Proposal for a Mil history/nostalgia thread
 

Gentleman and ladies,

The opening gambit of this thread is that it is for Mil aviators.

My experience over the past 7-8 years is that this is becoming less true.

Perhaps we should split the thread and have a "nostalgia/memories" thread and "current ops"

Thoughts?

Ralph

Ralphmalph said:
Why?

Sun.

Sun,

Because the disconnect from today and yesterday is never so big as now.

I want to hear about mil stories, current ones... Not about Changi in the dark ages.

Less and less of my serviceman and women venture here for the reason.....it's irrelevant.

The Present
 

Perhaps because with so little to look forward too Military Aviation has become a nostalgia wall anyway.

Half the stories seem to be about how good/bad it used to be....

Perhaps,

But there would be a context.....scroll down the posts on page now.....how any are from today's military?

Ralph

I assume you have conducted a detailed survey of your people to determine whether they read PPRuNe ?

However, as an old fart who only did 30 years, feel free to insert your head in your bottom and ignore the lessons of history.

Fly safe.

A quick review of the threads currently running suggests to me there's a (roughly) 505:50 split between 'current' stuff and more 'nostalgic' stuff.
For my tastes, that split sits about right.
The present is informed by the past. I find a minority of posts by the 'old boys' to be bigoted, narrow minded and out of touch. I find a minority of the posts by those still serving to be naive and poorly informed.

I find the majority of posts to be interesting, informative and frequently humorous.

For my vote - leave things as they are, I like the mix.

Just saying.:)

Sun.

Ralph I'm going to make an assumption here (SOP for PPrune) that you like me are a fairly intelligent fella. Here's what I do when opening PPrune. I read the post title and open those that appeal to me. I tend to ignore the ones that do not. Hell, every now and then, just for a laugh, I open the ones that don't appeal; well you know you got to live fella.:ugh:

Where do you draw the line between "Current Ops" and "Old Ops"?

I find discussions about WWII just as entertaining as i do those about this morning's news.

Do you think I would find a WWII SK R-4 Pilot's tales of flying in Burma to be any less valuable than some current fellow crying about a cut in allowances?

Get real folks....read what you want....get involved in the discussions you want.....and ignore everything else. In most cases you are not missed.

SASLess,
Absolutely. A phrase I like to use is 'history is prologue'; often this 'history' is paid for very dearly. We need to be very careful not to overlook the lessons of the past and other types of campaigns in other theatres as we focus on current Ops. The last thing we need is a generation of Desk Officers that only understand Ops through the Afghan prism; fora such as this should be widely read by junior aircrew to broaden their knowledge and experience. I give a RW tactics history lecture to junior aircrew - the lack of background knowledge of anything other than Afghanistan is disappointing, but not unexpected. If operators ignore the lessons of history then ignorance and hubris can be the result

I think Ralph has a point.

Perhaps an 'in mil' / 'ex mil' split would work. Who knows?

My take on PPRuNe Mil is that it is a continuation of Mess Happy Hour / Squadron Beer Calls / Section Piss Ups etc

Banter. serious, lamp-swinging, informative, historic, all types of chatter is here.

Besides, where would us sad old ex tossers go for our fix?

taxydual said:

I still don't see the point. SASless had it right:


SUN.

Age: 58

Buggah!:sad: I'd better shut it then :{

What was the slogan of the 'News of the World'? Oh yes, all human life is here.

Bit like PPRuNe Mil.

Something for everyone.

I am extremely interested in current ops as well as old and bold. My take on it would be that a week of postings would cover current ops and then where do you go? As has been pointed out, it's just as easy to read the post headings and dive in or stay out. And any real; change would be subject to thread drift such as the Harrier, don't mention Sharkey, did a job the Spitfire couldn't, though the Mk IX, while Tonka...so you see my point. But thanks everyone for making this a place to spend many happy hours. :ok:

I'd tend agree with the thread starter but to be honest Pprune is a very different place from when I joined in 96. The number of serving military users has decreased markedly over the last 5 years or so, due to a combination of thumbscrews from the military hierarchy along with the slow dilution of the interesting stuff with triv, rubbish and spottery.

Lots of the historical stuff is fascinating; the thread on life as WW2 pilot for example is gold dust. Sadly there is an equal amount that is just tenuous triv. The old adage of any forum is "if you don't like the subject, don't read the thread". That's all well and good but sadly most interesting/relevant subjects quickly vanish up their own cyber backsides as random people get involved adding more and more noise of ever decreasing relevance.

The Wg Cdr Spry thread, for example, should be a place to discuss current topics or good old "I learnt about flying" stories that inform and educate. It shouldn't be a place to air tired and tedious old hobby horses or to pick fault with the RAF hierarchy.

I'd agree that there is a place for historical & nostalgic military aviation chat but I think there is also a place for discussion of current military topics, drawing where necessary, on the mountains of retired experience out there.

Pprune is currently of little relevance to 90% of serving folk. A bit of demarcation might turn that around....

I have to go with Tomjoad on this one. 30 years in and I still have stuff to learn from "current servers", I also have lots to learn from Danny42C, I suggest that PPrune Mil forum tends to find its own balance, and if anyone wants to split off and go all "hissy fit" then so be it. I for one have no interest.

Smudge

As a humble civilian who loves to read all the stories that appear I hope PPRuNe Military Aircrew stays about the same.
This is the only place that I know of where I can read these stories. Oh yes and surely the really modern stuff is still
covered by The Official Secrets Act and perhaps shouldn't even be mentioned ?

Sorry to intrude I will go away now, thanks for your time.

Ralph - in a word "no"

The best comment I've seen is

I 100% get this. As a Fg Off on my first FL sqn I learned masses from the old sweats in the Mess Pub. Now nearly a quarter of a century later, I am that "old sweat", still serving and with the way NEM is going I might be in for another 15-20 years!!! The knowledge I gleaned to help my in my service career from retired honourary mess members was invaluable.

As for current ops, they should not live on an insecure open-to-all bulletin board - but I guess you already knew that! :ok:

LJ

PS I did leave the Regs to go FTRS, would you propose that the 400 or so FTRS mates have their own thread as well...:} (alright, don't answer that!)

LJ,

I for one fully agree with your argument. If this forum is for anything it's to give all of us, ex military, a chance to have an opinion. I can disagree with Beagle or Flight idle, it doesn't matter, both respect my right to an opinion. The OP seems to be suggesting that the serving personnel should divorce themselves from their own history. Well, that sounds a bit sad to me. I still have mates serving, we share a few beers, some banter and respect each others opinions. What's the need for stripping out the current from the ex ? We all have something to learn.

Smudge