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Individual experiences may vary, as the image in the link below suggests... http://img186.imageshack.us/i/afghanistan.jpg/ There are wildly varying conditions between Kabul, Bagram, Kanadahar, and the outlying bases. Even on a single base like Bagram there can be wide variations. I got...

Saw one taxiing out at Al Udeid today - even thru the shimmering heat, it's a mean looking aircraft! I find the proposal very credible - after all, the AF has mortgaged just about every other platform in their inventory for the F-22, so why not sacrifice a few more? Park them next to the...

I really want to know who the three blue chip spud-f@ckers are that were selected beloow the zone -one HR and two IP. I've known Air Force guys who got picked up that way (including one twice, making him a very young O-6...), but don't know anyone in the Navy that has. Who do you have to kill...

Extremely impressive manuevering on the part of this thing. Reminds me a bit of the air vehicles in Terminator; I'd keep a broom handy just in case the thing ever tried to call Skynet...

"They discovered that several of the Marines’ wrong answers matched correct answers from the old test, Col. George W. Smith Jr., TBS commander, told Navy Times." Robert Hoover: We're in trouble. I just checked with the guys at the Jewish house and they said that every one of our answers on...

I'll let others who are closer to the situation weigh in with more details after the (literal) dust settles, but it seems that VMAQ-2 acquitted itself well in a pretty stiff firefight at Bagram last week. The motto "Every Marine a Rifleman" came true in spades!! Below is the official comment...

I always thought this was an interesting little deal - the Savings Deposit Program. 10% interest rate, compunded quaterly (but only available if you're drawing hostile fire pay). Try beating that in a money market! http://www.dfas.mil/militarypay/woundedwarriorpay/savingsdepositprogramsdp.html

I found the chart below to be extremely interesting . It's from an article in "Special Warfare" magazine (published by US Army JFKSWCS), where the authors drew blood from participants in some very stressful evolutions to measure the amount of cortisol in their systems - which directly...

Here's an interesting, useless, but otherwise Aviation-Related Factoid: If you're ever going into Travis and notice a funny marker off to the right side of Runway 03 (see pic) - that's a calibration target for Russian Open Skies aircraft. The treaty limits imagery collection to 30cm...

There's an old saying in the legal world: "If you can't argue the law, argue the facts; if you can't argue the facts, argue the law; and if you can't do either, attack your opponent personally." You get to see the trifecta (in spades) on this issue...

Interesting set of posts over on this forum (http://www.federalsoup.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=20453&title=ts-sci-and-marriage-to-a-foreign-national) with someone in exactly the same scenario. Some useful discussion and insights covered there that largely parallel what the larger brains present on...

We're cycling back around again - this is from the Wall Street Journal, 10 years ago (almost to the day!) "What's Your Point, Lieutenant? Please, Just Cut To The Pie Charts" http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~imarkov/slides.txt

Don't forget the wily veterans of VAQ-209. Even aging Reservists and their equally aging jets can bag a few traps now and again! 100421-N-7908T-617 ATLANTIC OCEAN (April 21, 2010) An EA-6B Prowler, assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 209, lands aboard the aircraft carrier USS...

Reminds me of a quote attibuted to Harry Truman, when discussing Eisenhower's election and the dffierence between being a general in the Army and being President: "He'll sit here and he'll say "Do this!" and "Do that!" and nothing will happen. Poor Ike - it won't be a bit like the Army...

This is a great book that helps dispel some of the nostalgia for "the good old days." Read it and you quickly realize that things Way Back When just plain sucked.... http://www.amazon.com/Good-Old-Days-They-Were-Terrible/dp/0394709411

If you're looking for the 13XX career progression flowchart, it's the 2nd slide in the brief on the attached link. http://www.npc.navy.mil/NR/rdonlyres/C80512CE-B673-4085-A027-3FCCF97B6E99/0/FY11USNAVIATION.ppt

I got a chance to review a Tank brief this morning that discussed the issue of awarding Air Medals, DFCs, and the like to UAV (ahem...RPA) pilots - it was the first time I'd seen RPA used, and had to think for a minute about what the hell they were talking about. The name change should really...

And Illinois Nazis - don't forget about them!

Every 1000....

I always thought it was interesting that he went from O-6 to 4-star in 4 years. Lesson: It sometimes helps to know people...especially if their last name is Kissinger or Nixon. (Or at least it did in the early 70s...)

When I went thru at Pax in 2007 (with the full Magilla of new dunker and storm/thunder/raft), it was me, five O-5s...and a Marine 2-star. To say it was "more relaxed" was a bit of an understatement. Of course, I'm still trying to figure out how I, the junior guy by a longshot, ended up being...

Also a very apt callsign - he's got one huge noggin!

United (as well as other majors) sometimes offer military discounts. Info on United's program is here: http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6867,51098,00.html You can use these fares for anything you want - more of a "thank you for your service" than an official travel discount.

As a datapoint - I was in the other 96% thar just wore a suit, swore in on the quarterdeck, and got a nice pic. Mostly because I didn't know any better, but even today I'm not sure I'd change it. There's plenty of opportunity for pomp and circumstance if you're interested in such things...

I'm afraid you'll both have to take a number - I've known a 50 year old as welll as a 56(!) year old ensign. The former was a senior aide to the Speaker of the House (poliitically connected guys always get special dispensation in the DCO process), the latter was a guy who had worked his way...

Interesting read. Reminds me of Lord Carrington's comment about NATO standards: "The only thing common among NATO equipment is the air in the tires."

This was at NAF Washington. I got the impression that DIRCOM actions were pretty low on the "to do" list, and that I wasn't alone in having trouble in that timeframe. Glad it all worked out in the end, though - I'm still having fun! :icon_tong

As OTT mentioned above, not necessarily "as always". A datapoint: I originally went through the whole DIRCOM application process in late 97 / early 98. The paperwork went in, and then I heard nothing for months and months. My recruiter had moved on, so there was no one to take my phone...

If I see the USS NIMITZ sailing out of this thing with Zeros in pursuit, I am going to start drinking heavily.... Mystery Blue Spiral Light Over Norway You be the judge:

Great thread over on SOCNET regarding the interesting things troops have done to rate Article 15s or Captain's Mast. The stories make some pretty good scenarios for "What if I was the DivO / DH / XO / CO in that situation?" Some of them are grim, some are pretty funny...

Minor threadjack, but I always found the attached file to be an "interesting listen" - the cockvit voice recording of full engagement HJ mentions above. You can literally hear the adrenaline creeping in as the engagement progresses; the backstory I heard was there may have been a little too...

My favorite quote was in the Washinton Post's obit: "We had acquired some Chinese documents stating that Americans were afraid of hand-to-hand fighting and cold steel," he told Military History. "When I read that, I thought, 'I'll show you, you sons of bitches!' "...

Over on Military.com, there is a relatively active forum that has a lot of Navy DCO discussions - you can find a lot of your questions answered there: http://forums.military.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/933192012 My single biggest obstacle in the DCO process was a less-than-engaged recruiter...

Yep, but not as gangsta as $17.... :) BTW, great thread - I needed a good laugh today!

General "Buck" Turgidson: Doctor, you mentioned the ratio of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn't that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned? Dr. Strangelove: Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required...

Actually.... Ford & Reagan had some interesting experience with the WPA, (Ford for Vietnam in 1975 & Lebanon in 1976, Reagan for Lebanon in 1982-83). Ford had an interesting comment after he left office concerning the evacuation of Danang and his attempts to follow the WPA: [I]"When the...

Richard Whitcomb, inventor/discoverer of the Area Rule, dies at 89. Obit: http://www.technobahn.com/article/200910132139 Area Rule: http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/aerodynamics/q0104.shtml

We had another one of our "not so fine hours" about 10 years ago, when the North Koreans moved the PUEBLO from Wonsan to Pyongyang, traveling around South Korea in international waters the whole way. Talk about a golden opportunity to reclaim this vessel - I have never been able to figure out...

DCOs seem to commiserate in great numbers over here: http://forums.military.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/933192012

I think Bart Simpson's military school commandant said it best: "The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea. They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as...

Got two I've read lately and found quite interesting; they're on the dry side, but if you want to know how we got to where we are today, it helps to go back to the beginning: 1) Admiral William Moffett: Architect of Naval Aviation I'm not usually one for biographies, but this one is...

Out of curiosity, what did HM-16 do when they didn't get any of their helos back? They gave up 8, which I assume was a decent fraction of whatever they had assigned. Did they just cross-level from across the whole fleet, buy new ones, or just sit around their ready room and make helicopter...

Talk about your sphincter-tightening moments! It's a cool (but ugly looking) aircraft; I'm glad they didn't dump it... Near Disaster at UK Airshow When Cold War Bomber “Accidentally” Takes Off...

Minor threadjack: At time t=18 in the video, you get a good look at an interesting rail setup above the pilot's head. There's no comparable setup in the back. It seems like it would definitely interfere in an ejection scenario, so it must come off with the canopy. Haven't seen it on other...

That's one of those topics that is better left undiscussed....

For better or for worse (mostly worse...), there is a connection to Naval Aviation. Given that the squadron was founded in 1977, I often said the squadron motto should have been "Seemed like a good idea to someone at the time...."

Same scenario, better outcome - Dremel tools really do have 1001 uses... (Important safety tip: Use one of the drill bits, not an abrasive...)

Since Cartwright rarely talks out his ass, he was (slightly) misquoted. Below is the complete text of his comments about the F-22, E/Fs, and Gs: General CARTWRIGHT. Senator, I was probably one of the more vocal and ardent supporters for the termination of the F–22 pro- duction. The...

Hell, I wear them to bed every night.... :icon_tong

Nope - this is a manifestation of the long-simmering penis envy that has afflicted the intel community since Pontius was a pilot. Very Air-Forceish, in that everyone needs to have some chest bling to show worth relative to the URL communities. I think it's a silly time-waster, but apparently...