Leaderboard

Late response but my .02 from an MC-130 baby/MC-130J pilot: TL/DR: Flying the MC-130J involves a varied mission set that many folks find awesome. It comes at a cost with regard to the drawbacks of the potential bases and their respective commitments. AFSOC is a demanding command and you will work hard/get good enough to progress or find yourself doing something else. It will be both an amazing time for families/an awful time and those can be in the same day. Change is constant, both socially and in the airframe and units. I've enjoyed it, many haven't. 1. Ops Tempo/Deployment Dwell average: 50% not just true deployments but with TDYs for training, JCETS/JCS ex, MLATS, aircraft moves/mods, WIC support etc your head will be on a homestation pillow half the time (overseas replace deployments with 2-3 week TDYs). This doesn't really let up because advancement means more schools, mission commands, and ground deployments. Deployments can change based on time of year/involvement of the overseas units but expect 3-4 months gone for flying (including transit time) and 6 month ground. QOL deployed is solid with good connectivity and flying ranges from SOF trash hauling to more specialized mission sets. True super secret squirrel things can happen, but don't sign your life away in the hopes you will be the one crew that did the one cool thing if that's all you want to do. 2. Lifestyle/ Family Stability There's a social group for every stage of life but not cliquey. Young single guys can live it up and family dudes can throttle back or jump in to the fray. The crew is 5 and generally you end up with them and a few stragglers as you travel. If you want to be a dirty tac airlifted you can, if you want to observe and not drink, that's cool to. If you stay home and read the Bible, you'll still be welcome in the crew bus the next day. Es and Os have great working, flying, and unit relationships. Opportunities for leave vary greatly depending on time of year but there are times when you will miss time off. We are trying hard not to lose use/lose leave, but dudes do as well. Single guys do get looked at the most for opportune trips/pop up taskings as well as being the ones who hold the fort during holidays. Leadership as a whole attempts to accommodate life and responds to your desires when able. Needs of the AF and AFSOC will sometimes outweigh this but talent management and assignments are pretty well tailored to the individual. Not many toxic leaders, but they exist and some flourish. You will miss holidays, birthdays, sporting events. Planning more than two weeks out is hard. Change is constant. If you pull your weight you'll work 50 hour weeks. This includes a 12 or two of flying once or twice a week and holding down undermanned office jobs. I'd love to say the spouses are tight and rank doesn't impact their relationships but that doesn't seem to be the case as a group. However, on the individual level the wives seem to feel comfortable making friendships without regard, even if cliques do exist. MC folks (male and female) have high divorce rates. Not sure how it compares to the AF as a whole or what factors influence it, but marriages take plenty of hits. Every base I've seen geographically separated spouses/kids. Employing spouses at every base is tough, especially specialists/professional jobs. Medical support for families varies, EFMP folks should look at other airframes. 3. Community morale Ebbs and flows. Units are generally tight, with the overseas units usually leading the charge with strong organizational identity and camaraderie. The 17th is the smallest but may get a bit more strained as they grow. MCJ enterprise has an identity issue. Especially as the ACJ comes online saying that you're a "J guy" won't mean much. Symbols, unit identifications, and even the aircraft's name keep changing. None of this helps. Still guys take a lot of pride in what they do and we stay on the positive side of morale to excellent (especially when away from the office). 4. Advancements & Future of the airframe The MC-130J is here to stay. Mods keep happening faster than we can train crews. The airframe is new and even our oldest tails will outlive our careers. Tons of cool stuff coming online. No issues with career advancement within the MC-130. Schools on time, good ratio of leadership opportunities to organization size, staff jobs go to the right folks. Just be advised in high performing organizations like AFSOC the talent pool is larger with bigger fish than you may be used to and it does take a lot of work to be a shiny penny. If your goal is to fly another airframe good luck. Generally, don't expect to ever leave. Only the shiniest of pennies go to another aircraft for good reason or you have no future flying the MC-130 and are politely shown the door. 5. Preferred PCS locations (note: my best guess) 1. Mildenhall - 67 SOS 2. Kadena - 17 SOS 3. Hurlburt - Staff/Test/WIC (potential TF schoolhouse+ops unit) 4. Albuquerque - 415 - Schoolhouse Instructor 5. Cannon - 9 SOS (Potential Top Off Schoolhouse at - 551)

Were PRFs mandated for people with negative indicators? Maybe if we're short Majors and the Wing CC says a guy with some marks on his record is deserving of promotion to that grade anyway ... just give him the damn oak leaves.

Good Trump https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/22/health/federal-right-to-try-explainer/index.html I know the arguments against, but it's just noise.

Truth, we'll hire you Duck, captains are almost free to hire in the ANG.

CSO's don't go to UPT? Is this English.

Been there, done that and will never go back to Cannon. Was TDY/deployed half the time and still managed to put 20,000 miles on my car. And when the wind were from the east, the strong aroma of cows was ever present in the vault. Is there still a war zone south of 9th? And do they still have 10% of the town as registered gang members?

Then why the F did the AF give WG/CCs discretion? Maybe a WG/CC could be in a better place to analyze an individual with negative indicators and make a more informed decision about their potential to perform at the next rank. I ask again.... just why in hell did we get rid of PRFs if they are going to go though everyone’s records more thoroughly? Good hell, who is running this clown show?

Just throwing my .02 out here from the experience I have gone through, I agree with what brabus is saying but I also disagree. I am in a similar situation with my unit. They only hire from within and have only picked off the street one time in that past 10 years. I started college late at 20, enlisted at 21 with a 20k bonus with a year of college under my belt, went to BMT and crew chief tech school which were 8 months, so had to miss a year of school. Now graduating at 25 with equivalent of about year and a half of TIS being a DSG, great contacts, awards, back seat ride in the 16, gained a lot of respect for the enlisted side, and got to enjoy college while only having to give up one weekend a month. Enlisting did delay the process since I will be putting in my first application next month, but I wouldn't have changed a thing.

As goofy as the original Top Gun was, it was a great time to be going through UPT! I was at Columbus in the summer of 86 and after Top Gun premiered, a lot of young pretty faces started showing up at the local bars (both of them! "Good Times, Bonny and Clydes" remember them?). We milked that dumb movie for all it was worth with the ladies. They loved it, and we tried not to disappoint them!

I know there will be the inevitable “he said, she said” aspect of this. Regardless, is there any reason we should be trying to excuse a married O-6 Commander having any type of physical relationship with a SrA...

I've been in AFSOC and the MC-130 community for my entire career; AFSOC is only place in the AF I want to be; all the aircraft AFSOC owns have some awesome capabilities/mission sets and as with any community each has some drawbacks. MC-130s have an awesome mission and a great community; as the MC-130J starts to get spiral mod updates to bring it to/exceed the MC-130H standard things will only get better; caveat, as with anything AFSOC, you're going to be very busy. If AFSOC/MC-130s are what you're interested in keep pushing for them, but since you're young don't close your eyes to other communities/opportunities as you go through training. PM me if you have any detailed questions.

Let’s not get carried away now. The AF controls your destiny, you only think you do.

Oh wow, 2009-2011 good to see you again! Everything old is new again!