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Fuck...let's keep playing this game. The US Government goes bankrupt in 10 years. You pension vanishes. We can play what ifs all day. In spite of the Obama administration, we are much more energy independent than just a few years ago. I don't see oil going to $175 (knock on wood). All that said, for me, the airline life has been great so far. Not being attached in any way to the military makes the gamble worth it.

Dude, stop being such a douchebag. Before this year, the airlines had not hired much since about '08. That's pure fact, jack. That's also exactly what the dude said and yet you label him as some sort of koolaid drinker for saying it. Get a grip.

I've officially seen everything on the internet.

Another messenger shot.

Just got word that my Forms 4 for an AAC MPW 9" and AAC SDN-6 arrived at my arms dealer. Giggity!

THIS explains all those Russians in Ukraine. Their SATNAV was broken. "Re-calculating..."

Do you really believe this? If so, you need to pull your head out of your ass. You also need to tell the O-6s and GOs that you work for to stop drinking their Blue Kool-Aid. I can rattle off a long list of dudes that have been hired in the last 6-9 months. I'm sure that many rated types on this forum can do the same. Your attitude/belief scares me. You sound like you have a high potential for future AF leadesrship though with your ultra-reliance on numbers and .ppt presentations. Do yourself a favor, read the forums on airlinepilotcentral.com. Talk to some airline pilots. Even better, call up some HR folks at the majors and ask them for yourself. I doubt you'll do that though. You'll continue to believe what the O-6 tells you. Just remember, that's the same O-6 who's never worked outside of the AD AF. To those of you on this forum who think that separating after ~10 years of AD service and going to an airline is a break-even point for career earnings, you're wrong. I strongly suggest you talk to some folks who fly for an airline. Using the approximated wages on APC is a horrible way of figuring your annual salary. You're also forgetting B-Plan/401K contributions. For those that want to stay in and fly for the USAF until they're forced out/retired, I highly respect that. But, don't tell me it's not about money while under the same breath talking about retirement/GI-Bill benefits. I believe in the end that it all comes down to financial security for you and your family. At some point, the AF will send you on your way. Then what? Do you want to be 42-45 years old starting over, or do you want to be a Captain at 42-45 years old making 2-3 times as much as the newly retired military guy sitting in the right seat for his first time?

Aloha Snackbar!

Post 5548-present. Seriously. WTF?

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

rtgators, All hostile debate aside, I (and hopefully most others on this forum) appreciate you stepping into the firestorm. It is useful information for dudes to know that the bonus will not go up next FY as many are sitting on the fence right now trying to decide what to do with their lives. Also, you are correct that Congress has made vast improvements to pay & benefits the last few decades. Just please don't bite off on the mantra that military personal and healthcare costs are spiralling out of control. MOAA has some outstanding charts to demonstrate that mis-information to be entirely false (even though I personally heard SECAF say it was out of control - immediately after preaching to us about integrity) I will caution you also that this latest Congress (really all of gov't) has shown that it has no qualms using the military as a pawn in its budget games. There are many DoD civilians out there who took a pay cut as a result of sequestration. I don't know if the AD will be so lucky next time. As for airline pay, you are correct also in that most majors took pay cuts in order to keep their company afloat. Most are now just getting back on track. I'll be very interested to see your numbers in 30 days. It's definitely on par to be lower than last year, and with airline hiring projected to grow even more the next decade and on, it's probably going to get lower and lower. The guys that are Bonus-eligible are usually at the top of their MWS pyramid. You simply can't replace their skills and experience with a fresh set of wings out of UPT. These are your experienced patch-wearers, FTU IPs, and the first guys you tag with leading the first wave into combat. This is what has us worried - that the AF either doesn't understand that, or worse yet, doesn't care.

General Condition, Just. Stop. Typing.