Worst parts of Naval Aviation

[feddoc]

I wonder if BzB ever stood the Mail Buoy Watch?

Not exactly a mail buoy watch, but interesting..to me anyway. Not that long ago, I was a young E-lad aboard the USS Forrestal. We were on our way back to port and I had the 12-0400 watch. No big deal, no flight ops and the deck was mostly clear. So, I have my magical wand and a whistle and all the authority an AQ3 could muster. Made a couple of rounds, mostly thinking about what to do when I got back home. Then, it happened. I smelled some pot being smoked after the lamp was out. Uh oh....they were just off the starboard bow, as I recall. About a dozen of them. What to do?

The math of 12 v. 1 in the dark in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean was not in my favor, so I trotted back to the office to inform the OOD. He, LTJG Max Day (an A7 driver out of Lemoore), was asleep.

 

[feddoc]

Long, long ago and at sea far, far away, and during a very long and extended line period our ensign movie officer did himself proud. In fairly rapid succession over a few nights, he rolled:




[Another edit: He looks a lot different today so I don' think he would mind my posting his pic ... but this was our Movie Officer Ensign at an early Dinning Out... just for perspective. Looks like he had a few ribbons too, for an 'enzyme'. And they were hard to get unless truly earned at that time.]
View attachment 12830


Good times!!!!!!

Good grief, how many porn 'staches are in that last pic?

 

[Catmando]

Good grief, how many porn 'staches are in that last pic?

Not as many as here:

 

[zipmartin]

Long, long ago and at sea far, far away, and during a very long and extended line period our ensign movie officer did himself proud.

We had passed the 100 straight days at sea point, had our 6 man bunk room raided by the XO of the ship and lost our stash of adult beverages along with receiving the associated non-punitive letters of reprimand, and had seen every movie at least 3 times, when "NATO Joe" was the SDO the night he magically procured "In Praise of Older Women". The entire ready room was glued to the screen, jaws dropped, when our XO asked if anyone was going to answer the Duty Desk phone, which had been ringing for who knows how long. Everyone had been in such a state of awe or whatever you call it, that no one noticed the phone ringing......until the XO finally heard it.

 

[helolumpy]

Not as many as here:

View attachment 12832

Holy crap, Cat... you guys were a couple of changes of clothes away from this:

 

[BusyBee604]

Good grief, how many porn 'staches are in that last pic?

Not as many as here:

View attachment 12832

Only one here. Da' Bee on USS Midway, 1972 Westpac (with Catmando). Thanks to ADM 'Z'!

BzB

 

[Recovering LSO]

That's the difference between you and me. My observations aren't from my time in the 1 squadron that I've been a part of in the fleet. These are broad generalizations that I am making about the Navy today.

I think I've seen enough different squadrons and airwings to support my idea that things aren't completely F'd. Maybe it's a coastal thing. I've been a part of one East coast, and three West Coast airwings. Things are noticeably different out here.

But if you want to talk about disingenuous, or just plain ignorance, then lets keep acting like things are just the same way that they have been

We also didn't let girls or minorities fly airplanes for a long time. OF COURSE things have changed. The guys who were old farts in 'Nam thought things had changed from Korea. It's the natural cycle of life for ANY organization. Are there things now that are more administrative ass pain that ever before? Yep. Do we still have a pretty bad ass job? Yep.

I've seen callsigns go away. I've seen follies go away. I've seen XO cruise boxes go away. I've seen dudes get in trouble for swearing at follies. I've seen COs get fired on multiple occasions because they hurt people feelings.
You are one roll-em away from someone walking in and seeing what's on the TV and getting offended and start crying about their feelings.

Callsigns: We've got 'em painted on jets with out the slightest suggestion to the contrary.

Follies: Never been on a deployment with out them.

Swearing at Follies: Last Strike Group Admiral dropped more F bombs that JOPA could count.

Hurt Feelings and the sort: That sucks.

In the end you've got run your squadron, your department, your division, your shop, your flight, your strike package, etc... like it needs to be run. You've got to the do the right thing and not make decisions based on whether you think you're going to fired or not. The guys who've I've seen lead this way had more fun and found more success than those who worried about the things you've listed.

And at the end of the day, the only thing any of us can really do with immediate impact is to vote with our feet.

I'm glad that there are CAGs out there who will sit down and watch a good old fashion roll-em with his people. Congrats.

couldn't have said it better myself...

 

[Pags]

I think I've seen enough different squadrons and airwings to support my idea that things aren't completely F'd. Maybe it's a coastal thing. I've been a part of one East coast, and three West Coast airwings. Things are noticeably different out here.



We also didn't let girls or minorities fly airplanes for a long time. OF COURSE things have changed. The guys who were old farts in 'Nam thought things had changed from Korea. It's the natural cycle of life for ANY organization. Are there things now that are more administrative ass pain that ever before? Yep. Do we still have a pretty bad ass job? Yep.



Callsigns: We've got 'em painted on jets with out the slightest suggestion to the contrary.

Follies: Never been on a deployment with out them.

Swearing at Follies: Last Strike Group Admiral dropped more F bombs that JOPA could count.

Hurt Feelings and the sort: That sucks.

In the end you've got run your squadron, your department, your division, your shop, your flight, your strike package, etc... like it needs to be run. You've got to the do the right thing and not make decisions based on whether you think you're going to fired or not. The guys who've I've seen lead this way had more fun and found more success than those who worried about the things you've listed.

And at the end of the day, the only thing any of us can really do with immediate impact is to vote with our feet.


couldn't have said it better myself...

Dude, don't feed the troll.