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Thats a keg, you should go to timeout.

I think smokin's post is spot on. Pick the mission that appeals to you, not what "seems" to be the current leader in the stacking bodies game, because the latter is very much time/luck based, could change at any moment, can even be squadron based and not MDS based, etc. I had a sq/cc who was a C-model dude, said when he was casual in an A-10 sq he naturally liked the idea of the Hawg, but at the time they weren't doing shit and everyone thought the next likely thing was shooting the Iraqi AF down, so he went after Eagles. Well, guess how that worked out in terms of going to war. Of course I think you should list all the fighters first based on my biased love for those missions, but I have worked closely with the gunships and U-28s, great communities that do awesome work. Certainly worth an immediate "second" to fighters on the dream sheet in your case

For all the newbies watching this thread, find yourself an IP in the know on the U-28 as well if you’re looking for a sweet mission. If you’re wanting to fly a Raptor so you can show all those jerks from high school how cool you are now, then by all means go that direction. If you’re truly wanting to kill terrorists for God, Mom, and Apple Pie, give it a look.

Where’s Chang? I’d love to hear his opinion on this...

Guard/Non-prior, I feel my dates have been a lot quicker than everyone so far: Interview: September 2017 Hired: September 2017 MEPS: November 2017 FC1: November 2017 Waiting on OTS dates now. Is it typical that my package gets sent after my FC1 is cleared or is the package sent without the FC1 information? Also, I assume that if we failed any part of the FC1, we'd know about it within a few days of the physical rather than months after? Lastly, I was a couple pounds over for the FC1, will the AGB see that as an issue? Obviously I'll be the correct weight before OTS and was for MEPS, but Thanksgiving happened.

It was done in this thread a few years ago, but I’ll put in a plug for “Bleeding Talent” by Tim Kane. Kane is a USAFA grad, was in intel officer for a few years, and then a successful entrepreneur. His ideas for revamping how the military handles things like assignments, promotions, and evaluations are very interesting. He basically wants to put market forces in how the military handles people, which he argues would result in less bleeding of talent in the officer ranks.

Went through RND not that long ago and didn't have a problem living off base. Got a crashpad and had no issues, but if you're super worried about it just talk to the CC, he was very open to accomodate

Nope. Like promotes like. So to get into the club, 99.69% of the time only those that are like me - think like me, act like me, respond like me - are going to get into the club. I do not blame just CSAF. Every single 3 or 4 star for the last, at least, 15 years who wasn't willing to fall on his/her sword and say "Enough!" bears responsibility. I am unaware of any such examples. Congress writes the checks. They need to be told to whom to write those checks. "We got this" is not always the right answer, but giving such will cost a few corporate board memberships or media talking skull opportunities. We, collectively, also bear some of the blame. How many at the lower echelons were willing to publicly fall on our swords? A few, but not enough to make the GOs get uncomfortable until the iceberg had already ripped the gash (sts) down the length of the ship. Or was it just easier to bail and go airlines? Or to whatever wasn't a dysfunctional Big Blue.

I also think Moseley. He proudly prioritized hardware over humans, stiff armed RPAs and all things GWOT when it was obvious we weren't getting an easy win & needed to invest in the war. Mostly though, by his obstinacy and subsequent firing he enabled the takeover of Schwartz who embodied all things weak and pathetic about our service. That said, honorable mention goes to Welsh for the false hope things would improve followed by his double down on bureaucratic stupid while collapse accelerated.

I think Moseley. 2005-2008. It's when the Deid, at its peak, went full retard. It's when the Airmans Creed was invented, Chiefs finally outruled everyone, and the invention of "everyone is a warrior." He said we need to cut people to pay for hardware, had a ton of scandals, and was finally fired for nuclear shenanigans. Masters degrees came back from Gen Jumper, and the Generals, with the economy in the shits and the support of Moseley, said "if you don't like it, get out." Oh, and UPT Direct to RPAs. Schwartz was a close second with the nuclear enterprise "changes", Fitness test Salem witch trials, and Blues Monday. He could have undone the damage that Mosely did, but instead double downed on the policies at the Deid, making him a close second. He could have ended the reign of fighter pilot CSAFs, but he did such a piss poor job that the next guy was back to the status quo. Welsh had the unfortunate job of cleaning up everyone elses scandals and a terrible SECAF. Oh well, what could have been.

Schwartz. Back with the emphasis on masters degrees, the TAMI-21 saga, Blues Monday, etc that devastated the force long term. The people that flourished during his reign and guidance now have serious placement and access in the actual decision making portions of the chain.

Timing is everything and there is no justice. You could get fighters and spend your first decade doing theater security where you basically do the same training as if you were at home. Or you could get the Buff and level an ISIS city a month out of the B-Course. Plenty of both have happened. Put down what you want to do, don't play any games, enjoy where you end up, and don't look back.

I’ll need a better hint than that.

T-6 OBOGS concentration schedule

You get one chance to fly a fighter (maybe two if you remain as a FAIP). If that's really what is important to you, then put every single fighter airframe at the top of your list. If putting bombs on target is a secondary consideration, rank them appropriately. Follow up with FAIP, B-1s, and AC-130s. If your primary concern is getting into the fight now, and flying a jet that puts metal on meat, then strike eagle, hawg, viper, bone, spooky is how I would suggest rolling your top 5. All have and will continue to make big contributions to the current fight; 4/5 have a direct role in the mixed force strike package during a wider conflict. ^ This if racking up confirmed kills is your vector.

If you wanna fly fighters, put fighters first and always. If you want kills, put AC-130s. It's not a dick measuring contest though. Once you get past a certain level of knowing "I've killed XX dudes and their things", it's just keeping score. You may not enjoy the flying of endless left turns nearly as much as fighter flying. That having been said, with my bias, I advise 1) Fighters, 2) AC-130s (or AFSOC in general: switching tribes is way easier than you'd expect after 3-4 years), 3) FAIP to keep the dream alive, 4) Bombers. Here's some heresy, not so much for you as for other studs: If you want to kill bad guys who matter, KCVS MQ-9s are where it's at. The price you pay is obvious. Your call.

ShavedDogsAss nailed it. If you really want fighters, list them first, FAIP second, then everything else (would recommend B-1's then AFSOC). In the end man it's your choice. You mentioned wanting to rain hate, go A-10, F-15E, F-16 or some variation of that. If that's what you really want then go for it. I'll speak to the FAIP thing as well. I just finished up my FAIP tour and am headed off to the Viper (f*ck yea). Like you all I ever wanted to do was fly fighters. So when it came dreamsheet time it wasn't a question of what I wanted, it was where to put it. Basically my list went fighters (including ADAIR), -38 FAIP, -6 FAIP, B-1, AFSOC, everything else. Ended up getting FAIP'ed and loved it. Did it get old doing TP Stalls for the 6900th time? Absolutely. Did volunteering and doing all sorts of queepy stupid crap suck? Yup. But it kept the dream alive, and in the end I finally got what I wanted. Some FAIPs don't get what they wanted. Good friend of mine didn't. Unfortunately it happens, but if being a fighter pilot is really what you want, then having a second shot at it should be right up there on your list. If being a fighter pilot is secondary to raining hate, then put FAIP lower on the list and put bombers/AFSOC higher.

Step 1, single seat. Step 2, list fighters keeping step 1 in mind. Step 3, list AFSOC over big wing ISR, MAF, etc. Step 4, consider how bad you want fighters and if listing FAIP ahead of AFSOC is worth it for a second chance at fighters three-ish years from now. You will get biased answers no matter what because we all generally love what we do, even if for some it wasn't their first choice out of UPT. Nothing wrong with that, just be aware.

Sortofish. What I am saying (which deserves its own post), is that the Air Force (as is true with any very large enterprise) needs a bureaucratic means (which it currently has) of selecting from a group of highly qualified and highly motivated individuals to select for their most difficult training pipeline. This ensures a higher probability of success which is vital with extraordinarily expensive training. Requiring someone to have a college degree (any college degree) is in NO WAY too high a bar to preclude someone from competing for pilot training - READ: those people who can't (or don't) make it through 'X' State University, very likely, have ZERO business flying a fighter aircraft, let alone any aircraft in the USAF. This, by definition, precludes much of the enlisted force. The above is in no way saying their are enlisted individuals who "couldn't" 'fly' a fighter or heavy aircraft - lord knows. I know there are many individuals around the world flying fighters who are less than capable. I feel ardently about this because I feel that our national advantage isn't grounded in our Army. It's grounded in our Air Force. And when we give up that advantage, we're asking for F$@%ing trouble. What I see this as is grasping at straws and a mediocre "attempt" to solve a problem. Ultimately the AF needs to stand up and tell the Army to do it's job (another post). This, of course, requires national-level leadership buy-in to a strategy (hasn't seemed like we've had one of those for a while), but why else are these people wearing stars?

Perhaps Liquid had it deleted. I’m sure the workload from giving all those no-notice ground evals for folks talking about the airlines at work was just too much. The APC forums are a far better resource anyway.

I've been at United for eleven years this month. Currently a 737 Captain at LAX. Held the left seat at nine years and currently am sitting reserve at home in SoCal. I flew the 737, 757, 767 and very briefly, the 787. I have loved every minute of this job. Great coworkers, generous pay and benefits, more time off than anybody I can think of that actually has a job. My former 787 FO peeps on reserve have all grown Grizzly Adams beards. I flew with plenty of prior service folks when I was in the right seat, but it's been a real pleasure to work with a younger generation who are a little bit closer to my age, fresh off their military careers and not yet bitter and angry with the industry. And with the leadership we currently have, I am cautiously optimistic they never will! I have been very fortunate to fly with consistently high quality folks from all aviation backgrounds. I am grateful I upgraded as soon as I could. Even with the temporary commute I did to SFO and the vagrancies of life on reserve, it's been a total pleasure to be in command again and set the tone at work. I can highly recommend the ECIC prep, it really took the stress off and allowed me to just concentrate on communicating. Spend the time and money, it's worth the peace of mind and there's way too much money at stake to leave things to chance and not to come loaded for bear. Checked and Set is an excellent resource too, Charlie Venema is just as sharp as Aaron. Anybody who's got a question about UAL they'd like answered should feel free to drop me a PM. If you're in LA, let me know, we'll get together and I'll give you the fifty cent tour of the flight office. I'm immensely proud of our company and our relationship with veterans. In addition to former military pilots, I've flown with former NAVs, FEs, controllers, tank company commanders, Delta force, black-shoe navy submarine commanders, grunts and even shoe clerks. Haven't had a bad day yet.

FYI casuals are not really useless anymore. APTers (casual studs) are crew chiefs, admin across the base, and working actively. You can take leave but I don't want people thinking the aren't doing anything for months on end. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk