Air Force is 71 years old today.

[John Schmidt]

First created Sept. 18, 1947 under Harry Truman. Here's a pretty good writeup on the formation and compares it to other countries' Air Forces. I spent a little over six years in the AF, would have made it a career if rank hadn't been so tight. It was relative peace time from '57-63 and even in the specialty fields of electronics & missiles where I was, stripes were few and far between....depending on the color of your nose in many cases.

https://www.quora.com/Why-was-the-US-Air-Force-created-as-a-separate-military-branch

[Serk]

Happy Birthday to the Air Force!

I was an Air Force Brat, born on base.....

[The emperor has no clothes]

First created Sept. 18, 1947 under Harry Truman. Here's a pretty good writeup on the formation and compares it to other countries' Air Forces. I spent a little over six years in the AF, would have made it a career if rank hadn't been so tight. It was relative peace time from '57-63 and even in the specialty fields of electronics & missiles where I was, stripes were few and far between....depending on the color of your nose in many cases.

https://www.quora.com/Why-was-the-US-Air-Force-created-as-a-separate-military-branch

My Dad was in for 7 years 59-66. He got out with the rank of E-5. I was in the Navy for 4 years 78-82 and got out with the same rank. I don`t think it was popular to go in at my time and it was much easier to advance.

[Chrisj CMA]

Cool, I was not aware today was the day.

I did just under 23 years. Based on my rank, I could have gone to 24 but I had one of those bosses.  The first day of the year 2000 was my last day. I'll never forget Y2K day.

[CleoBen]

I served nearly 34 years in the Air National Guard, accumulating over 24 years of active duty along the way.  I'm still amazed I made it through my first enlistment, let alone long enough to call it a career!

CB

[Jess from VA]

Happy birthday Air Force.

Did just under 9yrs.

Best job I ever had.

Lot of great experiences.

Where else you going to get a 9G back seat ride in an F16?


Off we go, into the wild blue yonder.......

Knock it off back there!!

[old2soon]

           Happy Birthday zoomies wing wipers fly boys! Course some of the "stuff" y'all called Airedale suids is NOT repeatable here.  But had I Not served I would have never mentioned what I just did! Course I did All the things I opened with BUT with this caveat-we turned into the wind to launch and recover!  Happy Birthday Air Force. Put the fear of our GOD into those that would do us harm. RIDE SAFE.

[MarkT]

I did my one tour during the nam and got out.  Was not happy with the job they assigned me nor where they sent me.  If I had been smart I would have built on my skills by going to gunsmithing school.  But I was bitter about that instead of practical - could have made lemonade out of lemons.  I remember the big deal, 25yr anniversary of the divestiture from the Army. I was at Nellis then (Las Vegas), the plum tour of my hitch.  And being shipped TDY to Takhli.  That wasn't a bad assignment - I worked on the Thai railroad. (Laid ties in Thailand and only got derailed twice)  To give you an idea how tuff it was, Bangkok was an R&R destination for grunts on combat tours.

[old2soon]

I did my one tour during the nam and got out.  Was not happy with the job they assigned me nor where they sent me.  If I had been smart I would have built on my skills by going to gunsmithing school.  But I was bitter about that instead of practical - could have made lemonade out of lemons.  I remember the big deal, 25yr anniversary of the divestiture from the Army. I was at Nellis then (Las Vegas), the plum tour of my hitch.  And being shipped TDY to Takhli.  That wasn't a bad assignment - I worked on the Thai railroad. (Laid ties in Thailand and only got derailed twice)  To give you an idea how tuff it was, Bangkok was an R&R destination for grunts on combat tours.

              Been to Japan the P I and Hong Kong BUT those Thai ladies-well if you were there ya KNOW what I'm talkin bout!    RIDE SAFE.

[John Schmidt]

           Happy Birthday zoomies wing wipers fly boys! Course some of the "stuff" y'all called Airedale suids is NOT repeatable here.  But had I Not served I would have never mentioned what I just did! Course I did All the things I opened with BUT with this caveat-we turned into the wind to launch and recover!  Happy Birthday Air Force. Put the fear of our GOD into those that would do us harm. RIDE SAFE.

Hey Dennis, you forgot "bus drivers."     As a little sidenote, we used to live a block from the Orlando Naval Trng. Ctr. before it closed some years ago. My four girls were all still at home, the three oldest in either jr. high or high school, and it didn't take long for each new batch of trainees to find out where the girls lived. Every Saturday morning I'd see a flotilla of white sloooowwwly walking past the house on their way to the nearby mall. Was kinda funny to watch, one Saturday my eldest was out in the yard paying tribute to dad's curfew that was missed the night before when this sea of white came to a stop out in the street. Whilst chatting with her(she didn't dare stop) as she worked, the next oldest came strolling out and suddenly the faces brightened even more. Then....the frosting on the cake was my #3, a blonde, who came wandering out and the guys could barely contain themselves. Finally one guy asked "is there any more inside?"  About that time their little sister, Toni, came skipping out and as little sisters are wont to do....immediately took center stage much to the delight of the gathering crowd of young men. And then....momma decided to make an appearance and instead of chasing them off, engaged them in conversation which surprised most of the group. I might mention, at that point in her life she wasn't hard to look at either. From that day forward, every Sat. morning the white wave would start, walking rather quickly until they reached our corner then the pace sloooowed way down in hopes of an appearance of the harem from within. The girls were accommodating as well, making certain one was on the "lookout" and then casually strolling out to meet and greet. I was impressed with the entire bunch, from one group of newbies to the next they were all well behaved.