Not to jump into the flames here, but this wasn't just an old sailor
serving
out his reserve decades, this was a young '**** hot' fighter pilot. Have
you
ever known one that didn't manage to tell you what he was within the first
five
minutes you knew him??

It took you five minutes?

I once witnessed five enlisted crew-dogs in flight suits pick-up chicks
claiming to be "fighter" pilots (five minutes +/- tops) at a Red Flag motel.
I felt kind of dirty just watching :-)

A former shipmate of mine, oh, we'll call him "AW3 Jose Melendez", used to pick
up chicks around San Diego using that BS.

I was on a first date with a lady; at the bar where we were to meet, she was
accompanied by several friends. One of the friends was a young woman that
looked waaaay down her nose at me, dressed as I was in poster-perfect dress
blues. After a couple rather uncalled-for barbs, she announced she'd never
date an enlisted man - she was going out with a "rescue pilot". Sensing the
obvious, I told her, "You know, the SAR community here in San Diego is not that
large - I probably know your guy." "I doubt it. He's an *officer* (emphasis
hers)."

By then, I was about full of her... "Well, then, humor me -" to which she
replied, "You wouldn't know Jose --" and I sorta yelled out "JOSE MELENDEZ???",
which was followed by several jaws smacking the floor.

"How could you know his last name?" she asked with horror. I snickered, "How
many Joses do you think we have riding helicopters? He rides in the BACK, with
ME. And I have out-ranked him since the day he showed up at North Island!" I
laughed, "Not only are you *not* dating an officer, Jose will never in his life
be a pilot of anything. That's rich!"

The rest of the date was every bit as enjoyable.

The following Monday was a lot of fun for me, burning Hoser to the ground at
muster. I asked the shop of about 15 aircrewmen if we had any "Rescue Pilots"
among us, which brought 15 'no's. I asked, "What about you, Hoser? Aren't you
a Rescue Pilot?" which got him a bit angry - then I told the whole shop what he
was doing in order to get laid. "Telling people you are a pilot is bad taste;
telling them you are an officer is 1) stupid, 2) illegal, and 3) *low class*."
The Chief had fun with him for the next couple of weeks; we eventually let him
wiggle out of it.

Other than this mythical "Jose Melendez", I never encountered an aircrewman
pretending to be a pilot. I wouldn't have taken it very well. Oddly, I was in
a situation once, where I guess I did this myself, although I certainly wasn't
on the prowl.

Marine Major Tim Hill from MAWTS1 at Yuma was in the Los Alamos Ops shack with
me and a gunship ferry crew, and the T-39 crew I was with. When Yeager came
in, Major Hill told me to go say hello and I bowed out, saying I thought the
General wasn't too fond of "enlisted scum". Major Hill, without a hesitation,
yanked off a Marine 2LT's velcro namebadge and stuck it on my flightsuit. I
don't know who was more horrified - the Marine 2LT or me! I got Yeager to sign
a Porsche repair shop business card but when I reached out to take the signed
business card, Yeager wouldn't let go of it! I was about to **** myself -
Yeager grumbled, "You ain't no Marine..." and then after a pause, let me take
the card (still got it), a lot closer to ****ting myself. I withdrew with
alacrity, and fled into the rain outside to wait for a fuel truck. I left the
namebadge on the seat where the 2LT was sitting and he silently returned my
own.

Anyone who hasn't met Chuck Yeager before, trust me - he can be quite
intimidating under the wrong circumstances.

v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR

Its always better to lose -an- engine, not -the- engine.