Former/Current Military Gyro Guys? (and gals?)

Army 1991-1994. Like Tim I too worked on phones. I was a 31L. I spent two years in Germany and a year and a half in Arizona. Didn't do any of that hero stuff. I just gained a skill that I could use in civilian life. It worked out pretty good for me I just celebrated my tenth anniversary with Verizon.


Whats up with all you phone guy's ?

I work for Qwest and it SUCKS .
 
Military

Military

U.S. Army - 6years active duty, Ranger, Plt Ldr/Co CO in Viet Nam, retired from Army Reserve in '88. Mostly passenger time in military aircraft, air assaults, helio insertions, etc. and some fwd observer. Spent several years in Civil Air Patrol (Air Force Auxiliary), and was Sqdn CO for three years. One son is about to retire from the Air Force, one son was in Army for Desert Shield, and the daughter has signed on the dotted line as a Marine.
 
USMCR (Reserve only, never in Fleet) 1979-1984. 81mm mortar ammo humper, FO radioman, and (Briefly) scout/sniper. Never went to sniper school; they needed to fill the billet from within the company and I had the highest score on the rifle range. The idea of me trying to camoflage my outsized self is ludicrous, though.

Gary, I feel your pain. I work for Verizon. It also sucks. Take comfort, however, in the fact that either Verizon or AT&T will buy Qwest in the next few years, and then one of them will buy the other, and they'll keep the AT&T name, & we'll all be back to Ma Bell soon enough.
 
Verizon is way better then Qwest . We suck way more .
And we are already hearing that Verizon may be buying us here in Portland and seattle real soon .
 
Whats up with all you phone guy's ?

I work for Qwest and it SUCKS .

I really like my job. I install FiOS. It's our fiber to the premise service that offers phone,high speed internet, and TV on one single fiber. I guess I am now more than a phone man, I am also a computer tech and a cable TV man. The part I don't like is the way Verizon is becoming all about micro management. They treat us like we are three years old. I miss the days when my boss actually trusted me to do my job.
 
See here at Qwest we are way ahead of you in the micro management department . Thay started screwing with us about 8 years ago and every day it get's worse .
I wan't to work for Verizon and we hear that this just may happen .
 
I was with Bellsouth until At&T bought us last year. I liked my job pretty well up until then. AT&T has already tried to create a new job title that does the same thing we do for half the pay.
 
Air Force '85-'91.
B-52 gunner (best job in the world --- wish I was still doing it)

Reserves '92-'95
OH-58 mechanic
 
I liked my job a lot more when we were GTE. Mike, I work on FiOS, too, but on the Customer Contact Systems Integration side.

So, what are your plans for August? : )
 
Gunner better than Boomer?!? You better lay off the crack pipe Jim....
I had 3 officers fly me to work every day so I could lay on my belly and pass gas.
It doesn't get any better than that!
 
I liked my job a lot more when we were GTE. Mike, I work on FiOS, too, but on the Customer Contact Systems Integration side.

So, what are your plans for August? : )

Me too,
GTE was a much better company to work for. I am not sure what you mean when you ask "what are your plans for August"? Do you know something I don't know. As far as I know I will be sweating my B*lls off working in hot a*s attics.
 
Jazzen, I'm not going to bash you... not gonna lower myself.
I sat many a week on alert with the boomers and several were my friends. My roommate was a boom operator as well; he died in a KC135 plane crash at Wurtsmith AFB (of which I pulled 4 people out, but he was already gone). So feel free to slam the gunners, I won't return the sentiment.
Anyone willing to risk their life for their country and their brethren deserves my gratitude.

Peace
 
I know nothing more about August than any other Cubicle Critter. But the contract's up in August, and while GTE NEVER went on strike, Bell Atlantic & especially NYNEX always do (except for last time), and since the company's run by New Yorkers...
 
I know nothing more about August than any other Cubicle Critter. But the contract's up in August, and while GTE NEVER went on strike, Bell Atlantic & especially NYNEX always do (except for last time), and since the company's run by New Yorkers...

Our contact is good till August of 2010. It will be interesting to see what happens up there. I have a feeling it will be nasty. I am not looking forward to our contract talks.
 
91B20 - Medic, Vietnam Era early seventies, 4th/63rd Armor 1st Infantry, Fort Riley, Kan.
 
Sorry about your friend Jim. I was just giving you the biz. No harm intended.
 
GS14 for G6 USMC III MEF

GS14 for G6 USMC III MEF

Whats up with all you phone guy's ?

I work for Qwest and it SUCKS .

First, I salute all who served, in peace and conflict. I never completed joining, as the VN truce was declared just as I was scheduled to take the medical to join an USAF F104 Starfighter Pilot training program straight out of Aero Eng school at Western Michigan Univ. Hell, there was a glut of USAF pilots at that point, and I sure didn't want to get stuck on latrine duty for 4 years.

I was on the first plane to Japan after 9/11 to upgrade the telecom infrastructure on the Marine Corps bases and air stations on Okinawa and Iwakuni. Kinda neat to be buddies with Colonels, and meet 1-3 stars with a hand shake week in and week out. Just a civvy, but enjoyed the heck out of being an insider outsider. I spent a lot of time working for the Pentagon b4 that, Secret Service, Executive offices of the pres, State Dept among others. Fiber optics was deployed for Government security originally you know, and I happened to have a leg up on the installation of it in the dawn of the fiber age. Bell was taking too long to get it done, so the gov broke up the monopoly to get the good old competition system working and get the technology rolling and get the stuff in the ground. Hence, we have what is the modern telecom world today.

I've been in Telecom since 1984, (blasted my first hole in bedrock to set power utility poles for daddy in '72) first as an entrepeneur, and then in 1999 started working for companies like XO, Espire/Xspedius, General Dynamics NT, now AboveNet Communications. I have seen big companies dump their service contracts since Verizon took over MCI. THey used to love MCI, and I don't think I've heard ANYBODY say anything good about Verizon Business. Their service and support just SUCKS the big one, period. Level 3 swallowed up as many little telecoms as they could, but they ran out of money to keep eating. THey are very difficult to work with, unless you have friends on the inside. Same with Qwest. We have been having problems with getting them to cooperate as well.
 
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No prob Jazzen... we (booms and gunners) used to give each other hell 24/7. I've always viewed it a bit different; we're all there to do a job. If I had chosen to be a boomer instead, I'd more than likely be retired from the service right now... oh well.

No harm, no foul; and no matter what we've done in the past, we're BOTH GYRO guys now!!! :) :)
 
Go Army! = (Am Gyro!)

Grad of the Hudson School for Little Boys, 1989. Proud to be a "Century Man" with 153 area tours...
Active Duty 1989-1995 (Ft Rucker, AL; Frankfurt, GE)
Army National Guard 1995-present (Camp Robinson, North Little Rock, AR)
UH-1
UH-60 - Instructor Pilot, Maintenance Test Pilot

Battalion Commander (currently)

And EVERYONE in the military helicopter business thinks I'm nuttier than a loon for building and wanting to fly a gyrocopter... I guess if it isn't Bell or Sikorsky, then it CAN'T be safe...

Pleasure to meet you, and read the stories of ALL the military folks out there!

Also - it does not matter the capacity, but if you served, then you served your nation, your brethren, and you were willing to give up personal freedom to work for the greater good. It might not mean much, but it puts people in a different category of trust that others unknown to you will have to earn. Not better, not worse because of military service, but a brother in arms. At least that's my take.

A coupla beers, and we can then bust on each other...

Damn, I wish I could make it to one of the fly-ins to meet some of you schmuckatellis (there's ALWAYS a schmuckatelli!)

Cheers,

Spence
 
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