Initial Flight Gear Issue

[Brett327]

Standard. In RW-Land our gear isn’t custom fit for our bodies. When your gear goes down, So does your ability to fly. Not so much in RW Land. So when the ALSS shop in a VMM(REIN) deploys with a potential 4-5 TMS and 100+ pilots and aircrew. There needs to be a way of tracking RFI gear being assigned to a specific person so some Crew Chief doesn’t go into the drink with an empty HABD bottle or unusable LPUs. Also try organizing an inspection cycle for all ALSS gear with that many pilots....(Hint: It’s a shitshow). Tracking what is up and down is difficult with a usually undermanned, overworked, and under appreciated ALSS shop.

In jet land, They probably do sign this stuff out, but it is transparent to you. I am pretty sure it’s required by the 4790 for all communities, but I could be wrong on that.

Interesting that not everyone has their own gear. When I ran the ALSS shop in an HSL squadron (20 years ago), this wasn't a thing. Today, aircrew all grab their helmets for FOD WD and nobody is signing anything out. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

 

[Gatordev]

Interesting that not everyone has their own gear. When I ran the ALSS shop in an HSL squadron (20 years ago), this wasn't a thing. Today, aircrew all grab their helmets for FOD WD and nobody is signing anything out. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Everyone has their own gear, it's just that not everyone's gear is always up. Some shops are better at it than others. FRSessess have an even bigger hurdle with all the extra gear to build up, plus maintaining pool gear. AIMD not always being Jonny on the spot with the extra addons (LPU, PRC, air bottle...whatever that's called now) doesn't help either.

 

[Treetop Flyer]

Standard. In RW-Land our gear isn’t custom fit for our bodies. When your gear goes down, So does your ability to fly. Not so much in RW Land. So when the ALSS shop in a VMM(REIN) deploys with a potential 4-5 TMS and 100+ pilots and aircrew. There needs to be a way of tracking RFI gear being assigned to a specific person so some Crew Chief doesn’t go into the drink with an empty HABD bottle or unusable LPUs. Also try organizing an inspection cycle for all ALSS gear with that many pilots....(Hint: It’s a shitshow). Tracking what is up and down is difficult with a usually undermanned, overworked, and under appreciated ALSS shop.

In jet land, They probably do sign this stuff out, but it is transparent to you. I am pretty sure it’s required by the 4790 for all communities, but I could be wrong on that.

Definitely never signed anything out, whether it was to fly or grab my helmet for FOD walk or helmet mask and NVG’s for a sim.

 

[scoolbubba]

Not a thing 20 years ago in VP. But it was a different VP back then, just starting to embrace the VPenis suckfest of today. The demise of west coast VP and VP-31 was the catalyst.

It became a thing during my JO tour. Still is definitely not a thing at the VTs and will probably never be a thing. Was not a thing at my last squadron unless you were borrowing someone's gear. Probably one of those things that the more worthless the mission is, the more time there is to invent stupid shit.

 

[Angry]

It became a thing during my JO tour. Still is definitely not a thing at the VTs and will probably never be a thing. Was not a thing at my last squadron unless you were borrowing someone's gear. Probably one of those things that the more worthless the mission is, the more time there is to invent stupid shit.

Best part of this process is being told your SFF release is held until aircrew X goes back to the shack and signs out his gear (and it's a half mile walk from the hangar to the plane). Even better when the person is an officer who gets on the radio and tells MX "yes I have my own gear just sign it out for me" and a fight ensues over who"should" initial the log book. Best delayed take off I've ever witnessed.

 

[Brett327]

Best part of this process is being told your SFF release is held until aircrew X goes back to the shack and signs out his gear (and it's a half mile walk from the hangar to the plane). Even better when the person is an officer who gets on the radio and tells MX "yes I have my own gear just sign it out for me" and a fight ensues over who"should" initial the log book. Best delayed take off I've ever witnessed.

FFS.

 

[Angry]

FFS.

That's exactly what he said!

 

[AllYourBass]

We sign out gear at our squadron because we treat gear the same way we treat tools. It's helped out sometimes when people have walked away with a Sidewinder or left it in the A/C (we list the A/C on our checkout sheet). It's helped far more often for NVG sets than for vests/helmets, but we check them all out on the same sheet anyway.

From the selfish standpoint of somebody heavily invested in MPA/AMI results, I don't mind that all pilots/aircrew are indoctrinated into the basics of tool control, either

But it's what I grew up with, so if it were a new system, I'd probably think it was dumb.

 

[Hair Warrior]

They stopped issuing gold glasses awhile ago. As of the late 90s, they went to silver. @mad dog probably knows more.

My grandfather has about 5 or so sets of gold HGU-4/P glasses, all in the 52 mm size; he's had them since circa 1962 when he was at NAWS China Lake (as a non-Aviator, long story). They even came in that same blue plastic case.

I am in the market for some sunglasses for the summer. The $8 aviators from Home Depot don’t last, and $200 for Randolphs is not my price range. Anyone know of a middle tier?

 

[PhrogLoop]

I am in the market for some sunglasses for the summer. The $8 aviators from Home Depot don’t last, and $200 for Randolphs is not my price range. Anyone know of a middle tier?

I’m wearing these:

Black on Black Torrey Pines

Create a sleek, sophisticated look with these black-on-black polarized Torrey Pines sunglasses from Knockaround. These frames are perfect for medium to larger face shapes.

knockaround.com

 

[Gatordev]

I am in the market for some sunglasses for the summer. The $8 aviators from Home Depot don’t last, and $200 for Randolphs is not my price range. Anyone know of a middle tier?

Oakley has some crazy discounts from their Standard Issue site once you register. Since you're mentioning aviators and Randolph, you can find discounts on Ray-Bans online, although not quite to the level of Oakley. The Ray-Ban Caravan is the closest to the .mil issue gold frames.

 

[BarryD]

I am in the market for some sunglasses for the summer. The $8 aviators from Home Depot don’t last, and $200 for Randolphs is not my price range. Anyone know of a middle tier?

American Optical (AO) sells the issue style ones for $150, which I guess is basically on par with the Ray-Ban price wise.

SPY also makes some good stuff (although not in the Aviator style to my knowledge) and also has a Standard Issue program. Jomashop has some good deals on their stuff as well.

 

[Dontcallmegump]

I am in the market for some sunglasses for the summer. The $8 aviators from Home Depot don’t last, and $200 for Randolphs is not my price range. Anyone know of a middle tier?

I picked up some 60$ AOs in the style of black aviators from the Corry Station Nex almost 2 years ago. If I hadn't dropped them many times or carelessly shoved them in pockets they would still be good as new. Lenses were tough and the hinges haven't bent or tightened up.

 

[BarryD]

I picked up some 60$ AOs in the style of black aviators from the Corry Station Nex almost 2 years ago. If I hadn't dropped them many times or carelessly shoved them in pockets they would still be good as new. Lenses were tough and the hinges haven't bent or tightened up.

It's too bad they now only carry the plastic knockoffs. . .

I picked up a pair of AOs from the NEX right when they were trying to get rid of their inventory and selling them at a discount (awhile ago). I agree that they were pretty good quality.

 

[Brett327]

Just get some Oakleys