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These are my problems to solve but I’m not empowered to solve? I’m responsible for outcomes without being given the authority to implement solutions? If you consider the amount of time, money and effort we spend educating General Officers, it’s truly astounding to hear them utter this kind of crap. One good thing though— at least they’re showing you the way this works now, at SOS, while you’re young. “I micro-manage, hoard authority, stick to the status quo, secretly reduce your strat for thinking out of the box, and blame you for screw ups only I was actually empowered to fix” will be a commander you work for in the USAF. So recognize the broken organization for what it is, and make your life choices accordingly. It’s good to show the young the absurdity of what awaits them higher up.

not a whole lot evidently

Probably fucked up an ELP...flying canceled, UPT will be all sims until further notice. Also, might as well skip IFF while we’re at it.

“Here stand against the wall and hold this piece of paper...”

Nothing like posing for a pic in the aftermath. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Are your's not all updated yet? Thankfully at RND ours are... and apparently just in time. Sounds like a perfect example of why flying with your mask down due to OBOGs should not be an acceptable "fix", had their masks been down they both would have some serious scar face going on likely now.

"Captain Hill chose to raise his hand and show up to the United States Air Force. When he did that there’s an expectation that he follow those core values and I think of it as this box of core values; the integrity, service and the excellence. He stepped into that box and he cannot step outside of that box without punishment." STS

welp this is awkward

There's no shortcuts dude! Also, learning itself is not a stressful activity. If there is anything I have learned so far it is that your IPs will always rise to the challenge of inducing stress and push you to your edges. You are only raising the bar by trying to skip ahead. Getting your hands on gouge and pubs ahead of time (the 11-248 or whatever it is they use these days) is probably time well spent but nothing you can do in the civilian world flying wise will approximate the structure of a military training program. Maybe hire an instructor that likes to yell at students and tell him to beat you with a stick every time you are off parameters? That might get you pretty close.

DLF when @HuggyU2 was there:

NSFW for topic

Another baseops guy asked me to share my experience/knowledge of the Career Skills Program. If you're looking to get out early and get setup as you transition to the civilian world the CSP is definitely a great alternative to Palace Chase and a lot less bureaucracy. Once you have a date of separation in the system you can apply for the CSP but at a minimum you have to apply 30 days prior to when you want to start. You can do the CSP for up to 180 days. You will work for a civilian company as an unpaid intern (some other unpaid options available too) while getting all your normal pay and benefits from the AF. Basically you're on PTDY to anywhere you want (and your CC will approve) in the country. The paperwork is an easy paper checklist and an AFVEC e-application. Approval authority is with your CC so you don't have to sell it to big blue or deal with a ton of red tape. Big thing is you need to show that it could lead to a job after the military and that there will be accountability for you while you're gone. The internship can be with any company you can sell yourself to, but your ed office should have a list of some big companies with internships. I established a separation date, requested expedited early separation orders (easy through vMPF) for TMO so I could get my family moved back to FL, and greased the skids to do the CSP with my CC. Fam left Cannon mid-Jun and I followed at the end of Jun. I asked for 7 weeks of CSP to do an internship with Marty at Trident. I did most of my out-processing before leaving for the CSP PTDY then went back to Cannon for 2 days to final out (you can't final out until terminal starts if you're just doing a regular separation) then rolled onto terminal. I got my family settled, got hired by an airline (used my terminal start date for availability so I got a call pretty early), got my reserve IMA gig all setup and smoothly transitioned into a permanent paid position at Trident doing loans for fellow pilots and military guys all while doing the CSP. It was awesome and I'm really thankful to my CC for allowing me the opportunity to do it. The DoD calls it the SkillBridge and the website is https://dodskillbridge.com/. I know a couple other guys who have done the CSP and everyone says the same thing. It doesn't matter if you want to go airlines or business. A ton of airline guys have side gigs and Marty always recommends pilots always have multiple streams of income because you never know what's going to happen with your medical or the economy. The CSP is a great opportunity to learn about a industry you're interested in and setup your family for the transition at the same time. Attached is AFPC's PSD on how to make it happen. The education office and your CC will be your first stop once you have an idea of what you want to do. If you're heading to the FL Panhandle and want to learn the mortgage business let me know and I'll put a plug into Marty for you. I'm sure Marty and Tim would love to have some other good guys join the team. Feel free to hit me up with questions. Cheers! Jon jk@mythl.com 850-377-1114 Career Skills Program PSD Guide (30 Aug 18) V2.4.pdf

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/09/18/t-6-air-force-trainer-crashes-in-texas/

I just waited over a year for a TFCS waiver in the Guard 😂 Granted, I am over even the new 8 year limit, but still...good to know Big Blue at least recognizes how f-ed up this process is. Glad to see less bureaucracy and more blanket approvals for things that make sense. IMHO anyone with enough commissioned service time to meet the ADSC for whatever wings they’re trying to earn should be allowed to proceed without needing waivers or anything. The AF doesn’t know they have you beyond that point anyways. Example: Capt Snuffy, prior AMB with 9 years, going to UPT. Still has plenty of time to serve out a full 10 year ADSC before hitting the TFCS limit of 28 years unless you make O6. RPA/CSO/AMB are only 6 year AFSCs, so the aperture is even wider. What percentage of these waivers are ever denied? If we do all this sick dance to just rubber stamp everyone because we’re dying for aviators...can we just eliminate the dick dancing part??

Awesome Info!

Went up to Wright Pat for FCI, and all went well with eyes! Then came the dreaded depth perception test. Ended up failing that first try. The Optometrist put me in glasses and I passed with those on. He said I would just need to wear glasses when I flew! Showed up to UPT for physical (yes, you’ll do all of this again during in-processing) was good with eyes and last was again the depth perception test. Tried it without glasses and sure as shit I passed. Glasses went away and haven’t touched them since. I wouldn’t sweat it! As long as you’re correctable to 20/20 you shouldn’t have anything to worry about! Fun fact: the answer is never 1 or 5....

“The ancient Oracle said that I was the wisest of all the Greeks. It is because I alone, of all the Greeks, know that I know nothing.” - Socrates

IRS Rules: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/rollovers-of-after-tax-contributions-in-retirement-plans Good explanation: https://www.madfientist.com/after-tax-contributions/ Another article: https://www.kiplinger.com/article/retirement/T037-C000-S004-new-path-to-a-tax-free-roth-conversion.html Pressed-to-test last year. The first week of Jan 2018 I called up Fidelity (manages my civ employer's 401k) and rolled out my after-tax contributions in two checks, my contributions and the growth. Growth gets deposited into a traditional IRA, my contributions deposited into my Roth IRA, which I had also maxed the previous year. Now all future growth of those after-tax contributions happens tax-free inside the Roth, effectively allowing me to contribute more than the normal $5,500 Roth IRA limit. Note that your employer's plan must include the ability to make after-tax 401k contributions, and not all do. My employer only added that feature recently when we switched to Fidelity. Also note that you should absolutely take advantage of the full tax advantages allowed to you, i.e. take $18.5k in normal pre-tax 401k contributions, then do additional via after-tax as you can afford it. This year for instance, I hit my $18.5k limit for pre-tax 401k contributions in July, so from Aug-Dec I'll make after-tax contributions, and next Jan I will roll all those Aug-Dec after-tax contributions into my Roth IRA and any growth into a traditional IRA just like I did last year. All my IRAs are with Vanguard and I highly recommend them for low-cost indexing and ease of use. These tricks do no apply, IMHO, if you have any debt besides a mortgage, nor if you're not already maxing your Roth IRA (and your spouse's if you have one) AND are hitting the normal $18.5k pre-tax or Roth 401k limit already. The argument can be made to do this if you have low interest rate debt like some student loans or auto loans and your investments return higher than the interest rates on that debt, but to me, behavioral psychology points to taking the easy, guaranteed win of paying off debt and giving yourself more safety cushion in terms of cash flow, which you can then decide to invest when your debts are paid. YMMV. If the above paragraph is all taken care of, proceed past "Go" and collect financial independence. Good luck! Start early too...I'm not that old and I still wish someone had taught me this stuff on day one of my career because time is your best friend when it comes to compounding.

I thought it was no drinking within 50 feet of the aircraft and no smoking 12 hours before flight. You know, because hypoxia.

While I like magazines laden with scantily clad women, if there was a publication to convince my wife to smoke a doobie and chill the f*** out once in awhile, I'd approve of that, too.

or how about this... its against the fucking UCMJ. boom. roasted. i think i could fly just fine on one single beer and it wouldn't affect my military competency at all. and i could drink it in my personal life at my own house. but its against the rules bro.

That mall is associated with the ST-IN groundtrack, if my recollection of T-6 PIT is still halfway right.

But when your personal life involves banging your professional life at work when explicitly told not too, there is a bit of an issue.

Do one or two flights and enjoy flying then spend the rest of the money on having a good time, you'll need those memories to remind you that the rest of the world is fun when you're stuck in Enid or Del Rio for UPT or longer

Wonder if this will speed up the seat cartridge fixes, glad they're okay

$hit, even if we decided on the TX now, we'll be Generals by the time it gets approved...then it'll be someone elses problem to do the testing, so yea I guess it is up to us to approve them!

100% sarcasm derived from the other thread.

Juice/squeeze = negligible. The vast majority of UPT students walk into IFS/UPT with very little or no experience. Some of the best students I had were CFIIs, but they paid for hundreds of hours of training and then were getting paid to teach others; it's not something you do on your own without a significant financial investment. A couple of the worst students I had were also CFIIs, who had a slew of bad habits and a shitty attitude. Be a bro, study hard, and let the AF pay you for all the training you need.

Get real sick, run out of all leave, lose health insurance after a grace period. Have fun. Dont be an ART

Pilot Board for Tulsa Vipers in November 2018! Attached is eligibility and requirements for the board. Visits are welcome! Good luck! UPT Board Nov 2018.pdf

I don't know anything about the pilot-physician program beyond it's existence, but I am fairly confident it will not help you get a fighter - that's still merit-based in UPT on AD. The best "guarantee" for a fighter is getting hired by an ARC unit that flies fighters. The AD, regardless of job type, is generally the antithesis of stability. Your alternative of part time ARC pilot and civ doc will likely be far more stable than anything AD will offer. Additionally, if you go pilot physician on AD, my bet is you do not get to "see the world" (at least any good parts); that's such a specialized position that I'm guessing there are only a few spots at very specific locations. Pilot physicians are not a normal position at any "standard" flying base. Additionally I'd look heavily into the program and what it entails long term - do you stay on a relatively normal flying track or do you do one assignment and then off to Walter Reed for you? Bottom line is the last time I heard of a pilot physician in the Viper world, it was 10 years ago and they had done one assignment as a pilot/flight doc, then went onto some medical-only assignment. Do your research, it may not be exactly what you want long term. There is pretty much no limit to what you can possibly do in the world with ARC vs. AD. There are ARC personnel working green door projects, at DARPA, doing 3 year assignments in Europe, working at AOCs, flying test, shooting ISIS in the face, fucking up travel vouchers, and torturing dental patients. The ARC "one weekend a month/2 weeks a year" is not the baseline these days for a lot of people...if you want to do more than that (and you have to has a pilot), there are limitless opportunities.

Im CONUS to CONUS, out & back to PIT in the spring. From talking to my functional he suggested OCONUS would equal tdy enroute, otherwise expect O&B. Having been a MDS FTU instructor and program manager my guess is it’s not as much to do about the ability to flex RNLT dates (paperwork drill) but rather if someone doesn’t complete training for any reason - medical, performance, etc. O&B they can easily return you to your previous base, enroute is a much more complicated problem

If we are going for efficiency, there might be some ideas in what you are sarcastically saying. I think the USAF spends a ton of time and money doing things the way it was done 40 years ago because we fear change. I know this happens in UPT because I was a student when the first T-6’s came on line. “Can you believe we are training in single engine props!” Said the old T-37 mafia. “There are gonna be pilots who never fly a jet in their career!” I was one of the last IFF classes to drop bombs off the AT-38. “Can you believe these new students won’t crank mils manually and have a HUD in the T-38C doing all the work...what a bunch of SNAPs.” At FTU we were all going to get lost and be lazy because we had EGI instead of a drifting INS and nobody knew how to do a delta update and our standby reticle bombing was horrible. One step away from communism. In my ops squadron wingman were going to kill themselves if we let them use their targeting pod the same time as FL. I was a T-38 IP when the magical fix to fix went away....all the students were going to wash out of follow-on courses because of that one. Back to the CAF....gotta print out maps like we did 20 yrs ago, can’t trust those new avionics with satellite imagery built in. HMCS and datalink was making us all soft. If we had unlimited resources, teach SFO’s to your hearts content. We don’t so we have to prioritize. You can’t cut it all because we need talent discriminators but once a kid tracks...well a heavy pilot probably doesn’t need a acro and a fighter guy doesn’t need as much crew communication work. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

I called the folks at AFPC and he said they were asked by Air Staff to slide the deadline to the right to hopefully give some extra time for additional applicants to submit packages. My takeaway from that is the air force need pilots (gasp) and hopefully they are ready to make it rain pilot slots.

Deny, deny, counter-accuse, deny. This works in any situation whether it be your ROTC CC asking about booze in your room, or your wife asking why you have glitter on your face and smell like vanilla.

Also, 97k a year for an FO is realistic once you're off probation. Check the pay on a 2nd year united FO flying a 747. United also has 399 retirements this year.

@hindsight2020 Me being in the Army Reserve for 3 years now - All I heard was that the Air Force indeed has the hottest women. And agree that hot chicks in an infantry squad or special ops squad will somewhat jeopardize the mission. Not because the chick in question in unable to carry out the mission; but because the dudes are "worried" about the safety of that chick during the mission. Agree, personal life should be kept personal. That banging should happen out side of work in a hotel room, not in and around work area. But you know there's always these people that get a kick out of doing these things where they are not supposed to do it. That's the adrenaline in them giving them a high. Of course they have to suffer the consequences if they get caught. @BashiChuni and @LookieRookie For downvoting what I said, please note I did mention that "As long as their personal relationships are not affecting their military competency" And obviously they are not competent if they are "banging your professional life at work when explicitly told not too"

I like this discussion. I feel like love and sexual relationships are a personal issue. Serving in the military is a professional thing. It is unfair to punish someone for their actions in their personal life. Just because people are married doesn't mean they love each other. Not all men can stay in love with one woman for the rest of their life. As long as their personal relationships are not affecting their military competency, I think military personnel should not be punished. But what do I know?