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Dead Reckoning posted:^^^ thanks dude, I couldn't get on to ePublishing An Airbus guide to weather radar that seems to be mostly legitimate. Radar interpretation is definitely an art that diminishes the more people just rely on "red" versus "green," but like DR pointed out most radars these days are reliant on computer interpretation. The old C-130 radar, the APN-59, was a tremendously powerful radar (in the electrical sense) that could actually drop people standing in front of it. If you just turned it on and looked at the sweep, it wouldn't tell you what you wanted to know - you had to manually adjust the tilt, range and gain until it showed you what you wanted to see. Our new radar automatically calibrates everything, which is more user-friendly, especially now that the pilots have a display (crazy, right?). I still maintain that the old radar was better for weather, but there's not a pilot in the world that would agree with me on that. The nice thing about our new radar is that it can see areas of turbulence, which for me are a great indicator of how seriously I should be taking a blob of color. People assume that ground radars are the best for finding this stuff, but that isn't always the case. NEXRAD is pretty cool but they mostly just provide precipitation information, and even if the controllers have the weather and your route of flight overlaid on your console it's still ultimately your problem. Good controllers will give you instructions, but good aircrew beats them to the punch.
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Jan 12, 2015 04:48
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TheQuietWilds posted:Just sort of a random feeler - if anybody works in medical, I'd be curious to talk to them. I was a 6 year Navy HM before I got out, and I'm considering taking money from the military for medical school. I'd be curious to talk to some AF medical people about the options/differences, since I only have experience with Navy stuff. I'm pretty sure I have PMs. I can tell you all about it. Send me a PM.
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Jan 12, 2015 07:57
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thanks, peeps, those websites are pretty useful.
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Jan 12, 2015 08:37
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There's soju on my radar, is it working right? It sounds better than your radar.
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Jan 12, 2015 09:03
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TheQuietWilds posted:Just sort of a random feeler - if anybody works in medical, I'd be curious to talk to them. I was a 6 year Navy HM before I got out, and I'm considering taking money from the military for medical school. I'd be curious to talk to some AF medical people about the options/differences, since I only have experience with Navy stuff. I'm pretty sure I have PMs. I was former enlisted medical USAF. I have more respect for the HM. There's an AF doctor floating around here, can't remember his name. I'd recommend you stay away if you want them to pay for your school as you'll get stuck with whatever specialty they want. I can talk a little bit about the enlisted side but this guy is probably more helpful. Really posting this so your question doesn't get lost in the talk about poo poo in this thread that doesn't loving matter. tl;dr AF docs have a good chance of hating their life. edit: oh poo poo it's derek dominoe, he's pretty chill.
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Jan 12, 2015 20:15
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I meant the dude I quoted is a huge homo. DD is totally your boy here, and he'll give you good straight info from a good dude and good doctor in the USAF. The quoted dude was just a fellow tard enlisted. OMFG PTSD LOL PBUH fucked around with this message at 21:17 on Jan 12, 2015 |
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Jan 12, 2015 21:14
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http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/559955/former-airman-sentenced-to-18-years-in-drunken-driving-death-tells-story.aspx 18 years for being a dipshit. At least it's a few years less than retiring from the air force.
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Jan 12, 2015 23:51
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He's white, so he will probably get out after a few years for good behavior ie taking it up the rear end on occasion and not pissing off the prison guards.
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Jan 13, 2015 04:46
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We should send him a dickbook to cheer him up
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Jan 13, 2015 05:25
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Ragaman posted:He's white, so he will probably get out after a few years for good behavior ie taking it up the rear end on occasion and not pissing off the prison guards. Soft rear end white AF comm dude in prison? Better practice tossing salad, its his only hope. I'm expecting him to pull the "don't gently caress with me, I'm an Air Force trained warrior right before his butthole gets trained by force.
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Jan 13, 2015 06:54
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A Kpro posted:We should send him a dickbook to cheer him up If I remember correctly the dickbook sent to that goons friend in Ask Tell didn't go over to well
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Jan 13, 2015 12:50
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Rough Lobster posted:If I remember correctly the dickbook sent to that goons friend in Ask Tell didn't go over to well  What?
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Jan 13, 2015 23:26
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Dominoes posted:Hey, so is there a trick to aiming steady on the double-action 9mm shots on the shooting tests? The force required on the trigger pull always screws up my aim. This is from a page back, but gently caress it. When I was a pistol instructor I had a trick that always seemed to help sloppy double action shots: You'll notice the top of the slide, aft of the barrel, is flat. Present the pistol down range in what ever stance you use and then have someone balance a 9mm shell on that flat area, forward of the chambered round indicator. After you're in position slowly dry fire with the pad of your trigger finger like normal really focusing on keeping the shell balanced on the slide through the whole motion. Once you get the hang of it, slowly increase the speed of your trigger squeeze until you can squeeze out about one double action dry fire every second to second and a half with out the shell falling off. This should give you a really good muscle memory for what a "smooth" double action squeeze feels like. Now you can move on to practice rounds where you can really just focus on sight picture because the squeeze is more or less automatic. Hope that helps. Stay safe air warriors. 
ManMythLegend fucked around with this message at 15:00 on Jan 15, 2015 |
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Jan 15, 2015 07:34
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Anyone know anything about 2A8X1? Can't find much on it.
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Jan 16, 2015 06:26
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Well it starts with 2A so if you're thinking about enlisting into that career field you should run away. It's Comm/Nav/Systems for the MAF...so basically the specs/pointyheads on heavies. I've got no heavy mx experience so don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure they used to break it out by MDS like some of the fighter specialties still do but in one of the great mx AFSC restructurings they've had over the past several years they lumped them all together. fake edit: yup, here's the CFETP. It's a pretty new AFSC that was created from merging a bunch of other AFSCs into one, you'd basically be doing box-swapping and some basic troubleshooting of electrical components (navigation systems, video displays, radios/communication systems, etc) on cargo planes and/or tankers (KC-135, KC-10, KC-46, C-5, C-17, slick C-130s, and the weird DV jets). You'll go to tech school on a specific aircraft. As a junior enlisted you'll have a shred; a shred is an extra letter that goes on the back of your AFSC which ID's you as being trained on a specific system (the aircraft you got trained on.) So for your first ~7-9 years or so (possibly more) you'll likely be working on the same aircraft. Once you get your 7-lvl your shred will change to a more general shred: if your previous shred was one of the cargo aircraft (C-5, C-17, slick C-130, weird DV jets) your new shred will be a general cargo aircraft shred. If your previous shred was tankers (anything with a KC) your new shred will be a general tanker shred. At that point you will be able to assigned anywhere that has those types of aircraft (so you could be a C-17 guy, get your 7-lvl, and then be assigned to work slick C-130s). Keep in mind that the "reassignment" thing doesn't apply if you're going Reserve or Guard...you'll still get your 7-lvl as appropriate but the only way you would move MDS's is if that same unit flies multiple aircraft (i.e., a Guard Wing that flies both C-17s and C-5s). But seriously, it starts with 2A, don't do it.
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Jan 16, 2015 07:09
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That's the bullshit code they made so that they could hide maintenance's crippling manpower issues. gently caress it, merge the defensive systems guys with the radio guys, they have literally nothing in common but they're not engines or crew chiefs so they're second-class citizens anyway.
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Jan 16, 2015 13:37
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poo poo well, thanks for the info. Is 3E2X1 similarly lovely? This is for the guard too, not sure if that makes a big difference in how more or less awful jobs are. Honestly I just want my states insane tuition waiver.
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Jan 16, 2015 15:20
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How lovely being maintenance is will depend a lot on who your local guard unit is. That said, enlisting just to get a tuition waiver probably isn't worth it.
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Jan 16, 2015 20:05
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If you're going to go 3, at least go 3D. Does your guard unit not have a single open slot for radios or networks or SATCOM or whatever?
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Jan 17, 2015 02:34
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Nope, out of 3 enlisted positions open, two of them are 2A and the other is that 3E one. There are a handful of other ones (3A1, 3E8, 2R1, 1C4) but they're at another base two hours away. Not really interested in TACP or EOD. Also not sure if it matters but I'm getting all of this from the GoANG site so I assume their listings are up to date. The actual unit websites sure as poo poo aren't.
99pct of germs fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Jan 17, 2015 |
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Jan 17, 2015 03:10
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Any Reserve units nearby?
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Jan 17, 2015 03:19
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Sasgrillo posted:Nope, out of 3 enlisted positions open, two of them are 2A and the other is that 3E one. There are a handful of other ones (3A1, 3E8, 2R1, 1C4) but they're at another base two hours away. Not really interested in TACP or EOD. Also not sure if it matters but I'm getting all of this from the GoANG site so I assume their listings are up to date. The actual unit websites sure as poo poo aren't. Are both of the 2A positions 2A8X1? I only ask because there is an inverse relationship between how close a given mx AFSC is to the flightline and how good it is. If you got a backshop job life probably wouldn't be too bad, especially at a Guard base (assuming it's not one of the Guard units that gone full retard recently and tried to emulate active duty, reference Dead Reckoning's point above.) Prop Wash posted:That's the bullshit code they made so that they could hide maintenance's crippling manpower issues. gently caress it, merge the defensive systems guys with the radio guys, they have literally nothing in common but they're not engines or crew chiefs so they're second-class citizens anyway. I wish I could say I'm joking when I say I'm waiting for the day when they just say gently caress it and merge all crew chiefs with each other and all specs with each other, no more breaking out by MDS. "Sir, we've achieved 100% manning in all mx career fields!"
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Jan 17, 2015 05:15
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iyaayas01 posted:Are both of the 2A positions 2A8X1? The other was 2A6, Air Craft Fuels. Lazy Reservist posted:Any Reserve units nearby? They're all crammed into the same base, and don't get the state tuition waiver. If it makes any difference the base is McGuire.
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Jan 17, 2015 05:46
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Sasgrillo posted:The other was 2A6, Air Craft Fuels. Dead Reckoning fucked around with this message at 05:58 on Jan 17, 2015 |
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Jan 17, 2015 05:56
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/\ 2A6 isn't gas-pumpers, that's POL which is at least sort of decent if monotonous and boring. Fuels are the guys who suit up and go crawl around in tanks on planes /\Sasgrillo posted:The other was 2A6, Air Craft Fuels. lol. So I have good news and bad news... Good news is that it's a backshop job. Bad news is that it's probably one of the worst backshop jobs out there. Those are the guys that crawl around inside of (drained/purged) fuel tanks to do maintenance. It's a cramped confined space that has lots of fumes so you have to wear a respirator/other PPE every time you go in. Fuel barn (building you work in) smells overwhelmingly like jet fuel and is entirely anti-static (static discharge doesn't mix well with flammable fumes). This is your job. (Don't do that one either, I'd choose to be a flightline spec way before I chose to be fuels)
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Jan 17, 2015 05:59
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All the fuels guys I know have no sense of smell or taste.
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Jan 17, 2015 06:07
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iyaayas01 posted:/\ 2A6 isn't gas-pumpers, that's POL which is at least sort of decent if monotonous and boring. Fuels are the guys who suit up and go crawl around in tanks on planes /\  If Mike Rowe has done a show about your prospective job, you should probably do a lot of reading before you sign on the dotted line.Then stick around for the end where he flies with a boom operator. Look how happy he is. His biggest complaint is getting a close up look at another plane. Dead Reckoning fucked around with this message at 06:41 on Jan 17, 2015 |
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Jan 17, 2015 06:28
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Dead Reckoning posted:
lol I was expecting this to be a show on like dudes working with commercial tank farms or something, not literally USAF fuels maintainers. Yeah if Mike Rowe not just could, but actually has done a show about a job you are considering you probably should think twice. And then think again if you still think it's a good idea after thinking twice.
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Jan 17, 2015 06:34
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So how often do you see a fat fuels guy walking around?
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Jan 17, 2015 06:43
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Now I really want to get a clip from Event Horizon or Star Trek or something where an expendable cast member is crawling through the service ducts on their way to get facefucked by a monster (Bishop crawling through the tunnel to the relay in Aliens would be perfect) and tack one of those "It's not science fiction, it's what we do every day" ads on the end.
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Jan 17, 2015 07:32
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I work with a lot of maintainers in the MOC, and while MOC is a whole different pile of poo poo compared to the flightline, most of them would rather be in a cozy ops floor writing stuff on forms instead of crawling over planes in the California sun. I know MX has a lot of manning issues but that can't be your only option, right?
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Jan 17, 2015 15:12
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I enjoyed crawling through the sub floor back when I was a networks guy. Of course, it was a new building and not filled with garbage. Probably wouldn't do it nowadays.
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Jan 17, 2015 16:32
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Kandak Sayaqa posted:If you're going to go 3, at least go 3D. Does your guard unit not have a single open slot for radios or networks or SATCOM or whatever? Do this if you have autism and love world of warcraft.
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Jan 17, 2015 18:15
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Casimir Radon posted:
There's a thread in A/T about prison life by a guy who just got out for dealing drugs or something http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3676982 and he was talking about his cell mate or block wife or something that's still locked up and how goons should mail him stuff because getting mail is a huge highlight in prison. Someone mails him a dickbook (tm) and a little bit later on the OP mentioned his friend was pissed off because of something he got
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Jan 17, 2015 19:16
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Larry Parrish posted:I work with a lot of maintainers in the MOC, and while MOC is a whole different pile of poo poo compared to the flightline, most of them would rather be in a cozy ops floor writing stuff on forms instead of crawling over planes in the California sun. I know MX has a lot of manning issues but that can't be your only option, right? He's trying to Go Guard (tm) so he's stuck with whatever positions the unit has open...which at the moment appears to just be fuels, avionics, and the 3E2 pavements one. Sasgrillo, are you 100% dead set against commuting to the F-16 unit at Atlantic City? Because they appear to actually have some decent jobs open.
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Jan 17, 2015 21:10
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but the unit will put you up in a hotel for the night for drill weekend if you live far enough away. At least mine does \/ \/
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Jan 17, 2015 21:14
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iyaayas01 posted:Sasgrillo, are you 100% dead set against commuting to the F-16 unit at Atlantic City? Because they appear to actually have some decent jobs open. If there are better jobs worth taking in AC, I'd make it work. Which ones looked decent to you?
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Jan 17, 2015 23:06
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Sasgrillo posted:If there are better jobs worth taking in AC, I'd make it work. Which ones looked decent to you? 2R1X1 is maintenance scheduling. You basically work in an office all day and play around with various maintenance computer databases. It's probably one of the best jobs in the MXG from a "not being lovely" perspective. There's also a couple of backshop jobs... - 2A6X2 is AGE. You work on the support equipment (ground power carts, maintenance stands, LOX servicing equipment, stuff like that) and are responsible for delivering it to/from the line. All the AGE dudes I've met are generally pretty chill and almost every AGE shop I've been in has resembled a somewhat disorganized corner neighborhood car shop. If I had to pick a non-office job in maintenance I'd probably be AGE. - 2A6X1 is propulsion. You work on engines when they're pulled off the aircraft. You're also responsible for doing engine runs on the test stand. - 2A0X1 is avionics test station. I don't have a lot of experience with this AFSC, it's back-shop and you do the hands on work with the various test equipment that the other people use to figure out whether or not the plane is broken. I'd assume it involves a lot of running built-in tests on the pieces of test equipment and then swapping out internal electrical components. Probably not terrible since it should be pretty far removed from the dictates of the flightline. Now don't get me wrong, anything in the MXG is going to have a distinct level of suck associated with it compared to a lot of other jobs...but that can be mitigated a lot of times in the Guard because they don't practice a lot of the pointless bullshit that AD does. The maintenance jobs above are probably some of the better jobs in the MXG. They also have 2A6X6 (Electro and Environmental) which probably wouldn't be terrible compared to other 2A AFSCs but it's a job where you will be working at least part of the time in an AMU (flightline) so I don't recommend it. Last thing is they also have an admin (3A1X1) slot open...you would be a literal paperwork bitch. Work on the CSS (Commander's Support Staff) handling stuff like routing performance reports and the like. Not everyone's cup of tea and the job quality when you work in a CSS is pretty dependent on the quality of the command team (Commander, Superintendent, Shirt, etc)...but as far as jobs in the USAF go this is probably the closest thing to a 9-5 office job. Oh, and they have a Chaplain's Assistant slot open...I don't think I've ever actually seen a Chaplain's Assistant do any real work, so as long as you don't mind being around Chaplains all day I'd look at that one. So if I had to rank order them, I'd look at Chaplain's Assistant, Admin, and maintenance scheduling, as well as considering AGE or 2A0X1 if you're dead-set on doing something in a non-office setting.
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Jan 18, 2015 06:15
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iyaayas01 posted:- 2A0X1 is avionics test station. I don't have a lot of experience with this AFSC, it's back-shop and you do the hands on work with the various test equipment that the other people use to figure out whether or not the plane is broken. I'd assume it involves a lot of running built-in tests on the pieces of test equipment and then swapping out internal electrical components. Probably not terrible since it should be pretty far removed from the dictates of the flightline.
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Jan 18, 2015 06:49
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iyaayas01 posted:Oh, and they have a Chaplain's Assistant slot open...I don't think I've ever actually seen a Chaplain's Assistant do any real work, so as long as you don't mind being around Chaplains all day I'd look at that one. I was TDY with a Chaplain's Assistant a few months ago. The dude got drunk and chased snapper every night and would always tell stories about how stupid, entitled, pretty or flat-out insane various chaplains are. Based on this sample size I've determined that Chaplain's Assistants are pretty cool. Edit: The actual job is about 50/50 managing the schedule for a bunch of holy men who don't want to come to work and setting up for various worships or events.
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Jan 18, 2015 09:38
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