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Post by ma1marv on Dec 27, 2011 4:24:34 GMT 9
GAAAWWWWDDDD I LLLUUUUUVVVV IIIIITTTTT!!!!!!
OK - EVERYONE!!!!
This topic really - REALLY - hit a nerve with me!
First - after working for over 10 years on the flight line I finally noticed an opportunity for me. The chance to become an Instructor back at my tech school. I jumped at the chance because I was really fed up with the incompetant 3 levels I had been receiving from Lowry! Now I am saying that NOT ALL of them were bad - there were a few that really worked out great and quickly became great technicians in their own right.
(Right Steve!?!?!?)
I put in for instructor duty and was chosen. I do have to admit that when I look back at my official picture that was taken for Instructor duty, that there was a very glaring error on it! Very laughable!
I moved back to Lowry in June 1976 and retired from Lowry in 1987! SO - a career instructor - that was me! I started in the Basic Electronic Principles Course and very quickly became fully qualified to teach all of the course - including NASA level Soldering! I had the same experince about just getting out of Instructor Course and then getting put into my first class. That happened the second day after graduation! I was ahead of my class by 2 lessons each day all the way till they completed the course - that was 18 weeks of basic electronics!
Later in my assignment - about 3 years or so - I was given the opportunity to finally get into the Systems school where we taught our MA-1 system. Basically - the same thing happened there - after the first week the Instructor became sick and I took over. I taught the class the rest of the way through the course with one lesson completed ahead of the class everyday!
At that time though, there had been a couple of new things added and changed within the MA-1 system. We now had the new power system (PUP), the new AFCS and AHRG system and the new IR cell cooling (Peltier Effect!). For those who do not know what I'm talking about - get in touch and I'll pull out my old lesson plans and let you know! We were also teaching the new GUN Mod and HUD and later the school received the #3 Solid State Receiver in one of our trainers! LOTS of changes in the system! We were also teaching classes on a two shift schedule with most of them on days (0600 - 1500) and the rest on swings - (1500 to 2400).
During my stay at Lowry I moved from a Basic electronics Instructor to Intermediate Supervisor to Course Supervisor, all while keeping myself involved with the classrom daily teaching and keeping tabs on the Hughes Acft changes and modifications.
One really wonderful thing about instructor duty was the weekends off and NO standby! I could plan months in advance! We did manage to set up field trips to the black shack for weapons demos for the new classes and the occasional trip to Buckley for a look at REAL F-106's when they dropped in. It paid to have friends in the base operations to let me know when any fighters would drop in - especially the F-106.
I look back at my Instructor experience and I can say that I am NOT disappointed and I do see some things I wish I could have participated in - things like going TDY to Tyndall for firing, going to some of the places that the "6" finally got to go to (Germany for example!), RED Flag at Nellis, even ACT's with the Navy and Marines.
I put in another 20 plus years as an Instructor for the Air Force as a civilian - from 1989 to 2010 and retired on 1 April, 2010. I still think about going back to a college here and working with their tech training department. So far though - retirement suits me and I don't need the money or the aggravation.
Have a great day everyone! Big test tomorrow!
MArv :patriotic-flagwaver :fire_missle_ani
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Post by Jim on Dec 27, 2011 5:33:31 GMT 9
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Post by Mark O on Dec 27, 2011 11:27:39 GMT 9
Thanks for the insight MArv! Obviously you did NOT milk the system, and was able to make a real difference in the quality of the troops hitting the field.
That's what an instructor is supposed to do, and for that I salute you!
:salute
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MOW
Administrator 
Owner/Operator
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Posts: 5,822 
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Post by MOW on Dec 27, 2011 13:41:43 GMT 9
MArv - you were a seasoned technician long before you started your '2nd' career as an instructor. Yea, 2nd career because you'd already spent half of a 20 year career on the line... ok you did more than 20, but I'm basing this on a typical 20 year lifer career. 10 years on the line is half a career my friend :salute
Oh, and Jim is right... never read so much from you all at one time :rofl
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Post by lindel on Jan 5, 2012 10:49:03 GMT 9
MArv, I was one of those young guns you ushered through Basic Electronics (remember those consoles we got to wheel around and hide behind?) and soldering.
Thanks!
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Post by ma1marv on Jan 6, 2012 2:56:32 GMT 9
Thank you sir! I guess - that all to often the little things in life go unappreciated and we do not give thanks enough for what we received.
I thank you for your "Thank You" and I sure would like to remember when you went through tech shool. I also would like to thank you for being a good enough student that I do not remember you. The ones I remember the most were the real pains in he A$$$! Though I did get to meet one of my past students who told me about an incident that we all (Instructors!) had to suffer from. It involved a foregn student! I got a good laugh from it and so did my ex-student. He had accomplished some really good things in his career and we had met back at Lackland during a training conference. I later got to visit his company and did a little work in his lab - showing his techs a couple of little tricks on how to pickup and search for electronic signals.
SO - Thank you for being one of my students and giving me the opportunity to do my job. If you are ever in Nebraska - drop in! Got a cold beer with your name on it! :green-beer
MArv :patriotic-flagwaver :fire_missle_ani
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Post by lindel on Jan 6, 2012 3:32:40 GMT 9
Basic electronics in July of 77, MA-1 after that. I came back in 79 for the Mock-up class, after working in the Mock-up for 2 years.
I remember getting into a minor arguement with someone (an instructor, don't remember the name) about the SCRG system. He kept telling everyone that the cans (mechanical servos) were the most likely to fail, and I kept telling them is was the amps that were the major issue.
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