The Military is starting to scare me...

[jets1959]

I have been trying to do this one where I work but every time I suggest it my safety man turns a funny purple color,,,,
Hey, They work on helecopters, If they are dumb enough to open up a GPU ( ground power unit) and electroucute themselves because there was not a warning label on it to tell them not to touch the pretty humming thingy they aint got no place working on anything that flies.

I agree with you, but the lawsuits would be killer! People in this country are no longer responsible for their own action!

 

[SMOKEWAGON66]

Yet it is still OK to issue the weapons? Something that was actually designed to cause injury.

Please understand that I have a great esteem for members of all the branches (both past and present) but this is just plain frightening to an ol' country boy.

You know, I thought about this too...but fortunately for us, these guys are in the Airforce and they are maintainers... (no offense intended for any AF personell) The likelyhood of them having to use a weapon anywhere other then a range is HIGHLY unlikely. lol. One of them told me he's been in 3 years and the last time he held an M-16 was in basic training. (One of them even made reference to Call of Duty on the XBOX for the use of weapons...I almost fell over )

 

[Bighurt]

Last time I fired the M-16 was 2001...it's not my duty weapon.

 

[barefootin]

Jump packs, REALLY?

My favorite Einstein quote is;
The only difference between genius and stupidity, is that genius has limits....

It's also called natural selection... It's time to thin the herd

That being said, we had a similar response to a similar incident a few years ago at work. I found jumper cables that auto correct the polarity, so it doesn't matter how they are connected.......... No more "localized thermal events" have occured due to this failure mode anyway....

 

[islandguydon]

Check this out. This is battery back up system for my home. I researched this system for 4 years before I installed it. I built the shed, battery boxes, ventilated it and hooked up after the meter. The battery's are all 2V, copper bared in series to the 48dc. they weight 214 lbs each. Two separate systems to feed two separate meters.

All the tools are plastic coated for safety. I had a friend over and wanted to see the system. I told him to be careful and do not ever have a steel tool in your hand in case its dropped between a set of bars. The idiot accidentally dropped his can of coke in the open battery box.

The can exploded and the coke was instantly boiled to syrup. I always lived in the premise of safety first, think before you act. DC power is just as destructive as AC.

 

[jeffhuey1n]

Last time I fired the M-16 was 2001...it's not my duty weapon.

X1, X2 or X3?..never can get them right so i won't try. And your duty weapon isn't even taken out to the range...I don't mean the great big one, that one goes to Vandy and only Vandy. Hope it never goes anywhere else.

 

[jeffhuey1n]

You know, I thought about this too...but fortunately for us, these guys are in the Airforce and they are maintainers... (no offense intended for any AF personell) The likelyhood of them having to use a weapon anywhere other then a range is HIGHLY unlikely. lol. One of them told me he's been in 3 years and the last time he held an M-16 was in basic training. (One of them even made reference to Call of Duty on the XBOX for the use of weapons...I almost fell over )

Sit back, relax, you wound me up so I got to school you, gently, on Air Force Maintainers; not all are rear area jet or missile fixers. Before you guys raise a ruckus, you're our top cover and you have my utmost respect. We can not do our job without those A-10s running top cover. We can't do it either without you X1s, X2s and X3s keeping those birds ready in their holes to eliminate stupid nations at a moments notice. Now then:

If your talking F-15, -16, B-1, -2, -52 or any of the starch wing JET birds, low chance of using firearms. not impossible, but low chance. Lots of defensive layers between them and the bad guys. Now Helicopters and Prop planes (i.e. C-130, C-27), enlisted and officers; Aircrew and ground crew must stay very proficient on their weapons. Helicopters break. Anywhere, any time. Same with the prop birds, just fewer places to land. Regardless; they sometimes must be fixed on the spot they broke. Mr. bad guy in funny clothes, who doesn't like us, will try to make holes in us, the helicopter, whatever. So, proficiency is practiced extensively. Almost forgot the V-22 guys. They fit the bill too, just scare the tar out of me. If it can land anywhere, it can break anywhere. And it must be defended, cause it ain't leaving till we (maintenance) get it fixed. We REALLY HATE LOSING A BIRD!
My signature is meaningless unless you were in those career fields. The first was as a USMC CH-53A/D helicopter mechanic, then on the same type helicopters as a Crew Chief (always capitalized). After I stupidly left the Marine Corps, I got to join the Air Force. Started out as a heavy lift crew chief (doesn't have to be capitalized, speaks for its self) on H-3/H-53s. They combined the heavy lift and light lift career fields (all the Huey models; -D, -F, -H and N) and sent me to my first love the UH-1N (long story). Except for a one year stint on each of the HH-60G, HH-3E and HH-53Cs, All my AF time was on the UH-1N. Combine the Marine Corps, Air Force and recent civilian time I've got 27 +/- a month or so years on helicopters, 20 of them on the Hueys. I landed in some really screwed up places. None in "combat zones"; at least they weren't declared combat zones. I'll invite anyone to spend the night outside in SE Washington DC with nothing around you but gunfire, of which there was plenty, and then tell me it's not a "combat zone". Firearms proficiency becomes your #1 priority and #1 tool if you can carry. if you can't carry, get real good at chucking a 10 inch crescent wrench at some a** holes gourd. You practice, practice and prctice some more. There was a time I could put a screw driver through the side of a helicopter from 100 feet away....I can finally fess that stupid attack since those helicopters are sitting in the bone yard.

No offense taken. Everyone forgets the Air Force has Helicopters. We do and we have several missions. Our guys in the AOR are THE RESCUE force. The Army has Dust Off/medivac (FREAKING AWSOME PEOPLE!!!). We go behind enemy lines and get downed pilots and other people who need to GTFO of a bad sit immediately if not sooner. They go, like any helicopter can, whever the job takes them. And they don't leave anyone behind even at the risk of losing the helicopter and or crew. I've read some of the stories of our guys ops (unclassed, just don't make the news) that would match Black Hawk Down (did you know there were Air Force PJ's there?) in intensity. We've lost a lot of helicopters and we've lost 59 Rescue personell to date since we went into Crapcanistan. Doesn't sound like much but when the Rescue force is approximately 1% of the total Air Force, every one is worth their weight in Gold. Our Motto is "These Things We Do That Others May Live"; our emblem is the "Pregnant Angel" and our mark is the Green Feet of the Jolly Green Giant.

Final note in keeping with the theme of this thread: every Caution, Warning or Note was written "in blood". To clarify, someone did not follow the T.O. or did and the T.O. was WRONG(!!!) and because of that failure an injury occured. Usually non-fatal, too many times though, they were fatal. When it happened a red bordered change was sent out to the field to fix the problem and supplement the T.O. Oh T.O. means Technical Order, aka Bible, to you non AF folks..

I now release the podium to the next speaker.

Semper Fi, Crew Chief till I die.

 

[islandguydon]

That was an excellent read, Very well spoken. I will pass on the podium to tired.

Peace Out..!

 

[SMOKEWAGON66]

Sit back, relax, you wound me up so I got to school you, gently, on Air Force Maintainers;....


...Semper Fi, Crew Chief till I die.

Like I said...I meant NO offense to any AF, USMC, USA, or USN people here at all...I was speaking generally about the "maintainers" here where I work...which is a Flight Test Squadron...and thats it...testing is all we do here. Thats why I said they wont ever use a weapon....at least not while assigned here.

Your post was very well written, and I will say that I know exactly what you mean by it. I know personally that there are AF maintainers that have handled their business when there were no birds to wrench. I cannot remember their Sqdn # now but they were gun truckers in Iraq in '04. I apologize if my post came off as offensive to you, as it is coming from an Army Vet who spent most of his time walking, carrying guns or driving trucks and shooting guns...This AF world is just a whole other animal then what Im used to. Im sure you know what thats like, Crew Chief

 

[Ferroequinologist]

There are too many lifeguards around the gene pool.

 

[jeffhuey1n]

There are too many lifeguards around the gene pool.

 

[jeffhuey1n]

Like I said...I meant NO offense to any AF, USMC, USA, or USN people here at all...I was speaking generally about the "maintainers" here where I work...which is a Flight Test Squadron...and thats it...testing is all we do here. Thats why I said they wont ever use a weapon....at least not while assigned here.

Your post was very well written, and I will say that I know exactly what you mean by it. I know personally that there are AF maintainers that have handled their business when there were no birds to wrench. I cannot remember their Sqdn # now but they were gun truckers in Iraq in '04. I apologize if my post came off as offensive to you, as it is coming from an Army Vet who spent most of his time walking, carrying guns or driving trucks and shooting guns...This AF world is just a whole other animal then what Im used to. Im sure you know what thats like, Crew Chief

No offense taken, no apology required or necessary. I was trying to clarify a possible misconseption that is prevalent in the other services. Being a two service person, I know what the Marine Corps enlisted people think of the AF enlisted folks...mostly envy. They got the good food, ggod sleeping quarters, never have to sleep in a fox hole, none of the real war fighting stuff. I was wrong and the misconception is wrong. Everthing is dependent on the job we signed up to and the time we signed up. As far back as WW I, I have direct family relations that fought in every war up to Vietnam. After that, I can't say for sure, i have lots of cousins I don't know. Every generation that served was either in the Army or the Marine Corps up until my generation. 4 of the 5 kids in my family served. Kid sister wan't medically qualified or she would have joined. One of my siblings is still serving. The rest either got out or retired. None of us served in a combat zone except the one still serving but he's not Army. We broke the family tradition. I'm an avid researcher of the Divisions and Regiments my ancestors served in. I learned though that research the book knowledge of what the Army goes through in War time. Worthless in the real world. You've "seen the elephant", I have not.

So, a salute to you and your service, Soldier. Thank you for keeping us safe here at home. When you finish your service, I hope you can come home to a good family celebration and can continue doing what you love to do.

 

[Odyssey M]

As silly as it sounds I almost died from such an event. In OIF 1 I was with the Aco 508th INF 173rd ABN. Anyway I happened to be at the right place and not doing anything so 1SG asked me to go get slave cables from maintenance to jump the Commander's HMMWV. All fine so far right? anyway I got the slave cables from maintenance and pulled up a running HMMWV next to the CDR's vehicle, plugged the one side into the good vehicle and went to plug in the other end to the veh that needed the jump. As soon as I did so there was a flash and arch. I knocked the connection loose and the there was some fire (small amount) and the connection was partially melted. Where is the almost died part you ask? Well I opened the battery compartment and there was still a bit a flame on the inside and guess what? Seemed the Commander liked to store his extra frag grenades in that empty space beside the connector!

Yeah I asked the mechanics about it and they said they had repaired that set and must of connected it wrong.

-Dale

This is the type of shenanigan that generates more AFN "commercials". Like the ones about--"Don't tape your grenade pins".

 

[RidgeRunner609]

You're just now getting scared? I was scared back in 07 when I was out at MCAS Miramar and as a comm guy I had to explain to the new "Mechanic" what a power steering pump was and how to change it because her NCOs had just told her to change it out.......... Granted she was a new mechanic but you would have thought that it would have been covered in mechanics school.

 

[jets1959]

You're just now getting scared? I was scared back in 07 when I was out at MCAS Miramar and as a comm guy I had to explain to the new "Mechanic" what a power steering pump was and how to change it because her NCOs had just told her to change it out.......... Granted she was a new mechanic but you would have thought that it would have been covered in mechanics school.

The military has manuals for everything. Couldn't she look it up? Oh, I forgot you don't have to read or write to graduate high school anymore, or tech school. Should have told her it was the doohickey next to the thingamajig connected to the flux capacitor! LOL

 

[laggy]

funny shop story... i had about 6 or 7 months in on my first command. me and my shop supervisor had a senior airman convinced the fluxcapacitor was bad in a p-3 and it was gonna take 6 hours to change it. the know it all said yeah i think ive done one of those before. we asked him where it was and how to replace it, leading him on for about ten minutes, before we said. "where were going we dont need roads" he thought we meant cuz it was a plane... yep gonna miss the navy.

 

[OPCOM]

What scares me is how **** dumb some of these kids are now. Boss hires me a helper to help on the Plumbing van! Well were on guy # 4 in 2 years. Its tough stuff go to van get what i tell them to get, Clean up and put tools away, show up to work on time, dont use drugs, be respectful towards me and customer's, dont get arrested on days off. In 2 years haven't had one kid be able to complete these basic task's! That really scares me !!! As for being able to jump start a car i wouldnt trust most of these young punks to close a umbrella!!!!

I had to come in on this one despite the age. I had an apprentice and a really good helper for about 3 years. At some point this changed and other stuff including college was of little interest. Bizarrely, last I heard he was heading to Peru maybe as an adventure but I do not think his girl friend was going along and I don't think he has funds for it. This at 22 years old. That was 8 months ago. Maybe never to be seen again but it's his own responsibility.

What's the deal? Do some guys get brain dead or go crazy? Do they lose common sense, become irresponsible? What can explain it?

 

[Jesse6325]

Heck, I remember embarrassing the tar out of a trained diesel mecanic back when I was 12 or so.
We had a oil well drilled on then place we were living at the time and one of their pump engines was running hot and loosing power. Well after their mechanic messed with it all day I bet the driller a coke I could have it running right in less than a hour. All I did was change the fuel filters and re prime the engine.
I just followed common sense to find the problem.

 

[ryan77]

I think the most brain dead helper i had got lost in a customers house and called me on the cell phone to find him! The owner called me and asked later that day how he was working out! I said "He got lost in a house today that should explain how hes working out"!!! Bottom line is dont use drugs....lol

 

[RidgeRunner609]

The military has manuals for everything. Couldn't she look it up? Oh, I forgot you don't have to read or write to graduate high school anymore, or tech school. Should have told her it was the doohickey next to the thingamajig connected to the flux capacitor! LOL

No, she didn't have a drivers license either and I don't know how well she read english. Hard worker though.