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Let me ask you (and guys like ViperStud and Jaded) this: What do you guys care if guys decide to take the bonus? Some of you guys want to belittle the guys for taking it, but that's their prerogative and you don't know their individual situation/reasoning. I have yet to see other line-pilot types (or any rated guys for that matter) give someone a hard time/tell them they're making a bad decision for NOT taking the bonus, yet there's the other side who gives folks a hard time FOR taking the bonus. I could care less if you and others do not take the bonus, whether you decide to stay in as a free agent or get out. If you get out, I will thank you for your service and wish you the best. But I think your anger in the AF is over your own situation, not at the vast majority of the other guys who decide to stay in. Back to the conversation on the bonus itself--if these takes rates end up being as bad as they seem when the program ends, I agree that the Air Force will realize they have bigger problems and will need to do something about it. As for raising the amount of the annual bonus, that will have to be in the approved budget/appropriation that comes out of Congress next year, though the AF could always extend the bonus to 20 years to other types of pilots vs just fighter guys. Interesting times, that's for sure!

The answer is simple. One base in hickam and the other in Mildenhall or ramstein/spangdhalem. Boom you just eliminated midnight shift while fixing the manning problem by creating two good deal locations. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Geez, there are some sensitive folks. How about this: people tend to make the best decisions for themselves and their families based on the available information. It really is that simple. You really don't need to justify your decision by ridiculing someone else.

MCE at Patrick, and another at Hickam (Or Guam, even). Not that this has EVER been suggested before, mind you. Creech: it's vital like the F-35, but more painful. Fuck it: my fini is tomorrow...barely care.

Wait, what?

Pretty good article, like the fact the author calls out the elephant in the room: the Saudis are funding source for the Sunni trans-national Islamic insurgency primarily and that it is a movement not an organization that we (the West and some Arabic governments) are fighting. Letting go of some of these governments and hence the nations that the Sykes-Picot Agreement created may be a better long term strategy but the transition to something else may be long and hard to swallow (sts). Already there is some buyer's remorse on the part of Syrian rebels. To Syria’s Revolutionaries, Assad Isn’t Looking So Bad After All 2 Nixon went to China, we can change course too.

Motherfucker please. Not everything is binary. I agree the bonus, financially, is not the great enticement it once was, but if someone was already going to stay, then it is a great deal. I know there are lucrative opportunities out there, but if you already have an ADSC that takes you to 16-17 YIS, the data do not support the notion that one could leave then and make enough in 3-4 years to account for the difference of 3-4 years of O-5 pay and the military retirement. Nearly all folks in that situation would stay the extra 3-4 years to earn the retirement--might as well receive an extra $225K for doing what you were going to do already.

The user: Guest_IIXxRaVeNxXII_* was told in this thread: to not ever bother trying. I have strengths to offset my weaknesses, unlike him. However, I have my sights set on a higher caliber program than he did. I will fight tooth and nail for this as long as there is so much as a glimmer of hope. I believe that there is more than a glimmer of hope for me, but that's just the fighter in me talking.

Sounds like you dropped the wrong item out of your jet.

Rant - On We RPA instructors work hard to instill a spirit of camaraderie and aggressiveness in order to prevent this PTSD stuff. It doesn't always work, some people are soft and just aren't cut out to hunt and kill other people. Watching other people die is upsetting to some people, especially if they had a hand in it. I've found sitting on a 9-line and not shooting to be far more stressful than shooting. I go home pissed off after that shit. Not everyone is like that. If you felt guilty over it, it probably doesn't help to sit in a mass debrief watching someone die 5 or 6 times while everyone else is drinking beer and erupting in cheers and laughter every time they watch the missile hit. Which is unfortunate, because the rest of the squadron needs to get a little rowdy for mass debrief sometimes. There is no solution that works for everyone. We've found the solution that works for most, so we'll stick with that. For the rest we'll use every resource we have to get them where they need to be. Still some folks won't be able to hack it. They may get PTSD, Q3'd, or we may just stick them on a line that tends not to shoot very much and hope for the best because we're flat out of dudes to put on the schedule. It fucking sucks, but it's the cost of doing business.

He feels "victimized"?!? There isn't enough sand in California to fill that guys vagina.

As an aside, flying low over the Destin/Ft Walton beaches (especially in the Spring) would normally result in at least a few flashes instead of angry rhetoric. People in FL are just nicer I guess.

Unfortunately, the author's background and experience is highly relevant to the ideas presented in the article. Someone with no training or practical experience in air combat who is proposing "innovation" in that area is like virgins writing papers on how to improve their readers' sex techniques. For example...his "Figure 1" image of a machine performing VID based on shape recognition in some EO sensor. Great idea...except any pilot who has that same view of a full-frame planform of your adversary in the HUD could make that same identification with probably the same level of accuracy. More importantly, someone who has actually engaged in air combat knows that such views are extremely rare and reflect something that is a component of maybe 1% of the BFM/ACM/ACT scenarios out there. Again, it is like someone who thinks that every girl loves anal and a facial "money shot" because that's what seems to be in all the porn they've watched. Conceptually, he's not wrong; eventually there will be technology that will be able to have the SA to make autonomous decisions faster and better than humans currently do. Machines will be better able to ID, better assess range/position/energy/maneuvers of an adversary, better know ownship energy state and capabilities, and will be able to more perfectly select the correct tactic, and execute the control inputs to more perfectly execute the maneuver, time the shot, etc. Everything will be better than what a standard 1-each human could do. That time is just not now.

It takes a truly brave man to put his raw self in such stark public relief. I hope he is able to find peace and that his courage can bring peace to others.

After 30 years of flying, a MEL ATP and 12,000 hours a variety of jets large and small, I finally got my SEL in a C-172 via a Commercial Inst check last Saturday. Did the Figure 8 around pylons, chandelle, stalls, short field takeoff/landing, soft field takeoff/landing, power off 180 and normal takeoff/landing. Probably left something off that list. Was it perfect? No, but I passed. The check pilot wasn't expecting perfection, he was expecting safe. Flying small aircraft is dramatically different from the large jets we are used to. If you plan on carrying family and friends, I would highly recommend doing those things that will improve your understanding of how the aircraft performs. It doesn't take much weight or winds to start making large differences in how that thing flies. Adjusting my brain around those ideas took a little time and practice. That, and the fact I'm no longer sitting 15 feet off the ground in the flare.

Thanks to b1bhandler and others for your comments and they are most appreciated. As a member of the MARS phone patch net and seeing the recent comments, I thought I would provide some accurate information on the current net. We are members of the Air Force MARS program. Sprint used to provide phone cards but has pretty much quit them and as the current ones run out many are not renewed. However, the majority of the stations have unlimited nationwide calling and one or two have international calling capabilities. DSN is always available. We are not supposed to mention frequencies, but since they are already posted on here 13927.0 is the primary frequency and 7633.5 is secondary. Many of the stations monitor both these frequencies at the same time. First call should be on the primary and then try secondary if no one responds. If it is felt that better communication can be accomplished on one of the other frequencies then the operator will request you move but normally the 4, 11, 20 and 27 are not regularly monitored. Calling and operation information is on the websites mentioned. The members of the net appreciates your service and it is an honor to be able to help you. Regards, Richard/AFA6BU

It's in the KC-135 vol 3 because Doug Masters never quite recovered from washing out of IFF.

Please tell me this is a joke.

Can we stop with the jet noise=freedom bullshit? I guess the Chinese and soviets only flew turboprops Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk