Air Force Blues

Well, I've been TDY to Korea, Aghanistan, San Antonio, and Keesler x2. I'd have to say the first Keesler excursion was by far the best TDY I've ever been on.

I had to go there for a three month upgrade training course right after Katrina hit. I was one of the lucky few prior-service students who got housed in one of the triangle dorms because most of billeting was still damaged. I was dreading the idea of having to stay in the triangle with all of the NPS students, but let me tell ya- it was the craziest, rockin'-rollinest, tasmanian devilest three month drunkenest-titty fest I've ever been on.

There was a party on the back gazebo every night for that three months, and I partook in most of them. We would have Chiefs and Lt. Cols make regular visits to our "area" to make sure we weren't completely destroying the place. I can't tell you how many times the threat of 'dry dorms' was tossed at us during mass briefings. I'll be the first to admit that the concept wasn't all that unfounded- I remember drunk bastards throwing half-full beer cans at nighttime NPS troop marches. Did I mention things got excessive at times? Cause they sure did.

There were people drunkenly running around in their underwear during thunderstorms, drunk bastards trying to talk their way into the NPS dorms- then fighting the cops when they showed up, people puking and passing out in a vast assortment of places, 20+ dudes singing songs like a bunch of drunken sailors at all hours of the morning, 10 foot tall beer can pyramids left for the cleaning staff. It was madness.

I had already left by the time the fights started breaking out, and thank goodness for that- that's when the higher ups finally had enough and started putting the clamps down on things.

I sometimes think the collective mindset of the whole debacle was somewhere along the lines of, "Well, most of Biloxi/Keesler is fucked up anyway- let's just help fuck up the rest of it!"

It was bad, unprofessional, a horrible example to the NPS students who saw our drunk asses everyday, behavior I've thankfully put behind me...

...but oh so fun!

I had a blast at the Naval corrections academy in Lackland. There were 6 AF cops, about 30 sailors and 13 boot Marines. We had a blast messing with the Jarheads. It was there I learned about the 13 Buttoned fold down front on the Navy's white Jumpers. They call it a marine corps dinner plate when folded down

I'm gonna have to stay going TDY to Austin for two days.

We went, we saw, we tested for A+.


...maybe I'll come back to this topic when I actually get to go TDY more often?

If you ever go TDY to Vegas, don't forget to get tested for other stuff, too.

Right...good luck to all of you stationed at Nellis...

Drug USMC fighters from Yuma, Hickam, Wake Island, and finally to Iwukuni Japan.

Went to two Red Flags last year.

Spent two weeks in SoCal refueling aircraft off the USS Ronald Reagan for some Naval exercise.

So far I can't complain about my first TDY. I'm sitting in Guam enjoying life. I've managed to get my SCUBA cert, go snorkeling at some of the big beaches, learn the history of the island, and the role it played in WWII, and got introduced to strip clubs that don't have rules.

Diego Garcia for 40 days. Fishing, drinking, boating, drinking, snorkling, drinking, coconut crab chasing (dont get caught), drinking, and a personal tour of the island with British PM (at the time) Tony Blair!

Did I mention drinking!!

Las Vegas. 2 Weeks. 'Nuff said.

Wish I could say that. Wait...I was born/raised there, no I don't (been there done it)

Reno for a month.

Barksdale for Green Flag prior to OEF last fall.

In awesome list form:

• Escaped the start of a shitty Utah winter
• Our 2 shift operation ended up being somewhat less than half of that most days due to Louisiana getting more rain than I thought was possible
• For the first time in forever, our unit stayed off base (except for the few unlucky SoBs from EMS and ops who ended up staying in lodging)
• The awesome Mexican quasi-danceclub bar in the hotel, paired with the awesomely sleazy video poker bar, also in the hotel
• The Sandbar in Shreveport, where:
• My shop embarrassed the hell out of all the pilots re: beerpong (they learned that 4 years at the academy is no match for the skills one picks up in a weapons shop)
• Getting to watch a couple of friends get threatened with arrest for wearing their ball caps backwards on the riverwalk

Best part of the whole TDY, however, had to have been my 2 man admitting he'd never actually been in a bar, and rarely got drunk. After being introduced to the 3 Wisemen by our flight chief, he went further and said he'd never been to a strip club, despite our multiple TDYs to vegas just that year. I had to carefully explain to him that no, strippers do NOT give change and it's generally not a good idea to give them the $5 and $10 you've got in your wallet anyway.

My best TDY was arguably Silver Flag last fall. Granted, it was one of like, two TDYs I've had (one of them was simply a TDY-En-Route between Monterey and my new job as a CE troop, training at Shepherd AFB, which by definition sucked, but was thankfully brief.)

Anyhow, Silver Flag. It's CE's required periodic deployment training, where we deploy to Panama City Beach and pretend to be repairing and standing up an air field to support operations against Muslim militants who have somehow found themselves on what is according to my geography schooling an island somewhere in the West Pacific (well, OK, they are in Indonesia and the Philippines. It still sounds mildly bizzare to hear the premise.) In practice? Summer Camp. Summer camp with electricity, AC, and cell phones as long as we turn them off during training proper.

Easiest summer camp of my life. That said, the last night, I didn't end up with any of the groups going into town (the previous nights, we were stuck in the training encampment or I was working when everybody else was able to go out into town), so I called the front desk, got a recommendation for a local pizza delivery place, and watched R Lee Ermy scream about the B-52 on the History Channel and how the only thing keeping it up in the air was the power of prayer and the efforts of the maintainers. You got the impression that he respected the Air Force ONLY because the Airmen could keep such an old rickety machine of mass death flying at all, let alone flying well.

Ok, this I have to see. Link please!