fish314
Well-Known Member
There is also a program called "cross-commission." It's pretty rare, though. Typically only 3 or 4 folks per year. In my year, I think we had 1 guy go Navy, 1 Army, and 1 Marine out of a class of about 950.
F/A-18 Fatal @ Key West NAS
- Thread starter RDoug
- Start date
fish314
Well-Known Member
I think just about EVERY seat would be in his situation. Most accidents you look back at them and say, if the pilots had done X or Y they would still be here. But not in Matt's case, unfortunately. Sometimes, it's just your day.
A Life Aloft
Well-Known Member
Not a good week.......we just lost all seven soldiers in a Pave Hawk crash in the Anbar Province of Iraq. Damn.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/united-states-military-aircraft-crashes-iraq-today-2018-03-13/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/united-states-military-aircraft-crashes-iraq-today-2018-03-13/
FlyingAccountant
Well-Known Member
Yeah, my uncle went the other way. He graduated from the Naval Academy and went USAF. I think only a couple guys a year were allowed to do it when he went through.
The two PJs were from my Wing, and I knew the pilots. NY Air Guard bird out of Long Island. Same unit that lost the Hawk during the The Perfect Storm rescue.
///AMG
Well-Known Member
Sorry for your loss Mike
A Life Aloft
Well-Known Member
Oh no.........I was worried about that when they mentioned rescue and AF. Crap. I am so sorry.
I read something today that they hit a power line. (don't know how accurate that is however) Two of the men were apparently FDNY members. What a damn shame. Feel so badly for their families.
Saw on the Stars and Stripes report that on their Facebook profiles, some Air Force members and Veterans in a group for Pave Hawk crew members and others began replacing their profile photos with images of two green footprints with a black ribbon, on which was written the Air Force pararescue motto, “That others may live.”
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Green feet are the symbol for USAF rescue dating back to Vietnam, when the Sikorsky HH-3 helicopter was named the Jolly Green Giant because its shape and jungle camo paintjob resembled the famed symbol of canned vegetables. The Jolly callsign became symbolic for a combat rescue bird, just as the Sandy callsign is for CSAR escort aircraft auch that the A-1 Skyraider and A-7 Corsair aircraft in Vietnam were. When the larger Sikorsky HH-53 helo joined the rescue fleet, it was known as the Super Jolly Green Giant.
NovemberEcho
Dergs favorite member
Yep, and the feet were because as the PJ was coming down the rope and you were looking up all you could see was the bottom of his feet
Lawman
Well-Known Member
There is no more corrosive moment for a units morale than setting up this display...
Unfortunately too many of us have either put one up or stood in front of it or spent our time wondering how long is appropriate before you take it down...
Until Valhalla gentleman. I’ll see you all on the green.
Unfortunately too many of us have either put one up or stood in front of it or spent our time wondering how long is appropriate before you take it down...
Until Valhalla gentleman. I’ll see you all on the green.
Lawman
Well-Known Member
It’s definitely different the first time you do a formal dining out, charge your glass with water for the one toast we all don’t want to give, and have a name to say instead of just “to the fallen.”
Last Brigade ball I went to I had a brand new aviator ask me “who is John?” I just told him, stay in this buisness for any amount of time, and you will have a name to say of your own. It’s almost like a rite of initiation that only comes with time. And all you want is to make sure that nobody gives that toast to you.
I don't know the last time I've been to any military social function.
Or when the last time is that I've worn a Class A/B uniform........don't even know if I have one.
Lawman
Well-Known Member
I don't know the last time I've been to any military social function.
Or when the last time is that I've worn a Class A/B uniform........don't even know if I have one.
F’ing reservists....
NovemberEcho
Dergs favorite member
I still have my Blues but I don't know if I can button them now. No biggy, AF Blues look more like a bus driver than anything military.
Very true! One of the last ones was when I was active duty in fighters, BGen Robin Olds himself was in attendance.
dustoff17
Still trying to reach the Top Shelf
That's because the Air Force ARE a bunch of.......never mind. Just some friendly inter-service rivalry here......
A Life Aloft
Well-Known Member
So damn sad. Seven good, honorable, decent men who spent their careers trying to save the lives of others. Each were unique and brought their own skill sets with them, but they had one mission...... to treat the fallen and to take them out of harm's way.
PJs have played a part in virtually every military action since the Korean War, including the Vietnam War, in the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan. PJs received the Air Force Cross for actions during the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993 and during the Battle of Takur Ghar in 2002. During the War on Terror, PJs have been involved in the rescues of hundreds of U.S. personnel, often in extremely hazardous conditions in the mountains of Afghanistan, in Iraq and they even rescued two Saudi pilots who crashed at sea while bombing Yemeni positions. Currently, PJs are assigned along with combat controllers, tactical air control parties, and special operations weathermen to Air Force Special Tactics squadrons, which can carry out an array of Air Force related special operations anywhere in the world.
RIP Capt. Mark Weber, Capt. Andreas O’Keeffe, Capt. Christopher Zanetis, Master Sgt. Christopher Raguso, Staff Sgt. Dashan Briggs, and Master Sgt. William Posch.
For anyone interested, there was an excellent 6 part documentary entitled Inside Combat Rescue filmed by Nat Geo who was embedded with a PJ Team in Afghanistan. It still exists in re-runs on Nat Geo and you can also find all six episodes on You Tube.
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