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Comment by Paymaster on January 7, 2010 at 7:14pm

Rose4256.....To chime in on your question about Firearms, here is something to think about.

If your pilot is flying with a co-pilot or NFO I would consider purchasing the same weapon as their partner (mostly caliber of weapon).

If your pilot fly's solo I would look at what type of weapon is most commonly issued buy the Navy and buy either that weapon or one very similar.

Here are my reason for this information: If you fly with a partner and you have to use your weapon, it is most helpful if you need more ammo, that you be able to interchange ammo with you partner (no time to shop for you ammo when the heat is on).

The second on purchasing a weapon for a solo pilot is if the weapon needs to be worked on while they are in the field or are on ship they will be using the Navy Armour. Those armour's are familar with the weapons the navy issues and have the tools and parts to make the repairs. If you purchase a weapon that requires special tools and some hand guns do, and your pilot needs repairs they will be up the creek waiting for repairs.

Thanks for letting me share.

Also, I know of several pilots that recieved hand guns as gifts and their parents had them engraved with initials or their names on them. This is something to stay away from. Several sqaurdons discourage this pactices, thus making the pilots replace that part of the weapon or didn't allow them to carry the weapon on duty.

Comment by Helomom on January 4, 2010 at 1:41am

Happy New Year to all! We were totally blessed to have Christmas with our son and his family who travelled here from Florida. He was supposed to be at sea but thankfully for us, their deployment was delayed. It was a wonderful bonus Christmas!

Comment by Paymaster on December 22, 2009 at 7:23pm

Flynavymom. They don't know their number until the day they are winged. You can take the wings to any jeweler after the winging and have the number added.

Good luck.

Comment by AH on December 18, 2009 at 12:20pm

I'll have to tell my husband that it isn't just Mike. None of these kids like to have their pictures taken. During the parade at OCS graduation, it was great. He had no choice!!!!! We never did get a picture of him next to a T-34 but did get the forms solo pictures. They even shot some short video which was great. On one flight in the T-45, his instructor had a camera and was in the front seat and shot it backwards toward Mike. That was a great picture.

Comment by AH on December 17, 2009 at 4:45pm

That doesn't always work either. In training, they are only permitted to have cameras in the cockpit if they get permission. On his forms solo in Primary, a chase plane did have a camera and got some great pictures. My husband is a photographer and Mike grew up having his pictures taken and got tired of it. He only lets me take them now.

Comment by AH on December 17, 2009 at 4:00pm

Lynn, at least you got a picture next to a simulator. It wasn't until Mike was almost done with Advanced that we got one. I had to go down and take it. I did just get one over Thanksgiving of him standing next to the F18E that has his name on the side below the cockpit. It doesn't fly yet, due to an overhaul, but it does have his name on the side!

Comment by AH on December 16, 2009 at 12:47pm

DJ, when you used LLSS, not knowing what it meant, I googled it and it actually is an acronym for loose lips sink ships, or at least accoring to acronyms.thefreedictionary.com . I have heard that they try to come up with call signs that sometimes you don't want to have to explain. My son's is Jeeves as in Ask Jeeves on the internet. He is a walking encyclopidia. He doesn't exactly like it - but that's the point. In Advanced, there were twins in the squadrons (one in each down in Kingsville). The skipper named them Mary-Kate and Ashley.

Comment by AH on December 15, 2009 at 7:08pm

I'll ask Mike if he knows a "Bee". Mike one of his squadron pilots stay at his home until his 3 years is up too. Just about the same time as Sean will. He didn't go out on the re-qual as they were only sending ones that were likely to deploy with the ship - whenever. Does Sean know where he is going? Mikes roommate is going to be an instructor in Kingsville.

Comment by AH on December 15, 2009 at 6:41pm

You know... you and I had this conversation back a couple of months ago and I forgot. Mike is in VFA 137. They went out on the same re-qual, but Mike has never been deployed. They will be on the same carrier come deployment time. I asked Mike and he said that VFA 2 was out there with them on the re-qual. He hasn't ever been on deployment. He finished with the RAG in Feb 2009 and then went with VFA 137. I think that he said that the Lincoln had come in from deployment in the fall of 2008. That was probably your Tiger Cruise. I can hardly wait. I asked Mike if he knew a Sean in VFA 2 but he didn't off the top of his head. What is your son's call sign? Mikes is "Jeeves".

Comment by AH on December 15, 2009 at 1:04pm

Thanks Chris. He sounded upbeat, which was good. They had been having problems with planes breaking down, so the workups at the field were pretty sparse. It had been 11 months since he had been out to a boat, so I don't think that he was feeling too bad.

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