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It worked for me quite well. In Oct 2009, I three-day-opted a non-flying remote to Iraq. I had 22.5 years of service, was a U-2 interview pilot, and evaluator in both the U-2 and T-38. I didn't want to retire. The three-day opt required me to retire 1 May 2010. I was determined to defeat the threat. I was working a number of angles, but nothing was panning out. By early 2010, I hadn't found a solution, but I did figure out that I could request a 6-month extension to my retirement date if my Wing CC wrote a letter asking for it. At the time, the Beale Wing CC was a 1-star. I presented my case that extending me 6 months was in the best interest of the 9th Wing and the Wing CC agreed. AFPC isn't going to tell a 1-star to pound sand: I got the extension. Around that time, AFPC announced the VRRAD. In my first phone call with the VRRAD person at AFPC, I explained that I was still on active duty. "Will you be retired before 31 December 2010?" "Yes, I will be." "Then you are eligible for the VRRAD." Basically, one office in AFPC was requiring me to retire... and another office in AFPC was allowing me to return to active duty as a retiree. I never told the two offices about each other, and figured it was best if they didn't know my plan. My VRRAD got approved. So, on Friday, 29 Oct, I had a short ceremony in the bar and retired. The following week, I came back to Beale, to my old desk, which I obviously didn't vacate... turned in my week-old retiree ID card... went through in-processing with a room full of 18 year olds (at least I got a verbal waiver from the Vice to skip the Right Start briefings). I even submitted a travel voucher for my 33-mile drive from home to Beale AFB for my first day back on active duty. In 2013, after 3 years, the VRRAD was coming to an end... but I asked the Wing CC to write me a letter requesting a 1-year extension. He did, and I got it. Finally... I retired 1 Nov 2014. It was my third set of retirement orders, and the second time I actually retired.

Yes.

Good news everyone...20 points for the waist measurement is automatic! Now you can get really fat to avoid the 365, while not getting punished for failing a PT test. Win-win.

Is it the AIB that gets released to the unwashed masses? Dude was from where I retired to, the Americans here honored his final return very well.

Get on that degree and the AFOQT/TBAS quickly as possible, as the next steps are pretty moot until you’ve got those done. Then start talking to units, both Guard and Reserve when you’ve got those in hand. Shiny scores will open doors. Time is not on your side and you’ll need an ETP for age, so moving faster is a benefit. Heavies are your best bet, if you’re definitely looking to fly due to age and competition. I don’t know the exact criteria, but two training bases are doing a T1 only track for those with CPL/IRs, which puts you on a faster track and (potentially) makes you more marketable. Good luck!

Shelli was a very good friend of mine and the entire wing and state are hurting. We had a great celebration of Shelli’s life yesterday and was the largest attended funeral I have ever been to. She will be dearly missed and we will continue to honor her memory. We should all live our lives the way Shelli did. She never met a stranger and would help anyone out, anytime. She was one of a kind. The folks in Nashville have done a tremendous job of honoring all 3 members and they have closed in around the families. These type of events really show how powerful and caring the Guard family is when it’s mobilized. But we hate that these are the times when we get old friends together. Make sure you stay in touch and get the retirees together more often. We are all ready for 2020 to be in the rearview mirror. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Welcome man! Fellow 33 year-old here also vying for a UPT slot. The short answer is yes 🙂 The fact that you already have your commercial/multi and I can only assume hundreds and hundreds of flight hours, you've got a great foundation. Have you taken the AFOQT and TBAS? Once you've gotten those scores, you've pretty much gotten all you need from "Big Air Force" to start locating units of interests, finding out when they have UPT boards, getting the application/package requirements, and then submitting. Speaking of which, there's a great thread here to follow on that, too: Best of luck!

Do your homework on VRRAD. A buddy from my guard unit has < 3 years TAFMS left and got a line number, then had a VRRAD gig lined up to get his AGR/AD pension. He was in touch with the VRRAD program manager, was matched to a specific position and just waiting on funding. All of FY20 he has been in a holding pattern, waiting for more VRRAD funds to materialize. It’s not a slam dunk, and might actually be borderline impossible. According to him, VRRAD was abused early on to get a bunch of people into cush gigs at Peterson and a few other bases. Once a bunch of billets were filled and someone did the math, the VRRAD program office realized they were out of funding. They stopped bringing more people back and new applicants are all in limbo.

Ahhhhh Duffelblog nails it again! https://www.duffelblog.com/2020/09/private-contempt/?fbclid=IwAR1jfvKPyKymclP-g8ghoetI3vHbhuXI2CG112VmEOol9GY2B7YqE2N58BI

Must be OPR time... My #1/200 Colonel; top Innvtr/tech Disrptr/True vsnry--Instgrm Sr Exec flwshp & CHKMATE CEO next!

Persons under duress are often are forced to give propaganda messages

And have an MC rate in the single digits.

Pretty sure officer appoint is for life. So given that you're no longer serving - why are you coming here and spreading fake liberal propaganda? I guess you finished reading "white fragility" while kneeling and now you want to share the love here...

My guess is he’s a fighter WSO who understands as much about Air Mobility as he does about logistics... This is an uninformed idea that nonetheless has potential - if you reframe it for an unmanned platform. Cannibalizing Herks “because we have so many” and turning them into Inside tankers is a non-starter for AMC. Put that brainpower into an unmanned platform requirement and you’re on to something... Chuck

I feel like it would be easier to convert our fighters to probe/drogue, add tanks and pods to the MAF Herks and somehow fuel from a cargo bay bladder out to those pods. Maybe we don’t modify the 22s and the 35s.. but you could probably figure out something for the non stealth aircraft.. That’s way more realistic than a boom on a C-130. Doesn’t matter though, AMC leadership doesn’t trust its crews to do much more than standard cargo hauling.. pushing the envelope is an exercise in smashing your dick in a file cabinet.

In addition to some issues already brought up, are Herk crews going to now be qualified in and maintain currency in every mission in the entire MAF and be expected to be proficient at all of them when employed?

I guess I phrased my first question poorly: How does the fuel get to the FOB so it's available for the (K)C-130? I get what the author is after, but they need to look one step further to make it a viable solution. That FOB (assuming an island in the Pacific) would need port access and a fuel ship, or an air bridge to stage fuel (probably a dedicated C-17 sortie for every 2 C-130 refueling sorties). So how do we support the ACE concept while supporting all the other logistical movements required in a shooting war? One of the things we've taken for granted in the last couple decades is a permissive environment for resupply/logistics. I'd envision the ACE concept more being a last ditch effort to not die; hop the gen 5 fighters to safety by trading some C-130s that will fuel them (on the ground or in the air) and then also try to make a run for it before they're killed. Plus, the C-130 line is still open, so you can always buy another one (same for F-15/F-16)...

I like it even more now Alive with pleasure Cultural reference for the younger folks: https://flashbak.com/alive-with-pleasure-newport-adverts-24078/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Last one I’ll share. There are more, but I’ll leave it at these: So, I guess sleeping through the night is a thing of the past now. There are too many emotions, too many memories, too much pain to sleep. Didn’t see that last part coming. I mean, I’ve lost friends in combat to death’s heartless and seemingly arbitrary embrace. Those deaths left me numb and clinging to the denial stage of grief. But Kage. Not with Kage. I LONG for numbness. Instead, it’s a serrated knife to the gut. Physical pain that coils me up and chokes my throat and it’s only Sara’s arms around my shoulders that bring me will to even reopen my eyes. I don’t know how his wife, Hannah, is remaining so elegantly composed. God’s grace I guess, what else could it be. I have to admit something. And forgive me for doing it, but there is a phrase that is appearing in newsfeeds and broadcasts that angers me deeply. “He died on a routine training flight...” Routine? ROUTINE? ROUTINE?!!! How dare you. I know there are strategic implications in all this. I’m no neophyte. I was just in Europe a couple months ago for NATO exercises. Got it, things with Russia are tricky. Calling it routine really alleviates some of the baseless conspiracy theories. But how about this, let’s call it a “training flight.” Done. Kaput. Fini. KAGE was the consummate aviator. He had his private pilots license within months of his drivers license. He earned his spot on USAFA’s flying team, went to Chile to serve God for 2 years, then came back and earned a spot on the flying team again. He was top stick of his basic flight training class. Top stick in fighter training and he flew as a recreational pilot on the side in weather conditions that would have me shaking in my boots. He packed more takeoffs and landings and aerobatic maneuvers into his short career than I have in more than a decade. Nothing KAGE ever did was routine. He was articulate, precise, deliberate, and razor sharp in everything he did and I have no doubt he did not see his last flight as routine. He was passionately and tenaciously honing his skills to be the absolute best weapon in America’s Arsenal. While he and I were both separate from our wives, before he died, he called me and we had a nice long brother chat. We made fun of politicians, laughed about mutual friends, talked about my kids and my dog, shared ideas about how to have a long distance video date with his wife. Then he said something I’ll never forget. “You know Chaz, every time I strap into that cockpit I think, ‘this could be it. This could be my last flight.’ I am pushing the envelope like I never have before and I’m flying with some of the greatest pilots I’ve ever seen. You know what, if I do go down in some big ball of flame, I don’t know, it’s kinda copacetic. I’ve done about everything on my bucket list, even found Hannah.” I laughed and brushed it off, said he was gonna be awesome as always. But I hung up feeling worried about my kid bro. I knew he was giving all he had and that he cared immeasurably about not letting anyone down. I read this comment at the bottom of a news article. It speaks to me. “My brother is a commercial airline pilot (Jet Blue). Those flights are essentially 99% routine, slightly less predictable than that but nevertheless, it is safer than any other form of travel, statistically. Fighter pilots are not comparable to that really at all. Although their training is something that most people cannot imagine without going through it, they are test pilots on every flight. They do limit the unpredictable, but at those speeds, dynamics, environments, unknown variables that are trained for even without any warning when they occur, it's unbelievably dangerous...It's honestly a new reaction, and experience not-had-yet, every minute. It's danger level is basically infinity. My father was an aerospace engineer at GD for 35 years. F-16, F-111, Atlas. Those pilots have 4 years college before they fly a fighter (generally speaking). They're the best of the best. Razor sharp. Crashes aren't accidents. My dad would say "There's no such thing as problems; only unresolved details." I don't know what unresolved details were involved here, but I do know that pilot couldn't fly that craft another foot before ejecting. And likely the last thing he thought was "What can I do to keep everyone safe before myself?" Heroes defined.” I watch the sunset then, hours later, I watch the sunrise. Then I come out of my room and find my boys laying on the ground staring at a picture of their beloved uncle KAGE, their Eagle driving fighter pilot. Their little shoulders tremble as they weep. Nope. There was absolutely, positively, no way my brother’s death was “routine.”