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In my ongoing quest to see how just about everyone in the A-10 world does business, I was placed in a slot for HOT with guys who just completed FTD. I already did my HOT at Baltimore a few months ago but they had somebody who couldn't make the trip to Ft Smith so I was placed in his slot for further training. Since we're not flying yet I can always use a refresher. So far I've been to Barksdale, Moody (twice), and Baltimore...so it's good to learn everyone's styles and merge them into what we'd like to do. Being the new kids on the block with A-10Cs we're trying to break out of our F-16 over-anal mentality so I'm digging going on these trips to collect information and tips. Along with trips, we have FTD instructors from Moody and DM who are training home station guys, some depot guys from Hill (trunnion repair on Moody 944 that we got), and our tech rep was a flight chief and CC at Battle Creek so we're getting some great info.

19 Sept - 24 Sept a group of us will be at Ft Smith for night flying HOT. Google shows it's an okay town and so far I've found \"Emmy's\" on the net that's supposed to be a killer German restaurant.

Kinda weird getting older...TDYs I always look for great places to eat or things to see instead of the old days when I looked for the best bars...heh.

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SoWW #2485
Cave Putorium!

I am from the unit that got shafted in Willow Grove. It was nice to be told that we were BRAC'd and losing our jobs and then told \"oh yeah, we want you to do 2 more rotations overseas and a UCI\". I spent 23 years with the A-10.

Sorry to see you guys go. A good friend of mine, Mark Copenhaver was there (WG) for quite some time too.

I recovered and launched out 230 when it came through on the way to Hill for mods, and just my quick lookover she looked like she'd been cared for very well...as well as the other WG jets that passed through.

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SoWW #2485
Cave Putorium!

Just got back from Ft Smith...great bunch of guys and interesting to see how an ex F-16 base works with the A-10s. They still seem a little \"viperish\" but that could be because they're heading towards an ORE this year and an ORI next year. Still, it's great to learn from all of the different bases to see how they do things.

Been to Barksdale for a week, Moody twice for 5 weeks, Baltimore for almost 2 weeks, and now Ft Smith for a week. Haven't met anyone yet I wouldn't buy a beer for! I'm digging the community so far!

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SoWW #2485
Cave Putorium!