RedeyeAV8r

Let me ask you a personal question, since you work at AA and what happened during 9/11 should hit you like a hammer.

Just what if let's say just 1 of your Military Reservists,( who is abusing his right to serve as a member of the US Armed forces)........what if he happens to be flying CAP in his F-15 or F-16 (That is Combat Air Patrol for you FLAPS) on a Dark night over DC or NY or Chicago, or maybe he is refuleing those guys from his KC-135. Lets say he has to do his job for REAL one night and his or her actions save a thousand or more people' lives........would it be worth it to you?

What if one of those Dam Abusers just happens to fly a plane load of cargo from Dover to Bagdad, and what ever was in that cargo happens to save a few American Soliders or Marines life over there............is that worth it to you?

Or god forbid one of those Damn abusers is flying a med-evac plane to a hospital in Germany and one of our Wounded troops gets to keep his or her LEG ....would that be worth it to you?

I guess not because you would have to FLY (which is your JOB) one of those *******ty trips.......................

God Bless America Son!

Andy

Gentlemen, I understand what you're saying about those cush desk jobs. I've got one right now.

I spent 135 days over in Turkey in 2002 as a KC-135 Guard pilot refueling guys like 1seat1engine while they flew ONW sorties.
By winter 2002, our Guard unit had furloughed pilots stacking up like chordwood so I moved over to a cush desk job in TACC at Scott AFB working diplomatic clearances. From the time that I started the job, I worked with a lot of other airline pilots who were taking mil leave and soaking up a nice cush desk job. We worked 6 days a week, but only 8 hour shifts because our bosses found that we were pretty worthless after 8 hours. I was there during the big push to preposition stuff for Afghanistan and stayed in that job during offensive ops in both Afghanistan and Iraq. There were many shifts where I sat in my chair at the beginning of my cush 8 hour shift and didn't get up until my replacement tapped me on the shoulder. I personally worked dip clearances for more than a dozen emergency medevac flights to Landstuhl, GE.
In the spring of 2003, my wife (an AF Reserve critical care nurse) got a sweet deal 180 day cush TDY to Frankfurt, Germany. She worked at the Landstuhl hospital. When she got back, she started showing me slides of some of her patients. I made her stop after about the fourth slide. Two of her pictures are indelibly etched in my memory. During the next year, there were a lot of nights that I would hold my wife as she cried in her sleep. Sometimes she'd wake up, sometimes she wouldn't. As long as I live, I'll never get those photos out of my memory.

Once the major airlifts for Afghanistan and Iraq were complete, I moved over to another cush desk job in the DC area. My job is to make sure that the US is prepared for any WMD (weapons of mass destruction - chem, bio, radiological, nuke, high yield explosives) attacks. I got to spend a couple of weeks over in Hawaii over the last couple of months for an exercise (http://starbulletin.com/2006/08/06/news/story09.html). Total cush job; I even got to the beach twice during my time there - once during daylight hours.
I'd give my left nut to be able to volunteer for a TDY to Iraq or Afghanistan, but the DoD won't allow us to go; they say that our WMD mission is too critically important.
Yep, there's nothing like a cush desk job.

Gentlemen, peel back a few layers on the onion. If it were a cush desk job, it has probably already disappeared with defense cutbacks.
And 1seat1pilot wasn't kidding about the Guard & Reserve policing our own for abuse of the system. There may be a couple that are abusing the system, but they're not as prevalent as you'd like to think.

Andy

Then volunteer for one of those cush desk jobs.

hfbpilot

MAN I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT & I AM A CIVILLIAN PILOT!!!!!!!!!!!!

The guys and girls you are talking about provide the security and freedoms we as American's Enjoy. I have friends who have been sent to IRAQ twice, think they see their family's as much as we do and what if "God Forbid they don't ever see them again"? You think about that ever? Also, someone has to plan the operations, so yes some go do a desk job. I have a fellow friend and crewmember who is a General in the guard who does this. This civillain airline pilot thanks everyone who puts themselves in harms way for this country and its citizens. If I have to fly over christmas for them to serve or be home with thier family before a deployment or right after, it's a small price to pay.

Thanks Guys & Girls, Happy Hunting and hope you come home well!!!!

RedeyeAV8r

Were those 5 guys Senior to YOU? I can't wait until they do return will you be *****in that they are taking the "Good" trips...........

How many more AA guys would be furloughed if all guys on Military Leave returned tomorrow?

Andy

Yeah, my former boss, a jarhead, (I'm in a joint billet) said the same stuff about the job that I'm currently doing. But then again, he was ticked because he volunteered to go to Fallujah back when it was 'hot.' Denied. Critical resource in a critical billet. I dunno; do you want the first responders trained in case a terrorist nuke/chem/bio weapon goes off on US soil?
Many of us filling those desk jobs would love to be in Iraq or Afghanistan. Yes, we'll tell you that it's a bull**** desk job. But it's gotta get done, or guys like 1seat1engine won't be able to do their jobs on the front lines.

RockBottom

No thanks. They might be cush, but they're also lack the excitement of flying lawn dart around.

Pilot7576

av8r...

Get a life or join up yourself. I don't care if they're flying a desk or the stealth, they are all contributing in some way for you to shoot your mouth off with these inane comments.

Pilot7576

B757200ER

I think this thread is kind of insulting, to say the least. Maybe the originator of this thread should DELETE it, so that no more insults are handed out.

I will gladly fly trips that my Guard/Reserve colleagues cannot fly.

Many of these Guard/Reserve guys deploy overseas for a YEAR, some in harm's way, while many of us sleep soundly at night in safe locations. We don't have it so bad.

TankerBob

av8r
I am sure the folks at AA would've loved to know how you felt, really felt about the military before you got hired! I am sure your co-workers love having a smiling personality like you around!