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Why I Joined The Air Force

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This is a true story. Only the names have been changed.

First mistake was crossing the red without his line badge. Second, was calling it "his jet". He signed for it just prior to his sortie. He signed it back over to maintenance after landing.
 
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Sad? Hell no. Reality!!! I love it.

Only a grunt would see sleeping on dirt as preferable to sleeping on a bed in an actual building. LOL
Experienced grunts don't believe that for a second. One of the smartest men I ever met told me a simple but brilliant truth. "Just because you're in the field, doesn't mean you have to be uncomfortable."

The man had skills... and coffee. Real coffee. No matter what.
 
You joined the AF because,
You Look good in a

Bus Driver hat?

Sad, but true story. I was a 2LT and OIC of the Propulsion Branch at Moody AFB. We were transitioning from F4's to F16's. My branch chief and I were TDY to McDill AFB to pick their prop shop's brain.

We're billeted off base at a hotel. I'm waiting downstairs in the hotel lobby for the Chief; in my Summer blues with flight cap tucked in my belt (no bus driver hat).

Group of elderly folks are waiting in the lobby and there's a tour bus out front. You guessed it. One of the nice old ladies walks up to me and asks, "Excuse me. Are you our bus driver?"

Wouldn't have been so bad if the Chief hadn't walked up about that time and witnessed the entire thing. The story was back in our branch before we ever got back.

Still, I think the troops liked me. They gave me my own personal ride. Tag said, CINC-THRUST. Had streamers and a bell too. I rode that bike everywhere.

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Here is my funny Air Force story. Went TDY to Alaska for Brim Frost exercise. I was at the Elmendorf AFB chow hall, or what ever the AF equivalent is called for breakfast. I was standing in line and as I get to the first man behind the counter he says "How do you want your eggs?" I was dumbfounded, so I said "On the ****ing plate would be good." He said "No sir, I mean how do you want them cooked?" WHAT????? These AF dudes get to choose how their food is cooked????? FML!!!! I said I wanted a omelet....got it.....and giggled all the way to the table! When I sat down I saw a 5x7 card in a holder in the center of the table. It read "Please do not bus your own table"........I laughed out loud! Then I thought again FML! The AF, they may not be the greenest.....but they sure know how to live!


YUP! Spent 5 years Navy and then on to the AFRC 6 years (3 of which activated) I saw this too. Blew my ever lovin mind every time I went in the "DFAC"!! In the Navy we had powdered eggs that had a slight green tinge to them and were cold. Toast was rock hard and had margarine smeared on it. We also had to carry all our crap to the window when we were done eating. The AF buddies I had always were pissing and moaning about how bad the food was..........I told them they didn't have a clue!
 
Now that there is funny.

When I enlisted it was big, gray industrial desks. No holes for routing computer cables because we didn't have computers. I think our supply squadrons were starting to use them.

Also, all the different buildings on base were painted pale shades of blue, green, red and yellow. It was like a stoned Jackson Polack wanna-be had run amok. Then Gen Creech became commander of TAC. Within months everything was a tan color with a dark brown stripe. Creech Brown was a fixture for over 20 years
Oh man the brown! LOL

I was never in the service myself, but I grew up an Air Force brat. We were stationed on Yokota Air Base from 1987 to 1992. Every building on that whole base was some shade of brown. Usually with a darker brown stripe on it somewhere. LOL
 
Here`s my take on the AF. I was an AF aircraft mechanic for 3 years. During this time I once lived in a tent for 9 weeks. My sister unit moved to Taiwan,where they lived in tents for 15 months. I then became an aircrewmember. On the way to Nam I went through several schools,one of which I lived in a mock POW camp. One of my quarters was a wooden box.Very small.I lived in a tent made out of a parachute in the Philipine jungle and ate bugs and snakes. I lived in Army quarters in Nam. For 6 months I lived with the Army 5th Special Forces. I was a flight engineer/loadmaster on C-7A Caribous. We lost 39 aircrew members. We lost 4 aircraft and 13 crew members while resupplying one A-Camp that was under siege for three weeks. Several more planes were shot up. The camp commander attended one of our reunions a few years back. He said guys had tears in their eyes as the AF birds kept coming in on airdrop runs under a hail of fire. I will agree that most of the next 18 years flying non-combat were fun and cushy most of the time, with good quarters most of the time. Thank you all for serving, but if you never fired an M16 or other weapon in ground combat, don`t mouth off at the Air Force.
 
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