Leaderboard

I trust Boomer. It is most other senior raters/leaders whom I do not trust.

This. He's on point with all of it. https://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/473391/csaf-taking-care-of-airmen-future-roadmap-key-to-af-success.aspx Specifically: Thank you. This is the kind of thing I've been waiting years to hear a senior leader say. I am hopeful he will be able to make the changes necessary.

My money is on the AFMC/CC to win. https://www.af.mil/AboutUs/Biographies/Display/tabid/225/Article/107934/general-janet-c-wolfenbarger.aspx

I believe this would be the one? From: Sondecker George R IV C3C USAFA To: XXXXXXXX xxx FS/Casual Subject: Cadet Request for F-15 ride Lt. XXXXXXXXXXXXX, I am a cadet at the Air Force Academy trying to arrange a flight with the xxxrd Fighter Wing between 21 December and 5 January. I have my Secret Clearance and Physiological Training Card and can coordinate any AOC approval or necessary medical clearance (Form 1042). My presence does not impose any limitations on the mission; Im just along for the ride. Any further guidance or authorization you can provide on this matter is much appreciated. Email is the best way to contact me, but my cell phone number is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Thank you for your time and consideration. Very Respectfully, C3C George R. Sondecker IV CS-20 Tough Twenty Trolls United States Air Force Academy From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 2dLt xxx FS/Casual Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 5:01 PM To: XXXXXXXXX Maj xxx FS/ADO; Subject: RE: Cadet request for F-15 ride Heres the guy who keeps calling up and bugging the scheduling shop about getting a flight. From: XXXXXXXXX Maj Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 6:09 PM To: Sondecker George R IV C3C USAFA Subject: RE: Cadet request for F-15 ride Youve got some brass balls on you, cadet fourth class George Sondecker HIV (seriouslyis that your real name, lose that IV crap, it just sounds stupid). Let's break down your message and maybe we can educate you on a thing or two. Im a cadet at the Air Force Academy. This message should be over right here. Period dot. Cadets dont troll for rides, they EARN them through the proper channels just like everybody else. Weve got a long list of maintainers who have earned awards through this wing to get incentive rides. These guys bust their asses in the freezing cold and blistering heat and only the lucky few get the privilege of having a ride. Name me three things you think youve done to earn a Strike Eagle ride. Seriously. And by the way, Ive read about all the hard work here - https://www.gdsalumni.blogspot.com/. And I quote The learning curve was very steep this past year as I learned about military culture and doctrine in a pretty stressful environment. Brother, you have no idea what a stressful environment is. trying to arrange a flight with the xxxrd Fighter Wing Sweet mother of pearl, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. We are the xxxrd Fighter Squadron, and we are a division of the xxth Fighter Wing. If you want to snivel a ride from us, you ought to at least get your facts straight. This is the foreshadowing of your ignorance, lets continue. I have my Secret Clearance Your secret clearance doesnt mean f*** all to us. You think were going to take you up on a tactical sortie? You think were going to let you sit in on classified briefings? You think were going to hang out and talk tactics with you? YGBFSM. and Physiological Training Card Your physiological training card doesnt mean f*** all to us. Remember all those hard working maintainers I mentioned earlier? Not one of them has a physiological training card - dont try to impress us with that crap. and can coordinate any AOC approval Last time I checked, the AOC didnt run the flying schedule of the 4th FW or coordination of our incentive flights. Apparently youre not familiar with chain of command and proper channels. Let me tell you what this does NOT consist of; it does NOT consist of going VFR direct to the 333rd Fighter Squadron scheduling shop and bothering our hard working schedulers. This consists of you talking to your commander, your commander talking to our commander, somebody in between giving the approval, and then in the middle of your pipe dream you will be denied your flight. My presence does not impose any limitations on the mission; Im just along for the ride. You couldnt be more wrong. What exactly is it you think we do here? Do you know anything about the F-15E? Do you know anything about xxxxxxxxxx? Do you know anything about the xxxrd? Since it would seem the answer to all of the above is a blatant No, Ill clue you in. In the F-15E, while we do have two seats, the second seat is not an empty seat that only gets occupied when goobs like yourself call up looking for a ride. Its a seat for qualified aircrew we call them Weapon System Officers. He is an essential part of our mission and we dont give him the boot for guys who are looking to bum a ride. Also, the xxxrd is a Formal Training Unit. That means that we train young pilots and WSOs, so to give you a ride, we would either have to boot a student WSO in aforementioned formal course, or an instructor WSO trying to teach said student WSO. Get the picture? Any further guidance or authorization you can provide on this matter is much appreciated. and Im spent - Hopefully this will serve as all the guidance you need. Gents, if there is something I have left out of this mentoring session with young cadet third class citizen Sondecker the HIV, please feel free to chime in. Maj XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Chief of Stan/Eval, xxxrd FS

That's Ok. Whatever they lack in integrity and excellence, you can make up for in service.

They crammed about 69 of us into the 357th and about 47 into the reserve squadron. So we're getting our one sortie a week or so until the next VML thins the herd out a bit. Lucky to still be flying, but moseying out to Randolph in a few weeks to crush students in the 435th. Say what you will about IFF, but it is a blessing to be in a flying gig and one hell of a sunset tour before doing a touch and go at 20 years.

Welsh entered the job riding high on our expectations, but he lost the momentum. This shit sounds like a campaign speech. If there wasn't the will to ruthlessly kill something as dumb as Blues Mondays, how is he going to change something as entrenched as PME/AAD/promotions/evals without seriously shaking things up and setting disincentives for those who stray from his vision? A speech and a policy letter aren't going to do it.

AFSOC policy memo prohibiting mustaches in 5, 4, 3...

Boys, let's be real... at any company, you'd never know how many of what flavor of person will get a pink slip when the company is short on operating funds unless you're management or HR. It's the clarity of our process that drives the frustration. It's not that we're fucked up... It's that we're openly fucked up.

If only we as an Air Force could attain the same level of clarity and transparency for force shaping as we've achieved for cuff links.

I'll take that one. Ready? Here goes... You have got to be fucking shitting me. There are so many dissimilarities between what this idiot did and what I wrote that it's ridiculous. I'd be glad to spell them all out for you if you care to PM me, but the most important is that I told a cadet directly what everybody else was thinking and bitching about, and my email went "viral" before "viral" even existed. This idiot posted multiple "joking" images to social media accounts that directly contradicted the core function of her duties to properly respect and honor fallen military members. If you think those two are even remotely in the same ball park, you need some calibration.

You asshole! Well played, well played indeed.

Single source income. Just hit the 14-yr mark. I am a pilot and currently on the bonus (annual gross approx $155k), but we've been investing 30% +/- of my gross for a few years now. I think one year the investments got as high as 40% gross. We realized that was a bit extreme and backed off a little. No debt of any type. Being financially secure is a great feeling! Really appreciate all of the great financial advice and perspective everyone brings to this site.

"The Gas Mutilator" sponsored by Brawndo...It's got what planes crave.

If it meant squawking "This contact brought to you by ____________" over the radio on every local trainer, I'd do it to keep the jets funded. Back on topic... that's one of the dumbest airplane names I've heard in a long time. edit: format

Members have from simple to large stations. I have a fairly large station with six HF transceivers, four HF power amplifiers and an array of antennas to cover all HF frequencies as well as VHF/UHF coverage. Photos can be seen at https://afa6bu.org. I usually monitor the phone patch net frequencies most of the time when home averaging 40 hours or more a week. Can do other things while monitoring. When not on the net or at the same time, I also do support with the US Coast Guard through their Auxiliary and chase working as many countries as I can. Have just over 300 worked up to now.

I don't mean to interrupt the lynching party, but... Has anyone here ever made a macabre joke? I've folded flags at funerals in -20 weather: it's not easy, and yeah, they weren't as pretty or crisp as those folded in 60 and sunshine. I'm sure we joked about it amongst ourselves, but thankfully we never had a global audience for our conversations like this young woman has... Social media is dangerous shit. Especially for someone too young and inexperienced to know when to hold back the thoughts they might share with close friends. As anyone watching GWB's old speeches will notice, it's easy to find flaws when everything a person says is recorded, and the context is easily missed. Was it stupid for her to write what she did? Yeah. But you were children once, too. That's what kids do. It's called "growing up."

I oftentimes check my work email from home to avoid going into work in the first place, and if it gives me SA on what's going on around the office, I don't see the harm. Shit, it takes all of 2 minutes to check---a lot less than it takes for all y'all to make your 10th post of the day on BODN.

Honestly, I was worried about this guy. But then he got some feedback, applied it and appears to have a more appropriate attitude. He may have a shot after all. Good luck, justanothercadet, and don't lock your knees when you're standing at attention. A couple of guys at FT did that while I was at Maxwell for OTS. They ended up unconscious with a face full of pavement and got sent home.

I get where you're coming from, especially regarding AD. But, I'm assuming its been atleast 3-5 years since you've graduated - based on everything I've heard the atmosphere here has changed dramatically since you've been in. If I have my timing right, you were applying for Field Training back when almost everybody went, as long as you met the requirements and had a half-way decent GPA (pre-2009 when the cuts started). Its not the same anymore. Cadets can no longer just skate by anymore and go to FT, we are constantly having to go neck and neck for high commanders rankings and keep up with the ever rising GPA requirements. Scholarships are drying up, opportunities for extra programs like soaring and incentive rides have vanished, and at this rate I bet its only a matter of time before non-tech majors will no longer have a place in ROTC. New GMC are showing up day one being told that the odds are they won't be able to finish the program. Atleast for me, I'm biased because the amount of work I've had to do just to be able to compete for EA is probably more than most people have to do their entire cadet career. I've fought tooth and nail for half a decade to be where I am today, and I still might not make it through the program. But I'm actually excited for FT, because when I feel like quitting all I have to do is remember how hard I worked to be there. So, when I say that we've been "fighting hard" of course some people have different experiences than others, but in general its an uphill battle for cadets today.

People make mistakes: it's called life. What's with the sweeping judgments? If only there was someone on BODN who has also sent an "email heard 'round the world."... A moderator, perhaps... Who flies (flew?) Strike Eagles... If only...