War Stories Thread

[Danger41]

47 minutes ago, Standby said:

I think so. Upon graduation you’re authorized to mix and match boot colors when rehacking long gun qual. 

That is an extremely niche reference and I know the exact incident you’re referring to. Actually happened twice to different guys. One is a complete goofball and the other is a literal rocket scientist that is also a goofball.

[TreeA10]

I was volunteered non-voluntarily to be a T-38 FAIP at Columbus in the magnolia state back the late 80s.  I don't remember the students, I don't remember the class, I don't remember the year but I do remember the week or at least 3 days of it.  On Wednesday, I had an engine fire. I am with a student and we are the good wingman doing a rejoin when lead says, "2, you are trailing smoke." How I missed the big glowing fire light, I do not know but we execute the boldface and the fire light takes its time to go out.  Single engine home and all is right with the world. Thursday appeared with crappy weather and I launch on a contact ride with a student.  In the weather, the right generator fails and the left does not pick up the right side. So it's a no-flap ASR to weather mins to get home. I don't get paid enough for this job. TGIF! Friday finds me on another formation ride headed out to the high sectors and at FL330, there's a thump noise, the cockpit fills with fog, and I'm pressure breathing with a cockpit pressurization failure. Sumanabache. Copious quantities of alcohol was consumed at the bar Friday night as my students were trying to tell me as nicely as they could that they didn't want to fly with me anymore. 

Edited February 9, 2023 by TreeA10

[tac airlifter]

On 2/8/2023 at 5:39 PM, ClearedHot said:

Which makes me wonder, do the SEALs of the sky have their own special BUDS class?

CH could you estimate the number of naked gunner hugs that transpired in your squadron during your tenure?  Gunship aircrew have a well earned reputation for killing the enemy, being loud/fat, and surprising each other with cock during flight; just curious if you can elaborate.

[brabus]

12 minutes ago, tac airlifter said:

CH could you estimate the number of naked gunner hugs that transpired in your squadron during your tenure?  Gunship aircrew have a well earned reputation for killing the enemy, being loud/fat, and surprising each other with cock during flight; just curious if you can elaborate.

Just when he got his PTSD under control, you opened it right back up!

[ClearedHot]

9 minutes ago, tac airlifter said:

CH could you estimate the number of naked gunner hugs that transpired in your squadron during your tenure?  Gunship aircrew have a well earned reputation for killing the enemy, being loud/fat, and surprising each other with cock during flight; just curious if you can elaborate.

 Naked gunner hugs are an invention and tradition in the Pavelow community.

[arg]

2 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

 Naked gunner hugs are an invention and tradition in the Pavelow community.

Bosnia, 18,000 feet in December in the whstling shithouse there were no naked people.

[FourFans]

3 hours ago, tac airlifter said:

...naked gunner hugs...

I heard it was called snoodling...

[arg]

3 hours ago, FourFans130 said:

I heard it was called snoodling...

After googling that I'm proud to say I didn't know what it was.

[Standby]

7 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

 Naked gunner hugs are an invention and tradition in the Pavelow community.

 

[BashiChuni]

8 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

 Naked gunner hugs are an invention and tradition in the Pavelow community.

[FourFans]

2 hours ago, arg said:

After googling that I'm proud to say I didn't know what it was.

Neither do I.  But I met an Eagle driver once.

[pbar]

On 2/7/2023 at 2:34 PM, 60 driver said:

I actually know at least one brigade ALO that went to Ranger school in the mid 90s. B-52 radar nav (!).  

I knew a B-1 pilot went to Ranger School as an ALO but he washed out.  

[ClearedHot]

12 hours ago, Standby said:

 

I swear on the Sky trident of all the SEALs of the Sky out there, I never once saw a naked gunner hug in the Gunships community.  I did have a Pavelow gunner attempt such a maneuver on several folks on my crew while deployed to Osan (back in the days when the Pavelows were still stationed there).  I also saw a group of Pavelow Gunner try said maneuver on Spectre Island, right after the chugged beers from Johnny A's prosthetic leg. 

[arg]

10 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

I swear on the Sky trident of all the SEALs of the Sky out there, I never once saw a naked gunner hug in the Gunships community.  I did have a Pavelow gunner attempt such a maneuver on several folks on my crew while deployed to Osan (back in the days when the Pavelows were still stationed there).  I also saw a group of Pavelow Gunner try said maneuver on Spectre Island, right after the chugged beers from Johnny A's prosthetic leg. 

Seventeen years on gunships, first 3 1/2 as a gunner, never seen the naked gunner hug. On a man anyway. I have seen naked gunners in the showers at various locations, there were no hugs. The initial dedication of Spectre Island had a couple of pavelow dudes, they paid respects without nakedness. I retired in Y2K, what the hell happened after I left.

Chugging beers from a prosthetic leg? Not sure I could do that. Drank Jim Mays moonshine from a skull that Wayne Fisk brought to a Spectre Reunion. He said it was a VC skull from Viet Nam.

[Guest LumberjackAxe]

Shortly after ISIS assumed control of Iraq, we flew a KC-10 mission in the early hours of the morning. The KC-10 has shit avionics (at least at the time), and the only way to see the aerial refueling box was to enter the four corners as lat/long waypoints in our flight plan. This meant that when you entered the area and got too close to the next waypoint, it would cycle through and delete it and think you're heading to the next corner. This was annoying, of course, because you'd orbit for hours trying to draw dicks in the sky (yes, literally: here's the compass card collection I documented during my time in the -10: https://imgur.com/a/N2RVD).

To prevent the FMS from cycling to the next waypoint, which removed the visual representation of the area, most pilots would enable a "lock" mode, which simply prevented the FMS from cycling to the next waypoint. It would just plot the next six or so and you'd have to disable it if you wanted to move on with your flight plan. This was really convenient, because that would display a graphical representation of the box on the HSI, but it also added another layer of risk.

Back to this night in Iraq. Both ourselves and another -10 were cleared to RTB at the same time. We were further north than they were, so when we both turned south to head back to the gulf, I saw their strobe/beacon about 10-20 miles ahead. I commanded the autopilot to direct steer to the first waypoint on the return flight plan and followed our buddy aircraft through the dead of night.

On the way back, I opened up our flight package and started filling out the incredibly important paperwork that documented who we gave gas to, how much we gave, and other flight metrics. I was a brand new Aircraft Commander, and like a good AC I looked up from the paperwork every few minutes to do a cross check. Everything looked good, until I noticed that the red beacon from our buddy aircraft was no longer in front of us.

He was about 20 degrees to the right, which raised a red flag. We were following the same flight path back to the gulf, and it was more or less a straight shot through Iraq. Neither of us had been given deviations for our headings. There was no reason for us to have such different courses.

A peculiar feeling came over me. It wasn't just a nervousness or anxiety about what could go wrong, or if I was prepared for what could go wrong, or what would I do. It was a hole in my situational awareness. There was a piece of information about our current situation that was unknown. It could've been fine, it might not have mattered, but because it was a blank space in my mind, I became agitated.

I checked our display and saw the dreaded dashed line running behind us and straight ahead. me. I had forgotten to turn off that lock mode, and the autopilot had taken us to the first waypoint just as I had commanded it. But then it just kept us going on the same course past that waypoint. My brand new copilot--a former bomber WSO--had even expressed his concern that we shouldn't engage that lock mode because it was too easy to forget.

So where exactly were we? It was too dark to see the ground. The display in the KC-10 only showed your flight plan. Fortunately, our flight engineer had a toughbook with FalconView and a GPS puck. I glanced over my right shoulder, saw the moving map on the laptop, and immediately disabled the autopilot and banked the jumbo jet 50 degrees to the south.

We were heading due east, more or less, and we were 2SM from plowing straight into Iran.

There were no hotdog calls, no radio transmissions, no nothing except the confused voice from the boom operator in the back. I apologized to my copilot and flight engineer, and we all agreed to never use the lock mode again. We also agreed that this story would never leave the cockpit.

I know, that's a pretty ing wild war story. It was almost 9 years ago, and even though we had agreed to never tell anyone, I think it's okay now because I recently learned that this copilot killed himself. My immediate reaction was anger--he was a respected officer and pilot, well-liked by everyone who had had the pleasure of serving with him. But he also left 2 children behind. By taking his own life, he was now depriving these children of their father for the rest of their lives. They don't deserve that. They're ing kids. So you for killing yourself.

Then I felt terrible for being angry at a dead man. And how could I even make a judgement on all this, when I hadn't even talked to him for six years? I never reached out, never caught up, didn't even friend him of Facebook. What right did I have to judge him for killing himself when I had done nothing to maintain our friendship?

But then I saw his recent posts on his Facebook profile. A friend had screenshotted them and sent them to me. Here's what he posted:

 

 

I'm not posting those as some sort of pity porn. I'm posting them because that's exactly how I felt starting in about 2019. I decided to seek treatment in early 2021 not because I was depressed, or that I was having panic attacks in the cockpit, or that I was self medicating with alcohol. It was because after landing from a solo low-level T-38 flight along the Pacific coast (in which I discovered I had forgotten to attach the silver key, meaning had I ejected I likely wouldn't have had the time to manually deployed the chute before hitting the ground), I received a text message that my cousin had killed himself. He was a few years older than me, also had children, and I knew he was struggling with similar things as I. I became extremely concerned that that would be my future too if I didn't seek treatment. If I survived that long. It was clear that I was no longer safe in the cockpit.

So I called the flight doc and told him I was not mentally fit to fly. They DNIF'd me and sent me to behavioral health, which was overall a great experience. It had no effect on my clearance. While seeing behavioral health, I could've kept flying if I wanted to, but I recognized that I was too much of a risk to get in the cockpit. After six months of biweekly appointments, they referred me to mental health and diagnosed me with bipolar disorder. That's an automatic medboard, because that condition isn't compatible with military service, and I ended up getting medically separated. But I'm proudly taking daily medication and no longer have the symptoms that my battle buddy described above. Even though I'll never fly again, I think it was worth it because I'm happier and healthier and know that I'll always be there for my daughter.

All this is to say that I think no one should feel afraid to seek treatment. Your wellbeing comes first, even before the Air Force, before the mission, and yes even before flying. Many friends reached out to my battle buddy after those posts, and he promised them that he wasn't going to harm himself. He obviously lied. But I can't help but think that if he had sought treatment in the same way that I did, then he would still be here today, and his children would still have a father. As someone who's gone through the whole treatment process, I can confirm that it's worth it.

I don't think annual briefings on suicide awareness will stop the suicide epidemic among servicemembers and veterans. But I think if more people like me--people who've successfully sought treatment--share their story, then that will help save more lives.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. 🫡

Edited February 11, 2023 by LumberjackAxe

[StrikeOut312]

57 minutes ago, LumberjackAxe said:

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. 🫡

Dude I knew your story about the -10 was gonna turn out like that with the FMS lock--thanks for not flying into Iran and starting WW3!

More importantly, thanks for sharing the story about getting help. Glad you made it through!

[arg]

Peacetime story in the war thread.

ORI at NAS Cecil, 95 I think. Four ship of Paves going up to VA to meet up with some of our Navy friends. They need fuel to get up there and back. Guess whos crew got that mission? We got airborne full of fuel and met them off the coast, gave them all the gas we could then climbed up to hit a tanker. Filled up then descended to give the Paves all the fuel the tanker just gave us. Climb again, hit the tanker, descend, give it to the Paves. Three times on the way up, hold till they were done, then three times on way back. I don't remember how many thousands of pounds of fuel we moved through the airplane but it was probably in excess of 175k. Them Paves could suck up some fuel. With one on each hose and ten pumps running it still took awhile to fill them up. Not as bad as the 47s though. 

[HU&W]

Today is the 21 anniversary of ditka03.  Not my story, but impactful to my life and friendships nonetheless.  Great write up of the story in the air commando journal called Men in the Arena.   Page 15. https://aircommando.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/air_commando_journal_vol4_issue2.pdf

[arg]

9 hours ago, HU&W said:

Today is the 21 anniversary of ditka03.  Not my story, but impactful to my life and friendships nonetheless.  Great write up of the story in the air commando journal called Men in the Arena.   Page 15. https://aircommando.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/air_commando_journal_vol4_issue2.pdf

We flew that mission many times in the old Talon sim at Hurbie. Shadow guys were using our sim while theirs was down for mods. Cline came through refresher and we offered him to fly his own crash. He did. 70% flaps and 85 knots at the end. He said it was just like real crash. Not many pilots get to fly their own crash.

[Biff_T]

20 years goes by fast.  

https://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/das-watkins.htm

RIP