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I can't do a decent job explaining it but i'll try. First let me say I have an inclination toward cynicism. Be it innate or just bitterness over organizational failures I've seen in the AF. My bullshit detector for insincere platitudes and pep-talks is always on high gain. I also know that the SWA culture is often derided as a "cultish" by outsiders. It kinda is, but I'm buying it. It all goes back to Herb. He knew most everyone's names, he hugged and even kissed all his employees, dudes included. Yeah I know, sounds gay. He drank, smoked, and threw wild parties. He was serious about cutting through the B.S. and making airplanes fly. His philosophy was "Take care of the employees first, and the customers will come." Herb is gone and SWA is a big airline now with big airline problems. Many aspects of the old SWA culture has dwindled, but a lot of it still exists. I won't go into everything, but there's books written on it and it's Fortune magazine's 11th most admired company in the world, behind #10 FedEx, and I can see why. Here's just a few things. When I walk in the pilot lounge to check in for my trip, I get a hug from the ladies in the base coordinator office. If the Chief or Asst. is walking thru, he'll stop, handshake, crack a joke and visit. I often get hats, pins, cards, and other things in the mail for no good reason. All the company communications emphasize real positives. FAs often bring snacks, we often buy ops agents and gate agents coffee, new Captain upgrades typically serve hot dog lunches in the lounge one day. SWA throws big parties several times a year. The header of every paycheck says "Deposits made possible by your Southwest Customers." Maybe all this exists at other airlines too, I don't know. I just know I like where I'm at and I'm over 10 years in. I could just show up and get a paycheck for flying airplanes, and there are many pilots who do, but it's a heck of a lot more fun if there's an over-arching atmosphere of fun and positivity. And it doesn't feel fake when the company has the numbers to prove it's success. I know that all sounds touchy-feely and it probably doesn't count for much when most people just want to get paid big bucks as quick as possible for working as little as possible. But once you've experienced it, it counts for something.

I’d pick the one that would prevent me from commuting. Having commuted for 18 months, I know how much better it is when you don’t.

So far so good. Michelle wouldn't feel safe without one so they built one before moving in.

If walls don't work, how comes is it that so many liberals live in gated communities or in homes with large fences and walls?

Whatever tax structure is used such flat tax, progressive tax, or VAT combined with ever rate the idiots in Congress decide upon with up to and including a 70% rate recently mentioned, that tax method and rate is completely irrelevant if the idiots in Congress keep spending more money that the country takes in.

You can blame fingers for not holding them accountable.

Ah, so terrorists and leftists agree on the importance of walls. Interesting. And if illegal crossers have the training and resources of DEVGRU, then I guess we better just give up now.

Goddamn all this talk reminds me with shivers what AD goes through...a mystical journey with ever-changing rules shrouded in secrecy where success is mostly a question of luck and timing. Mercy on your souls for staying with AD. I know not everyone has a choice to exit early. Best of...luck to those who remain. It’s literally the sharpest tool in your bag.

Yes, I was drawing O-5 retirement pay, which was in the neighborhood of $30K per year. Add that to the $16,800 I made my first year at the regionals and I was still undershooting the cost of living for my family of 4 pretty substantially. That being said, I am a big fan of mil guys who aren't able to get directly to the majors going to the regionals. I found it to be (outside of the pay) a great professional experience for a lot of reasons. I re-hash this on APC posts all the time, but I'll say it for the record here, too: none of us are "too good" for a spin through the regional airlines if we intend on making it a career after the military.

I'm at SWA because that's where I got hired first. Honestly, If I were beginning my airline career, I'm not entirely sure which I'd pick. Because I'm established, I wouldn't consider going anywhere else. The things I like about SWA: Financial fitness. SWA is absolutely killing it, and barring a disaster, I'll likely never need worry about my employment or company growth. Never a bankruptcy or furlough. I'll never need worry about retraining to a different fleet type. New aircraft incoming. The company culture is fantastic. Always within a couple time zones of home. 3 day trips. Line bidding with open time and trip trade/giveaway: I get about as many days off as I want or I can load up my schedule and make some serious cash. A Captain last July worked his schedule to over 400 tfp (approx 340 hours of credit) to make over $90K in one month. An outlier, but possible. The things I think would be nice at Delta would be the opportunity to fly widebody international if I so choose, maybe better commutability to bases. Most times I enjoy 12-18 hour overnights, but would sometimes like a long layover at a nice international destination. As Guardian said, the days you work, you're putting in full days at SWA. Sometimes 4-5 legs a day. Not sure about Delta. The range of earning opportunity is so wide with so many dependent variables at either place that I don't think you can make an accurate generalization about where you can make the most money. I think the average pilot at both places look at their paycheck and think "Not ing bad at all." "Comparison is the thief of joy." - T.R.

That is good info on the current regs. I would recommend dropping the “99” we like to say “all players.” Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

I went SWA because they were the first to hire me, but I was weary about some of the same stuff I heard about them as far as quality of life goes. I finished my first year a couple months ago and was surprised that my logbook showed an average of 2.3 legs per day and 1.9 hours per leg. There are a hundred other variables leading to why I or anyone else would choose to stay or go, but just pointing out that from my perspective the ‘SWA is overworked’ narrative I kept hearing on AD was either overhyped or else I’ve just been fortunate.

Hahah that's great. Then, while I don't know you I do know who you are.

Bingo. Fire just one or two WG/CCs for this and it will stop.

https://townhall.com/columnists/wayneallynroot/2019/01/20/harry-reid-exposes-greatest-liberal-scam-of-alltime-n2539256 Harry Reid Exposes Greatest Liberal Scam of All-Time Wayne Allyn Root 5-6 minutes What's in the news day and night? The wall. It's all anyone talks about or thinks about or debates. Have you heard? The U.S. government is partially shut down over the wall. But it's all a massive liberal scam. A Ponzi scheme. Pure fraud. Bernie Madoff couldn't come up with a better scam. Because the same liberal politicians and donors who scream about the "racism" and "immorality" and "ineffectiveness" of a wall all live behind walls. President Trump needs to buy TV infomercial time and run a 30-minute TV show in a Ross Perot fashion -- featuring aerial views of the mansions and estates of liberals, protected by walls, gates, and armed guards. You know, the exact same protections they don't want you and me or our children to have. Exhibit A is Harry Reid, the Democratic former Senate Majority Leader from my home state of Nevada. Please ignore the advertising slogan "What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas." It's not true. Las Vegas is the crossroads of America. What happens here is happening everywhere. And I've uncovered the biggest liberal scam in America -- going on right here in Las Vegas. It revolves around my home community in Henderson. I live in the exclusive Anthem Country Club. There are about 1,500 beautiful homes behind the gates of Anthem. Together, these homes are worth around $1 billion -- in just one country club in one Las Vegas suburb. What's the amazing appeal of Anthem Country Club? It's got a big beautiful wall around it. And thick iron gates in front are protected by armed guards. The result? There is virtually no crime inside walled, gated, armed Anthem. Life is good behind the gates of Anthem. In the rest of Las Vegas ... not so much. In the rest of Vegas ... lots of crime, gang bangers, drugs, car-jackings, and home invasion robberies. Proving walls and gates and lots of armed guards are a good thing if you want your family to be safe. But wait. My Anthem community recently added yet another feature to keep our residents safe. Every vehicle entering our gates must show a government-issued photo ID or they will be denied entry. Guess who's my neighbor, just steps away from my home? Former Sen. Harry Reid. The one and only. He could have chosen anywhere in Nevada or America to retire. But he didn't. He chose the protection of fortress Anthem for his family. There are many lessons we can learn from studying Anthem Country Club. Lesson No. 1: If you want your family and children to be safe, BUILD A WALL -- preferably a wall that is also surrounded by armed guards. The Vatican understands this lesson. Every celebrity in Hollywood understands. All the wealthy politicians in Washington, D.C., understand. All the big-shot media executives understand. Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and George Soros all understand. Barbara Streisand, George Clooney, Sean Penn, and Madonna all understand. They are protected by big walls, sturdy gates, and armed guards. Lesson No. 2: Liberal Democrats are hypocrites. All the liberal bigmouths who denigrate the wall live behind walls and gates. None is a better example than Reid, former chief water carrier and bottle washer of President Barack Obama. Reid spent his entire Senate career fighting viciously against a wall. Reid argued walls were terrible and unnecessary things. So, why did Harry choose Anthem? Because he loves his family. That's why we all want a wall at America's southern border. To protect our country and our children from bad people, drugs, disease, and violent crime. Welcome to the neighborhood, Harry. Can I bring a cake by? Lesson No. 3: Liberals lie about everything. Liberals don't just use walls to separate themselves from the very poor and illegal alien voters they count on to elect them. They use limos and private jets and send their children to lily-white private schools where they'll never be around gangbangers or illegal aliens or Muslim refugees or disease. Lesson No. 4: Guns must not be as bad as liberals claim. Because liberals may argue against gun ownership, but at the same time, they have armed guards protect them. Lesson No. 5: The argument against voter identification is a total scam. How do all those gardeners, maids and pool cleaners drive through the gates of Anthem every day? The answer: They all already have a government-issued photo ID. So I guess it's a lie when liberal politicians claim that poor people and minorities don't have a photo ID or that it's too difficult for them to get or that it's "racist" to ask them for it. Voter ID is an issue because liberals want election fraud. They can't win without it. They want illegals to be able to vote by the millions for Democrats. Folks, we're being scammed. But not just any scam. This is the greatest scam of all time. Anthem, my beautiful, safe community, is the proof. What happens here in the suburbs of Vegas, is happening everywhere. My advice? BUILD THE WALL.

Your current unit will provide flight suits, a-jacket, gloves, flight approved boots and hat out of the unit supply account and GPC buy patches. Your RA will take care of all of this for you. Print out arrival guide and give it to them. If you want to help them more get with an ops squadron RA to get local details on how to acquire.

I'd add to that that if you're flexible with your ROUTE to a destination, that helps as well. I'm with one of the AA Wholly-owned regionals, so have full AA Non-Rev bennies... My wife and I have hopped all over, and we've taken the kids many places as well. We were batting 1000 until an ice storm trying to get back from a London-Paris trip. Stayed an extra day in Paris (poor us), and struggled to get the four of us home once stateside, but I don't mind the process when you factor on what you're getting. Business class both ways, and between the eight legs for the entire trip, we would have spent $40K... Yes, that's a correct value. I'm heading to London again in a couple weeks just to watch a soccer match... It's awesome.

Hacker, Were your $ struggles at the regionals while drawing retirement pay? I saw so.it.goes’ post about regional pay increase, but was curious if your experience included USAF/ANG retirement pay. I am getting ready to get current/qualified back in an a mil jet after toiling away in the RPA world for about 6 yrs. I am currently AD retirement eligible-hanging around mainly to get current/qualified again and I’m told I’m needed to help out a bit. Once c/q, I plan on applying to the airlines and not retiring until hired. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

If your schedule has 15 days off, those days are yours. Your "reserve" days are considered "days on". For months without vacation, I typically bid to work four 3-day trips per month, Tues thru Thurs. I often work at the ANG in between. On rare occasion, I may feel unfit to fly, so 1 of those trips might get a sick call, and I have a stretch of 9-10 days off to recover. For vacation, I get 4 weeks per year. During the Sept vacation bid, I try to spread those weeks out across the year. This year I have a week in Feb, a week in Jun, and two weeks in Oct. In Feb, I'm taking my wife to the Caribbean for a few days, and South FL for a few days. We have line bidding so I bid trips that touched either side of my Feb vacation. Those trips are dropped with partial pay. I have just under 3 weeks off for 1 week of vacation. I don't really need that much time off in Feb, so I'll pick up additional flying for extra pay. My week in June will easily be three weeks off should I want, and plan on taking 2 weeks for a west coast vacation with the kids. October is my favorite time of year for working around the home/farm, so I bid the first and fourth weeks of vacation and typically pick up one or two desirable 3-4 day trips somewhere in the roughly 6 weeks off. Last year, I spent 15 days in Oct driving around Europe with the entire family, flying standby there and back. On Active duty, I always carried over 30 days of leave balance and always felt pressured (admittedly sometimes self-induced) to not take more than a week at a time due to the weight of all my responsibilities/additional duties. The differences between AD and Airlines in the ability to travel and have stress-free time off is nowhere near a reasonable comparison.

To those that want to become a fighter pilot, the 121st Fighter Squadron, DC ANG, out of Andrews AFB, is hiring for UPT. Check out the Careers section on our website for more information (link posted below). Application deadline is 31 March. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me. Tentative UPT Board will be in May. Best of luck to all. https://www.113wg.ang.af.mil/Resources/Careers/ Cheers, Holster

No one thinks that. No lock is unpickable, but you sure as hell want one on your door.

I’m wondering when the next shutdown happens, why doesn’t the President use the Treasury Department to refuse to pay members of Congress? It only seems fair. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

First, enjoy your vacation. As to the wall, not all locked doors stop burglars but they stop enough of them they are worth the cost. The walls/fencing/barriers/etc... in strategic locations will not stop all illegal crossings but they will stop much of it, dissuade some of it and force others to attempt crossing where they will be unable to cross, unwilling to cross or be more likely to be intercepted and stopped by BP. Walls/Fences/Vehicle Barriers/Sensors/Patrol Roads/Lighting in adjoining urban areas and where LOCs cross international borders, everywhere else is covered as required with vehicle and foot patrols, outposts and aerial surveillance. Pay for it with some reductions in overseas forward based forces in Korea, Japan and Europe to fund a permanent US military mission to the SW and Northern borders to assist CBP and CG. America first. On the wall and your comment that I have a naive belief it will stop all illegal activity I will be more specific about my belief as to the specific benefit of the wall to sovereignty and security, it is there to mainly stop illegal crossing (vehicular and pedestrian) more than illegal immigration/illegal presence in the USA. I am well aware that most illegal aliens in the USA are visa overstay violators versus illegal aliens who physically crossed the border. The wall is part of the solution to assert sovereignty, enhance security and fight crime from illegal aliens, TNCOs, etc... other solutions are needed also (E-Verify, immediate return of illegal crossers, workplace immigration enforcement, etc...). Will dispute your assertion that the vast majority of Americans are not in favor of "the wall". Most polls reported in the media are push polls that ask skewered questions to illicit the desired response by the poller (Do you favor a system of barriers and sensors to prevent criminals from crossing the border? versus Do you favor a cruel wall that prevents refugees and children from being saved as they run from zombies?). "The Wall" (seems like trying to evoke a Pink Floyd like depiction of something evil) is not any different than what other moral and responsible nations do elsewhere in the world to protect their citizens, the first duty of any government. Why did the GOP not fund the wall? The Chamber of Commerce wing of the Republican Party listens to its agribusiness, construction, hospitality, etc... donors who want two things: cheap, non-unionizing, quiet, compliant due to their legal status labor and the pressure of continuing illegal immigration to keep wages and conditions for non-skilled labor cheap and under their control. The various wings of the Democratic Party (ethno-chauvanists, administrative social services, etc...) want members, voters and clients for the services they provide via government social service agencies. The unholy marriage of labor exploiting big businesses and left wing social activists reminds me of the end of Animal Farm, pigs and farmers together at the table and there was no difference. As I have said before, I think you argue in good faith but honestly how much longer do you think this will continue? The Constitution is not a suicide pact, as one side colludes with foreigners to subvert the law and sovereignty of the nation for their own political advantage the other side will eventually realize they are not working with a partner in a real democracy ruled by law.

Go with your thoughts on gun control.