soupafly06

So if that’s the case and they’ve curtailed actual flying so much then what’s the case to keep URT around?

Haha fair enough. I'm still suffering under the delusion I stand a chance after already being passed over once. The better question for me is do I accept continuation of nah?

By current promotion rates the last of the '03 O-5 selects should pin on in October. Hopefully they'll tell the '04 results no later than that so the first few selectees can make some very hurried plans in time for 1 Nov. My money is on early-mid September.

Tony Stark? I always thought Musk is closer to this guy: Still I'd rather have a piece of SpaceX than Tesla but it's still privately held at the moment.

With URT being all simulator based and spitting out RPA bubbas in roughly 6 months; will the rise of VR and the increasingly watered down UPT syllabus eventually blur the line between the UPT/URT pipelines enough so that they will become indistinguishable?

With CBP allowing up to 1250 hours of MQ time to count toward flying your totals, will pilots with mostly MQ time be made to fly MQ only or will manned fixed wing be an option?

I signed up and took the Devil's money over two months ago and my anniversary passed last week and so far I haven't seen a payment. How far after your anniversary did anyone who signed up early get paid? My assumption is since the agreement was processed months ago that payment would be fairly quick once the anniversary date passed.

Have any passed over guys done the over the phone counseling with AFPC? If so, did you find it worthwhile or just a giant waste of time (like I suspect it probably is)?

I wouldn't say it's completely worthless. It helped me hone some crazy PDF ctrl+F skills.

Maybe I'm just trying to rationalize here but generally, in the RPA world, passed over O-4s become perma line flying IP/EP/Top 3 with generally fewer additional duties. To me it seems pretty close to the professional pilot path a lot of us have been longing for. While I will greatly miss the chance to command my own squadron, I for one look forward to not having to play the Air Force's "you should do X if you eventually want to have a chance at doing Y" games anymore.

In all seriousness how are your communities treating passed over O-4s? Are they the crusty, experienced IPs/EPs dispensing wisdom to the ever increasing inexperienced young 'uns or are they the punching bags picking up every crap detail and 365? I say this being a passed over dude myself.

40% IPZ picked up at my location. Blood bath indeed.

I've looked through about 69 pages of this thread and haven't seen any reference to someone writing a letter to the board in favor of promotion. Has anyone done so and if so, what kind of info did you include in the letter? The AFI I found lists what cannot be included but the only other guidance is that one can write up to a 10 page letter.

That's no typo, I used to lurk the halls of AFMC HQ and was pretty shocked by it myself but she was picked to be AFMC/CV and I guess a lowly 2 star can't hold that position (sts). She's career acquisitions though and the differences between the acquisitions and operations side of the AF are like night and day.

You'll have to do a full up exception to policy letter to apply, especially since you're over the age and AFCSD limit. It's basically a one page memo for record that has to be signed in turn by your entire leadership chain (examples are in the tongue and quill). Keep the body short and sweet (two paragraphs max I'd say) and state why you want the ETP and how the AF would benefit by granting you the ETP. When you submit the ETP you'll need to have your full application ready to send along with it (including the 2915, FC II physical, copy of your PPL and last page of logbook, etc). The process can be lengthy, especially after it gets to HQ USAF where the AF/CV probably won't make a decision on granting the waiver until a week before the board meets, so be prepared to wait. As for IFS, if you're a CSO with a PPL you will not have to attend RPA IFS (RFS). Most of the washouts I saw in the RPA pipeline came from RFS so I would avoid that like the plague if at all possible. Good luck with the waiver.