Note: I love the WIWAC thread, but like always, we drifted a little. Not off topic, per se, but I really like the number thing. So, similar to WIWAC, list your BITD "cool guy stuff" here. Let's keep it to a list only. Minimal, if any, side chatter please (I don't see that NOT happening) 8)
BITD (Back in the Day)
Rule #1: If you're a cadet, you're still IN_THE_DAY.
1. My BDU Fatigues had a short-sleeve option.
2. My hat device was sewn to my flight cap.
3. My CAP ID card had my SSN on it.
4. I was required to get an FCC "learner's permit" before I could get an ROA ROP Card.
5. My wing had 2 and/or 3 encampments each summer due to the number of cadet members.
6. I only had to run 1 mile for the PT test.
7. Unit charter numbers were numbers...08383 vs. SER-FL-383.
8. There was no "CAP" (pronounced cap) on call signs – "Aero", "Sparrow", "Jefferson", "Kitty Hawk"...
9. We absolutely did not rely on senior members, except for signatures and occasionally, as chaperons.
10. I learned regulations from my cadet leaders. As cadets, the only books (i.e. reg type thing) we got was our Aerospace Education book (Horizons Unlimited) and Leadership book (Leadership Laboratory Vol I, II, III). I never saw a regulation or manual (e.g. 39-1) until I was a senior member.
1) Leadership for 2000 and Beyond
2) Grade on right collar and CAP Cutout on left
3) Skip a grade, do not serve as TSgt, go directly to MSgt
4) No Feik ribbon or WBA, only the WB Achievement.
5) Online testing meant GES and SET
6) Award tests were 100 questions, not split up into two
7) The cool kids knew of CadetStuff
8.) PT consisted of Mile + Pushups, Situps, Sit&Reach.
9) Berets were not Authorized
10) New Service Coats were few and far in between.
1) Insignia came from a Bookstore and then a Mart.
2) The USAF hosted closed-book tests for seniors, requested and processed via the mail.
3) CAP websites were hosted on .gov and .mil domains and looked like this: http://web.archive.org/web/19991012205849/http://cap.gov/ (http://web.archive.org/web/19991012205849/http://cap.gov/)
4) There was no MAJCOM.
5) We had a NASCAR
6) No Blue Field Uniform.
7) Distinctive flightsuits were "royal" (i.e light) blue.
8) Smurfsuit
9) BDUs worn by everyone.
10) Regulations were printed and stored in huge binders with replacement pages sent as they were updated.
11) Specialty tracks were completed with a notation on an MML.
12) Everything was processed manually with physical paper via the post office.
13) Unit funds were deposited in bank of choice, checks written locally.
14) Few people knew who their Group CC was, let alone Wing, Region, or NHQ.
1) The light-blue short-sleeve shirt without epaulets; miniature bar on one collar, CAP cutout on the other
2) Cartoon ribbons for cadets
3) Weird designs on ribbons for seniors
4) Smurf Suits came in long or short sleeves
5) "CIVIL AIR PATROL" at the top of the official seal; "Auxiliary USAF" at the bottom
6) The Monthly Membership Listing
7) Cadet Achievement Contracts
8 ) Pickle Suits for all!
9) The dark-blue long-sleeve shirt with sewn-down epaulets; miniature bar on one collar, CAP cutout on the other
10) My first squadron CC still wore the droopy observer wings (heck, he might still wear those today!)
11) Wearing the service coat over a blue dress shirt, not a uniform shirt with epaulets, etc.
Jack
1. The most commonly worn uniforms were a shade of brown, not blue.
2. Cadet testing was scored at NHQ, not locally.
3. Cadet CAPSN was formatted C-[wing #]-sequential number; mine C-22-10171.
4. Cartoon ribbons were new.
5. C/WO didn't exist.
6. The Leadership Lab book was a CAPM (50-3), and first edition.
7. The AE books were individual items for each achievement.
8. There was no Smurf suit.
9. The CAPF 66 was new.
10. Cutouts were chrome, and in two styles - C.A.P. for SMs, and C.A.P.C. for cadets.
Stonewall's continued...
11. Hawk Mountain existed, but no one believed it.
12. Memorization requirements included "The How of the Cow", at my squadron anyway.
13. AF Form 341s were given out at encampment.
14. In order to be selected for encampment staff, you had to attend a one week Encampment Cadet Staff Selection and hope you still got selected at the end.
15. The only patch a GTM could wear is the Emergency Services patch oval with the airplane. No GTM, EMT, etc. badges, at all. Only wings for aircrew.
16. We wore white crew neck t-shirts under our blues, not V-necks.
17. You could wear the same belt with your fatigues that you wore with your blues, silver buckle and all.
18. We could sign out military vehicles from the motor pool, from deuce and a halves, to military buses.
19. GES card, ROP card, 1st Aid card, GT classroom (2 hours), and 2 practice missions and you were a fully qualified GTM - took as little as 3 months.
20. WWII vets were not only common at the squadron, they were often the pilots who flew us on orientation flights.
Thank you SarDragon for the reminder of the shade 505 cum 1505 uniforms! Starch vs. permpress.
I can match most of Stonewall's list, back in the day WIWAC... when dinosaurs roamed the earth as it cooled! ;D
1. Air Force Academy Survival Course
2. O-1 Birddogs
3. Volk ANGB
4. M-37 Weapons Carriers
5. Old, seat of the pants, bush pilots.
6. Ribbon type writers, Regs and Manuals Binders, and a drawer of paper forms.
7. Blue ink on the CAPF 23.
8. GI Surplus furniture.
9. Lunchbox Radios
10. Civil Defense pamphlets.
11. CAP Seals on the vertical stabilizers. (Corporate or not).
12. Travel Orders.
13. Flight lines with a dozen aircraft.
14. Old seniors with Korean, Vietnam, and WW2 ribbons.
15. Liaison officers and NCOs.
16. Web gear.
17. Ka-bars, AF Survival Knives, Gerber Mk I and II.
18. Soldier of Fortune Magazine
19. "War Games" (Not the friggin' movie either)
20. Rappelling
21. SARCAPs and SARDAs, and not friggin' SAREX's.
22. 50-15
23. GROUND TEAM WAS AN ATTITUDE NOT A FRIGGIN' QUALIFICATION.
24. Singing cadence marching down the ramp at the airport at sunset.
25. Singing cadence marching from the chow hall at Volk at sunset.
26. Old trailers, old tin hangers, and old blue trucks.
27. Anglehead flashlights with red lenses.
28. Wooden handled E tools.
29. Faded hand me down field jackets.
30. The smell of sweat, fuel, and leather in an old airplane.
31. The smell of Kiwi and the hum of a fan while going to sleep at Volk.
32. 70's and early 80's USAF recruiting materials.
33. The Cold War.
34. The old poster that hung in the squadron and showed all the ribbons, ranks, and badges.
35. The same guy on the other poster showing us his haircut for 40 years.
36. Cadets with facial hair.
37. Female blues with the berets.
38. Alpha Squadron at encampment-all female.
39. Metal cadet officer insignia on the fatigues.
40. The old Comm patch.
41. FCC Restricted Radio Operators Permits
42. Red Fox- Base Stations
43. Yellow Fox- Mobiles
44. Blue Fox- Aircraft
45. All the other great radio calls from BITD.
46. Going through the supply drawer.
47. Old seniors wearing Service Caps and smoking cigars and pipes.
48. Metal CAP cutouts on the flight cap.
49. Duck hunter camouflage.
50. The "Old Breed" one and all.
1) Picture ribbons were "the norm" and then became "old."
2) Blue shirts without epaulets.
3) Kiwi-finger
4) Waffle-pattern soled combat boots.
5) Cotton sateen fatigues
6) sticking the brim of your hat inside the belt in the small of your back.
7) Combination 3
8) We passed our shoulder boards on to one another, so that way when you went from C/Capt to C/Maj you didn't have to look at unsightly holes.
9) Squadron touch football once a year on the frozen ground. I still hurt from getting tackled.
10) Color guard was that thing you did cuz you were good at it, not because you might get a ribbon....
Quote from: ol'fido on February 15, 2013, 12:51:48 AM
8. GI Surplus furniture.
14. Old seniors with Korean, Vietnam, and WW2 ribbons.
15. Liaison officers and NCOs.
16. Web gear.
17. Ka-bars, AF Survival Knives, Gerber Mk I and II.
18. Soldier of Fortune Magazine
19. "War Games" (Not the friggin' movie either)
20. Rappelling
21. SARCAPs and SARDAs, and not friggin' SAREX's.
22. 50-15
23. GROUND TEAM WAS AN ATTITUDE NOT A FRIGGIN' QUALIFICATION.
27. Anglehead flashlights with red lenses.
28. Wooden handled E tools.
29. Faded hand me down field jackets.
32. 70's and early 80's USAF recruiting materials.
33. The Cold War.
34. The old poster that hung in the squadron and showed all the ribbons, ranks, and badges.
35. The same guy on the other poster showing us his haircut for 40 years.
40. The old Comm patch.
41. FCC Restricted Radio Operators Permits
45. All the other great radio calls from BITD.
50. The "Old Breed" one and all.
YES!!!
Quote from: NIN on February 15, 2013, 03:04:25 AM
3) Kiwi-finger
10) Color guard was that thing you did cuz you were good at it, not because you might get a ribbon....
Kiwi-finger... you didn't have to look at a cadet's shoes/boots to see if they attempted to shine them, you looked for their "kiwi-finger".
1. RE-CAP radios
2. Official messages were sent by teletype
3. Carbon paper
4. Mission numbers began with the region number, not the year
5. CAP-MAP
6. SARCOMPs
7. 26.620
8. 201 files
9. T-34s
10. Compaq luggable computers
11. LORAN
12. Supply Depot
13. No Sarsat
Mike