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I'll bite, although I feel as though my response would fall on deaf ears. I have thought about this question for many years (I'm not just about to pin on Capt) and have come to quite a few answers to that questions. My answers are three fold, with a summary at the end. The short of it, we just aren't even. 1. Integrity First- This catch phrase is used to encompass the expectations of subordinates, but not accountable to self or superior. I have seen blatant betrayals from senior leaders when the "deal changes", during any feedback session, or through the horrible personnel management. 2. Service Before Self- The comment in itself reeks of cold war propaganda. Many people subscribe to the God, Family, Country mentality but the Air Force would have you believe that you would put all personal desires second to the Air Force needs. The "needs of the Air Force" have been met personally by my by missing the majority of my own birthdays, christmas and 4th of July celebrations. I have also put the service first by moving to undesirable locations on a timeline chosen for me by the Air Force. In return I am rewarded by the likes of TAMI 21 and multiple RIFs. It is of absolutely no surprise to me that this concept of a one way street with no expectation of the service to show gratitude for my dedication to it's cause. 3. Excellence in All We Do- I can't believe that this even exists as a core value any more. We have punted the majority of the leadership challenges that have come our way in recent years. The least of which is not defined by the current state of large scale acquisition programs. The fraud, waste and abuse run rampant among spineless senior leaders more focused on the nest promotion than holding peers and superiors accountable for their actions. I believe excellence exists in the warriors that I have flown with in combat. I believe whole-heartedly that it exists in most squadrons. I do not believe that it exists above that level. The last, and most important, is the informal "affirmative action" implemented amongst company and field grade officers. The Air Force has gone to great lengths to ensure that we are all wingmen, warriors and leaders. We have reverted to baseline stratifications, masters degrees, PT tests and PME completion as a measure of success instead of number of combat deployments, hours spent in the vault or countless early morning, late nights and endless TDYs. I want to be very clear. We are not equal. A pilot should not be measured against a personnel, maintenance or finance officer. We aren't the same people. We, as aviators, assume an inordinate amount more risk when we execute combat airdrops, prepare for air-air refueling, or execute a combat mission. We aren't even. When reviewing commissioning sources over various years you will find that pilots are required to be the top 50% or better (10% at times) of their peers. Further, at SUPT, T-38 candidates must be in the top 50% of their class. We aren't even, we aren't even close. So, when 10 years into my career a commander stratifies pilots amongst pilots it should be assumed that those numbers are easily the top percentages of the Air Force. Through the personnel management programs we have attempted to even the playing field by placing emphasis on PME and AAD. Yes, I expect that a Personnel 2LT after having completed 4 months of training in his primary AFSC should have the time and energy to commit to those. Conversely, after 12 months of SUPT followed by 6 months of MWS specific training, followed by 6 months of MQT a pilot is given the opportunity to be the WORST pilot in the squadron. From there he is expected to work 12 hour days, spend weekends preparing for upgrades and countless days and weeks on the road. We aren't even. So, you ask why, that's why. We aren't even. We aren't even close. In a completely humble and non assuming context I contend that we just aren't the same people. We are cut from a different cloth and the Air Force has attempted to make us the same guy. So, after 12 years of military service I will cut my losses and take my chances in other ventures. I am willing to wager my military retirement that my statements above are of more substance than mere narcissism. I'm disappointed in the Air Force, in it's leadership and the way in which it downplays it's most valuable resources. We just aren't even.

Chang, What you read on BODN are the heartfelt emotions of your Air Force warriors...this anger and frustration is pent up deep inside and is far more problematic than you could fathom or repair. The Air Force folks you encounter daily likely aren't the ones on this forum; most of the folks on this forum have been fighting non-stop wars and dealing with suck that you couldn't imagine, so I understand why you feel confused. I would happily tell you in person my perspective if the chance occurred. I'm deeply saddened that I feel the way that I do. I could write you a thesis about the subject, but most of the points have been covered in other posts. The path that I took to enter the USAF was extremely difficult and most told me it was an impossible dream. I chased a lifelong dream and wouldn't let anything in the world stand in the way of achieving it. During OTS and UPT, my level of passion and dedication to the Air Force was beyond measure. The pride and sense of duty that I felt every waking moment was extraordinary. I prayed that I would be able to serve at least 20 years. All of this was elevated to a new level when my dedication and hard work rewarded me with my fighter assignment. I walked on water... Fast forward a few years and I am reeling with the debilitating pain of a giant blue cock in my ass fukking away my dreams. That bitch is named TAMI- she works for you. Words can't describe the pain and sense of loss that I felt. Confusion, heartbreak, and crossed describe the feeling well. Faith was lost. Trust was lost. Cards were shown and as a young Lt, I learned a valuable lesson: you are just a number and timing is everything. I moved on and continued, somehow, to serve the country that I wrote a blank check to, payable with my life. After moving on, Service before Self was paid across 9 grueling deployments where I amassed over 1300 hours in combat serving my country. During this time, I watched the last debacle unfold in regards to the VSP/RIF around the same time I watched Mother Blue ass-###### 157 Majors out of the service. It's amazing how I have spent my entire USAF career serving my country while watching Big Blue ###### over it's own at every step. I've seen it too many times. Most of us have seen what was once our passion turn into just a another shitty job. I'm a talented aviator and would drive a jet straight to hell to bomb the devils whorehouse and 69 virgins if my country needed me to. Sadly, the Air Force isn't interested in really serving the country or taking care of it's own. I'll find a way to keep serving my country, and it won't be in the active duty AF. Somehow, you have taken the most talented folks this country has to offer and screwed them to a point where they will turn-in their dreams and a six figure income without second thought. If you opened the gates and let folks run, you would see how bad it really is. Instead we play with VSP shenanigans...not only would we leave for free, I would offer up a chunk of savings at this point as would many. When you turn our passion into just a job, we go searching for better jobs. It never was about the job or the money, it was about passion and dreams. You broke faith. I'm not bluffing and neither are most on this forum. Months ago it seemed like we were being threatened because the cuts were coming and we better check six. I'm calling your bluff. Open the gates...

I hate to answer a question with a question, but maybe you and the people you work for need to ask yourself this… How can you manage to take some of the smartest, most highly motivated, talented, skilled, unselfish, mission oriented, succeed at all cost, patriotic citizens this country has to offer… and make them want to do something other than what many of them have dreamed their whole lives about doing??? I have learned by being on this forum long enough not to speak for others, so I will just speak for me. Since I was 4 yrs old I wanted to be a pilot. I didn't want to be just a pilot, I wanted to be a military pilot. The proudest day of my life aside from becoming a Dad was pinning my Wings on my chest… I love wearing a flight suit and I love each and every crew dawg that straps into the seat to go to every shit country that ends in "stan" so that hopefully my kids won't have to!!! It has no kidding been my dream my entire life to be able to do what I do… but I don't want to do it anymore! It's not that I don't want to hack the mission or deploy or put on a tan flight suit anymore (I'll honestly eventually miss all of that)… its that I don't want to deal with moron managers who couldn't lead a bowling ball down a hill. Patton, LeMay, Mitchell… they probably wouldn't make Captain in today's Air Force because they (like most of those who bail AD at the first opportunity) had the balls to look at the boss and say, "Sir, this is fucking stupid!" Somehow with the amazing talent pool that we have to choose from we manage to drive most of our leaders out… for some unknown reason you and your bosses can't figure out why. And for some ungodly reason… you and your bosses actually think that YOU are leaders. You're not...

A) Who the F is this Gen. Welch you speak of? Is he a purveyor or juice products? Not the first time you've made this mistake... B) I'll humor you and play your game. The answers to your questions would be evident if you read many of the threads here or left your office and talked to real no-joke airmen. I digress...as someone who's getting out and looking to take advantage of whatever seperations programs the AF may decide to offer my year group and AFSC: I've had a great time in the AF. On the logical side, great, stable paycheck, recession-proof employment over the last 6+ years, lived in some nice places for the most part, good medical and family support for myself and dependents. On the more emotional side, great dudes, awesome mission where I feel we're really making a difference, got to fly some great airplanes, very proud to have served my country and I hope to be able to do so in other ways in the future. Why am I wanting to get out you ask? Endless deployments, terrible personnel management (I'm looking at you A1...), non-releasable for anything other than flying the line and churning out deployments, ready for new challenges, not looking for more undesirable PCSs either. Massive uncertainty on the future of my community and what that means for one's career, where they will live, how much they'll be gone from family, etc. I'd love to stay in and do any number of jobs AD Air Force has to offer...they just aren't willing to offer then to me or my peers at this point or at any point in the near future. Career field too undermanned to support anything other than flying and deploying and adding more air medals over and over and over again. So I'll release myself. Looking at guard opportunities, looking at other federal employment, mildly looking at other random non-gov related jobs but honestly I'd like to serve in some capacity as a career choice. I look at it like it's all the same team so if AD Air Force isn't willing to play ball with what I and my family want to do with our lives I'm willing to look elsewhere and won't feel a shred of regret or anything other than pride for the career I had up to the day I leave. God speed to my bros who are staying because it's an important job and I'm in awe of many of the good guys who want to do it for the long haul. All that said...if this is all another BS "service before self" ploy to guilt dudes into staying on active duty, I'm sorry that you're even attempting that. It's extremely inappropriate at any level to pull that move on dudes who are separating after honorably serving. Now get off BO.net and get back to fixing this force management train-wreck Debaclypse 2014.

Did you seriously just throw core value #2 at the very dudes who constitute THE Air Force contribution to efforts over the last 10+ years? You should be ashamed of yourself. There are people on here who probably have more deployments than everyone at AFPC combined, never mind yourself. I don't know what kind of shoe clerkery you are involved in, nor do I really care, but I'm willing to bet that your definition of "service" is significantly different than the definition we use around here. Want to help clarify some of this RIF/VSP buffoonery? Please, we would like nothing more, but DO NOT come here and try to lecture us about our alleged lack of service or our lack of faith in a unit which has repeatedly implemented the most asinine, obtuse, and myopic personnel programs. Faith is a synonym for trust, it is tediously earned and easily lost, and you are not helping to earn back anyone's trust or faith here.

Every TAMI guy I know is flying right now unless they slept with their captors. Sorry to hear you didn't escape. Chang - I enjoy my job. CBTs, shoe clerks and the CGOC piss me off, but I take them in stride because I get to fly a Mach 2 death machine that turns 12000 lbs of dead dinosaurs into greenhouse gasses in .9 hours and hurls exploding metal things at people and stuff that want to kill Americans. If you A1 buttholes will just let me keep doing that then I think we can tolerate each other.

I'll pile on as well. To me, it's all about choice. I realize that in separating from the AF I will most likely take a hefty pay cut, at least in the beginning. However, I will have gained the ability to run my own life, control where I live, what job I take, if I want to be gone from my family. I always said I'd stay in as long as I was still enjoying it. Well, that stopped when I got a terrible assignment after 3 years of doing my job to the best of my ability. Yes, service before self. Yes, needs of the AF. Yes, I signed up knowing this could happen. So I went. There were ups and downs but I never forgot that when AFPC asked me what I wanted to do after my first assignment, they basically shredded my request and put me wherever the @#$% they wanted. 10 years later, I've learned that I am just a number to the AF. That my personal life, personal desires, etc. don't matter a bit to anywho who has any power over my career. I still do the best job I can, but at the first opportunity (and I've already tried: ref last VSP debacle), I will be leaving this one-sided relationship and take on the challenges of doing something else with my life. This will most likely include the Reserves as I enjoy flying and enjoy teaching, but I won't spend the next 10 years of my life waiting for the next shitty deployment to a shittier location so I can miss my kid growing up. It's not worth it, there's no grand strategy forwhat we're doing here, and life is simply too short. I'll find a job after the AF. It might be a desk job, it might be something I'm passionate about, but it will be of my choosing, not some bureaucrat's. That's just me.

Who's Gen Welch? Is he the new A1?

Solid first post.

In response to the tragic loss of Jolly 22, the HH-60 crash on 7 Jan 2014 in the UK that claimed the lives of four USAF aircrew, the River Rats, in conjunction with the Air Warrior Courage Foundation (AWCF), have established college savings 529 plans to accept tax deductible contributions for the children left behind. Anyone wishing to honor the fallen warriors, may contribute funds that will help provide 529 College Savings Plans for their children. Of the four crew members, three of them leave children behind: Capt Sean Ruane leaves behind an infant son. TSgt Dale Mathews leaves behind four children between 11 and 16. SSgt Afton Ponce leaves behind two children under the age of 5. There are two ways to give and all donations are tax deductible. NOTE: IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS BELOW CONCERNING THE "IN MEMORY..." VERBIAGE. 1) Send a check to AWCF, P.O. Box 877, Silver Springs MD. 20918. In a separate note or in the remarks sections, please write "In Memory of xxxxxxxxxxx" 2) Donate Online: Go to AWCF homepage (www.airwarriorcourage.org). On the home page is a DONATE button. Click it and it will take you to a page with a GIVE DIRECT button. Click it and fill in the blanks. In the comments section, please write "In Memory of xxxxxxxxxxx" Please help spread the donation info to the max extent possible....the more exposure, the more we can help the children! Any questions or problems, please let me know. Cap-10

No, the patch wearer would have had those jobs...

Just googled "Brig Gen Grosso"...

Chang, you asked "Why?": - Big Blue had the great idea to release Force Shaping immediately before Christmas. Can't think of one upside to that. - Big Blue released PDSMs 13-130 and 13-131 to commanders and failed to mention what was official and what wasn't. If you expected them to "close hold", that's a poor leader not taking care of their people . - Local MPFs had no idea -130 and -131 were not official and told people that they were official. - People like me "showed their cards" prior to applying for VSP because they were told that they had to talk to their commanders before applying. - A1 proceeds to fire off an email AFTER HOURS ON THE 10TH delaying the VSP UFN, ensuring that nobody will know about it until it trickles down sometime Monday....y'know, LESS THAN 24 HOURS TO APPLYING. - Most of us don't learn about it from our chain....our chain learns about it from us. A foul in the every manner of military structure. So, here we are in the current situation. We've shown our cards with our commanders and now there's a fair chance I may not even be elegible. Thanks for the career boost due to mismanagement and untold layers of approval. I think this is how the next five years are going to play out, so I don't want to play. Oh, yeah, that highly likely 365 of questionable purpose might be a driver, too.

Sir, you are a poet. A poet indeed... It takes great courage to break up with your fat chick...you see the hotties out there everyday, but it's a scary, scary leap of faith! God speed...you'll find her! Grenade!!!!! Selected for reassignment as Director, Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. Take cover boys, Bendy

read the post and use your mastery of the English language to decide for yourself.

Chang, On Sept 11, 2001, I was a senior in high school. I felt a combination of intense rage at our attackers and a solemn duty that "to whom much is given, much is expected." As someone who felt very blessed in the gene pool and upbringing, I felt it was my solemn duty to lead the fight in defending my country. Here we are, almost 13 years later. Numerous deployments later, when I look myself in the mirror at 0 dark 30 in some sandy place, I can't convince myself anymore that I'm defending our country. A nation that doesn't care enough to commit to win its wars, yet still commits its troops to sacrifice their relationships, futures, bodies and even their lives. I do what I do solely because of the duty I feel to my brothers on the ground. The rewards of an Air Force career? I look at the timid souls around and above me, those who in so many cases lack the intellectual honesty or critical thinking to question what exactly they are straining their families for any more. I see, all too often, people afraid to leave the peaceful mediocrity that is the essence of most Air Force careers. These people have turned a bold, fearless organization into one that the Stasi would admire: thou shalt follow the path and the dogma or find thyself forced out. I've got some things I still want to accomplish. When they're done, I'll forge my own path. Like so many on this board, I know that if I take half the talents and work ethic I've put into flying and apply them to something else, I will succeed. Have fun with your pathetic little check from mother government.

I think the writing is on the wall. Congress has already shown they are willing and able to cut our retirement, entitlements and benefits. Having been a nation at war for over a decade, our military is tired. People are tired of the constant deployments, constant PCSs and fear of going to crap assignments and locations. The powers that be don't even want to compensate us for the frequent and significant sacrifices we have made to 'serve' this nation. I fortunately have had some amazing leaders at the squadron level but I wouldn't follow most senior leaders to the bathroom, much less to the battlefield. Senior leaders keep us busy with queep, inspections, complex policies and continue to make it harder and harder to advance without butt snorkeling and stepping on everyone around you to get to the top for the prize of the almost past tense 'retirement'. Well since congress showed their cards, I'm ready to show mine. I'm burnt out on working harder than those around me to end up sitting at a desk, not flying, afraid of another non-flying assignment all at the risk of retirement not even being around when I can actually collect it and benefits being compromised - essentially nothing to show for living a life that is unstable and unpredictable. I can surely see why the most intelligent and hard working leaders leave!-- and then to tell us you will cut 25,000 Airmen so those of us remaining can bear the burden when they are gone.. Continuing the cycle of doing "more" BS with less, no thank you! Like others have said, I have served my country, it's time to move on to do something different; Be at home with my family, be able to have children without feeling my stratification is at risk by doing so, actually fly an airplane, not spend 40+ hours a week at a desk doing queep and additional duties, not deploy, not PCS and not worry about getting screwed over by lazy functionals who just want to fill a billet. To be honest with you, id leave the Air Force for free. This is a different Air Force than even my parents served in. When my 10 years are up the Air Force won't even be able to pay me to stay. As people have cited, there's a real issue with the quality of today's military senior leaders. With the Exception of General Welsh who has proved to be an exceptional leader, the fact remains, he is is only one man. There is so much disfunction on so many levels in the AF it is starting to become clear to even the lowest levels. I would still like to serve in the guard or reserve in some capacity but I like many others do not feel the cost benefit analysis of staying on active duty given the lengthy list of sacrifices tax payers ask of us passes the dummy check. My husband, also a pilot feels the same. We have both seriously fantasized about vsp since word was released. Good luck continuing to recruit a future volunteer force with the conundrum and debacle we have come to know as the Air Force. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just came back from a week long TDY and was nervous to open my email. Although I don't think I have anything to worry about, I still do because you never know what Big Blue will do. This is no way to live.

This isn't a particularly "new" situation..."Test intel" has pretty much always been out there in that career field-- largely because of some of the games played by the some of the instructors....meaning the tests tended (many, many years ago) to not reflect reality, but rather a concerted effort to play the "gotcha" game. Here's the example I like to use, which is a very simplified example of the types of questions we had (obviously the actual subject areas were different!): 1. Everyone understands the need to dim your headlights for oncoming traffic at night (assuming they were on bright to begin with). 2. It is dark out and at 2123, a car approaches...Question: will you dim your lights for the car? (If you anwered yes, you're right) 3. At 2142, you note an oil light illuminate, and take corrective actions. At 2154, the light extiguishes. 4. At 2205, you recieve direction to change radio frequencies, after following the procedure, you accomplish that. 5. At 2217, another car approaches...Question: will you dim your lights for te car? If you answered "yes" to question #5, you'd be wrong, because we never told you back in question #2 to put your lights back to bright. Bottom line, in the real world (or the simulator), you'd know if your lights were on bright or not. So the question doesn't prove knowledge of the concept-- it's a built-in gotcha that wouldnt be seen in the real world. Not saying these guys were right for cheating, but the fact that it happened is no revelation...it had been known to happen with some people "back in the day" (1980s)... BTW, as a guy with 286 nuclear ICBM alerts, I don't buy the "Gen Y" whine that they are "burned out"...They've got a job to do, and they need a swift kick in the a$$-- probably the first they will have had in their overindulged young lives. Not saying leadership couldn't be enhanced/improved (or hasn't stepped on their cranks from time to time), but it's also healthy to remember that was also the full time excuse we had for "why things suck" back when I was a CGO too....we thought we were loads more brilliant than senior leadership...in some ways we were...in some ways we weren't. We too, tended not to think that we **just might** bear some responsibility for the way things were as well. K

Its not that there's "nothing redeeming" about a full AF career... its more that the costs are starting to outweigh the benefits for some. The AF's HR system (even when compared to other services) is a joke, young leaders feel crushed by the bureaucracy, and there's a very apparent disconnect between the CSAF's message ("If a regulation doesn't make sense, then don't do it") and what is actually being executed (Q3s for everyone!). The AF has trained us to make spot decisions with incomplete information that risks millions in equipment and lives, and we do it pretty damn well. The outside world very much values that skillset ...while the AF seems culturally aloof to the idea of efficiency or reform. Pay isn't the issue. The Chief is right...the AF has serious cultural issues. Unfortunately, they have little to do with sexual assault. It's more that innovation and efficiency are stifled in favor of keeping the status quo. Simply put: the AF is not a rewarding or satisfying place to work at most of the time. Everything from the assignment system, to promotions, to our inability to get bad (but not criminal) leaders out plays a part. The most valuable and most innovative sector of the AF work force is trying to leave wholesale: alarm bells should be ringing in Arlington. Some are deciding that staying in just to reach retirement isn't the right reason to stay. I thank them for their service. The anonymity of BaseOps provides a place to vent. At the same time, your troops are professional enough to not display their anger/frustration to you. The ground truth is probably somewhere between BaseOps and your present perception of reality.

Seriously? I know you have been following the different threads here as evident by your holier than thou comments and you still don't have a clue?

People are frustrated because these force management programs have huge implications on our personal lives. And when we aren't getting the information we need to make career decisions, it makes it even worse. I found out about the delayed VSP roll out from here, not my chain of command. That's just sad.

Yeah, they are probably bringing them all in to retest on their day off…just like the study mentioned is about one of the number one things that piss off a missile guy.

Ha! He He. Ho-man. You're funny.

Just call/email them. They'll take a copy of your LES and/or PCS orders. Just blackout your SSN and whatever else they don't need.

There is a similar zap all over with 'The Yeti' on it.. any back story with that one? Great idea.

We have a LtCol who applied for and was approved for TERA (I believe), he's been getting calls all day from other O-5s all over the base about how he was able too. The amount of ATP and Airline talk going on at the squadron at ALL levels, copilots to evaluators, has been impressive the last few days. Had an EP joke today about how the next GK session will be about the best way to get your ATP and invite Airline recruiters to the squadron for interviews. This whole thing is a shit-show of immense scale! Any word on official release of 131? I'm curious if my '10 year group in 11Ms will be FSB eligible or not. From the talk around the squadron it sound like 6 - 9 IP/EPs are going to make a run for VSP/Palace Chase/Get the hell out. Also overheard (from a virtual GRACC) the 18AF/CC saying his biggest concern was 11Ms running to the airlines, I wonder how long that took to reach his level?

No boobs, F-

In talking to the JAGs while deployed, the JAG (as an office) recognizes this is an issue among senior leadership. Our leadership like to say it is young Airmen and signle Lts, but the stats do not back that up. Difficult to have a down day with the message, "Don't let us touch you."

Pimp sues Nike for not warning shoes could be dangerous if used to beat people

Guys, don't feed the troll. Chang is, at best, a lower-rung staffer who thinks he is empowered by his access to slide decks on a Sharepoint or in some org box. Maybe he gets to sit in the cheap seats during middle-management meetings, nodding profusely and scribbling notes on his steno pad. He is not an authority, and should be disregarded. He logs in to play with your emotions. Don't feed the troll.

I've read the regulation and as I remember, I think this is correct.<br />In total, this is a bad plan. Either plan to do AD for 4-6 years straight, or go direct to Reserve or Guard units. Enlisting AD with the intention of leaving early is a fabulous way to put all the cards into big blue's hand and allowing them to make your life unnecessarily difficult.

Dude really? This isn't a ROTC or SOS class, I'm pretty sure most of the people on here are intimately familiar with this having just finished up the holidays which a good majority probably did not spend with our families.

It doesn't stop being a motorcycle trailer because you put a non-motorcycle item in/on it. The JFTR language that includes the trailer in HHG is "and/or the associated trailer"--the "or" is the key part in this case. JFTR App. A., Pt. 1, "Household Goods (HHG)" definition, Para A.4.e. You will likely have to fight TMO, but you will be correct. My last three moves (2x PCS & retirement) were under the current rules [those who said you can "always" count a trailer are thinking of the previous rules, it's no longer true], and I had to do battle with 2 of the 3 TMOs I dealt with [and, hell, I had 2 motorcycles on the damn thing!]... twice each (inbound & outbound, though the outbound PCS didn't put up too much a fight, since they weren't going to be paying it).... That's why I know that particular JFTR definition so well. Point out to TMO that they're relying on the wrong paragraph (A.4.h) when they try to deny your "utility trailer," and that A.4.e. clearly defines your motorcycle trailer as HHG. Make them appeal it to the JPPSO if no one local will approve it--I had to do that twice, and they got it right 2 for 2.... EDIT: Clarification

Tell Mrs. Kind I'll be back on Thursday rather than Wednesday for my weekly visit! Scheduling conflicts, I'm sure she'll understand.

Here's my input to the "great debate"... I admit that if I had a choice, an A-10 (or A-10-like) capability for a CAS mission would usually be my first choice in a survivable environment. However, that doesn't mean that it's an absolute requirement. I know I'm a bit dated, but out of my 250+ FAC missions in the OV-10 (Vietnam), 125 or more of them did CAS support at some point during the 3-4 hour sortie. I don't recall a single one of them resulting in the good guys being overrun due to poor CAS capability. Only one resulted in a friendly fire casualty and that was because the idiot stood up to get a picture of a Mk82 hitting the bad guys about 75 meters away (the ground CC's immediate comment was something like "Never mind, it'll save me the time it would take to beat his stupid ass to death"). The point of this is that we did great CAS work nearly every day with no A-10s. I worked F-100s, F-4s, A-4s, A-7s, A-1s, A-6s , VNAF A-37s, and F-5s, AC-119s, AC-130s, and even some AH-1Gs and UH-1Cs (gunship variants), plus my own pitiful ordnance, of course. Most of the work was in the 100-300 meter range, but some as close as 30 meters. In some cases, the sheer power of the 30mm may have been a detriment...the 7.62 was actually safer to use and plenty good enough in terms of killing power with less collateral damage potential. Each platform had its good and bad points, and had to be used carefully to maximize impact on the bad guys and minimize threats to the friendlies. For instance, a light platform with small ordnance (like an A-37 with 7.62 and 250lb slicks) I generally started working close with guns and backed up about 10m a pass until it was safe to use the 250s. When I had a couple of A-6s (usually VMA 225 out of Danang...really good at CAS!) I'd put one or two mk82s as close as possible to slow the action, then start dropping sticks of five or six (remember, they has 28 bombs each) behind the bad guys about 300m then march the sticks forward about 25m a stick. It didn't take long for the bad guys to figure out they were soon to be caught between a wall of bombs and fire from the friendlies, and they backed out fast. It might have helped that the first sticks tended to take out upper management, watching from the rear, early in the game! In general, F-100s were not too bad, since CAS and other close support was a large part of their mission, and the Marine A-4s and F-4s were very good at CAS since that was almost all they did (especially the A-4s from Chu Lai). They averaged between 20-40 CAS sorties a month and were very good because of their sortie rate. On the other hand, the AF F-4s from Danang (Gunfighters) were usually terrible, but that's because most of them only flew a real CAS sortie once or twice a month. I hated to use them closer than 200m. The VNAF guys were pretty good, too, but most of them had been flying for a decade, with the leads frequently having 1000-2000 combat sorties (mostly CAS) over a decade or more. Navy (mostly A-7s) was my last choice, mostly because they rarely did actual CAS, and I saw them infrequently which lowered my confidence in their abilities. As a matter of fact, my feeling is that good CAS may be less about the airframe than the pilot experience in the cockpit (and maybe about the guy directing the situation (air or ground FAC, or whatever the current nomenclature is). The Marine F-4/AF F-4 comparison is a good example. Just a thought...

Look, everyone needs to just take a deep breath and relax. This delay is a good thing. Have faith that the personnelists in the Pentagon are taking a second look at the $$ and AFSCs involved based on the ever-changing fiscal realities. You may not be required for VSP selection and (consequently) have the opportunity to continue serving your country! In through the nose....out through the mouth....everything will be ok....

I hear you, but transparency can be dangerous too (at times when rumor control is difficult). Trust Brig Gen Grosso- I promise you, she is a leader of great character who has the Air Force's best interest at heart, as should we all (core value #2). Patience my friend, patience. Reference my post above.

You mean you didn't figure this out before you signed on the dotted line and now you're pissed? Are you ######ing serious? Your derp derp filled rant indicates otherwise. Yes. Do someone else a favor and FSB yourself if you feel that you've made such a poor life choice.