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Yup. Most interesting meeting I've ever been in that didn't involve discussion about blowing shit up. Refreshing to see a 3 button getting basically yelled at by a room full of crusty O-3s and O-4s. Some big takeaways: 1. He came into the meeting incredibly insulated from what is going on. His disconnect from reality was no fault of his own, but very clear. For example, he couldn't wrap his head around guys not wanting to be "developed" by way of ACSC and other PME. Also was unaware of some of the buffoonery going on such as Vance being dry, the elimination of additional duties memo being largely ignored, and the perception that the AF is at best incompetent in the way it handles people, and at worst malicious. It was obvious that the O-4s he is surrounded are the pickle shining types would would rather die than tell the boss bad news. We didn't have that problem, and he wasn't sure how to react. 2. "There is a plan in the work, trust us". Supposedly there is a 28 point plan of some kind floating around to address the retention issue. See point 1 for his reaction to our skepticism of it. 3. He doesn't even know that he is fed a steady diet of bullshit. He told a story of a great base visit he went on, and was dismissive when told to take everything he sees on a base visit with the biggest grain of salt he can fit on the jet he rode in on. He didn't realize that whenever guys like him show up, guys like the ones in that room get stuffed in a closet. 4. Stop loss is off the table. CSAF realizes that even IF they could get a stop loss approved (unlikely) it will permanently break any chance they have at retention. They'd get a temporary bump from locking guys down, but they know that as soon as that lockdown inevitably ends, EVERYONE leaves, not just the people who were on the fence before. So maybe we opened his eyes, but even if we did, points 1 and 3 above kinda indicate that at best he will be one more voice yelling at the brick wall. The AF is chronically averse to making the kind of changes necessary to retain pilots, and will continue to hemorrhage talent.

There are only those who don't understand socialism, and those who profit from it. Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

I think the largest threat here is the general attitude of our up and coming service members. The majority of my students now have already started planning on their exit from the Air Force, to include FAIPs looking to bail at the earliest opportunity. I try (in vain) to explain to them while its great to keep their options open it won't help them much getting so Jaded with so much ADSC remaining to serve. It was not a whole lot better at UPT with students already choosing assignments based on how attractive it would make them for Airline jobs later in life, while not a bad thing to think about it was a much higher focus than I've ever seen. General cynicism will reign supreme and even good leaders/commanders are going to face a unenviable position. HAF/A3 seems to think our goal in life should be to want to be a flying squadron commander, and while maybe at one time I thought that would be cool, the way it is now it sounds about as inviting as a dick punch.

Napoleon I think you give the 3 star to much credit with his ignorance. If he has allowed himself to be that ignorant of our issues then he is a poster child to what is wrong with our leadership. Prior to the meeting I was warned that he was going in there guns blazing completely off tilt on what our actual gripes and concerns were. His 20+ Min introduction boiled down to: "We need you guys, so please stay because you know were at war dropping these exploding thingies called bombs every day, and please pretty please trust us we will take care of you, but really we are so engaged around the world and know we are over taxed but you know war so be patriotic and shit suck it up and sign the damned bonus." Followed by the room throwing every possible pitch fork and torch at him. He didn't even have any one in the room taking notes on our concerns, and only when he heard a few specific items he would possibly make an effect on did he steal some paper from some one to write any thing down. His closing statement you could tell was made ignoring every thing he just heard and went back to the please god stay in the Air Force because really our 28 initiatives are crap, we are "Working" and "talking" about these fixes but really nothing is going to change but maybe if I plead enough you will be dumb enough to stay in. Just my two cents... I think most every one came out of there more negative than going in. I know I did.

We had a vosip phone trouble ticket submitted on Nov 4, 2016. I called one night to check in it in March and was told the trouble ticket was closed because the airman that submitted it PCSd. After I recovered from my aneurysm I had to walk in to the J6 (AF SES) deputies office the next duty day and plead for help. It got fixed but it should not take begging.

Yes. You can even start applying during your last year of college if the unit permits it (sometimes applicants are hired during their last year or last semester), but that's a bit rare from what I've gathered. Is there an AFROTC detachment at your college? If so, you might be able to arrange to take the test on campus with them. Each detachment usually administers it at least once per semester, but priority obviously goes to their cadets. If that's not an option, your local ANG unit might administer it on base from time to time. The recruiting office should be able to let you know.

When he jumped out in front of cameras last summer and provided the list of criminal acts regarding emails by Clinton and then stated no reasonable Prosecutor would file charges based on intent which doesn't even exist in the statute, he should have been fired within 6.9 minutes. The flail that has been generated by his office is doing nothing but stirring up hate and discontent on both sides of the political spectrum. Laws should provide clarity, not confusion and he has certainly fanned the flames of the latter.

It's fairly technical, but all things are possible with 1s and 0s + time + money. But the bottom line is that it will never work if the industry partners in question don't work together. GA has typically not been friendly at all to other companies "encroaching" on their fairly sizable RPA empire, even when the operators are jumping up and down for improvements that are par for the course on other platforms.

Here's a view from the other side, although to be honest the whole notion of "another side" of things is part of what's hurting our country very badly right now: Comey absolutely fucked up in his handling of the Clinton email investigation. I basically fully agree with the memo written by the recently confirmed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that can be read here. In an alternate bizarro world, if DAG Rosenstein was serving under a President Hillary Clinton, I would be fully supporting of Comey being fired for the reasons stated. The FBI needs to never be even perceived as putting a thumb on the scale during any election. Although even with Comey's election-season actions, I'm generally an institutionalist and don't like to see tumultuous upheaval in important US institutions. If Clinton and Comey could have found a way to coexist in the same administration, that would have also been fine by me, even preferable. FBI Directors are supposed to serve 10-year terms that are not aligned with Presidential administrations for a reason. That all being said, everything changed when the March 20th Comey testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee happened. At that point, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Comey's boss at DOJ, had recused himself of any possible inquiries into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia after it was revealed he had undisclosed contacts with Russian Ambassador Kislyak. On March 20th, while under oath, Comey confirmed what many suspected for months, that the FBI had an open and ongoing inquiry into the Trump campaign and possible ties to Russia. This isn't "fake news" propagated by the "liberal media" and Democrats, it's straight from the horse's mouth while under oath. As soon as that was openly acknowledged, Comey absolutely, 100% needed to remain in place. With Sessions recused and the FBI typically being fairly independent anyways, Comey was completely in charge of investigating the sitting President's campaign and associates, looking for possible ties to, collusion with or other assorted nefarious business with Russians and/or the Russian government. That investigation is still happening today. Now Comey is summarily fired, ostensibly for reasons not related to the Russia investigation, and that is a really, really shocking turn of events. There is bipartisan outcry over Comey's firing and for good reason. In the House, Justin Amash, a member of the very conservative House Freedom Caucus, is looking at legislation that would establish an independent commission on Russia, and further called the second paragraph of President Trump's letter firing Comey "bizarre." Republican Senators Jeff Flake, Ben Sasse, John McCain and Richard Burr among others have put out statements variously stating they are "very troubled," calling for a Congressional select committee, and generally decrying Comey's departure. Democratic legislators have obviously been even harsher in their condemnations. Look, partisanship is a hell of a drug, I take it myself regularly. During the Obama years, and 2011/2012 in particular, I was a vigorous defender of President Obama's policies and leadership qualities on the boards here. I was highly inclined to see the best in him and his actions, and quick to downplay what others saw (rightfully or not) as missteps, errors, or bad intentions. So I get it, trust me. But where do we draw the line? When do Republicans stand up for The Republic first and party second? I'd like to think that were these the action of a Democratic President, I would be making similar arguments to my political allies on the left. Here's the bottom line, pretend you're reading this about some tropical South American backwater if that helps: the President just abruptly fired the leading domestic law enforcement official who was leading an ongoing investigation into that President's previous election campaign, looking into possible ties between the campaign and a hostile foreign power. This is not a good turn of events for the country, no matter who you support politically.

if i were him first thing i'd do is call the vance OG and ask him what the hell does he think his dry policy is going to achieve

The things you already know: Keep your grades up, study for and ace the AFOQT, and take the TBAS. Information on the AFOQT is abundant here. Use the Q&A section if you think your question is stupid, or already answered. Start trying to visit the ANG unit during drill weekends. Be a sponge, and be yourself. Showing genuine interest shouldn't be hard since that's the unit you want to fly with, and they fly fighters. But never pass up the opportunity to STFU. Are you more interested in the unit because they fly fighters, because they fly your favorite fighter, or because of the location? The answer to that question will tailor a lot of your discussion with them or other units you may become interested in.

Test Pilot PSDM dropped today on MyPers. Reserve and Guard pilots are allowed to apply. Make sure you search under Active Duty Officer.

I remember CAP incentive rides at my detachment. It was designed to target ROTC kids with no flying experience to see if they were interested. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

I thought the approved 3-1.CS section on trouble tickets said to just delete said ticket, then when queried by the requestor blame it on a "new ticket system" and have them re-submit.

No lawsuit...enjoying life with a beard.

What wrong with the Air Force? We don't focus on readiness and warfighting anymore, mainly because we are not trained or educated enough for them. Air power projection is our core mission, and we've lost sight of that. Army and Marines will project ground power, Navy projects naval power, at the end of the day we have to present air power to the combatant commanders or we are all out of a job (not denigrating cyber, space, JTAC, TACP). Let's train/educate all airmen by sending all qualified Os and Es after commissioning and BMT through some kind of basic military flight training for 3-6 months (Nav, LM, FE). Non-flight physical folks get sent to ground ops training (airfield mgmt, amxs, intel, and etc...). Yes they won't be CMR, but they will have the fundamentals and understanding of what it takes to launch a sortie. With the rated and amxs shortage, they can *potentially* fill-in when the balloons goes up, more importantly this will educate why the Air Force exists and why not all AFSCs are created equal. Instead of focusing on bake sales and party planning, let's focus on readiness and the air power projection business. Soldiers and Marines all go through infantry training regardless of MOS, the sailors get trained on sea duty operations (firefighting, navigating and etc...). All airmen should have a basic understanding of how to support air operations regardless of AFSCs. The acquisitions community comes close by sending some of their officers through non-rated ops exchange programs. The 63As return back after one ops tour with a better understanding and appreciation of operational air force, as well as street cred when making decisions of a MWS acquisitions program. Yes sex assaults are bad, lookout for each other so we don't kill ourselves (on purpose or by accident), sleep with whichever sex you want behind closed (SCIF?) doors, build a home for the poor after work if you want to, those topics are not the reasons why the taxpayers are paying for our salary. We need to get back to combat readiness and the warfighting business.

Yawn.....the 36-1 squadron just copied the better one: