First Scout Flight
IRF/C-130 Memorial replica of the one shot down Sep 2, 1958.
More Memorial pics!
If only this could be so! So would this be an F-130??
Curacao Scout Pictures
Front Row: Eddie Arroyo, Scott Forman, Mickey Markowitz, Randy Hood, Brad Hobbs
Second Row: Mark Allred, Dave Anderson, Scott Loveless, Jim Ickes, Mitch Hall, Bill Belka, Grady Powell
Back Row: Nancy Brothers, Ryan Rider, Conrad Caldwell, Juan Flores
Some cool aerial photos
Herc from below
Here is just what I thought was a cool picture of a C-130 in a tight bank
Two
pics I liked!
Commentary by Mark Adams:
Man, I see the picture of the gun bunny and it makes me happy. It makes me sad.
If you took all of the AFSOC aircraft we support (a misnomer, we do missions with), the gunship takes the cake every time. The gunship is a platform upon which we have done some amazing things. The gunship, in its essence, is an attack platform, but that activity depends on some other things swirling around in the background for it to be effective. Really effective. The gunship represents the most primal, most basic tenet of warfare, destruction of the enemy and bending of his will. The platform delivers amazing precision from ballistic weaponry. In simple terms, it hurls artillery rounds from an airborne firebase. Technically, that's more than tying your fishing line, it is a ball buster. Computers assist in firing solutions that take into account movement on three planes, ballistics and ballistic wind to name just some variables.
The aircraft must be a supreme communicator in order to advance its mission. It must be able to detect distinctions, slight as they may be, in the line between friend and foe. It must remain fluid in its tasking, it must interdict and intercede on behalf of the men on the ground, so it must turn on a dime, if you will. Like a well aged shot of Scotch, it is both primal and cerebral. Those on board are not robots, and they are not perfect, but they are well trained, and they are determined to bring rounds down. They have also proven themselves innovators. In a sense it is easier to be xenophobic, but they have opened their arms to what guys like us could offer them. They have brought us into the fold, a part of their team, for all the intricacies that exist, and it wasn't easy. A learning curve on both sides was surmounted, and it took time, time we were fortunate enough to have. The landscape has changed. An airborne cryptologic linguist might find himself doing something very different than the old model would have suggested. Things are much different now than they were back then. We might just as easily be plying our trade on a gunship than in the RJ or other traditional conveyance. We may even be hanging it out on the lunatic fringe, in a Pave or even on the ground somewhere. Take my example, I've spent the better part of eight years in pursuit of this mission, and I have friends, perhaps junior, perhaps senior, that have passed through the very gates of the fiery realm in dogged pursuit of making our contribution count. The desire, to weigh in on the mission, make it shorter, make it easier, make it less bloody, and yes, to enhance the effectiveness of the kill was foremost. Putting the power in the right place saves resources.
It's a classic planning factor, take it or leave it. I've given thought to quantifying my feelings as I pass from the special ops world back to the real world, nay, to the training world, which we all know is on a time taped loop. I could make the corollary of that of a Coast Guard crewman that comes from a small boat and is assigned to the largest cutter. He's still able to tie those big knots, but he's more at home out there next to the water, with his life vest on, waiting to see what comes over the next wave...
Great picture. Forgive the pontification....
Manta Pics
Eloy Alfaro Air Base -- Taken from the Scout
Hotel view from the cockpit
Props
Big volcano south of Quito.... I believe it is Mt. Cotopaxi
Flown 9/11/02
(l-r) Front Ender (F/E), F/E, F/E, Melissa Peters, John Egbert, Dennis Thomson, Scotty Harris, Randy Hood, 169IS AMT, Dewain Cluff, Randy Etherington, contractor, Matt Garnes, Maj Bill Siddoway, F/E briefer, Jeremy Jenson, Sunset Crispin, HNR, Mike Scoresby, HNR, 169IS Grnd Maint, Lonny Frye, Lt Col Ware (F/E CC), F/EBottom: Chief Dandy Diddle, Chief Ed Warhead, Eddie Arroyo