MILITARY LIFE and contact thread (NO TROLLS! None at all)

[mongo75]

WOW! that is awesome guys! I wish I could still even see my walls....

[Thudpucker]

I volunteered in 58. During testing they wanted to make an Officer, a Pilot and maybe even a gentleman out of me.
I turned all that down. I still agonize over those really stupid decisions.
Later, they wanted me to interview with Criminal Investigations. I was so angry at the Dull witted ARMY lifers at that time I just wanted out. I think I made a good decision that time though.

If your kids want to serve, encourage them to go as an Officer. I think the 'after life' is so much better.

[Greywolf]

I've always pretty much known what I wanted to do and what I was best at. I like working on THINGS.

That doesn't mean that I don't give a crap about people - but some people WILL NOT better themselves, and I can't teach a pig to sing...

I can manage my own skills, I can puzzle out things incomprehensible to a whole lot of people. I'm good at it!

But broke or stupid people I'd send off to the scrap pile in a heart beat, you just can't fix anyone that will NOT fix themselves. (I'm saddled with one of those right now as a visitor and he's a jackass)

[Thudpucker]

I had apprentices like that. I think that's why I'm retired and not seeking part time work!

In Tech school, I filled in one afternoon in a class of New Hires.
One of the things I spoke on was the eyes in the fingers. If you have that, you win. If not...In another parlance the Eyes in the fingers is referred to as; Thinking in 3-D.

Also that intense curiosity to know why! The emotional need to FIX! The boldness to dive into anything knowing if one man put it together, another can!
You can make Mechanics out of those kinds of folks.

[alchymist]

Neat looking knife,I have one similar, only mine says Schrade, and no stainless....

[JimG1098]

Your garage is just outstanding. Thank you for your service and tribute to out brothers

Jim G 1098

USAF 65"-69" 71FIS

[tiny terror]

Originally Posted by JimG1098

Your garage is just outstanding. Thank you for your service and tribute to out brothers

Jim G 1098

USAF 65"-69" 71FIS

Thank you, the garage was a labor of love... but I have to clear up that fact I never served. My fiancee was a combat medic (Air Force, patrolled with the Army due to their shortage of medics) in Iraq and I spent a hard fought year making sure he got through the VA maze without giving up (to anyone traveling that maze, don't you dare give up). I'll pass along that thanks to him. And thank you and all who've served or are serving. We sleep sound because you stand the watch.

[Greywolf]

(Copied over from another place that showed interior views of aircraft cockpits)

Re: Military Plane Cockpits

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I selected two images - it will take me a while to enlarge and find my stuff.

There are systems I am obviously not allowed to tell you anything about, but IFF is one that I once OWNED from control panel to antenna, for the NAVY.

I saw no E-2C Hawkeyes, the transmitter in them was MINE. NO:
F-14
F-14A
F-14D
F-14A+
E-2C
A-4
F-5
SH-3
H-60
H-53
Etc....

My transponders flew thousands of hours, and I took pride in them because they were reliable. I turned the USS Carl Vinson IFF reliability completely around (1986 or 7). If you saw "DUTCH" on a QA sticker from Miramar NAS - that son of a bitch was one of mine! And one of them lasted five years.... (Buddy of mine told me about it years later in Norfolk Virginia)

I have seen electrons (we called them "NEGATRONS") do things in mass quantities that most people will never imagine, and forgot it because it was no longer useful....

(Just that simple)

The days of stick&rudder are long gone. NATOPS manuals are the bible of modern naval aircraft aviation, and understanding what every last knob and switch in a cockpit does is critical to mission survivability.

I'm glad I don't have to do it for a living - explaining the simplest systems is a specialists job. I was one - I KNOW!!!

I was an instructor


*NATOPS: Naval Air Training and Operational Procedures Standardization
The "GOD BOOKS" - literally written in blood. What killed the guy before YOU explained

That is what pilots and their aircrew learn before getting into a metal bullet with a thousand miles of wire and fuel lines, systems and controls, that all have to work together precisely have to understand completely right down to the very last nut and bolt...

- AND EVERY BIT OF IT HAS TO WORK, first time, everytime. I WAS A TECH.

"NOPE! It's not just a video game..."


If you look at all of those control panels, count up all of the switches on them, then realise that they have multiple positions they can be set in, and then consider that even ONE that has been forgotten can spell DISASTER


That's what pilots do..............

WANNA BE ONE?





Even more interesting is THIS notion:

The people who repair and maintain these unlikely contradictions to GODS comandment that human beings should remain on the ground have always got to ask themselves this one question:


"HAVE I NEGLECTED SOMETHING THAT WILL SCREW THIS ALL UP?"

I lived with that question for twenty years and one month.....

There it is - I said it.

You can be highly paid as a flight officer in harms way, but what do you get as a maintainer for the stress of not knowing if you did good or bad until the mission comes back?

And how do those people know when it is more important than ever that a thing goes absolutely right? Where is the team spirit?

Just another box out of the shop.....

Most AIMD people even on a ship don't know anything except another piece of junk got off their workload. DUE IN FOR MAINT - vice FMC

Make it personal!

BUILD TEAMS! It's the best thing you can ever do!



When people get to know eachother they do the very best they can - because it matters.

[SSG VA BEACH]

Originally Posted by Greywolf

I saw no E-2C Hawkeyes, the transmitter in them was MINE. NO:
F-14
F-14A
F-14D
F-14A+
E-2C
A-4
F-5
SH-3
H-60
H-53
Etc....

"HAVE I NEGLECTED SOMETHING THAT WILL SCREW THIS ALL UP?"

You do any work on the Marines AH-1 Super Cobras

I worked on the missile and other weopons systems on the US Army's AH-1S series in support of the Cav and 4th division.

[Greywolf]

I was pure electronics - but I tell ya what, I gave you my SOUL right there.

You can't support someone without a face attached to them....

It just doesn't register until you look people in the eye.

THEN IT MATTERS!

Oh hell yes it does....

If you know damned well something you are working on is going to go to someone you know -IT MAKES A HELL OF A DIFFERENCE!!!


It probably should not, but making that connection can make a world of difference forever after


Consider this idea - the clowns at Joes Tune Shop won't treat a car they never saw before the same as they do someone they know - DO THEY?




PARTY together - your supply people can do evil deals that can help you....

"The BOOK was written for those who can't think outside of the box"


~Marcinko was right~

I bet I'm trouble, but you ought to explore that. Whatever you do I don't want to know....

CAPITCHE?


The bottom line is take care of your own - bring everyone back if you can


NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES





All is fair in this........

[alchymist]

RE: E2C

Dutch,
If you ever got your hands on any of the AN/ALR79 stuff, there's a good chance you handled some of the stuff I used to sweat blood over - some of that RF stuff is more magic than fact. Ditto for some of the F14 radar transmitters.

[Greywolf]

A lot of electronics is still considered "JFM". As science finds more answers, more questions arise.

But the nuts and bolts of it are easier to work with all the time.

"KLYSTRONS" were wierd science not that long ago, "CROSSED FIELD AMPLIFIERS" were thought to be the coming thing - but found to be inefficient as far as we know, and the engineers dropped the concept.

Look at DATA storage in the last thirty years -

Magnetic storage has given way to much more condensed media, and the CD/DVD is "PLANAR" (two-dimensional) method of optical scan. Ten years ago designers began exploring "THREE DIMENSION" data storage, and the speed of processors has ripped right through the "SOUND BARRIER", so to speak...

There is no end in sight - the concept of "DATA CUBES" based on recordable crystals appeared in science fiction many years ago. I think a rotating cylinder very similar to a CD or DVD is very likely, but will also be outmoded quickly.

Until recently - the Military has always been ten or twenty years behind current state of the art. What goes on the drawing boards won't happen until every bit of documentation is done, and all the appropriations for it are okayed at the highest levels before anything LIKE developement under contract is done.

By then - a better model is available to play computer games and "Entertainment" simulations with right at home.....

We gave some older Hawkeyes to Japan some time ago - do you know what the first thing they did to them was?

They JUNKED the memory banks in them, and installed off-the-shelf computers and vastly larger memory banks at a weight savings of several hundreds of pounds....

And they were far more capable.

[alchymist]

Back when personal computers first started (about 1982 or so), the floppy disk was 8 inches in diameter, and held about 100Kb. Today, the 3.5 inch floppy holding 2.88Mb. is all but obsolete. 16 and 32 Gb usb drives the size of a stick of gum are readily available, as are terabyte hard drives. Processor speeds are thousands of times faster than the original machines, and memory capacity likewise.

The space shuttles still use processors little more powerful than a 4 function calculator, and the average new car has more processing power in it's onboard computers.

[Greywolf]

BINGO!

The military had to have stuff hardened against MAGPULSE technology as a result of NUKE effects - but anything like a nuke would ruin anything using electronics no matter how hardened they are.

HANGERS have been built to simulate MAG-PULSE effect - and the news is not good for our side or the other side.

Modern tech has far outstripped the earlier thinking, and the common thought is that if nuke or anything that can produce a pulse like that is ever used - most nations will be out of commision....

Consider that if you take ANY camcorder up on a carrier flight deck during operations - the damned thing will be ruined! (I tried it and know). The TAC-RAD emissions killed that sucker....

Multiply that effect by about a million....

The effect on an electronics reliant logistics and infrastructure is massive and immediate. Even electronically or electric fired rounds will cook off. It's very bad news....

Aside from fire control and everything else - what happens is that all technological systems become instantly useless.


ORGANIC weapons become the only thing left. Picture it.

PATTON was right - your tanks had God damned better be diesels!
(And if they are operated by electronics GOD HELP YOU EVEN THEN)

[F350-6]

Anyone near Atlantic City, New Jersey? We got a Coast Guard guy on float needing some assistance. http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/89...ml#post8090867