zab1001 said:>That and the fact that VQ guys are fags (who loves ya?).
I love the fact that this is YOUR website John. Way to hit the nail on the head.
Selection...eh...uh....naw lets just talk about why I picked P-3s...
I don't know about Rota, but Whidbey BLOWS. There, I said it. "Yeah but Seattle is like right there..." No it isn't. It's at least an hour and 20 min away (going 90 mph in a rented Geo Metro when you're already late for your brief...). There are maybe 3 bars in Whidbey (the Blue Dolphin.....shiver....). If you are married and like fishing and.....uh....trees and stuff......then rock out with your c0ck out in Whidbey.
Seriously, though, P-3s, as opposed to EP-3s are a tactical platform (countdown for arguements on that one begins.........NOW). What I mean by that is you will fire/launch weapons, prosecute bad guys, have spec ops dudes onboard...etc etc. Yeah, if being secret-squirrel and into the intel side of things is your cup of tea, then go Aries. It's tough enough flying a pig. At least in the Orion world we get to yank that fOcker around at 200 feet. Few things are as funny as wrapping up a turn at 60 degrees AOB, down low, bomb bays open, BS'ing with your TACCO (NFO) while the brand new guy next to you looks like he just crapped himself.
I could go on and on. I dunno. Flying way high in circles with a tube full of intel dudes would get to me after a while. 2 NFOs are hard enough to deal with (I KEED I KEED.....for me to poop on).
That said, I have to give them credit, they saved our a$$ big-time in a real deal war-time situation once. Good on em.
Flash said:Yeeeaaahh, riiiight. That whole delusion of granduer thing about being a "Strike Platform". Hear that laughter? They are not laughing with you, they are laughing at you. Like I said before, those cool missions are probably going to be curtailed for you VP guys. As for flying at 200 ft, try doing it through a mountain range if you want excitment. I will agree with you about the pilot part, pretty boring drilling holes in the sky.
BTW, shut up and drive stick monkey.
1. So, your maintenance guys stole one of our engines, we made sure we gave you a low efficiency one that is due for maintenance.Flash said:As for the club, the reason you did not see us their was because:
1-We were flying after stealing one of your engines.
2-We never got out of the room after breaking open a couple of bottles.
3-We were passed out from doing too much of the first two.
I completely agree with Zab, you don't send us in to take out land targets, not what we were designed for. We as a community were looking for a purpose and a mission while the rest of the platforms were abandoning ASW. We have ended up covering so many new areas over the last few years, that it is a nightmare for the upgrader. You also end up with having specialized crews that train to certain missions, it makes maintaining readiness an interesting proposition. And let's not go into ancient ground trainers and simulators that we make do with.Yeeeaaahh, riiiight. That whole delusion of granduer thing about being a "Strike Platform". Hear that laughter? They are not laughing with you, they are laughing at you.
Yes, VP makes up the majority of the selects. I knew ppl that did NOT want to go VQ that ended up being forced there. As always though, you talk to them afterwards, and they adjusted and were happy where they were.Aren't there way more VP slots than VQ?
BTW, shut up and drive stick monkey.
A confusing time for us, we are spending more time than ever refocusing on ASW and improving that skill set, while we are still requested by various branches to provide ISR functions.Due to the recent drawdown in the P-3 fleet, I have heard that there will be a reemphasis on the core missions of ASW and maritime patrol with the overland surveillance and strike missions being curtailed. Someone from VP land can elaborate on that.