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Agreed. You mean I get the privilege of sitting in this tin can with no leg room for an extra twenty minutes? Gee, thanks. The biggest perk is that the registration is free, and renewing it is $5 instead of the standard $80~ish. You better believe I'm willing to display an Air Medal to save $75.

Jeez, of all the things to bitch about, this is pretty low on the list... It doesn't bother me that someone with three months of service is leaving San Antonio and getting to board ahead of the boatload of retirees who did 20+ years any more than it does someone in uniform going to the head of the line during one of my rare visits to the commissary. Those perks were offered to us when we were in uniform, and it was our choice whether to use them or not. Nor do the free tags bother me, and you see a ton of them here in "Military City USA" (as S.A. likes to proclaim itself). If the state wants to offer free tags to certain individuals, that's their decision. At least the recipients did something to earn the perk, unlike many other government benefits. However, I will agree on the overhead bin issue. I am getting sick and tired of being told I need to stuff my small backback under the seat in front of me because some buffoon who is bringing half of what they own onto the plane needs to stick their obviously over-the-limit sized roller bag into it because they also need to jam their backpack under their seat. Tough shit, if the airline isn't going to enforce their own rules I am not going to reduce the meager legroom I am already getting because someone can't check their shit like the rest of us! When people thank me for my service, I just smile and thank them back. They are trying to be nice and I sure as hell am not going to piss in their Wheaties for it. Only a complete jackass would do so. Such gestures are getting less and less common in our society these days, so if someone feels compelled to show a little appreciate towards a servicemember than I for one will be grateful to them. Cheers! M2

I had returned from my 365 a year before and was in a pretty good assignment when I decided to sign the 5 year bonus. The next year the 20 YAS bonus was offered to MAF pilots and they allowed my year group to sign the longer bonus. Since I had decided to stay to 20 anyway I decided to go ahead and add the four more years of bonus payments. The AF didn’t have to allow my group to take the added bonus. I was pleasantly surprised when they offered it. I’ve had a good career except for the year of my life wasted in Afghanistan. I’ve flown in every assignment. Not a school select. Made O-5. Of course, all my friends are flying for airlines now and I’d also like to be done with military service but I’m getting close and am most likely in my final assignment. Flying is good. I’ll have to suck up a Group or Wing staff job soon, but such is life. I took the path of least resistance staying in and signing the bonus. I didn’t want to start a job search and grow up quite yet. It worked for me. The AF is dumb sometimes, but usually it’s not as bad as the board makes it seem. I’ve paid my dues TDY and deployed like all of you, but my life has also gotten better as time has gone on. I understand everyone is different and has different experiences though. And that’s fine.

I can see it making out of the Wing. It is the staff/managers between WG/CCs and the CSAF that will shut it down.

The medal plate free registration only applies to one vehicle. I've got 2 cars with medal plates. When I found out that I would no longer have to park in the hail storm bullseye DFW employee parking lot, ride the employee bus, and endure the pain in the ass 20 minute ride to or from the terminal squashed in a mass of humans with questionable hygiene habits during our tremendously enjoyable summer heat waves and I could utilize covered parking at the terminal for free, HELL YES I got a medal plate.

Nah, I think it’s definitely a Spec Ops Fighter Pilot thing. Can we even talk about that here?

Guys, the military “hero” / “thank you for your service” / “veteran” culture has jumped the shark. At the airport today waiting to board, and the Delta gate agent announces “anyone w a active duty military ID can now preboard”. Damn near 25 people made their way up to the gate...including a brand new 2LT RPA pipeline student wearing his flight suit (very tacky). Now it’s not these individuals fault they took advantage of Delta offering them early boarding. But as military members we need to think of what that’s doing to the general public’s perception of its military. If I’m a first class passenger I’m going to be slightly annoyed that some 19 year old dressed in cutoff jeans and a tank top is boarding before me just because they’re holding an active duty ID card. thats certainly not endeering me to any of those young 20 something year old airmen. Again, not a shot at the airmen, but a call to reflect on how some of this has gotten out of hand. next example: in Texas anyone with a qualifying military medal gets that medal displayed on their license plate along with other perks (I think free parking fees some places, along with other smaller perks). now fellas you’d think after parking on Randolph AFB you were in the god damn Medal of Honor parking lot with the amount of “meritiorious service medal” (super lame), “expeditionary war on terrorism medal” (lame), “air medal” (not as lame) and other frivolous displays of military “heroism”. I’ve never seen so much bling on cars! Honestly it’s a bit off-putting. Again not a shot at those who have these plates...More of an argument at the state of Texas for allowing it. What happened to serving honorably with humility and quiet professionalism? Why is there a need for military members to have a medal saying “look at my meritorious service?” I know a lot of us on here are annoyed when random people come up and thank us “for our service”. These license plates don’t do anything to stop that from happening. They are helping promote a hero culture for all veterans which is harmful to our profession in the long run. We’ve already identified there’s a growing civilian/military gap. Having all of these perks is nice for sure, but I’d argue it’s doing nothing to close that gap. Having civilians awe at your meritorious service medal (to them they don’t know it’s lame, they just see an award) shows how out of touch the avg American is with its military. Silver star or higher? Hell yeah put that on there that’s legit but that leads me to my next thought... Not everyone who serves is a hero. Quite the opposite. Most of us are simply doing our jobs, quite well no doubt. But there are really few heroes. If everyone’s a hero then no one really is. few military members deserve the amont of recognition that the American public is showering all of us with. Deep down we all know this...am I really a hero for doing 20 missions in afg at FL260 in the ISR orbit, not getting shot at,playing angry birds on my iPad? Hell no. Eddie Rickenbacker left WWI as a major, but used the rank of captain for the rest of his life cause that’s what he felt he earned. I really hope we can return to that level of humility. My grandfather fought in Italy as a tank gunner in WWII and had a finger blown off (no big deal). While in England recovering, his tank, along with his friends, was obliterated. When he came home from war he didn’t slap a Purple Heart on his license plate. He didn’t get thanked for his service or board airplanes first. He didn’t even talk about the crazy shit he did or saw. He simply thought that he did his duty along with millions of other Americans. That type of thinking was common. Now Yes I know a lot of this over the top military hero culture has come from how poorly America treated her Vietnam vets. I’m certainly not arguing to return to those days... and I wish those dudes didn’t have to endure that pain coming home. But there’s a healthy middle ground, and right now we’re not standing on it. Thank you...for reading.

You sure about that?

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what we call a unicorn...

Friend of mine made the front page of Breitbart. https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/05/12/former-navy-seal-waterboarding-sleep-deprivation-box-confinement-just-another-day-office/

I think white jets are certainly possible, safe, and reasonable for you. There’s a RPA guy who just graduated UPT, IFF, and going f22s. Current PIT student dude who just left MQ-9s doing fine (he was prior MWS though and never 18x) anythings possible especially when big blue is getting more desperate. I’d keep pressing to test. Hell they just sent a lot of casual 18x LTs direct to start UPT next month instead of RPA pipeline.

That's all fair...Right now, it seems like the Air Force needs every single pilot they have. I guess my honest question would be do the standards at PIT let unsafe IPs graduate and go teach at UPT? I know FAIPs are really current in their airframe, but they don't exactly have a wealth of judgement, decision making, or instructional skills when they show up to PIT in general. FYSA, there have been at least 2 dudes in my situation that went on to teach T-6s and did really well (they were around the 4-5 year mark). With that being said, I appreciate your frank answer. I'm really motivated to do this, so I'm going to press until the doors are all shut. If that happens, flying Guard units will likely be the next endeavor.

Reminder - next weekend is drill in New Orleans (May 18-20). We'll be sending out invites for UPT interviews after next weekend. Interviews will be held over drill weekend in June (8-10). Good luck and we'll see you in NOLA.

Mixed feelings: I agree it's unseemly. I also usually take advantage of early boarding for the overhead bin space reason. I think it's downright weird when the gate agent specifies "military in uniform," because IMO you've got to be dumb (begging for that lone wolf ISIS sympathizer's attention) or attention whoring to be traveling in uniform. (I understand the other branches might require you to travel in uniform on official travel. If so, those branches are dumb or attention whoring.) And I think the airlines do it for the same reason the NFL pays for patriotic symbolism—making us their damn mascots. I have no sympathy for the feelings of that first class passenger since I often pay for first class upgrades myself or get them for "free" with a mileage program, and I'm usually the only one traveling in a blue blazer and slacks while everyone else in first class is in sweat pants. At least in the armpits of America we base our bombers in, first class does not directly correlate to "the respectable bourgeoisie," rather it's "more of the unwashed masses, only with more money." The airlines brought this on all of us when they made air travel a Hobbesian state of nature—a war of every man against every man—by nickel and diming us over luggage rather than a pleasant experience one looks forward to. I'd prefer it if the airlines got rid of the early boarding thing altogether, but as long as I live at least one connection away from the rest of the world, and as long as my checked bags only have a 0.9 Probability of Arrival, I'm going to take a carry-on with the essentials and I'll do what it takes not to have to put it where my feet go. Completely agree on the license plates. I imagine for most veterans there's an inverse correlation between the degree to which a decoration was earned for legitimate heroism and their eagerness to put it out there for public display.

YMMV. They wouldn't give me a ticket for Jolly 51 since I "wasn't on the list". I'm a member of the unit. We then worked it up to a manager and they finally tried to get me on and of course all their seats were taken. Ended up paying $1200 out of pocket for a one day funeral trip (wouldn't have missed it for the world to say bye to my brothers). I just bring this up because I feel like these airlines do this for marketing or to say they are somehow charitable but haven't met anyone who has actually successfully done it.

Exactly. I wish airlines would charge for overhead bins and make a checked bag free. Some of these carry ons are insane. I agree with the point of the OP. But I also do not mind my 10% off at Lowe’s. It’s a cognitive dissonance I live with.

Why are people in such a hurry to board a plane with assigned seats? Turns out you sit in the same spot whether you’re the first one or the last one to walk down the jet bridge. Now SWA is a different story...

Fund raiser for the families. https://www.gofundme.com/munizspousesforrican68 Shirt fundraiser through 9-Line https://www.ninelineapparel.com/shop-apparel/mens-t-shirt-156th-air-wing/

Someone just posted to TPN that JetBlue is giving out free airfare to military members wanting to travel to PR for the service.

“Allah has the airplane” - scariest moments for a T6 or T38 IP..!

I had a crew chief run out last week to taxi us wearing one of those inflatable dinasour costumes, myself and the crew about lost it, it was hilarious, good for morale, I was deeply sadden about .69 seconds after I saw him and the second thought in my head was “my god, please don’t let anything bad happen happen on this flight and the tapes get pulled” with this puppet incident in the back of my head. The AF has done a fine job of making us to afraid to have fun.

Without seeing the charge sheet, and from what was reported, he sounds fucked. The rape/sex assault charges will walk him into a court martial, however military justice uses Lesser Included Offenses (LIO’s) a lot. That’s where another charge, that’s not originally charged, is found to be considered by the panel or judge, but cause the terminal element of the LIO is in the original charge. Example: Government charged him with rape (Art 120). A terminal element of rape is to use force or fear. Panel or jury find he wasn’t guilty of rape because of lack of force or fear, but that he did physically assault her, so now they find him guilty of Assault Consummated by a Battery (Art 128). His odds of going to prison are extremely high due to the charged crimes. And they’ll throw in all the catch all’s like Conduct Unbecoming (Art 133). If he’s sentenced to a dismissal, that’s the officer version of a diahonorable discharge. If he isn’t sentenced to a dismissal, he’ll go to a Board if Inquiry a few months later and the Government will use his court martial conviction, as trivial as Conduct Unbecoming, against him to have him separated. If he’s over 20-years, he’ll only be allowed to retire if SECAF approves it, and it probably wouldn’t be at the O-6 rank. The military justice system has ruined a lot of lives because of the politics. And if you don’t think this kind of stuff will never happen to you, all it takes is one false allegation.

I have no idea what the modern USAF does, but my last assignment in 1992-1994 was as ALO at Fort Hood. I was an EF-111 EWO. If enlisted guys who have never sat in a cockpit can do just fine controlling CAS, there's no reason a nav can't. I volunteered because this was my last assignment before retiring and I wanted my kids to be able spend all four years in the same high school in Austin. I commuted 50 miles each way every day. The only physical requirement back then was the ability to fog a mirror. It wasn't a happy end to an otherwise fun career.