Fighter Slot?

Off topic, Mike you do realize the slogan is Above All now. No rush to change your signature because I am sure anyday now the AF will roll out a new slogan:biglaugh:

I think in the 20 yrs Bullet was in we had at least 3 slogans, and I lost count on how many different flight suits and uniforms :rolleyes: The only thing that remained the same was his mess dress, of course we do not have an assortment of colored bow ties, anybody ever need red, green, yellow bow tie and cumberbund we have them, why we bought the AF blue still leaves me puzzled. Along with the white mess dress shirt!

Hint to cadets that get to go to Korea buy your mess dress shirt there! For those that are unaware of the shirts, they look like the typical mess dress shirt, when they take the jacket off, it is some crazy hawaiin, bowling or funky print down the sleeves until the cuffs. For flyers you typically wear the bow tie of your squadron that is why we have sets of red, green, and yellow!
 
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Yea, the motto's change. I'm old. Came in in 1978 and retired in 1999. There's 4 motto's I've always live by:

1. BORN WILD - RAISED PROUD (What a way to go off to war)
2. AIM HIGH - I never cared for the Air Force reference; but whenever I saw/see an F-15 take off, turn vertical off the deck, and go TROPO into the clouds; it's orgasmic!
3. IN SEARCH OF THE ETERNAL BUZZ - Sorry; I found that bumper sticker about 30 years ago, and it's STILL on the windshield of my 1966 Mustang Coupe.
4. LEAD, FOLLOW, or GET OUT OF THE WAY - Sorry, but that's the ONLY way a team can function efficiently.

Anyway; I guess I'm just old. later.... mike......
 
Geez, the only mottos I lived by were:

1) Ain't no way I'm going to the Doc for this cold, Pima. I'm on the flying schedule tomorrow!

2) Make this debrief quick, I've gotta tee-time in 2 hours.

3) No, Lt. You AREN'T getting the keys to the TDY car. I'll take those...

4) No, you didn't get a guns track on us. We LET you into that position so we could evaluate how well you handled our jinks.

5) What do you mean, "No Crud allowed"! We'll pay for the damages!

:shake::shake::shake:
 
CRUD! YES! :) I still haven't played a game since a year ago. I need to kick some butt again. hehe.
 
Sorry, a few more questions. What is drop night ( I have an idea). What is SIE? What do RTU, and AFSC mean? What does "No crud allowed" mean? And why does christcorp always put "later....mike...." at the end of his messages if they're already in his signature?
 
RTU is Replacement Training Unit, in short it is where you go to learn how to fly a specific jet.

Drop night, you will have 2 of these, the first is at UPT, where depending on your rank (i.e. how high in the class you graduated, not 1st Lt or 2nd Lts) is how quickly you get to select what airframe you will get. The lower the class rank the lower you are on the drop. The second drop is at FTU/RTU that is what base you will be flying out of.

AFSC is your job code, i.e. a fighter pilot will have a different AFSC code than the WSO. The person in accounting and finance has a totally different code, etc, etc


CRUD...the best game in the world. No crud allowed is because it is a brutal game. Bodies get thrown. It is played on a skittle table with a red and white ball and no cues.

BTW hornet it is strange that you guys don't have a crud table, since at DS's det they play every thursday night.

Mike is his name and that is why he always signs it that way!
 
To be honest there are way too many rules to give a true explanation, but here is the short version, and I mean the truly short version.

You have two teams, each person on each team has 3 lives. One team will have the objective to get the red ball in the pocket by having the white ball hit before the red ball stops moving. The other person is your blocker, their job is to make sure you can't hit the red ball before it stops moving. If the ball dies, than the shooter loses a life. No cues are used only hands.

That is the incredibly short version. You can lose lives in many other ways, including, no six, double kiss, buffonery (ball leaving the table), out of order, etc, etc etc.

Whether you are a girl or a guy playing you will have bruises the next day. Girls because of the height of the table so when you have to reach for the ball you usually bruise the front of your thighs. Guys because they lift and toss each other around....again why no crud allowed is posted at billiard rooms. I loved watching Bullet play because it is a hoot to see these guys (6', 200 lbs) just lift each other like they are lifting their childrens toy doll.

At every O'Club there is a crud table and some FTU squadrons have one in the squadron. Typically the teams will consist of one squadron playing against a rival squadron, so that's when body really start being thrown. Or if it is 2 squadrons than it is the FNGS against the grey beards...GRAY beards always win! (Gray beards are the LtC's ....FNG's are F (expletive) New Guy/gal) They typically lose because their egos get in the way and they don't play smart. Women typically can beat the guys because we play more finesse and less power, except for me because Bullet taught me...I play finesse and power...right Hornet!
 
Its a huge huge pool table with pockets only at the ends. Think 1 1/2, 2 x the size of a pool table.
 
Pima said:
Its a huge huge pool table with pockets only at the ends. Think 1 1/2, 2 x the size of a pool table.
Click to expand...

"Skittles" (to me) will always be a "bowling-type" game with wooden pins, not played on a table.

What you describe seems more like a snooker table.
 
You are right my bad, it is a snooker table.
 
hehe, Pima, you taught me well in crud! :)

We have a crud table at Haps (the bar in the cadet area) I believe. I was never allowed in since I only turned 21 about a month ago! I will make sure I play this coming semester. :)
 
remember the trick to get the blocker off the table is to come around the end with speed and then hip check by bending your knees (hip should hit their mid thigh to lose their balance). Or you could do Bullets way and just speed around the corner, grab n the flight suit and toss them with your non-shooting arm:eek:

MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT AT LESS THAN A 45 ON THE CORNER BEFORE YOU RELEASE THE BALL!

DS played every other Thursday at the det last semester, by the end of the yr he was always single man Virgin

FYI to those who don't know the game:
1. If you shoot before the 45 degree it is called a vulgar term (depends on guy or gal), you lose a life.
2. Single man/woman means everyone else on your team died and you are the last one standing
3. Virgin means you still have all 3 lives left

In the fighter world as a Lt. if you want to get a pos. nod for the old craniums, Crud at the club or squadron on a Friday night is a quick way. You get visibility(face time) real quick from the old guys/gals if you can hold your own. You will also get teased if you do something that is known as buffonery...i.e. ball leaves the table, knock the refs drink or get caught reading the rules. So when you have the chance at the AFA or ROTC dets and plan on flying it is smart to learn there and you will feel comfortable playing at UPT

This link is a snapshot of the game of crud
http://www.aewa.org/Library/crud2.html

This link is what you don't want to be caught reading in the crud room. Yes there is an actual room in the club that is walled off (usually has pass thorughs so people on the other side of the wall can watch without being injured. Bodies are thrown and they go far, I actually was thrown @ 8 ft by a hip check from a 16 pilot into a popcorn machine :eek:
http://www.aifcv.org/pdf/CRUDRULES2000.pdf

If caught you buy a drink for the ref!

Bullet can give you the urban legend of how the game came about. I think it is something about drunk pilots playing pool and breaking the cues so they played without them.

Big Club nights like promotion parties(free food and booze, rule is any officer on the list places money on the bar, Friday night after the board is release) or First Friday (when every squadron does their hails and farewells) the club is packed with all of the squadrons and bragging rights become the motivation of playing crud. TDY's such as Cope Thunder have them, and of course the night before an air show the club will be packed!

There is a lot more to the pilot world than just how well you handle the stick, it also has a lot to do with the social aspects. Things like fini flights and hosing the guy down (too funny to watch the guy get hit with a fire truck and 3 or 4 extinquishers), or roof stomps or naming ceremonies. If you roll with it as good fun than you will have a wonderful life, if you complain you will be very lonely.
 
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Ahhh...Crud.

My introduction to "real" Crud; not that wimpy stuff I learned in SAC? On a TDY to Eglin...new eagle driver (captain, KC IP, SAC guy) and thinking "what am I doing in this jet" still...need to start flying fighters early in a career to really be comfortable in them. But I digress.

I went up on a hop...2v2...and had this OLD general kick my rookie butt in EVERYTHING air combat related...he even laughed on the radio a couple times. His one complaint (well other than the fact I was a useless SAC puke in a real jet) was that I was "not aggressive enough" when employing the jet. (remember, I was still the mental fighter pilot equivalent of a newbie 2Lt)

That night it was to the bar...and I learned REAL crud. And he was on the other team...and I had more than a few beverages...

I knocked him on his A**...and we won the game.

And he looked up at me as I handed him a nice cold one...and he grinned and said:

"SO...finally learning how to be aggressive eh? GOOD JOB!"

Pima's description is VERY accurate...and the bruises will be PLENTY...but the comradeship will be forever.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
Bullet is usually the single man and that is why I love the game.

AS a wife on Sunday I always would have bruises in a straight line across the top of my thighs from jumping the table to get the white ball. (envision standing at the end of the table jumping foward to reach the ball in the middle and coming back down to shoot) I also had bruises on my hip bones (goes back to the coming around the corner full speed and making sure you are passed the 45 degree)

FUNNIEST STORY

I was the OCSC president at Elmendorf, one friday night the 16 guys played against the 90th (Stike), the 90th was short 2 players (2 teams), so my friend and I were placed in for the ghosts. In the end it came down to me as a virgin and 2 16 guys with 4 lives remaining. One guy throws me into the popcorn machine. Bullet screams out Pima are you okay, is the baby all right? The poor 16 guy crawls up into a ball. I tell him I am not pregnant and then yell at Bullet, "great by tomorrow the whole base will think I am horrible mother playing crud pregnant" 2 weeks later at the OCSC meeting people asked me when was I due!

Bullet was always right the OCSC should be changed to the OCS-CIA, because we have the best communication network. Spouses will come home and say guess what I found out today, we allow them to spill it, and then correct them and add more info!:shake:
 
Bullet got blood wings with the 82nd AB, his chest and shoulder were bruised for at least a week. He also got "PINK BELLIED" with them!
 
Oh; and if you practice landings at the O'club with lined up tables and Beer poured all over the tables; don't do it will a belt/buckle on. They sometimes snag on the end of the table and it hurts. (But it makes for a great Navy carrier landing where you got grabbed by the hook. :shake: )
 
Also always drink from the alcoholic grog. The non-alcoholic will make you sick:eek:
 
Ahhhh, Crud, Carrier landings, Blood Wings, Deceased Insects in a Crowded Bar, a couple of friendly choruses of Adeliene Schmidt with all the bro's (and No, Flieger. I won't go into detail on THAT or any other song. I don't expect you'll want to explain it either. We don't want to be banned!). The good old days.

It was a different time, different expectations, different morals. Things we got away with back then that we could never get away with now. For good and for bad, the AF has matured and for the most part left a lot of those traditions behind or watered them down to a more socially acceptable level. You could argue it is politcal correctness run amok. You could also argue it was about time we grew up and joined the rest of the civilized world.

But one thing remains constant, and always will: this life (and I include ALL the military, not just us knuckle-dragging fighter pukes) is a Brotherhood, and we live this life and celebrate this life together. And the rest of the world we pity, for they will never know the level of comraderie and dedication to each member of our Brotherhood that we lived and celebrated together, everyday.

Let the traditions slowly fade away, or become watered-down shadows of their former selves; it matters not. We still have each other, and always will.

A toast to that!!!!!








But they better not EVER take away my crud table from the bar! :wink:
 
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