Leaderboard

To piggy back on the well written post above........ In my opinion, there is a lot more to pilot retention than bumping up the pay check, QOL or additional duties. Those have always been issues and have forced a percentage of pilots out. Those basics need to happen and are actually pretty easy fixes if someone in senior leadership would grow a pair, acknowledge the obvious and fix it. 365s shouldn’t be a requirement like PME. But another important but possibly intangible issue is the struggle to maintain a culture of warriors in the USAF. What seems to be a new, added problem is the attempt to move USAF away from a force lead by the actual war fighters towards what looks more like a peacetime corporation. It’s been a slow leak over the last couple of decades. I have a lot to say about this but I'm finding it tough to put some of it into a sensible message. When I entered the ranks of USAF fighter pilots, it was 1989 and although we didn't know it yet, we had reached the pinnacle of a long journey toward an extremely lethal combat air force. As a Lt, I had no part in that. I simply benefited from being exposed to some of the most hard-charging, capable fighter pilots created during the post-Carter, Cold War, Reagan years of huge military expansion, boo-coo dollars and total focus on enhancing our capability to wage war from the air. As a result, we brought serious game to the first protracted combat ops in almost 2 decades when Desert Storm kicked off. It was a truly amazing thing to be a part of. Here's where I begin to struggle to put some concepts into words: I'll do my best. I had the honor of meeting and hearing a few hours of wisdom from George "Bud" Day during ROTC field training. Five years later, he presented me (and everyone in my UPT class) with our wings, drank whiskey with us and told us amazing stories at the O-club standing among us in his mess dress and Medal of Honor. I heard similar stories from F-4, B-52 and Thud Drivers, guys with gold stars on their flight suit sleeves (anyone remember those?), read books by Broughton, Basel, Risner, Drury and many more. I and my contemporaries soaked in every bit of warrior lore and attitude we could find and experience. It was evident that it was all important. None of us needed that explained to us. We came to realize that the traditions, attitudes and perpetuation of the fighting spirit that was born out of past air wars were absolutely necessary to becoming an effective Air Force combat pilot. The simple fact is that pilots who woke up every day to begin preparations for missions like daylight bomber or fighter raids on Germany, attacking the Paul Doumer bridge, going "downtown" to Hanoi or any number of other daily tests of testicular fortitude knew there was a high chance they wouldn't see the next sunrise or if they did it would be through prison bars. If it wasn't them, then it likely was someone else in their unit with whom they shared the experience of air combat. While I don't claim anything close to that, my small exposure to what it must have been like for them came on my third combat mission. I had "that feeling" based on experiences on my first two missions and strapped on my jet with a solid, tangible feeling that I wasn't coming back. I couldn't shake it, of course I went anyway and thankfully, I was wrong. You don't do that every day, strap on a fighter or bomber, lose friends, fly RESCAP over their smoking holes, come up initial in a 3-ship that left as four without coping mechanisms. Drinking in a readily accessible squadron bar might be the most obvious, sharing stories only another warrior could understand or appreciate, raunchy fighter pilot songs, running the gauntlet of hurled whiskey glasses in a wake to mourn a fallen comrade, burning pianos, and the list goes on. To outsiders they may seem strange, stupid or unnecessary, offensive antics by fraternity brothers who are still waiting to mature into adults. We didn't have to explain ourselves in the past, but that no longer appears to be the case. But those same PC, judgmental, clueless outsiders, politicians or leaders with a lower-case "L" have no idea what it takes to willingly take on a mission like that during sustained combat operations where we potentially lose people and aircraft daily. The pilots who do are long since retired and far more have left this world. My war in 1991 lasted about 6-weeks and losses in the air were in the double digits at most. Since then, we've had a few surges but nothing that rivals the experiences of our predecessors. But that doesn't mean their combat tested traditions should be forgotten or set aside as relics of the past. The fraternal bonds of combat are indescribable and something no one can appreciate second hand. They are also absolutely necessary for a fighting force to gain the required trust in each other and be truly effective in their mission. They also don't just happen out of thin air when a squadron suddenly finds themselves launching their first combat mission. As I alluded to at the start, it's difficult to put this into a cogent message. I don't know if I have but I have no doubt many of you fellow warriors, past and present, have a general idea of what I'm trying to say. Being an effective combat pilot isn't something you just start doing the day the balloon goes up and shit gets real. Combat pilots from the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's showed us how it was done, gave us traditions to perpetuate and those were carried by the next generation of pilots into the final two decades of the 20th century. I have no doubt that today's combat pilots are doing their best to follow in the footsteps of the warriors who came before them. However, doing so is not supposed to be a struggle with the very leadership you're charged with following. We should be embracing and continuing these traditions, not throwing them aside because of someone's BS sensibilities. I guess the bottom line is this: Being a warrior, an aggressive, professional, lethal killer is not a politically correct, peacetime, 9 to 5 job. It's highly specialized and the skill set necessary to excel at it requires an extraordinary amount of resources and effort, probably more so today than ever before. Pilots attempting to attain and maintain this excellence need to be able to focus the majority of their working hours on this task. We have been fighting this battle for at least 50 years and probably will continue to do so. What is new, however, is the fact that pilots now have to prove that they and their mission are, in fact, actually different from other officers and support personnel. That they are not interchangeable and in spite of how "unfair" it might be to some, not everyone in the USAF is an actual war-fighter. No excuses are necessary for this - it's simply reality. If that offends someone - too fucking bad. You want in on it, go to UPT or shut the F.U. and support the mission. We need warriors. They don't come about using an HR department, worrying about a PC culture or who is going to be offended by the process of creating highly trained, lethal killers. Rant over - 🤬

URT Select. Pilot 96 PCSM 92 1500+ flt hrs Prior Army helo pilot 35 yr old 1LT Kind of a kick in the junk as I was already a military pilot yet they still say I am too old...what was the purpose for even applying for an age waiver if they had no intention of selecting past 33, a waste of mine and my leaderships' time if you ask me. Oh well, enough venting, at least I'm back in aviation...sort of. Good luck to the rest who haven't found out yet and congrats to those that did. And to those that did not make it, remember, it could always be worse; take solace in knowing you did everything you could to try to get a slot, if you didn't, try harder and apply again! Don't let others dictate your career or dreams of flying.

As a suggestion.. use your GTC for booking and pick-up of a rental car because you fall under the governments negotiated insurance policy.. upon return, if no damage to the car, have them switch the payment over to your personal credit card so you can get the points. My friend only only uses his GTC for DTS airline travel and the above rental car scenario. 10 yrs, airlift guy, no issues

JeremiahWeed's post alluded to the harrowing combat flown by our brethren from past decades. I believe many of you will enjoy reading this WWII debrief from 1Lt Cherry.

I’m curious as to how you guys tackle the problem. Sq/RA is my third additional duty.. I think I’d advise to create a voucher, zero out all the per diem and entitlements, just pay as if it was a one-day trip. I think this functionality might already be present in DTS.

First off It’s much easier to start off flying fighters and then switch to a heavy unit later than vice versa. If you’ve always wanted a fighter, go for it. Fighter guys fly airliners. There are plenty on this board that retired from fighters and are now at Delta, AA, etc. What does your unit fly? That would be a good place to start. You’ll change your tune about tankers someday. At the end of the day don’t worry about things you can’t control and promise me you won’t ever say “rocks my socks off” again.

Personal responsibility is a great subject to be pissed off about??!? Read his book and report back.

Congrats everyone so far!! Still waiting to hear on my end, my CC is in DC and apparently he won't give news over the phone, so I'll find out either Friday if he gets back in time or else on Monday I suppose I had a pretty good letter of rec and ranking, 99 pilot, and 87 PCSM with 41 flight hours, unfortunately no PPL (got it a week after the board met, fml) but I think I'm at least reasonably competitive I'll let you all know as soon as I do!

He sounds like he was a great guy. https://airforce.togetherweserved.com/usaf/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=177012 Great movie, I sure wish the Air Force was still that way. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You're correct re: Reserves and living in the dorms, I'm collecting BAH for where my wife is while living in the dorms (without any BAH deduction). You'll get Vance BAH from Day 1, and in a month or three you'll start getting BAH for wherever your family is, plus the difference retroactively.

I'm sure that will stop the exodus of aviators.

Got picked up for totally I did not expect... will most likely reject it and go pursue a slot in the Guard. Congrats everyone!

No assignments or training rips will be loaded until after the public release. (Per AFPC)

Also, here’s great resource for learning about maximizing SCRA credit card benefits: https://www.derpreport.com Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Interesting to see Gene Jackson at the end. Jackson was one of the early HAVE IDEA pilots, flying MiGs out of Groom Lake back when that stuff was properly super secret squirrel. He was later killed when his F-15 experienced a flight control issue on take off.

Never said it wasn’t policy. His original question was where is this written. Ever had someone tell you a policy existed but quoted the wrong reg? In my experience, CCs don’t care. The problem arises from the RA that approves the voucher....RA = must approve voucher. The CC = may subject the traveler to the disciplinary action. You get Hilton Gold with AMEX platinum.

UPT select...finally. Got winged as a WSO 4 years ago, so I definitely took the long route. Congratulations to those that have received slots and best of luck to the rest of you!

UPT select! Congrats to all the others and good luck to anyone who hasn’t heard yet. This was my second time applying and my PCSM was a 93 I think, PPL and just over 100hrs private hours.

Instead taking someone out of their primary airframe for 3-4 years and loosing their quals etc why don’t we do short 3-4 month TDYs to other airframes, especially those that have jump seats and extra space? You could be on the tour and get a bunch of right hand seat time and learn about other communities/missions etc. If you are taking a multi day trip/ocean crossing/deployment/combat zone just require another qualified pilot is on bored to swap you out or provide some additional brain power is shit really gets crazy.

Just got word here, UPT!!!! Best of luck to all still waiting for results, and congrats to the other selectees.

Picked up for ENJJPT. Congrats to everyone else that got selected for rated training! Best of luck out there ✈️

UPT Select! My CC came into my office and brought the O-6 with him and said “What have you done!? Congratulations UPT Select!” Good luck to everyone who hasn’t found out yet. Also, if you don’t get news you wanted to hear, use it for motivation to apply again next year!

Congrats everyone! After a painful wait, my CC just called me asked why I left early (I'm on nights); he said that must just be my UPT select swagger kicking in! I'm in!

GS-15 notified me from my senior rater, UPT select! Best of luck to those who haven’t found out yet!

Upt select! Good luck boys

This dude flew the F-89, F-86, F-104, CF-5, F-100, F-4, A-7 and the A-10. Very interesting guy with a great career for sure.