For you former, current and wannabe fighter types.......

[A4sForever]

I've witnessed all of that at a solo party...arhg.

Awwwww .... heck. That's a shame. My sympathy. Perhaps at the next party someone will join you for a beer or two .... arhg, indeed.

 

[llnick2001]

Not the kind of solo I was talking about, but given the company, that probably would have been preferable.

 

[phrogdriver]

Oh...my...God. Do they actually think that false swaggering excuse for prose makes them sound cool? Sounds like becomefighterpilot.com, but without any useful information. "We're the coolest guys in the world--we're the coolest because we're the best, and uh, we're the best because we're the coolest." Apparently this former fighter pilot gig is something of a cottage industry.

 

[loadtoad]

I know one of the creators of the site. He was a pretty cool guy. A-10 type with lots of combat hours from Desert Storm, Afghanistan and OIF. His squadrons got down and dirty during those deployments...

 

[NavAir42]

I know one of the creators of the site. He was a pretty cool guy. A-10 type with lots of combat hours from Desert Storm, Afghanistan and OIF. His squadrons got down and dirty during those deployments...

So it's possible to do cool things and still be a complete tool bag.

 

[Recidivist]

WTF?!
Fighter pilots do not say h**d, they say cranium. Fighter pilots do not say b*x, they say container.

So the lingo is something like "Man I'd like to stick in her container." Or "Wow, Judy gives some of the best cranium I've ever had"

Mods, wings :icon_wink

 

[HuggyU2]

So the lingo is something like "Man I'd like to stick in her container." Or "Wow, Judy gives some of the best cranium I've ever had".

Actually, even though they might not mention it, that would be the proper use of the terms "box" and "head".
USN/USMC fighter pilots: what sort of stuff like this do y'all do? Has some of this permeated into your world? When do your pilots get their tac callsigns? Is it a "formal" process?

 

[Flash]

Actually, even though they might not mention it, that would be the proper use of the terms "box" and "head".
USN/USMC fighter pilots: what sort of stuff like this do y'all do? Has some of this permeated into your world? When do your pilots get their tac callsigns? Is it a "formal" process?

Well, not being a fighter guy but being TACAIR.......I'll still try to answer your questions. I was in a 'joint' Prowler squadron with a few token USAF types and we quickly beat any of these annoying habits out of them. I cannot think of anything similar that Navy guys do that is similar, fighter guys included.

I honestly think that the USAF fighter types do this because it is being part of the the 'club', doing things that only they would 'understand' or 'get'. It is one more thing that the fighter guys do to differentiate themselves from all of the other pilots in the USAF. I think it is just a by-product of being in a service whose primary mission is to fly, notwithstanding what the space rangers claim.

In the Navy Avaition is only one of three main 'combat' branches/specialties and we have enough to differentiate ourselves already. We have penty of SWO's and Sub guys to deal with and we make ourselves stand out in other ways than language, like uniforms (flight suits, brown shoes, leather jackets). So while there is still a bit of a heirarchy in Naval Aviation when it comes to platform, just look at who makes ADM for evidence of that, there is much less than in the USAF since we have to deal with anal rententive Shoes and pale, geeky bubbleheads in addition to the other aviation communities. The Marines are even more a support function, since helos seem to be the top of the heap there and everything revovles around the infantry. I believe the CMC is always an Infantryman, correct me if I am wrong.

And dealing with those other guys in the Navy also makes most Navy fighter guys just a bit less 'full' of themsleves than a lot of USAF fighter types. Whenever I did excercises with Navy and Marine fighter guys we were all part of the same team and they almost always valued our, Prowler, input as part of the planning and excution of the missions. Same went for the real world. The USAF guys I dealt with were a real mixed bag though, especially the F-15 guys. Many of them really didn't want to be bothered by us and they never took the time to learn what we could and could not do for them. Many just made assumptions about our capabilities, some of them were very wrong. My experience with the USAF fighter guys in one particular excercise in Guam was especially disappointing, they could care less what anyone else did......until we messed up their BVR fights and they came a bitchin......... Some were good though, usually they were F-16 or F-15E drivers though. A-10 guys were usually pretty cool though

So, in conclusion......we really don't seem to need to have our own little 'in' things to make ourselves different, neither did most of the VF, or the VFA, VFMA, VA or VMA guys I have met throughout my career. Having a SWO or a Submariner as the CNO or a BG CO always reminds you of where you belong in the grand scheme of things. I know the Marine Aviators have it poinded it into them constantly..... It is a little different having nothing but fighter pilots as Chief of Staff of the USAF since 1982.

As for the callsigns, nothing really official. You usually gain one sometime later in training or the RAG, but there was no 'ceremony' that I ever took part in. You can gain a new one at anytime by doing something notable or stupid, or both. Like one of our pilots who was chased by the cops for about 15 minutes. Someone cracked the next day 'Hey, its OJ!' when he walked in the Ready Room, and it stuck. No official double-secret meeting had to be held, just a consensus of the wardroom is enough. And 'cool' ones were usually frowned upon, the more ribald the better.

Does the above answer your questions?

 

[HeloBubba]

As for the callsigns, nothing really official. You usually gain one sometime later in training or the RAG, but there was no 'ceremony' that I ever took part in. You can gain a new one at anytime by doing something notable or stupid, or both. Like one of our pilots who was chased by the cops for about 15 minutes. Someone cracked the next day 'Hey, its OJ!' when he walked in the Ready Room, and it stuck. No official double-secret meeting had to be held, just a consensus of the wardroom is enough. And 'cool' ones were usually frowned upon, the more ribald the better.

Don't forget the stipulation that the more the designee objects to his call sign, the more likely it is to stick.

 

[MasterBates]

How my callsign evolved:

Named "Bates" therefore I have been called MASTER for a long time.

Called MASTER in OCS and API, along with about 1/2 the IPs in the HTs and VTs.

Get winged. Soft patch had:

WINGS
XXXXX "MASTER" BATES
ENS USNR

Go to RAG. Get addressed as MASTER by about 1/2 the IPs.

Check into HSL-42. Walk into AOM 1st day, and get presented with a nametag that just has wings and MASTER in the biggest font that would fit. That, and Bull Ensign bars. CO says "I have been waiting for you", and slaps it on with the biggest grin on his face. Order then given that I shall not wear a nametag with my name on it within 250 NM of KNRB.

That was about as official as it got.