I had the greatest Air Force day yesterday! The base Company Grade Officer (CGO) counsel set up a tour of one of our Bomb Wings. For those of you who are civilians, this is probably a good time for me to describe to you the difference between the “Line” of the Air Force and what I do. I am part of a group of Air Force officers that fall into a category of Commissioned Officers. We are officers that come into the military already commissioned by virtue of our education and specialty. The only officers who fall into this category are lawyers (JAG officers), chaplains and medical officers (doctors, RN’s biologists, Medical Service Corps officers (me) etc.). All other officers and enlisted personnel fall under what is known as the Line of the Air Force. This would be your fighter pilots, navigators, cops, maintainers etc. What this means is that the people in my capacity who push papers and handle millions of dollars in budgets don’t get to see any of the good stuff! The stuff that most civilians think the entire Air Force is made up of.
Well yesterday, as I said earlier, the CGO which is made up of officers, both Line and specialty who fall under the grade of Lieutenant to Captain, got to go on this tour of the Bomb Wing. We got to go play in a classroom where they teach pilots to fly a B-52! (I recommend google’ing if you don’t know what a B-52 is so you can get an idea of what I am talking about) We also go to go inside an actual real live one! I got to sit in the pilot’s seat!! Chicks in control, man! Our tour guide on this awesome journey, a Major by the name of “Killer”, was getting a kick out ofall of us playing around inthe aircraft. I couldn’t see out the window because I was too short, but I didn’t care at all! There were several areas on the tour where Killer said, “I realize that this some of this stuff is boring…” and myself and one of my colleagues, Wendy, looked at each other and said “RIGHT…like ANY of this is boring!!” We were so excited.
I know where I fit in the Air Force. I fully understand the job I do and my impact on the success of the Air Force mission and I appreciate it. I love what I do. But MAN that was SO cool yesterday! To meet a few of the men who ARE the Air Force! The pilots, the navigators, the maintainers. They have a tough job, too, I’ll tell ya. It is cramped, hot, old and dirty in one of those “BUFFs”. They spend hours and hours in them at a time. I have a whole new respect for those guys. I am glad they do what they do, because as cool as it was yesterday, I wouldn’t want their job for any amount of money in the world.
1 comment:
Very cool post. I had a similar day several years ago in the Army. They put on a "Million Dollar Minute," where they blew up a bunch of targets with ground troops, tanks and helicopters - expending about a million dollars in ammo in the process. I'm sure there are those who would say that this was a waste of money, but not me. I got a chance to see what the "real" Army was all about, and it's a memory that will live with me forever.
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