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Raise your hand if many of the days you drive into work, you dread the fact that your day will be littered with stupid unimportant bullshit that has no tangible meaning.

So a guy worth billions of dollars from a car company and a rocket company is putting some of his employees to work by building a mini sub to get a Thai soccer team out of a cave before they die. What are you doing with your time, besides posting on Baseops?

I just love this interview...this guy has future senator written all over him. Totally incapable of answering a simple question. Just an example: "AIRMAN MAGAZINE: When did the Air Force start noticing pilot manning issues in the fighter community?" Seems like a pretty simple question...when did you notice it? "BRIG. GEN. KOSCHESKI: The fighter pilot crisis manifested itself because when you only have single seat fighters, it becomes a cockpit training capacity issue quickly compared to larger aircraft with multi-seats, where you have an aircraft commander and a copilot. You have a little bit more flexibility to manage your pilot training. The crisis happened quickly in the fighters because of that very reason. But what we’re seeing is the same dynamics are in place for other career fields, and also because of the fighter pilot shortage, the mobility Air Force has been carrying some training shortfalls and pilot training to cover the shortage of fighter pilots. So, their effective manning has been hit and they’ve been doing more than their fair share, trying to help out while we heal the fighter pilot crisis." Okay...but WHEN DID YOU NOTICE THE ISSUES?? WHEN, not HOW or WHY. WHEN. It is a time-based question, sir. The answer should have some kind of chronological reference, like "in 2008 when Gen Welsh was going around USAFE asking fighter pilots why they aren't staying in", or "last week when one of my staffers left Baseops.net open on his computer and I started reading."

I’ll chime in on this discussion since I have both the xds in .45 and 9mm. I’ll say this I’m not a big fan of the xde due to all the things M2 mentioned. After shooting both of my xds’s I like hem both. While the 9 is newer so it has the updated/fixed trigger on it it’s fine. The recoil is just fine for a small framed gun. The wife has no problem shooting it. I don’t have an issue putting multiple mags down range with the .45. Ive got the pinky extension on it finally and will be getting the 6 round mags to replace that soon. The recoil is a little snappy but it is controllable for sure. Now my wife didn’t like shooting the .45 but would if she had too. I’d look into either on of those for your wife for sure, esp if you can catch them on sale like I did with the 9mm.

Worked out great for Maj Nidal Hasan.

FTFY

I read that as Congress didn't want ABMs (13Bs) in Georgia. Which is understandable.

You have to pay back the unearned portion.

He should join the AF, he'd make GO in a heartbeat.

Elon Musk was going to save Puerto Rico by rebuilding their power grid. He absorbed Solar City which was in his family and on the verge of bankruptcy. Solar City is still in debt. What state is Puerto Rico's power grid in right now you ask? Regular civilians who have no training is trying to repair parts of the grid so their families can have power. This was another BS PR stunt by Musk. Professional divers are rescuing those football players without any help from Elon Musk period. A mini sub is useless in a complex cave structure where divers can hardly even fit oxygen tanks through for the children to utilize let alone themselves. Of which one former Thai Navy Seal has already perished attempting to assist. A little research on your part and listening to actual experts go a long way. Last thing you want is the man responsible for self driving cars who have run into 2 parked fire trucks, a parked police car, and a highway barrier in the past 4 months to say anything. Not the man I want trying to save children. This is the same man who thought he could build a car assembly line with robots performing most of the work and out manufacturer the top automakers. The Japanese wrote the book on efficient car manufacturing. Elon failed miserably by thinking he was smarter than everyone else and had to admit he was wrong. Guess it's okay to be wrong burning through billions of other people money. But churning out cars like in the 80s movie Gung Ho is definitely a car people should buy. I don't see Bill Gates trying to make headlines every week or lying to investors. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs never had to claim they were sleeping on a factory floor in order to resolve manufacturing problems. That's an illusion for Elon Musk micromanagement leadership style. I guess your plan is to put Ant-Man in Elon Musk mini sub? Brilliant.

I agree. Just because the guy running this experiment is legit doesn’t mean I’m naive enough to think the AF will learn the right lessons and make smart decisions. The organization is broken. Regardless, VR is becoming mature enough for incorporation into training syllabi.... but how to leverage its strengths and avoid weaknesses will take some study. Applications aren’t limited to pilot training either, at my last job we were using it to familiarize new guys with the layout of large ships & subs. There’s all kinds of interesting applications and I’m glad the AF is experimenting with it.

Tony Stark? I always thought Musk is closer to this guy: Still I'd rather have a piece of SpaceX than Tesla but it's still privately held at the moment.

What? Does anyone except for this guy actually think that's why there is a pilot retention issue? ACC and AMC/AFSOC are suffering a biblical exodus right now - this is the first I have heard that ACC's is more pronounced because they have single pilot airplanes and the others have copilots. Lord help us if he is the one trying to figure out the why...

Not the first time, nor likely the last, a caffeinated beverage has caused significant electronic systems damage to a military aircraft.

I truly thoroughly despise the TSA....nothing but a goon squad and jobs program.

That's great if you have easy access. Unless they're going to issue each student a VR contraption, I bet the ones who want to do well on the check ride they have tomorrow will still find themselves chairflying in front of a poster in their room the night before.

I guess we will see if VR will be the gateway to future wings when these students go to Kelly for the FTU. Right now, as mentioned before, the UPT product is definitely inferior to what it was just 4 years ago. Students are having a difficult time with the admin and Gs. Too much CrossFit and not enough beer and bacon is my guess for the G issues

Koscheski is a political General, thus the non answer that doesn’t even relate to reality. The better Q&A AIRMAN MAGAZINE: What would you tell pilots who may be thinking of leaving the Air Force? BRIG. GEN. KOSCHESKI: I think the Air Force gives Airmen a chance to live a meaningful life and you get to see tangible results of the work you do. It’s important. It matters. You don’t wake up in the Air Force and go to work and go, “I wonder if what I do today, if it matters or not?” In terms of quality of service, quality of life, I think we’ve also got a lot to offer, and folks see that and I also think pilots have seen the efforts that we’ve taken through retention, especially to try to improve things. We reduced some deployments, and we’re improving assignment processes. We’re trying to give stability to families, and they see that, and we have a lot of good faith going on right now across the force of people wanting to hang in there and stay Air Force, so they can live a life that matters, and they see that we’re trying to take care of them and make things better for them. Did you guys hear that? Big Blue will take care of you!

I’ve never strapped into one of these VR contraptions, but so far, my experience has been that nothing replaces your ass in the seat of a real airplane.

You carry the hopes and dreams of all endentured servants with you. Best of luck on the outside brother!

I don't have enough alcohol to do a buzz word drinking game here. "virtual reality, mixed reality, automated instruction capabilities" "matrixed organization" "production through integration" Can't they just say retention is a lost cause with the current economy, so we're going to produce our way out of the shortfall. We'll cut training to meet our quotas, cross our fingers and hope for the best.

Yeah, I was one of like 14 APZ guys passed over. It’s been busy around here doing TAPs and interviews for jobs, etc... Thanks for all the support throughout the years bros!

Throw in a TAMI22 and you about hit the nail on the head.

And then the fighter pipeline will be backed up, creating a BIT program so once 30% more officers hit the new PRFs required majors board there will only be a 60% selection rate. At about this time, leaps in unmanned airplane tech will require less pilots (projected) so mass RIFs and VSP rounds will take place. The AF will overcut though, and ask the same group to come back in a few years. Sum up the next 20 years?

They're the ones that try to load HAVE-QUICK II for you at red flag....

Was it N.O. Xplode? Because that would be ironic as hell.

Says the Nav who supports even more stricter gun control laws--welcome to that big government that you love so much!

When bananas are outlawed, only outlaws will have bananas.

Another shout out to Marty. I contacted Marty a few months ago about arranging a mortgage and while he could not do it for me in the state I live in he told me if I gave him a few hours he could recommend someone. Marty recommended a fantastic mortgage broker (Jodie at Carolina Equity in Apex, NC). Thank you for taking the time to recommend another broker, we just closed and it was a very smooth process working with Jodie and her team.

What's the big deal???