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I think this is simple...Put the GCS at places people want to go and you'll get more volunteers. It's be said over and over again, but if you put those bad johnnies at MacDill, Eglin, Luke, McChord, Charleston, Hickham, Hanscom, Patrick, <insert sweet Navy coastal base here>, etc then I bet you'll see more people interested than if it's "wait, so I don't get to fly airplanes anymore AND you're sending me to Cannon? Sweet. I'm out."

Not getting too much into mission specifics, but with new AORs our squadron often doesn't have the manning to limit certain pilots to NSTR orbits/particular supported units and transit. It also isn't a way to develop said "talent," when there is limited time for training. Don't get me wrong, we do our best to put good pilots in the game when we know its playoff time... but the playoffs are becoming more and more random.

Most of the "CAS" you're talking about in Afghanistan isn't CAS, it's dynamic targeting using CAS procedures. The two should not be confused, but they have been. We have a CAS JP, we have DT MTTPs, and they should be used for their appropriate applications. And satellite time is expensive. Very.

Lol Luke a sweet base? ;)

Well, I’m finally set to be out of the Army on June! I figured now would be a good time to clarify some stuff and go over some of the challenges I faced, since this was not nearly as easy as I thought. If you are considering this seriously, please understand that the process is long and difficult (unless you’re getting out anyway), and will involve a great amount of risk with regards to both a future career in the Army, and the shear amount of time and money lost that you have to put into this endeavor. Again, be sure to clarify everything with your chain of command and branch management before you start this, as there is no way you’re going to slip anything past anyone. Basically, everyone has to be on board for your transition from the beginning or it doesn’t stand a chance. Please contact me if you are considering this, before emailing your Branch Chief and other senior officials, as we don’t want to piss anyone off or burn any bridges. First and foremost I want to clarify that if you are Active Duty Army, the Conditional Release (DD368) is NOT the only thing you need to be released as I had thought. There are two different obligations involved with being in the Active Duty Army; a Military Service Obligation (MSO) and an Active Duty Service Obligation (ADSO). The MSO is usually 8 years from whenever you enlisted, appointed, or commissioned, and simply requires you to serve in some capacity in the Army, whether that be Inactive Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), Guard, Reserve, or whatever. Most people will just do IRR when their ADSO is up. The DD368 allows you to transfer from this into whatever component it is filled out for (in my case the ANG). The ADSO usually comes from some investment the Army made, such as flight school or qualification courses like IPC. These must be waived by the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Department of Manpower and Reserve Affairs (ASAMRA). This will be accomplished by a memo in your resignation packet asking for the waiver. Also keep in mind that Tuition Assistance waivers will involve you paying back a prorated amount of the money. Please note that a waiver for an ADSO from flight school is rare, and usually only happens if the Army is well over-strength in your particular MOS/rank. When I started this process, the Army was downsizing and the Kiowa fleet was being dissolved producing a lot of airframe transfers into the Apache world, but right as my packet was reaching the desk of the G-1 at HRC last month, the Army decided to start moving Apaches from the Guard to AD, creating a new need for Apache pilots. At one point I was actually told that I was not going to be released, but after more conversation, I was given a second chance, mainly due to the fact that I was already so far along and myself and the ANG had already put so much into the process (including my FC-1 physical). In the end, the case was made for me by some very helpful people in my branch management, and the ASAMRA was graceful enough to grant me a waiver. This didn’t come a moment too soon since as it stands, I may very well be getting into UPT just in the nick of time! If you are not already at the end of your obligation, your resignation needs to be submitted with a date that is at least 180 days out from HRC reception, and if you’re older like me, this can be frustrating. I was extremely humbled by this process. I definitely owe some good people in my chain of command and branch management, because this one almost got thrown out.

You'd see some improvement in retention, but not much I think. The plan right now is to double output here at Holloman. We're about to cannibalize ops squadrons for dozens of their instructors to increase FTU manning. So ops manning will take a nasty hit the next year, and it's going to be the experienced dudes and dudettes squadrons can least afford to lose, especially en masse. So in the medium term, you'll have ops squadrons flooded with Lt's and not enough IPs to teach them MQT. It is going to be a very rough 2017 for dudes flying the line. To compound the problem, the current bottom of the barrel for 18Xers is terrifying. We had several dudes at my last squadron who I wouldn't trust to tie their own shoes. When we double the number of 18Xers, we're going to see the average quality go down. In the long term, perhaps increased manning will alleviate some issues, but I think we're 4 years out on that, best case. Either way, I don't plan on sticking around to find out. Bottom line: there's a hole in the bucket and the planned repair is to pour twice as much water in.

https://militaryadvantage.military.com/2015/05/dual-service-couples-could-see-housing-allowances-slashed/ Are you a mil-to-mil couple? You could be losing half of your BAH. No, it's not Obama stealing your cash, it's McCain's idea. As a mil-to-civ guy who gets jealous of two married captains raking in the cash, I think this is a ridiculous idea. It's like the congressmen were sitting around the table saying, "How can we reduce retention even more? Hmmm, how about cutting the salary of much of our force by upwards of $15k a year?"

Slightly, but I suspect most of that is a function of not knowing what they're missing. Based on my conversations with the dudes at my last squadron, I expect most of the 18X Lt's to separate at the end of their 6 years. The prior enlisted and late-rate dudes are a different animal, but they're significantly closer to 20.

Is this a rule at some bases now? According to Reddit.com and other websites "Stare Rape" is a real thing. I kid you not.

That's cute; maybe if things worked they way they should. The "must move" suck is in full effect, I believe stop loss is not here, yet. We're forced into sending our good guys to RPAs, but they "spare" the "stratified" guys/gals for the other assignments. Who's going to fix this? We've sent top people, well AFPC has, but we spared our leaders at all opportunity. Who's going to fix this? Me? I volunteered to go to this shit at a point in my career where this should be fun (mostly). [i'm a major now, believe that shit?] I'll take it on, but as a DO or SQ/CC, you aren't doing anything beyond mitigation here with the authority I've seen to date. Whose is going to fix this? If I try, will I just end up fired? I've seen #1/150 go to RPAs without a notice or a complaint... I've seen a guy get "protected" because we happened to send him to the wing... I've seen us take a "as #1/731" and give them a bomber... #1/731...young captain too...if that person shouldn't lead our UAV core, who should? Me? I'll do my best. The deck is stack against us...by us. Weird, Bendy

Quiet Scoobs.