gizzard

I'm in for this, what about the rest of you?????? Just one thought, be facin' west when you do it, symbolizing his final " West departure."""

You know, after all the posts on Dan's passing, it seems he hs left quite a legacy.....Few people do, but obviously he touched many. I hope his family membesr get to read all this, they would be so deservedly proud. Somebody once said, in a different context, that the death of one diminished us all, and it is very true in this case..............

ATTA boy, Pat, way to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the hell does a doctor know??? Ever notice how many of their patients die????

Chris. I couldn't agree with you more. The people I've "met" on this site are a special group, more like family than some family members. I hope to meet some of you in person at WPAFB in June.

Farewell Dan. I will miss you.

Sparks, you better be there at Dayton. Remember to bring your 'fridge, that way I won't have to come to florida to raid it. and yes, it does seem like a big bunch of brothers on here. I think there are a few sisters as well. surely there could be more. But like I told Chris a while back, I think it its extraordinary how a big, ugly brown and green ( she will ALWAYS be that to me) airplane can create such a fraternal force, from all different areas of responsibility and duty......I understand, when they first started on the design of the 130, Clarence Johnson did not want to do it, not elegant enough. I doubt if he realized just what they had there. and I can tell ya, there must be one hell of a Tac airlift wing upstairs, with all the people we know who are now..........Maybe some day, I'll get to do an engine start with them..................

Remember his post a while back about, I think, torque guages on his headstone?? I hope he got them the way he wanted....

Dan as a very long time member of this fourm I know you only here but based on what I have read in your post we share alot of the same values.

Fair winds and following seas is what we wish for our Brothers and thus they are exactly what I wish for you...

Well said

Man, this brotherhood is gettin' smaller and smaller. He will be missed here, that's for sure

They only have three on a crew now???? Didn't they, at one time, have maybe five or so???? i guess upgrades reduced crew size. But it is still sad to lose fellow airman..........Certainly has been enough of that in that aprt of the world in the past few days. RIP!!!!!!

Giz

Reckon the devil wasn't ready for ya yet!!!!!!!!!!! Sure 'nough had a time of it. Glad it worked out for ya. Take care of yourself now, your wife may not be able to find ice water again.

Oh so that is what droop check meant. I thought it meant.. UHHH never mind!!!!!

Bob daly forwarded me an account of this from soimeone hwo could pretty much be said to be in the know, and it seems this was brought about by an aft movement of part of the cargo that came unsecured, or as any loady would say 'OH, SHIT!!!!!""

Sad to hear this. I don't think I ever met her, but, in my book, Col Brevig was tops. I know he, for some reason, treated me very well, and was about as pleased as i was when I made E-5 . For a while I had some email contacts with his daughter Betty, who had found he had been discussed on the old C-130 site............

Giz

Update on VN service recognition. Back in March when I wrote that I submitted my existing paperwork to the VA, I also sent the same stuff to the DD-214 correction folks at Randolph AFB. On Apr 22 I got a letter back from them. Their words -"use this letter as proof of "Boots on the ground" in VN". The legalese of the letter said they weren't gona' correct the DD-214 cause it wasn't in error, just incomplete. They said they couldn't prove how many days I was ever there, cause they were all TDY's. Anyway, I got the best result I could've I guess. The VA service rep says it's all they need to upgrade me to VN vet status. So thnx Sparks. Guess I can say "Finally, I'm a Vietnam Vet" too.

Good, it is about time............at least you have that big obstacle taken care of..... good luck with the rest

Giz

I'll bet the drone pilots "office" doesn't smell like a plane did after hauling kia's who had been in the field for several days.

yeah, bet they don't have a fire truck come out to wash out their cubicle, or wonder if that beady eyed little son of a bitch setting in the middle of nearly 250 of his countrymen in a 40 foot cargo compartment is havin' hemmorhoid problems or is he tryin' to get to a concealed weapon , or 20 or 30 years from now start developin' diseases and chronic injuries from exposures , or wonder if that storm that is tryin' to tear their airplane apart will be successful, or if their landing gear will come down, etc etc etc..........

I talked with a friend last night whom I saw just under 2 years ago, and told him about the bennies from open heart.

He said it took him 18 months to be approved.

I didn't ask any more questions.

He did say he had to go to the VA a few times and got several letters saying they havn't forgotten about him.

He still dosn't have a VA ID card.

See, this shit does not make sense to me..... I had an ID card two days after I started this process. they took my picture on a first appointment to get on the AO registry and something like two days or, I had my card in the mail.......I checked again and my 214 says I was in the UNITED STATES Air Force, not the maryland, or maine, or Kentucky or whatever Air Force, so why the hell is there such a variance in the service????????

My tinnitus claim was rejected, because it could not be determined if it was attributable to to my military service,,,,,seems things lke sirens, power tools and so on was a factor, and since I had no documented complaint of it, I pretty much lost that one, at least for now

Yep, it takes years to finish up with the va claims, I retired with a 50% rating and it took more than 2 years to get it all straight and get my 100%, by the time they finally fessed up with the correct % for me I was waiting on an appeals court date.

Dont let them get away with anything, even if you get a rating; if you dont agree with the % they give you fight it until you get what you think you deserve.

I am pretty sure its an unwritten policy at the VA to blow off almost all claims and to low ball other claims because 95% of the folks out there wont fight it and they know this.

I agree, Dan, but I also think some people go into the process ill-advised and expecting things that just are not going to happen. But it doesn't hurt to try, that's for sure.....But like I said, before, some things if you don't have any part of your records showing such an illness or injury or it is not a part of the presumptions, you may have a hard fight..... AND any injury or illness that you were treated for, which is paret of your medical record, whether directly related to your service or not, is open to consideration, example, you were injured in a car wreck, and were treated under military care, even at a civilian hospital, you may have some claim there.......

Giz, I recall that it took 20 combat missions for one air medal, but 35 combat support missions for one air medal.

Yeah, Check-set, I think I recall that, too. It was the comparison of what is a sortie and what is a mission that my old awrds and decs offcier always bitched about.............He compared it for us going to Pope and droppin' troops for two or three days, makin' maybe three or four drops a day, under one mission number.... He flet that the fighter guys would go out drop their eggs, come back re-arm and go again and that would be two missions...........small point, I know.

Hmmmm. anyone remember that fighter sorties counted as "missions" for such things as air medals, but trash hauling was counted differently,,,,,,,,,, you could do four or five sorties a day, but they were under one mission ID, so it only counted as one mission, sometimes even more than one day................. I was permanently awarded my wings in light of having flown ten combat missions, but was told air medals were determined differently................ The UAV wings look like they came out of a cereal box.

I keep telling him to keep on fighting. When he gets done with his "military memories" next week I'll see where he sits with his VA claims. He's going through the Boneyatd at DM right now. They may make their way to Wright Pat before this trip is over. I say they because he is with a guy that we have known since I was about 2 and I'm 43 now so at least they are having reliving times of the past. Thanks Giz for offering on the advice. I'll let him know.

Okay, Gary, anything I can do for him, I'll give it a shot................

Congrats on the final success with these jerks, what percentage did you end up with?

30%

Giz,

That spider web looking thing is a 10g barrier net. No side rails because it's a whole different loading system -- not for air drops. Usually used for loading "cookie sheet" pallets although we could also secure the heavier 463L type pallets.

Don R.

Makes sense to me, now, thanks.........

Congrats Giz, glad you prevailed.

Well, you didn't think an ex-loady, retired fire department truckie, West Virginian German-Irish mule-head was gonna just let a bunch of B"more desk lizards beat me out without a fight, now did ya????? I know I had to use some tactics that others may not know about, so if I can help anyone else with theirs, I'll sure try. sometimes ya just gotta make an down wind landing............ONE thing I learned was that if there is nothing in a military record, physical, etc, or maybe a presumption, it is gonna be a hard thing to prove or get a high enough evaluation to count....

Congratulations Giz.... maybe this will encourage my dad to keep trying to fight these people. Right now he isn't to "bright eyed" on the outcome. So maybe this will give some glimmer of hope.

Gary, if there is anything I can add, from my experience, to help, send me a private message and we will go that route. I have learned that not everybody gets the same treatment, and my experience is much different than others, but it could provide some direction. I'd be glad to help in any way I can

Giz