Sit Down!
05-01-2013, 07:45 PM
#11
On Reserve
Joined APC: Feb 2012
Posts: 20
Originally Posted by propfails2FX
Right on.
And to avoid sounding like a knuckle dragging, loud mouth, booze hound....it's not all about getting hammered. It really is more about camaraderie. We have all put up with lost shipmates, deployments, USAF security and red lines, GMT, jammed printers, corrupt profiles, in-flight emergencies, donating urinalysis samples, collecting urinalysis samples, roving watches, mishap drills, foreign travel requests, sh!t man I can go on. So why not hold dear the culture that made this job so fun in the first place?
And to avoid sounding like a knuckle dragging, loud mouth, booze hound....it's not all about getting hammered. It really is more about camaraderie. We have all put up with lost shipmates, deployments, USAF security and red lines, GMT, jammed printers, corrupt profiles, in-flight emergencies, donating urinalysis samples, collecting urinalysis samples, roving watches, mishap drills, foreign travel requests, sh!t man I can go on. So why not hold dear the culture that made this job so fun in the first place?
Sadly, that culture has become a casualty to being risk adverse in all professional facets, though it still exists in small pockets. I guess it's the job of those of us who grew up in that culture to pass it on. I don't want the CG to be the USN by any means, but think we should bring along the good traditions/camaraderie that we had there. BTW, I am extremely envious of your orders.
PS- what's DB stand for?? Dedicated Brother right???
05-01-2013, 07:48 PM
#12
Prime Minister/Moderator
Joined APC: Jan 2006
Position: Engines Turn Or People Swim
Posts: 39,232
Originally Posted by propfails2FX
Probably. Became a Coastie 4 years ago, and only know my current duty station (and ATC Mobile for training).
I compare USN personalities to policemen, and USCG culture to a fire department. Never served in either, but I think the "vibe" is a good comparison.
Hopefully my DOD friends are keeping the wardroom, JOPA spirit alive.
Hahahaha
I'm just a little freaked out by being the outlier. I can only take so much talk about promotion rates and career progression while eating lunch in the wardroom. GREs, grad school, payback tours. Only 10% of us fly during our off time. Life at the AIRSTA beats the hell out of a DOD deployment, so don't get me wrong.....I appreciate my QOL. Just curious if the forward leaning, warrior spirit has been replaced by a status quo, risk averse, career minded culture throughout the U. S. military?
Damn.....it may be time to bail.
I compare USN personalities to policemen, and USCG culture to a fire department. Never served in either, but I think the "vibe" is a good comparison.
Hopefully my DOD friends are keeping the wardroom, JOPA spirit alive.
Hahahaha
I'm just a little freaked out by being the outlier. I can only take so much talk about promotion rates and career progression while eating lunch in the wardroom. GREs, grad school, payback tours. Only 10% of us fly during our off time. Life at the AIRSTA beats the hell out of a DOD deployment, so don't get me wrong.....I appreciate my QOL. Just curious if the forward leaning, warrior spirit has been replaced by a status quo, risk averse, career minded culture throughout the U. S. military?
Damn.....it may be time to bail.
05-01-2013, 09:56 PM
#14
Gets Weekends Off
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Jan 2007
Position: FO
Posts: 266
Originally Posted by HuggyU2
Yes it has.
Have you considered the U-2 program?
Have you considered the U-2 program?
Originally Posted by BugT56
Sadly, that culture has become a casualty to being risk adverse in all professional facets, though it still exists in small pockets. I guess it's the job of those of us who grew up in that culture to pass it on. I don't want the CG to be the USN by any means, but think we should bring along the good traditions/camaraderie that we had there. BTW, I am extremely envious of your orders.
PS- what's DB stand for?? Dedicated Brother right???
PS- what's DB stand for?? Dedicated Brother right???
You know I don't miss that VP "Shoe Air"back stabbing political horseshoe!t, but there was a hell of a lot more jocular levity back then. And yes I'm trying to pass on the JOPA vibe (NO dude....the JO Banglist IS NOT for serious "I need a volunteer" or "Awesome OER bullet opportunity" emails. JO antics only please).
Speaking of OER bullets, you got any for me? "Flew airplane good" in my professional competency block got lined out, and there is a lot of blank space left to fill.
I swear Bug, what I see folks put up with just to lock in a retirement. And you know what, it ain't just senior O-3s reaching for gold oak leaves so they can make 20. It's pervasive throughout the whole military. I get it, usually folks are trying to guarantee benefits for their family. Good guys toting the party line and maintaining status quo so strictly, that common sense, creativity, and fun are abandoned.
I'm not active duty USAF, "Dear Boss, I quit" angry. Just weirded out that I'm now the "Old guy" on the periphery of acceptable behavior as the bell curved has shifted towards a more corporate model. Is this what my IP's in the late nineties felt like after they experienced a massive culture change?
05-02-2013, 03:40 AM
#16
China Visa Applicant
Joined APC: Oct 2006
Position: Midfield downwind
Posts: 1,919
Can't speak for any of the other services, but so many of those traditions are dying on the vine in the AF, too.
Agree with everything @propfails2FX says about us not changing, but the culture shifting around us at a rapid pace.
Agree with everything @propfails2FX says about us not changing, but the culture shifting around us at a rapid pace.
05-02-2013, 04:02 AM
#17
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2012
Posts: 737
Sad to hear this. I was active from 84 to 91, and the "buddy" culture was still very strong. Combat Crud (with actual fist fights) in the old Nellis bar, the one with Vietnam Aces sigs scratched into the wood, driving blue steelies across West Germany, getting stupid, TDY name tags, all the goofy bar rules. Any time someone stood up for any sort of massed briefing or announcement, calls of "Faster and funnier" rained down upon him while he tried to speak.
The squadron tap opened after last step, and we'd have pigs and high-stakes dice well into the night.
I wonder if it slowly ground to a halt when women were given full access to these male-only positions?
The squadron tap opened after last step, and we'd have pigs and high-stakes dice well into the night.
I wonder if it slowly ground to a halt when women were given full access to these male-only positions?
05-02-2013, 03:04 PM
#18
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2009
Posts: 595
Originally Posted by ForeverFO
Sad to hear this. I was active from 84 to 91, and the "buddy" culture was still very strong. Combat Crud (with actual fist fights) in the old Nellis bar, the one with Vietnam Aces sigs scratched into the wood, driving blue steelies across West Germany, getting stupid, TDY name tags, all the goofy bar rules. Any time someone stood up for any sort of massed briefing or announcement, calls of "Faster and funnier" rained down upon him while he tried to speak.
The squadron tap opened after last step, and we'd have pigs and high-stakes dice well into the night.
I wonder if it slowly ground to a halt when women were given full access to these male-only positions?
The squadron tap opened after last step, and we'd have pigs and high-stakes dice well into the night.
I wonder if it slowly ground to a halt when women were given full access to these male-only positions?
I read about the Combat Crud and it brought back great memories of a TDY trip my unit made to OSAN AFB in '99. We learned the game from some USAF folks in the O'Club there and started playing. We had too much fun and ended up putting one of our guys elbows in the wall and cracking another ones ribs. Great times, especially since my ribs were intact.
05-02-2013, 04:25 PM
#20
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: May 2010
Position: Baja Vermont
Posts: 5,172
Just guessin' but, if at Westover on a late afternoon ask the Base Ops folks if "The Cage" at the 337th is open. If it is, you'll learn more than you want about C-5s, getting paid in the Reserves and what they don't like about the commanders, the HQ and the AF, in general. And have a draft beer?
When I was at F-100 RTU (!), the IPs had recently returned from Vietnam (several were former Misty FACs). They were aghast when the dearm crew couldn't give the pilots a can a Bud while waiting to dearm and park, after all, the Book didn't say you couldn't taxi with a beer. Then, the AD said NO beer on the ramp when the MX debrief truck had a cooler. I diverted into Torrejon (LETO) in the early '80s and one of the squadrons came out with a cooler of beer and apologized for asking us to "hide" the beers so they wouldn't get in trouble. "We knew you were ANG and couldn't greet you without beer. We all had a great time in the debrief room.
Those were the days.
GF
When I was at F-100 RTU (!), the IPs had recently returned from Vietnam (several were former Misty FACs). They were aghast when the dearm crew couldn't give the pilots a can a Bud while waiting to dearm and park, after all, the Book didn't say you couldn't taxi with a beer. Then, the AD said NO beer on the ramp when the MX debrief truck had a cooler. I diverted into Torrejon (LETO) in the early '80s and one of the squadrons came out with a cooler of beer and apologized for asking us to "hide" the beers so they wouldn't get in trouble. "We knew you were ANG and couldn't greet you without beer. We all had a great time in the debrief room.
Those were the days.
GF
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