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Sorry, I can't hold back anymore. Chang, you're an idiot! NO IT DID NOT "work out!" To the outsider looking into the pilot community you might think this is a good thing, but it is not! Virtually nothing has been done to improve our QOL by the AF. Sure, we have a couple of civilians floating around the squadron trying to help out. Honestly, they suck. I find myself avoiding them because they are so incompetent and always asking me questions about how to do their job. They've even started to task me to get them stuff. I'm sure they'll get better but so far it hasn't helped. Other than that nothing has been done. I'm under a year until my commitment is up and with each passing day I am more and more convinced to leave this train wreck. It's not even a sinking ship to me anymore...it's a full fledged train wreck. The bonus situation ended up being a huge negative and I don't even think the AF realizes it yet. Targeted bonuses to certain communities? Well, now you just pissed off those communities that aren't "targeted." $35K? Sounds like a slap in the face after the AF told us they were going for $48K. The House's first version of the NDAA had $60K. Now that $35K is downright insulting. The message that has been sent loud and clear now is that either the AF or Congress or both think that only increasing the bonus to compensate for inflation is enough. Well, it's not. I've been jerked around for a decade and I'm ready to live where I want to live. I'm ready to decide how I want to spend my time off, and not be told I have to engage in the mandatory fun or volunteer activities that the AF deems worthy. I'm ready to actually do the job I'm trained to do instead of a bunch of meaningless "tasks" that make those over me look good if I do a good job. I'm tired of SAPR or green dot training or whatever they decide to call it next. I'm not a rapist and I'm tired of being treated like a 2 year old. I don't want to spend a year away from my family in an awful location building power point slides for some guy that everyone bows too while also hating. I'm sick of this dysfunctional social experiment and I'm ready to get my life back. Good riddance.

Lay off the sauce, and stop feeding the troll Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Words are made up. Definitions don't exist. Same for genders, supposedly.

Sidebar conversation... What is up with all the "liberals" slurs on this board. Every time I see that word, all I can picture is Rush Limbaugh foaming at the mouth while a bunch of curmudgeonly middle aged men smugly laugh. It's unoriginal. It's devoid of thought. And it seems you've forgotten that the majority of voters did NOT vote for Trump. The idea that there is a nation-wide rejection of "nationwide rejection of transgendered, trans-fatted, trans-national, 'we know better than you' attitude of the current Administration, the majority of the media, and the well-insulated liberals in the coastal enclaves" is preposterous. Tiny sample size, but about half of the pilots in my fighter squadron say they, "lean left." Like most Americans, myself included, we tend to lean left on social issues and conservative on financial issues... but it isn't black and white. It isn't the "us vs them" mentality perpetuated by Karl Rove and co. Stick to the facts instead of sweeping generalization and political non-sense. Put some arguments back into these posts instead of the Facebook standard "liberals... blah blah" "Obama... rabble rabble" etc.

Thanks for the shit show. Now watch it continue when targeted $35k bonuses fail miserably.

@bb17 Haha Idk, but I didn't delete anything. To be honest, I do not even know how to delete one single post

Classically liberal and the current "liberal" ideology are not the same, for sure.

Yes and no. DOPMA does supersede, but the AFI governing Officer Promotions has a sneaky little caveat in the section titled Declining Promotion. If you are put on the promotion list, and subsequently decline the promotion (which sounds like a damn headache, by the way), then you will not be promoted. However, your name REMAINS on the promotion list. So practically speaking, you will not pin on the next rank, but you will also not be considered a "twice passed over" officer. It's a weird area, but in effect, you can't get out of your ADSC if you go this route. Duck, I mentioned this before I think, and it's only anecdotal, but in our squadron on both of the last two Major boards, we had someone with a DP and no letter (common), DP and a DNP me letter, a P with no letter, and a P with a letter. On both boards, the proverbial "line in the sand" between who got promoted and who did not, was the DP v. P. In other words, the DPs with no letter and DP with a DNP me letter were all promoted, and the P with no letter and the P with a DNP me letter were not promoted. I don't think this means that the letter carries no weight. I think it confirms what Learjetter was saying about the priority being on the AF's needs via the DP/P, which is seen as your CC's recommendation. It can only help though, in my opinion, if your CC's recommendation (P), and your own wishes (letter), are aligned.

BAH is based off of your home of record zip code.

I was twice passed over for promotion and separated earlier this month. I interviewed for my dream job and got it. They never asked why I didn't get promoted. YMMV. Also, there seems to be some confusion over how continuation works. I thought posting an actual continuation offer might clear some of that up. So, here's a picture of my continuation offer with my signature block scrubbed out from the bottom left:

Fellas, I said systemically, we as a service, should weigh the desires of the officer lower than the performance/potential of the officer and the needs of the service. Good or not, this is what we do in all things... Further, it is an incorrect assumption that the board can choose to promote or not promote any individual officer. We don't know the cutoff, the number to be promoted, or any of that data. We simply score the record as it sits. We do not know that all 7.5's get promoted and 7.0's do not. So we cannot just give every letter writer a 6.5 to ensure we honor the wishes of that officer above all other criteria. We also ensure every record gets a fair shake with the split system to resolve such differences in scores. It would be a shame if a board member saw the letter as the first thing in the pile and scored 6.5 and didn't even look at the rest of the record. Same with please promote me--should member just score 10.0 without looking at the rest of the record? Of course not. So..the officer's DESIRES as written in a letter to the board are of LESS concern than the rest of the record. I never said the service should promote someone who doesn't want promotion. I said that person's desires were weighed as equal to someone who DID want promotion but had a lousy record. I also said I don't remember ever hearing that a letter writer was forced to accept promotion. I'm also saying that if you permit someone to DQ himself before consideration that's a bad thing. Look at the bigger picture for a second. The up or out system has a few drawbacks. But it also makes long term career paths possible, ensures a quality force, and attracts the determined, adventerous, hungry kind of person we want to attract into Service. Do you want to serve in an organization that doesn't care about career paths and individual growth? That's the postal service or DMV, or any other civil bureaucracy. Up or out makes room for younguns. It sustains the all-volunteer aspect (you can still refuse promotion). By ensuring EVERY record gets looked at at specific intervals we try to ensure the best performers who demonstrate the potential to serve in the higher grade get a fair shake. Im sure some of these concepts are also codified in the officer promotion reg. Does SOS not cover the promotion process anymore? Don't you get to score actual records and discuss all these theories in class? It used to be so. Probably have some federally-mandated social justice training instead. PM me if you want to tell me I'm a f.u.c.k.in' idiot. Definitely PM me with your thoughts after you sit a board or two.

I find this amusing. Been out for two years now and not once have I thought, "Man, I wish I still had commissary and/or BX access!" I can't even count the number of times I was nearly hit by a Lincoln Town Car while in the commissary parking lot during that 20 minute lunch break I got between staff meetings. I'll take my $12 sandwich from the bakery in the KBNA terminal any day over the 2 years of commissary access "benefit."

To follow up, if the board offers the Officer continuation and the Officer turns it down, he is not given invol separation pay. Same with writing a DNP me letter, no invol sep pay given. AFI 36-2501 2.10.3. Title 10, U.S.C., Section 617, Reports of Selection Boards requires that the board shall include in its report the name of any officer the board did not recommend for promotion who requested not to be promoted or otherwise caused nonselection through written communication to the board. 2.10.3.2. An officer who causes his/her non-selection through communication to a selection board is not entitled to involuntary separation pay. Re: writing letters and still getting promoted - I see Learjetter's side of the story, and while I don't agree with the direction, it's understandable. Realize board members aren't the ones to get upset at, blame SECAF, HAF/A1, and AFPC guidance.

I can't imagine anyone less qualified than a person who does not want to be in the service anymore. Promoting bitter officers just creates bitter squadrons.

I saw it more as an equality issue...if I wasn't going to lend much credence to "please promote me" letters, then I wanted to give equal weight to ""DNP" me letters...in other words--give all letters to the board equal weight. Comparing it to an SIE from UPT is like apples to Tuesday, though. A promotion board is not charged to find the best records "of the willing"...but is charged to put the records in order, best to last. IMHBAO, a member's opinion/desire for promotion isn't very relevant to how well the RECORD stacks up against other RECORDS--even for the purposes of promotion. For DNP me letter writers, if it were possible, I suppose it would be OK to specifically request your record NOT compete for promotion at all. But that's not how our system works. Maybe it should--that WOULD ensure we're only looking at the willing. To me the officer's performance, as recorded in OPRS/DECS/PRF (in that order) are much more relevant to determining the "quality" of the record. Also, specific SECAF instructions to the board play into how the letters are treated....and how individual officer traits are treated. There are never very many letters to the board. This isn't a widespread issue, nor a big deal for 99+% of officers meeting a board. It's a HUGE deal to each letter-writer, though...and every letter was read (some several times, because they were tragic, or long, or just interesting examples of the varied human condition)...and I gave every letter I read equal weight in calculating the score of the record. So they weren't disregarded. Just not highly regarded. I don't recall being surprised that someone with a "DNP me" letter made the promotion list. If it happened, then that officer still has options: take it or not. Circumstances change. People change their minds...some who are promoted won't accept, or will wait until pin-on day to reject it. Some who thought they WOULD be promoted won't be, and will make choices based on that. Some 5APZ dude with a P who thought promotion was never gonna happen gets the nod and has to make new choices based on that info. Some "DNP me" letter writers may change their minds in the months between letter and list release and pin-on. What we should NOT do (institutionally, as a SERVICE) is accept a "lesser" officer for promotion in lieu of a "better" one just because the "better" one doesn't want promotion, or because the "lesser" one made a really good argument for promotion in a letter. We should promote neither. And I'm pretty sure that's what happens in the vast majority of the incredibly small number of letter-writer cases.

The first part I can understand...but why on earth would you not give much weight to a do not promote me letter? I would think that a demonstrated unwillingness to perform at the next higher grade would be about the clearest indication of inability to perform at the next higher grade that you could hope for. That's like refusing to accept someone's SIE from UPT; wouldn't happen because it's ridiculous. If a person is telling you that they do not want something, you shouldn't try to force them to take it. Learned that little gem in SAPR training. Sent from my iPad using Baseops Network Forums

I totally understand and appreciate your reasons for wanting to get out early...I just don't see it happening in today's environment. But I do wish you the best of luck.

And what's the plan to magic up all the instructors who will need to train these dudes? It should go without saying, but to replace a pilot with X years experience, it takes X years. Trading combat experienced IPs for UPT grads is a shit deal. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

Are these the same personnelists who were (1) key enablers in creating the pilot shortage mess in the first place, and (2) still can't even be bothered to post the End FY2016 Rated Retention Report--a doc that should take about 69 minutes to write, but we're almost 3 months into the new FY? I know a number of personnelists who do great work, and I love 'em for it, but the current and near-term future pilot manning shortages within the AF represent a failure by personnelists (specifically rated managers) and the senior AF leaders who listened to them. TT

So what you're really saying is, let's ignore the criminality Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Podesta, and the DNC because their crimes were revealed by a third party. That is what you are saying.

Please check with your WSO before posting.

Try asking the Wing Historian. He might know and he'll probably be overjoyed to know that someone knows he exists.

Hi Guys! So I'm in the process of applying to units as well. I was annoyed with the fact that I had to go to guardreservejobs plus many of the specific units websites. So I created a script that goes to all the websites and brings them all into one. This will save a lot of time to keep all of us from going to each individual units webpage. Yes a lot of jobs do get posted to guardreservejobs but not all. I missed out on a few because I thought that was the one stop shop. Check out my website when you get a chance! www.afpilotjobs.com it's still very much in work and I'm still working on some things but for now it's fairly up to date with some current job listings. If you have any questions or find any issues feel free to email me at afpilotjobs@gmail.com. Good luck to all out there applying!

We have a plan to backfill the bomber community with additional UPT grads to make up for any shortfall you may see over the next few years due to staff demands. It will be better for your communities as well, since new pilots have more longevity. All-around win-win. Hopefully the fighter and RPA guys get excited about the first bonus raise in a generation. Definitely a sweet pot of money on that rainbow: $35K/yr for 9 years! I am pleased that the issue of "raising the bonus" finally worked out. We had a lot of personnelists spend many hours to make sure our pilots are paid the correct amount via the bonus. Very exciting that it finally happened. Pilots, wherever you are at, please thank a personnelist. That small gesture will make a world of difference. Merry Christmas, all.