the Deid and request a follow-me since, "we are unfamiliar". After waiting 10+ minutes for the follow me and seeing none, we query tower about our parking location and are directed to continue taxiing straight ahead, spot 71. About that time I see a taxi lane ahead with a 6 painted on it and announce to the crew, "Aw shit...i sure hope the next one is a 7 and not a 5!" OF COURSE it was Row 5. So we stop and get a new spot number from tower just about the time the transient alert/keystone cops show up to marshal us into the spot. We shut down, finish the checklist, and I head downstairs. Come to find out, the TA guys thought we were a C-130 and were waiting for us somewhere else on the ramp, which is why we never saw them. Further, they have no knowledge or experience with -135 ops, so can the crew please take care of the jet before leaving. OK great. After finishing with the jet and milling about smartly for 16-19 additional minutes, the crew bus shows up to take us to customs and immigration. They drop us off in the cargo yard with a wave and say "it's over there somewhere!", not really knowing where to send us. So we grab all of our gear and move out. Once we finally find where we were supposed to be (two buildings over) we are confronted with a sign that reads, "NO WEAPONS OR BAGS" and a shoe clerk SMSgt there to enforce said rule. At this point, my fun meter is pretty much pegged. It's 0300 local and we were at about the 14 hour point in our day. I tell the guy, "Sarge, I've got bad news. We have weapons AND bags, so it's not looking good for the home team. How about we just pencil whip this one and call it a day?" Oh hell no. Thus starts a 90 minute process which involved us leaving a guy behind to guard the weapons and bags while the other two went through customs, had to call another bus on the non-flightline side of the building, ride the bus all the way back around to the flightline side again, grab the guns/bags to put on the bus, and wait for the third guy to process customs while the bus, yet, again, drove around from the flightline to the other side to pick him up. From there, the bus driver takes the other passengers all the way to transient billetting, then drives us all the way back to tanker ops to drop all of our shit off. UFB. Having never been there before, none of us knew better at the time....I will not repeat that mistake! So we finally drop all of our shit off at tanker ops, sign out a cell phone so we can get alerted, and hop on the bus back to the CC. We arrive at transient billetting, get out tent assignment (WTF!??!) and start walking. It is at this point of the morning that we arrive at the point of my story. We are at Al Udeid with nothing but black knit watch caps. We have $22 between the 3 of us, one can of Skoal, and no wallets. We did what any God Fearing crew dog would. We wear our watch caps everywhere with our flight suits, despite the fact that it is 80+ degrees out and the sun is now up. After buying 3 toothbrushes and a tube of tooth paste, we spend the remaining cash on 3 rounds of beers at the bra at 0800 local. Because of the ATO cycle, we ended up being there for 33 hours. We were hasseled three separate times by an E-8 or E-9 for wearing our watch caps, with my personal favorite being just outside the chow hall: After not saluting me or the co, a SMSgt gives us a nice witty, "So what little game are you guys playing here?? What's the deal with the caps?" We just looked at him, turned, and walked into the chow hall. Perhaps there was other buffoonery leading to yet another stupid rule, but there at least is my contibution. I will provide photographic proof once I get the pix from the copiglet. Beyond that, the whole experience re-acquainted me with several lessons I had previously learned in my flying career, but obviously forgot: always pack a divert bag, never trust the weather forecast, always bring your wallet even if the SPINS say otherwise, and never trust a shoe clerk to do the right/smart thing.

Oh, great! So now we have a lost bag of tools, a busted ass space station, AND an empty kitchen? WTF! Will the madness never end??

Sounds like you're making a good case for .45 ACP! I've not been following this thread too closely; hope this link isn't a repeat. Helped convince me that .45 ACP is the way to go for a semi-auto CCW. For a revolver, .357 MAG all the way IMHO. Handgun Power Chart Also, thanks for all the great info so far fellas...this has turned out to be quite an informative thread, for me at least.

So let me get this straight....they are running Operational Readiness Exercises at an expeditionary wing?? YGBSM. So if an ORE/ORI is to test your ability to prepare and deploy for a war....what is an ORE in the combat zone for? To test your ability to go to DOUBLE SECRET WAR?! The people running the USAF, and the 379 AEW in particular, have completely lost their minds.

I have asked MANY SF folks this over the years, and invariably they say, "Hell yeah we shoot 'em!" I also have two friends, at different bases, who had their guns (rifles, pistols, and shotguns) returned to them showing obvious signs of having been fired while in the loving care of SF. FWIW I always just kept mine in the house when living on base. Of course, no house inspections to worry about vs. the dorms like you mentioned.

Ha! A bunch of us at the squadron were talking about trying a "group buy" before January 20th. So to piggyback...any military/group discounts on AR-15s? Beyond that...any good recommendations for AR-15s?

Perhaps someone has finally realized that Altus still has 18 jets (IIRC) but has recently A) gotten rid of PUP training altogether and B) Gone from 8 flights to 4 for PIQ studs. Those changes have got to yield at least a 50% reduction in sorties, so IMHO they can probably spare a few tankers and sitll get the job done.

The sad thing about this is that while the skycops were all running around with hardons arresting a legitimate aircrew for some trumped up reason, you could have probably marched half a Russian brigade in the back gate due to the cops' diverted attention. While I wholeheartedly believe we need aircraft and flightline security, in fact more than we have now, the current state of affairs is much like our current 'cyber security' requirements....doesn't really protect anything yet inhibits the actual mission worse than the supposed attackers would...thus essentially doing their job for them. UFB.

I was playing flickerball on TD4 of SOS. Everything was normal when we heard a PA announcement to return to our dorms and await further instructions. Everyone rallied in my room (aka the swamp) to watch CNN all day and kill a handle of Captain Morgan, since we were confined to the dorm UFN and it seemed like the thing to do at the time. to those we lost, and to those who weren't at SOS and got to put some f*ckers in the dirt as payback.

Wow. We are actually looking for prior-rated pilots down here, so if you want to transfer I will vouch for you. Great idea. I am almost ashamed to admit that I own a wheel cap already (a mild form of rebellion in my AMS days) so at least I'm prepared. I have worn it 5 times now, I think. So my 'cost per wear' is at $8 right now. Hopefully it stays there. I will also most definitely be sporting the large-size wings (both sets for me) on my blues shirt. That'll look GREAT, at least until I order a cardigan.

Surely you jest?! First off, we only work every other Monday so that cuts our exposure in half. Second, in a totally volunteer organization (i.e. I don't fly when I don't want to/I don't come to the squadron when I'm not flying [part-timers at least!]) there would be mass rebellion...the part-timers just wouldn't come in on Mondays. Guaranteed. There is also the small fact that no one owns blues, mess dress, or service dress in the first place - and I know this for a fact - including our squadron commander! Every time there is an official function, the mad scramble of "Can I borrow your blues?!" that goes on is like a clown on fire...kinda funny, kinda sad. Having said all that, I know there will be a fair number of you who say "Guard slackers!" and I agree, at least partially. I tend to think we focus on what's important to the mission rather than image, although sometimes we take it too far (i.e. not wearing hats while out in the community).

There are PLENTY of non-flying (staff) jobs for pilots out there! If, for whatever reason, you've had it with the flying side of things, I would advise sticking it out for the remainder of your current tour and putting a non-flying assignment on your preference list. Call it "career broadening" and they'll eat it up, especially with everyone else either trying to dodge a staff tour!

This is GREAT news!! Thank you for sharing. Navs everywhere are rejoicing! Finally the Air Force policy makes sense...if the age limit is 30 to start, why keep someone out who commissioned at 21 and is only 26 years old? Common sense breaking out everywhere.