Another thing to watch out for is the option of "select preferences for flying on your days off" (or something like that). Scheduling calls this a "hi yellow". I guess that's what it used to be called back in the day. Choosing this option allows you to fly on XX days or golden days. You can simply select the dates you want to fly and/or the rotations you request. However, if you are awarded this trip you own it. You DO NOT get your days back and you DO NOT get any pay above guarantee. You're simply flying for FREE. The only thing you get is per diem and a maybe a night in a hotel. You're flying on your day off for nothing. I have no clue how or why this was ever agreed upon during contract writing. I can only think of a couple times you'd ever want to use it, and even at that, I'm not sure it's worth it (ie. trying to time out, having a single XX day off while commuting to reserve).

ranger

 

Yes you do............

 

Liked them un-moded, no air to air; in the blue and white paint, but it was great when we got the INS.

 

Thanks Schwanker! Great bird! The Starlifter, the Lizard, the Tube of Pain. I took off and landed in 69 countries in "The Lifter" over 20 years. The Backbone of America's Air Force airlift. The C-17 replaced it after we drove it into the ground in the 1990s with Desert Storm, Bosnia, etc.

 

...and the FSAS.

 

I actually really liked doing air-to-air refueling. One time crossing the Atlantic was great. Two or three times on the way to the Persian Gulf, not so much. Hanging on the boom for 25-30 minutes to get the gas was not fun after awhile. I used to wake up the next morning and my forearms hurt. Didn't want to have to make "the walk of shame" for not getting the gas and having to divert on the way. Talk about peer pressure.

 

Insert "rubber dog ****** out of Hong Kong" reference here.

In the natural, binary classification system for all of aviation, it was a target.

 

Yep, but also so much more....like the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, Bob Hope, Delta Force, Navy SEALs, Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, and ALL the fighter guys who ever deployed from 1963 to 1999. If you went to war, you went on MY jet. You are welcome!

 

Not this one... flew my own ride to/from war (glued to a -135, of course).

Tho a bit after that timeframe, I rode a charter into SWA. Evergreen?