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Hey folks, don't confuse my sarcastic and pessimistic posts for the voice of a dude who's going to give up and watch the house burn down around him. (Although it's probably easy to think that way...which is why I'm writing again.) Take my posts and combine them with the knowledge that I took the bonus and plan to stay until 20+ to try my best to keep my little corner of the USAF as lethal and relevant as I can. I still think that we're the best airpower organization the world has ever seen, and I still think we can beat any challenger. I'm just concerned about the margins, which I see as shrinking by the second. We are a volunteer service. That means that, while you're still wearing that uniform, you have no choice but to go out and do your 100% to keep the organization successful and ensure YOUR personal corner of the USAF is lethal and relevant. You are bound by that duty, and it's the expectation of ALL of our citizens (crazy SJWs, red-hat wearing Trump fanatics, and everyone in between) that you're out there every day EARNING the right to hear "thank you for your service." The CAF is in for a hard decade...and I think it's already started. I won't question the decision of anyone who decides to stay or anyone who decides to leave...it's their choice. But those of you who decide to stand shoulder to shoulder with me and the rest of us CAF bros: We're going to have to work. Hard. 1. Every single training sortie needs to be maximized. 2. No slack for those who don't show their commitment in their daily effort. 3. Every teachable moment has to be caught, and those lessons need to be TALKED ABOUT in the squadron. 4. Guys with leaves and eagles on their shoulders need to screen the BS from those with bars. Young LTs and Capts need time in the vault/sim/jet as much as possible. Take the resources we are given, find a way forward, and work hard to produce the very best you can with those resources. That's our job. We need to keep voicing our complaints to "the Bobs" around the USAF so they know not everything is rainbows, unicorns, and sprinkles...but that's secondary to our #1 concern: KILL AND SURVIVE. Bitching on the internet, like all other forms of sport-bitching, is not only fun, it's your God-given right as servicemember. Throwing your hands in the air and yelling that the sky is falling -- if you're not giving 100%+ and working your ass off to be lethal -- is the biggest SNAP-bullshit act you could possibly commit. Those newly joining, about to join, or aspiring to join the CAF: Get ready to work. You're not the reason for this problem, but we don't have time for any bullshit. Be prepared.

Skip to 1:36 for the flyovers.

The good ones will, because -- like me -- they will also be fvcking awesome.

I call bullshit. I can't imagine anybody booing for a flight being delayed due to this. What more likely happened is that the Captain announced the flight was going to be delayed but didn't specify the reason, and the father ran with some sort of agenda. The father ranting about Donald Trump at the end doesn't help his credibility.

I attended Mr Hoover's Memorial at Van Nuys airport yesterday. It was an epic event, attended by much of the aviation illuminati. Very well done. Many speakers, but they all limited their time on the mic to about 2-3 minutes. I was particularly impressed by the flyover: 1st pass was a Sabreliner with two Thunderbirds on each wing, and a Canadian Snowbird in the slot. They were tight. 2nd was F-22 with two F-86s on the wing. 3rd was a four-ship of WWII warbirds, including Ole Yeller. I was proud of the AF for making it happen. Sometimes, they get it right and this was one of those times. Brig Gen Jeannie Leavitt was there to represent. I was surprised I saw no Navy presence. It was a tremendous sendoff to a great man.

2 I had to say that which is painfully obvious to a Demo-drone who could not grasp the fact that money doesn't actually grow on trees. Every health insurance policy that is government supplied or subsidized is a wealth transference device to some degree, I am not even saying that as a pejorative but just as a simple fact that libs can't / won't admit. If that fact could come honestly into the public conversation (or what's left of it in the civic society wasteland) the other fact, that people who make less money will not have the same approximate lifestyle as someone who makes much more money, this even includes healthcare, regardless if it pisses libs off or not. If you make 30k per year you won't have the same healthcare as someone who makes 300k per year, if we try to totally even out society in this area (and others) because we are uncomfortable with disparities in lifestyle, we'll wreck the place. Ref: USSR, Venezuela, NK, Cuba, etc...

I'm not sure the AF is capable of bold changes anymore. Senior guys got to be senior by avoiding bold action and it's subsequent risk. They didn't rock the boat, didn't push boundaries, kept things safe and might not understand how to flip the tables over and fix a crisis. Time will tell. To your second point--- damn I wish the AF would do this with every staff billet! Now that I'm on staff, holy shit it is managed in such a retarded fashion! Yea, yea, no one likes staff and we've heard it before, but I'm talking about managing what staff billet exists for what reason. A force wide audit is desperately needed.

Ram, Something that I think the reserves does very well is take the long view on things - they'll gladly sacrifice training opportunities for quality of life sometimes because they know they have to keep guys around for 10+ years. Your philosophy: It sounds great and probably maximizes the short term combat capability of a squadron. However, These types of priorities drive people out of the service completely and created the situation we're in today. The unintended consequences of your list read like this: 1. No cross countries, low levels, or taking students up to 50,000 feet. All gas must be used for maximum training. 2. Commitment is measured by metrics like time spent at the squadron, at squadron events, and early PME/masters completion. No slack will be given to those who "self select" themselves as non competitive. 3. Debrief until crew rest for the next day to catch all of the lessons. Friday pilot meetings begin at the end of the last debrief and last until every person has had a chance to tell us everything they possibly can. I know you didn't necessarily mean any of what I wrote, but I would suggest that you are not the first soon-to-be DO with that sort of philosophy, and look where that's got us. The paradigm needs to shift from crushing people for short term goals to creating a sustainable method to maintain a healthy fighter force. I do not think your path is the way.

I hope my IP has this mindset. I just want to work my ass off so I can kill as many bad guys as possible when the need arises.

Valid points but then we'd also get some active duty clowns sticking their nose in our business and nobody wants that haha Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Springfield, OH too.

It's easier to understand once you realize that A1 doesn't worry about combat capability. They have to produce "experienced" 11Fs that can fill their manning needs. If that means guys get ripped out of the cockpit the minute they're technically "experienced," so be it. A1 has bills to pay. So now you have a shortened B-course to increase RTU throughput, which means more dudes in MQT in CAF squadrons...which can be a burden to the CAF training programs. All this effort, then you gotta kick that young newly-minted 4FL out the door to go do something else and make room for the next round of LTs. No worries here, everyone. As you can clearly see, all the slides have green stop light charts. Press! Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

In fairness that is most likely due to the republican state leadership refusing to expand Medicare and trying and obstruct the ACA at every juncture. Other states like Washington have seen rates decrease.

Whatevs, you can kill your date in a river but still win if your name is Kennedy.

John Kennedy, conservative for US Senate...in a commercial on how powerful the US military is. Nice work.