gizzard

Here is one benefit I never knew about until, oh maybe three months ago, Lowe's will give a 10% discount on ANYTHING if you have a military ID or VA ID. I found out this way.. was buyin' some stuff, went to cehck out and the cashier makes note of my C-130 cap, and asks if I am in the military, reckon she didn't see my 12 inch long pony tail. I said no, not now, but had been many, many years ago. She asked if I had a Va card or anything, I said yeah, and she proceeds to tell me about the discount, gets it authorized, and I been doin' that ever since. There was a small note on a door there about this, but nothin' that would catch your eye. My daughter worked at Lowes over 13 years ago when she was in nursing school, and said they had it even then, but they were never told to publicize it, or even how to get the discount applied...... Giz

We had a troop, ECS guy, workin' on a stand or somethin' I don't remember now, even why, but they were doin' somethin with the pitot heat. and he checked it by layin' his cheek on it!!!!!!!!!!! Nice burn.. musta had a big bowl of dumbass for brerakfast that morning. I did not see it, my trailer mate Larry Seeders was there and told me about it. saw the guy though...... and this guy worked on airconditioning and pressurizations systems and such???? OMG!!!!!!!!

I think maybe I recall that, Bob, but we never parked the bird in feather, unless, of course, we had a sick fan.......You know how my mind wanders sometimes, off on strange tangents

I can remember our planes havin' the props in both positions, sometimes, and I suspect that it was simply because they hadn't been parked long enough, in whatever position they stopped rotation in.

Naw. I was referring to the pitch angle of the blade. Dunno about other loadies, I doubt if I am the exception, but my primary instructor at Langley had me learn to do a pre-flight with an FE and a crew chief, just in case it would, some day, come to pass that I would need to do that. Sure 'nough did, several times and every time the FE was surprised that I knew what to do and what I was doin'. anyway, I remember that the FE would change the prop pitches and I would watch and feel the change of position, , ground idle, flight idle, there was a hesitation point in there somewhere. and then reverse and feather.. I don't exactly remember the sequence, but I think they were the positions. after all it has been forty years......One thing Tsgt taught me, by the way, was when ya checked the pitot tubes heat, use the back of your hand and do it quickly, that way you won't be as likely to get a disabling burn on the palm of your hand....years later I would put this to use in firefighting and instruction.............

It seems to me, from most of the pictures on this site, that the J's are parked with their props feathered. The other models are in, if I remember right, ground idle . Is this to keep the wind from turning the engines, since these props have six and in some cases eight blades and look like a food processor??? Inquiring minds want to know.... Giz

Exactly, chief............Of course now you even get a ribbon for completing BASIC, for Christ's sake. They just hang all kinds of fruitsalad on their shirts now.................When the 316th had their reunion at Wright-Pat two years ago, and one of the speakers as, if I remember right, a Msgt, probably no more than 3o years old, had ten rows, TEN!!!!!! You could tell by the arrangement of them that many were blanket awards or like for NCO school and stuff, but damn she looked like she had every award ever given......... And look at the badges now, you crew chief guys, back then had no badge of any kind to show what you did, shoulda though. Now everybody has one, and most, at a distance look like jump wings......All I can remember from my ancient days, for enlisted swine anyway, we had aircrew wings,( which now anyone who flies, not necessarily essential to aircraft operation , gets them, ) jump wings, CCT and PJ's mostly, some riggers had them as well, cop and firefighter, and missile guys, and that was it.......I did a little exercise a couple years ago and determined that, had I stayed in for twenty, not counting any air medals, etc, I would have had an additional nine ribbons.. to me that sorta cheapens the whole concept, and these essentially desk jockies gettin' a medal for flyin' drones???? From what I understand, it ranks above the Bronze Star, which nowadays is almost given for just about anything.........

Looks like TSN to me, saw a VN 123 come taxin' in there one morning, goin' like bat outa hell, chopped the engines and proceeded to drive right into the the revetment wall.....mashed the nose damn near flat and about twenty of the little bastards came rollin out of everywhere on it, laughin' and hollerin' like they were at Six Flags......I remember thinkin' " And I'm over HERE, to help THAT?"""" That was probably some time in July, 72,,,,,,,,,,,,,Was it not there, also, somebody wrote on the walls"" We are the unwilling led by the incapable to do the impossible for the ungrateful??""

Have a great one, george.....................and many, many more to follow Giz

A warning about retirement, you are gonna want to go back to work to rest up!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats, brother, enjoy it...... Giz

Next round.............went to my VA rep today, showed him the crap I had gotten couple of weeks ago and asked about my inquiry, that has not been answered in the orignal time period they had said..He tells me they have decided that that was not enough time and had extended it to something like thirty days...............Here the can bein' kicked????? ost of you saw the article about how bad maryland was for processing.. it seems that the Balto. Sun and Wash. Post has really been on their case, so next week there is going to be a HIGH LEVEL meeting with the sorry ass maryland VA people and Mikulski , Cardin, Delany and some others. "THEY WANT ANSWERS" Babbs the midget says...oh there is a real heavy hitter.. What gets me is that crap has been going on for years and they just now know about it?????????????? Bullshit!!!!!!! And, in an area with a large numberof Nam vets, Korea vets, WWII vets, and a disproportionately small number of Iraq-Afghan vets, our local paper is more interested in high school basketball and the local animal shelter than this issue..... In-&*%#$%%-credible. and, yep, Dan I am flingin' more letters at my so-called representatives............

Ain'that the sorry truth????????

Happy birthday, Ken..................I'll have the BAK-9 arrest ready for if you wanna land. Giz

I remember four, five times right at 155K, real tight on %Mac, once, in Turkey, orginally was about 158K, downloaded some gas and away we went........How does the balance limits work on a helicopter????? Scary thing is how do you know the weights, and for that matter, the moment arms are accurate???????

Just read an announcement that the helicopter that crashed August, 08, in california, doing firefighting activities, was nearly 30% over gross allowable..........The crash killed a number of firefighters and the flight crew.. Seems as if the operator had intentionally, apparently, gave false information about the weight and other performance data of the S-61, which is, i think, a civilian version of the H-3? I reckon that just shows to go ya how important that weight and balance stuff really is, especially when you are operating near the aircraft limits. Maybe that's why us loadies flew with the plane, as a sort of guarantee. Are any of you aware of any similar, if not nearly as disasterous, situations involving the 130? giz

Yeah, all it proves that there is consistant inconsistancy................................As you can see from this site, everybody has a different story...................sooner or later they HAVE to run out of alternatives........No damn wonder it takes so long to get your claim handled...................... As an aside, just to show an example........ I got out Feb 4, 74, yep 39 years ago yesterday....... in July of 75, my wife and i set out to buy a house, tried to get a VA loan....we were told we couldn't get one because of where we lived, " Now if you wanted to buy a house in Baltimore. we can get one for you.""" Our realtor was furious, tried all kinds of things, but got the same answer....so nothin' has changed

Many of the answers, etc, that I have gotten back have come from these places, at the end. However, if yousend the SF180 to the address they tell you to, the inquiry gets routed to the appropriate one of these. That has been my experience, and, on top of that, several years ago I sent an inquiry directly to one of these, can't remember which now, and never, ever got an answer. sent the 180, and it came back in maybe a month... Come to think of it, it was a change to my 214, maybe. But it does not seem that there is any pattern to what they do.....................

Ah, my fevered mind is eased.. thanks, guys giz

Kinda breaking the thread a bit, but I have a question.........It seems to me that the SA-7, at least in the Nam, was named " Strella." That is what I can remember, and my patch that says "SA-7 Flight Examiner " has that as well, I think. However I was readin' something a while back, and they called it "Grail", any thoughts??? giz

Boy, something ain't right,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I have never heard of them requestin' money........It is extremely aggravating, at least to me, to see the variety in and the range of the service the Va and such provide. Just on this site, it runs from a very easy process to the pain in the ass some of us are experiencing............... I have not had any real problem with the SF-180's, both for myself and ones i have helped others with, from other military branches, as well, and different eras.... Hell, once, and i can't remember what it was for, I got a notificatiopn that I had earned, as part of the 36th, an AFOU award and an oak leaf cluster for it as well. Not a big thing, of course, but something I did not know I was entitled to. Never did find outr why................Reckon Ol Jerry is right, just keep poundin' on them. I know that's what I am doin".

Yeah, no manifest, she no go..........................gotta have that weight and balance inforamtion in order to fly safely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LMAO!!!!!!!!!

you are probably correct, Chris.....................reckon it is also dependent on how the stuff was filed to begin with. If they threw away body parts at Dover, they sure as hell would have trashed some paper, don't ya think????????

QUOTE=bobdaley;29616]Giz Thanks I sent in my reservation and made hotel reservations for the 316th Reunion this week. Bob

I did not ask for orders... Although they say you were to go somewhere, they don't necesarily prove you went...........I asked for travel vouchers within a specific time frame, months and year..................What came back were several pages (copies) of the travel vouchers I had filed way back when........... I have been toying with requesting some others from other trips, but haven't done that yet..... Hope this helps...... giz

Bob, I submitted an SF-180, I think it is, it went to St. Louis. All the documentation requests I have submitted went there. Just google SF-180 and you can find it. Giz