Rusty Pipes

I'm not sure what Air Force you have been in for the past decade or so, but it certainly wasn't the same one I've been in! I would have LOVED to gotten a real masters from a real school where you actually go to class with real professors... the only problem is that most real schools don't let you be absent from 90% of their classes and still let you pass. I called Harvard Business School... not sure their online MBA will be coming anytime soon. I have no idea what your background is as an aviator, but you are not even close to the target on this one. Of all of us who got our useless masters degrees from Embry Riddle... how many do you think would have got a masters at all if it wasn't a requirement for advancement? I guarantee that if they hadn't made this stupid AAD requirement to get promoted a few years ago there would be a bunch of Officers on here right now saying, "Man, sucks for the E's that they cut TA!" We aren't a part of the problem, we're a result of the problem. Taking TA away may not get rid of the promotion requirement right away, but it will soon enough... otherwise they won't have anyone to promote. I'd say the vast majority of those out there getting these useless degrees were just playing the game because TA was paying for it anyway. Might be easy for me to say now because I already have my tax payer useless degree paid with TA, but if you told me back then that I had to pay for it out of pocket or use my GI Bill I certainly wouldn't have a masters degree right now, but if I did it most certainly wouldn't have been from Embry Riddle Online!!!

So if an Officer or Enlisted was told by their boss that they needed to get an AAD for promotion and sold them on using TA to meet that requirement should they be released from the 2 year ADSC that came with it? "Sorry, Amn Jenkins... I know the Chief told you that you needed to get that BAC degree and you just started your 2nd of 34 classes to get that degree, but it looks like that $750 TA just cost you another 2 yrs in the AF. Maybe we'll have TA again when you get back from Kabul next year!"

Don't worry... illegals will still be getting in-state tuition in CA while the guy who spent 15 1/2 years away from his family at war (read deployed) will be shown the door for not having his Embry Riddle degree when he gets passed over for O-5 in a few years. Yeah, that's pretty much the same, right?

I'd kill myself if I were getting all of those e-mails...

Any word on AMC Rodeo?

TC is a great guy and was one of the few actual leaders in the MAF community before he recently became Mr. TC. WIC, 2 BPZ, Intern, #1 on the Hawk list in the MAF... definitely the AMC Golden Boy, but also the guy you were excited to see being labeled that way. He is definitely going on to bigger/better things in his post AF career.

Well Genius... you freeze Government spending at a minimum. You don't hire anymore Federal employees. I'm sitting in meetings everyday right now talking about sequestration and the SES bosses keep saying how terrible things are going to be and then in the same breath say that there is no hiring freeze and to keep the process going. I run a small office of just 6 people and was just told last week that two more positions were funded making $90-110K per year! Let’s see... how about we eliminate the countless programs that just don't work. How about we eliminate entire Departments that the Federal government has no business running in the first place... we'll start with the Department of Education. How about we stop aid to foreign countries... and I'm not talking about just the countless poor third world countries where we don't want them to harbor terrorists; let’s stop aid to Ireland and Spain. Yeah, we give foreign aid to effing Ireland and Spain!!! How about this novel concept... "What did we spend last year? Hmmm... let’s not spend as much this year!" Saying you will take money from the Military and give it to some Green Energy company instead isn't cutting spending. When what you spend next year is billions of dollars more than what you are spending this year, you did not cut spending!!!

If you want to talk apples to apples then you should probably do that. I must have missed that day in civics class in high school or that day in my college PoliSci class where Congressional rules were completely thrown out the window. POTUS simply proposed $1 Trillion in "proposed" spending cuts over a 10 year period. 1) cutting proposed spending doesn't cut anything. If you spent $50 million on a program this year, but proposed spending $100 million on it next year... actually spending only $75 million on it is what POTUS claims is a $25 million budget cut instead of the reality where it is a $25 million increase. 2) Since all money is appropriated by Congress then the President can propose all he wants and it means nothing. So when did the Congressional rules change that says the sitting Congress today can dictate the budget/appropriations of future Congresses? I'm only a pilot, therefore I'm not too smart. When you take what the Federal Government spent this year and then take what the Government is going to spend next year... if the number for next year is bigger then you didn't cut spending. Only in Washington would that make sense...

:beer:

If "leadership" is so incredibly quick to lower standards for a female in a career field where they have already been proving they can perform exceptionally well just because someone cries wolf when they try to remove them from the program... what do you think will happen when there is massive political pressure and a giant spotlight on a concept that essentially can't fail as far as the top political dogs are concerned? Tell me this... how long do you think it will take for us to hear the Pentagon spokesman quietly announce the "retirement" of the Commandant of the Marine Corps after his comments to USA Today about how some jobs in the Corps just can't be held by women? BTW... "leadership" not having the balls to challenge her phony accusations was at 3 different Bases and 1 "College" before a 4th base/Squadron finally figured out how to eliminate her excuse with a female EP. If you follow the story it goes from college to UPT to needing to be an IP for a PRF... this wasn't something that happened in a month or two span. And this wasn't when you needed a PRF for O-3 either...

Hmmmm... let’s see if this type scenario sounds familiar to anyone. A female is at a certain college where a PT test is required in order to stay there, but she can't seem to pass. She takes it over and over again with no success. It finally comes to the point where she is told if she can't pass she will have to leave the "program". She once again fails and they begin the process of removal, but wait... suddenly it is brought to light that she was sexually harrassed. Another test is given by "supervisors" and amazingly, the test that she couldn't come even close to passing before she suddenly passes. Weird. She then moves on to pilot training after graduation and one thing is pretty clear from day one... she isn't a very good pilot. Fails two flights, passes a flight... fails two flights, passes a flight. She can't quite seem to get past the checkrides though. Checkride (fail), 88 ride (fail)... 89 ride... suddenly she gets it. She finally fails too many checkrides and even her 89 ride they start the process for removal from the program. Wow, amazingly they find out the reason she was failing all of these rides was because she was being sexually harassed... AGAIN!!! This proves the theory that not only hot women are sexually harassed! Her wings are nice and polished... she can't seem to fly very well though and isn't getting any better. They only let her fly with IPs and she is getting plenty of hours, but all of her peers are getting upgraded to Aircraft Commander and she isn't... obviously because she is being sexually harassed AGAIN!!!!!!!!!! She "somehow" passes an AC checkride. There is a board at the Squadron deciding who is going to Instructor Pilot school and every IP/EP in the room literally laughs when the Sq CC brings her name up as a candidate... even her boyfriend who is a Sq EP says she has no business being an Aircraft Commander let alone an IP. But she has a PRF coming up and needs to be an IP... so off to school she goes. Checkride 1... fail. I'm guessing she was pretty shocked when she walked in to brief the re-check... and saw a female EP sitting on the other side of the table. FAIL, FAIL, FAIL... worst checkride score sheet I have ever seen in the airframe. In the decision making process as to FEB or not it goes up to a 1 Star... who demands to know how "we" got her into this situation in the first place?!?!? Yeah, stuff like this never happens, right???

Gen Welsh will be begging for these "Iron Majors" about a year from now when he sees how his pilot force is dangerously losing experience. I personally know at least a dozen guys from my community that have 3 or 7 day opted in just the last 3-4 months on assignments... all IPs or EPs... because they can! CSAF has to look no further than his current Wing Commanders and recent crop of selected O-7s if he wants to look for who is to blame for that. These are the same folks who were the 2 BPZ O-5 Sq CC/DOs in 2003-2007 timeframe that were beating down the crew force that was on perpetual TDY/Deployment status with "you need to get your SOS in Cor, you need your Masters, you need to volunteer to run the OG Christmas Party" crap. At least these clowns did one good thing by helping the economy because business is thriving at Higher Power and All ATP's these days.

Actually, that's not what you said. If I don't ever have to put on a tan flight suit again and go back to any shithole in that part of the world then it will be too soon! With that being said, if the boss says it's time to go then I am ready, willing and able to deploy. But no, deploying again isn't my thing... am I supposed to get out by your standards or should I continue to use my 10+ yrs of combat time and experience to teach these new kids how to employ their MWS in combat so they are ready when and if their number is called? When I'm flying with a young kid in our mission ready program and they say they just want get through it as soon as possible so they can get out there and fly combat missions I think that is great, but I always tell them the same thing at the end of the debrief. Good job today, now go home and put some steaks on the grill, drink a few good beers, and bang the wife... because if you're in such a rush to get into the fight then you won't be at your house doing any of those for a while... and if you're lucky there won't be some other dude at your house while you're gone doing that either!

Well consider yourself luckier than many who don't have those kids and that wife around anymore because of what we have been doing for the past decade. What I am saying is that there are plenty of guys who have been in 16-18 years that have been living every minute of this for the past 11 years. When some 25 yr old kid shows up from Luke, Seymour, Little Rock or Altus says he can't wait to get into the fight I think that's great... but be careful what you wish for. You saying that the guys who have been doing this every day for the past 11 yrs that don't want to spend their last few years back in a tent because the FNG hasn't dropped a bomb yet should get out then you are speaking for what I would think is a VERY small minority... and you certainly aren't speaking for anyone that I know. BTW... my kids don't care if I'm sleeping on the side of a mountain 20 miles outside of the FOB or if I'm at the Deid or Masas getting stopped by a MSgt on the way to the pisser because my PT shirt isn't tucked in... they care that I missed their birthday AGAIN and that I wasn't at their school play AGAIN.

I remember lots of guys back in 2003-2004 who couldn't wait to "get into the fight". It was the same talk about wanting to fly their aircraft into the combat situation they were trained to operate in. Many of these same guys were in the long line that went around the corner of the MPF at midnight with their VSP package in hand in 2006. The new guys who showed up at units in 2006 who were full of the same piss and vinegar were bitching about who was and wasn't eligible for this last round of VSP/RIFs. And the thing is... I don't blame these guys for a second for wanting to get out. The same guys who were Sq/CC's and DO's back then that were telling the guy who was TDY for 270 days that year with 700 combat hrs that he didn't get a strat on his OPR because he didn't plan the Christmas Party or have a Masters yet are now Wing CC's and 1 Stars... That includes 3 of my former Sq CC's and DO's. They supported this shoe clerk mentality with vigor back then... do you honestly think that anything will change because a bunch of B-2s from Guam and Navy cruise missiles beat up another kid from the same neighborhood for a week or so? The sock checks might go away for that same week or so, but that's about it. I don't know anyone that signed up for this who wouldn't be ready to go if the flag was raised. I can probably speak for a good number of us who have been playing since day one that didn't VSP or get out when their commitment was up... If deploying "again" is your thing, please contact the 365 shop and the AEF Center and let them know you are an avid volunteer! Until then, I'm not sure I'd be calling into question the commitment of those guys who are just now getting to know their 6 and 7 year old kids or having to travel across the country just to see them after their divorce when they decide that Southwest or FedEx may be a better option than reflective belt checks at the Deid.

This may have already been asked to the UAV guys on here, but what would you say is the retention rate for you guys? I know 3 guys who are coming up on their UPT ADSC this year that were non-vol'd to UAVs... all 3 are punching. 3 guys is obviously a pretty small group to get stats from, but even an anecdotal 100% punch rate doesn't bode well for those folks hoping to get back to an MWS. I was deployed with an AMC Wing CV a few years ago who said he had a meeting with about 50 co-pilots looking for volunteers to fill a bunch of UAVs that got dropped to his Wing. He was told that he was supposed to tell them they would do a 3-4 year assignment and then come back to their MWS. Instead he told them he wasn't going to lie to them... if they went to UAVs even as a volunteer there was almost zero chance they were going to come back to a cockpit. At least he was honest...

We all know that we are going to get a wide variety of commanders. Some you would follow anywhere they asked because you know without a doubt that they are looking out for you (a very rare breed these days) and then we have the majority of our current managers who couldn't lead a bowling ball down a hill. When you have an actual leader as a commander, even in the worst of conditions they will rarely have to use the term "suck it up"... and if they do then you can be damn sure the word "we" is going to preface it and not "you". I've been in really crap situations with a great commander and guess what... nobody complained about anything and because of the way he led there was even an "Is that all you got?" attitude amongst the guys. Morale was through the roof! We've been at this for a long time and folks are pretty burnt out. Ridiculous ideas like "everyone is a warrior" and "resiliency" coming from some commander who hasn't been in the fight for 4-5 years because he was off at Staff and School doesn't mean shit to that TSgt MX or SP troop who just PCS'd to Langley and is headed out on his 7th deployment while his recent ex-wife and young kids are still at Travis or McChord! Does he need to hear "suck it up" from his Sq or Wing Commander? You can't lead through e-mail and Commander's Calls and you certainly aren't going to lower suicide rates amongst a tired force with buzz words and CBT's

How is a retirement with benefits for life for a Petty Officer with 15 yrs that is involuntarily separated less than just separation pay for a 15 year Major who is involuntarily separated? Did I miss something?

OK... then they will have to explain why the service of a Petty Officer with 15 yrs is worth more than that of a 15 yr Major C-130 pilot. This link seems to be more relevant as it talks about those who were involuntarily separated... https://www.navytimes.com/news/2012/01/navy-erb-sailors-will-get-15-year-retirements-012012w

The Navy offered a 15 yr retirement to the guys who were involunarily separated this year (FY) who had 15 yrs of service by the mandatory separation date. I have raised this question before somewhere on here... but I'm guessing the AF/DoD is going to have a tough time explaining to your local Congressman/Senator why the service of a 15 yr Navy P-3 pilot who was offered a retirement is worth more than a 15 yr AF C-130 pilot who is non-continued and only gets separation pay.

Seriously??? You should send an e-mail to the parents of Phoebe Prince in Massachusetts ridiculing her for killing herself... that will teach other kids not to get bullied! The Army had a record rate of suicides in 2011 for active duty members returning from deployments to the AOR. Those PTSD attention seeking fools should just be ignored, right? No wonder those CBTs and suicide prevention days are so useless... apparently we need to change the message and let everyone know that when a friend or family member says they are thinking about hurting themselves that the correct response should be to ridicule them and tell them to quit trying to be such an attention hog!!! Throughout my career there have unfortunately been multiple suicides at every base I've been at and I have had the misfortune of having to sit through multiple Command VTCs briefing detailed reports on suicides by service members. Weird, I don't remember any of them being celebrated by anyone. I do recall in every case there being friends and family members who said they either ignored/didn't see obvious signs or even instances of them not acting when the person straight out told them they wanted to kill/hurt themselves. I guess if they only had someone around to ridicule them at the time they might be with us today, right?

I have a feeling this is going to be a popular thread again in the next few weeks when the O-5 Board results are supposed to be released. We had an AF 4 Star come talk to a group of us (all flyers) a few months ago and in the Q&A a newly pinned on Maj who was within a year of his UPT ADSC asked the Gen why the folks in his year group would ever stay past their commitment after seeing the passed over guys get booted and a bunch of denied VSP types get RIF'd. His honest answer surprised me... He said, "We really screwed that one up last year." He did say that he thought the AF did a disservice to the "157", but said the bigger concern was the exact question the Maj asked... what incentive does a pilot have to stay past his commitment. When asked about the 15 year retirement option for the passed over guys he said he wasn't in the loop of deciding those specific personnel details, but did say that making sure what happened last year doesn't happen again was a topic that was on the agenda amongst the 4 Star "leadership". I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I guess we'll find out here in a few weeks. I know lots of guys coming up on or just past that ADSC who asked for assignment extensions waiting to see what happens this time around… most who oddly enough just got their ATPs! Hmmm…

Where in my I post did I say anything about paying for sex? If you see or listen to the coverage they are making a huge deal about both the Service Agents and the military members patronizing a "brothel". My point is that pretty much every bar you go to there (or Thailand) has prostitutes working so basically EVERY bar or club could be called a brothel if it suits their story.