Another nail in the coffin of Old-School Naval Avaition..

[phrogdriver]

the graduate level tactics guys will wear their required patch on the right, and the "you must respect my authoritor!!" patch on the left. just in case they walk into the room left shoulder first, vice right.

Reminds me of one of my "rules to establish justifiable prejudice." If you wear your WTI/TOPGUN/insert-school-here patch and you didn't either attend in the last year or are currently serving in a tactics billet, there's a 90% chance you're a douchebag. Only met one exception to this rule so far. Oddly enough, he's a skid guy...go figure.

 

[jmcquate]

The Dude on the rear right (standing to my left), is the late CDR (LT in the pic) Vance Schufeldt. Saw his name on an internet USNA Memorial site saying he had passed away in the late-70s, with no info as to how he had died??? A Canoe U. grad around '63, he was an RP of mine when I was IP in VA-125. He was a fine gent, and outstanding stick. His combat Sqdn was VA-163 and he made his name in the successful delivery of SHRIKE & the then new WALLEYE TV Guided Missiles. When we both reported to VA-44 A-4 RAG at Cecil Field in '68, I became Weps Training, and Vance was assigned as my Asst. in Shrike/Walleye Delivery. Everyone who knew figured he would one day wear stars. RIP Vance.:icon_zbee
BzB

Than Hoa Bridge?

 

[HueyHornet75]

phrogdriver,
You sure he wasn't a harrier guy trying to be cool? ;D
That rule is actually a very good unwritten rule and I somewhat concur. It definitely makes sense if in a b-billet. However, on the west coast- if you were in the fleet, the rule was that if you ever went, you "had" to wear it.

"It puts the lotion in the basket or it gets the hose again."

 

[BusyBee604]

Speculation!

Than Hoa Bridge?

I don't know for sure, but I doubt it! The "Dragon's Jaw had been bulls-eyed many times by weapons up to & including 2000#ers. Mostly left just blast marks on road/rail beds and cratered approaches. TOUGH structure, built by the French after WWII.

Vance was a great Shrike shooter & Walleye bomber, neither would have been effective on the TH Bridge itself. The Walleye was expensive, precision, but a glide weapon without the punch of rocket power. They were saved for high-value targets w/ good contrast aim points (could fly it through a power plant window and often did). That, and waxing revetted MIGs at Phuc Yen & Kep airbases at Hanoi. Those, and some very successful Iron Hand (Shrike) missions in the Hanoi/Haiphong area were DFC, some SS, a few NC, & 1 MOH material (depending mostly on enemy opposition, Pilot injuries & solid BDA. I would guess that Vance earned the bulk of his valor awards on such missions.

I scored a number of span hits on the THB with Bullpup-Bs (750#) in '66, & Bullpup-Cs (2000#) in '67, with little or no apparent structural damage and Strike Ops gave up on that, saving for somewhat less sturdy targets. *T-nail: BzB preflighting "big" Bullpip prior to mission striking a Hanoi Hwy/RR bridge, dumped center span on da sucker.. . We lost Squadronmate LT MiKe McGrath on a bomb run there in July '67. He was a POW and luckily returned to us as CDR in '73, commanded A-7 Sqdn VA-97, and retired as a CAPT.arty_125

Remember, this is just 'educated' speculation, but probably fairly accurate! Sorry, bloated response to a simple 3-word question. If any of you 'Kids" find this ancient history boring, please PM me and I will gladly cease beating up my badly arthritic fingers, when you are interested, I really don't mind! :yuck_125:

*BrownShoe, I'll be calling you this weekend! :icon_mi_6
BzB

 

[OUSOONER]

On the contrary, I don't think we could get enough sea stories. I think most would agree.

 

[Swanee]

On the contrary, I don't think we could get enough sea stories. I think most would agree.

+1

I don't care about the ASTB or some puke's motivational statement. If it wasn't for this site and the gents who congregate here I would never know the legends of Bug Roach or CDR Schufeldt. The fact that these men are your contemporaries (and by default, I am a legacy of) lets me believe this is the greatest fraternity in the world. Gods among men....

 

[IRfly]

Gods among men....

I don't know who you are or what stage of training/fleet you're in, but I'm calling it right now...You will have a KICK-ASS department head tour.

 

[Catmando]

The infamous, Than Hoa Bridge...

Bombing bridges was fun, but difficult. They still stood with bombs going through their girders.

Under heavy enemy fire, CEP accuracy was often degraded.

Hat tip to old friend "Thunder's" Combat photos".

 

[Swanee]

I don't know who you are or what stage of training/fleet you're in, but I'm calling it right now...You will have a KICK-ASS department head tour.

Because I will defer every decision I make to the JOPA?



*This post may or may not be influenced by Leblon Cachaca*

 

[phrogdriver]

There is no JOPA in the Marines. It's the LPA. You can't defer decisions to those guys. No one trusts them, even the senior captains! Giving the LPA decision-making authority is like giving a retarded kid a box of dynamite and a book of matches!

 

[BACONATOR]

Because I will defer every decision I make to the JOPA?



*This post may or may not be influenced by Leblon Cachaca*

Just FYI... referring to it as "The JOPA" is akin to saying "The Iraq".

There is no JOPA in the Marines. It's the LPA. You can't defer decisions to those guys. No one trusts them, even the senior captains! Giving the LPA decision-making authority is like giving a retarded kid a box of dynamite and a book of matches!

Say what you want, but there are far more HACs represented by JOPA than hinge-dom.... and I've been more uncomfortable flying with senior officers than fellow LTs, and it had NOTHING to do with disparity in rank.

 

[Swanee]

There is no JOPA in the Marines. It's the LPA. You can't defer decisions to those guys. No one trusts them, even the senior captains! Giving the LPA decision-making authority is like giving a retarded kid a box of dynamite and a book of matches!

What's this LPA and Marine squadron stuff? I have a Coastie for a skipper, a Navy guy for an onwing, and our form syllabus is dominated by AF IPs. (It's all brainwashing I tell you!)

At the rate my syllabus flow is progressing I am going to be out of the LPA before I wing (I'm on the one flight a week/always in optional warmup range program). There has to be something out there to fight the power on the fleet side for captains. Phrog I'm too buzzed right now for you to crush all of my hopes and dreams!

:icon_drin


*The LPA was out in force tonight! Wifey was the DD, good times were had by all!*

 

[a_m]

Just FYI... referring to it as "The JOPA" is akin to saying "The Iraq".

Are you always this much of a moron when it comes to the English language?

 

[BACONATOR]

Are you always this much of a moron when it comes to the English language?

When you say the acronym instead of the individual words, the requirement to properly preface it with a definite article ceases. Plus JOPA is familiar concept, thus negating the requirement for the "the" as well. Since JOPA is almost a de-facto word/concept now, and no one actually says the whole thing, and it is so familar to us all, it's awkward to preface it with "the".

And to answer your question, no I'm not always this much of a moron with the English language.... but I have written peoples' evals, and for some reason the Navy decided that incomplete sentences/fragments and poor grammar/syntax reads more professionally than proper English. Go figure.

 

[BigIron]

Say what you want, but there are far more HACs represented by JOPA than hinge-dom.... and I've been more uncomfortable flying with senior officers than fellow LTs, and it had NOTHING to do with disparity in rank.

Uncomfortable because you're outranked, or uncomfortable because you think the JOPA HACs know more or are better pilots than the senior guys?