Dear John Letter

[410OhOne]

It seems our moderator has taken it upon himself to censor instead of moderate. If he will notice I have only posted on AA boards in the past. This is my furlough statement. Scott, a pretty industry wide event effecting all mechanics right now Scott. Leave this on AA or cancel my USAVIATION.com membership. Shouldnt need it while in the sand defending your 1st Amendment rights should I Scott.

410OhOne


I am away from the airline, currently on military duty and called back home to check in. Got this.



Dear John (410OhOne),

I want you to know and don''t want you to find out from anyone else but I have to let you go. Yes, I know you have valuable experience, an impeccable attendance record, a four year degree in Airline Maintenance Management. I know you passed your test in three months instead of the allowed six. I was there when you recieved your third Lower Minimum Program certification in less than a year. That is more than most mechanics at our company. I was on duty when you found that 6th stage muffler bearing leaking when no one else could during their three attempts. I was the one who took the phone call when you got a flight out on time by going outside your normal area of responsibility. No, you don''t abuse the sick call priviledge. You show respect toward positions of authority and your peers. You didnt do anything wrong, please understand. It is just that Tommy has a longer. I mean Tommy has longer seniority than you. Does that make him better? Well yes Tommy, in my eyes it does. I am sorry. Understand, that when the long list of boys I now have currently retire, I know they need to, I will call you. Please wait for me. I guess I am telling you to put your life on hold for me. Please John.

I am Sorry,
Ms. Company W Union


Well at least I have the military now. Many are on the street from what I hear.



I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine. — John Galt, Atlas Shrugged

 

[LGA Fleet Service]

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On 3/27/2003 8:37:45 PM 410OhOne wrote:

It seems our moderator has taken it upon himself to censor instead of moderate. If he will notice I have only posted on AA boards in the past. This is my furlough statement. Scott, a pretty industry wide event effecting all mechanics right now Scott. Leave this on AA or cancel my USAVIATION.com membership. Shouldnt need it while in the sand defending your 1st Amendment rights should I Scott.

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Funny, my brother in law was deployed to the big sand and we haven''t heard word one from him in three weeks, how is it you are able to access the internet while busy defending first ammendment rights?

Of course my brother in law is a Marine and not some REMF sitting on an airbase.

Maybe we''d get email from him if they had wireless web access in the LAV''s...

 

[scot]

The thread was not censored as you imply, it was moderated over to the Just Conversation board since you posted it on multiple boards at the same time which is against policy. I thought it was more than just AA/UA/US specific and should be addressed in a more open forum than airline specific, which is what you just said. Perhaps the Mechanic and Utility board would have been a better choice than Just Conversation, my error. As far as your censor remarks, I do take offense at that since it was clearly stated WHERE the thread was heading and was not closed out or deleted multiple times in the postings. If you want it left on the AA specific board it will be done.
410 check your PMs.

 

[flyonthewall]

Maybe he is using one of those videophones.. It is great to hear that you are fighting in Iraq, but you have time to post on an Internet message board.

 

[Hopeful]

Better yet, maybe he is Gen. Tommy Franks personal secretary and has access to all the communications mediums there are.

 

[Veritas]

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On 3/27/2003 10:59:26 PM scot wrote:

If you want it left on the AA specific board it will be done.

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410OhOne is a stapled AA employee. His furlough notice, while on military duty, is very pertinent to the American Airlines board.

I suggest that moderators be required to familiarize themselves with the regulars on these boards. It just may help them make informed decisions as to which topics are relevant and which are not.

 

[Veritas]

For what it is worth, 410OhOne appears to represent April 10, 2001, the seniority date of the stapled TWA employees.

 

[iflyjetz]

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On 3/27/2003 11:38:24 PM flyonthewall wrote:

Maybe he is using one of those videophones.. It is great to hear that you are fighting in Iraq, but you have time to post on an Internet message board.

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Are you that stupid? I guess so. With Hopeful not far behind.

Since you''re ignorant in what facilities are available to servicemen in deployed locations, allow me to educate your feeble mind along with a bit of history as to why servicemen have access to the internet.

Since the post-Desert Storm drawdown, the US Air Force has maintained a large presence in the middle east, specifically Al Kharj (nicknamed Al''s garage) in Saudi Arabia, Al Jabar in Kuwait, Thumrait in Oman, and just about every other POS location in southwest asia. Many of us have been deployed to those locations for 180 days at a time. While I was on active duty, I spent at least 180 days/year away from home, many in places that can only be described as $hitholes. Last year, I spent 240 days away from home as a traditional guardsman; 140 of them in southwest asia. And they call that a part time job?
What does all of this rambling have to do with 410OhOne posting here?
With the rate of deployment to total $hitholes, Air Force leadership realized that they needed to supply sufficient outlets for people in their spare time, including being able to maintain contact with friends and family back home.
So the Air Force spent a great deal of money securing satellite access so that servicemen could call home 15 minutes/week. They also installed a significant number of computers with internet access to allow servicemen to send e-mail and surf the internet in their spare time.

Let me describe a typical deployment (for me) to Al Kharj in the mid-90s. We lived in tents. Air conditioned tents, which worked great during the summertime. It would stay a cool 90 degrees when it was 130 degrees outside. I flew at night. All night, so I slept during the day. When I got hot, I would roll over and be cooled as the sweat on my body evaporated (you would get a layer of sweat on bodyparts touching the bed). I wore earplugs to minimize the noise of the diesel powered generator which supplied electricity to the tent''s air conditioner. It also helped block out any snoring from my seven roommates, who also flew at night. I was in a luxury tent because I''m an officer; they crammed more bodies in the enlisted tents.
I won''t describe a winter deployment to Al Kharj; it brings back memories of putting sandbags around my tent to keep the water out.

I don''t think that guys like you have any understanding of all of the sacrifices made by servicemen over the last ten years. And now you make fun of 410OhOne because he has internet access. Look dimwit, he''s an aircraft mechanic, not a tank mechanic. Airfields are well behind the FEBA (forward edge of the battle area). Are you stupid enough to think that our airfields would be located in hostile territory?
When all of this ends and you see (part of) the Army coming home, there will be a LARGE number of US forces that remain. It''s going to be a LONG, sucky job. At Al Kharj alone, we have had a minimum of 3000 people deployed there at all times. 24/7/365. And that''s only ONE airbase in the middle east. One year from now, do a bit of research and try to find out how many US servicemen are in Iraq. I''m going to bet that it''ll be somewhere around 20,000. We will be there for a VERY long time. And you''re surprised that they have internet access?

410OhOne, good luck and godspeed. I''m back in the CONUS in a headquarters job. Shuffling papers. It''s a critical job, but not particularly gratifying. But at least it''s full time. After being furloughed, I had a hard time trying to find a civilian employer who would hire someone in the guard (they were always worried about me being gone for months at a time ... a valid concern). And they call us weekend warriors?

 

[scot]

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On 3/28/2003 12:56:14 PM AA D2 TW SP wrote:

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On 3/27/2003 10:59:26 PM scot wrote:

If you want it left on the AA specific board it will be done.

----------------​

410OhOne is a stapled AA employee. His furlough notice, while on military duty, is very pertinent to the American Airlines board.

I suggest that moderators be required to familiarize themselves with the regulars on these boards. It just may help them make informed decisions as to which topics are relevant and which are not.

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I try to familiarize myself with who posts and works where. As 410 posted, in the past he has only posted on the AA board. I have no problem leaving this as is, however as stated before, the original thread was moved because it was crossposted to many groups and complaints had been received. I was advised it was more than AA related on the one hand and AA related on the other. I was trying to get it to a broader audience if that is where it needed to be since not everyone reads the AA board. The post was not censored otherwise it would have been removed entirely. It was clearly stated WHERE the post was being moved to in all of the boards for anyone who wanted to follow the thread. Thank you for your concern.