{"id":90655,"date":"2013-11-05T17:14:54","date_gmt":"2013-11-05T17:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2013\/11\/05\/clueless-how-civilians-get-the-air-force-all-wrong\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:19:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:19:45","slug":"clueless-how-civilians-get-the-air-force-all-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2013\/11\/05\/clueless-how-civilians-get-the-air-force-all-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Clueless: How civilians get the Air Force all wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since you&#8217;re in the Air Force, you automatically fly a plane, right? <br\/> <br\/> That&#8217;s what some civilians think. Air Force Times asked airmen to describe some of the most off-the-wall things they hear when face to face with their civilian counterparts. <br\/> <br\/> The idea that everyone in the Air Force is a pilot is the No. 1 misconception that most airmen hear. <br\/> <br\/> And No. 2: &#8220;Oh you&#8217;re in the [armed services]? Do you know my sister\/cousin\/uncle?&#8221; <br\/> <br\/> Then, there are the people who see airmen and their military counterparts as freeloaders. Comments assuming troops are &#8220;not paying taxes&#8221; or are receiving &#8220;a handout from the government&#8221; are two that get under airmen&#8217;s skin. <br\/> <br\/> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ID=78543426\" assetid=\"78543426\" assettype=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/bdc15c797199ee5bc3ab2c87a85e6e25b7b63f1e\/r=443x400\/local\/-\/media\/2016\/01\/08\/defaultaryTimes\/Sx_MilitaryTimes_M6201310311040004_M6201310311040004V1.jpg\" title=\"M6201310311040004V1.jpg ID=78543426\" width=\"245px\"\/> <br\/> <br\/> <br\/> In a similar vein: <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0&#8221;Your retirement pay is an entitlement,&#8221; Brian Zimmerman is told. <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0&#8221;Don&#8217;t they pay for all your food and rent?&#8221; Colleen Long is asked. <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0&#8221;You must get awesome overtime pay with all those 12-hour days,&#8221; William Peterson has heard. <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0&#8221;Does the grocery store on base ever run out of free food?&#8221; JD Ramsey has been asked. <br\/> <br\/> <h3>Uniform confusion<\/h3> Airmen frequently have to explain their rank insignia: <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0&#8221;Which one of those ribbons is your Purple Heart?&#8221; Rob Wade has been asked. <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0&#8221;Does the person with all the stripes on their sleeve outrank the people with just a little pin on their shoulder?&#8221; another airman heard. <br\/> <br\/> You&#8217;d think the military was just one big service based on these comments: <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0&#8221;So, you&#8217;re in the Army?&#8221; many airmen are asked. <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0Airmen in their dress blues hear, &#8220;There goes a Marine!&#8221; <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0&#8221;Is that the kind of ship you&#8217;ll be working on?&#8221; Senior Airman Ryan Straub was asked. <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0Joe Fisher recalls his father-in-law saying it must be &#8220;dangerous&#8221; to serve on an &#8220;Air Force carrier.&#8221; <br\/> <br\/> Some Americans seem to think an Air Force uniform indicates an airman can provide a range of transportation services: <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0Retired Reserve Maj. Veronica Kemeny was in a Starbucks in her blue shirt and blue skirt when a woman asked her what airline she worked for. <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0Another airman, going on a trip in his uniform, was asked, &#8220;Are you the bus driver?&#8221; <br\/> <br\/> <h3>Top-secret knowledge<\/h3> If you&#8217;re in the Air Force, you must have unique ways of doing things, and you must be in on top secrets, right? <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0Josh Baker said someone once asked him, &#8220;How do you change a tire on an airplane?&#8221; Just like you change one on a car \u2014 you jack up the axle and pull the tire off, Baker replied. &#8220;He did not believe me,&#8221; Baker said. <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0Tech. Sgt. Stephen Cooper was at a sci-fi convention when another attendee learned he was in the Air Force, stationed at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. &#8220;Once he found out, he looked around and whispered to me, &#8216;I know you can&#8217;t talk about this stuff, but there sure are a lot of UFO sightings around the Gulf Coast, and there sure are a lot of Air Force bases, you know what I mean?'&#8221; Cooper recalled. &#8220;When I immediately rolled my eyes and tried to tell him how wrong he was, he backed off, holding up his hands and saying, &#8216;No, no. I understand. You can&#8217;t talk about it. I get it.'&#8221; <br\/> <br\/> <h3>The gender gap<\/h3> Some people don&#8217;t realize how far women have come: <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0&#8221;Wait, you&#8217;re in the real Air Force? Like the one in commercials?&#8221; Melissa Sparks was asked. <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0&#8221;Do they give you real bullets?&#8221; or &#8220;Do they actually let women carry guns? Wow!&#8221; Elaine Bowman reports. <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0&#8221;Look, mommy, there&#8217;s a girl one,&#8221; Ralph Weber said his flight-suited daughter heard. <br\/> <br\/> <h3>Stuck in World War II<\/h3> Sometimes, airmen have to be history teachers: <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0&#8221;Are you in the Army or Army Air Corps?&#8221; an older man once asked Stephen Peterson. When Peterson said he was in the Air Force, the man responded, &#8220;I didn&#8217;t know the Air Corps left the Army. &#8230; What year did that happen?&#8221; <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0Retired Col. Stephen Katz was in an airport sometime in the 1970s wearing his uniform \u2014 he was a major at the time. &#8220;A civilian male came up to me and asked if I had served in World War II,&#8221; Katz said. &#8220;My response, which was entirely true, was that I had wanted to join up right after Pearl Harbor, but I was only 6\u00bd, and my mother would not sign the enlistment papers.&#8221; <br\/> <br\/> <h3>Miscues on mission<\/h3> Some statements and questions indicate civilians think the Air Force is all about war: <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0&#8221;Have you killed anyone?&#8221; Gage Ryukaztro has been asked. <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0&#8221;Are you issued grenades?&#8221; someone asked Mich French. <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0&#8221;Well, at least we&#8217;re not at war,&#8221; is a line Krista Madden has heard. <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0Staff Sgt. Boland wrote that there was a chance a few years back he was going to be deployed. &#8220;My mom called me one day to ask when I was going to be &#8216;deported,'&#8221; he said. <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0Tech Sgt. Travis Parks was dressed in his flight suit when he was asked what his job was. He replied that he&#8217;s a flight engineer on C-130s. &#8220;How often do you jump out of it?&#8221; was the next question. &#8220;Hopefully never,&#8221; Parks said. <br\/> <br\/> \u25a0No matter your role, some people think you can do everything. &#8220;Can you tell the pilots of those loud jets to not fly over my house anymore?&#8221; Cullen Farrar was asked. <br\/> <br\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since you&#8217;re in the Air Force, you automatically fly a plane, right?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":92430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[15,88],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1727],"class_list":["post-90655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-your-military"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"HE6TYVWCWJFVHLPIP65S6S6CTU","arc_canonical_url":"\/2013\/11\/05\/clueless-how-civilians-get-the-air-force-all-wrong\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This 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