Finally Made It

[cflord]

(1501st Post) After 10 years and 3 months with the A2A Forums I finally equaled the rank I retired with from the United States Air Force (USAF) - "Senior Master Sergeant" (SMSgt). I retired from the USAF in 1990 at Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona, USA after 22 years of service. Along the way I was an aircraft mechanic and flight engineer. I began my flight engineer career on C-130E models at Pope AFB, North Carolina, USA. I retired as a flight engineer on EC-130H (Compass Call - Electronic Warfare) birds at Davis Monthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona, USA.

C-130E / 317 Tactical Airlift Wing / 41st Tactical Airlift Squadron


EC-130H / 552 Electronic Warfare Wing / 41st Electronic Combat Squadron (I have logged flight time on this airplane)


Shadow Box of my military career


Keep the shiny side up and the dirty side down!

Ret SMSgt Cliff Lord - C-130 Flight Engineer & Mechanic

[DHenriques_]

After 10 years and 3 months with the A2A Forums I finally equaled the rank I retired with from the United States Air Force (USAF) - "Senior Master Sergeant" (SMSgt). I retired from the USAF in 1990 at Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona, USA after 22 years of service. Along the way I was an aircraft mechanic and flight engineer. I began my flight engineer career on C-130E models at Pope AFB, North Carolina, USA. I retired as a flight engineer on EC-130H (Compass Call - Electronic Warfare) birds at Davis Monthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona, USA.

C-130E / 317 Tactical Airlift Wing / 41st Tactical Airlift Squadron


EC-130H / 552 Electronic Warfare Wing / 41st Electronic Combat Squadron (I have logged flight time on this airplane)


Shadow Box of my military career


Keep the shiny side up and the dirty side down!

Ret SMSgt Cliff Lord - C-130 Flight Engineer & Mechanic

Lots of memories in there Cliff. That's a long ride in that case representing a lot of good work.
Glad to have you in our A2A family.
Dudley Henriques

[Nick - A2A]

Congratulations Cliff!

I've got a little question too... What's the story with USAF MSgt (and SMSgt) stripes? I mean why are they different to the U.S. Army and Marine Corps stripes which have the '3 up, 3 down' thing going on? I gather USAF stripes were changed a bit in the early 1990s to make them a bit more like the stripes of the other branches with one chevron pointing up (for a MSgt). Was that to help avoid confusing Army types?

Thanks,
Nick

[cflord]

These are the way the stripes were as I wore them from 1968-1990. The "Top Three" stripes have changed recently to signify the Top Three ranks: CMSgt is now 3 top / 5 bottom (was 2 top / 6 bottom), SMSgt is now 2 top / 5 bottom (was 1 top / 6 bottom), MSgt is now 1 top / 5 bottom (was 6 bottom). Now all you have to do is see at least 1 or more on the top and you know he/she belongs in the "Top Three. When the USAF was formed in 1947 we wanted our own identity from all the other military branches of the service, so we came up with this rank system. The USAF stripes have had minor changes over the years; but has stayed pretty much the same since 1947. Now the Navy is the one branch of the service that confuses the heck out of me when it comes to rank. I think inter-service rivalry will never allow the branches of the service to have a similar rank structure.

Keep the shiny side up and the dirty side down!

Ret SMSgt Cliff Lord Cliff Lord - C-130 Flight Engineer & Mechanic

[spadjockey]

Congratulations Cliff and thank you for your many years of dedicated service.

[Nick - A2A]

These are the way the stripes were as I wore them from 1968-1990. The "Top Three" stripes have changed recently to signify the Top Three ranks: CMSgt is now 3 top / 5 bottom (was 2 top / 6 bottom), SMSgt is now 2 top / 5 bottom (was 1 top / 6 bottom), MSgt is now 1 top / 5 bottom (was 6 bottom). Now all you have to do is see at least 1 or more on the top and you know he/she belongs in the "Top Three. When the USAF was formed in 1947 we wanted our own identity from all the other military branches of the service, so we came up with this rank system. The USAF stripes have had minor changes over the years; but has stayed pretty much the same since 1947. Now the Navy is the one branch of the service that confuses the heck out of me when it comes to rank. I think inter-service rivalry will never allow the branches of the service to have a similar rank structure.

Thanks Cliff - I figured it might have something to do with the USAF forging its own identity after the USAAF days. The RAF had to do much the same thing in 1918 as described rather humorously in Volume 2 of the Bandy Papers by Donald Jack.

Cheers,
Nick

[robert41]

Congrats Cliff.

[ClipperLuna]

You must have seen and done quite a lot in your 22 years. Do you have a favorite, most memorable story you'd care to share?

Congratulations and thank you for serving.

[taildraggin68]

Congrats Cliff, one well worn wingnut with many spools of flight line

[n421nj]

Ty for your service

[pjc747]

Thank you sir, for your service.

[Mig_Driver]

Wow, I see two 'Nam campaign ribbons, small arms expert marksman, good conduct medals, an Air Force commendation medal and a meritorious service medal in there! You musta been a hard charger, Cliff. And welcome home.

[trucker17]

Congrats Cliff...And thanks for your service......

[ebo]

Congratulations from my side too.

Send with tapatalk from my GT-I9500 with Lollipop.

[G-BJPS]

Congratulations on your promotion (again) Cliff!

Impressive career Sir.
when you retired in 1990 I guess you would have handed over the reins to the guys that flew me out to Bosnia in 1995 on my first tour!
I don't remeber exactly what aircraft type it was that flew us there, but I remember it was USAF aircraft and crew, and a very memorable experience it was!

Thankyou, John.