Hahaha...I'll bet if you were in around the same time as I was, you wouldn't have to struggle to remember what a "MAF" was!
You Chiefs. I had some great Chiefs. Chief Waters, who handed out all the nicknames to our guys himself became "Chief Muddy Waters" due to his constant cheek bulging with Red Man and styrofoam cup of brown spit.
Chief Moore. Best. Chief. Ever. I have a great story about him.
He was one of the most taciturn people I had ever met. But not taciturn in the way someone might be sullen or unfriendly, but...just didn't say much.
The chief was a very pleasant guy. He never, ever lost his cool. He was rational, thoughtful, and a GREAT mechanic.
That is him with the blue baseball cap and his hand on Naperski's head (we were at the volcano park outside of Naples for a squadron BBQ. Perfect picture, captured him faithfully. We all thought he was a great guy and someone we all could find something to emulate in. But man, was he a quiet guy.
He was quiet, and calm. Great qualities. I remember once, up on the flight deck, someone dressed in khaki came running up to him with steam coming out of his ears. He was waving his arms, yelling and was squarely facing the chief about two feet away. I don't remember what he was pissed about, some maintenance thing.
While he yelled, Chief Moore just stood there impassively, styrofoam cup in one hand, cheek bulged out to one side of his black mustache, not moving. His blue eyes (they were kind of an Electra-Shave blue) just looked right back at the angry guy without showing any emotion.
Gotta remember one thing about Chief Moore. He was from down south, and always had a big chaw of Red Man in one cheek, a lot of them did like the Famous Chief Muddy Waters. Not a little dainty one, either. There were times when little strands of black, wet chewing tobacco could be seen sneaking out of the corner of his mouth. I recall seeing him pull the bag out, incline his head to the side while he conveyed a big blob of tobacco from the bag to his mouth as he tried to minimize the droppage.
So as this guy lost his mind yelling at him, Chief Moore stood like a wooden indian holding the ever present styrofoam cup. Just as the guy was reaching his peak of agitation, Chief Moore inclined his head a fraction, brought the styrofoam cup up a little higher, and a dark brown jet of tobacco spit exited from under his black mustache and expertly landed in the cup without so much as a drop hitting the sides.
The guy yelling at him literally stopped in mid-sentence with his arms halfway up in the air. It appeared he had completely forgotten what he was saying. His mouth opened and closed once or twice like he was a landed fish, then he turned on his heels and walked away.
Over the years, I have often thought of that, and am convinced he DID play that guy like a fish, and waited to spit at just the right time.