[simpits-tech] Holy crap I'm heading to Japan....

[Rob Hommel]

Brian:

My father was an old brown shoe airman joining the Air Force at a time when the serviceman wore Army style stripes and Army style boots and shoes. Thus the name brown shoe Air Force. His career was one in which a man with a strong back and a weak ind could go far in the
Air Force. He was at Fairchild on several occasions and I am uncertain as to the year in which this took place so I will tell as much 
of the story as I can remember. 

My father was a Pararescueman, a PJ for those of you who are unfamiliar with them think this is the group of Air Force personel crazy 
enough to jump out of air planes. Their job is to go in and get a pilot or aircrew member who has managed to in into trouble. If that should be behind enemy lines well it's that others shall live. That others shall live, is the motto of the pararescue man when my father 
became a PJ the job didn't exist in the Air Force. The Korean war created the need and a few airmen volunteered to create the job. Some was on the job training some like learning to parachute happened then as it does today at Ft. Benning. 

Following duty during the Korean war, much of the Air Force was uncertain what to do with this group of Pararescuemen so they were often 
delegated to other duties, personal equipment, survival training which was created about the same time as the end of the Korean war and Air Search and Rescue. These were the secondary MOS duties of the Pararescueman. 

My father filled each of these roles at different times, most of the time he taught survival training. At Fairchild around 1953 he was tasked with testing the air field security as were several others in his section. Fairchild was at that time a SAC base and remained that way for another twenty five years. Air Field security was something that had never been tested, isolation was it's major defense at the time. Spokane is several miles away and as there had never been a problem, word had come down from on high (read that as SAC HQ) that air field defense was to be examined. Dad and his buddies sneaked on to the tarmac one night and hung paper tags on the aircraft at various points from string, each of which was printed in bold letters the single word, BOMB.

The following day each of the Airmen were march in to see the Base Commander, a very unhappy Base Commander who wished to know if they had intended to embarrass the USAF or him personally.

My father served the USAF for twenty three years. 

Keep 'em Flying
Rob Hommel
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gene Buckle" 
To: "Simulator Cockpit tech list" 
Subject: Re: [simpits-tech] Holy crap I'm heading to Japan....
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2008 16:04:02 -0800 (PST)


> Got all my training dates today. I go to Fairchild
> (BTW Gene... how far? ;)) around 4 April to hang out
Fairchild is on the other side of the state from me.  DO NOT miss their
museum.  The last time I was there they had a four rail-car B-52
simulator.  It was built to travel from base to base for either flight or
navigation training.  Insanely cool.  Take pics of the outside if you do -
all mine are interior shots. :)

Rob - tell him the story about your old man hanging "BOMB" signs on all
the B-36(?) bombers on the flightline at Fairchild. :)


   > and get beat up until 25 April, then I get to be home
> for about a day before heading to Pensacola to be
> dumped into open, shark-infested water and left to
> die, then if I survive that I'll head down to Altus
> on 16 June through the end of October, and finally
> reporting to Kadena on 30 November.

Don't forget to play dodge 'em with a Chinese MiG. :)

g.

--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
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