Posts Tagged ‘military’

• Two weeks down

  Date: 2010.09.03 | Category: Flying! | Response: 0

  We had another block test and I passed without issue (again). I did miss one question and it pisses me off because I second guessed myself. Damn.

  Earlier this week I had to yell at an airman for disrespect. He thought we were peers. He was mistaken. He can’t speak to me however he wants and he must do as he is told. It doesn’t matter that I am in the same class as him – I outrank him and if I issue a lawful order he had better damn well do it.

  I’ve got a three day weekend ahead and I haven’t yet figured out how to kill the time. We’ll see what I get into later.

• One week down

  Date: 2010.08.28 | Category: Flying!, work | Response: 2

  Training will no longer be an annual requirement. For me it will be something that I live and breathe. My old career field spends a lot of time on simple tasks that we do ad nauseum. The Loadmaster career field demands that each member be fully trained and qualified (current and qualified) on all phases of their job. I understand why – it’s normally a one deep position that done improperly could cause serious injury or death or even cause a plane to crash. The job is important and the training is extremely thorough. I understand why it is done in this fashion.

  We had our first (of many) block tests yesterday. I passed the test without problems but I couldn’t have done that without studying. One of the airmen in the class failed the test. He said that when we had the review prior to the test that he got confused. If you really know the material how do you get confused? I hope that he spends the time needed this weekend to really study the material. If he doesn’t he will be eliminated. When it comes to my health and safety I really don’t want to work with someone that didn’t take fundamentals seriously. Would you?

• Flashbacks

  Date: 2010.08.19 | Category: Flying!, work | Response: 0

  Yesterday evening I arrived at Lackland, the home of basic military training for the Air Force. For the next two months I’ll be in class just like every basic training graduate. It’s back to basics for me. I’m retraining into the Loadmaster career field (1A2X1).

  Simply driving around this place has brought back long dormant memories. I saw the building that I lived in when I was just a trainee, the PT grounds that we all hated, and many of the other buildings we visited. It’s simply surreal.

  I’m a day early so I’ve got some time to kill. I think I’ll be able to manage that.

  I had to walk to the ATM this morning to grab some cash. I saw rainbows (brand new trainees that haven’t been issued uniforms) being yelled at, flights practicing marching skills, flights doing group runs complete with cadence, airmen being yelled at for sheer stupidity, and the next age group of Airmen ready to be molded and developed. It’s bizarre to see it again.

  I’m really excited about school – less than 24 hours to go. I can’t wait.

• Travel

  Date: 2010.05.15 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 0

  Travel has officially begun. I’ve been awake for 6 hours and I have a few more hours before my show time. I looked at the flight board and it looks like I am going to wait for 5-6 hours after my show time.

  By the time I land, I will have been up for 22-24 hours. At that point I’ll sit around for a few days before I get on the next round of flights.

  Ahhh military travel at its finest. Hurry up and wait and wait and wait and then wait some more. I wish I could get a direct flight – that would be awesome.

• Award Winning Stupid

  Date: 2010.03.23 | Category: desert, rants, shenanigans, work | Response: 0

  I work for three stupid people. They aren’t any brand of stupid, they are award winning stupid. I’ll refer to them as R, S, and O. (they might search the inter webs thus the anonymity).

  O wants everything done immediately and doesn’t understand that we cannot do everything at once. He screams mission at all times.

  S is a complete and total tool. He doesn’t have a clue as to what is going on and spends an overwhelming majority of his time up O’s ass.

  R has a standard answer for everything. Mission. He fails to realize that there are competent people in his workforce that are capable of running their own operation. They will break when necessary and do what they must to complete their work on time. They do not have the time available to take two hour lunch breaks that leave anywhere from 5-40 minutes late. They do not have the time to wait while everyone else wastes time. They want to leave, eat, pick up documents, and return. They can do all of this in less than an hour.

  R and S saw us at lunch and didn’t think that we could be competent people so they mandated that we take the bus. Starting tomorrow we will simply lock the doors at lunch time and all go. If it takes two hours it takes two hours. When we return, we can take our vehicle on a 35 minute round trip so pick up documents. So – for the people that scream mission – they’ve mandated that we waste 1 hour and 35 minutes.

  Award winning stupid… I can’t wait to be done with this career field. The smart ones leave and the morons are left behind. Miraculously they make rank… and their names are O, S, and R.

• Additional details

  Date: 2010.03.05 | Category: Life as we know it | Response: 0

  A few weeks ago I wrote a single post titled approved. Here is the rest of the info.

  Over the last six years I’ve been dreaming of ways to exit my current career field and continue on in the military while doing a different job. A few weeks ago my wish was finally granted. I was approved to be an Aircraft Loadmaster. This is, without a doubt, one of the best jobs in the entire Air Force. My training starts this August and I couldn’t be more excited.

  I have no idea what airframe I’ll get but it really doesn’t matter to me – I’m just happy to leave the maintenance world BS behind and move to the ops world BS. At least there I won’t be the bastard child of the base.

• Stuck

  Date: 2010.02.12 | Category: desert, rants | Response: 0

  A few days ago I left on another trip and to be the “fixer.” We did what we had to and I put some stuff on a pallet. We thought that we were going to get out today but it wasn’t meant to be. I’m stuck here for yet another day but at least we found a way to get around the base. (I’m at this wonderful place called Al Asad). We were waiting for our flight today and we got about as far as roll call before we were told the bad news. We went up front and they checked us off the list. We were hyped because we were ready to go. Not more than ten minutes later they announced that our flight was canceled. We had to get our rooms and linens back. I don’t have enough clean clothes for another day – I guess I’ll just have to be the smelly guy. Leaving my base is cool and all but trying to get travel around this country sucks.

• Photos

  Date: 2010.02.01 | Category: desert, photos | Response: 0

  I’ve uploaded some photos to Facebook. Some of you don’t have an account and others are random strangers that browse my website (and thus aren’t on my friends list). Click Here to view em.

• Routine

  Date: 2010.01.31 | Category: desert, rants | Response: 0

  We all have routines that guide us through our day. My routine at home is far different from the one that I have when I deploy. My routine on the weekend is far different than what I have on weekdays. One constant always remains regardless of the situation – I attempt to adhere to my routine all of the time.

  I’ve been “out of the pocket” for the past few days and my routine has been absolutely destroyed. I have been waking up two hours later, not working out (don’t have the necessary shoes – At Balad you can walk in and workout in the shoes you are wearing as long as we aren’t in mudcon. At Sather you must carry your gym shoes with you – I only have one pair of tennis shoes with me so I can hardly carry a second pair. Sure, I have my boots and I thought about wearing them in and changing but I also have a transportation issue. Here, unlike Balad, I can’t walk everywhere. In fact, its almost a three mile trip from where we are staying to the rest of the base. ), eating terribly (I don’t have any motivation without working out), and generally accomplishing nothing. We finished our required tasks yesterday and have been waiting ever since to find transportation back “home”. We’ve been all over the “camp victory base complex” and we’ve almost gotten good at the navigation.

  I did get to take a tour of the “Victory over America” Palace. Saddam thought that since he was still in power after the gulf war that he should be a victor – so, he built a new palace for himself. This palace, unlike some of the others, was left unfinished when the war started. Our boys in the sky did a little renovation with a couple of 500lb JDAMs. I took a BUNCH of pictures. I’ll have to upload them at some point in the future.

  I can only hope I can resume my routine tomorrow. Sure, its not exciting but it’s what gets me through my day and makes the time fly by.

• Traveling

  Date: 2010.01.30 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 0

  I’ve traveled on a C130 and a C17 and numerous other civilian aircraft. All of them have had one thing in common: fixed wings. Recently I took a trip on a Black-hawk Helo and it was awesome. I had to travel to another base to inspect some stuff and we found it was far easier to arrange transport via chopper over a C130 or anything else. I took a bunch of pictures on the way over – there is no cooler way to see a country than from 1000 feet. Pictures will follow when I get back to Balad.