Leaderboard

Well, in an effort to get us back to promotion boards... I sat through the Webinar on Officer Instructor and Recruiting Special Duty. Cliff notes: CSAF intends to give guidance to promotion boards to give special consideration to instructor and recruiting duty, starting next year. Specifically, formal instruction - being an instructor in a line squadron doesn't count, but being an FTU or UPT instructor will. They're doing boards to select people for recruiting, ROTC, USAFA, OTS, and Air University positions. Window opened back on April 9th and closes May 24th. If you don't want to compete, you can click a box that says "I don't intend to compete"...but your Senior Rater still has the ability to push you to the board. Senior Raters will be required to pony up 15% of eligible officers (1Lt to Lt Col with 12 months on station). However, they can subtract T-coded officers from their total before nominating. The example they gave was two SRs with 140 officers. SR A has no T-codes - he nominates 21 officers. SR B has 40 T-codes - 140-40 = 100. 15% of 100 is 15 officers. They intend to open these positions, on a limited basis, to rated officers. There are 500 total positions across the Air Force. 50 will go to rated officers, including ROTC instructor duty (not necessarily Det/CC). You MUST be through your first gate to be seriously considered (96 months). Finally, if you want to compete for Det/CC, you need to have at least a line number to Lt Col. You must be pinned on prior to taking over the Det, typically late July/early August. So, looks like my ROTC rant was just because I was a year ahead of my time.

This thread is lame AF

My money is on scissoring the help.

You know who else doesn’t hold back his perspective? https://www.pickyourbattles.net/2019/03/guess-whos-back-update-on-retired-life.html Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Seems like a story calculated to impress, but it's actually full of shit. "My WG/CC gave me a P, but then he had to shake my hand because I won an award. Then the MAJCOM/CC said I was one of his best officers and said my WG/CC was a doofus. Then everyone clapped"

Need to second this. There is a lack of mission focus in AMC that you won't realize until you do a tour in PACAF or USAFE.

If you have an opportunity to do either airlift or refueling in a MAJCOM that isn't AMC, you should seize that opportunity and stay there as long as you can.

Were you that young captain? I think the statement ignores or looks past the good leaders who stay and assumes only an idiot would stay.

You can... you just get reimbursed up to the rate for on base lodging.

This cleared up all of my in processing questions, great overview of what to expect.

Maybe having kids has sapped my energy or something, but I can’t imagine giving as much of a shit about anything that he seems to care about everything.

So, about those promotions and instructor positions...

https://www.pickyourbattles.net/2019/03/guess-whos-back-update-on-retired-life.html Mine works?

It’s hilarious that Butters fucks with him (donations and FB likes) on the outside. I can only imagine how much further that’s pushing him over the edge. And who moves the WA state and is surprised by the amount of liberals there?

You can sole source well above the gpc limit. You just have to be able to provide sufficient justification to make it through all the contracting and legal wickets. I'm working on trying to sole source a nearly $300k purchase.

"When your promotion system mirrors more aspects of a socialistic jobs program than a capitalist performance for promotion, you are undoubtedly going to have issues and ultimately promote those looking to stick it out for the secure paycheck rather than competency." A young captain wrote this statement. Thoughts?

True, hahaha very true - I didn’t pop up below 100knots unless stateside with the proper numbers of course. Since 03 and well beyond it was fantastic leaving our two primary AOR lengthy runways on just enuff fuel to the tanker/no cargo and back to Europe. Not that were speedy, but 250 was nice to ignore and bleed the speed on the pull, oh boy 2.3 Gs - stop laughing pointy heads. Great memories behind me as well as plenty of wheel barrows full of bs. MooseAg03, you will miss it, you will miss flying with your buds, granted they will disappear as time drives on, but Chapter 2 ain’t bad flying for whatever reasons: $$$, lifestyle, great locations both foreign and domestic (see what I did there) or like me looking forward to good eats that really can’t be matched stateside. I also fly with my former mil friends a few times a year which is fantastic. Whether you fly light twins, heavy twins, pax and/cargo, international or domestic or both, it seems to be the first time a pilot can choose their desired location prior to their so-called dream airline if they so choose. Pick backwards, be my guest. Fly your military jet folks and do it well. Those memories will never be paralleled outside of the “Force!”

Stay as far away from the tanker nuke mission as you possibly can.... 'nuf said. P.S. I have spent the last 15 years as a tanker toad.

Same poster as the banned HarleyQuinn account. Same weird ing rants. Do a search.

Delta is one of the most vilgilante on tracking the Reserve/Guard component. They always have had the most pointed questions when visiting the Headquarters, while most of the other leads at other airlines watched and took notes. They actually had lists of names in various military order sets to confirm. I am sure they have algorithms by now that calculate trends per individual whether it’s sick, vacation or mil leave since they did have mil member by name specifics when they showed up in 2013/14. We were able to data mine and confirm legitimacy of orders provided and duty performed. It’s the perception value of same names/same dates annually that they were trying to answer vs lawful orders. Plenty of units switch manpower near holidays to give reprieve to those deployed, full-timers working non-stop/min manning/taking vacation or on alert cycles. Use the part-time force to send folks home while it still benefits the part-timer in some form or fashion if you will. They have the right to ask questions, they are a business after all. Military spends money, they make money.

In general, I would get away from thinking of the industry as a part-time or retirement gig, and more of a career to pursue. Sure, there are certain jobs available that fit that role, but they generally don’t pay much and are inconsistent year to year. If all you want is a little fun flying fire, then look to Air Attack jobs with any number of contractors in a 690 or King Air. The more serious, better paying jobs generally demand more dedication and time. You basically have Fed jobs (USFS & BLM), Fed contractors (Air Attack, SEAT, & Large Tankers), and State jobs (CalFire, etc). These may be year round or seasonal, but also full-time work. Its a small industry and I’ve found most opportunities are found through good old fashioned networking. That’s a tall order for a pilot coming off AD, believe me, I understand. Vets do have an advantage getting Fed jobs, so that is one way to get started. I flew a Fed Air Attack (contractor) for a few years before getting the chance to get on with CalFire (DynCorp). Met tons of people and got a good feel for the industry. The real challenge is the transition from a good paying job, to a path that may or may not work out for you. Especially with all the opportunity in the airlines right now. There is no standard path in this industry, everyone just kind of finds their way somehow. Usually hard work and sacrifice. Having a mil retirement helps ease that transition.

I agree with your assessment of the lifestyle for a SEAT or Fed pilot, lots of time on the road.

C-130 and DV airlift guy here... While I loved DV airlift, the 5-star hotels, and worldwide travel... the feeling of accomplishment from tac airlift can’t be duplicated elsewhere. The AOR airdrops, humanitarian support missions to untowered/unknown fields, and AOR LZ urgent medevacs have been the most rewarding missions of my career. Slicks aren’t ‘tip of the spear’ first-in assets like the MCs, but since MCs aren’t abundant, slicks augment SOC a decent amount. 17s are too valuable, so minus your SOL II flagpole flyers, it takes an act of congress to get AMC approval for anything dangerous/tactical in the moose something to ponder

Agree with cagg. It seems like anything under 50 is a concern. Large differences between scores are also concerns. An Air Force pilot is an officer foundation with pilot focus and skills built on top. If your resume is less than ideal for a generic officer like, say, Logistics or Maintenance, then your extensive pilot qualifications are almost moot.

Contrary to the opinion above, I would recommend retaking the AFOQT. Most fighter apps will have higher scores across the board, so getting those up will only certainly help. It’s one less thing in your application to have to “explain”, at least.

With your pilot and PCSM scores why would you take the AFOQT again? You know they take your latest scores first? That seems like a wasted effort and a risky proposition.