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One night North of JBAD we were supporting a routine nightly DA from the bottom of an air stack 20 miles high. Upon infil the objective village came to life and a large group with small arms, RPGs, and recoilless rifles headed for the high ground surrounding the objective. We kept track of their movement with 25% of the capacity of one of our two sensors while supporting other tasks with the rest. When the F-16 flight finally finished yo-yo ops and got both birds back onstation from JOKERing out prior to infil due to a 15min slip in the timeline, we talked them on. The group stopped and set up a fighting position in the terrain above the objective leading the GFC to decide to engage prior to entering the objective village. Friendlies were still several clicks away and the targets were in the middle of nowhere. As a result, and because it wasn't a critical or time sensitive engagement, the JTAC decided to throw a bone to the F-16s. A way to get them in the game as thanks for showing up night after night and watching in the background while we took care of the meaningful engagements. In the process of 9-line coordination, the F-16s lost sight of the targets (which hadn't moved) and were unable to reacquire. We moved out, found them, and talked the F-16s back on. We then attempted to confirm basic fighter/gunship integration procedures to allow us to remain overhead at the time of strike, but it caused confusion on their part and the JTAC opted to push us off rather than spend the time to unfuck it. The initial drop incapacitated 2 or 3 of about 15 and the re-attack turned into a shitshow that never left home plate after the F-16s lost tally again. After giving the targets a 5min headstart to run in a bomburst pattern off the original impact site the JTAC got fed up, aborted the re-attack, and called us back overhead. Despite having been in BFE for the initial strike, the first round left the aircraft ~3 seconds after arriving overhead without aid of the assets that were supposed to have custody of the target. The remaining 12 or 13 spread all over the mountainside were cleaned up in 1/5 the time that it took for 9-line coordination on the initial strike, while the F-16s faded back into the background. I knew right then how different our worlds were.

Oh I'm ANG, but on the air side it's more of a handshake they can dismiss at a whim.

You've been assesses five penalty shots for posting those videos. Beverage of choice. That sock puppet was slightly below average compared to most intel briefings.

The numbers just don't back up your claim. While you may get lucky a year or two, the vast, vast majority of professional investors and fund managers who actively trade do not beat the market in the long run. These are the guys that have unlimited resources, analysts, and prob insider information.

I had the F'ing airplane depressurize at 30K because the student pulled the throttle to idle, very uncomfortable. And they wanted it in space!!!

And working 14 days in a row. A couple of my reservist brethren keep trying to sell me on it, but then they're in the office all week, through the UTA weekend, and all the next week. No thanks, the Air Force has already taken enough of my weekends without my complicity.

I'm stationed here at Guam and love it. I admit it's not for everybody. So I'll offer some general advice and if you have specific questions, feel free to PM me. I'm not in the det, but I'm familiar enough. Be prepared to be a bomber person (not just the MDS you're in now). Be proud of what experience you bring to the table, be honest about what you don't know, and be willing to learn. Keep in mind that the organization is new, so it's an interesting opportunity to shape the roles. Keep in mind what the impacts will be to your career in regards to the potential of maybe not flying, being rated by a different chain of command than the rest of the base, etc. It might not make a diffference, but just be aware. Family life is great so long as your honest with your spouse about what they're getting into. If you like big cities, lots of malls, and need to visit extended family often, you'll be in trouble. If you like any kind of water activity, hiking, or just enjoying the laid back feel of island life, it's awesome. Island fever is a risk, but there's lots of opportunities to travel. Especially via space A. Dont plan on getting a house on base since they're demoing most of the houses over the next couple years and rebuilding. Houses anywhere on island are small and basic. So leave the sweaters and unnecessary house clutter in storage before you PCS. Power outages are also common. Also understand that OHA is different than BAH (you don't pocket any leftover money). Being stationed here is different than being TDY/deployed. For one, you're not living/working/eating/etc with the same house of dudes everyday for 6 months. If you were deployed here and thought "why haven't they fixed issue X with the mission after all these years", this is your chance to be the continuity and make things right. Hope that helps.

Why read it:

Nice, the group is spreading! I made it back in August and I'm surprised by how many people have joined. The document with the grading criteria was posted here (but I can't verify its authenticity): https://www.facebook.com/groups/535955559932953/639704329558075/?match=Y3JpdGVyaWEucGRm

Yeah, those stats are for the Active Duty board for current officers. If I'm not mistaken that's the most competitive avenue to a UPT slot. The Active Duty OTS process is entirely different. They're not selecting you on your potential ability as a Pilot but rather your potential ability as an officer. If you're in the Facebook group for 17OT02 you can see the grading criteria. To summarize it, the PCSM score is applied within the "education" grading block which also includes your AFOQT score and GPA. The education block makes up 3/10ths of your entire score. So it stands to reason that your PCSM makes up a relatively small portion of your overall application.

Batman movie was fun if you liked the Lego movie. Logan was good. Strange having a PG13 franchise go for the hard R (little/no sex) and seeing just how brutal metal clawed combat would be. Would recommend both.

Nerds

Clarification on SERE-C/SV-80A: Seems to be some confusion on the AF side since the average Schools NCO hasn't done one before, but I just got my SV-80A waiver signed so yes, it is a thing. Might be a bit different for active duty guys but myself and one of the guard guys a few months ahead of me simply sent our Army SERE-C Certificates (the ones from the "new full-up SERE-C" program that began around 2010) to our Schools NCOs. I'm not exactly sure who/what the appropriate channels are from there but the waiver approval authority is an O-6 position titled "Chief, Special Operations & Personnel Recovery". The current one has had at least a couple of these cross his desk recently so it shouldn't be an issue. That might help you AD types if they say they don't know what to do with your certificate and waiver request. If you need a template for a memo, PM me and I'll hook you up. I have some contact info for the Rucker SERE school that might help if you have any further issues. I emailed them first before I sent my waiver request up just to get their input and add it to my case. You will still need to complete SV-90A, -80B, and -90B which are the water survival, land parachute, and water parachute courses. All of those take place at Fairchild and they only take about a week total to complete. At the end of the day, it saves the NGB/AF some money and a slot so it's a good deal for them. Put it that way if you get any push-back. As fun as it was, if you're anything like me, you got the point the first time. There is still some kind of SERE-qual refresher training you'll need to do every 3 years in order to be deploy-able but it's in no way the full program so don't get confused about that if you hear about it.

the latest selectees were supposed to be notified this week. Now that afpc runs it, anyone know if that actually happened?

Bookmark this site for your entire career: https://www.my.af.mil/etcacourses/default1.asp https://www.my.af.mil/etcacourses/showcourse.asp?as_course_id=S-V8A-S

Ya, as a direct replacement for the UPT and IFF T-38 only on a 3 to 5 buy ratio, hoping to cover the gap via reduced attrition. The T-1 will be around well into the 2030s. Some of the more amusing calls I fielded as a T-1 Flt/CC were from my T-38 counterparts trying to poach my gunships/C-17s/AFSOC/etc in exchange for their E-3s and such. That's all well and good if it helps my guys, but the phone was quickly set to the "go fuck yourself" position when those guys tried to imply that because their students were flying the T-38 they were inherently better than my T-1 students and would have aced the T-1 program and finished ahead of my guys anyway. The fact of the matter is it is a myth that doing well in T-6s is an automatic identifier of future performance. It is frequently a result of either prior flying experience, or being a faster learner within a given medium. I saw guys who aced T-6s, chose T-1s (to the wailing and gnashing of teeth of the people who though they should go 38s) and then finish bottom 3rd in the T-1. Conversely I saw guys finish dead last in their T-6 class, come across the street to me with an apology note pinned to their lapel, and knock T-1s out of the park. So implying that students that track T-38s are inherently better than students that track T-1s is quantifiably bullshit. There most certainly are people who bottom feed the T-6, and then bottom feed the T-1, but there are also students who kill the T-6 and are gone from the T-38 before their first checkride. I'd be willing to bet those 38 washouts would have been T-1 washouts all the same. The T-1 and T-38 [programs aren't so different in terms of difficulty, it's just the nature of what is difficult. The T-38 is fast moving and demands precise and rapid decision making. The T-1 is complex, operates in a complex environment with limited to no outside decision making help (Sup, SOF, wingman, etc), and requires a lot of dynamic task management. The product of each program is different, but I wouldn't say one is better trained than the other.

I like that the thread I made about UPT female relations has exploded but this one, an actual question is all but ignored Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

I am a Cadet ROTC Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums