I think the zoomies in the Gulf war kept a lot of us ground pounders alive with their non stop pounding of those little rat bastards.  As for me.  Jealous?  Hell yes.  But like my old man told me before I signed up, "Its an experience you'd pay a million bucks for, but not a dime to do again"  He was right.

Last I heard, that was imposed from outside, just like 'no ground forces in Kosovo', and several other 'no blood, no matter what the cost' regulations...

All this shit makes me laugh.....  

I'm a gunner on HH60G Pavehawks doing Combat Search and Rescue.  We fly 25 to 50 feet off the ground and one of our biggest threats is RPG's and ground fire.  

I know my job, I know what I do, the dangers, and the perks.  So, if you guys want to bitch about how I live that's fine.... Really, I don't mind.  As long as you know that while you're sleeping in your muddy hole I'm curled up on my bed under some warm blankets with my head on a pillow.  

However, This spring when we're all over in Iraq and a call comes down that there's some Rangers in downtown Baghdad that need picked up guess what?  I'm going to get out of bed, slip on my boot, load up the mini-gun, and come get your asses.  

So, whatever........... talk all the shit you want.  I'll see ya in Baghdad... Suckers!






P.S. don't take this the wrong way.. it's all in good fun.  freakin' legs!

Nope, it was an AF reg.  Both Navy and Marine Air came way below the 10,000 AGL, and so did a few AF crews because they knew it was necessary to do.  The 10,000 AGL was put into effect to keep them above LADA, small arms and above the max ord of the TFs mortars.

What bother guys like me in the fire support community is the AF over concern with not crossing GTLs, or even getting close to them, when ground forces are shooting that is why we get paid to deconflict the fires.  

P.S.

I can offer no defense for the whiners (in any service)...

There's a certain segment of people who oddly enough make it into the services, then express this odd dumbfounded thought: 'Uh, you mean that I gotta go to war?'

I've met a few 'I'm in it for the free education' ROTC cadets and enlistees myself... I can just immagine the gripes these guys would develop sitting in a tent in Afganhistan. Not legitimate, but they'd do it...

Jesus, fellas.  Of course the air force is going to live better.  They've got to draw more technically proficient folks in order to make the rubble bounce around the legs.  Naturally they're going to get some more delicate personalities.  Some folks in the AF suck it up with the rest of the troopies, particularly the cops and the spec-ops guys.  Many of the other airman are basically in a corporate environment.  How else are you going to retain an E-5 who could be earning 60k on the outside?  The system seems to work pretty well.  Ask the Taliban,  the Yugos, the Iraqis, the Panamanians...

'Course, it can be a kind of a pussy atmosphere, which is why I went in the Army Guard instead of the Air Guard after my hitch.

Its not just the ground pounder that laugh at the Air Force. Back in my Navy days we used to say that the first people off of a sinking ship are the women, the children, and the air force! ;-)

"All you can come up with?"  You sound like a third grader on the playground.  No, that's not all I can come up with, but I'll explain it so even an Air Force corporate associate can understand it:  A smiley at the end means it's a joke.  Some of us are just picking on the Air Force for the same reason we always pick on the Air force.  It's fun!

If you want to discuss numbers, you're going to have a pretty hard time beating all the saves that the Army has done on the battlefield under fire, and in the peacetime world under MAST (which the USAF also participates under).  You aren't going to beat those numbers by a long shot.

Relax before you hae a stroke!  You're taking it too personally, and people have figured out how to push your buttons and make you sqwak.  All the services are going to rag on each other, and you'll have to admit the Air Force is fair game just as well as the others.  

Ross

What is it with you zoomies requesting oral sex from other guys? Don't ask, don't tell!