How long was your flight?

[Tnic 5]

That is definately a Weapons Storage Area. I used to have business at the old one in Bangor, ME when I was in the ANG there. It was used as our rifle range after the AF left and some of the guys I worked with had some very interesting war stories from when they kept Genie Nukes there for our alert fighters. Dow AFB was a small SAC bomber base in it's day.

Did you check out the Airport to the north (about 9 km) of YO? A lot of planes parked in nice neat rows.

I have many good stories from the WSA up in Minot. A lot of fun times, a lot of, uh, not so fun times. Either way though, good experience and I wouldn't trade it for the world. There's nothing like digging through six feet of snow to expose a manhole cover to ensure it hasn't been tampered with. As if the six feet of snow on top wasn't proof enough. That's Uncle Sam for you!

Bangor ANG still looks like they're working. There's a C-141 and two C-130s on the south ramp, three KC-135s on the west ramp, two more on the north ramp along with another C-130. And is that an F-101 Voodoo up on blocks in front of the squadron?

I didn't check on YO's airbases last night after seeing that FREAKING HUGE WSA, but I did tonight. The base due north near "shoybulak" seems like it has a relatively low priority since there are several breaks in it's perimeter fencing and not much activity on the ramps. It does have a plowed runway though so it's at least a little bit important! The only aircraft I could see were a few old Colts and some smaller fighter trainers. All looked to be pretty old. Maybe two Bears sitting on the south ramp near the helo? Anyway, the only thing modern I saw was the big Antonov cargo plane. I'm guessing that's their training base.

There's another strip to the east of town near "Savino" but I couldn't zoom on it. It looks to be a bigger runway with more access so maybe that's where they keep the good stuff. I'm too lazy to research it right now, but I'm sure a trip over to globalsecurity.org, fas.gov, or any of the tinfoil hatters favorites, like the CIA factbook website would quickly shed light on which cookie jar holds the pichinushki.

I still can't believe the amount of unclassified ####### that's out there today. Reminds me of a "SECRET/NOFORN" briefing I had several years ago where the "intelligence" officer came in and told us about our deployment location, etc., etc., etc. When it came time for pictures, she said, "OK, these were taken a few years ago during the construction phase of the base." I pulled out a few pics I'd downloaded from Google, held them up, passed them around and said, "yeah, these were from like three days ago." She told me to put them away and not to show anyone else as they were now "CLASSIFIED." WTFO? Classified? They were downloaded off the freaking Internet. You know, the thing that has world wide access for anyone and everyone? She seemed quite irritated, and not at the fact that my intel was better than hers and there was something inherently wrong with that, but just irritated by the fact that I'd beaten her at her game.

I just wanted good info. I'm a visual person, so before I go anywhere I like to check maps and stuff to make sure I know what I'm getting into. My buddy recently graduated from intel school and he's assured me the information out there is so much better now. "We get it like 10 minutes after CNN now. It used to be like 20, but now it's only like 10. We're making improvements!" Without getting into details, let's just say he calls me for "confirmation" on all things FSU-related before he produces his briefings. It's not that his super-secret classified network is ineffective, it's just that TV1 shows it on their news several days before it appears on his computer screen.

I think Obama just fixed all that with his recent trip, right?

Yeh, Bangor's ahoppin all the time. I hired on fulltime in 88 as an SP (guarding planes) then switched to AGE for the rest of my career. They have been steadily building and improving since the mid '90s

That (Google maps) image is from a few years ago. I see some buildings that aren't there now and the AGE equipment is normally parked under cover. That long building near the engine test cell is gone as of 2003 and we had the fancy circus tents put up right next to the shop in 2003 or 04. That big square building just off the north (new) ramp used to be motor pool and CE and it's gone as of 2007. It's a nice shot of one of our tankers taxiing out though. I think I can see my old car too.

Oh yeh, You're right about the 101 and if you look right straight ahead of it across MAINEiac Ave you'll see an F 89. The F 89 was one of ours from the old Genie alert days that we recovered from a small muni airport in Maine and fixed it up for display. The Voodoo was also one of ours that we got back from the Canadians. From the two fighters on display you might guess that we were a Fighter Interceptor Wing (101st FIW) before transitioning into tankers (101st ARW) in 1976. The MAINEiacs have a long and proud tradition.

[Tnic 5]

Ok, it won't let me edit.

I said north ramp, but meant to say the West. I also see where they were building the new commercial vehicle security insp. facility at the main gate which puts the image at sometime in 02. The SPs got tired of crawling under trucks in the rain and snow and holding up the only lane into the base.

[Rob_Lesya 4]

And seriously, ####### was up with the "reset button"? I'm a registered Dem and somewhat of a Hillary fan, but dear god that was about the stupidest thing I've seen in a long time. "Hey, I know! To show good will to our fellow nuclear superpower, let's give them a BIG RED GODDAMNED BUTTON!"

And I'm assuming you saw that for 2-3 days before Obama arrived, the Russians put the button in Pushkin Square in the center of Moscow so that everybody could get a big kick out of pushing the BIG, RED, MISLABELED BUTTON and laughing to themselves thinking, "those stupid Americans!"

[slim 1,533]

but I do think her actions made a certain level of sense.

Of course they did, and OPSEC is very important but she was more concerned with being "one up" than having good intel.

From what my imaginary Russian tells me, the general feeling is that nobody was really impressed with Obama.

Hmm, kind of sounds like what's going on here. Nobody is really impressed with him either.

Yeh, Bangor's ahoppin all the time. I hired on fulltime in 88 as an SP (guarding planes)

I did SP from '98 til '04. What a job.

then switched to AGE for the rest of my career.

Good move!

They have been steadily building and improving since the mid '90s

That (Google maps) image is from a few years ago. I see some buildings that aren't there now and the AGE equipment is normally parked under cover. That long building near the engine test cell is gone as of 2003 and we had the fancy circus tents put up right next to the shop in 2003 or 04. That big square building just off the north (new) ramp used to be motor pool and CE and it's gone as of 2007. It's a nice shot of one of our tankers taxiing out though. I think I can see my old car too.

Oh yeh, You're right about the 101 and if you look right straight ahead of it across MAINEiac Ave you'll see an F 89. The F 89 was one of ours from the old Genie alert days that we recovered from a small muni airport in Maine and fixed it up for display. The Voodoo was also one of ours that we got back from the Canadians. From the two fighters on display you might guess that we were a Fighter Interceptor Wing (101st FIW) before transitioning into tankers (101st ARW) in 1976. The MAINEiacs have a long and proud tradition.

Plus they have the best sticker! Maineiacs stickers are all over the world as the KC pilots and crew do a lot of traveling. The 101st has been all over. I'm pretty sure I've guarded more than a few of their planes on more than one continent. They get around. Pretty neat how the history of each unit develops and changes but still the unit keeps it's pride.

Google maps are not up to the minute, but for a general overview of what's out there, they're pretty good.

I just wonder if Hillary had a few extra minutes before her flight, swigged a little cough syrup while passing a Staples store, and thought "heeeeeeyyyy now, here's a good idear!!!"

That's exactly what I thought when I heard "reset button." Sounds too much like a Staples commercial. But, while we're at it, we might as well throw a few billion their way. - "Staples cleaned up the whole nuclear mess for us. That was easy."

[Tnic 5]

Plus they have the best sticker! Maineiacs stickers are all over the world

I see you've heard of us. We do like to stay busy.

I say "we" but I retired on a med discharge in 05. Still have my 1st Shirt hat, but ran out of stickers awhile back. We have a pretty nifty retiree hat too. I'll try to dig it out and snap off a pic sometime.