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Why would you have to choose one? If you can't do both you probably aren't a very good aviator either. Good AF aviators are good officers. Not all good officers are aviators. It is rare to have a bad officer be a good aviator that you want in your force. And I'm not talking about careerist officers. I mean good leaders who understand the mission, the environment, the guidance, know about risk acceptance, know about warfighting and critical thinking and know how to take care of, mentor and lead their subordinates, and set and enforce high standards. And be very good in the aircraft. Sounds hard to do it all because it is. Good aviators that are bad officers don't belong in the military.

I have a sincere question. What happens when you're just a run of the mill, average pilot? From reading these posts it would seem to be inferred that you're all a bunch of golden hands! I am an average pilot. I can do everything in my mission set safely. Are there people that do it worse? Yep. Are there people that do it better? You bet. I know my mission, and I'm very good in the 3-1 dept because that's something in my control, but is the fact that I'm not Chuck Yeager a disqualifying factor in me being a good leader? I'm honestly curious because a young pup reading these posts might just think, "well, that's it, I'll never do anything important because I'm not the best out there." I fly a crew aircraft. I fly in some pretty gnarly situations, and I'll be the first to admit that I was just not as blessed as some in the "hands" department. I'm a great instructor, and I'm always safe. I've been lucky enough to get lucky in some of the worst situations. I have always busted my arse working hard, and been trusted by my crews and leadership. AAD's are something I've always avoided like the plague, I had to do SOS on a waiver because of deployments, TDY's etc not permitting me to go before, and I've done ACSC in correspondence because I was basically told "or else". Rescue continues, in my very biased opinion, to be one area where we've had excellent leadership the majority of the time. My current assignment has pulled me away from USAF Rescue for the last three years, so maybe that's changed, but I doubt it. Long winded way to say that IMO, being the best pilot isn't the only important thing. I acknowledge that most of you aren't saying it is, but I just want to clear that up for young guys. You should never stop trying to be better, but realize that, like I always tell my 10 yr old son, there's always someone better. Being a great "real" officer is more important than being a great pilot. I think a lot of you are saying it, but I'll just spell it out. Being a great officer in the Air Force doesn't always mean you'll be the best pilot, but it does mean you'll never stop trying. And, just to be clear, in today's climate being a great officer doesn't mean you'll get promoted. I think it'll be rare that the truly great ones get passed over, but it happens, and that's what you have to be prepared for. Sometimes being a great officer means pissing off your boss, and that has ramifications. I hope that made sense. Long day, it's hot, and I actually got to fly. Time for bed. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

May I suggest you find out, and write a short email to that effect, including the name of the Airman who helped you? I make it a point to offer praise where earned as quickly as complain when warranted--goes a long way. If nothing else, the two-striper who worked your voucher will get a bit of recognition, which may inspire him to continue to provide excellent service to the next guy....

They don't make fun of navs or post pictures of tits enough.

I'm not convinced you are truly listening yet. I believe that you think you're listening but your response to me (and to others in general) has basically been to try and pick apart what is said and pull out examples of why the don't apply to you. It wasn't about you. I don't know you. Maybe they really don't apply to you. But I'm guessing there's not a commander on earth who thinks they apply to him either. And I bet all of them can cherry pick examples to support their opinion of themselves, too. Food for thought. I'm not going to rebut your rebuttal, but for one point: bitching is not toxic. Whining is toxic. Copy, I'm making up my own dictionary and maybe I'm lawyering the words, but whining is bitching without solutions. I WANT young dudes to bitch because that implies they propose solutions. I want them to identify problems big and small and I WANT them to think of solutions for all of them. It's not toxic, its heathy. Most of the time, they'll completely miss the big picture with their proposed solutions and that's fine. They'll figure it out as time goes on and their experience broadens. They'll figure it out when they feel comfortable enough to have those discussions openly with their ADOs, DOs, CCs, OGs, wing kings, etc who can offer them a different perspective based on their own experiences (assuming they spend the time to associate with their guys in informal settings). It's how they learn. It's how young officers grow and develop. It's how folks learn to see a picture bigger than they previously considered. It's fucking required to be a force that isn't satisfied with mediocrity and treading water. I'm not convinced we truly are that force anymore. There is not a championship team on earth who says "yeah, we have this all figured out". The good ones all point out what they need to work on before the next game--even after a win. But the blue kool aid brigade insists that everything is fine. Nothing to see here. Just keep patting ourselves on the back and whatever you do, don't bitch--it's cancer. But that's not a winning formula. That's a path to self-serving mediocrity, yes men, group think and irrelevance. Sometimes the emperor really does not have any clothes. And it's not toxic to say so. It's solemn duty. It's the only way we get better. I say all of that yet fully acknowledge its a fine line between constructive bitching and toxic whining. I get that. Like I said, probably semantics. As for "acknowledging things", nice try. Either that whole post sailed right by you or you really are that aloof. You can do better than that. But then again I could be wrong. I was wrong once before.

I would personally like to see a complete change from how the system works in that you are evaluated on your complete job performance (flying +queep + officership). It would be great to see boards do away with "school selects" at the Maj board. If everyone continued to compete for a school slot during your eligible years then i think the system would better select the right people to vector for in-residence IDE. The caveat to this is that school slots are allocated to each year group and that IDE CANNOT be completed in-correspondance until after you are out of your three "looks". This would reward people that continue to excel at their primary job throughout the entire eligibility time period. Obviously as a "candidate" I may be biased in this thought but I see a lot of "selects" that peak early and somewhat coast. If Liquid is correct in that "candidate" slots will completely dry up for the next 3-4 years, I think the perceived level of satisfaction that the majority of people will have with Big Blue will continue to spiral. I get it that we are under tough financial times but cutting career advancement requirements like in-res PME is the wrong way to go. Now if we change the system to where "done" is "done" (in-res vs correspondance) are the same then we may be better off all together. Look at Gen Welsh's bio...he didnt go to PME in residence once...but that was a different day.

Well clearly, if the 777 had a flight engineer they wouldn't have crashed.

They are missing WHY dudes are disgruntled. I've been around a long time, as you have. There have certainly been boom and bust cycles for morale. This one is far different than what I think can fairly be called the last down cycle for pilots in the mid to late 90s. Young pups hear jack/shit about mission focus anymore. The mission is what motivates them. It's why they are here. But they hardly hear a peep about it from their leadership. That's the number one reason. Act like what they dedicate themselves to is worth your attention. All they hear about from the cake eaters is stuff like you yourself (and guys like old major chang) has said--get you masters or you clearly don't care. There are no bad assignments. You should get down on your knees every day and thank mother air force for all she has given you. Service before self after all. These fuckers have known nothing but war. They have never, ever known any semblance of stability or predicability in their whole careers. They weren't around in the good old days where we had fun. When we were captains, our career paths were stable, our deployments predictable, our promotion process was rational, there was no such thing as a 179 or God forbid a 365 other than a few remotes to Korea. We didn't face down UAV assignments. We didn't face constant rumors (and realities) of a RIF. There was a mission focus. Leaders seemingly cared that their CGOs were good in the jet. That's all that mattered to my early commanders. It's how they stratted CGOs for the most part. I swear to God I never heard a single word from a leader about a masters degree until I was a major. Not one word. Now guys are dirtbags if they haven't started one as a lieutenant. Education is king, the only problem is that no one seems to care what you study, how we'll you do or what diploma mill you go to. After all, it makes great "thinkers" yet no one seems to be allowed to think for themselves. It's party line or you're a troublemaker. See problems? Don't point them out and offer solutions. That's whining. Dudes are tired of that bullshit. So what are the "aristocrats" missing? 1) acknowledge that young pups in the AF have been run ragged. I mean really acknowledge that, not just a token half-hearted comment here or there. 2) acknowledge that there are bad deals and lose the "suck it up" and "service before self" lectures. No one respects that bullshit. You can't polish a turd. 3) Masters degree does not equal dedication or leadership potential. Stop saying that it does. Masters is required. Got it. But when it goes beyond being a yes/no at the board to being used for strats and jobs, then it's out of fucking control. The AF has absolutely lost its mind in this regard. Job performance and leadership potential should be king. They are not. 4). acknowledge that these dudes face an uncertain future with regards to promotion, assignments and RIFs unlike we ever did and it stresses them out and wears at their morale. Don't even dare compare it to uncertainties you had in your early career. You and I both know that it's not even close. I'm tired of typing now. But that's a start.

The best article I've seen from the media about the crash: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1787132/Comment-Asiana-Airlines-Flight-214-a-pilots-perspe

I had a long debate about this once with a school select friend who has mediocre hands. I came into it arguing you need good piloting skills to lead in the ops world. He, obviously, felt you didn't. I think we settled in the right place... I don't think you need stellar hands. You do need competent hands with stellar judgement, experience, and knowledge. Without those, how is a leader/commander supposed to make decisions regarding flying? How are they going to judge risk versus reward? How are they going to identify and set standards of performance or develop reasonable squadron flying policies? If you can do those things well, along with the other thousand things leadership entails, your hands just need to be good enough to not undermine your credibility. When I had a commander fail to meet that criteria, I didn't directly care that he was a bad stick. I did care that he made bad decisions and created meaningless restrictions based on his own fears, shortcomings, and misunderstandings of the aircraft.

I was drinking my 7th third beer at the MUFF one night with a Navy and Marine O-6 who were both Wing CC equivalents at home, but deployed to the CAOC (both flyers, both great dudes) who were "venting" to me about the young AF guys they had working for them. It completely blew them away that these guys were on a "combat" deployment and they were working on PME and AADs... neither of them could even comprehend it. They were asking me about it in the hopes of calling BS on these guys who as young Capts and Lts told them they needed to get their AADs and SOS done in cor or they wouldn't get promoted and that being deployed was the easiest time for them to do it... not only that, doing it while deployed was highly encouraged by their Commanders. When I confirmed what their guys told them and that it was what was being pushed by Commanders the response from the Marine O-6 was, "No offense, but shit like that is why nobody takes you guys too seriously from the other services. If one of my Marine Capt pilots working for me was taking Masters classes over here I'd kick his ass because that's not why he is here!"

Par for the course. "Korean pilots are not susceptible to spatial disorientation". Different mishap, but yeah, they actually said that.

I truly hope that Crappy’s gets a chapter dedicated to it.

Is your car registered on base? Had a buddy who was trying to register his car on base for tags and was told he has to do this also before he could get his tags. Well since we are a joint base I told him to go to the army side and try to register it there, they didn't give a crap and gave him his tags.

https://www.vogue.co.uk/ Once the page loads, type the Konami code. WTF?

Bingo.....chalk another one up to the supposedly mentally-induced "subjective" differences between the Charlestons and the Cannons of the world. Some of the kool-aid drinkers on here suggested earlier in the thread that assignments are 'what you make of it' i.e. not a matter worthy of making go/nogo decisions over, and that valuations of discomfort regarding location are largely imagined and hardly real or objective. All locations are good and it's only in the mind of the person that things are bad... Yet, EVERY single quitter who wasn't a RIF dude that we've hired on the Reserve side unequivocably 7-day opted over 2 things: 1)PCS location 2)flying vs non-flying. That's it. No bonus or such nonsense. 'It's what you make of it' my ass! I know more people who've walked out of the plantation over a nutpunch PCS than I know passed over separatees. Running outta toes to count here A1.... Hell, Minot and Cannon look like Ford assembly lines. 5 ducks fly the pond for every billet you need to fill. Tell me that's mere happenstance and "just in these people's heads/it's what you make of it"... LOL

Has anyone seen SR's reviewing FEFs (942's) during the PRF writing/review?

Just a little perspective from someone fresh out of UPT from earlier this year. Before we graduated, our class had a mandatory brief with our CC about everything this thread was talking about it. We were told about PME/AAD, checking boxes, staff jobs, etc... The whole promotion system/career progression was quickly summarized for all of us. Now, I remember my buddies and I leaving that brief wondering why were told about major promotions and IDE. Our boss was just letting us know what future unsaid expectations were. About how as 1Lts/Capts we should be getting our degrees done, doesn't matter where just get it done, and how we should do SOS correspondence at the first chance so we get selected residence. And how the mover and shakers look at WHEN and how EARLY those things to separate each other. And how some people might have been passed over for Major for not having those boxes checked and how they were in disbelief. Before anyone goes trying to crucify this guy, he told us that we should be focused on being the best wingman/co-pilots out in the AF. But be prepared that UPT will be the last time your job is solely to fly and there will be other performance indicators other than, "this dude has X hours and is a great stick." Now, this might have been predicated on the fact that there were still Capt boards when I was graduating and we needed something besides pilot in our records to not fall through the cracks, especially if we have big BITs. my .2

Apparently I haven't paid too close attention to civilian crashes in the past - is it typical for the NTSB to release this amount of detailed information so early in the investigation process?

a fuckin' nav could have done a better job of rounding out that fat goose than these fucktards did......

Also FWIW, I've filed my own taxes every year of my life with moderately complicated returns (at times), and I ran the numbers a few times and figure that taking the half up front option costs me right around $1000 over the total 9 year period. The extra money in year one can be stuck in a freaking savings account even at today's rates and make that interest back in 4 years. 11F, I don't know your personal situation and the extra $10K cost may be completely accurate for you, but for anyone else considering the two options I just wanted to offer an opposing viewpoint and don't want anyone to come on here and take it at face value that the lump sum is the wrong choice, because in my case (married w/ non-working spouse and 2 kids) it is definitely in our best interest to take the money now. Not to mention another key point you make is that all of this is assuming tax rates stay at current levels. I'd bet a million dollars that tax rates stay the same or go up. No way do they go down over the next 10 years (meaning I'd prefer as much of my money taxed now at a potentially lower rate). Plus my income will only go up over the next 9 years, not down or stay the same. All of these factors made it a no-brainer in my situation to take a lump sum. And for my personal situation, I am a non-school dude who had one foot (actually 1.75) out the door based on everything that's been discussed ad nauseam on here. The allure of a retirement at 20 years and a very good assignment (outside the pain of the USAF) are what kept me in, and without the sweet assignment, there was a 0% chance I was staying. Even with the favorable assignment, it was still an incredibly difficult decision, and I can say that in my situation the bonus played zero role in my decision. Had there been no bonus this year, I would've stayed in (because my next PCS will be at around the 16ish yr point and my family and I have decided that I/we can endure 4 years of pain for the big retirement prize at the end). We'll see if it's a decision I/we end up regretting, but I don't think that's a question I can answer until 20-30 years from now. To Rusty's point about all the bonus-takers being school-selects, while not necessarily true, his point is valid. There will surely be guys who take it and are not school selects/fast-burners/whatever. But the real question is what percentage of ARP takers were staying in for 20 regardless of the bonus? I'm a beneficiary of $225K, but I'll be the first to admit I think it's an absolutely terrible, lazy, expensive, and completely inefficient retention tool. It's frustrating as hell to me, because I think the majority of folks who take the bonus are/were staying in anyway (not to mention the multiple posts on here discussing the root causes of the problems, none of which the bonus fixes or even addresses). If the AF took all this freaking bonus money and was able to subtly funnel it into a pool of money that could hire a bunch of civilian schedulers, day laborers, and generally all around queep do-ers (that apparently the Pentagon thinks we already have?), you'd have a helluva lot more morale going around the squadrons, and with a few additional tweaks in the way we collectively manage our people and our operations, there would no longer be a need for an effing bonus because folks would enjoy coming to work everyday. It'd be a win/win.

So, every Wg/CC and below should give up and quit? Why are you still posting?

Thanks, Brick. I can do a write-up on the S&W. I have a soft spot for wheelguns, as I have somewhere around 15 of them. Most are S&W with the rest being 2 Rugers, a Webley Mk VI, a Nagant, and an unnamed one (I'd have to look it up) that my father gave me. I actually have 2 Highway Patrolman revolvers. The one pictured above and another with a 6" barrel. I also have a Model 27.

I will add to the pile...(posting while drinking, so bear with me) Dudes, i hear what you are saying...no one wants to hear that they are not measuring up to the pack or that they are falling behind. Some on here are in that group and some are not. You know who you are. Let me say up front that box checking for the sake of box checking is bullshit, but there are times when you need to shut up and color to benefit yourself. For example, doing SOS in correspondence, in case you are not able to attend in residence, due to mission requirements, is probably something that should be done. Requiring a dude to do correspondence before being considered for residence is BS. However, mission requirements may preclude a dude from going so I am going to encourage people to get correspondence completed so they don't inadvertantly screw themselves. On a side note, I get a little more pissed everytime that someone gets on here and perpetuates the argument that all the good dudes get out and the AF is left with those guys that cannot fight their way out of a wet paper sack. Everyday the AF loses some of the shitbags and some of the good dudes. Everyday. Everyone has different reasons to stay and to go. Sometimes, Commanders help people out the door because they don't need to be in our AF anymore. Everyone is a tough decision and they are all getting screwed (if you listen to them). I would caution you to not assume that you know the full story when normally all you have is your buddies bitching about how he got screwed by the man. In fairness, I acknowledge that the system is not perfect and that some dudes get screwed over while others skate. However, the idea that all Sq/CC's are BTZ dudes that are only pleasuring their bosses daily and none of them are out there trying to fix their part of the world is 100% inaccurate. Realize Sq/CC's have bosses just like you do and their sphere of influence is relatively small. Sometimes they sit behind closed doors for hours discussing (arguing) with their bosses about certain problems. In the end, when decisions are reached, they do their jobs by carrying out those decisions without bitching to those junior to them. You will never know what happened behind the scenes, but rest assured there are dudes out there fighting the good fight. They do not always win. Back to the topic at hand, I loath the way the AF values AADs. I have no problem with the AF asking me to accomplish PME. IMO, we should all strive to be the best at our jobs and we should all strive to learn more about our service and accomplish PME when required. Some of you will disagree with that and that is OK. On a personal note, I never did SOS in correspondence...I went in residence. In retrospect, that was a mistake as I nearly did not have an opportunity to attend due to a PCS and retraining as I was late-rated. In my case, it worked out. I was fortunate to be an IDE select and was at the early stages of the "practice bleeding" memo signed by the AF/A1, Lt Gen Brady. Against my Sq/CC's advice, I choose to roll the dice by not doing ACSC in correspondence or an AAD. I chose to be the best I could at flying and leading people. Fortunately, it worked out for me and I got both PME and my AAD through IDE in my last look. Continuing to do the best you can at your JOB is still the best thing you can do to make yourself valuable to the AF, IMHO. Later, I was fortunate enough to be promoted and was an SDE select. I did learn my lesson and did correspondence SDE since I knew the end of the road was approaching if I did not. Some of you have probably figured out who I am by this point and my history of posts. That is OK. Some of you have read my other posts and whether you agree with everything I support on this sight, or in real life, you will learn that you will always get the straight scoop from me. I have noticed that many of you just want to rage against the machine. Some want to bitch just because you know the AF will never get all of it right. However, there are so many ways for dudes to succeed in the AF. Regardless of what I read here, I do not agree that there is only one way for a guy to succeed or that there is only one path for a guy to follow to make it to Sq/CC or higher. Set your goals and work hard. Put the mission first and stop being mired in the qweep. I always expected my Sq/CCs to be able to wade through the qweep and be the shit shield so that I could do my J-O-B. But, I also knew that I had an obligation to help him by keeping the BS off his plate and not attracting negative attention to myself or my crew and/or handling those situations at my level when possible. I have not always seen this happen...on either side. There are oppotunities out there for all of us.

As promised, here are the comparison pics. The first is a bottom view (L to R) of a SIG P220, Beretta M9, HK USP9, FN FNX-45, S&W Model 28 Highway Patrolman w/4" bbl. These were lined up by muzzle. Out of the semi-autos the Beretta is the longest. The next is a side view. The FNX-45 with the 15 round mag is the tallest, with the USP9 and the Beretta being the shortest. Here is a slide thickness comparison with the USP9. The FNX-45 is wider, but not by much. The last few pics are a comparison with the M&P9. As you can see the FNX-45 is the larger handgun overall. I chose these specific handguns, because they are full size duty/service handguns so they fall into the same category as the FNX-45. Realize that a USP9 (and the 40) are smaller than the USP 45 variant, so that may have been a more appropriate comparison since the FNX-45 is a .45 ACP handgun. The only handgun chambered in the same caliber is the P220. For a comparison with the 1911, it has a similar length and height as the Beretta, but would be the thinnest out of the above handguns. Sorry for the somewhat blurry photos.

I curious as to what the relative level of experience was among the 4 pilots on board. Take media reports with a grain of salt, but the oft quoted "43 hours in type" pilot was also very experienced 747 captain. He may have been the senior ranking pilot of the 4 on board. However, there was an instructor on board because of his lack of time in type. From the armchair quarterback perspective, it seems this was more of a failure of the instructor/check pilot to intervene in an unsafe situation. Getting IPs to intervene in a timely manner is one of the hardest skill to teach, and typically unpleasant for non assertive types when they come through CFIC. Was this lack intervention a product of that airline culture, or a dynamic particular to that crew? The media's light is shining bright on this one, so the answers will be fairly quick in coming

A book about a 2d Lt fresh to pilot training? Chapter 1: "Ummmmmmmmmm," he said.

"Don't accept being low". "Don't accept being slow". "Don't accept being off centerline". I say this EVERY DAY and it matters.

"Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence in your ability to help, or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership." - Colin Powell

Recently flew to SFO commercial. The wife couldn't understand why I absolutely INSISTED that she wear at least closed toe shoes. She was dead set on wearing sandals.

Since you're in the know, did the current CSAF condone or was against "rape songs" when he was a Sq/CC at Hill, OG at Moody, or Wing King at Kunsan?

Yes,... pretty impressive to see a line of people a couple of miles long on base,... all saluting his convoy. Too bad most of America doesn't see this. I hope I never see it again, though.