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What I hear is a focus on numbers, not quality. I think Goldfein was about to get there, but was cut off. All of us should be concerned about the quality of the fighting force. We're too small to sacrifice having the sharpest sword. Right now we are hemorrhaging all our experience due to retention. We can fix the production, but all those kids are going to have to relearn knowledge that resided in the experienced pilots who got forced out by QOL. Some of those kids will die needlessly. In fact, it's already happening (reference multiple crashes in SW Asia). I am a good IP. I want to stay and make a difference. I would happily sit in an FTU and teach if I didn't have the constant threat of a 365. I refuse to give the big blue the reigns and sign up for more if they refuse to respect the talent that they have. If the only thing keeping me in (in the face of that 365 threat) is money, I'm out. Simply. Remove the 1500/750 hour requirement, and I think you'll simply see more young pilots who only got one ops tour punch ASAP. Retention will only get worse. All the talk about the airlines and production being the root causes belies the fact that the USAF "leaders" have given up on keeping quality pilots because the solutions are too hard (from a staff perspective) to implement. That comes from a staff who has drawn the same conclusion. The system promotes it's own, and the men and women in those staffs got there by self promoting. In short, they are not a part of the pool of individuals fearful of 365's and family hardship because they have already placed career above everything else...that's how they got where they are. So clearly it's the airline's fault, because that's a metric they can measure and fix WAY easier vs telling CENTCOM to sod off about having a 365 Chief of Wing Exercises. They're taking the easiest road instead of fixing the root cause: Senior leadership from O-6 and above are disconnected from the line executors of the main mission of the USAF. P.S. Go to any airline hiring site and dig in, you'll find that they have hundreds if not thousands of QUALIFIED candidates that are not getting called or are being rejected at the interview because the airlines cannot afford to sacrifice on quality. I don't see that changing, even if the 1500 hour rule gets rescinded, especially as the USAF continues to produce quality pilots for them. Congrats USAF, you want to make the crowd in Delta's waiting room bigger by adding younger civilian dudes. Well done. USAF experienced pilots will still often jump ahead. High quality experience counts.

Like Jesus said, “Let he who has not engaged in a hot ménage with 2 enlisted babes cast the first stone.”

If there are no fighter pilots then there is nobody to rescue and no need for RW pilots. It’s a win-win from the AFs perspective.

Nope, the standards are extremely high across the board. Flying any military aircraft is a privilege and honor reserved for only the most qualified (and Duck too I suppose). I’m afraid the “hopeful” kid has a lot of self improvement to do in order to be considered.

For those with an AMEX Platinum or thinking about getting one, here’s another not so well known benefit. In addition to getting automatic Hilton Gold Elite Status, the card also gives you SPG Gold Status. SPG was bought out by Marriott recently and Marriott is matching your SPG status, so add Marriott Gold Status to the list. All you have to do is link the two rewards accounts and the status transfers in a couple days! Also, annual fee is still being waived for AD.

The club parking lot after the Single Airman dinner invite hits the flying squadron incontainers.....

I'm confused. Why would you not work when you're getting paid to work?

Over 6,900 hours in the C-130. Nice.

Man, they're still attacking that 1,500 hour requirement. In 2012 I was a first year regional guy and my base pay was $19,000 ($21/hr). At the same airline, it's now $37,000 ($41/hr) + $17,500 if you stay a year (somewhat pro-rated if you leave early). If nothing else this rule has forced the regionals to pay a basic living wage. This is a good thing...let's hope the military is not successful in killing this requirement.

I don't think anyone has updated this thread about the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. They changed the policy and are waiving the annual fee now. Pretty good deal for us AD bubbas.

That story was right before the parable of the “inop sarcasm detector”. Believe it is located in the gospel of John (Boyd) 6:9.

Know several guys who have the platinum, seems to be the best amex out there. I convinced them to waive my delta reserve card fee as a technician, so don't want to push my luck with a new high-fee card, but I will once I'm on a longer set of orders at some point.

Lucky you, it'll be tax free. Do you have any experience running Wing Exercises? Al Udeid is waiting. Funny how they're sourcing the 365s and the Major's list just happens to come out as those sourcing emails are being sent.

*picks up his active duty stone*

Your call brotha. I helped out kiloalpha. I’m a pretty big deal in the ANG community. I’ve got tons of huge connections.

If you have a PPL they send you to the “special” course. It’s much easier and you get Friday’s off. That’s the only reason I know of.

In this scenario, the fraternization, not the publicity of the video would be the punishable offense. It's the Guard. From what I've seen, nothing in the Guard is considered "fraternization".

Maybe shortsighted. Maybe not. I can agree with everything else you said and I only recommend Guard (and only Guard) to pilot hopefuls. I just think that we would all call someone stupid if they were cracking eggs over a frying pan while we were expecting them to be preparing pizza. Let’s face it. These are thoughtful, well-educated individuals. They are not stupid. But, it has become clear that they simply don’t have the same end-game or goals in mind. They’re making an omelette. No matter how much we want pizza (my number has always been 76k to match airline pay), they aren’t doing it. Not because they are stupid. It’s an emotional move to underestimate the other team’s intelligence. Not that you called them stupid directly, but it’s been happening a lot. I’ve come to accept that they’ve determined that they don’t need us as much as we think. They have determined that their actions will result in a solution that is good enough. And they’ve determined they don’t need us. It is apparent that they think enough will stay from what they have planned. Seeing as they have plans to shut the flood gates by lobbying to rescind the 1500/750 hour rule and increase pilot training in 50 different ways from Sunday I’ve personally concluded that they’ve found it more attainable to solve the Airline shortage, which they see as the root cause of our shortage... and that will be good enough. It’s a shrewd move. They’re going to end the airline hiring spree, flanking us on the left while we’re all looking right and telling them they suck. Plus, not all my pilot friends can apparently do math or care about being deployed 200+ days a year then coming home to queep... or single. I can’t call the AF shortsighted pertaining to this newest leadership team just yet. I think they have cards up their sleeve we don’t see. It would behoove us to each worry about our own smartest move and less about theirs... walking with our feet instead of stomping around in fits. Insulting their intelligence insinuates that they don’t understand what they are doing. But they do. They’re not dumb. They know what they are doing. They just don’t care about the same things you do and they may just have a different end-game in mind. And when you walk with your feet, don’t assume they will care. You’ve got to do it for you... not to stick it to the man. They will thank you for your service, but they will never care. That’s OK. They’re not stupid. They’ve got plans. Make sure you do too, in or out. It’s like a bad breakup. We don’t want to be the crazy ex. It’s not flattering. Let’s just move on.

Linky? LOL

I thought we clarified that it would be wepons free on @BQZip01‘s mom.

MX is asking for a pilot to go get it, otherwise it's an OPS CNX for the morning go.

Hilarious, because it's true!

Conditionally approved yesterday. 11m asking 5 months 13 days off, submitted for the second time in February. Gotta find a job in 60 days.

Well, your world. Good to know there are perfect people out there like you, sure you must be proud.