I'm sure I'm well on my way to earning these wings (wing?)... I'll be selecting in a few weeks... I am confident I could fly instrument approaches in a dirigible...
It's a Naval Aviation site, and if y'all want to only display Navy wings, I certainly agree that would be appropriate. If you decide to display USAF and Army wings, then so be it. For the USAF pilot wings ("radiator wings" if you will), we've got slick wings, Senior Pilot wings with a star on top (signifying 7 years with wings), and Command Pilot wings with a star/wreath (signifying 15 years with wings). I'll ask my Navigator buds if the 7 and 15 years also apply to their wings.
Those stars mean years in? I always thought they had something to do with quals or hours. Interesting.
The Army also has Senior(star) and Master(wreathed star) wings. As I recall they used to be based on years rated and additional quals. Later it became just years rated as an Army aviator.
Perhaps the best method is to just have the basic Army/AF wings w/out all the flair. If someone has earned the wings, regardless of time/quals, the basic wings still apply. Many Naval Aviators here have multiple quals in addition to their basic wings, but we manage to live w/ the minimum amount of flair.
huggy, yeah, camnowell mentioned that there were differing army wings also. To ease my admin burden, I am only going to go with the basic army pilot wings, and if you all have a good gif that can be edited, the same for the wings of lead (I keed).
For the army, 1000 hours/7 years of rated service equals senior aviator. 2000 hours/15 years of rated service equals master aviator. The way we are flying now, it's easy to get the hours, but the total rated service isn't waiverable. You must have both. If you see an army aviator with a star and a wreath on his wings, he's not just been a pilot for 15 years, he's also done his time in the cockpit and lately, it's probably been in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Keep it basic for ALL WINGS. No Senior or Master WHATEVER. Just AF Pilot or NAV. Same for Army Pilot....and NAC (If you do it). Sorry AirCav. Just my thoughts, but John has enough to do....tracking all this stuff. -ea6bflyr
Concur....but it would seem that if people out here have the skillz to make it standardized then it shouldn't be a burden to Webmaster. If the individuals want to do the legwork necessary to "plug and play" with whatever devices they want, then it shouldn't be a problem. I have no idea how hard these things are to do, but those army wings got done pretty quickly by independant users. The rest shouldn't be any harder. My point is that if you want your specialized pin, say dolphins for example, and you are willing to make it zero impact to John (if that's possible), then knock yourself out as far as most people here probably care.
I'll admit I ain't been around all that long, but if the day ever comes where this becomes a legit tag, I'm outta here: "but we wear flightsuits.....snarf" - USAF Space-douche
That would be the exception. Those "wings" should not be allowed under any circumstances. All other warfare devices are good to go as far as I care, as long as it doesn't burden the guy with 51% of the vote.
The problem comes in when someone has to manage all the virtual pinnings. Yes, there are several mods that can do it, but there's a bunch of geekery that needs to be done for each set, plus, who QA's the Army and AF guys? Do they really have 9000 hours and 36 years of service? So why not just keep it basic...Army, Naval, AF. If John does the other pins, great. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I see, on average, about 3+ wing requests a week and I know I don't catch them all. That's in addition to the NFO wings and the wings for those that can't find the request button or my FAQ thread and ask for them manually. On top of that, there's quite a bit of QA that goes on behind the scenes for the random SkeeterSnort.
For what little it's worth, I agree you should keep it at the "Basic Wings" level (if you're going to do it at all). I just wanted to lead turn the discussion of what the star and wreath meant, knowing it would come up soon.
If someone has the time/inclination to photoshop some AF wings for me, I will update the website. Big flick, it is more an administrative burden to handle too many insignia. I do not want that to get out of hand.
I agree with Huggy. Basic wings will keep things simple. Huggy do you fly out of Beale? If so I flew a female flight doc from your sqaudron last week.
After we zip tie them, shave their heads and possibly eyebrows off. Not that I have ever witnessed such a thing. :icon_smil
Like the idea of keeping it simple. Rated guys get the same wings. The USMC guys my Medevac unit flew with in Iraq had some cool nametags (with callsigns, something the Army doesn't believe in) made, of course no Army wings around, so they just used Navy wings. As a prior NAC, I miss the "Gold" on my uniform.
