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the original argument made was "its a no brainer" to choose FAIP over operational because you build your airline resume. "if kids were smart they would T-1 FAIP" lotta strawmans being built that aren't addressing the main front. Nothing wrong with FAIPS we need em...but FAIPing to get "1200+ Multi engine instructor hours and SOS, Flight command, and Exec all checked off as a young second year captain" vs. going downrange and doing a real mission is the wrong attitude to have IMHO...and i bet most kids dont give a hoot about that stuff as young 2lts. If you care about checking boxes as a dude going thru pilot training...you're a SNAP shoe and that type of pilot is how we've found ourselves in the current situation. AND saying you get more SA flying in the UPT environment than flying worldwide ops is down right laughable.

Someone's got to do it (FAIP), and I don't care what their reasoning is if they are volunteering as long as their qualified. I'd rather see volunteers fill the positions because maybe they'll be happy with their assignment, and that should make for better quality work. Plus, there's no professional trainer pilot track anymore, so they'll get their operational time in eventually. Maybe they want to check the boxes early so when they hit the line they can focus on the mission. Or not. Who cares? Choosing to FAIP to build time for the airlines is no worse than the MWS guy wanting to teach UPT T-1 to build multi instructor/PIC time. Same thing, different timing. Weird how guys (at least from what I've seen in the MAF) generally don't want to go fly the T-6, but will jump on a T-1. It's also no different than an Airmen enlisting for a 4 year commitment to get college paid for, or someone going through ROTC to pay for their college, or a doctor going through USUHS to pay for med school and intending to only serve their initial commitment and then go into private practice. They are no less patriotic then someone who signs up to go to war: they are all serving their country, and as long as they are doing their jobs, who cares what their reasoning behind serving is? It's the idealist "everyone should have joined because we're at war and they should want to go to war" that eventually leads to "here's your crappy deployment, it's necessary because we're at war, you volunteered for this when you took your oath, blah blah blah service before self." Plus, who can blame the students for thinking ahead to the airlines when their IPs, their role models for what it means to be military aviators, are openly discussing airline hiring, how they got abused in their operational units, and can't wait to hit their commitment to punch? Edit to add: I will concede that I don't consider it a no-breaker to FAIP to build time for the airlines, at least for what I wanted to accomplish with my military service.

Subcontract immigration and deportation management to the Qataris - problem solved

Let's not forget that the pilot crisis (according to the AF) started when fighter guys started quitting after being away from home at rates barely approaching what MAF guys were at a decade ago. And many of them are quitting during the most trigger happy period in the last 15 years. To go to the airlines. If a patriotic group of guys and gals are looking to go be FAIPs or regular UPT IPs to strengthen airline resumes, that's a critique on our foreign policy and military leadership, not on their devotion to service.

Except I know a ton of fighter guys who jumped at white jets to make a better life for their family. Bottom line is that people are motivated by different things. If the AF was smart they would try to leverage what motivates people instead of trying to fit everyone into a standard mold of what they THINK should motivate people.

No, it’s already being done daily. Using the military in a law enforcement capacity to arrest and detain would be an issue, but using them to provide assets and manpower in an assisting fashion under understood memorandums of cooperation is permitted. We’ve got guard units down their routinely providing support mostly in the form of things like UAS.

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

Do you have the option? I don't know the details of who is eligible to opt out. Anyways, here is something you need to consider - things change. Some day you may not want to do this job anymore, regardless of how you feel about it now (pre-UPT?). That's a difficult concept to wrap your mind around, but just trust me. As you get older, your priorities change too and maybe you'll decide to leave the military for some reason (i.e. Family) even if you enjoy it still. That being said, BRS is a great option if you want flexibility. I don't know the math because I'm over 15 years in but, if I was a new guy, I would totally jump on BRS so I had options instead of opting for the traditional all or nothing retirement.

"Jul. 4 1989 was a hell of an Independence Day for the 32nd TFS (Tactical Fighter Squadron) “Wolfhounds”, a unit of the USAFE based at Soesterberg AB (Air Base), in Netherlands. In fact when Captains J.D. “JD” Martin and Bill “Turf” Murphy were scrambled with their F-15C Eagle fighter jets, they could not imagine that their mission was to intercept a very strange MiG." With audio from the F-15s https://theaviationist.com/2012/10/03/mig23-belgium/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Belgian_MiG-23_crash

1. Not sure if all adjoining urban areas are fenced, if not then they should be to the standard of the San Diego Fence & Security System. Pushing them into rough terrain may not stop all but you don't have to score 100% on a test to have a good score / passing grade. Pushing illegals crossers into open desert / rough terrain will deter, drive back some and impede those that attempt. Aggressive patrols that apprehend and assist will get the majority of attempts, some will slip thru but it will turn into a manageable trickle. 2. Military Patrols will add more coverage (boots, air and electronic surveillance), deter TNCOs with some military equivalent capabilities and equipment and use our military to actually defend in daily operations our borders, not someone else's. If anything, it increases military readiness as we will daily perform missions to ensure our sovereignty and security. Our military exists to not just deter aggression and win conflicts abroad but primarily at home, just because we have not had to do this using military forces in a while doesn't mean we should not now, it is that bad in some places on the SW border. 3. Immediate return to country of origin or processing station to relieve pressure on local detention facilities, could be expensive but so are F-35s, which one on a daily basis would do more to maintain sovereignty, deter and remove threats to the USA? 4. No argument that E-Verify needs investment and effort to implement but I reject the argument that criminal illegal aliens (committing ID theft and fraud) trying to fool this system and that sometimes they will be successful in their criminal activity is a reason to give up. Also, it is not a victimless crime, if I cheated on my taxes I doubt anyone on this forum we be ok with that, why is it ok for illegal aliens to commit a financial crime but not for citizens to? US Attorneys may not want to but they work for the US Attorney General and if he makes it a priority with the intention to make some examples, it will have a deterrent effect. Give someone a 10 year sentence with the news widely broadcast in multiple languages and in foreign press, word will get around the US is not screwing around anymore. 5. Disagree. This is military readiness and our primary mission to secure the homeland, we do it in a variety of ways and this is one of them. 6. Not nativism, just sovereignty. I keep coming back to that concept as it is the basis of freedom actually, we control our lands, laws and destiny not others. If we can't or won't we are not a free nation anymore but just Marty McFly to the Biffs of the world doing their homework. It is different than 1907 for several reasons: - The magnet of the welfare state. - The culture of 1907 did not tolerate the divisiveness of grievance culture, the antagonization of identity politics and the false accusations of racial & ethnic bigotry towards immigrants as they are legally being allowed and supported in immigration to the USA. - The pernicious and subversive actions of somewhat hostile foreign governments in exporting populations to the USA, encouraging non-assimilation but political activism for benefit of their mother country, essentially setting up a remittance and advocacy colony in our nation that will divide and destroy our politics for years to come. - The immigrants of 1907 were closely culturally aligned with the existing native population, ergo it was possible (although not easy) to assimilate relatively large numbers of them in a reasonable time. You can assimilate people from very, very different cultures but only in far smaller numbers and over a longer period of time versus people that are culturally similar that will more readily fit in. This is not racism it is just realism. I think you overestimate the benefits that are touted and I think are false for tolerating a class of people who work for subsistence wages, in aggregate it is a wash at best and likely a minor net loss when you factor the amount of social services they consume as they make little money and you underestimate the net social and cultural cost of having an unstable poor population that are used and abused by wealthier native peoples for financial gain. Besides, what does that say about a nation that tolerates that? There is no moral argument persuasive to me that thinks it is ok, moral, good or acceptable to allow worker exploitation because it provides my nation with cheaper goods/services while simultaneously decreasing the wage bargaining power of the lower & working classes of my own nation. It is immoral. The cost I argue is too high to pay, it immorally exploits the illegal immigrants, it exploits the poor and working class of this nation, it allows the corrupt and apathetic ruling classes of immigrant exporting nations to not address the systemic problems with their nations, cultures and economies by exporting the people that eventually would get sick and tired of being sick and tired and it leads to the erosion of our nation. It's an all of the above situation, illegal crossers at the border and visa overstayers are the problem Agree with you 100% on the rejection of jus soli citizenship, it is without need nor rationale in the modern era.

Great post. But it’s obvious heavy guys and fighter guys think differently. And that’s fine, I like the idea that those guys are so driven to kill bad guys. Makes me sleep well at night and I appreciate it. While I’m in I’ll enjoy my support roll flying cargo and contributing however I can.

Securing America’s Borders: The Role of the Military (CRS Report for Congress/R41286); https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R41286.pdf

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Who cares? If you joined to build time for the airlines, more power to you. Just do your job while you're in, and be the best military aviator you can be until it's time to punch, whether it's 10 years, 20 years, or more. As for wanting to stay in AETC to dodge deployments, I don't really see a line for people looking to volunteer for deployments. Maybe if there weren't so many worthless deployments out there, people wouldn't try so hard to avoid deployments. For every dude that tries to hide it in AETC, there's probably a dude that would rather stay out in an ops assignment. That's a win-win-win: the AF keeps 2 guys on the books filling positions that need to be filled, and each guy is happy with their assignment. And maybe, just maybe, if they're happy with what they are doing, maybe they'll stay in past their commitment, improving retention. Letting each of those guys do what they want is better than forcing the guy who wants to stay in ops to AETC and vice versa. But no, let's go with one size fits all for everyone's careers, and everyone should have the same goals and desires as me, and those that don't aren't mission hackers. Because that's worked so well in the past.

So this applies for any location... When you are in full time status (seasoning or any other orders past that) you will get pay(basic and flight) + BAH + BAS + COLA (i was told HI has COLA). That is a good chunk of change to live on. When you are in part time status (doing the weekend a month + required currency training) you will not get BAH or BAS or COLA. So, when you are in part time status def get a job lined up. As far as living on base... if you can get into living on base (pretty hard if you do not have a family) ALL of your BAH will be used to pay for the on base housing. Plus, I think that you would have to move off base if/when your full time orders are done. Pretty sure there is nobody living on base in part time status...but i could be wrong.

I honestly don't give 2 shits if Trump builds the wall. The Dems call him racist if he does, and they call him weak (and his supporters gullible) if he doesn't... His tough stance on immigration alone has made the number of attempted illegal crossing plummet. ICE also seems happy that they aren't being thrown under the bus every time they attempt to do their job and enforce the law. And you can tell its pissing off the hardliner lefties because every day I have to read a story about how every visa over stayer that is getting kicked out is a Nobel peace prize candidate who does 100 hours of community service a week with 5 kids who are getting into ivy league schools, and who would probably cure cancer and eliminate world hunger before bringing peace to the middle east if it wasn't for the fact that now their family is being broken up because that pesky visa has just barely expired 20 years ago.

Quite contrary. I appreciate the amount of work that most FAIPs put into the pilot production process. That being said, I have no respect for people who would FAIP for the sole reason of trying to pad an airline resume. Simply a matter of opinion, and mine is that the AF has a combat requirement to fulfill. Cheers.

1. AFAIK we already have fences/walls/rivers in every urban area. The unfenced areas tend to be incredibly rough, desolate terrain. If a fifty mile walk through the Chihuahuan Desert doesn't deter a border crossing, a small fence probably isn't going to, either. 2. What are military patrols going to accomplish that 20,000 sworn Border Patrol agents aren't doing already? Illegal border crossings are at a 50 year low as it is. Seems like a good way to degrade military readiness. 3. Expedited how? And, sure, that makes sense, but seems extremely expensive. 4. We sort of already have this with E-verify (varies state to state), but absent a massive increase in enforcement apparatus you aren't going to see much of a change. All E-verify did was ensure that illegal immigrants got a fake identity before going to work. It's going to take a rare US Attorney who wants to waste his time proving that an employer knew his employees weren't legal. 5. Seems expensive, and again, you're hurting military readiness to accomplish a law enforcement goal. 6. Just seems like nativism. We allowed about the same number of legal immigrants in last year as we did in 1907, when the population was less than a third what it is now. And somehow we managed to assimilate them. Reducing legal immigration is just about the one surefire way to increase illegal immigration. Basically, most of the things you mentioned might reduce illegal immigration somewhat, but at a huge cost. What's the point? Illegal immigrants only come here because people want to hire them. If you want drastically more expensive housing and food, and pay for it with higher taxes to boot, go for it, I guess.

Not sure what the hype is, there is already a program for enlisted to become pilots: it’s called OTS...

Your problem is that you're not doing ACSC at work where it should be done.

There's a much easier solution to this: 1. Turn off computer 2. Crack open beer 3. Turn on Final Four 4. ??? 5. Profit

Had the same problem last week on my gonk. I went here - https://militarycac.com/dodcerts.htm and downloaded/installed the certificates. It's worked fine since.

Sucks to hear that Trogdor. At least on my little corner of the AF boondoggle we are actively working to reduce regulatory guidance smartly to let more people “do that pilot shit.” We will either be kings or crucified. Only time will tell.

and the true goals of "gun control" finally reveal themselves from the shadows

Strictly my opinion, but if you FAIP with the intention of being marketable to airline...fvck you. I know we are trying to generate pilots, but we’re not trying to make airline pilots. I’m with the other AFSOC brains here...go out and cut your teeth while the war is still hot. After you’ve seen you fair share of shit and combat has lost luster, take your white jet tour. As an aside, I have to seriously question the word of a guy who says that his FAIP tour developed a greater sense of airmanship than a combat deployment to Afghanistan in a barrel-roll capable King Air.