I did a quick search on these forums and found out that on a recent similar question, the kiowa pilots forums registration has been closed due to massive spam. Can anyone please point me in the direction of an administrator on those forums so that I may reg?

Thanks in advance

That seems like a good idea, and I felt the same way at one point. Hold that thought for a moment, I want to ask you a question.

Have you ever walked into a room of older, higher ranking, experienced Officers and NCOs and received looks that said "what are you doing here?"

That's what kdubs dot com is like. They're tight-knit, know each other IRL, have had members and spouses become combat casualties. They're [justifiably] way too good to talk to the little guys. It's not the place to be making introductions and certainly not the place to cut your teeth with the kdub community (plenty of opportunities for you to do the foot in mouth maneuver, down the road).

I would continue to make use of the information available on that site, but refrain from trying to join in. It's not as open a community as it seems. And they'll want your AKO, IIRC. You're leaving yourself vulnerable to too many people.

It's your choice to pursue membership on kdubs dot com, but my advice is: unlike nike, just don't do it~!

Anyone in this business that thinks they are better than anyone else has something wrong with them.

If someone won't accept you because you're new...then F*&* them.

yes, but from a distance!

I have read their sticky posts about what they are, who they are, and why they are close knit. I dont mind the "closed off" vibe they are giving, but how am I supposed to ask for ones opinion if I cant post. Questions will be asked more than once, and this is true, and forums usually have search functions which I do use that normally answer most of my questions. But on the occasion I do need some help or an opinion or just general advice.. It would be nice to be able to post.
Everyone takes the same road to being an army rotary pilot, but they all encounter different obstacles on their way there.
If I cant register because I am a "dodo or penguin" or "some flightless bird".. then instead of forming close bonds with current and past pilots.. some, maybe many, maybe few will hold grudges against this "frat" for that same reason. This so called "you are new and cant hang with us" message.
I dont see how giving them my AKO would be a problem if at some point in the near distant future I will do all that is asked of me to put in a competitive packet to be selected at a future board.
For the record and my $0.02, I dont think anyone is "justifiably too good to talk to" anyone. Ever.

And thank you for the initial replies.

You sound like me from six months ago.

I agree with you, improv. I'm not stopping you from trying, heck maybe you'll have a good experience over there.

It has nothing to do with you. I just know what they've said to people who have the best of intentions and a lot of heart.

Just remember you gotta walk away if there's no reason to stay (not all fights are meant to be won).

u know... there are aviators in this here corner of the internet, too. maybe try asking here?

This place is relaxed, and you're always welcome. I mean, if they let me stay...

quote:

Originally posted by xImpRoVx:
For the record and my $0.02, I dont think anyone is "justifiably too good to talk to" anyone. Ever.

Good. You will not have any problems then.

That site, and its criteria, personify the good ole' boys club mentality that most of us despise. If they don't want to talk to you because you're new, then fine. At least have the balls to say so in a forum disclaimer. It's ok to be exclusive, but not at the cost of being an a-hole.

If there were a site for my community, I can pretty much bet we would probably let you in, say hi, then tactfully tell you flog-off because we aren't there to answer any "how-do-I" questions from non-rated folks. Or, on the flip side, we would just ridicule you mercilessly for being gay.....even though we have no idea who you are.

Yeah.....that's about right.....yeah.

quote:

Originally posted by Mr_Motivated:
I mean, if they let me stay...

Yep, we pretty much scraped the bottom of the barrel on that exception....

Its a shame that the Army lacks a good forum like flyingsquadron. Guess I am just gonna stick to military.com forums unless somebody has a better alternative for army aviation.
Heck maybe I'll even start up my own aviation forum before I ship on the 11th to Fort Leonardwood

lol traffic. yep.

improv.. feel free to skip this post, it's written under the assumption you are an idealist, optimistic, and eager to be a good soldier and aviator. That's how I am, and that's the feeling I get from your posts. So. Another bit of advice, in case it's useful to you.

I agree with Traffic... It sounds like your heart's in the right place and you trust in the system. Remember, though, that pretty soon YOU will be that system and it will be your turn to lead.

Accept the responsibility of understanding those less experienced than yourself, while making yourself understood by those above you.

Be who you are, even if it means going against the group--that can be a challenge in itself.

Being a go-getter among [people who consider themselves] go-getters is tricky. Have you heard of the tall blade of grass analogy? google "jante law", and look at the wiki page.

Funny you should mention starting up your own aviation forum... I thought about installing a forum under a conspicuous URL, specific to the airframe I get... registration would be closed and on the front page it would say: "Sorry, all our aviators are busy kicking ass and taking names in The Big Army." or something to that effect.

But nothing functional or serious. Partly because of Opsec, also because the information needed is already out there.

Know who you are communicating with and that's not always possible on a forum. IRL, I judge people with a once-over all.the.time. ...by their fitness, grooming, uniform, expression, posture. ya know.

Start a new thread, ask your questions...! It wouldn't hurt.

I still don't get people who post their full name and info on forums. You and bushmaster both. I'm keeping an eye out for him. Ambushing him is gonna be fun.

In closing, Major General John M. Schofield's graduation address to the graduating Class of 1879 at West Point:

quote:

The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instruction and give commands in such a manner and such a tone of voice as to inspire in the soldier no feeling but an intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey. The one mode or other of dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in the breast of the commander. He who feels the respect which is due to others cannot fail to inspire in them respect for himself. While he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect towards others, especially his subordinates, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself.

Leadership can come from anywhere, and anyone who recognizes the need and is able to provide it. Not everyone is able or willing, when they should be.

Yeah ok, maybe I am off base and I don't speak for anyone other than myself. As one of those KP guys, I joined a long time ago, don't post much and really don't visit anymore. I do think its important for us to keep some people out, no offense but how many questions are we going to get about your ASVAB or AFAST?
No one helped me get through, I just put my packet together. I came to this website asked some stupid questions did some research. Why should I hand walk some guys hand through? I like not going to that website and having twenty questions posted a day about that kind of stuff.
I will say it like this, its like a pilots office, I wouldn't walk in there and say a lot to start off, but as I got older I would express my opinion.
I think we might have shut out some good other pilots, we have some AF, 60s, 64s on there who have great opinions on debates. I don't know. Maybe those guys won't join in the future. But as one guys who used to say its called Kiowa Pilots, not hey I want to join or I am this kinda pilot.
I don't know how you get in touch with the guys, I will say they closed it for a good reason. Just opinion of one KP.

I propose the ASVAB and AFAST questions will never end. What's left is what will be done about them.

It's like the 'teach a man to fish' thing. Teach two people how to dig for information on their own, in a positive and courteous way, and maybe later they will do the same for two more people... each.

problem solved, and it started with helping just two noobs.

Joining a forum like KP is a choice, and so is the decision to turn away new members. So for OP, KP is not a nice place, and I try to steer them away.

it wasn't spam that caused them to lock their doors?

quote:

"Greatest Love Of All":

I believe the children are our are future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be
Everybody searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never found anyone to fulfill my needs
A lonely place to be
So I learned to depend on me

I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all

And if by chance, that special place
That you've been dreaming of
Leads you to a lonely place
Find your strength in love

I CAN POST! I CAN POST! Finally, I can post! Been going through some registration issues here on mil.com and finally got them all sorted out I've also had some pertinent questions regarding WOFT and the only other place to ask them is Kiowapilots.com - You can't imagine how it felt to find out I couldn't register there either! Talk about having bad luck...

In my desperate attempts to gain access to KP I came into contact with a member of that site who, like previous posters in this thread have suggested, tried to steer me away from those forums. However I do believe with a legitimate question and respectful attitude you can avoid the negative banter and get the solid advice you need.

There's no mention of why registration was disabled on that site nor a point of contact listed outside its membership. After a bit of searching I came across the administrative email registered to that particular domain - Sent a message but never received a response. I'm not going to list the address out of common courtesy but just know you can find it with a "whois" lookup.

Best of luck to you 2010 and Improv, please keep us updated and let me know if you ever get in!

Its our community, thats who we are, not to say everyone sits around all day on the site and will post, or the posters on there speak for everyone of us. We have had some serious disagreements with people on that site. Its a great site, but I do think it might be better off with just 58 guys joining for a while, or some kind of process of emailing admins or something (That is kinda a last case scenario because unlike these sites, KP is run not for profit). Until someone figures out the spam thing.
I offer my help to any guy/gal wanting to do WOFT, so far I have seen 2 people who I have helped with packets get picked up. Both of them did a ton of leg work. I also have guys say oh yeah I want to do that and then I give them my email and never hear from them again. So its ok. Warrant officers are the unique branch of the military. We recruit our own. If we do well we will keep around the groups of people we want and need. If we just say whatever and don't put any work into it then we get a crappy product.

I don't know, like I said sometimes I like going and reading some ridiculous jokes or how stupid the government is by spending 124343 Billion (made up number) of dollars on F-22s that stay in Alaska and Virginia (two hot spots of the world right now). I also still come on here to read or answer questions but their two completely different forums and for right now I like the split. Like I said my opinion and my opinion only.

PSU18, there is an unwritten Internet code believe it or not among websites.

If you know the owners of that website the thing they can do thats effective is issue a "Denial of Service" notification with the domain that is spamming the website.

It's very effective. Really, it's just a UNIX created SNMP Email and anyone with LINUX installed can do it if they know how. You issue it against the domain thats spamming. If the spamming continues you request that domain be restricted by the host of the domain.

Poof! their gone. Their host can absolutely shut them off the Internet fake IP or not AND they will in most cases as a professional courtesy to that website.

Military.com has that power but very rarely uses it. Which is good. It should be only used and reserved in cases where the domain is being abused (spamming, attempted fraud, threats, etc).

All websites have the ability to issue Denial of Service. Wether the recieving domain acts on the request is another question. Most domains will rather then have access to large portions of the Internet start to disappear.

Or they could just unplug the server.

quote:

Originally posted by Mr_Motivated:
Or they could just unplug the server.

Ha-ha-ha.

I'm not one to start unneeded internet drama nor make a bad name for myself online. If you are enough of a computer geek.. your IP address might as well be your social security number if you know how to look it up the right way---> Which is why I am careful with what I say online. You dont know who you are ****ing off. The military isnt as big as its made out to be IMHO. I completely agree with all my recruiters and higher ranking NCO's when they say that any given soldier will cross paths with a lot of people, tons of um. With that said, I'm not looking for anyone to spoon feed me a seat in flight school. I worked 2 and 3 jobs at any given time to pay for my college tuition, books, and car insurance. My grades were not that great because of how exhausted I was but I got a GREAT 2 year education from a local com. college. Someone told me its not what school you come from but what you make of your education, and I'm damn proud of it cause I think I'm a pretty damn smart cookie.
I know I will have questions to ask on those forums if I get in.. only after using forum search functions of course that dont populate relevant answers.
As a person on the "outside" looking into this "club" right now, it upsets me that there isnt comradery with future rotary pilots from existing ones.

If you guys tell me that later on down the road I'll be one of these guys that doesnt want to give advice or anything after I make it into flight school... all b/c I have become one of these "club members". I'll sure as hell be upset with the person I have become.
All you future enthusiastic, motivated, determined, etc soldiers that need help and come across this thread a couple months down the road be sure to look me up. I will gladly share my experiences, advice, and suggestions with you even if I dont "make it". I wont shrug you off or become "better than you" if I do make it, thats for DAMN SURE.
I leave for basic in a week and I'm gonna start spending as much time as I can with my mother, brother, and grandma. I wont frequent these friendly confines anymore as much for that same reason.
Thank you to all that replied quickly and consistently.
I'm sure to drop a line on this thread when I'm done with basic and AIT as soon as I get out.
FortLeonardwood->FortSamHouston->FortRucker(?) Only time will tell

you'll fit right in