When I was in the 318FIS we went to TOP Gun in California.
Our F-106's and pilots flew against the navy jets and jocks.
It was a fairly good TDY for us in maintenance but I did not care for the Navy ways of doing things.
They have some strange customs and really followed them.
One instance I remember quite well was going into the navy chow hall and joining the end of the chow line. In walks two navy chiefs and they go right up to the front of the line and pick up trays.
I say to my airman "HOW RUDE, BUTTING HEAD OF LINE", loud enough so everyone in line can hear it, espacially the chief's and the young navy seaman.
Did not take but a few seconds and one of the chiefs were in my face. HE said that "chiefs are busy important people and have head of line privileges, as do our petty officers." ;D
He then said, "you are an E-5 equal to a petty officer and you can get inline behind me".
I got alittle brave and replied, No thank-you Chief I'll stay back here with my airman."
He then added, "It's Master Chief & when in Rome do as the Romans!"
After the chiefs exited the line for thier table I remarked quielty to my airman, "man, that guy's a psycho."
A navy seaman inline next to me said, "Sarge you ain't seen nothing yet."
Well we all got our food and sat down. I felt the need to use the restroom and headed for it which was on the other side of the dinning hall. In the middle of the dinning hall was a nice area with dividers in the 4 corners with flowers and ivy and the tables had nice fancy table cloths.
I headed through that area and heard a shout "Saragent!" I stopped and turned and saw the psycho master chief getting up from a table and within seconds he was in my face. ;D
He quickly let me know that the cornored off section was for CHIEF's ONLY and that I needed to back track and go around.
All I dared reply was, "Yes Sir Master Chief !"
After I got back to our table I wispered, "The master chief needs a section-eight".
A few days later I had to take a later lunch by myself. I entered the chow hall and saw maybe a dozen seaman in line. I was in a hurry to eat and get a haircut so I went up front of the line until I came to a Chief. The Chief turned and said, "Sarge, I see you are learning the Navy ways." He did not seem to be a psycho today and asked how I like the base. We talk abit and he left for his dinning area.
I made sure to stay far away from that center Chief's dinning area.
That TDY was quite an exciting TDY. There was lots of excitment and activity on the flightline. Our jets flew against F-4's and even a few F-14's. One of our pilots rigged a tape player in his cockpit so we could listen to the air combat talk after the engagement.
We even made a lasting impression when we tried to take-off in our C-130 for home.
Read about it in the TDY section.
I have some flightline photo's of our TDY and will post them if I can locate them.