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T-Pain, I'm not arguing with you one bit. Please understand I'm not pontificating and stating you must have the job satisfaction I did. My career was exceptional... and unique.. and I spent a lot of mental time planning through various things to make it go my way. No doubt I was fortunate in things I couldn't control. Even my U-2 cohorts will tell you I had a charmed career. Had things gone for me like they went for some other people on here, I'm sure I would have separated or retired before my 28 years. I remember sitting in front of the Alconbury MPF (CBPO for you old guys) when my UPT commitment ended and the bonus was offered. "Get out or stay in?" I sat in my car with the engine running for about 30 minutes questioning the decision. In the end, I went in and signed up for 6 more years (or whatever it was). Glad I did. Here's the bottom line. My overly-long post yesterday was simply aimed at Joe's statement: "it's pretty f*cked up to turn down a massive improvement in income and quality of life to drag your family from base to base, suffering through deployments and taking a massive paycut just because you want to wear a bag and go fast." That rubs me the wrong way. Big time. I've heard this sentiment from others, and I've heard it often: that my selfishness and unwillingness to leave the military has caused my family pain and suffering, and a reduction in their quality of life. I'd be a rich airline Captain, had I separated at the 6 year point, right? And my lack of seeing the big picture financially has prevented my family from being wealthier. And my time away from home negatively affected my kids... as opposed to the 18 months I was Executive Director and when I was home, I was in my office working from 1900-2300 most nights, and unable to do stuff on the weekends. There's more to QOL than meets the eye. I really don't think that's what Joe's message really was intended to be... but that's what I hear when I read people that post "you're crazy and doing a disservice to your family if you stay in 1 day past your commitment". I've had U-2 guys seek my advice, and in some cases I've told them they should leave the AF at the end of their current commitment. If I was in their shoes, I'd certainly do it. And had I gotten the fighter I wanted out of UPT, I doubt I would have lasted beyond my 6 year commitment. It turns out the U-2 Program was the perfect fit for me. I only left because they threw me out. I do not begrudge anyone that leaves when they are done. They gave 6, 8, 10 years of their life to the country, and deserve every ounce of my respect. But don't tell me I'm fucked up because I decided to stay for 28.

My dad was a pilot but my Mom thought we would butt heads if he taught me to fly so she arranged for a close family friend who was a senior Pilot at Delta to be my first instructor. The guy was a legend who did many incredible things in his life and wrote books about his adventures )sailed a six foot boat across the Atlantic by himself.) I really looked up to him until the day after I soloed. I was in his hangar on his private flying ranch when he pulled me aside and said "you needed to get that military flying thing out of my system and get a real job." He went as far as to show me his paystub which was incomprehensible money to a kid in 1986. I was kind of taken aback, when I looked around the guy had several planes, cars motorcycle and boats, he obviously had a lot of money but he did not value military service. Oddly I ran into his years later when my hometown made a big deal about getting some medals in Afghanistan, he was all smiles and handshakes, "you done good kid!" I never looked at him the same. As for Huggy, how about as a dedicated American who served his country he also taught his children about service, sacrifice, and something more than the almighty dollar. As a senior officer I routinely met with folks who decided to get out. I never required a meeting if someone dropped their papers, most of the meetings were requested by folks I had mentored and decided to get out or through chance interactions. My first statement was ALWAYS "thank you for your service, what can I do to help with your next chapter." As Huggy noted, giving any period of your life to military service buys my everlasting gratitude, you have done more than 99% of the population and I am honored to shake your hand if it was 2 years or 28. In my humble opinion, Huggy is a fucking hero and though we are not close friends, I dare say his family has done just fine, in spite of his 28 years of service.

Although I encourage my mil friends to come over to the airline side every chance I get, I will not criticize them for deciding to stay in. I have a few good friends who are truly on the good guys’ side that are in their prime to make the jump to the airlines. And yet, despite the increase in pay and quality of life they have decided to stay. I had lunch with one of these guys a while back and he told me that he felt that he had a responsibility to stick around in order to provide the same mentorship to the young guys that he had experienced years ago. My hat is off to the guys who make that decision despite the continued sacrifice and the state of the USAF today. These men and women have far more patience than I do. Of course I’ve made sure they know that I will walk their resumes and rec letters into HR The moment they decide they’ve had enough.

Seems pretty excessive to me, especially given the light punishments that accompany actual wrong-doing so often. The message is clear - fuck up all you want, but don't embarrass the Air Force in public.

FWIW the 118th OG is a flying unit all day every day and twice on Sundays Negative ghostrider. 16 years of service and a PA/customs & courtesies fuck-up means you should be shown the door? Crashing airplanes negligently, getting others injured/killed, losing your weapon, etc. will all get you stars on your shoulder from what I've seen (no shit), but something like this means you get the boot no questions asked? I agree with pawnman above - this is an ass-chewing punishment, not a lose-your-retirement punishment. I know the internet outrage machine is turned up to 11 and it's a nice neat narrative that, "Haha, look at those POGs in the ANG with their fucking sock puppets!" and I cringed and face-palmed too, especially because this was right down the street from where our guys are sitting and taking the fight to the enemy, but zoom out a little bit and realize we've all made mistakes that would probably severely embarrass the Air Force. Luckily for most of us there weren't any cameras around.

Saw on Facebook that the LtCol BSC board that met with the ‘09 Maj LAF Board has been split off and sent to the SecDef without the 09 Major results. Sorry guys, I think I broke the Majors board...

Anyone looking to game the system should do themselves and anyone looking to leave the military for airline flying a favor and forget trying that bullshit. You are literally screwing all your buddies down the line because the airline that you (perhaps legally) are taking advantage of is going to look at every potential mil new hire through the brown colored water that you just shit in. Additionally, mil guys already on the property who are doing their best to do things ethically are going to get caught up in the ball of dung that you just insisted on starting downhill. As if all of that isn’t enough, do not underestimate the fact that there are varying levels of animosity festering amongst your non mil co-workers. Don’t be the guy that confirms their suspicion that it’s your fault they’re sitting reserve over their kid’s birthday while you’re off doing whatever it is you do.

While it is true that a precedent has been set over the past couple of decades regarding the President’s near limitless power to get us into conflicts, does that precedent make it ok? It seems that many people are opposed to this idea only when the “other” party holds the executive. Some of us have been opposed to this idea for the last three administrations.

Wow, lay off the MSNBC bro it’s getting to your head.

You know, Joe, the "military life" isn't for everyone. You're certainly not the only one that has made a similar statement/post, and it is certainly not my goal to poke you in the eye. I simply have a different outlook I'd like to share. While you consider my decision to stay in "fucked up", I certainly didn't, and I "wore the bag" for 28 years. It's a "service to the country". There's sacrifice involved. And my family got to be a part of that experience. No, my kids didn't get much of a vote. The career decision was mine to make. You're right: I could have improved my "income" had I separated at the end of my 6-year UPT commitment, but more money wasn't my goal. As for "improved quality of life"... that's a personal matter. Serving as a USAF pilot was my dream... and I was living my dream. The satisfaction I had in doing my service was my "good QOL". And my kids relish their time living on base. They were very happy times. I signed up to serve. And when I got married, she agreed to it too. Oh yeah... she was a military brat who never stayed anywhere more than 3 years while growing up. I guess the lifestyle rubbed off on my oldest kid, who is now a Lieutenant, and commissioned despite outsiders saying it was a stupid decision, based on civilian career potential due to graduating from a prestigious private university. Said Lt is apparently fucked up like dad. As for me, I could have been an civilian engineer like my dad, who had a PhD. I went to 4 different high schools in 4 years. Is that fucked up QOL in your book, and is my dad to blame? I meet people now that say "my oldest is in 7th grade, so we need to stay h ere until he graduates". Really? Well, ok. If that's what they need, then so be it. To me, it seems odd when they only reason is that "they are established in football" or "with their friends". But I respect it. They know their family's needs better than anyone (hopefully). Having spent 18 months as the Executive Director of a very interesting civilian group after I retired, I can tell you the experience was worse than being on active duty in many respects. The AF isn't the only organization doing things terribly wrong and inefficient. If you want the money, and hate the QOL, then don't join the military. And if you make that realization while you're in, get out at your earliest opportunity. Many of my friends did just that. But in my case... as bad as things had become in the AF by the time I left in 2014... I still looked forward to going to work every day.

I see this topic come up as "thread creep" in other threads, and figured I'd start a thread. A nice photo of an RV was recently posted. I figure there is a good brain-trust around here with the RV-line of aircraft, and others. I met a Captain building an RV-14. Sounds like the ultimate RV to me. Really interested in learning more. Do any of you have experience with one yet? https://www.vansaircraft.com/public/rv14.htm

While I agree with just about everything else you said, this is a hard no. USERRA has no such requirement and no one should be expected to do this. From the USERRA website:

Agreed. Maybe when the most common O-6 story about the good old days isn't about how SF used to let them drive drunk after a night at the O Club, they can start kicking people out for stupid judgement lapses.

Sarah Connor?

The Air Force doesn't want to lose their most prIzed exec, DUCK! Taking desperate measures to undo what has been done

Not sure what you consider a blue falcon. But if he’s still wearing a uniform and making those contemptuous and unprofessional statements then his blatant disregard for the UCMJ makes him an even bigger hypocrite than I thought. Not trying to expose the man, just trying to gauge my opinion of him.

No--Azimuth was being sarcastic and by doing so suggesting the Sean Hannity does not provide credible commentary (which I don't disagree). Yet, Azimuth never calls out commentary on CNN, MSNBC, CBS, etc as also not being credible. Hence I am once again pointing out the blatant bias and hypocrisy on Azimuth's part.

Agree to disagree. There is a big difference between trike to destabilize his rule and strikes to reduce his ability to deliver chemical weapons. Even the strikes by Trump were limited to chemical weapons productions and storage. The entrenchment by the Russians since Obama walked away made it very difficult to strike the actual delivery mechanisms without harming Russian citizens. I presume the three sites that were hit last week were there when Obama was POTUS. It is often difficult to predict outcomes in the great game, but I personally believe the application of military power to enforce the declared red line would have limited the future employment of chemical weapons, the message sent more than empowered Aasad. Perhaps they would have increased barrel bomb attacks as a result, but we will never know, nor will a lot of dead women and children.

Last beer + 12 hrs = take-off time.

Nope. His cyber awareness training expired and the jet locked his account at a very inopportune moment.

My first airplane was a Glasair; kind of a cheaper RV. Not nearly the solid community as the RV folks - it's damn near a cult over there. :) When I go back to Delta, I'm going to use the time I'm not doing green dot, OPRs, MICP, MICT, form 8's, gradesheets, leave approvals, IRC, MEO, GOVCC, CBRNE and all the other excellent ancillary USAF stuff to build a plane. One thing I learned quick about owning an experimental - if you didn't build it yourself you will get sick of people asking you "did you build it?" really quick. I've got my eye on an F-1 Rocket to build...

Because Raptor will become self aware, travel back in time and try to kill your mom.

The entire situation is of course a chocolate mess. Do we intervene in every situation around the world, most would agree no. Are we seen as world leaders and do our actions send a message, most would agree yes. I believe if Obama had thumped them when they crossed supposed Red Line and previously used WMD, the calculus for Aasad would have been different this time. I could be wrong. All of that being said, it is exceptionally difficult to see women and children being hit with chemical weapons.

I guess I'm saying not all players in this game have been consistent in their advice, Paul Ryan included. Both of us seem to be a little more consistent in calling for action in both cases (2013 and 2018). I also appreciate folks, like Helo above, who are consistent in opposition. The typical political hypocrisy bothers me more than either consistent position, with allowances for situations being different over time. And that being said, I don't totally disagree with Ryan's advice in 2013...limited strikes that show basically "this is the best we can do" that ultimately don't provide a deterrent aren't necessarily worthwhile and can even be harmful in that they demonstrate the limits of our political will compared to actors like Assad that are clearly willing to go all the way in order to stay in power.

When I was the Chief Pilot at my unit I briefed my guys I would back them up 100% on MLOA disputes with their airlines UNLESS they were gaming the system over the holidays, then I would side with the airline. You are screwing over the buddy who has to fly the Xmas trip and you are screwing over the buddies in the unit who may be trying to get hired by that airline. Fly your damn Xmas trip.

Goose does not approve

So.....you're asking (for your friend) if it's ok to be full time active duty military (which is what an AGR is doing), without any intention of stopping full time military service, while starting employment at an airline under the auspices of going to work for them by taking some of your leave, only to leave the airline once your seniority number is secured? All by using USERRA protections to screw the company without ever leaving or intending to leave full time active duty service in the military? How on God's green earth does someone think this could possibly be OK?

Lost in all of this is just how corrupt and partisan the FBI has become. The FBI just released the IG report on McCabe and it states he lied to numerous senior officials, he lied under oath to BENEFIT HIMSELF, and he was the source of a leak during the election. Comey's book excerpts are flowing and I could care less about the insults and hand size drama, but he admits he the following: He failed to tell Trump he knew Hillary paid for the Dossier, he decided to release the late breaking info on Hillary only after he noted she was ahead in the pools, and he released potentially classified information through a friend to drive the appointment of a special prosecutor. Bottomline, love or hate Trump, the top two "Leaders" of the FBI leaked information. Sickening.

Good. I hope they boot her ass out as well.