mcbush

The problem is that "training days" aren't used for training to do their actual jobs, it's to knock out green dot, suicide prevention, cyber awareness, wingman day prep, human relations CBTs, etc. (assuming they're doing anything productive at all, which might be a stretch)

Don't worry, they are. Until very recently, the high-time guy in my squadron in terms of C-17 hours was a first assignment Captain (ahead of both the CC and DO). We just don't have any gray beards anymore, and it's stunning how fast that's changed. I've only been doing this for four years, but when I got to my first squadron, we had a Lt Col chief pilot in the squadron whose career had consisted of five consecutive C-17 tours. He knew everything, or it at least seemed that way to a new Lt, and he spent virtually all his time flying locals with the new kids to get them smart. That doesn't really exist anymore. If we exclude attached dudes and guys up at the Group/Wing, I think the squadron currently has one assigned Major and zero assigned Lt Cols who aren't the CC or DO. There's just no one left.

Which kind of commodities, if you don't mind me asking? Do you think they're better poised to capture gains in spending than certain segments that fall under the consumer discretionary umbrella?

You want pictures of Jen's fiance?

So probably June then, which is 9 months into the FY (not that it'll likely make much difference)

Thanks for the info, gents. Like everyone else, I was impressed with the group out at Downtown Aviation in Memphis. Great bunch of people and a very optimized program. It's pretty remarkable that they can take a guy with zero experience in light twins and prep him for a legitimate FAA checkride in one day. Price of less than $2K out the door can't be beat either.

Negative, just an AC.

What documentation did you guys use to show proof of hours? I've never kept a personal logbook since 99.9% of my total flight hours are in ARMS. The system obviously has totals for night, instrument, etc, that can be used to show that a guy meets the ATP minimums, but what about PIC time? My plan was just to get SARM/HARM to print out a line-by-line list of my flights over the course of the past year and highlight 250 hours worth of PIC. Is that a valid COA? Is there an easier way to go about this?

This chick agrees!

I'd argue we're already not far off from there. The number from Dewey right now is that AMC is short by 315, and like somebody pointed out in the ACP thread, that's after a reduction to the crew ratio in some airframes to try to make the slides greener. I think everybody knows how this one's gonna play out...

For the record, this is still part of the curriculum down at Maxwell. It's definitely one of the more interesting lessons in illustrating the differences between most rated and non-rated perspectives.

You sure? I'm seeing a $6 decrease.

Manchester

There really wasn't any new information presented that isn't common knowledge at this point. The highlight of the brief, IMO, was the discussion that resulted from someone calling out Lt Gen Cox, while he was in the room, for letting too many guys go in the VSP debacle during his time at HAF.

Every pilot on these boards knows the answer to that question.

No, but ignorance is bliss. If you've never flown on the mil side, you almost certainly don't know or fully appreciate what you're missing. Lots of guys are happy just to get airborne, beat up the local pattern, and have lunch somewhere different every weekend.

Almost a decade after the start of this thread, TIB is supposedly gone for good.... https://www.airforcetimes.com/articles/tops-in-blue-permanently-shut-down

In the C-17, it took me a little under 2.5 years from the day I inprocessed the squadron until the paperwork was complete on my upgrade. Could be a little faster if you stayed airland only, or maybe a little slower with extra quals like airdrop, SOLLII, etc.

I've actually always wondered that...

I'll let the guys who are smarter than me take on questions 2 and 3, but for question 1, what's the interest rate on those student loans? That's a huge determining factor in how to prioritize paying them off.

Of course. I'd say an average strat cargo mission probably involves 8-12 stops before returning to home station.

"The Air Force is preparing to cut some of the extra duties active airmen are responsible for, said Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James during a July 26 speech in Washington. The move is an attempt to unburden airmen and make their positions more desirable as the Air Force continues to struggle with staffing problems." Air Force to Cut Extra Duties for Airmen Is it possible that Chang and friends are seeing enough red on the spreadsheets that they're finally willing to listen?

Really nice, genuine guy that always had a smile on his face. A toast, my friend.

Unlikely, scoobs is dumb.

I'll try to keep this short because I don't want to make this a C-17 thread. Pretty fair criticisms here, so I'm glad this thread's seeing some balanced inputs. I hadn't heard anything about Elmo or Hickam closing - that's news to me. I guess the long-awaited "shift to the Pacific" never really materialized. I do know that the Charlotte ANG unit is transitioning from Herks to 17s and the AFRC unit in Pittsburgh is doing the same. The community is still "overmanned" on paper, but only because Big Blue changed the crew ratio in order to magically green up the spreadsheets. I think we're at about 107% as a whole now, using the new ratio, but it certainly doesn't feel that way at the squadron level. Completely agree on the potential to see "excesses" in the community abused for AF benefit a la RPA debacle of the last few years. And lastly, being a pilot. I "grew up" as a young copilot flying Afghanistan lines to fields where, by and large, the biggest threat to the jet was ourselves. The ACs and IPs would let their young guys fly something resembling a 3-3 or 3-1 style approach, provide some input when they did a shitty job, and then congratulate them with some beers in K-town that night for managing to avoid the largely-imaginary bad guys. Iraq right now isn't like that. The threat is real and visible, TTPs have changed significantly, and several fields offer a pretty good test of a guy's skills. For a young dude or dudette coming out of UPT, understand that it's a balance. The C-17 doesn't maneuver like a Viper, doesn't play in the dirt like a Hog, and has the RCS of an aircraft carrier. That said, there is enough of this kind of stuff to balance out the long cruise legs, and to occasionally make you feel like you've done something that might matter after spending your last couple crew rests in Belgium or Panama. I personally like the balance and variety of it all. YMMV.