Onime No Kyo
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quote:
ORIGINAL: AW1Steve
OK Mike. Let's lay that "Cadillac duty myth" to rest. Yes, I was land based. But unlike maintainers, for who "VP" duty is Cadillac duty , for Aircrew, it's a little different. Maintainers can have a beer anytime that they are not on duty ) and I've know a few who would have one when they were on duty. If you think it's hard not having a beer when you've been months at sea , where NO ONE , not even the Captain is having one , try going 30 days when everyone around you is having one , offering you one , and trying to repay you by buying you one.
Here is how it works: You show up for a 2-3 hour brief, then go to the plane and do a three hour preflight. Then you wait for 4-5 hours for maintainance to fix a gripe with the airplane that they supposedly fixed , but didn't. THEN you go flying. And yes , it's only 12-14 hours on patrol. And the P-3c has three pilots, two flight engineers, two navigators, two sonar operators and ONE EWO. Guess which one I am? So after 12-14 hours of sitting the seat (because no one else can) we land, and the "crew rest cycle" begins.This means , since your base is "flapping" (at a high alert status, tracking multiple "real world targets"--read "bad guys") that EXACTLY 12 hours after landing you WILL fly again. Unfortunately , this flight isn't done. And you are already supposed to be preparing (read--no booze) . So you post flight the plane for an hour or so, then go to a debrief for two hours--that turns into three or four if you had an interesting flight.
Then you go eat. But as a "Prisoner of the flight schedual" , you eat when you can and Navy and Air Force galleys have very specific hours. They never, ever coincide with the flight schedual. (It's against the rules). So you go to the club (This is Iceland--no MacDonalds, Burger King, etc. The basing treaty doesn't permit them). The club is expensive, but..it's hot. So you finally sit down in a comfortable chair (having changed--no flight suits). Your dead, but starving. Then the devil's begin their torment. Every 15 minutes for the rest of your meal , the waitress will offer you a drink. People all around you are having drinks. You smell it, you crave it , but it's not for you!
Finally , ordeal over , you get to your room....and everybody in the barracks is having a party. Except you. Your flying in six hours. Despite the "do not disturb, crew resting sign" on your door , at least 3 times through the night some drunken maintainer will knock on your door, demand someone who doesn't live there , then try to give you a beer to make up[ for waking you up. If you can sleep at all , due to the non-stop partying going on.
Your alarm goes off and it's 0Dark30 and it's time to do it all over again. Repeat again and again for thirty or so days. Maybe, just maybe the "flap" will end , and you can try to make inroads to deal with your sleep and beer deprivation. Or not. I've seen flaps that lasted most of an entire deployment (six months or more).
So , yeah , your right that P-3 deployments can be fun . Or not. Unless your a maintainer. Then it's usually fun. Weren't you a AT Mike? 
The way you describe it, it almost makes me sorry I didnt choose the navy.
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