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A Crew Chief more eloquent than myself wrote this and has been making the rounds. I remember her as an love hate relationship scooping snow off her at K.I. Sawyer.

AFPC just updated the guidance - results will be out 9 June. https://gum-crm.csd.disa.mil/ci/fattach/get/5690028/1464293532/redirect/1/filename/Status-of-boards-Major-Col.pdf

The 12B outlook ain't lookin' that good either...

Hey everyone, I posted a job link for Aircraft Mechanics on guardreservejobs.com yesterday. Check it out, we're going to begin uploading the position descriptions next week to the Careers section of our website, https://www.hollingenterprises.com/careers We are a mil-friendly employer (we are all Guard/Reserve, retired, etc.) and appreciate the unique challenges faced by those who strive to juggle two careers with family and the like. We are also going to begin adding to our Engineering Group staff later this summer. Thanks for reading and please share this with anyone whom you think would be interested.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irony

I am old but when I was at ACSC (2003), one of the bros in my seminar had just come from an assignment on the Fighter Porch. He told me that in 2003 the 1990 year group had 17 X F-16 pilots left on active duty.

One of these places already has an RPA squadron operating. Good ideas re: distributed across time zones, although there would be a lot of legal issues conducting strikes from foreign countries. The US has enough territory spread out with the proper mil infrastructure already in place that it shouldn't really be an issue. Guam/Hawaii/CONUS/Puerto Rico covers GMT+10 to GMT-4 which should be sufficient to eliminate mids for everyone worldwide. Get some practice on doing a PHO between ops units rather than ops-to-LRE and call it a day.

Work work work work work work... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL1UzIK-flA

You're working a lot more than 75 hours at an airline. You might be credited for 75 but you're still working 10 to 12 hours a day 15 days a month. But you're working less and getting paid more.

Maintenance says jet is Code 2....you're taking it, right sir? But seriously, so glad the crew's ok. This could have been much, much worse. If you look off the nose about a jet's length, that's the start of a six-hundred foot cliff. Huge props to the A/C for getting this jet stopped and the crew off.

So, about that 12x bonus...

From this morning's Air Force Magazine Daily Report: Air Force Seeks Pilot Bonus Bump —WILL SKOWRONSKI To stave off a fighter pilot exodus and reduce the growing pilot shortage, Air Force planners are considering a myriad of approaches. But they believe increasing the retention bonus could have the most immediate impact. Notably, about 800 pilots will be eligible to sign new commitments in exchange for a bonus in Fiscal 2017, planners told Air Force Magazine. In March, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh Welsh told members of Congress the service would be seeking legislation to increase the retention bonus from the $25,000 a year that has been in place since 1999 to $35,000 a year. But even that might not be enough. Last year, the airlines hired 3,500 pilots and are expected to hire at the same rate, if not higher, for the next 10 years. Air Force studies indicate a $48,500 bonus will be needed to maintain the pilot inventory when the airlines hire just 3,200 pilots a year. Between $54,750 and $61,500 would be required if the airlines hire between 3,500 and 3,800 pilots a year, according to the Air Force. It costs an average of $10 million to train a fighter pilot, so planners see the bonuses—even when they amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars for extended commitments—as worthy investments. "We retain experience using the bonus," Lt. Col. Robert Butkovich, chief of rated force policy, said. "If we lose that experience, it's going to continually erode the Air Force's position." Offering the right amount, Butkovich said, could return the bonus take rate to the ideal 65 percent within two to three years.

"Several years"... ha! There won't be anyone left except Lt's and Capt's in several years. As far as ART bonuses go, some units are offering them now, but not many pilots are taking them. One big issue is that the bonus money needs to come out of the units' civ pay pot, which means less on-the-spot bonuses and temp-ART positions for the entire unit. We don't get extra money from NGB for bonuses. It all comes down to this: It ain't all about the money. You can go to one of the "Big 3" legacy carriers or even SWA and make $140,000 a year by your 4th or 5th year. The thing to realize is that the airlines value your time so greatly that they're willing to pay you $120+ an hour for your time. What does a GS-13 make per hour? $50, but you work 200 hours per month instead of 75. Or you can sit short call reserve an hour from the airport and possibly get the whole month off. Jesus H, I don't think I'd know what to do with myself with a month off while getting paid and what's that you say? When I do work, I only have to worry about flying an airplane for a few days with no queep or pushing a pencil? Sold... it's not about money. It's about QOL/flexibility and while noone should have joined the military for supurb QOL/flexibility, it gets old getting shit on all the time and sooner or later, people are going to walk. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

An ENJJPT patch, and on the right shoulder?

A lot of you us sound like my wife in that every problem is the end of the world. I apply the same game plan of nodding and saying "okay" to most of these gripes. There are some serious problems in the AF, but to not even join based on queep is ridiculous. And you don't get excited flying a jet with USAF on the side? Wtf excites you? Maybe CAF/MAF life is just totally sucky, but in AFSOC you won't get anywhere if you aren't a mission hacker--regardless of PowerPoint skills. 2Niner, do what you want, but if you join don't show up jaded and crusty like a lot of these guys. Your career will be miserable if you do. Instead, snapshot your lowest moment in a cubicle and compare it to your lowest moment as a pilot, and they won't compare. When I get down about work, I think back to when I was roofing houses and my mood drastically improves. And the coup de grace about military flying is that I don't keep in touch with roofing buddies, but I'm still close friends with my UPT class. That camaraderie is rare and makes it worth it.

"I was looking for something exciting/rewarding to do..." Man... you are really going to be disappointed. The Air Force is going to improve the next time it loses a war, and not a second sooner. The Gulf War was the result of what happened after Vietnam, and we would require a similar disaster for anything to change for the better.