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Very, very well done, Jack. https://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/783640/edge-of-space-emergency-tests-aviators-skills.aspx He's the 4th U-2 pilot I know to earn this distinction, and the 3rd since 2003. I believe the Kolligian Trophy is the only individual award given by the CSAF.

TT, I was expecting that reply. But we've treated these expanding wars as a sideshow for years, to our national detriment. The USAF is leading the preponderance of KS activity. We don't get a pass on the outcome. Vietnam was a war plan authored with fail above our level, but we still have tons of L2 about our own failed implementation practices. If we're being tasked incorrectly, and we are, where are the GOs advocating better usage? It's a cop out to blame politicians when our leaders are the ones championing shitty practices. Where is the AT-6 or equivalent? Where is the advocacy for better intel analysis practices? Where is the equitable distribution of work load? Why do I see so many O4/5's who haven't deployed at all while others have done a 1-1 for a decade? we suck, and it's our fault. Until we have done everything in our power to be better, it's wrong to blame politicians. Yes, building a Jeffersonian democracy in a culture thousands of years entrenched in tribalism is stupid. Where are the GOs saying that? I could go on and on, from streamlining the strike approval process to ending dumb ass wasteful 365's, to constantly sending brand new know nothing BPZ never deployed types to command units downrange allowing them to check the command box without ever judging the merit of their work. WTF are we doing? From strategy to administrative implementation, we suck. The line guys are kicking ass. The institution is failing. And there is value in saying that fact, because until we acknowledge our failures we can't hope to fix anything. It's past time for us all to be on the same page: we are losing wars, the enemy is gaining ground, and it's our fault. So what do we do about it?

Bingo...our generals aren't advocating/using resources correctly. We send B-1's at a cost of $69k plus per flight hour to do XCAS in Afghanistan. After 15 yrs, we should have 6-9 sq's of A-29's doing that stuff. Instead our inept leadership wants to do it with F-35's because they learned Cold War techno-strategy at PME but can't critically think/adapt. If our generals were held accountable like civilian company management, they'd all he fired for severe incompetence or in jail for defrauding shareholders (aka taxpayers in this case).

You can be a sitting WG CDR at 24 years as an IPZ guy your whole career. AFSOC just had one picked up for a star. The problem isn't the math, it's the erroneous assumption that BTZ is required to compete for GO. di1630s post was so incredibly spot on. The facts are undeniable after 15 years of losing wars: we suck. Much like an alcoholic must first admit they have a problem, our force, at every level, needs to accept the reality that we are not accomplishing the tasks set before us. There should be a firestorm of debate about why, and a willingness to examine and scrap all aspects of our institution that have brought us defeat. Instead no one is talking about this, they all want to preserve the system that did them a solid despite the fact we are failing. The careerists all keep chugging along "mentoring" younger people to be like them. Disgusting.

Look up "class act" in the dictionary and you'll find the Snowbirds.

My friend is a retired finance troop, but he'd like to borrow a flight helmet for his campaign for county clerk. Anyone able to hook him up? I'm asking for a friend...

This. You need to have already passed MEPS, and have a supporting memo from your recruiter or gaining Unit (somebody has to pay for lodging, tickets, etc, and confirm you're not just wasting everyone's time). I don't want to say it's a much tougher or stricter standard, but ... it's a much tougher and stricter standard. Look at the Aviation Medicine thread. There are many posts of folks getting DQ'd or needing waivers for otherwise minor conditions that wouldn't be any concern to civilian aviation.

Beyond maximizing the remaining years of service before mandatory retirement, why does the USAF need to make GOs so early? If by accelerating an officer, the service necessarily truncates meaningful joint time, and that lack of joint time is a reason the USAF often loses to the other services in filling key joint GO billets, then would it not make sense to slow the timeline ever-so-slightly? Superficially, the reasoning for a pole year at 24 years reads like a tautology. The USAF needs GOs at the 24-year point because it needs GOs at the 24-year point.

More sh-t about career development....you'd think our mission was to produce generals and compete jointly by Chang's take. Personally, I'd rather get some competent leadership who knows how to win fights vs make rank by getting "pushed through the career pipeline" Currently our leaders cannot: -Effectively manage personnel -Efficiently procure new weapons systems -Retain most valuable talent -Formulate a winning strategy in the Middle East -Understand the most used mission set in the past 20 years (CAS) But damn, they did a helluva job making rank.

It's difficult to push our very best through significant jobs positions because they're all breaking the gate down to get out. That's why it's hard to get good senior leadership. Fix retention and you'll suddenly find a wealth of great leaders available Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So, I was off this past Saturday. Scheduling called me to ask if I could help them out with a DFW turn. I didn't have anything to do, so I took the trip. I made $2k to fly 6 hours...on top of my Reserve guarantee for the month. Plus, they gave me two more days off later this month. To those who decide to stay in...you are being underpaid for your services.

Adam, Your military service is something you can be proud of and is far more than many Americans have been willing to offer. However, be straight about it and don’t try to turn it into something it isn’t. I think that might be what’s bugging a few of us as we look at your web site and consider what you posted here. No one likes feeling like they’re being given a line of BS, even if they can’t prove it for certain. You’re also using certain pictures, words and inferences to create an image that’s not completely accurate. You can’t remember what kind of airplane you were on? Really? Is that because you watched airdrops on a C-17 and others on a C-130 because your bud was dual qualified, you did so many they all ran together or you simply can’t tell the difference? Airdrops with the back door open, pallets or maybe troops going out, airplanes on the ramp, generally cool military ops and hardware and you go find a meadow with a rock to sit on for your photo? Can you see why this explanation is a little hard to buy? When we called you on it, you went down the “it was so long ago, I can’t remember all the details” path. At least you’ve got that part of politics figured out. Oh, and the “I’m too busy with the budget deficit to defend the picture I CHOSE to put on my website”. Nice try…Don’t you need to get elected first before you can “sort through the budget deficit”? Right now, you’re trying to get elected – and like it or not, you’re getting some blow back from your website. Speaking of that, here’s some feedback on the web site: You’re not a “Captain” any more. It appears a bit desperate. You separated. If you retired and you really felt like it was important, you could refer to yourself with your former rank and put a USAF (ret.) after it. But…. You didn’t. Lose the wings on your lapel. Those are about as subtle as a Rolls owner wearing his hood ornament on a necklace. There’s a reason you couldn’t find a little, classy set of ABM wings to use as a tie tack or lapel pin and had to use the ones from your mess dress. No one is going to mass produce ABM wing pins because no one wears them. But, wings = pilot and if no one looks close enough or understands what they’re looking at, why spoil the image with those pesky details. Same thing with the flight suit/helmet shot. Flight suit + helmet equals another image you’re trying to imply that’s not reality. You wore a flight suit on duty. If a picture of you in that uniform gets you a little mileage with the voting public, great. Add in the helmet (which you never wore on duty) and you’re flirting with creating a false image, hoping the general public will take it on face value. The fact that you didn’t own a camera or get any accurate pictures of yourself during your military service doesn’t make it okay to post one that clearly attempts to imply duties you didn’t have.

Somewhere, a shoeclerk's cranium is exploding at the sight of those rolled-up sleeves...

I'm leaving my current assignment at DLI for greener pastures, but let me relay to you bros the uniform policy I've been following for the last year: Mon: ABUs Tue: Flight Suit Wed: ABUs Thur: Blues Fri: Flight Suit Why? I have no fucking idea. Any complaints about wearing a different uniform every day of the week have been met with: "Well, you don't HAVE to wear the FDU on T/F, so you can just wear ABUs instead and have some consistency." Only justification offered: "It's an Air Force uniform you are required to have, so why not wear it." I countered with: "Well, I'm required to have a Mess Dress too. When are we going to start doing Mess Dress Mondays?" As an aside: Avoid DLI if you can, especially the 314TRS. Go to DLI-East if you have the option.

First thought: Hey, fuck you. Second thought: I've had some downright terrible nav CC's...

USAF/AETC leaders missed multiple opportunities to do the right things regarding the 2011 315 TRS investigation. The learning lessons from the "dark ages" are far more valuable than any SAPR, GreenDot, NoFear Act, Suicide Prevention training (yes it's all applicable here). Leadership loses all credibility when they sweep these incidents under the rug. Part of the reasons why Airmen are jumping ship and do not care about your In-Res PME, promotion, bonuses, and toxic leadership "opportunities." https://www.reddit.com/r/AirForce/comments/4k67em/goodfellow_finally_releases_2011_command_directed/ Excerpts: "First off, thanks to the OP for getting this report. I kinda already knew what was in it, but I'm glad that it's seeing the light of day. I'm hoping the individual interviews are released at some point in the near future, as well. I was part of the cadre there for most of the first year of Rolirad's tenure. Quinene showed up later as the flight commander of the officer course. I don't have much bad to say about Lt Col Rolirad; I didn't necessarily agree with some of the things she did, but I understand what she was trying to do. I never personally saw her do any of the things she was accused of. Quinene, on the other hand, is a sexual predator of the first order. I've heard variations on the same stories: how if female 14N students wanted a good assignment, they had to sleep with him; how he'd go in and "hook" a female student briefing because she wouldn't sleep with him; how he reinstated a female student back into a class after she had washed out because she was sleeping with him; how he was sleeping with an enlisted instructor; so on and so forth. Now, I admit, I have no first-hand knowledge of this. But with this much smoke, there had to be a fire. And I'm not sure he only did this at Goodfellow. I was talking to an intel officer who knew him in Korea. This person said Quinene wanted to borrow his car so that he could go pick up some SrA for a "date." And, as this thread alludes to, justice was never really truly served. After his DO tenure, Quinene went to the Marine Corps Staff College in Quantico, a pretty prestigious gig for an Air Force guy. This investigation went down while he was there, so he ended up on admin hold in the DC for a while. I figured he was there until the investigation was completed and the court-martial proceedings could begin. Nope, instead he got sent to the CAOC for a year. That's right, instead of being prosecuted, HE GOT SENT TO BE IN CHARGE OF SOME OF THE SAME LIEUTENANTS AND CAPTAINS HE HAD TERRORIZING AND ASSAULTING 18 MONTHS BEFORE!!! The small bit of justice that was actually done was that, after his deployment, he was assigned to HQ AETC (where, presumably, senior leaders could keep an eye on him). He ended up getting passed over for promotion and had to get out before he was retirement eligible. Last I heard he was in the San Antonio area. He had been working for some local politician, but I'm not sure if that's still the case. As you can probably tell, I feel pretty passionate about this. I can't tell you how many times I've told people that I was an instructor during this time and they ask, "So what was the deal?" The damage that Quinene (and to a lesser extent, Rolirad) did to the Air Force intelligence community will felt for years to come. How many good ISR students (and staff) were totally soured by their experience and bailed at the first opportunity? Worse still, how many of them left GAFB thinking that sort of behavior was OK? So, if any victims are out there reading this, I'm sorry that we, as a staff, didn't do more to protect you. Five years later and it still bothers me." "Finally "we" get to see 30% of the story acknowledged by the AF. I was there for 1.5 years of the terror. The report is missing a vast amount of information. It only addresses infractions against officer students (which I'm not downplaying, all of their complaints are 100% valid; the rape case is also missing). Enlisted students suffered greatly, office-instructors suffered greatly, and enlisted-instructors suffered greatly. Yes, their tenure at the 315 TRS is known as the dark ages to all those who experienced it. In my 19 year AF career I've never personally experienced/witnessed anything like the horror show Karen Rolirad and David Quinene put on. The crazy part is I was never a direct victim of their wrath; but I feel it weighing heavy on my soul to this day. I am guilty of the bystander effect. I saw the transgressions but did not take requisite action. I do not believe it would've done any good given the mountains of IG complaints by other instructors; but that is no excuse, it was my duty. I failed at my duty. I own that. I have to live with that. My inputs may have turned the tide. If you have ever been victim to a toxic leader, a truly toxic leader, it is something that is not easy to cope with; even 5 years after the fact. I saw many peers, friends, and students (officer & enlisted) belittled, unjustly punished, careers destroyed, career altering decisions made, near suicides, etc because of Rodirad and Quinene's dark rule of fear, intimidation, and bullying. I'm not sure what's worse. The fact there are officers like these two in an American military or the fact that they are allowed to get away with it. Where is the courts-martial? TIs at Lackland get prison, as they should. If you're Rolirad (who repeatedly violated several UCMJ articles and USCs) you get to retire honorably and get a job for the city of San Antonio as an AF liaison. I do not profess to know all the reasons why there are morale issues in the AF, but I can certainly attest that the lack of accountability in the officer corps (O-5+) and SNCO corps is a contributing factor."