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I'm pretty sure if you were killed in combat, you probably wouldn't give a f^ck what any memorial looked like. You'd be dead.

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That works fine until the shooting starts and your "lowest cost" fighters aren't worth a damn. I'm not disagreeing with you, but just be aware of the other side of that coin. No one besides A1 should care about "Ops Squadron Throughput." The main focus should be MOTHERFUCKING COMBAT CAPABILITY. In short, I'm sick of hearing about how ops squadrons are simply a means to an end. Your average AFPC functional doesn't know shit about what makes a fighter squadron effective, and he simply does not care to learn.

You're a Nav aren't you?

Agreed I can only inagine the screaming that would ensue the first time somebody handed an Alice pack for the 18th Airborne annual ruck requirement to one of these "grass is greener AF guys." Whatever job you have something will suck and we as humans will bitch about it. If there was an MOS whose job was to receive handys all day while shooting guns and drinking beer that guy would bitch he had to load his own magazines.

Not the way Lim would Taylor them.

Ukraine is a game.

Whoa whoa whoa. So you're saying the Air Force should be compensating it's most highly skilled, high cost to produce, war-fighting personnel who genuinely risk their lives every day they step into the cockpit MORE than $200 a month over their non-rated peers?. GTFO! What gave you this crazy idea of a more "corporate"-like Air Force?

Pics of this NCO will help in determining any possible issues.

I know some of them did. I'll throw gasoline on the pissing contest-how's that intra-amc cross flow working out? I don't know how the tanker guys view the herk/17 dudes but I know that the tanker dudes don't do so great in the herk. I mean, they do great enough that they don't die, get upgraded, get promoted and then get to be the wg/cc for a wing flying airplanes they know dick about. But they suck in the plane. Generally speaking.

This, with a minor edit. Back in 2011 AFPC decided the KC-135 was significantly overmanned (I spent 250+ days on the road around that time). Dudes with 2 years and 2 months on station were getting assignments for RPAs. These guys weren't even ACs yet. Your better guys in the squadrons were getting UPT assignments. Your top few guys were fortunate to get another CONUS tanker assignment or ALTUS. To top all of this, OUP kicks off in 2012. Because we were "so overmanned" we had people do 77 day deployments to AFCENT, go home for a couple of weeks, deploy for OUP for 77 days, and then get a couple of weeks at home. After two weeks...back to AFCENT. Every community is hurting right now, and it isn't getting any better.

Any irony in banning defenders of freedom and freedom of speech from a place exercising both of those rights?

If you like the leadership at LRAFB, you will love this. Musta been a slow week in tactical airlifting. https://www.littlerock.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123401734

The PSDM said to put "FY14 Voluntary Separation Pay Program" as the justification. That was exactly what I did, not one word more.

See Greg over there? Greg is wearing 37 pieces of flair.

Those who fly them will be called.....Pegboys

Stupid beyond words. Standardized morale.

To the first, Farce Shaping is my new favorite thing. To the second, yes. so much yes. UFB! Does he routinely stick his head in the sand! How can he not know that A1(or whomever's been delegated authority in this debacle) is clearly well-below average on the intelligence scale and obviously couldn't put together a color-coded 4-piece puzzle if his life depended on it! Unfortunately firing people at this point won't un-f#ck the trainwreck that farce shaping 14 has become. I think it's beyond help

Glad to see those CFIC patches!!!

If he seriously had no idea of the current FY14 Force Management shenanigans going on and someone beneath him has been withholding information from him, he should fire those people immediately.

Dear gen welsh just start reading Baseops. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Let's see if that frustration translates into action. Would love to have been there for that.

During Gen Welsh's visit to Altus the question of VSP was brought up. His response was that he did not know their was an issue until last night. His Aide-de-camp said that is the most frustrated he has ever seen Welsh. An immediate phone call to A1 followed. Hopefully changes to come.

I do work in the Operators Group.

LOL, Air Force pilots are calling themselves operators now? You must be in AFSOC...

bad news...guess what you need to reset AGAIN...

Thank God you are not a real operator...time is too precious to have to explain jokes and sarcasm.

Yeah, I want to play too! Fuck fighters, fuck heavies, and fuck helos. Y'all can pump each other in the thick air. As in it's like a shit-shower? That sounds uncomfortable.

The ARC actually assigns a personal 1CO for you as part of the recruiting incentive. Not sure how it would work if you're bringing your own though. Could cause a conflict (unless flying with the Hill or SLC Guard bubbas).

Would expect them to be loaded around the 18th.

Hey Bama- I'd recommend waiting another week or two just to see if SAF approves the UPT ADSC waiver. My understanding is that's the plan. Still no guarantee that your application will get approved, but it might be a step in the right direction. Think of the sweet grille plumage you'll be sporting by then, and all of the stress will just melt away... That's right. T-shirts. Shhhhhhhhhhhhh. Catbox- That's what they told me originally, but I pushed back (not like, prison style pushed back, mind you). I resubmitted on 15 Jan, and they processed it. By 21 Jan I was in the "FM-Hold Batch Processing" status and that's where I've been since. An unrelated thought: Has anyone else noticed that any time Circus Vargas is performing in a mall parking lot, nobody answers the phone at AFPC?

In my opinion, a completely false argument to say “experience” is the issue, if that were the case how would a new UPT grad ever be successful going through Fighter RTU? Truth. One of the more important lessons I learned in UPT, just like life, the Air Force is not fair. The order in which people finished is VERY subjective and in my personal experience corrupt. Ultimately it was straight up flight commander rating (25%), not flight performance, that determined who finished in what order. It was not until after graduation that I found out just how bad it was in my class. Example #1. A female in my class slept with her check pilot the night before her contact checkride. Example #2. The Academy grads in my class had all of the academic tests (and answers), ahead of time and they did not share with the rest of the class (perhaps I was naïve, but I never thought about cheating in UPT). Example #3. I busted zero rides in T-38's, had a no downgrade “O” on my form check, a two downgrade “E” on my contact check, a two downgrade “E” on my Instrument check, and a one down grade “E” on my Nav Check. Our class leader (prior Nav), was on a hard crew with our flight commander and their wives were best friends(the class did not know). The class leader had multiple down grades on his contact check, six down grades on his Form check, I don't remember the Nav check scores, but he busted his Inst check with 17 downgrades...and he finished #1 in our class. I am sure I sound like a disgruntled dude, I am not, I LOVE what I do...or did...it was what I was meant to do...but the current system is FAR from perfect. How about we get over our fixation on fifth generation and use less than 1% of that money to buy a metric shit ton of light attack aircraft and fly 120,000 hours a year for the equivalent of what it costs to fly 6,000 hours in one F-35 squadron. We could afford to surge a group into light attack, fly the crap out of them for three or four years to season and weed out the weak swimmers, and build a cadre of “fighter-minded” and semi-experienced dudes/dudettes. We need out of the box solutions that will help us absorb more single seat folks without breaking the FTUs...it won't happen because ACC does not think props are sexy, but for the love of god, for a small investment we could move the ball a lot further down the field. To be fair, I was not talking to you, in general I avoid talking to rotorheads all together, it seems to confuse them. You might want to hold your replies until you catch up to the fight, which at your current airspeed of 69 knots, should be about four days from now. Before you brag about fixing your little pop guns forward and get all manly doing HH60 strafe, maybe you should actually do a real CSAR mission instead of making AFSOC do it for you. I will pass some props to you, just like Army Slick 60's, you guys make one hell of a dustoff platform.

This whole conversation makes me laugh uncontrollably! ...so I'm guessing leadership is now frowning at the 300~ish fighter pilots that they raped with bigfoots dick (TAMI) circa 2007. What about the numerous chapters in VSP/RIF shit-showery that we have had, and are currently experiencing? How bout the guys like me that watched those 157 Majors get screwed a few years ago- that sure weighs into my decision making calculus regarding the best way forward as I approach my ADSC expiration! We can max out training, create guard tenet units, ramp up FTU production or even crossflow the geniuses at AFPC to come fly jets- that ain't gonna fix shit when folks on the retainment end are jumping off the sinking ship in droves! It's like filling up a bathtub with the drain wide open. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. For those 11F's still hanging around, get your ATP done because rumor has it Southwest is opening another window in the fall. Now back to your regular scheduled program, "What's wrong with the Air Force?"

There's no fighter pilot shortage, never will. There's plenty of qualified heavy drivers who simply didn't get a shot (timing and luck). In the Navy this isn't blasphemy, in the Air Force it is. Who knows the fuck why.

Interesting statements OverTQ and as a retired CW5, Army Aviator I thought I'd put my .10 in.... I thoroughly enjoyed my Army Aviation career as a WO. When I started out, in my second year of college and as a NROTC "Wanna fly jets" guy, a drafted (yes, there once was a draft) PhD candate; Vietnam Army truck driver E-4 came home and informed me that the "Army was letting high school graduates fly helicopters!" At 19 it seemed intriguing so I went to see an Army recruiter. I was had a "2S" college deferment and my draft number was in the high 200's...no chance of being drafted. The recruter said "Take the WOFT test, no obligation" I did and when he called back it was "You did great on the test! I can send you to Army Flight Training next week, if you sign up". I did, and then told my very dissappointed parents about what I did a week before my departure to basic training....they were pissed, but got over it...something about the certainty of going to Vietnam.. My plan was to stay for the, at the time 2 year obligation, get out and to finish college. It didn't work that way. After Vietnam, each assignment as an attack helicopter pilot (AH-1 Cobra) became more interesting and the development of the greatest friendships.... On the ground, I wasn't "in-charge". In the air, rank had no consequence, as an aircraft commander, I called all the shots... I was offered a direct commission to 1LT as a WO1 and again as a CW2 while fighting the "Hun" during the "Cold War" I turned both down because I realized that if I did, my skill sets of an aviator would diminish because of the additional command responsibilities. Over the years, I would see bright eyed RLO's, fresh out of flight school who were very anxious to be aviators have their flight careers be overshadowed by the competitive rank pyramid....worked well for some but for most not.... I continued as a WO which much later, made me realize that I had made the right decision...because I became a proficient aviator. WO have always been in a strange dichotomy between the Officer and Enlisted. While the others were extremley rank conscious we would never salute senior WOs and excoriated any young W1 that did....we were the tactical, flying professionals and made thing happen and got the mission completed but could/would freely express ourselves and call bull-shit when it was necessary. We respected rank but intuitively disrespected poor airmanship, leadership, regardless of rank. Our best leaders were those who listened to our technical advice and followed our recommendations as professional aviators. Every service has dick-heads for leaders and we saw quite a few but those who stood out and were willing to take our advice were the ones who succeeded..... "Cheap Labor?" never really considered that, but it was true, but one shouldn't do anything just for the money. The aviation incentive pay "gate" system was instituted and flight pay went up considerably...but I was flying and that took precedence. Education? I was allowed to finish two degrees while on active duty, so those blocks were checked. Never be in charge? Wrong answer....finally, as a CW5, and assigned as a detachment commander for a C-12 unit I had full UCMJ authority both in CONUS and OCONUS and the best part of the command, (thanks to Dick Cody) was that it was all WO's aviators and an E-7 Ops specialist; E-5 mission scheduler. A cohesiive team that consistently had an OR rate above 92% (Easy for airplanes) and very rarely missed a take-off time....What a concept! All professional aviation WOs.....So end of my blathering but if you're in it for the rank and money be an RLO. If your in it to fly, be professional and have a great military Army aviation career, I recommend being a WO!

Your what?

Judge rejects financial support requests by New Jersey teen suing parents Some justice! Someone should send her Larry Flynt's number.

And there's the problem chief. You have no interest in getting "tangle in Ukraine," but you're first in line to criticize the US response. Just out of curiosity, what's your solution that both meets your desire for what I'm assuming is a more robust response yet doesn't violate your own interests of us not "getting tangle?" IMHO there's not much we can do at this point beyond what's already being discussed...boot Russia from the G8, talk about sanctions, send high-level folks (i.e. SecState) to Kiev to show solidarity, etc. Ukraine is not in NATO and Russia has a veto at the Security Council. Let's be real for a sec, Russia's national interests in Crimea and their ability to affect things on the ground there both far outweigh our own. It's their backyard so while we can yell about them invading another country (which we have), unless you're advocating "launching zee missiles" despite us having no explicit obligation to defend Ukrainian sovereignty and no overriding national interest in Crimea worth starting a war with Russia over, I'm all ears for what a better plan of action is. Part of us not being Team America: World Police means being patient and at time accepting (grudgingly) that other countries can and will do things we don't like and it's not worth the effort to stop them even though we probably could. I've heard a lot of Americans say they want to get us out of "foreign entanglements" that drain our blood and treasure yet when every crisis pops up (Libya, Syria, Joseph Kony, North Korea, Ukraine, etc. etc.), these chicken hawks are first in line saying we should do more. More of what exactly I ask? I'm hoping you're not in this camp. I support a pretty active foreign policy, but there's a limit to the dumb shit we should do and say to defend what are honestly peripheral interests even to a liberal internationalist. You and I both know this isn't worth going to war over so let's see what other options are on the table before the spear party begins.

I'm not seeing that kind of language in any of the online news: https://www.sunherald.com/2014/02/15/5342630/cola-cap-repealed-mini-redux-awaits.html https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/14/1277670/-Sanders-Helped-Kill-Military-Pension-Cut-By-Threatening-the-War-Budget https://news.yahoo.com/congress-clears-bill-ending-military-122152611.html Current language is "repeal" and "restore" Only partially seeing it here: https://www.thestate.com/2014/02/12/3262711/senate-votes-for-higher-vets-pensions.html I didn't even know it had been signed, as it's a holiday weekend. I'd expect much more coverage on Tuesday.

Don't get ahead of yourself. For starters, you need to at least ensure you don't suck at UPT so you're not left with the remains of the Herc/Tanker community.