ShockerGuy

Rank and Honor codes only get filled out if the aircraft is carrying a distinguished visitor (DV), usually an O-7 and above (flag officer/general officer). I don't recall what the actual codes are, but they give the destination airfield a heads up prior to the aircraft carrying the DV arrives so they can set up the welcoming committee and band as necessary. The actual codes can be found in the "General Planning" (GP) flight information publication (FLIP). In that pub, you can also find out how to fill out the rest of the DD-175 with a block by block description.

Pilots are only allowed to use ACLS after they have gone through a deployment typically and have over 100 traps. The reason for this is that ACLS can be tricky at times and requires some experience to use the system safely. It can kick off at very inopportune times, and the pilot must be able to take over immediately. In the jet, while flying ACLS you feel the throttles move, but the stick remains stationary which can be a very weird thing at first. Also, when flying ACLS, the pilot has to call "auto" on the ball call so the LSO is aware. As far as landing grades go (a huge part of a carrier pilot's life) ACLS landings aren't graded, so a pilot who can shoot an ACLS landing normally doesn't unless he's very tired after an unusually long flight because you're always trying to keep your GPA up, and ACLS landing grades don't affect it. As far as T-45 training goes, you learn to fly the jet with the HUD, sometimes an instructor will tell you to shut it off for a landing here and there. You don't learn to fly it with the HUD off at first. Flying on standby instruments in the Hornet is pretty awful as they are located right above your right knee. It's very difficult to have a good inside/outside scan when you're looking to your knee and then outside. Also the deck divot thing that was mentioned above was an issue with the ACLS system in the past, so there's actually an algorithm built into the system so jets touch down on a slightly different point every time to mitigate that.

Navy guys are 50/50 when it comes to tanking (real tanking...in my opinion) on goggles. Some put the goggles up pre-contact or while in port observation, some keep them on the whole time. The situation is a bit different from Air Force type tanking, but in either case, you don't have depth perception with the goggles on while tanking, which can be an issue for some. So, it's not so much a NVD-compatible lighting problem, it's a lack of depth perception thing.

And as a follow up, the legacy Hornet will normally carry 3 and E/F will carry 4 if required.