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Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

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#6,482
BadExample said:
A guy that helps a lady across the street with yard work and stuff was on the flight deck when she became known as the USS Forest Fire. Lost most of his hearing. I called him a war hero and he replied, "War hero my ass!"
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Everyone who came aboard, at least at that time, had to watch the films of that incident and the one on Enterprise as part of the safety indoc. I recall it being quite sobering and unlike most indoc training films, not one person made a joke or said a word.
 
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#6,483
Al Kraft said:
Everyone who came aboard, at least at that time, had to watch the films of that incident and the one on Enterprise as part of the safety indoc. I recall it being quite sobering and unlike most indoc training films, not one person made a joke or said a word.
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That should still be in the training. And perhaps a before and after shot of a person digested by a jet engine. That might be a bit graphic, but not many survive a 30 year career on a flight deck without seeing that or worse. Seeing that stuff up front can prevent it from happening at least sometimes.

The man from LOX seemed a lot scarier when I first saw it.

The USS Forestall fire still seems to be shrouded in mysteries, different accounts from those on deck and even false blame for the then young John McCain, who took a sidewinder in his Skyhawk, turned up on deck.
 
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#6,484
I feel a little naive. I was reading about the Reaper drones I spoke of earlier. Reapers are stationed in Kandahar AFB in Afghanistan and are maintained by combat crews. The city is surrounded by guards and there are occasional small rocket attacks. No picnic for sure. The Reapers are launched locally because there's a 2 second delay in Nevada where the Drone mission pilots operate.

Local drone pilots initiate the take-offs then 'hand off' control to mission drone pilots in Nevada 30 minutes into the mission. 30 minutes before landing a hand-off is passed back to the locals, where they are then rolled into hangers for maintenance. Still a very real human hands on experience. While drones are saving American lives, our people still face very real dangers every day they're over there. God bless them and keep them save.
 
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#6,485
I don’t wanna hear this ‘old is crap’ stuff. My service pistol as an MP in the 70s-80s was a .45, developed in 1911...my shoulder weapon an M16, and for a while I had a WW2 era Jeep with an M60 on the back...

Granted, life was simpler then.

Let’s not forget our bass guitars really haven’t improved THAT much since 1966, amps thereabouts as well...mics since 67, etc...weapons and entertainment are really the only things moving forward :cool:
 
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#6,486
Ken Morgan said:
I don’t wanna hear this ‘old is crap’ stuff. My service pistol as an MP in the 70s-80s was a .45, developed in 1911...my shoulder weapon an M16, and for a while I had a WW2 era Jeep with an M60 on the back...

Granted, life was simpler then.

Let’s not forget our bass guitars really haven’t improved THAT much since 1966, amps thereabouts as well...mics since 67, etc...weapons and entertainment are really the only things moving forward :cool:
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: I remember cooking our rations in large garbage cans. Then using those silly little can openers that never worked. Luckily someone in the unit always packed a 'real' can opener and pass it around mealtime. Traded cigarettes for candy as I didn't smoke. Yeah, our post was filled with WWII jeeps but how many vehicles nowadays can make that statement of longevity.... I miss those times... actually miss the service. Made some great friends but don't know where they are now..

Back then amps were very underpowered and basic. Young'uns don't realize what an incredible selection they have for the low cost nowadays.
 
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#6,489
alaskaleftybass said:
our people still face very real dangers every day they're over there. God bless them and keep them safe.
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A wish shared here in Canada.

I remember my trips with my flag to a local bridge over the 401, our East/West highway. The fatalities were flown to Trenton AFB and driven to Toronto for autopsy. That stretch of highway is now named "The Highway of Heroes." As the procession passed us we all waved our flags for the family members accompanying their loved one or sometimes more. This was repeated on every bridge that they passed under.
 
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#6,490
alaskaleftybass said:
Gentlemen, for your Sunday viewing I present to you "A Day At Work" with our Navy boys and girls..... hope you enjoy.....

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VFA-22, the Fighting Redcocks. What a name.

Al, went to rotate hats from my massive hat collection my father had. Saw a Nimitz and a Blue Diamond cap there, leading me to believe Capt. Jim transitioned to Hornets while in Lamoore. Can't recall if he went straight to Japan from Lemoore or went to the East Coast first. He was at Lemoore for a very long time though, and it took him a very long time to sell his house after he left. At that time, I think Lemoore was kind of a black hole; you had to retire to leave. I know when I was in the East and West coast were very separated in the Navy and it was very rare to move from one to the other. I think that is no more. Too much money to pack us out, at least for the enlisted. There were exceptions, like when we got some CH-53E's, only 1/3 of which crashed (1 out of 3, and the first echo model to have survivors, mainly because it was 25 feet up when it fell out of the sky, broke in half and beat itself to death while the massive rotors wound down and disintegrated), where was I? Oh, we got these really weird east coast ground crew with them. They shined their shoes and stuff.
 
#6,491
Ken Morgan said:
My service pistol as an MP
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MP? You were Mr. Pickle even in the Army? Impressive. So, I guess a 1911 made an unwilling partner willing real quick :D

Joking aside, I respect your service. You were a lot more in harms way than I ever was.

On the Willys, my 3B was the same as an M606, which was only issued to MP's. It may have been an M6. No serial number on it, so no way to tell. Those were the best of both worlds, 5:38 gears remained, but in a stronger dana 25 front/44 rear, stronger 4 cyl by a whopping 15 HP, but mine was replaced with a Buick 231.
 
#6,492
BadExample said:
VFA-22, the Fighting Redcocks. What a name.

Al, went to rotate hats from my massive hat collection my father had. Saw a Nimitz and a Blue Diamond cap there, leading me to believe Capt. Jim transitioned to Hornets while in Lamoore. Can't recall if he went straight to Japan from Lemoore or went to the East Coast first. He was at Lemoore for a very long time though, and it took him a very long time to sell his house after he left. At that time, I think Lemoore was kind of a black hole; you had to retire to leave. I know when I was in the East and West coast were very separated in the Navy and it was very rare to move from one to the other. I think that is no more. Too much money to pack us out, at least for the enlisted. There were exceptions, like when we got some CH-53E's, only 1/3 of which crashed (1 out of 3, and the first echo model to have survivors, mainly because it was 25 feet up when it fell out of the sky, broke in half and beat itself to death while the massive rotors wound down and disintegrated), where was I? Oh, we got these really weird east coast ground crew with them. They shined their shoes and stuff.
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IIRC VFA-125 at Lemoore was the F/A-18 RAG in the 80's and it would have been most likely he would have gone straight to an operational squadron like the Blue Diamonds immediately afterward. They were based at Lemoore too and they would likely have been transitioning to F/A-18C's around at same time frame. Going from memory they were the first Fleet squadron to transition to the the C's.

In the "it's a small world category", I was the NAVAIR F/A-18 support equipment officer when we were setting up the first squadrons at MCAS's and for the first carrier deployment (Connie as I remember) - around 1983. That was the longest year and a half of my life! I think I spent close to half a billion dollars on our engineering operations and procurement of advanced technology support and test systems during that time-frame.

It was amazing to me in working with AIRLANT and AIRPAC decades ago (prior to establishment of the NAE and the AIR Boss position) that it was really like two different Navies. In the 80's as I recall one of the biggest differences in my area of concern was the value of the jet engine test cell on the fantail. I may have it backwards, but AIRLANT wouldn't deploy without it 100% operational for every engine in the CVW, and AIRPAC used it as a storage locker and relied on RFI engines in cans from a shore-based AIMD. AVCAL tailoring differences were obviously significant as well.
 
#6,493
BassmanPaul said:
A wish shared here in Canada.

I remember my trips with my flag to a local bridge over the 401, our East/West highway. The fatalities were flown to Trenton AFB and driven to Toronto for autopsy. That stretch of highway is now named "The Highway of Heroes." As the procession passed us we all waved our flags for the family members accompanying their loved one or sometimes more. This was repeated on every bridge that they passed under.
Click to expand...

My dad was in WWII in the Asian Theater. He served with both Aussies and Canadians. Had great respect for both. Had some wild furloughs in Austrailia, I guess ;). I know ever since the war my dad had an obvious affection for "Aussie girls." The boss lady wasn't too happy when Dad was drunk and would start telling us kids how fun and pretty they were! :laugh:
 
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