Finally, I'm a Captain.

After 8 years enlisted in a variety of Airman ranks and 4 years split between a pair of Lt ranks I’m finally a Captain in the USAF. Now I feel like I’ve arrived at my destination.

Though I was thrilled to commission as a 2Lt, it felt like starting at square one again as people treat you like you just fell off the turnip truck as a butter bar (especially when you are 30 but look 21) even though I’d been around longer than most of the Capt’s I knew at the time. Now there will be no telling how long I’ve been in just by looking at me. Could be 4 years or could be 10+ to people that don’t know me.

Even though Capt is not a very high rank in the scheme of things at least I won’t be stereotyped as a youngbuck anymore which will be nice when dealing with old engineers on the job.

Oh, the pay raise is mighty nice too. :slight_smile:

Congratulations, Captain Stinkplam.

I really need to change my username. Stinkpalm doesn’t really sound as awsome now as it did when I was a kid 5 years ago. How can I intiate that change? I know I’ve seen it done before.

Try washing your hands.

Email a mod.

Congrats, Captain!

Wonderful for you. Top of the heap. Just wait to you make major. Back at the bottom. (On the other hand you get to the front of the line in the hospital.)

That’s the awesome thing about the military it seems. At least the career track is a hell of a lot better than most other careers. Not saying that you didn’t work hard or deserve it! Congratulations!

Cpt. Stinkpalm sounds good, no?

Well, first of all, CONGRATS!

Now all you have to do, and certainly have been doing, is getting used to the term, “Retread.”

That took a lot of doing on your part, and it is a significant achievement. Once again, congratulations!

Congratulations, Captain!

OK, objective achieved. Now for the next one… :wink:

Congratulations. Enjoy your day! :slight_smile:

Congratulations, Cap’n. [salute]

A quick story:

A much loved Captain, our airfield commander, was leaving the service, (Germany 1971). A dozen of us enlisted men threw him a going-away party at which we all got very drunk.

For some reason known only to the gods, I asked him what he had never done in the service that he always wanted to do.

“I’ve never fired a flare gun,” says he.

“Well,” says I, “I have a flare gun in my (air traffic control) tower. We can take care of this little oversight tonight.”

We piled into cars and roared off to the airfield. Twelve of us staggered up the steps to my tower. We egress to the catwalk where I hand the loaded flare gun to the very happy Captain.

Before I could tell him to fire at a 45-degree angle, (to give the flare sufficient loft), he holds his arm out straight and fires the flammable phosphorous flare 40 yards into the fodder in the farmer’s field across the fence from our flightline.

The grass begins to burn. :eek:

“Oh, shit!” we said in 12-part harmony.

Springing into action, (as the Army is wont to do!), we ran/tumbled down the tower steps and grabbed a piece of fire-fighting equipment that had been there apparently since the 1900s. It was nothing more than two wooden wheels, a large spool of fire hose and a pair of ‘pole-thingies’ between which one puts a horse.

We pushed, pulled and cursed the thing to the wire fence, got it over the fence, and finally to the expanding circle of fire…a la Keystone Kops.

Once in position, however, we discovered that there was no faucet to which the hose might be attached. :smack:

Meanwhile, the flaming circle expands!

We eventually beat the fire into submission with our shirts, returned the fire apparatus to its rightful place, and, of course, had no idea the next day how the black circle, some 20 yards in diameter, got there.

Moral of the tale: In case you run into a drunk Captain with a flare gun, always carry a faucet.

Congrats, Captain Stinkpalm!

You remind me of my husband, BTW. He was a Mustang (Navy term for an officer with prior enlisted service). Kevin was enlisted for 12 years; then commissioned. Like you, he was very young looking – he was 31 when he was commissioned, but looked at least ten years younger. People who didn’t know him often thought he was a boot ensign, or JG. I still remember how happy he was to put on that second bar.

He retired 5 years ago as a Lieutenant Commander, with 26 years active duty.

So Smoke on the Water is about you?

Congrat Captain Stinkpalm! Now you sound like a Superhero/SuperVillian.

Congratulations, Captain! (Spelling corrected: I first wrote “Catpain.” Too many LOLCATs around here already :smiley: ). Well done, and thank you for your service to our country.

Nice work, Captain. The USAF needs more officers who have worn stripes! I hear the jump to O-3E is pretty sweet, especially since you’re moving from the 10 to 12 year bracket instead of the 3 to 4 year bracket. Congratulations – now go buy the junior Lt. a beer and impart some wisdom on him before he (does/fails to) blow up something that (isn’t/is) meant to explode.

Congratulations, man!

You’re right: Captain has that certain rank that nobody really knows how long you’ve been wearing it–so you could be of a 1LT mentality, but people take you seriously, but yet be in a Major’s position/billet, and nobody in the Army will listen to you (been there, done that in both positions).

Congratulations, though! What’s your AFSC?

Tripler
Captain, USAF, 32E4

Congrats - you’ve almost escaped the realm of SLJJO!

O3E was as far as I made it before I took my crayons and went home. Some of my fellow wardroom types got their knickers in a knot when I married an enlisted man and I decided I’d had enough of the games…

Incidentally, you want a real, um, experience? Try being a butterbar in the Pentagon, where LtCol/CDR types make coffee! It was as close to invisible as I’d ever felt.

(SLJJO = Shitty Little Job Junior Officer - someone has to be in charge of the CFC pledge drive and the annual command picnic :rolleyes: )

Good Morning, Captain…!
(…and congratulations. :smiley: )