Aerdale

Thanks for the heads up on this blog. Very funny. Military guys with a great sense of humor- it don't get no better.

The National Anthem is not the blues, it's not hip hop, it's not country, it's not rock and roll. It should be sung with all the respect it deserves, straight and sincere. No wobbling around and gliding up to notes, it's beautiful just as it was written. (End rant!). My band director in high school played the trumpet in a Navy band and said that while playing the Anthem at a large gathering of brass one of the trumper players was doodling around trying for effects and flourishes when he seriously went off key and screwed it up. The following day there was a Navy-wide notice, no one mess with the music, play it straight and proud. I fully support that!!!

This would be the Navy's equivalent of a skipper running his ship aground. A sure career-killer. I am, however, impressed at how they got it stopped once they realized the runway was running out too soon. My hat's off to them, it looked like real skill to me. Too bad the military doesn't forgive or forget. As Popeye would say, "How embarriskin'".

https://youtu.be/UUFO8AGMwic Video of the colonel being hounded by a flat earther creep. The colonel shows remarkable restraint (IMHO) until the creep just poked him too long and the intrepid colonel decks the SOB. This will warm the cockles of your heart. Hats off to the colonel!!! He's 74, by the way.

As an official "old dude" I take umbrage at the implication that old dudes, myself included, would not want to check out attractive asses. One's appreciation of prime female T&A does not vanish upon reaching old dudedom.

Retired now, been out of active duty for a long time and have a question: Any idea how they decide who does what? I am an old Navy pilot and associate the Seals with naval warfare like their predecessors that served in my time, the UDT or "Frogmen". Why were the Seals chosen rather than, say, the Army Special Forces? I can understand the sniper aboard ship that took the pirates out but why would they send the Seals that far inland for a raid well into Pakistan? There obviously have been a lot of changes in the services since my time on active duty and hope you younger guys can help me understand. Thanks for any replies.

I would be very cautious and investigate this carefully. As a former Navy pilot I can tell you that it is not normal for multi drivers to transfer to fighter or attack, you almost always dance with the one that brought you. I have seen some go the other way- I had a Marine instructor who flew jets while I was in the training command. He got orders while I was there to a helo squadron, and not a happy camper. For someone coming from the outside who has not flown fighter or attack and has no experience at the boat you would be taking the place of someone in the pipeline who has those quals, so I would say it would be difficult. I can't say that it would never happen, but investigate carefully. I don't know how you would go about this as no one is guaranteed much of anything in the military, but good luck.

The ideal sitcom this year is Gaddafi and Sheen together.

I was in Scotland a while back and up early watching the BBC morning news. There was a report about a joint naval exercise in the North Sea involving a U S carrier and a number of NATO ships, including some from the Royal Navy. While showing stock footage of the US carrier underway the newsreader casually mentioned that this one particular U S carrier had more fire power than the entire Royal Navy. That is a sad commentary on what was once the most powerful navy in the world. News that the Marines are cutting back: MILITARY: Changes loom for the Marine Corps COMMANDANT TO OUTLINE VISION FOR REMODELED FORCE IN TUESDAY SPEECH By MARK WALKER - mlwalker@nctimes.com | Posted: Friday, February 4, 2011 10:00 pm Gen. James Amos, the commandant of the Marine Corps, spoke to troops in Afghanistan on Christmas Eve. "We know that you’ve been in a hell of a fight," he told them. Amos is expected to detail the future of a smaller and lighter Marine Corps in a speech Tuesday in San Francisco. The Marine Corps is on the cusp of its most significant restructuring in decades, a process one defense analyst says may forever alter its character. It's expected to shrink by tens of thousands of troops, reduce its equipment inventory and alter its approach to shore invasions. "The bottom line is pretty simple ---- the Marine Corps has defined itself as the ones who do forcible entry of shorelines, and now it appears that the Pentagon wants to water that down," said Loren Thompson of the Washington-based Lexington Institute, a libertarian think tank. "Aspects of what the Pentagon is proposing could make the Marines less useful, less capable and less important," Thompson said. At issue is Defense Secretary Robert Gates' order that the Marine Corps redefine its fundamental mission, or its "core competency." Gates directed Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and the new commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Amos, to conduct a "thorough force structure review to determine what an expeditionary force in readiness should look like in the 21st century." For the roughly 60,000 Marines at Camp Pendleton near Oceanside and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego, that review, and what Amos says in a scheduled speech Tuesday in San Francisco, could dramatically alter the course of their military service.'Tamer' Amos, a four-star general and the first aviator to command the Marine Corps, is expected to answer Gates in his speech. Nicknamed "Tamer," his aviator call sign, Amos already has talked about the Marine Corps as a "middleweight force" with fewer troops and much lighter equipment than it has used in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Marine Corps' current 202,000 troop level could fall to about 182,000 by the middle of this decade under a recommendation from Gates. Others have suggested the number of Marines could go down even further, provided the nation is not at war. Navy strategists meeting in San Diego last month said that budget pressures in Washington are driving other changes for the Marine Corps. The looming Pentagon spending cuts should prompt the Navy and Marine Corps to consider merging staffs and placing more Marines aboard ships throughout the world to respond more quickly to trouble spots, one strategist suggested. "We need to have the 'mother of all roles' discussions," said Navy Capt. Victor Addison, who works in advance concepts. "We should use this opportunity to remake the Navy and Marine Corps team." 'Too heavy' Gates talks about the impending makeover as a time of anxiety for the Marine Corps, which, since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, has functioned as a second land army in Iraq and Afghanistan. "The perception being that they have become too heavy, too removed from their expeditionary, amphibious roots and the unique skill sets those missions require," Gates said in an August address to the Marines' Memorial Association in San Francisco, the same group that Amos is slated to address next week. Gates went on to say the country doesn't need another land army or a "U.S. Navy police force." What it does need, he said, is the "Marines' unique ability to project combat forces from the sea under uncertain circumstances ---- forces quickly able to protect and sustain themselves ---- a capability that America has needed in this past decade, and will require in the future." At the same time, Gates and Marine Corps leaders say leathernecks need to remain ready to storm ashore. But what that will look like this century has come into question and is being widely debated in defense circles. Gates doesn't believe there's a need for World War II-style beach assaults. "I do think it is proper to ask whether large-scale amphibious assault landings ... are feasible," he said in his August address. "New anti-ship missiles with long range and high accuracy may make it necessary to debark from ships 25, 40 or 60 or more miles at sea." That foreshadowed Gates and Amos' announcement late last month that they jointly agreed Congress should scrap the overbudget and overdue Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. The behemoth was supposed to serve as the Marine Corps' new, heavily armored amphibious fighting vehicle, delivering troops from ships 25 miles offshore and able to maneuver once it reached land. Analyst Thompson said that after spending $3.3 billion on the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, calling on Congress to end the program has huge implications for the Marine Corps. "Eliminating it appears to be the first step in watering down the mission," Thompson said. If the Marine Corps also begins cutting its fleet of fighter jets and helicopters, the "question then becomes, 'What role does that leave?'" he said. "The Marine Corps is facing a difficult moment of uncertainty."

Reports from England today (Feb 14): A quarter of the RAF's trainee pilots are to be sacked in the latest stage of the Government's defence cuts, reports claim. Up to 100 student pilots will be told the news tomorrow that they have no future in the service as part of the latest ramifications of the defence spending review. They are said to include some who are just a few flying hours hours away from earning their wings as fully qualified pilots. Job cuts: One-in-four new RAF pilots are to be sacked as part of new defence cuts, it has been claimed According to the Daily Telegraph up to 20 fast jet pilots, 30 helicopter pilots and 50 transport aircraft pilots are to go. Air Vice Marshal Mark Green, the head of RAF training, was said to be preparing to visit the three training schools to inform them of their fate. The cuts will mean that the Ministry of Defence will effectively have to write off the £300 million spent on their training, which can cost up to £4 million a man, the paper said.

Prop strikes would normally require inspection, tear down or replacement, depending on severity. I buddy of mine was skipper of a transport squadron (Navy) flying C-118's (few years back). One of his birds went into Pensacola to deliver some items and was spotted right in front of Ops with brass coming and going all over. As they started up and were going through checklists prior to taxi the flight engineer grabbed the gear handle instead of flaps when trying to retract the flaps. The switches on the main gear that prevent retraction when weight is on the oleo struts operated as they should but, as it turned out, the switch on the nose gear was installed improperly and the nose gear folded. Both pilots saw what happened and immediately slammed the gear handle down but it was too late. They described their ride down as very surreal as they watched the tarmac rise to meet them. Very little damage to the nose but the two innermost engines caught their props on the tarmac which folded them and the sudden stoppage to the engine torqued the beJesus ought of the engine innards. It required two prop and engine replacements. Very embarrassing. Everyone said the aircraft looked like a trick horse in the circus doing his bow.

I am in my mid-60's and a former Navy pilot. I never wore sunglasses myself, just depended on the helmet visor. I have had, however, cataract surgery on both eyes in the last few years. I have always wondered if the visor was a contributor to all this. Does anyone know if there is any protection in the visors? It always seemed to me that the visor was just tinted plastic but I don't know for sure.

I was a Navy pilot in the 60's/70's. I knew a helo driver who ended up as a station pilot out in the California desert (Fallon? I can't remember). He said some of the pilots were sitting around one day when they heard of an emergency on station. They walked out to see what was going on and saw the strangest aircraft they'd ever seen (this was the late 60's). It was a Blackbird (they had never seen one) landing hot on their longest runway with some type of emergency. After stopping he taxied well off from everyone rather than proceeding to the flight line. They were intrigued so they decided to walk across the field to see what this strange bird was. They got part way across the field when all of a sudden an Air Force C-130 came in for a landing hot and heavy. As the 130 sped towards the Blackbird the rear ramp came down, the 130 came to a sudden halt close to the the 'Bird and a lot of guys with machine guns poured out and surrounded the 'Bird. This guy said all of the pilots he was with just looked at one another, didn't say a word, turned around and walked back to the hangar. You knew these guys were not to be messed with.