Christmas, New Years and Such

[Joe S (AK)]

Well Chuck -

I make it a rule to not listen to a "Weather report" for someplace, say, 500 miles away. This weather summary report is EXACTLY why I don't want to know what the weather forecast for Los Angeles is when I'm in some place like Nome.

The fact of the matter is that I was stationed at Al Kharj in the Rub Al Khali desert and NOT in some city elsewhere in the Theater of Operations - where some A1C worked taking the weather report and sending it somewhere to make a neat final report by higher ranked REMFs.

Also, the fact of the matter is that I was there and you were not. That means that I have first hand information and you have some old averaged Theater of Operations weather report.

We used over the counter thermometers and we didn't have any "readings" from mountain tops or next to the ocean to contend with - we just had a thermometer hanging in the shade in the entrance way to tent # G-21 --- MY tent --- sitting right in the middle of the desert and showing the DESERT temperatures right there for all to see.

The final fact of the matter is that I have found many """errors""" in military reports and reported history in those 39+ years of my AF service. Some of them fabricated, precisely where I was stationed, and well after the fact "for the good of the service".

So yes Chuck, Passive Aggressive might work for you and your cherry picking computer searches - but experience stands by me.

[Geowizard]

Climate science is based on accurate temperature data.

Many factors go into certification of temperatures. Military rank isn't one of them!

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO);

Highest temperature recorded on Earth:

56.7 °C (134.1 °F), recorded on 10 July 1913 at Furnace Creek Ranch, in Death Valley in the United States.

If the current record were to be decertified then the holder would be a tie at 54.0 °C (129.2 °F), recorded both at Furnace Creek, and in Kuwait.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highest_t ... d_on_Earth

I wasn't there, but Desert Storm lasted 43 days, from Jan. 17 to Feb. 28, 1991 (winter).

Can't cherry pick that.

- Geowizard

[Joe S (AK)]

No Chuck - you weren't there - and I, in fact, was.

You didn't live through Shamals with 5 feet of visibility in the sand and I did. Cold nights and blinding hot days - something you missed out on - and I didn't.

You didn't live in a triple walled tent with it's own industrial air conditioner with the heat so intense as to melt plastic in the days - and I did.

If you choose to believe me or not is of little to no consequence because I was there before, during and after the war and you, simply, were not.

No Chuck - you might know some other things but you don't have any knowledge about that spot on earth that you didn't 100% get from the internet.

[Geowizard]

Oh... I believe every word of it!

I just couldn't find anything that corroborated the story.

Interesting story though!

- Geowizard

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[Leonard]

Thanks for your service.

Well Chuck -
where some A1C was taking the weather report and sending it

I resemble that remark "AIC" Airman First Class. That's what I was after 7 years. I exited the service with orders in hand for Viet Nam as a choice. stay and go to Viet Nam or go home to my wife and baby. I was 324X0, PMEL. I would have spent my time in the CAL Lab under humidity and temperature control.

Leonard

[Geowizard]

Leonard,

Thank you for your service! It was a turbulent world and uncertain time for those that served.

I was a 328X0 - Avionics Communications Technician as a "Buck sergeant" (E4)

I took advantage of every opportunity to go to school while in the Air Force. I went to Anchorage Community College full time for two years in Avionics. I took every correspondence course available. I got a Private Pilot and Commercial pilot license at Elmendorf and Merrill field respectively. I got a multi-engine airplane rating and became a flight instructor at Holloman AFB in New Mexico. Although I was an Avionics Comm. Tech by day, in evenings and on week-ends, I cross-trained F4 Phantom pilots into civilian pilot ratings to go forward with civilian pilot careers. I applied for commissioning under the "bootstrap" commissioning program to become an Electronic Warfare Officer. The war ended April 30, 1975. A month after I got out in October, 1975, I received a rather large "official" envelope from the DOD/USAF stating I was accepted. I was given an offer to report to Nellis AFB and be promoted to E5 while completing a EE degree at UNLV. I declined the offer. I was a Captain in the Civil Air Patrol training Cadets to be future Airmen and Pilots in Kenai at the time.

Thank you, everyone for supporting our Veterans! Thanks to all that have served and continue to serve!

- Geowizard

[Joe S (AK)]

Leonard,
On my part, absolutely a fond memory of being a "Double 'skeeter Wing" and doing work that others sometimes took credit for.

As is always the case, rank is just something sitting on your shoulder while you do the work. As a PMEL guy you fixed intricate 'things' and sent them out to be used on more intricate 'things'. Good work.

I made E4 in less than minimum TIS and had to wait to sew it on. That was followed with E5, again with minimum TIS / TIG. When I discharged AD the first time I transitioned into the ANG where I made E6 right away, running my own section for 7 years.

After returning to College I applied for a Commission under a seldom heard about program - and then, somehow, ran afoul of circumstances and sat, scratching and clawing, in limbo, until I moved out of the narrow parameters for that program. Should have been an O3 or O4 out of OCS but ended up evolving outside the specific parameters of that "Deserving Airman" Program. That opportunity evaporated and a young troop from CBPO later earned that commission. I ended up just being kicked to the curb in my old billet.

One or two years later I was talking with a chance recruiter in a distant city and found out that I was just, just within the parameters, again, for "A Commission" - AND - he could help me out. Weeks later, upon specifically questioning about "The Deal", I found out that the guaranteed commission (again O3 or O4) was for a SAC Missile Launch Officer, sitting in a silo or riding in an airframe for endless days of total boredom (unless, of course, ...). I was a TAC guy and SAC just wasn't in my future and I declined the 'opportunity'.

A few years later on I was an ANG volunteer and specifically activated for "The Storm" for an open ended tour. After over a year of that Active Duty I elected to return to the ANG. A few years went by and I finally retired as an E6 with 39Y, 3 m TIS.

So now I'm just waiting for a trip back North to shovel bank run into a sluice.

Such is life.

Joe
Older but not-so-much smarter