11 Oct 2008 - The Chuck

11. October 2008 by The Chuck.

Sorry I’ve let the course of events keep me from the keyboard. It’s been a busy month.

It’s easy to get weighed down with our personal event morass and then we quickly forget about the struggles our band is going through.

I still haven’t heard how our Houston brother faired with the last hurricane. I’m sure he’s busy in legal battles, but he’s been on mind since then.

Andy’s been spitting out the videos at a good rate. I like how the screen transformed into a quasi-paper airplane. Maybe Freebird Hollywood productions are in his future. Maybe I’ll get to write a script or two for him. I wonder who he’ll cast as the leading lady.

The Air Force is just starting to recover from it’s shake-up.

You probably already know a few things have been kicked down from the decision makers.

We’ve lost the Cyber Command, but we’re going to have a “Global Strike Command” under a 3-star. It will include 8AF and 20AF but no B-1s. I guess the B-52 community might have to grow it’s own wing commanders. What do you think Ponch?

And what patch should this GS Command use, Andy?

Looks like GSC won’t get any tankers. Maybe the Air Force will cough up enough coin to re-engine the B-52 to reduce the need for tankers. They only been rejecting that idea since the mid-1960s. “Why re-engine a jet we’re about to get rid of? The B-70’s almost here.” Yeah, right.

Liberating the B-52 crews from ACC is a good first step towards fixing what started the problem that led to the shake-up.

The nuclear mission will finally be spelled with a capital N. There’s even solid talk about making it a separate career field. It should surprise the unknowing that it isn’t one now. Good move to do that.

Some concerns are how to move people between the existing commands and the new GSC. If we can’t get the commands to cooperate on this, maybe all the MAJCOMs should be adjusted to be run by 3-stars. Would that solve any other problems? Maybe.

With the decision to forgo a Cyber Command, it makes folks wonder how this is going to work? Certainly we still have to do all the things associated with Cyber warfare. Just because the USAF doesn’t have a Cyber-command, it doesn’t stop the cyber-pirates and vandals out there. So the Air Force will be looking in to that.

In the meanwhile, a NAF with that function will stand-up under Space Command. That’s probably a good fit at the ADCOM level, but making sure it fits at the war-fighting level will require interactivity with existing C2 elements–an AOC.

And all kinds of things like inspections and compliance assurances will be sure to keep plenty of action-officers working evenings and weekends for a while. I almost miss working stuff like that. Almost.

Beside a few birthdays, the Mrs and I escaped to Horseshoe Bend Ark for our 30th anniversary. For a while, we almost forgot about everything that was going on. Almost.

We’ll have to do that again, but we don’t need to wait another 30 years.

I did get a kitchen pass to go to a writer’s workshop today. It was put on by NOLA Stars, a local romance writers’ group. Now I know a few of you have read more than your share of romance novels, especially on cock-pit alert at the hammerhead–even if you deny it. But NOLA Stars allows writers of other genre to hand around them.

Lucky for me, cause I can’t seem to get past the third chapter of a story without a fire-breathing dragon dropping in or some ogre needing killing to come around. It’s kind of romantic … in a crewdawg sort of way.

All of us know that quantity has a quality all of its own. The Romance Writers of America (RWA) has about 10,000 members. So its not a bad organization to be a part of–if you’re a writer.

Yeah, I know. You’re going to say something about that “Romance” part of it.

Of course, most of you “loved” to fly. I certainly “loved” to land on-centerline, on-speed. We all “loved” to hit our targets. The word “SHACK” probably brings a smile to your face. Of course I’m talking mostly to the bomber-crewdawgs here. There are at least 25 others who frequent this website, and that’s okay. We’re all on the up and up here. Nothing to hide. Except for James–he bares watching.

So anyway, B-52 crews are very familiar with romance. We just didn’t show it all that much with our gruff demeanors. I guess that was because we had to make sure the bad-guys were afraid of us.

Oh well, I ramble here.

But that’s what happens when I don’t write often enough. When I do start, I go all over the place.

I should be posting some more pictures and information about another B-52 that took it’s final flight here soon. Those pictures are probably more responsible for the latest surge in our subscriber roles.

All the members of the BOB are given write privileges. Subscribers just read the posts.

Here are some videos of my grandsons’ birthday. It seem a LA gator got loose in our backyard.

Asher and gator

Malachi and gator

Malachi plays ball

Fortunately nobody was hurt.

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