Category Archives: Military Affairs

This category contains information relevant to or about military affairs. The host’s bias favors the US Armed Forces and the F-16 in particular.

Typical

Posted on Fri, 14 July 2006 by Chris Penningroth

    As so often happens during a permanent change of station, life has been filled with unexpected twists and turns that drinks up free time as fast as a thirsty man in a desert that ran across his first oasis … Continue reading →

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Fini

Posted on Sat, 17 June 2006 by Chris Penningroth

     Wednesday I flew my last syllabus flight, the 2nd of two Surface Attack Tactics (SAT).  We briefed up a set of medium-altitude GBU-24 (GBU stands for ‘Guided Bomb Unit) attacks complete with threat reactions and threw in a … Continue reading →

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Close!

Posted on Tue, 13 June 2006 by Chris Penningroth

     The first thing on the agenda this morning was a change of command.  BGen Rand handed the Luke AirPatch over to BGen (sel) Jones.  The ceremony was at about 0900, and it was already about 100o F out on … Continue reading →

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Ground Abort

Posted on Tue, 13 June 2006 by Chris Penningroth

    Friday, I spent several tedious hours mission planning.  I woke-up early this morning, spending four hours anticipating a great flight in some of the best weather we’ve had here in four weeks.  Preflight, engine start and setup of flight … Continue reading →

Posted in F-16 Operations | 2 Comments

Turning Night Into Green

Posted on Fri, 09 June 2006 by Chris Penningroth

    Last night was the night Surface Attack Tactics (SAN) flight.  It was not really so much tactics as it was administratively getting me warmed up to fly tactically at night.  This was one of those painful flights that the … Continue reading →

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Ding Dong, The Witch is Dead!

Posted on Fri, 09 June 2006 by Chris Penningroth

    The breaking news all over the world right now is the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, along with six of his associates.  Here are some links to news stories:  FoxNews.com, CNN.com, Air Force … Continue reading →

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Quickened Pace

Posted on Thu, 08 June 2006 by Chris Penningroth

    Let’s see, what’s happened since Memorial Day? At "work," my classmates and I flew Tactical Intercepts (TI), Air Combat Maneuvering (ACM), Air Combat Tactics (ACT).  This week we moved on to the air-to-ground phase and have accomplised Basic Surface … Continue reading →

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Happy Memorial Day

Posted on Tue, 30 May 2006 by Chris Penningroth

    My thanks and prayers go out to those serving, especially the folks downrange, and to our families.  Special thanks to those who’ve gone before in service.  Thanks most of all to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, and to … Continue reading →

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BFM Complete

Posted on Thu, 25 May 2006 by Chris Penningroth

    Yesterday I flew my last BFM ride in the re-qual course.  It went fairly well.  The jet I flew was fairly heavy, and on a hot day with a Pratt & Whitney 220 engine, it wasn’t really as intense … Continue reading →

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Basics

Posted on Sat, 20 May 2006 by Chris Penningroth

     I flew two basic fighter maneuver (BFM) hops this week, one offensive, one defensive.  I’ve managed to prove to myself I can turn high-G circles in the sky and shoot down a bad guy or keep a bad guy … Continue reading →

Posted in F-16 Operations, USAF | Comments Off on Basics