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At the minimum definition of "thousands", that is literally a full-time position for an entire fiscal year...doing nothing but studying the C-17 ratio. For my trick next year, I will study a different, single topic and fvck that up too. Bendy Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

If personnel has thousands of hours to spend on something like this, I think they might be slightly overmanned.

YGBFSM...the cyber nerds get a bonus but the 12x community doesn't....I guess I'll just resign myself to beating people up at United...

Well, In cyber we got a Viper driver as the 24 AF/CC and it has been fantastic for getting us towards operational and really getting the rest of the "3" community to pay attention. Doubly so for the awful network that's been flogged for years that's just been blamed on "Comm." for not doing well enough. When the bag-wearer tells the 4-stars, "You've deferred MX on the network, doing spot fixes only, for a decade." People listen. Watching him tell SES's that he didn't care if their pet application had 4-star support, he's in charge of cyber ops and running Server 2003 wasn't allowable anymore, was fantastic. Doubly so w/ Gen Bender backing him up. Far cry from the awful space-O's who're somehow also considered "ops." Having worked with EWO community and how it works/attacks in the "the cybers" has really helped me develop something approaching an operational mindset. Unfortunately, they're stuck with Intel in 25AF now, but we're all headed to ACC and can hopefully break them into cyber. Cyber NEEDS operational (re: rated) leaders to come over and teach us, advocate for us, and point out and ostracize the support-minded fucks who're holding everything back. We need those leaders as Maj's, so we can educate our junior O's, and not try to convert these Col's who grew up in traditional Comm and scoff whenever I point out how flyers operate and say, "This is cyber, we're different." For example - "We need an office or something to coordinate these teams movements when they head out to do missions/sorties." I say that sounds like a scheduling office, and should be done in the wing/units responsible and not as a staff function. Just like a flying wing does. Reply was, "Well, this is different. We've got to coordinate clearances, and sometimes they go overseas. A lot more than a flying scheduling office does." Not. Fucking. Kidding. Having to deal with CC's saying they're unsure if their "Mission Ready" presented crew is experienced enough to do a tasked operation. Watching them disregard our WIC's inputs out-of-hand because they don't align with Group leadership's plans. Sq CC's not knowing what their people do, or their own processes for execution. Saying people on cyber crew need crew rest...CREW REST. They use flying ops AFI's for it. K, getting to work pissed for a Saturday. Later all. PS: I hate this job.

Can you just stop please? We all get it, you're hilarious.

Joint basing is terrible. Lived it for too many years. "I have eight wing commanders, Bob." Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

So 19 people at a time and 1095 day flying deployments to other CONUS bases. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

I think the 12x community definitely deserves some form of bonus. I also think the Cyber guys deserve a hell of a lot more than that.

APKWS isn't low cost. It just a different production line. We're dropping PGMs as fast as they can be made.

Running functions in Excel is nice for making numbers match a desired reality. By his description, that's what A-1 has been doing. Actually solving the problem would take talking to and listening to folks who are bonus-eligible and finding out what it would take to get them to stay. (Hint: it's gonna take more than money)

No no. It was a large group of idiots working in short bursts of ignorance to fuck things up.

Thousands of hours... 20 hour work-week... hmmm... so they started his F up like 30 years ago? Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

Mostly concerned about the manpower cost dedicated to that process.

They're currently running 2x S1050s in parallel with Mark 7 Rev upgrades. Once they push some inventory, they'll reinvest in a larger commercial press. It isn't a CamDex, it's the same press Federal uses at their Minnesota Plant...I forget the name at the moment. Brass cleaning and media separation is all via machinery that they designed and built themselves. They both grew up farming for a living, and my dad will take any excuse to break out a welder. Copy on pricing. It's a small mom-and-pop operation (literally), so as they reinvest their initial sales into bigger and more efficient machinery, prices should fall. The long term goal is to produce everything but primers (see: recent Lake City Plant explosion) in-house, even the powder. Interestingly enough, the most expensive single piece of equipment is the machine that draws out and forms the brass. Enter promo code "HeyChongerSuckOnThisJASSM". It doesn't work for a discount, but it feels right.

I think Rand did a study and determined that joint basing was at best a wash and worst a more expensive. Being on a joint base, it's not the worst thing, but funding always favors the owning side and more so when that side has a Corps with 3 star in charge. The biggest issue is the cultural differences like you mentioned the Army has 4,000 privates sitting around if they are in garrison to use for manual labor. As we all know the in thr AF everyone has a job, which causes the exact problem of mowing grass. Army: "just find an E-2 to mow your grass you don't need a landscaping contract!" AF: "all our airman have jobs". Also the when the Army is home they are in a garrison mindset, which doesn't mesh well when the AF side a mobility wing sending planes out on operational missions everyday. Couple months ago a big storm was expected to roll through and the AF leadership was considering evacuating the aircraft, but the Army (which owned the base Ad Hoc system) sent out a message early releasing everyone immediately without consulting the AF leadership. They stopped it before it got too far but they apparently couldn't grasp why we needed to keep people around to launch real world missions or prep jets to evacuate.

We tried that already with Fianance and Comm and it's been a shitshow. Local Comm and Finance squadrons got gutted to centralize "support" now they don't have the manpower or authority to deal with issues.

That's fine and can be done, but it starts with the Supported elements ALO being actually competent in the weaponeering and tactics that he has to convey will be employed for that GFC. DA fight yeah get out of the cockpit, but COIN where CDE and all the after effects are major factors that GFC has to have trust and confidence that the air isn't going to make more problems being on a long chain to make their own decisions. He's the one that has to send guys into that village next week after the strike and deal with the aircraft having done X/Y/Z to meet that intent. It's the same problem we have with them and we wear the same uniform. If we send an LNO that can't confidently and accurately reflect the needs and capes of the supporting element we end up getting dumb requests like "we want you to use 30mm instead of hellfire to lower CDE" from 3km standoff. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ENJJPT 17-05 Active: 4x F-16 1x F-15C 2x F-15E 1x A-10 1x F-35 1x MC-130H 1x T-38 FAIP ANG: A-10 F-16 Foreign: 2x Eurofighter 2x Tornado

It's about the lowest cost PGM we got going for us so far. Not saying it's not overpriced like everything else, but what's cheaper and still has utility for the mission set nsplayr is talking about?

Move along folks.

He blew it. I was in doubt for the longest time, but it's not even fun anymore.

And if we needed any more evidence to know Chang is a troll, there it is.

It costs how much to train a zipper-suited sun god? How many short of requirements are we now? And the argument is that wings are a universal leadership badge? With another argument is that guys want to do what they are actually trained, at great expense, to do and fly? And you want Big Blue, having spent that kind of money, to put rated in all the support areas that suck? It would seem we have done that in the past and yet we are still where we are today. In fact, you can argue since the senior leadership is still nearly all rated officers, that they are not hacking the mission to include, especially, support. If the wing commander is a pilot, why does his MPF suck? Just a different perspective and/or be careful what you wish for...

Exactly! Since we all know that the FAC was merely a force shaping tool to begin with and had absolutely nothing to do with making our Air Force "fit to fight" lol. It's time to force shape that shop and put those cats to work on filing my travel voucher and doing my adls training for me. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

No, no, no, no, no.... you forgot. Leadership from on high, "You can be replaced." People got the message, and acted accordingly.

Agreed. Like I've said before, we've got 2 O-6 selects who are retiring well before their promotion dates, both 11B, both great leaders and IPs. And in the other shortage we often neglect, we have a MX officer who was selected for O-6 who has also opted to retire instead.

I'll gladly support trimming some military earned benefits (not entitlements thanks) when I start seeing other unearned entitlements (welfare) in society getting trimmed as well.

Based on everything I know about naval aviation, kills below the hard deck are not valid, no matter what Jester does while defensive.

So let me get this straight, you finished #1 in Phase 2 "by a mile" and did so well in Phase 3 you got FAIP'd? Sounds like you nailed it

You turned down T-38s to argue with people on the internet?

This is complicated, and I don't claim to have the full picture, but here is what I think it really takes. TL;DR: Congress, the Joint Staff, and the USAF all have a role to play. All must take unprecedented steps to fix this, but the potential gain is beyond anything we've ever known. Congress: 1. Eliminate the vast majority of queep driven by federal law. 2. Bring pilot pay up to 75% of airline pilot pay with similar seniority/qualification. 3. BRAC Cannon yesterday, everywhere else tomorrow, and mass forces at superbases near major metro areas. Build a DFW-worth of runways to support and make the airspace Class B if needed. JCOS: 1. Inform COCOMs that their staff requirements will be combined (Navy flyer for USA/USAF/USMC/USN rated job, etc) or eliminated, to the scale or 50-75% or more. 2. Annihilate 179s as a thing. One fvcking day? Are you kidding me? Give people the credit for their service. This is one example, but i think the trend is clear: shorter deployments, where the service pays a premium to get people home to their families, and if not credits the time served, rather than allowing a cowardly bureaucrat to steal that credit. USAF: 1. Divorce rated promotions from non-rated. Separate boards, with separate quotas. To make a long story short: you can replace an MPF 0-3 with about 30 grand. To replace a (good) pilot is 100 times that amount. Time to recognize return on investment, kids. 2. Make the non-verbal signals clear: stop the anti-ops "you're all officers and equal" jihad. I won't rant about why. 3. Man the queep positions so that pilots/rated only do DOT, DOV, etc jobs aside from flying, aka those that require their expertise. 4. In Robin Olds' words: "If I can order a man to combat 24 hours a day, he can get paid 24 hours a day." I truly do not care if MSG folks have to work 12 hours shifts; they will support. If they quit, I do not care; I will replace them for the cost of a single aircrew TDY. Run the numbers and tell me I am wrong. However, I will also massively increase incentive flights and the like to connect Ops to MX to MSG and MDG. I would unite the factions so that they would SEE what their worth ethic empowers. 5. Inform COCOMs that their "rated requirements" will be manned at about the 10% level or lower. And see [JCOS] part. 6. Start researching how to finally quit the AEF and move to a better, more cohesive, more predictable model. Don't go full Army, because that is just retarded, but find a way for families to know that "this" deployment is just the one in 4 years, or whatever. 7. Most important: CSAF has to get out there, to every base, and every squadron bar, with nametags off and interview the pilots/CSOs/STS dudes with beer in hand and no entourage. This is the hardest part. He/She MUST establish credibility by allowing the rank and file to speak truth to power at the risk of being disrespectful. This will be a self-sustaining process; if the CSAF showed up here, paid my bar tab and got me a DD, I would whiteboard out the cycle of factors, at the FGO level, that are ensuring our mission failure - but only if I trusted him. 8. I'd overhaul Lackland to look more like an Army basic training unit than the clown show it is now. Kill the "but the queep reg says" buffoonery, and make 50% or more personal combat skills. I could go on on this point, but this is the essence of "expenditionary skills" and would motivate people that want to be part of a warfighting organization. Those who don't: quit. They will be replaced at their least expensive point. Folks, it's time to steal from the USMC model and challenge our people to be part of an elite combat unit, not an office camo welfare unit. And the take-away, folks: trust. This will require huge risks by leadership to change the paradigm, but if they can restore trust, then the rest will follow. Their biggest challenge now is that no one trusts the leadership, even if they make valid arguments and really want to change the culture.

Well for one, there's some time management problems lurking in your statement, but that aside, do you think non-fighter communities work 40 hr weeks? I have a lot of friends in a lot of different corners of military aviation and I will never blow smoke up their ass saying I work more; it's just different. I think you're being sold a bag of bullshit if you think flying other platforms in the AF will lend you a leisurely life style. I will say my flying job is more difficult, perhaps even more stressful at times, than some, but that doesn't mean those others are working less hard to do an important mission (and spending inordinate amount of time doing additional duties, etc. that suck your time regardless of what wings you wear or what you fly). Bottom line, a UPT dude should pull for the mission he wants to do, not for a "life style." Maybe those two are related to an extent, but the mission piece is more important. Trying to pick a track or aircraft based on "being home more," or "not working X hrs per week," will only result in disappointment and possibly regret.

Hand-picked... like a booger. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

So you can get the few remaining real leaders in the Air Force killed off and finally have the shoe clerks be fully in charge? And you paper-pushing desk monkeys are still SO confused why nobody is taking your blood money and running full speed for the door and the airlines instead. Serious, almost service-crippling flyer shortage, but let's send the best flyer in the wing on a non-vol, non-flying four year assignment to chase goat-humpers and get shot at in a third world shithole. Seems legit! Oh wait...don't feed the troll.

Precisely why we need airpower leaders in these key positions. I intend to nonvol my absolute best flyers in the Wing here in Asia to these positions. I am confident my fellow CCs will follow suit. We need our best in these critical positions to win this war. And I intend to reward them career-wise on the backside.

Absurd and incorrect re: O-6 numbers. Re: community health, yes, younger fighter pilots are short, but all other communities are currently relatively healthy, although we can see some concerns in the distant future (hence stop-loss discussion). Wait to see the bonus take rate numbers in October. Much more money offered this year.

The 2.5 more accurately reflects the needs of the C-17 community. Thousands of hours of research by personnelists went into these numbers. Even more research was done on the 2.0 crew ratio for the C-130. While maintaining the 1.75 was argued, the increase to 2.0 won the day. A minority in the community successfully argued the lack of navigators should create a higher crew ratio, so AMC A-1 caved and agreed to raise it to 2.0 (100%+ manned at the squadron level, I might add). MAF is extremely healthy, again thanks to the efforts of number crunchers to keep the communities healthy.

$20T in debt. Should be $200 for four years. Still incredibly cheap for the benefits received.