Leaderboard

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.

17-08 2 x U-28 4 x F-15E 3 x B-52 WSO 1 x B-52 EWO 1 x AC-130U CSO (likely typo? nav?) 2 x E-3 Nav 1 x RC-135 Nav 3 x RC-135 EWO

Holy shit - I think you win for the oldest quoted post. 11 years. Well done.

Ugh. Sucks. I guess they don't need anyone in the ANG or reserves after all. Hope they understand when all of us just walk away at the end. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

Maintenance, then weather and maintenance.

Yep. I've been getting one for about 8 months now. And oh by the way, it's not really getting a whole lot of people to stay. They're offering it one year at a time, which is nice. Honestly I wouldn't have taken it if it were any more commitment than that, but I was in the right place at the right time and wasn't quite ready to make the jump to the airlines. I won't sign another one. Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

By itself, yes, but I think most are going to work on it while in some sort of pay status. Worthless weekend drill? Knock out some PME. On reserve at Delta? Do a RUTA and work on PME. (I keed, I keed!)

END 17-14 Track 8 AD T-38's 2 INTL T-38's 1 Helo 10 T-1's

Fair point. If you believe Director Comey encrypted I-Phones will be the downfall of Western Democracy. I will be interested to see how a military organization will be able in a legal sense fight a civilian behemoth called the internet.

Cool so CBM 17-14 track. 2 active 38s 1 guard 38 2 international 38s 15 T-1 1 reserve Helo 1 active helo (wanted it) As far as active 38s, there was only going to be 1, but they cut a deal yesterday to wash back a complete international and get a second slot for AD. Pretty much.....yeah... there were some good sticks who didn't get their first choice. And I got T-1s, although I think if it was a couple classes back I'd be in 38s, and I'm happy to take it because honestly I am just glad to be here and fly. Just remember for the up and coming hot-as-shit SNAPs, a lot of guys have come before you, and you are entitled to nothing. Don't be a b*tch and take your track with some dignity.

SAPR: Teaching sexual predators where the line is so they go up to it but don't cross it since 1969.

You've got until you're about 28.5 until you start having age related setbacks. So push hard over the next 3.5 years, get some good experience, and hopefully get selected before then. It is still possible after 28.5 but about 50 times harder to get a unit to talk to you. You need to get those AFOQT and PCSM scores way up...hopefully into the 90's.

I call my WSO "left thumb, right index finger" Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, given that we don't have our boyfriend in the backseat to run the targeting pod for us.... Did we just skip ahead to ANOTHER phase of schwantz measuring? You're welcome.

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.

My wife and I call it "SMD," Standard Military Disappointment. Another deployment, SMD. Haven't been paid correctly, SMD. PCS to Cannon, SMD, etc. You're allowed to be disappointed, but the sooner you acknowledge that this level of disappointment is standard and doesn't exist just to piss you off specifically, the better off you'll be.

Thanks Obama

The vast majority of airline pilots have NEVER flown formation. Ever. And when I used to push off the gate in the 787 headed to Australia, we had over 200,000 pounds of fuel on board, or twenty hours of duration. Commercial AR will never happen.

The worst fighter pilot is better than the best heavy pilot. Duh

The T-1 is 500K? Wow.