What's the Average Age at MetroJacksonville.com?

[Overstreet]

.............  When you consider they were jumping out of C-119 Flying Boxcars ...............

  In my travels I spent a day at an air guard base in Indiana that supported the Army at Fort Campbell sometimes with C-119s. The "dollar nineteen" wasn't a bad airplane. It wasn't as nice as say a C-141 but it worked. On start when the wind was wrong the cabin ventilation picked up the oil smoke from the radials starting up. If you weren't so sure of flying anyway that would give you a little nausea. Then on the ground they didn't have the air-conditioning and like a lot of military aircraft of the period it was hot. It rattled a little and the engines were noisy on the ground. In flight it was still noisy. The cargo deck always seemed to be sloped to the rear in flight. If you weren't used to it the experience was somewhat alien. Then there was the story the flight engineer told me.

He used to have fun with the army paratroopers they'd haul at Fort Campbell. The flight deck is elevated from the cargo bay where the troops. The rookie paratroopers would be in the back wide eyed and not sure of what was about to happen.  One of the flight crew would come down the steps and feint sickness and make barfing noises and movements into an air sickness bag previously prepared with say cream of mushroom soup. He’d then set the bag down on the steps and go back up to the flight deck.  Usually the troopers in the front were watching every move from the flight deck.    Then another flight crew member would come down the steps, set down and pick up the bag. He’d look into the bag, lick his lips, pull out a spoon from the sleeve pocket and eat the soup from the bag………………. This usually got a reaction from the paratroops. Many would take off their helmets and get sick into the helmet.  At that point the flight crew member, having accomplished his mission, would retreat to the flight deck.  At that point the ready light would come on and the jump master would have the paratroopers stand up and get ready to jump. ……………………….. This would, of course, include putting on their helmets.

[Jason]

Nothing like vomit in your helmet to take you mind off of jumping from a C-119 fully geared.

[Captain Zissou]

That explains a lot. Of the 93 respondents at this point 41 of them are  30 and under. I understand now the motivation behind some of the comments.  I'm probably older than most of your parents.

That explains a lot.  Of the 93 respondents at that point, 52 of them are 31 and over.  I understand now the out of context and incorrect assumptions made in some of the comments. 

[macbeth25]

Talking about C-119’s, AC-119 gunships were assigned to Nakhon Phanom RTAFB when I was there, but I didn’t get to ride on any.  Military personnel can sometimes “hop” or travel, for free, on military aircraft as passengers.  I think I remember doing that once on a C-119 which had landed at Ellsworth AFB, SD, and was headed for Dover AFB, DE. 
I got to ride on the flight deck.  The clouds and fog were so bad that the crew was considering going to the alternate – either Denver or Omaha – but the Lt Col aircraft commander was pretty sure he could find Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH, the base where he had planned to land – without backtracking.  Ellsworth, our base of origin, was also socked in by this time.
Now thinking about it, I don’t really know how much of what went on was for my benefit – flight crew playing tricks on a relatively young passenger – but it sure seemed real at the time.
Anyway, when we got there, the Lt Col asked his copilot to look for a particular light formation on the ground so he could land.  He found it and we went down.  All I could see was swirling fog. 
We touched down and were taxiing when the crew suddenly put on the brakes and stopped.  We got out and about 75-100 feet directly in front of us was a parked double-decker C-124 Globemaster (http://www.globalaircraft.org/planes/c-124_globemaster_ii.pl).  Had we continued, we would have run into it.
We got back in the C-119 and the pilot called the tower and asked for transportation.  He gave a general location and they came out and found us.  We just left the plane where it sat and someone else parked it later.  I continued on to Dover with the crew a day or so later.  I think I ended up taking a bus from Delaware down to Pennsylvania where my family lived at the time.  This was in the early 1960’s.

[Overstreet]

That explains a lot. Of the 93 respondents at this point 41 of them are  30 and under. I understand now the motivation behind some of the comments.  I'm probably older than most of your parents.

That explains a lot.  Of the 93 respondents at that point, 52 of them are 31 and over.  I understand now the out of context and incorrect assumptions made in some of the comments. 

I detect some youthfull sarcasm.

Here is an example. I understand the comment emphasis on the downtown "bar district" now more than before. If you are in the 21 to 35 age range you likely care more about the bar district and singles scene than the 60 year old.

[Captain Zissou]

Very fair to say, Overstreet.  I respect all of the older posters on this site, but I have just run into a few too many bogus statistics or incorrect conclusions lately. 
The local radio stations are the worst offenders.  A little while back they had a segment based on a survey that said "40% of men who cheat drive nice cars".  They warned the wives or girlfriends of men with nice cars that their husbands might be cheaters.  I dialed the number, but hung up before I could weigh in on the subject because I was still too heated.  40% drive nice cars? Well 60% drive crappy cars!!!!

[Dog Walker]

ANYTIME you here a percentage used to explain something or make a point, a red flag should go up in your mind.  A percentage by itself means NOTHING!

Last year I sold 1 car.  This year I sold two cars.  That's 100% increase in sales!  I'm wonderful!

Without knowing the two numbers that go into the percentage, you know nothing and someone is trying to fool you.  When people begin to compare percentages they are truly running a con game or they are really ignorant.

[Overstreet]

ANYTIME you here a percentage used to explain something or make a point, a red flag should go up in your mind.  A percentage by itself means NOTHING!

Last year I sold 1 car.  This year I sold two cars.  That's 100% increase in sales!  I'm wonderful!

Without knowing the two numbers that go into the percentage, you know nothing and someone is trying to fool you.  When people begin to compare percentages they are truly running a con game or they are really ignorant.

Since I worked with the numbers count of "each" respondent and not percentages both of you (Dog Walker and Capt Zissou) are a little off.  I find the reaction amusing though. 

[lindab]

Hey, include me too. I'm up there with the Capt. and the DWalker. We aren't off.

[buckethead]

46....

Still more fantastic than the average 25.

[904Scars]

21 years old, will be 22 tomorrow... I may be young but I still have a strong passion for this city. I'm set on Jacksonville for life.

[Cliffs_Daughter]

21 years old, will be 22 tomorrow... I may be young but I still have a strong passion for this city. I'm set on Jacksonville for life.

So.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
 

[Reaper man]

woo I'm 26, I'm in the majority! *dances*

[Cliffs_Daughter]

woo I'm 26, I'm in the majority! *dances*

ReaperMan, I gotta say that from some of your posts I've read, you are one smart 26 year old.

[buckethead]

woo I'm 26, I'm in the majority! *dances*

ReaperMan, I gotta say that from some of your posts I've read, you are one smart 26 year old.

The only group smarter than 26 years old is the 16 years old demographic.

It's all downhill from there.