Leaderboard

I think most people are calm about this, most realize they're likely not going to be picking up a rifle. However, even if it is a gig sitting in AOC at Ramstein, sipping Hefeweizen, I still don't want to go. I've given enough of my life on activations that were a complete waste of time/money. Now if you tell me it's a nice backwater assignment to a small, Mediterranean coastal town, that I can bring the lady... Then I could be coaxed into being OK with being called out of retirement. LOL jk, I'd still pass if able. Life is finally damn good right now, with plenty of time to do the shit I really want to do. If I wanted to go to Europe and drink their beer, I'd go on a vacation.

You’re literally commenting on a thread named after the President’s drug addicted son. If you want to make the site better, by all means do so.

In other news, United Airlines pilots draft agreement going forward has a "medical freedom" clause (as does Delta's) so they cannot fire pilots for refusing to take a vaccination.

Valid, we haven’t heard much from the pro-vax crowd lately. I wonder why that is?

This isn't new. When Dream On and I were baby FPs the story was the same. I cannot tell you how many senior folks told me, "### threat? We won't even take off if it is active." It is on you to develop yourself into someone who understands the bigger fight and how the 130 will be involved. From the AFSOC side of the house, I promise you it will be and AFSOC doesn't have the MCs to go it alone without the slicks. Be the FP who is in the vault, reading and prepping. Its not glamorous, hell, many days it won't be fun, but you'll start to set yourself apart and you may find yourself flying a bit more because you make yourself stand out as the dude who is trying to challenge themselves and those around them. Ask your ACs and IPs to incorporate more difficult threat scenarios, find your local patch and see if they can help, or at least point you in the right direction. If you are uninspired, then find or make your inspiration, if you are waiting for someone else to do it, you have a lifetime of disappointment ahead of you.

I sure hope so. I deserve the extra money that another star would provide. I will say this: for all of you complainers out there: seriously? You are complaining Uncle Sam took away your pittance $50K/yr to sign your life away for the next 12 years? Get over yourselves you premadonna punks! Get out of my Air Force and go make your money elsewhere. We don’t need you, and we don’t want you. But please, for the love of Pete, stop complaining about missing out on table scraps. It’s so unbecoming of an officer.

My comment was obviously in jest. Unfortunately I've worked with many Washington Staffers both on the hill and in the big house. I thought the ones one the hill were bad until I met a few supporting the NCS and CoS' office. Obviously all those Ivy Leaguers need a little something to keep them going as they tell us how to act while they rule the world. The part that gets me, it was reported today the Secret Service has approximately 500 suspects and they are closing the case after having interviewed how many of them...take a guess?

What a stupid fucking tweet, acting like there’s some conspiracy that McCain and Graham were over there in 2017 representing the US and defense aid to Ukraine. Do people not remember that Russia unilaterally invaded Ukraine through Crimea and several eastern provinces all the way back in 2014? This country is turning into a looney bin more and more every day. An unending parade of woke and social justice garbage from the left and sound bite conspiracy theories from the right. Awesome.

Taking my private student for his first time early in the week, and my instrument student Saturday. They are gonna have their minds blown 🙂

Sent to me from a FedEx bud...

UAL seems to have done a great job…except no tumi bag, so obviously vote that shit down!

This. Break, Break Does anyone know how to remove an enormous freshly minted "LA" from one's forehead? I'm asking for a friend.

For sure. I started out in slicks and got tired of training low levels and airdrops just to go downrange multiple times and only transport shit around. I remember one crew bragging about doing a "real life EXERCISE air drop" in the red sea like it was some big deal. Yeah, we were training for the next fight, but it got tiresome hauling plastic dog shit to hong kong (sts) and never doing the mission we trained for. Went AFSOC, and while the HQ leadership is a shit show right now, I deployed and did cool stuff on almost every sortie. It was a night and day difference.

I know your frustration, overmanned FPs while trying to learn the mission and flying once in a blue moon is frustrating. Hang in there, everything in the Air Force ebbs and flows. I too was in an overmanned FP squadron flying 2.69 hours a month… then two years later I got 400+ hours a year. However, your comments about “pretending to be tactical” are concerning. You must have shitty IP/FGO leadership if you do not understand the value of the herk in the next fight. PM me and I would be happy to discuss more on a different forum if you would like.

CFI of the year.

Well this is the Gen Z Secret Service - 500 is a lot, kind of a lot of work, eh just too much effort. Case closed.

I’ve got zero issues renaming this place after a dude that flew B-29’s in WW2, got out of the AF Reserves as an O-5 (and gave up an airline line number!) to be a W-4 in the Army. He then earned the Medal of Honor doing 15 evacuation flights to save 29 ARVN soldiers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Novosel

Yeah I’m expecting S40 on Monday morning, but we’ll see. My wife and I did just buy some folding bikes that we’re going to have a family member who’s driving in drop off for us at our camp site. Should make the trek to and from the S40 more palatable and also be able get to and from the SOS Bros tent once the busses and trams stop running.

I didn’t mean for any of this to be an indicator of how I felt during my time in. I wasn’t upset while I was in. I’m not upset now. I was honestly pretty thrilled during my 12 years on AD. And no one ever heard me say a single bad thing about our jet, ever. Maybe I longed internally for a very different mission, but who ing cares. I had a chance and it didn’t happen. Boo hoo. Not loving your MWS can be kept close to your heart, or realized slowly after years pass. I don’t love the airlines, but damned if I’m not the first to tell my fellow pilots how fortunate we are with a smile on my face, and I’m the first to suggest drinks and day trips while on the road. Anything but a slam-clicker. I merely wanted to be transparent, on an anonymous forum, about my hindsight on if flying in the AF was worth it. It took an enormous toll on my family and marriage. I saw my son for, at best, 1/3 of his life while often flying empty jets across the ponds and in the AOR. The 30 yo me didn’t care nearly as much as the gray haired me. In retrospect I still feel fortunate and am grateful for the friendships, memories and ratings, but I have come to the conclusion that the AF definitely took a lot, and I probably would have gone a different route if I had to do it over. If that makes me toxic, I guess I’m toxic. Judging oneself is never easy and rarely accurate. I definitely felt like I was a solid bro who was always willing to push and smile while doing it. I just felt like deep down it was not as fulfilling as I initially thought it was going to be. I’ll bow out to not clog the thread anymore, just felt like engaging when reading from strangers who don’t know me that I was not an asset but rather a detriment

There’s a difference between anonymously saying you despised your time in your MWS because you didn’t like the style of flying and the life of a MAF pilot wasn’t for you, and making that known to anyone in your sq that will listen. Some of the most liked and high speed dudes I know did not like being in the CAF/AF for various reasons, but you’d never know it unless you were bros with them and specifically asked the question. Plenty of dudes crushing the flying hour program so they can get the mins for the airlines. The AF didn’t agree to train someone to be a pilot, but only if they did it because all they wanted to do was to serve. The AF gets something out of it and so does the individual. I see nothing wrong with someone deciding to join the AF to with one of their main goals being to build hours for the airlines. If they’re a good dude, do their job, and are a good officer then I’d say those are ppl the AF needs.

Indeed, and mark my word, in another decade we’ll be bombarded with the attempted normalization of pedophilia. They’ll even use the same playbook…”I was born this way, so how can it be wrong?” “I feel like a child on the inside, so why can’t I be with one?” “Who are you to get in the way of my happiness?” “Love is love” If you had told any one of us 10 years ago that dudes would be competing in NCAA women’s competitions, we would’ve said you’re crazy.

I am old... not Dutch.

Is this gay? I don’t know what’s going on anymore. It’s almost time for the universe to send another 8 mile asteroid to give Earth a restart…again.

Pretty sure that sad **** isn't an active duty military officer (at least not anymore), which is probably the best case scenario for everybody involved.

If anything we need to make voting less restrictive. Whether someone “provides input” into the system in your opinion or not, they are still effected by that system and as an American should have a vote. Especially since the reason they may be unemployed could be due to shortcomings of said system. echo what captain morgan said, campaign finance reform is a far more important issue to tackle

RF-4C 1. Ops tempo: Outstanding. Best kept secret. Basically a flying club. As a 1Lt it's your airplane with great responsibility; "All we ask is bring it back in one piece." Flying is mostly low level single ship to where ever YOU and your WSO decide to go that day. Not flying, review your film from previous day, do a tour in the RSU, perhaps a little studying in the vault, shelf check at the BX. TDY's and deployments minimal and considered a good deal. AAR training every couple of months. Night AAR is always scheduled with a full moon. If stationed in Germany always save a little fuel for the fur ball with whomever is trolling along the Rhine. 2. LIfestyle/family: Could not be better. Home every day by 5. No working weekends. If stationed in Germany most have a rental Swiss chalet for the winter skiing months. 3. Community morale: Excellent. Surprising amount of fellow pilots UPT DG's. Some turned down fighters to fly Recce. Everyone works and pulls together. 4. Advancement & Future of Airframe: Terrible, once Recce always Recce according to MPC although I managed a 4 yr OA-37 assignment to DM. (another flying club). NO future dedicated manned Recce airframes. 5. Preferred PCS locations: Zweibrucken, Alconbury, Bergstrom. Oh crap, just got up from a nap. Dreaming it was 1977 and not 2017! Sorry guys, you missed a great time in the AF. 10 years AD then off to a legacy airline.

so many of you guys have zero critical thinking and just parrot what the media tells you to say/think. nato has provoked russia since the early 90s with expansion. it's a fact. you can say its russian talking points as many times as you want....still doesn't make it not true.