Re: Why should or shouldn\'t we go for flying careers? Many of us want to know.Thanks in advnc
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MikeD you crack me up. My image of you is something of a mix between Yossarian, from "Catch 22" and Lt. Col. William 'Bill' Kilgore, from "Apocalypse Now."
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You're pretty spot-on, just ask Doug. Like Yossarian, I don't care much for the insanity of the job around me, and how everyone else just seems to accept the inane things of the military because "it's always been done that way". For the USAF, that's 53 years of management tradition unhindered by progress. You see, I'm one of those guys that, if I actually do stay in, will probably still be a Captain, or may make Major just because they're short of people (selection rate for Major these days is @88%). I belong in that INL job flying down in Bolivia/Colombia. Believe me, the book "Catch-22" is spot-on about how inane the military is run, and how everyone just treats that absurdity as ops-normal.
As for Kilgore; like him, I like to do my own thing and cut the crap and get the job done. And I don't care for commanders and peers that only look out for themselves. Buck the system is the name of the game. I got asked why I never show up at the O'club on Friday nights. I replied that it's because I really don't like any of you, I just am forced to put up with you; and since I spend the better part of 14 hours or more of my day around you guys (weekends sometimes too), I feel that's enough. There's a few good ones, but they're few and far between.
Then there's the arrogant asses that I don't give a crap for. Story for you:
Back when I was a somewhat new wingman, I had an experience with a flight lead that was a weapons school graduate, and had the attitude to go with it. While briefing for a flight, he told me that I'd better not screw up, since all wingmen were screw-ups, and he didn't want to have to put up with that from me. Maybe, just maybe, if I shadowed his ways, I could wear the coveted weapons school patch that he wore. And so the brief went on. Now, pilots have their own assigned call-signs they fly with, but on this sortie, we had an assigned callsign from higher headquarters due to the area we were flying into (the DMZ area of Korea). This particular pilots callsign he flew with was "Spam", but today we were "Plasma" flight.
So after getting out to our respective jets, I run through my start checks and await check-in time on the radios. For formation flight, the flight leader will check-in his flight on all applicable radios, UHF/VHF/ FM as applicable, prior to launch; both to check that each aircrafts radios work, and each flight member is on the correct frequency (in the A-10, UHF is the primary freqency to outer agencies, VHF is back-up, and the FM is for us to talk to each other interflight). Well, he apparently, out of habit, forgot that out callsign was "Plasma" that day, and right at check-in time, he checks me with "Spam 11, check", to which I don't reply. I know it's him, but that's not my assigned callsign that day, and it's a faux pas to reply to other callsigns. So I sit there as he calls again, sounding a little frustrated. My crew chief who's on the intercom, says "sir, isn't that your flight lead calling?" to which I reply, "could be, but that's not my assigned callsign today, chief". And so I sit while the flight lead calls me on FM and the conversation goes like this:
"2, this is 1, are you up on Uniform?"
"Affirm"
[on UHF]"Spam 11 check Uniform"
....nothing from me
"Spam 11 check UNIFORM!"
....nothing from me
[on FM] "2, this is one, is your volume turned up on UHF?"
"Affirm"
"Are you reading ANYTHING on UHF???"
"Well, some Spam flight is checking in, but his wingman isn't answering, they must have radio problems or something...."
to which very shortly thereafter there comes on UHF"
"Plasma 11, check"
to which I curtly reply:
"2"
and so on for the rest of the check-in. He didn't talk to me much for the rest of the flight.
When we got back and went into debrief, he was still pissed.
"What the f%ck? why weren't you answering my calls on check-in, didn't you know it was me?"
"Well, no, your voice in person sounds different from your voice on the radio..."
"Well didn't you know that Spam is my normal callsign?"
"No, I 'm just a wingman, I don't know anyone's assigned callsigns, just the one I'm assigned for each flight...."
[as he's getting steamed.......]
"Well didn't you f$#king know that there was no Spam flight scheduled for today?"
"No. Again, I'm just a wingman, not the squadron duty officer. I don't have the entire flight schedule memorized, just the pertinent information that concerns my particular flight....plus, I didn' figure such an experienced person like yourself would make such a basic mistake, so I didn't figure it was you, and hence, I didn't answer the calls."
He knew I knew, I knew that he knew that I knew. But you know what? You treat me like the stupid wingman in the brief, I'll be the stupid wingman in the flight. And he and I have never gotten along since.
Screw em all.
And remember, Charlie don't surf.