Aviation BS and Photo Thread

Oh, crud ain’t quite mandatory.

It’s an, uh, “morale sport.”







Beer is involved.

 

I know lots of AF officers that would disagree with you. Crud at mandatory fun. I guess some like, some don't.

 

Had to Google crud. Would play, would lose.

 

So did I. Haha

 

Not in any of my units. Sucks if it was considered forced fun.

Crud...ultimate frisbee, combat* golf, combat* basketball, combat* kickball...all ways to play and have a funny story at sick call (because invariably someone is getting hurt).

*Combat sports involve steel toed boots, helmet, and body armor (no plates). No one is driving the lane with all that crap on. In combat golf, you carry three clubs and run from hole to hole. Kickball had a giant 24” red ball from MWR, and was a hoot because no home runs. You can’t run fast, so everything seems slo mo. There would be drinking, but we’d have designated drivers set up ahead of time for safety.

We all worked hard, accomplished a lot, and played as hard as we worked. Esprit de corps and morale in my units was high, and I know how lucky I was in those units.

 

First off, I'm Army, so what do I know. We just get drunk and hit on other guy's wives until a fight breaks out. That's our kind of esprit de corps.
My wife on the other hand is AF and every single school, class, seminar, etc. she's ever attended had a mandatory social hour that almost always included the commander saying everyone must play at least one round of crud, whether you want to or not.
Me, I'd rather take my bottle of tequila to a quiet corner and be left alone.

 

How the hell do you get hurt playing crud?

 

Drunks hucking pool balls around? Sounds almost guaranteed that someone’s going to take a cue ball in the nuts.

 

Googled that shit...seems to be a Canadian invention.

Given such, your assessment would seem logical!

 

Drink more, it won't hurt lol.

 

“Enthusiastic blocking.”

We’d also play combat rules a lot (gentlemanly only counted in mess dress; otherwise we tended to the combat version), with moving screens to prevent a shooter from getting into an advantageous position. All in steel toed boots, vests (with plates) and helmets. No glass containers - plastic or aluminum for safety.

One unit had a DO who played tackle at the Academy, and, well, he was often an immovable object. He was really good once he got a few drinks in him.

When I was in 12th Air Force, it was common to have the bomber guys go at it with the fighter guys. The rest of us would just stay out of the way - those guys tended to get personal.

Funny how in a “gentleman’s game” that only the enlisted were actually gentlemen.

 

I usually hand flew below 10K.

 

Getting ready to close/open the cargo door I believe. It’s been a few years since I worked the ramp but that’s what is in those hatches. It’s either that or it’s a lav/potable water/comm. The only other thing that would kind of make sense in that area is water. Ramp agents shouldn’t be opening anything else. Hope that answers your question!

 

I think this was not the cargo door as the latch was on or next to the hatch at the rear of the plane,I am thinking it was fuel because he pulled out some list and and filled it out then talked to a guy that went up a ladder stand with what looked like a fuel nozzle.Just something I have never noticed before.....

 

Ohh yes I didn’t think of it being the fueler. I just thought that panel was in the wing for the A320/19. It’s been a while like I said haha. I do know that there is a panel in the back and front for each cargo door. The paper he had may have been the fuel slip.

 

now that i am not on my phone i went and looked at a full schematic it looks like a fuel gauge inside that panel.....

 

You've never played if you can't see how you could get hurt.

Yep, enthusiastic blocking, rolled ankles from trying to get around the table too quick, etc.

We also had a game in the cadet corps at VT that the university banned called "Push Ball". Basically soccer, but instead of a soccer ball, it was roughly a 7 foot tall, 100 pound beach ball with 100-200 amped people to a side with the rules of "no biting, no punching in the face". Pregame, you'd see all the upperclassmen taking off rings, glasses, dog tags, etc. Some seniors refused to play because they didn't wanna risk their CRO/Pilot/BUDS slot to injury. In fairness, when you put 400 type A personalities on a field together, the savagery ramps up pretty fast.

This is a pretty tame picture, but you can see how injuries might occur:

 

Shenanigans were not allowed when I was in.

 

Even 2 of them can be a recipe for disaster. Military pilots, especially those in command slots, are weird.

I helped break up a fist fight in a deployed Superbowl party (Bosnia) between two full-bird colonels. As a staff sergeant. Weirdest shit I have ever been part of in my life. Outgoing commander threw a punch at incoming commander while both were 7 shades of blotto.

Bomber driver (B1B) -v- fighter jock (F-16C)
Stanford ROTC -v- Yale ROTC (that's a thing?!?)
Dodge Prowler -v- Chevy Astro
Short -v- tall
Rams -v- Titans

They absolutely despised each other.

Chief took the outgoing boss and I wrangled the incoming boss, and we took them back to their racks by separate routes. I got the colonel onto his bed, took off his boots, left him a glass of water and a trash can, and went back to the party. He didn't roll in to the command shelter until 2PM the next day (flight ops were suspended for all American aircraft for the Superbowl...but we flew on Christmas). He queried everyone on what happened the night before, but we were all mum. Both made contact, which official could significantly impact their careers. They were both inherently decent so it wasn't worth burning them both.

The whole rest of the deployment he kept asking me if I knew anything about that night, but didn't give anything away. Momma didn't raise no snitch.

 

Stanford/Yale ANYTHING is grounds for a bout of Queensbury Rules.

I hear you on command billets. My dad's last pump to the desert, they had a standing "Chiefs and Eagles" weekly basketball game. Some heinous injuries came out of that series. Torn ACL, a broken kneecap, etc.