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I know 3 11M's getting the boot... all 3 were completely blindsided. I know a larger group of 11M's who were just passed over for the first time on this last board that are stuck in limbo. The biggest bull shit about their situation is that if they use the same criteria as this year's board then all but one of them (OTS grad with a Jan or Feb service date) will have the same fate next year, but they're being kept in the dark. The biggest dilemma for them is whether or not to punch out now while there is a chance they can get on with the Guard or Res at 14+ yrs in or wait to see what happens. Of course if they do that then they don't get the $120K (pre-tax) invol-sep pay, so they walk away with literally nothing. If they wait then they will probably have a much harder time finding a unit that will hire a 15+ yr guy... especially one that is twice passed over! It is sickening to see the AF putting these guys and their families in this situation! Of the guys I know, two of them have the wife who doesn't work to stay home with the young kids so they are the sole earner in the house. The other's wife had a really good job when they got married and would have most definitely been making more money than him right now, but had to essentially put her career on hold for the past 10 yrs because she had to obviously follow him to shitty locations where they didn't have good jobs in her career field (and its not like she can just jump back into the industry and make $150K after being out of it for so long). Just like the rest of us, these guys and their families sacrificed what was by every account the most important 10-15 yrs of their lives by saluting sharply and just taking every shitty TDY/deployment that came their way... literally years away from their families; and this is how Big Blue thanks them?!? And for the guys who were just passed over for the first time who have done the same exact thing, they don't even have the moral courage to be straight with them? Hmmm... I don't remember seeing any of this come up during the "Year of the Family" e-mails or power point slides! I have one buddy (11M/Eval Pilot) who finally had to show his cards to his boss last week when he turned down a PCS telling him that he was going to be getting out next fall when his UPT ADSC is up (I'm sure the 179 to shit hole X will be soon to follow), but more importantly know 3 other guys in the same year group who said they are waiting to see what happens to the guys just passed over this year to see if they get booted next year to decide what they're going to do. These are the fence sitters that everyone keeps talking about and the AF is making their decision pretty easy; the topic came up in a discussion about all of them scheduling their ATP, which tells you what direction they are most likely leaning in... all from the same Sq! I know a few guys down at AFPC (O-3 to O-5 types) who see the writing on the wall and are screaming as loud as they can (mostly because they know the mess they're going to have to deal with), but nobody in management is listening. I really hope that they are way smarter than all of us who can see the writing on the wall and there won't be a mass exodus of pilots in the next few years for all the various reasons, but the track record shows that they are simply looking at dealing with today and saying we'll deal with tomorrow... tomorrow! Not only does this suck for the guys who are getting pink slips after 15+ yrs, but what is going to happen to those of us left behind? The guys getting booted or who will be leaving, for the most part, are your line flyers who have been taking the brunt of the last 9 yrs on the road. Your fast burners will still be off at some High Flight deal or planning the Wing Change of Command or doing Habitat for Humanity... and we all know that there is no way that the Ops tempo and 179's will go down. That leaves us with the guys who can't get out because of ADSC and the guys who have 4-5 yrs left until retirement that aren't on the command track and currently flying the line who are going to once again carry the extra weight. Again, I'm not sitting in the meeting with the CSAF or the boss at AFPC when they are discussing this and therefore don't have the ever elusive "Big Picture". Those guys wearing stars on their shoulders are way smarter than this crew dawg... even with my rather impressive and extremely marketable Embry Riddle masters!!! Unfortunately they are always surrounded by a bunch of "yes men" who are either so far removed from the line (if they were ever really on it) or have just drank so much blue kool aide that they won't tell their boss what he DOESN'T want to hear. They may be brilliant and all of their town criers can yell "more with less" as loud as they want, but when you have those 5 lowly toll booth collectors and you suddenly cut it down to only two lowly toll booth collectors... you're going to cause a traffic jam that we're all going to have to sit in, no matter how brilliant you are or how many "yes men" you surround yourself with! We're in some pretty heavy traffic right now... I'm worried that we may end up in grid lock. Damn it... I knew I should have taken the train!!!

Complete.

Ahem, AFI-69.69 CO-PILOT UNION BI-LAWS 1.4 CP DUTIES. The CP is a valuable and integral part of any crew aircraft has many responsibilities. These include: finding sweet hotels when TDY in close proximity to speakeasies and houses of ill repute, AC ego maintenance, operating the landing gear, operating the flaps (some airframes), bailing other aircrew members out of jail, entertaining the crew with witty banter, quelling any navigator uprising and ensuring LMs stay out of the ACs box lunch. Under no circumstances will the CP, have to play wingman for a navigator (on crews with two navigators, they will wingman for themselves, preferably at a different bar from the rest of the crew) or take the fat chick (this is a loadmaster duty described in detail in TO XXX-1). EXCEPTION: Crews with radio or boom operators make delegate him to take the fat chick.

I spoke to a Marine Hornet pilot the other day and he pretty much said that the Marines do NOT want the JSF. It was forced on them for the reasons of "joint" but they all want the super hornet. As for LO, he said that the marines will treat the JSF just like a Hornet and it will be beat to shit in no time with lots of stuff hanging external. his flat out quote was, "You expect a bunch of Marines to walk around with booties on and be concerned with the RAM coating"?

Fuck, both the -6 and the Super T look sexy as hell. I'd love for them to spin that mission up. I'm partial to the Texan obviously, but the Tucanos are kicking ass down in South America and might prove an good bang for the buck. Then again I get this feeling like this thing is never gonna happen. :( Just like the T-50 -38 replacement, or the 2018 bomber, et al ad neauseam. With this economy, in this decade, no way no how. P.S. WTF Clovis for Tucano training?!?! The New Mexico Congressional delegation must have Czech hookers on the payroll 'cuz they keep that fucking shitty base on the roster like nobody's business. Talk about being hated by the entire penaut gallery and still getting first prize...What an unflickable booger that place is...

Not measuring Johnsons, but I would bet I have as much time doing CAS as most A-10 dudes and I disagree with your assessment. When you practice as a team and the team does exactly what you tell them, usually without you even asking, the results are glorious. Ultimately, we come from different cultures and I guess we will just have to agree to disagree. I make the next statement from the notch and with the disclaimer that of all the pointy nose platforms I've worked with, the A-10's have been the best, phenomenal is their standard... AND I have seen horrendous mistakes by my platform. However, the single most egregious FUBAR I've ever seen in combat was an A-10 bro who was absolutely clueless and cost us an HVT. We planned an OP for three weeks and at kick-off with five gunships pushing to five separate teams, he was still trying to do a roll call and figure out who was going where on what freq. Dear god that mission still makes me sick to my stomach.

I'm not sure what you guys' ABUs are made out of, but the fabric is so damn thick that when the sleeves are rolled my arms barely squeeze through and I look like I'm swole all day. Unless you have the biceps of a 12 year old girl it's just not comfortable or worth it...maybe there's a summer-weight version I'm missing out on? I'm all about fighting shoes with their own shoe rules, but the day we start adding to the bullsh*t just to f*ck our buddy is the day we're truly fit for managership (note I didn't say leadership). The big wig for uniform BS is an officer and in all likelihood a pilot (although not the current one) and maybe someday in the distant past he was just like us. But at some point he drank too much kool aid, became the good idea fairy, and bam, now we have more stupid sh*t in the new AFI than in the last version. Be careful about playing the shoe game too well. Also, here is the process for trying to reverse some of the dumbness:

Are your arms disproportionately longer than the rest of your body? Never seen a flight suit short-sleeves-only option...did see a thigh pocket zipper sewn on inside-out.

The Aircrew Duties chapter in my -1 says, "Not Applicable." I guess I can do whatever I want.

Let me guess...you would make money somehow if the A-29 won a contract?

Can't believe you guys didn't catch the new verbiage for sleeves: The way I interpret that is if you're not performing aircrew duties in-flight or don't roll your sleeves under, they don't have to be near your wrist. Printed that shit out, pushed my unrolled my sleeves up, and walked around today...LIKE A BOSS.

Yes this sucks about us getting out shoe'd. Cause I for one will miss my black boots, black t-shirt's, and my "moral shirts" that they say we can't wear anymore. Here's a thought and I'm going out on a limb here with all the free time that us flyers have, why don't we all just submit request in to the uniform board about bringing them back? Seems like the shoe's submit some pretty dumb ideas to them anyway. Why not try and get back our heritage or what ever new buzz word is for it these days?

Damn, my leg pocket zippers won't zip up and my unit doesn't have any funding for new flight suits.

I don't think Friday shirts will go away, unless you have have a wingking who hates aircrew. As far as the zipper thing, I think lining it with the nametag gives room for more play...especially when you have the velcro the patches are placed on moved down a few inches.

I am not zipping my leg pocket even if I have to leave one cap in it and wear another.

And I've witnessed many epic fails of aircraft with more than one seat. I've also witnessed single seat aircraft do a far better job. More than one dude in the jet does not always equal more SA or ability...I've seen quite the opposite. And yes I've seen 2+ seat aircraft do awesome work. Yes, I've seen single seat aircraft fuck it away. None of us have a perfect sortie and sometimes you have a really shitty one. So no, I'm not shitting on aircraft w/ more than 1 seat or the dudes who fly them, but your one-sided statement is pretty ridiculous.

It's change for the sake of change. It's what the Air Force is all about.

https://www.builtforthemission.com/combat-proven.php If you can look at the capability decision matrix for this airplane contest: For the LAS mission, the Super Tucano is the overwhelming winner! If the priorities come down to: "What's in the BX? Or "How large is the swimming pool and is the Golf Course in good condition? … Then go for the AT-6. Rainman's description has it right! It should be an Army Fixed Wing mission! The A-29 Super Tucano stands alone as the only combat-proven, mission ready and operational contender in the U.S. Air Force Light Air Support competition. What differentiates the Super T from the competition: •Clean sheet design: built for the mission, and optimized for the U.S. Air Force. ◦No adaptations or compromises necessary. •173 A-29 Super Tucano aircraft in use today or on order. •Ordered by the armed forces of seven nations. •100,000 flight hours logged to date. •16,000 combat hours without a loss. •Highest weapons load in its class. ◦Five intelligent NATO hard points. ◦Two internal, wing-mounted .50-caliber machine guns: accuracy with no drag. ◦133 fully-qualified and operational weapons load configurations. •Fourth-generation cockpit with HOTAS controls •Fully-integrated FLIR thermal imaging system. •Tested and requested by U.S. Navy for Operation Imminent Fury. •Capable of routinely taking off and landing on rugged terrain. •In production today, which means low customer acquisition costs; development costs are long-since paid for. •Low operating costs. •Longer airframe and larger rudder enable superior performance with high-torque 1,600 HP engine •Retained best aspects of trainer without compromising on combat capability.

I guess I'll lump myself in with those new-age SNAPS, but you guys realize that Nellis has non-fighter units that actually deploy right? In fact, in the 5 years that I spent at Nellis, I can't remember one fighter unit that did deploy. Home of the Fighter Pilot? I guess, but meanwhile I (helo pilot) spent 5 years there working, deploying, sweating and bleeding (watching friends bleeding) getting the job done. I don't care for the PC culture of the Air Force; I don't think everyone is a warrior, and I do think Robin Olds is a bad-ass, but I think Nellis AFB is more than the "Home of the Fighter Pilot." As I was.