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rivars

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    Civilian inquiry about being a fighter pilot

    in C-130 General

    Posted · Edited by rivars

    An innocent query from the civilian sector . . . read on down.

    Sir:

    I am D. J. Baker and I would appreciate it if you could tell me what it

    takes to be an F-16 fighter pilot in the USAF. What classes should I take in high

    school to help the career I want to take later in life? What could I do to

    get into the Air Force Academy?

    Sincerely, DJ Baker

    A worldly and jaded C 130 pilot, Major Hunter Mills, rises to the task of

    answering the young man's letter.

    Dear DJ,

    Obviously, through no fault of your own, your young & impressionable brain

    has been poisoned by the superfluous, hyped-up, "Top Gun" media portrayal of

    fighter pilots.

    Unfortunately, this portrayal could not be further from the truth. In my

    experience, I've found most fighter pilots pompous, backstabbing, momma's

    boys with inferiority complexes, as well as being extremely over-rated

    aeronautically. However, rather than dash your budding dreams of becoming a

    USAF pilot, I offer the following alternative:

    What you really want to aspire to is the exciting, challenging and rewarding

    world of TACTICAL AIRLIFT. And this, young DJ, means one thing, the

    venerable workhorse, the C-130! I can guarantee no fighter pilot can brag that he has

    led a 12-ship formation down a valley at 300 feet above the ground, with the

    navigator leading the way and trying to interpret an alternate route to the

    drop zone, avoiding pop-up threats, and coordinating with AWACS, all while

    eating a box lunch with the engineer in the back relieving himself and the

    loadmaster puking in his trash can!

    I tell you DJ, TAC Airlift is where it's at! Where else is it legal to throw

    tanks, HUMV's, and other crap out the back of an airplane, and not even

    worry about it when the chute doesn't open and it torpedoes the General's staff

    car!

    Nowhere else can you land on a 3000 foot dirt strip, kick a bunch of ammo

    and stuff out on the ramp without stopping, then takeoff again before range

    control can call to tell you that you've landed on the wrong LZ! And talk

    about exotic travel; when C-130s go somewhere, they GO somewhere (usually

    for 3 months, unfortunately). This gives you the opportunity to immerse yourself

    in the local culture long enough to give the locals a bad taste in their

    mouths regarding the USAF and Americans in general, not something those

    C-141 Stratolifter pilots can do from their airport hotel rooms!

    As far as recommendations for your course of study, I offer these:

    1. Take a lot of math courses. You'll need all the advanced math skills you

    can muster to enable you to calculate per diem rates around the world, and

    when trying to split up the crew's bar tab so that the co-pilot really

    believes he owes 85% of the whole thing and the navigator believes he owes

    the other 20%.

    2. Health sciences are important, too. You will need a thorough knowledge of

    biology to make those educated guesses of how much longer you can drink beer

    before the tremendous case of the G.I.'s catches up to you from that meal

    you ate at the place that had the really good belly dancers in some God-forsaken

    foreign country whose name you can't even pronounce.

    3. Social studies are also beneficial. It is important for a good TAC

    Airlifter to have the cultural knowledge to be able to ascertain the exact

    location of the nearest topless bar in any country in the world, then be

    able to convince the local authorities to release the loadmaster after he offends

    every sensibility of the local religion and culture.

    4. A foreign language is helpful but not required. You will never be able to

    pronounce the names of the NAVAIDs in France, and it's much easier to ignore

    them and to go where you want to anyway. As a rule of thumb: waiters and

    bellhops in France are always called "Pierre", in Spain it's "Hey, Pedro"

    and in Italy, of course, it's "Mario". These terms of address also serve in

    other countries interchangeably, depending on the level of suaveness of the

    addressee.

    5. A study of geography is paramount. You will need to know the basic

    location of all the places you've been when you get back from your TDY and are ready

    to stick those little pins in that huge world map you've got taped to your

    living room wall, right next to the giant wooden giraffe statue and beer stein

    collection.

    Well, DJ, I hope this little note inspires you. And by the way, forget about

    the Academy thing. All TAC Airlifters know that there are waaay too few

    women and too little alcohol there to provide a well-balanced education. A nice,

    big state college or the Naval Academy would be a much better choice.

    Hunter Mills, Major USAF

    Info for veterans planning retirement

    in C-130 Community Announcements & Promotions

    Posted

    Please share this with anyone who\'s had active duty service prior to January 202 and planning for retirement. In a nutshell it boils down to this: You qualify for a higher social security payment because of your military service, for active duty anytime from 1940 through 2001 (the program was done away with in January 2002). Up to $1200.00 per year of earnings credit credited at time of application - which can make a substantial difference in social security monthly payments upon your retirement. You must bring your DD-214 to the Social Security Office - and you must ask for this benefit to receive it!

    http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/military.htm

    TDY\'S

    in C-130 General

    Posted

    My first tdy after getting qualified was from lockbourne on C-130A models to howard ab, cz to fly downstream support. dual rails removed we floor loaded everything because there was no support stuff to offload you downstream in central and south america. loadmasters earned their pay on that mission.

    Rick

    Patches

    in C-130 Historical

    Posted

    actually only one engine was hit at kontum. However when we got her out and landed at pleiku they had to replace both wings and all four engines due to battle dammage. I was on the crew that flew her out of kontum.

    lyrics to herky cannonball

    in C-130 Historical

    Posted

    I donated a painting with the lyrics on it to the 50th just before I retired...it is still hanging on their squadron wall...maybe some active duty crew dog can get them for you. used to sing that song sitting around the camp fire at team spirit, in front of our three star hotel.

    :evil:

    The Good \"Old\" Days

    in C-130 General

    Posted

    ah yea...the good old days...runnin down to \"Bar Twan\", the Half Dozen, and of course the Dirty Dozen....all that per diem we got for going \"In-Country\"...flyin the \"Klong\"...having to crewrest at Bangkok...water skiing the gulf of Siam...Utapao beach...out door movies...ridin the suicide seat on the bus to town...don\'t know how I ever survived.

    HEHEHEHEHE

    B)

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