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I met Stuck Barbour back in 2006 at Reno, in Box 102 when he was in college, and we were friends since then. He relished coming out there every year, and was well loved by everyone. The Box owner decided to do up a theme for Stuck on this year's T-shirt. Check it out.

...about 5 years too late. That’s about when we started to hemorrhage our experience. We replaced almost all our IP/EPs with 1Lts. Great pilots, just not IP/EPs. Over half would have stayed if they could have been AGRs. Oh well, there’s no getting them back now.

You think this is new? It's not called "the Sport of Kings" because it's a new phenomenon. Has always happened, will always happen. Rules will never trump human nature.

Take a cab the 90 miles to Pensacola. Round trip. Make it more expensive and kill off the good idea fairy.

The single seat mentality coupled with tactical formation experience gives them a leg up on people who have lived in the crew world. We all know the gunship is fvcking beast and does great work, but the employment dynamic is polar opposite from the one or two person interaction in a small aircraft. Nothing will ever replace experience and the AFSOC flyers with CAS stink have an infinite advantage but there is also something to be said for young, moldable minds with a whole lot of commitment ahead as well. I think the best of both worlds would be a mid-level AFSOC AC/IP who knows CAS and has a T-38 background. All of the 11Fs I know in AFSOC have either separated completely or gone to reserve units in extremely small numbers. I’m not sure what it is like at other UPT bases, but the FAIPs here don’t seem jazzed about anything unless it has afterburners or a 30mm poking out the front. I am being selfish, but I would prefer the SOF LA program to be in a shitty geographic location. I think it would separate the people who think it’s a fun gig with a great NW FL view from those who love the CAS mission and are willing to homebase anywhere for it. I know the turboprop track is going to be a thing in the future, but I think you need a few of the LA planes or high-fidelity sims at the UPT base for screening and selection. I don’t believe a year in the T-6 will be sufficient to ID appropriate traits.

There ain’t many. That’s been one of my issues with this thing on AFSOC the whole time. The Bob’s at corporate are only interested in IFF graduates to fly it. Why? You aren’t going to be employing the thing in BFM. You aren’t going to be doing ACM. You are going to be sitting in the CAS wheel and doing strikes. If only there was some AFSOC aircraft with that skill set...

Option A. Quit before they kick you out. Drink beer and chase women. Graduate. Join the guard. Profit Option B. Quit before they kick you out. Drink beer and chase women. Graduate. Get required qualifications and get hired by a airline. Profit. Option C. Combine A and B.

It's part of the SUPT syllabus reduction (ENJJPT remains unchanged). ELPs are no longer on checkrides and are now more of a demo item.

I did exactly what Hoss said. Same exact situation (VPS vs. PNS). I don't remember the exact disparity in prices the RA was looking for, but bottom line took a car service there and back...cost the government $150 more in the end. The wasted time was worth it to see his reaction when he realized I had fucked the system, but there was nothing he could do as it was a legally reimbursable expense. I don't think such shenanigans happened again, at least that I'm aware of.

YGBSM. "The greatest Air Force in the world"... and we cannot manage to teach educated professional aviators this skill.

I did, but it was probably overkill -- based on the questions they asked, they didn't look beyond the summary page of my printed-out digital log.

Disclaimer: I have no idea how long a 11F syllabus is. Your average RPA pilot (18x) gets about 3 months of T-6 instrument SIMs and about 30 events (sims+”flights”) in a MQ-9 to be CMR. Keeping in mind that is basic transit procedures, basic ISR/CAS, and with the autopilot hold modes always on. No formation, no takeoff/landing, and not ever putting their ass on the line Take a average ish UPT grad or heavy cross flow dude and throw them in a LA program and I would say 30-40 flights and another 30 or so of SIMs would probably get you in the ball park. Assumption being they have a good basic pilot back ground, a CSO in the back running the sensors/mission set, and a expierenced Flight lead.

For my two unrequested cents, I think LA should (if it happens and is beyond a BPC building mission) keep the pre-requisites fairly wide and recruit from the whole of the AF flying community. The U-2 is a good model, different mission and a difficult plane to master with high level of expertise demanded, but repeating that model in LA would keep the net wide to gather talent and has a precedent for success. The aircraft (LA) is / would be inexpensive enough that a full syllabus teaching the attack mission set from basics to advanced could be accomplished, dudes would not have to come with previous experience to lessen the required flight/sim hours in an LA program, IMHO and very scientific bar napkin calculations. Keeping the door open for dudes who have the talent, developed skills, demonstrated ability in their first assignment but their time / scores at UPT didn't set them up for an Attack aircraft assignment right out of the chute seems reasonable. They would likely not be the majority of LA crew but methinks they could be a reasonable percentage without putting risk to a potential LA program in terms of training required to achieve required proficiency. Not familiar with the IFF syllabus but 30 missions at 1.5 hours each and guessing at $1500 per flight hour if the LA is ever bought is the AT-6 or A-29 comes to about $67,500 in flight hour cost, not sure what the expendables would come but guessing $10k per student seems reasonable. Other costs would come in also (range fees, contractor OPFOR support, travel costs for off-station missions, etc..) but I think you could probably train a crew for about $100-125K in a 30 to 35 mission syllabus with AT-6/A-29. Scorpion would be more but worth it... That cost is low enough that if you had someone from a non-tactical background and 30 to 35 flying missions is a lot training, seems to me (from an outsider's view) you should be able to accept a capable student and train to standards, regardless of background. Do you think, would 30 to 35 missions in an FTU syllabus cover Surface Attack, CAS, ISR focused missions, etc... to an acceptable degree for initial quals?

i haven't seen any commitment at all from big blue. rather i've seen cold feet and indecision. LA has a role to play in low intensity conflicts. and you're right 50 cal vs Dshk/ZPU wouldn't be fun...but that wont be the first option to destroy those targets (obviously). AFSOC 11F's are pretty much gone. 38 trained guys are becoming more scarce as well with no 38 trained students back filling them in greater numbers. no reason t-1 trained dudes couldnt get trained for this skill set. i think a t-6 light attack focused top off course would make a lot of sense.

CMSAF Enlisted Jesus did a AMA over on reddit - https://old.reddit.com/r/AirForce/comments/9ezg0x/im_cmsaf_wright_ask_me_anything/?author=CMSAF18KalethOWright

What skill from UPT T38s applies to SOF LA?

Isn't the Air Force trying to grow it's way out of a pilot shortage? No, don't get up. I'll show myself out...

That has some pretty amazing one liners in it. Alot of them 🙂

I have far less personal experience in Europe than many on this site, but in the time I've spent there on various TDYs talking to my counterparts, its loud and clear their system is not great. What di1630 is saying is on par with what my counterparts have said during those trips. One example was a Maj who was considering going to school (similar to us going to a civilian school for ACSC), but to even get a basic apartment was nearly unaffordable...on a Major's salary. Taking his family wasn't even in the equation, they would have to stay on their bum fuck island in the middle of nowhere - no other option was remotely affordable. Not a single pilot I talked to had much, if anything, to say in terms of, "Yeah that sucks, BUT let me tell you about all of the awesome things I get from my government for paying 69% in taxes!" There's a reason many of those dudes would love to take an opportunity to teach at ENJPPT or fly F-4s at Holloman. Seriously, Wichita Falls and Alamogordo are AMAZING opportunities they salivate over...if that doesn't tell you something, I can't help you. Bottom line, life in Scandinavia is not that great for most people. Yes they are proud of their country, history, etc. and don't love everything about America (makes sense), but pragmatically opportunity (including better QOL) is significantly greater in America than their home countries. To the school debate - I think it makes sense to divert tax money away from bullshit like Welfare and use it to send people to technical schools. I agree with others here, that is not socialism, and honestly makes sense. I don't think diverting money to pay for Joe Blow to go to UT, UCLA, etc. makes sense - I have a real problem with higher education costs/the product you get these days anyways. Up the technical school game - there are very good careers one can have going that route. For example, my neighbor is a master electrician and lives on par with me as a Maj...so my two degrees aren't doing much for me over his technical training (in terms of purchasing power). I don't care about that, just pointing out the ridiculous stigma that if you don't go to a 4 yr college, you'll be flipping burgers the rest of our life.

Unpopular opinion... But if you took the bonus and the accompanying ADSC, you knew what you were signing up for. I'd personally be all for forcing folks with an ADSC for the bonus to serve it the remainder, regardless of promotion results.

The same rate you would get it you stayed on base.

If the hot topic in the "What is right with the AF" thread is the GTC and DTS, we are proper fucked.

In the most Constitutionally-appropriate answer, likely referencing any Amendment between 4 and 6.