Light
Attack
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 The Four-Way Split Continues! 
At the beginning of April, the Nightmares continued to successfully operate out of four separate sites while exceeding flight hour and sortie goals. On 1 April, Screech led our "Detachment Bravo" back out to the assigned aircraft carrier for final, pre-deployment exercises and evaluations. The XO supervised activity at home plate following graduation from the Commander's Course in Quantico, Virginia. The CO chewed sand with the "Squadron Minus" at Combined Arms Exercise Five while Critter and Jolly continued to excel at the Weapons & Tactics Instructor Course. In the rear, three aircraft progressed through their mod and phase inspections with "Gash" flying the post-maintenance check flights and covering until the XO's return. If this sounds like a complex scenario, you're right. We begin at 29 Palms, where 100 Nightmares sweat during the day and shiver at night . . . . 
Launch the Nightmares! 
Landing gear coming up 
Dash Two rushes to catch up as individual STO's are executed to avoid FOD 
Winds change, so we switch to runway 10 for DanO's launch 
Here are the superb Marines who make our takeoffs possible. They relax between launches in order to stay sharp for the frenetic activity that punctuates the day.... 
Keeping boots shined in this dust is nearly impossible 
Our Navy Corpsman 
Our newest Plane Captain, "Pan" 
Ground support equipment filters must be changed frequently 
Waiting for transportation at the end of the shift 
CAX isn't ALL work! 
Yes Staff Sergeant Garcia, we slipped through your net. 
This is the Landing Site Supervisor (LSS) vehicle that we use to monitor "Forward Base Operations" 
2,040 feet MSL (and hot) affects hover performance! 
Harriers and Hornets on the flight line    The pilots gather daily to review lessons-learned  The MAG-13 OPSO (right) augmented us during the first six days  Cliffy takes notes for the mass debrief that he and the CO must attend after "FINEX"   "Yap" taxis past Crash, Fire, Rescue (CFR)  The Expeditionary Control Tower and ATC  Crash, Fire, Rescue: 99% boredom, 1% sheer terror  "Yap" in the hover  "Hero" flies the instrument pattern (TACAN approach) 
Yap comes down 
Our newest pilot "Yap," is welcomed by Wizard (right) 
Zak's wears this guilty expression most of the time.... 
Smarter than the average Yank.... 
The average Yank sweats out another CAX 
At CAX, Nightmares spent lots of time aerial refueling between target attacks in support of Second Battalion,
Fourth Marines
Refueling courtesy of an Air Force KC-10 
Over Blythe, California after leaving the KC-10 above 
Fly 'til you're sleepy, sleep 'til you're hungry... 
Returning "home" to the airfield for a promotion formation in the hangar 
A Meritoriously promoted Lance Corporal! 
Telling a great Marine how proud we are to serve with him 
Top Bottum!!! 
"Guns" assists the CO in promoting the newest Ordnance Master Sergeant 
The Sergeant Major helps the CO promote another meritorious Lance Corporal 
Issuing a warrant signed by the Aviation Combat Element Commander--and CO of MAG-39 
All Nightmares share the same luxurious accommodations at CAX 
. . . not to mention, the same elegant cuisine! 
OK, back to work! We need to change 15's engine 
This was done at CAX quite efficiently 
Stroker, Boss, Wizard and Zak in a 4-plane sortie on 2 April 
Zak ditches the pilots and hangs out with the squadron's REAL heroes 
On the flightline at CAX 
Zak took this great picture of our Nightmares dropping an engine. This is everyday stuff, but remember, these Marines are barely 20 years old--God bless them! 
After the engine drop, the wing goes back on 08 
Checking the landing gear on 12 
Gunny W. checks the gear doors for a perfect fit 
Looking through the hot nozzle aperature 
Two 500 lbs. high explosive bombs and six 25 lbs. inert bombs = standard loadout 
We load the two Mark-82's first 
Installing the fuze is a somewhat delicate operation...for trainees 
Tightening the fuze under careful supervision 
Even the Sergeant Major likes Ordnance.... 
Boss and Cow carry eight Mk-76 25 lbs. practice bombs each 
Known as "Blue Death" and and "Smurf killers" 
Crossing under 
Nightmare pilots stay sharp on 30 minute alert.... 
The jets and bombs wait too 
The post-mission intelligence debriefing 
Steroid demonstrates the Litening II Pod for Wizard 
A horror greater than that of armed combat! (Homocide outline is of first person to sit next to Steroid) 
Speaking of horror.... 
Girls, Boys and expensive toys leave CAX for home on 16 April 
If you're not having fun in VMA-513, you're screwing up! 
Speaking of fun.... |