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Hey all, just heard back from the 144th AS in Anchorage, got the slot! Any others pick up a slot in Alaska recently? And thanks for y'alls help over the last year while I’ve been applying!

Shack. Once per year I watch several fighter pilots, who otherwise rarely work out, embarrass the shit out shoes at the PT test. They may be gasping for breath at the end of the run, but they sure as hell ran the fuck out of it for no other reason than to beat their bros (and everyone else). It’s called mental strength and a desire to win; about 90% of the non-ops people don’t have either trait.

Most dudes in the younger generation now, honestly have no idea how to stay fit, and I've realized that. They think that being fit requires a commitment to go to the gym 5X / week, run a shit ton and do hundreds of push-ups and sit-ups. They practice what they're tested on because noone has ever taught them how much easier it to stay fit with smart resistance training and VO2 work. And culturally we are all at fault for it because we tend to celebrate things like 45 min CrossFit workouts that are total slog fest when the reality is you don't need anything near that. We aren't trying to make division 1 athletes here. We are just trying to keep a dude at an appropriate waist and cardio capacity for his age. So education is a big point of it I think. Right now, I've never seen a fitness center class that is focused on basics of health. Our highschool's don't do it either. Nothing out there tells you that hitting a bench press for 15 reps a week is 100X better than doing 200 push-ups a day. And that if you run just 5-6 min every 2-3/days at Max pace you will sufficiently challenge your VO2 max (which is 90% a genetic baseline btw) to increase. Its one of my biggest gripes because you see a lot more kids these days who never played sports. And they are taught their perceptions of fitness from basic where it is (arguably) designed to smoke you, and be an uncomfortable expereince. And then we tell them they need to maintain that year round and in their head they're rightfully thinking that repeating that expereince sucks. More so, there is no data or research behind the exercise programs in Ascension programs. At least from my own expereince in ROTC, it was just a random cadet who was picked to design a workout based off of the 10-12 movements that ROTC prescribed and it was not scientific or useful by any means.

With the current PT test, as long as you aren’t a lazy fatbody, you can pass this test without ever working out, and I mean literally never working out. I know quite a few dudes in the Navy that are proud of the “3 mile a year club”, and the standards are fairly similar between the two services. It’s not an issue of being fit, it’s an issue of just simply giving a shit.

Nope, but I did just get my separation date approved to depart the AD exactly at 17 years from commissioning. After what I’ve seen from AF “leadership”and personnel management, I couldn’t be more sure of this decision. No retirement, but I’m hoping the AFRC and airlines will appreciate whatever I have to offer them. No bonus is worth the abuse the USAF is dishing out these days. Dear USAF: Now you can say my morale is pretty darn good.

Two mortgages on the SAME house (which I currently live in), because at the original purchase a single jumbo loan wasn't available to me.

Took your suggestion. Definitely listen at 1.25x. Made for a good read once you get past chapter 1. Unsurprisingly there’s a lot of history lessons both recent and not. Plenty of frustrations with strategic near-sightedness and indecision’s and plenty of missed opportunities. Highly recommend

I call BS on this. I get that some of the younger generation seem inept and to have no common sense. They seem to have had the easiest childhood and have no real problems to worry about. Everything has been handed to them. But I'd bet that almost every generation has said that about the generation that followed them. I don't think it possible to imagine anyone who can get a passing ASVAB score for even a cop to enter the military is dumb enough to think that the only choices for working out is either to not work out at all or to become a division one athlete. The problem we have with people failing the PFT is that they just don't care. Show me someone who wants to stay in and is actually concerned with passing the PFT and I bet that person could run a single mile a week and end up passing. Problem with not caring is all the training in the world won't help a bit. It's not that hard; our fitness standards are embarrassingly low.

When he was the AFCENT commander, he was still CMR in the Raptor and flying combat sorties. Kinda badass IMHO.

Too expensive. Free AAFES pogs might work better with the MWR budget.

Next AD retention initiative: Sizzlers gift cards. This has promise...

That or give dudes something they actually care about, not a service dress picture up in the hall way and a trophy of an eagle with a $0.25 plaque. Time off, CT, X/C, DBFM, gift card to the sizzler.

Has someone brought up awards in the last 210 pages? I was sitting through another murderboard today and was reminded of how much I hate our awards system. Hearing things like, “He’s the one with the most potential in my flight, so I make sure to set him up for an award early in the year by giving him projects,” drives me up a wall. If I were king for a day, awards would not be permitted on performance reports. Let the commander continue to recognize stellar performance from stellar Airmen, but if someone truly is outstanding they should have outstanding bullets and outstanding strats on their push line. Being able to put a soft “CGO of the quarter” strat on a performance report creates an environment where supervisors put the cart before the horse, i.e. “I want him to have a good career, so I better get him NCO of the year.” Let people do their jobs. If they’re awesome, give them an award in front of their peers but keep that off the OPR/EPR. Just put the 1206 bullets in the performance report. And don’t get me started on qweep awards. Eff you Bob Hope and your 30 line 1206. Being an exec sucked enough without seeing TMT blow up with things like the “Ron Jeremy Hard Worker” award or whatever other garbage keeps getting added to the list every year.

Perhaps you can try to get her fired from the military like that one marine that said "screw obama" a few years ago... next thing the poor fella is apologizing and getting kicked out of out of the military. We have a few folks holding office in our state, but I never hear about them mixing the military with their political views or agendas. Or perhaps I haven't been involved enough to experience senior officers unable to draw a line between military duty and political preference. If Generals can do it... then why not lower rank individuals. At the democrats' convention, Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, loved by all devil dogs out there, offered a thinly veiled swipe at Donald Trump. "I know that with HC as commander in chief, our international relations and foreign policy will not be reduced to a business transaction or deal" But my personal favorite was at the Republican convention. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn joined the crowd's chants to arrest Hillary Clinton. "Lock her up, that's right," Flynn said. "Yeah, that's right, lock her up". I believe that our nation's soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines should not have to wonder about the political leanings and motivations of their leaders. But I guess in a non-military status, everyone is entitle to their own opinion.

@pilot I was explicitly not making an argument one way or the other on the facts. The reason I responded to you was that you essentially dismissed Bacevich as a Trump-basher / Obama boot-licker & nothing more, and I thought that was unfair given his credentials and long record of consistent thinking and writing on US foreign policy. Read widely, deeply and even read people with whom you might be inclined to disagree. Start your list with well-credentialed voices that have relevant expertise - I would put Bacevich in this category. Probably good advice for life in general.

After "working" the show last year and getting almost no time in Box 102, it was great to go as a spectator and just enjoy. Friday and Saturday saw spectacular weather and great flying. U-2 pilot Popeye Thomson raced in the Bi-plane class and finished third in the Gold category. The final bi-plane race was cancelled due to winds on Sunday. Too bad as he wanted to race more. U-2 pilot Nova Beaubien's plane was out this year getting the engine rebuilt, but he was asked to fly the pace plane... pretty cool! Didn't see Hacker, but I'm guessing he was working hard like he usually does, and probably got some great photos. TBirds show looked to have a few new things, and overall I enjoyed it. Glad to see them make needed changes to make it look better and keep jets in front of the crowd more. STOL drag racing has become a big deal, and it was incorporated in to Reno this year. Unfortunately, Draco crashed departing Reno today and was destroyed. Mike Patey's ok thankfully. The Crash itself is about the 6:18 point in the video. Some very good lessons in "decision making" on Mike's very humble recollection of how he ended up in this situation.

Interesting. May be a Tapatalk thing, but everytime I post, it cuts me off half way through. I am starting to think my wife runs this forum...