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I'm a technician and have been getting random LES' for $10 and some change for the last month. I can finally fit into those airline conversations about how thousands of dollars randomly show up for profit sharing...

I don't follow this that closely but I've been spending the last few days at an Aerospace and Defense conference. The talk today about commercial aircraft is pretty aggressive over the next 4-5 years. At a strategic level the availability of pilots to fill all these aircraft deliveries and ATC to manage the traffic growth are seen as big risks. I don't track the hiring boards but it sounds like barring a major economic downturn the AF is going to face even more competition for retention for years to come.

This post probably won't contribute much to anyone but I need to get it off my chest and I'm here... so why not? I joined the Air Force at 19 years old in 2003. After 18 months, I was separated under "Force Shaping Phase II" (I was RIF'd) in 2004 at 20 years old. During those 18 months on AD, I worked on C130H models as a GAC troop and dreamed of one day flying for Big Blue. After my separation, I joined the Air National Guard so I could stay a part of the family and started plugging away at my undergrad degree so I could apply to OTS while thinking, incorrectly, that my time in service would count against my age and that I'd be able to apply to fly after graduating. Supporting a wife and 2 kids, it took me until 2013 to graduate with my B.S. in Physics at the age of 29. After racking up 50 hours in Cessna prop jobs and taking the AFOQT, scoring high across the board (94P/93N/91AA/93V/81Q), I headed to the OTS recruiter, excited to apply for that long awaited rated slot... only to be told that I was too old. I still wanted (and want) to serve so I applied for what I qualified for and was picked up as a Space Operations Officer. I'm out at Randolph right now for a training TDY as a 33 year old 1st Lt with nearly 15 year of TIS, only 8 of which is active, and it's killing me to see the T-38s and hear the constant thunder of students earning their wings, knowing that in the eyes of the Air Force I am just too old to ever join that world. So how does one let go of a long held dream? I have no idea. I'll say this to anyone who's considering pursuing this path. DON'T wait. Time is not your friend. The pain of regret for not seizing the opportunity to fly when I could will haunt me for the rest of my life. Good luck to each of you. Make the best of it.

First commander of the Space Shuttle flew west 5 Jan 2018. Fast facts: Naval Aviator, flew F-9 Cougars & F-8 Crusaders on fleet tours aboard USS Coral Sea & USS Forrestal, Navy TPS Grad, 42 year career with NASA, Flew on Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle missions. From his Wiki page: John Watts Young (September 24, 1930 – January 5, 2018) was an American astronaut, naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and aeronautical engineer. He became the ninth person to walk on the Moon as Commander of the Apollo 16 mission in 1972. Young enjoyed the longest career of any astronaut, becoming the first person to fly six space missions (with seven launches, counting his lunar liftoff) over the course of 42 years of active NASA service. He was the only person to have piloted, and been commander of, four different classes of spacecraft: Gemini, the Apollo Command Module, the Apollo Lunar Module, and the Space Shuttle. We don’t make guys like this anymore. Thoughts and prayers to family and friends. Whole Wiki page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Young_(astronaut)

Yes. And a spousal Roth IRA. Have been doing this since I was a senior Capt and could afford it.

the wife needs wheels. give her the truck and get a small, cheap car to zip around base

The answer our finance shop got from NGB is essentially "checks in the mail..." Somehow DFAS figured out how to get the AGRs and AD guys the correct pay rates for 2017, not so much for the DSGs or technicians. Somehow the system figured out I was payed the $650 rate for a few AT days and back payed me for the $700 rate. It still hasn't figured out I need back payed for all my UTAs/AFTPs. Now in 2018, I'm due the $800 rate and I'm still being payed at the $650 rate. I was told to expect an additional paycheck every period to pay me the difference until DFAS can unfuck their computers.

While an O-5 pension would be nice and I hope to get one, 10% of an 0-5 RESERVE pension is not life-changing money. $300-500/mo difference when you turn 60 in today's dollars. $23,000 (which is low anyway) left to grow from age 32 to 60 is $153K. So the comparison if you assume that dude goes ARC is $153K lump sum vs $550-$850/mo, accounting for 2% inflation adjustments in base salaries. An immediate annuity can rival that.

Non-Concur. I've seen good and bad. On the bad side I worked with a Buff crew very early in the war that was absolutely determined to drop even though no one could see the ground. I won't go into all the details but at one point he told me "We are going to mark the target for you"...ahhh no pal, you are going to mark GPS coordinates. I dropped under the weather and as I sorted out the mess I determined he was going to drop a of stick GBU-31s on a freaking village. #fail I will say this was not typical of other work I did with the Buff dudes. On the good side I worked with B-1s and these bros were absolutely dialed in...they knew the battlespace and had great SA of both the friendlies and the bad guys, they threw some serious hate with bombs that were right on target at the right time. Some of the best work I've ever done was while tag-teaming the bad guys with a flight of A-10's. It was a thing of beauty and one of the best missions I ever flew, although I am sure we pissed off a lot of virgins.

1. Too many players with too many "Red Flag-isms" (i.e. self-inflicted pile-ons to 11-214). I've been to 6 RF-A and 2 RF-N. The one's at Alaska are far better because they don't try to jam way too many jets in the airspace and they use 11-214/don't arbitrarily add on. I get it that we want to get everyone a swing at the bat, but the training factor is very watered down when you have a 20 ship SEAD package where 8 will do (as an example). It is deconfliction flag to an extent - and that is not good tactical training. Mitigate this by allowing less squadrons (may not be possible, I get it) and/or potentially lengthening vuls to allow multiple pushes....or instead of one long vul, do 2x back to back morning vuls and 2x back to back afternoon vuls. 4 vuls a day, but close enough that it really is 2x goes for MX, just with 45 min in between launch of one 4 ship and the other. Debrief each separately so the first guys aren't waiting another 1-2 hours for debrief to start. Run the debrief efficiently - stick to timeline limits, shot val rules, etc...you miss a shot by > 10", fuck off we're not going back. 2. Brecky hit PR - the CAF sucks ass at PR...probably the thing the CAF should be the most embarrassed about it's lack luster performance in...and I'm looking at every fighter pilot out there, I don't care what you fly, you have a role in supporting PR events, so put some damn work into supporting the PR plan, not being a shitty/useless OSC, etc. A pre-planned PR vul can speed things along to not drag out a training vul, but real time shoot downs can at least exercise initial OSC/AMC duties, and the pre-plan can be the next day to get that guy (i.e. for range time you can't shoot a guy down 30 min into vul west of the container and have Pedro push from El/Cal, I get it). No tanker - shit happens, wave the "ALR exceeded, I'd abort in real life" card and then go execute for training. Copy all, it'll be 2x60s and some Sandys against the world...and they'll probably get shot, but there's still training to be had. 3. Focus on basic integration in OCA/DCA/DT vuls. Johnny CAF isn't going to solve the F2T2EA problem for ALRS, in fact, he's going to fuck up the mission planning whole sale and lead an abortion the next day. That's not his fault - in real world, he'll be handed a plan, and he won't be the guy leading the whole thing anyways. Leave "next gen" problem solving to WIC advanced integration phase. Let the CAF figure out how to put a cohesive plan together that defeats the Nellis IADs, destroys appropriate-to-the-scenario targets, and gets everyone back home. I agree the threat level needs to be increased, but the point is basic integration...it is trying to do too much and has negative effects when we try to force the "WWIII" problems on the line CAF guy. There's a reason not every CAF dude is read into CW, etc...he doesn't need to be, the right people need to be who will be planning/have a unique understanding of the capabilities and can leverage those with their squadrons come execution day. 4. Airdrop guys - If they're not getting enough LFE training (are you guys really being left out of RF-N that much?), get them in there. It's not difficult to add an air assault, SOF resupply, etc. into a couple OCA vuls per week. I'm not saying it needs to be a full on JFE vul, but at least get a couple MAF/AFSOC assets doing a resupply on the west side of Belted or something along those lines. It'll be great training for them, but also for the SEAD and ESC guys who have to keep SA on a C-130 at 300 ft, protect him, and have a gas/TOS plan to not lose coverage. And at worst, the C-130 does its mission, there is zero interference with the rest of the war raging overhead and if he gets shots, well there's going to be some good lessons learned for the CAF guys who probably didn't have a good plan to begin with. To minimize the "everyone gets a trophy" thing, don't do MAF and PR in the same vul. Watch out for that dick head Roland guy. 5. Three weeks is long - but if you keep doing three weeks, consider making the third week dissimilar BFM/ACM week. When that square peg doesn't fit the round hole of airspace scheduling, etc. for every jet out there, make some CT-ish DCA vuls, i.e. smaller vuls where nobody is doing a MC upgrade, you can have a North and South vul, etc. Northern Edge in AK does a lot of this...i.e. first vul of the day is the WWIII problem, second vul is all CT. Some squadron gets tagged for MC, they're given the assets and range space/time, go from there to plan/execute whatever you want within some constraints (for safety, etc.) Airboss can make sure it doesn't get out of hand/go down some road it shouldn't. There will still be a lot of learning, but with less of the "RF bullshit" attached, and everyone is less "burned out" at the end.