Leaderboard

My favorite part is we spend all our time on here complaining about piss-poor leadership. Then whenever leadership is removed for cause, there's always a brigade of people calling the guy who got removed "the best commander I ever worked for" and saying "it wasn't the commander, it was his subordinates". I wonder which leadership the board actually thinks deserves to be removed. Because if this is the kind of environment guys are cheering for...holy hell, what's left to remove someone that the salty aviators of BODN would actually agree with?

There isn't a shortage of volunteers as said before and before.

You write like you went to state school on a short bus...and I went to a state school.

Send a bunch of people OCONUS 6900 miles away who have homes they're trying to rebuild - classic AD move.

I'm a good candidate, cause I honestly couldn't give any less of a shit...

Here’s a non airline flying job to consider: https://www.calfirepilots.com. I Left AD three years ago for DynCorp Intl. which provides pilots to fly CALFIRE aircraft. Flew the OV-10A for 2 years then upgraded to the S-2T. Love it! Still fly single seat. Still fly tactical. Still helping out the guys on the ground. Absolutely no BS or queep of any kind. The Bobs should be hiring 10-12 folks soon. If you’re interested, go to the website, do what it says, and if you have ever flown an attack or multi-role jet, you’re hired. Some details: Right now, during the fire season, the schedule is 6 days on, 1 day off. That’s about to change to a 12 on 6 off (hence the 10-12 new guys). Enjoy all winter off. Expect to spend ~1 season in the OV-10 before starting Tanker training in the S-2T. Your fire season length is determined by where you are based: NorCal - 4-5 months, Central Ca - 6-7 months, SoCal 8 months to year round. you are paid by the day so how much you take home is determined by where you are based. My first year in the OV-10 in Central Ca grossed $136k. S-2T drivers make more. I’ll bring home and easy $200k this year on a SoCal contract. Base assignments are based on seniority. Typical day in the life - show up around 0930. Mass brief around ten. Free time while waiting for lunch around 12. Free time until cutoff (half hour before sunset) unless interrupted by a fire dispatch or two. Call Porterville Air Attack base if you’d like to chat. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OWm5mt5Qits

The callsign issue was a smaller part of something bigger. No one was fired over that one thing, if you read my previous posts there is more to the story which will be release after the UCMJ actions take place and the CDI results are released. I’m saying this because a lot of people keep focusing on the one issue thinking that way they were fired. It’s not. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Initiation fees, monthly mandatory safety meetings that make you ineligible to fly if you miss them, FCIF system, sign offs by chief instructors 3-7 days in advance for any plan that left the local area, annual instrument tests, etc. I looked into it at Offutt, and the bylaws were beyond stupid. It was like all the backwards of an operational squadron with the bonus of paying monthly dues and $120-150/hr for a plane. So yeah, most shut down, and I can understand why.

Yes because you have to get your own ATIS, which is super hard.

The problem is the AF is firing commanders for the wrong reasons. Something written on a flight room white board gets 4 guys fired. That is a huge overreaction, unless there’s more to the story. Meanwhile, the AF is riddled with “leaders” who screw their people over time and time again in an effort to push their own careers forward. Commanders aren’t fired for making their people miserable and for contributing to the AF’s retention problem. They are fired for not stopping some random dumbass from writing something stupid in some flight room. Why would I bet my career on the AF when it can be ruined for something like that?

I agree with Jice - pick the mission you want to do and don't look back. If I wasn't a fighter pilot, I'd fly helos - they're pretty badass. During the preceding 6 months to my last deployment and throughout the 7 months of my deployment the 60s had zero rescues. That's a good thing in the big picture, but I understand that can be frustrating for the bros. That said, they still flew missions and I had a blast hanging out with them and getting to work with them. They still took small arms fire, so it's not like you go to AFG and never get to do anything...you're still flying a 60 through crazy terrain and doing some shooting. In the end, you never know what the future holds...we could very easily be back to a large scale war where the Army cannot organically handle all of its CASEVAC/PR needs.

Job title weighed with performance in that job title, with a limit to the "score" based on the job... kind of like the Olympics, asst chief of squadron safety - highest possible score of 40 out of 100, Squadron commander highest possible score of 90, etc... when I look at people's record, strats were always secondary to job title (especially in a squadron of 50+ peers). Chief of Stan/Eval in a Sqd of 100 pilots, you probably rock... same yr group, everything else equal - asst secretary of mobility but you are CGO of the year - you probably don't rock as much.

I wish Ohio had wildfires.

I agree dude! Great job, cool mission, and good group of pilots. Not for everyone, but if you’re interested hit up 78 or myself. This probably isn’t the right fit for someone building spreadsheets comparing pay at different majors. When it gets busy it is hard work, rewarding, but demanding none the less. I’m hearing they may be resume sorting next week, so anyone SERIOUSLY interested get in touch ASAP. Need availability in early Spring ‘19. Tactical flying and some multi time are pluses, even better if turboprop. Shaft

For the CV-22, their ops tempo is very high. They’re great at certain things, not so much at others. Their SOF specific mission is very important, but it’s pretty different from the CAF 60’s. For the rescue side, there will be plenty of “sitting around waiting for the call”. I hope those dudes never have to do their jobs, but I will name my subsequent children after them if they after have to come pick me up. *Not a helo guy, just a big fan.

Their wives will totally not mind handling contractors and insurance claims while still taking care of the kids alone.

Money for MWR and WG/CC’s being willing to accept risk... even a little bit, is in short supply these days. We have one, but it’s cheaper to rent on the economy.

Bragging

As advertised. I am now on terminal leave and also got s job with a major airline. Stress level zero and never been so happy in my life. Yes, it trumps UPT, PCS, Adv flying training ADSCs. The only thing that you need to check is the GI bill transfer of benefits eligibility. This is all from memory so please check me on this. If you decline continuation but separate at the mandatory 6 month date, you can keep your transfer benefits even if you still owe time on the ADSC. If however you try and move it up you MAY lose the transfer.

I’ve never been to a naming where neither the CC nor DO were present. If both are unavailable, it gets rescheduled. There’s a reason for that...and it’s what we are talking about right now. Fail

Then again, that feedback may just consist of what the commander knows, i.e. the path that worked for them Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

I'm a little late replying to the original poster, but as a reservist (ANG and AFR) who is now collecting an active duty ("Regular") retirement and wasn't an AGR, I can shed some light on the process. It takes 7305 total active duty points to qualify for an active duty retirement. As such, at some point many years ago, I made it a point to take every day of active duty whenever possible, including MPA, RPA, ADSW, and some AGR tours. All of that counted towards my 20 years (including 4 years of active duty in the Army) as well as my time in UNT. I went over 20 years of active duty while on a long-term MPA tour while assigned as an AFRC Traditional Reservist. The hard part was the sanctuary waivers as you're required to have one for each tour when you exceed 16 years (I know sanctuary doesn't kick-in until 18, but AFRC wants them when over 16 years). Also problematic was 1095, which required a waiver and makes it difficult to do tour over 3 years. There are ways to get around 1095, but it's difficult. Once I exceeded the 20 years and ended my MPA tour, I went to being a traditional reservist again, and had to stay a few months longer to meet the timeline to transfer my GI Bill to my kids (I missed that in 2013 b/c I was in a "No pay, no points" situation for a bogus medical reason). In any event, I applied for an active duty retirement through vPCGR (or whatever it's called now) and retired late in 2017. In addition to having about 20 years and 6 months of actual "active duty" points, I was credited with another 25 months of service for my guard and reserve time (and any correspondence courses). It's called "1405 time" and I believe it references the section of law or the CFR that allows those non-AD points to be computed into your active duty retirement. So, in the end of it, I did about 30 years of total service, with 20 years 10 months of actual active duty and had another 800ish points added to that total to come up with my multiplier based on a total as if I had served for 23 years and 6 months on active duty (~58.75% or something close to that of my high 3). I did lose some of my guard and reserve points for the years in which i did a lot of active duty (i.e. I was an AGR for 3 years, so couldn't use those 45 membership points earned during those three years in which i was an AGR for the full 365 days). Also, all active duty retirements are based on a full month of service, meaning, I lost about another 22 points, b/c my total was something like 23 years, 6 months and 22 days of service. Needed to do another 8 points (active or reserve points) to get credit for another month and a higher multiplier (not much -- 0.21%). Also, my "high 3" was based on my last 3 years in the reserves, and NOT the last 3 years I was on active duty. If that had been the case my high 3 would've been based on the pay for 2015, 2016 and 2017 as that's when i was on active duty. I remained a traditional reservist for almost 7 months in 2017 and didn't do much if any active duty then. I was told my high 3 would be based on when I actually performed AD, but instead, it was computed using the 9 months I was in the reserves in 2017 (of which 7 were NOT on active duty) and then all of 2016, 2015 and 5 months from 2014. The point to this is, even if you can't get the AD retirement right away, don't think they're going to go back and use your AD from 3 or 4 years ago to compute your retirement. One last thing: I'm a GS employee with a non-DoD agency and I'd bought back 13 years of active service when i got hired in 2008. Once I retired my agency contacted me to tell me they were going to refund my deposit, b/c you cannot use the time twice if you're collecting an active duty retirement. Just keep that in mind if you're an Technician or ART. Without a doubt the AD retirement is much better than buying back the time (in my case), particularly with TRICARE. I don't plan on staying too long at my federal job, and having health insurance is a HUGE benefit in allowing me to do what I want going forward (and you only get it with the Fed Gov't as a civilian if you take an "immediate annuity" which can significantly reduce your pension depending on your age). Hope that helps -- it was a confusing process and there's a lot of misinformation out there.

Yes

nice straw man argument with yourself. continue with stuck mic it's entertaining me greatly you're right...about the extent of your knowledge is how you'd act in said situation. and it ends there.