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Holy hell, maybe it’s the 4.5 hours I just spent in an ejection seat and only spent 15 seconds upside down but F-ck me!!!! Us old salty sport b-tching bastards have complained so much we have UPT bound cadets worried. Alright Bird12, listen up, because you are wrong. If anything the ship is righting itself from what I see, but Us old dudes were on board when it was sinking so different view People on here have generally been/there, done that, diverse backgrounds/experiences. I get tired of my buddies b-tching about the same things I’m bitching about in the sq bar over the same brand of scotch so I read this forum. I want to hear how lousy the poor bastard flying the other jet has it so I can feel better -or- how good he has it so I can complain that community x gets all the good deals and wtf was I thinking taking the bonus because xx is at delta making $xx and here the f-ck I am getting $3.50 per day not allowed to drink beer on St Paddy’s day. Sport bitching is in fact a sport among pilots. (Hence the name) Very few of us really hate our jobs or the USAF. Perspective. I had a brand new straight out of MQT Lt on my wing in the AO, we flew a 4.5 hr mission full of in my opinion, sh-tty taskings, sh-tty scenery, sh-tty tankers, ATC, well you name it, to me it was all sh-t minus the 2 x barrel rolls in the descent. When we got out of the jet I wanted to apologize for his first sortie in the AO being so sh-tty. He was smiling ear to ear. My sh-tty 200th AAR was his first on that type of tanker. My sh-tty 200th time over the desert was his first. He loved it See my point. So you f-cking should be excited bird12, you got a chance at the coolest job in the world. Keep some perspective and know who you are listening to on this forum. If I were in your shoes I’d pay good money for the flight I did today however at my age/experience I’d just assume send someone else so I could sit in ops, drink coffee and complain about how f-cking stupid the USAF leadership is, how I’m not getting paid enough, how cool the Cold War days were, how great the airlines are according to my friends etc. Out

I disagree with this analysis, based on my anecdotal experience. I see saltiness creeping into the perspective of newly minted copilots in my community. They get into the squadrons and are stunned by how little flying matters in flying squadrons. They are disappointed in being shackled with additional duties. I’d say half of our pilots are firmly in the GTFO pool before they finish the first 5 years of their ten year ADSC. Of the half that do stay blue into the mid-level Captain stage.. this is when they get shackled with flight commander or shop chief level add’l duties. They also start getting hit with non-flying 179s. They are still 2-4 years from their UPT ADSCs, but firmly join the crowded GTFO pool. I’d say 8/10 pilots in my community are there by year 8 of their commitment. Around the senior Capt or junior Maj level, you’re down to the the shiny pennies who would rather masturbate to their OPR strats than fly. And some guys who are awful pilots and won’t get airline jobs. These are the few who stay in.

Well said.

Majestik, that is a fundamental example of what's wrong with the Air Force - and why the enemy is "us." No E-9, shoe clerk commander or other douche is able to have any power without a pilot giving power to them at some level, whether it be at the O-5, O-6, or CSAF level. Have we ever had a CSAF who's not a pilot? No. Bottom line, it's high time for PILOTS to reclaim their monopoly on power and crush the non-mission-focused others. "We" got ourselves into this mess by delegating authority to the worst sorts of people. (disclaimer: other aircrew and SOF also included, y'all just haven't been CSAF yet!)

Please tell me more about your expertise on the SUPT syllabus. I’m very intrigued and impressed

We got the government to fund the WiFi bill at another location/aor. Have to have WiFi to sync the pubs on our iPads. Boom.

101st crew names released I knew Tripp from Ft Rucker and Andy went through the FTU with me. Both of them were excellent Americans. Andy and his crew personally saved 33 people on day 3 of the Hurricane Harvey response. Less than 2 months ago we handed over the reins in Iraq to them, they were all eager to continue the tradition of combat rescue....that others may live. [emoji481] Until we meet again.

Thank you Captain Obvious, but that's not what is in dispute. If it were so simple, we wouldn't have the retention problem we have. I find it incredible that this would have to be re-stated, but the punchline here is that: you dont get the goddamn latitude to exercise the discretion you're talking about in the first place as a 12+ year guy. What part of indentured servitude don't you understand? As has been stated before, slick wing O-3 and younger, by all means you can nap of the earth and focus on flying with a large level of success. But beyond that, especially as demands on family and children start to encroach into the demands of the job? Poof goes that fantasy about scoffing at the qweep unabated and just focusing on the love for "military aviation". You can retain a semblance of the freedom to do what you suggest as an O-4 if you go part-time, but no way Active Duty allows you that discretion. Granted, outliers abound, but that and a $1.20 gets the median a cup of coffee. And if you do make it a point and be a visible shitbag on the qweep front , they'll make sure you don't have any access to a cockpit ever again. Your masters are that petty, and they're not in the business of bartering with their human property. And I digress cuz I'm repeating myself.

Bird your not walking into any thing of a shit show, your first 10 years of flying will be great in general with only the saltyness starting to creep in near the last year or two as you realize your future looks nothing like your past 10 years. That is what primarily we are complaining about not how it was for Lts through Captain (aside from lame additional duties), but what we have to look forward to now that we are O-4's + looking down the barrel of non flying deployments/jobs/more time away from family just when time with your family actually starts to mean something (kids), etc. I'd do it again in a heartbeat, I just can't stay in given current conditions at where I am at and am looking to go.

The question isn't if they showed it to him. They almost certainly did. My question is which passages did they highlight/extract into the BLUF. Those who pare and control content also control the conversation.

IMHO this is an almost unbelievable perk. My parents are able to come visit as often as they want. I fly literally all over the place on a whim. Booking non-rev on other airlines is easy and free if you’re traveling by yourself. You learn the ropes pretty quick. Take the earliest flight possible, as once the first operational hiccup occurs, you could be SOL all day. Keep an eye on the weather and plan accordingly. Obviously some places are easier to get to than others but if you’ve got time and plan ahead, you’ll love it.

Does JohnQ know about this extortion? I don’t mean to complain, I know there are places where people would have paid anything to be able to skype home and there was no internet available. I just don’t get where free internet turned into $100/month.

Why would you post this? You either undermine the people who got accepted or crap on the guys who didn’t? Come on bro

True enough. I think we'll just start sending someone off base for a shwarma run every day. Also, BPC DFAC wins the award for least appropriate smiley face (x2)

Is this the DRAM thing? Several years ago Travis AFB declared that every flying squadron wasn’t allowed to pour beer in the bar unless everyone was trained to recognize when somebody was drunk. Seemed to us at the time to be an obvious plot to get people to drink in their shitty combined club. The OG recognized the bullshit ploy, but was made to enforce it anyway. He held a special CC call and told us the bad news. Then, after watching a 5min video used for training Applebee’s waitresses, he declared the entire OG to be “DRAM OK”, pulled back the curtain to reveal a bunch of kegs and solo cups, and gave us the rest of the day off. A great piece of theater, and the only cool thing he ever did.

Just a small correction to the active duty list. There was only 1 active A10.

Is a tanker patch that does all that kind of like a Bigfoot sighting?

I knew there was a pilot shortage but these details blow my mind. I'm headed to Sheppard in May and this thread has me thinking I'm walking into a shit show on AD. Sounds like it's gonna be 11-12 yrs of flying 1-2 times a week, being frustrated with leadership, and watching dudes leave in droves for the airlines. Excited to work through initial training for 13 months (plus FTU etc.) to join this club And I can absolutely confirm that avg, PCSMs and general stats are down, and when you're taking 600+ cadets in a board you can bet it takes a lot to make the average move a little. Just saw a couple guys who were ranked near the bottom of their class of 30 for quite some time for attitude, PT performances, and just general competency get pilot slots. Other guys with PCSMs in the teens and 20s keep getting slots, too. Combine that with the gutting of the SUPT syllabus and the aged state of the AF fleet, and we're in for a multi-decade safety and readiness rodeo. Though this is all based on my extremely rudimentary civilian/cadet understanding, of course. Worries aside I am excited as hell, it just sure does seem like big blue is trending south, hard.