Prop Wash

[mroyal98]

Another thread "Hawk and a Handsaw" reminded me of things we did to rookies when I was in the Air Force. We would order them to go fetch a bucket of prop wash.
Another (while in training at Chanute AFB) was to put the new guys on the roof with a rain slicker and a flashlight for "Hurricane Watch"

What are some of your favorites?

Edit to add - Chanute is in Illinois.

 

[mroyal98]

Another thread "Hawk and a Handsaw" reminded me of things we did to rookies when I was in the Air Force. We would order them to go fetch a bucket of prop wash.
Another (while in training at Chanute AFB) was to put the new guys on the roof with a rain slicker and a flashlight for "Hurricane Watch"

What are some of your favorites?

Edit to add - Chanute is in Illinois.

 

[Firehouse]

Send them after a hose stretcher or a sky hook.

 

[xray97]

Rookie deputies dispatched to "glider fuel spills".
High School football manager sent out for "play polish".

 

[john traveler]

Assign busty young women students wearing halter tops to hacksaw scrap aluminum billets for the smelting pot. Give them hacksaws with dull blades, of course.

 

[jackbnymble]

Radar Operations: we sent our rookies out for a bucket of radar paint.

 

[gpe55bud]

Youngsters in the Air Force sent out for 5 yards of Flight Line!! Sent a kid all over the base one time looking for a 20mm stretcher. Sent him to Supply, Civil Engineering, and any where else we could think of. Told him it was needed to restretch linked 20mm ammunition belts before they could be loaded on F-4s. Sent back to the tool room for a FUBAR (PC description: Fouled Up Beyond All Repair).

 

[wheelgun1958]

Don't forget the roll of flight line, or the can of jet blast. It's located in the compressor stall. Also there's the wire stretcher if you cut it too short!

 

[Sputnik]

We had fun getting the rookies to "Call Col Sanders ASAP. Sent one poor female mechanic to the tool room at shift chage to get us some 8802, white RTV and 'K9P'

.

 

[Damn Yankee]

Left hand monkey wrench.

This guy needs a runway stretcher.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNbPy9ZHa8U

 

[Kevin G]

Shipboard, Relative Bearing Grease

 

[Texas Star]

You guys are mean. The worst I saw was telling new arrivals in Newfoundland to watch out for snow snakes in winter.

T-Star

 

[nicky4968]

Brick stretcher. Looks just like the brick tongs, but works the other way.

 

[deadin]

Looking at a bucket of Sea Bats or looking at the stars through a P-Coat sleeve.

(and in the Navy it was 3 fathoms of water line.)

We once sent a boot to the gear locker for an electric rake. (doing "yard work" around the barracks.) He came back with a bamboo rake with an electrical cord sticking out of the handle. The gear locker PO told him we would show him how it worked.

 

[steveno]

for the spark chasers find a can of grid leak bias

 

[max]

I grew up about 30 miles from Chanute. Now live about 60 miles away, but remember it fondly. Stopped there once when home on leave to get paid. The clerk said he hadn't done combat pay before.

After I got discharged I worked on the base once a month. I always felt guilty for walking around without a hat and I always wanted to salute.

 

[semperfi71]

Dildo eradicator fluid. Sent a young [an stupid] PFC all over MCAS Yuma looking for it in an eight hour day.

Pink [or blue] "standby chits". Same thing. Send 'em over to crash crew and call the Gunny ahead of time. When the "target" gets there the Gunny chews his butt because he should know that pink standby chits are no longer issued, only blue standby chits are...and of course the Gunny is out of them.

An altitude block. In ATC a lot of military ops are flown with several altitudes, such as 21,000 feet to 23,000 feet [called 210B230 as in flight level 210 "block" flight level 230]...so we had a short 2x4 at the Area Manager's desk with "330B350" written on it. We'd send the newbie to the Area Manager to get us an "Altitude Block".

Nowadays this is all considered harassment. Can't hurt the poor little newbies "feelings".

 

[gunsmith11]

10 feet of chow line

 

[wheelman44]

there's always the old, go get me a bucket of steam

 

[Jim in Wisconsin]

Good friend of mine went into the Air force in 1959. He was told to get some flight line, and used that as an excuse to take the day off. went back just before quitting time and everybody had a good laugh, until he asked if he could get some more flight line the next day.