Rusty Pipes

Talking about all of these guys (both Secret Service and military) going to a brothel is just a tad bit misleading. It is the same there as it is in Thailand where it is legal and half (read most) of the girls at EVERY bar you go to are on the clock. If you go to lunch at an Applebee’s it is probably a stretch to say that you are hanging out at a bar just because they serve beer there.

Working at the OG for both O-4 and O-5 boards last year the Boss had the list with SOS/ACSC and Masters and it wasn't just a Y/N or check mark... it had the date completed. Both the OG and Wing CC didn't want to know if you had it complete, they wanted to know when you completed it. For the O-4 board if you were just finishing your Masters/SOS in cor a few months before the PRFs were due then it was the same as not doing them at all. If it was for the O-5 board and you didn't have ACSC and your Masters complete before pinning on Maj then it was like you didn't do it at all as well. I wish I could say this was just one particular Wing, but based on the "Officer Mentoring" brief we got from the Wing CC last year (briefed from the AFPC slides) they actually had the slide that talked about ACSC in cor completion timelines in relation to it helping or hurting you for career progression/promotion. This is why we have deployed LT's who are far more concerned with getting SOS and their Masters classes done than they are with the combat missions they are flying. It's not their fault... that is the message that is being sent to them by the Air Force as far as what is important. It's a shame, but this is our reality for the forseeable future.

What the hell... I say we give the guy a shot! We've had so many Generals being outright imposters actually pretending to be leaders lately that this guy probably couldn't do much worse!!! "Wait... why would I want you to get a Masters degree if your job is to fly an airplane? Hey guys, why are we kicking out pilots or sending them to meaningless staff jobs when we spent millions of dollars training them and we have a pilot shortage?!?" This guy might actually fix stuff!!!

Manning should have won the MVP for not playing a down this year! If your team goes 2-14 just because you aren't playing then that says a lot. I'll bet he ends up with the Jets. They would be a legit threat with him there and he could live near his brother.

Sorry, I have to strongly disagree with this one. I don't think its a crime and I don't think the blame is shared evenly (Training NCO's vs students), but if any of these instructors have worked at a port in the AOR or anywhere that services Mobility aircraft coming out of the AOR then they know the significance and reverence that these transfer cases represent. I've personally flown a few dozen of them in my aircraft, and like I mentioned in my previous post, have probably seen hundreds of them returned to Dover. I don't think the blame should be shared evenly, but there is still plenty to go around. I would go as far as to put using these transfer case pictures as a joke would be near the same level of posing with one of the iconic Arlington tombstones as a "joke". And as far as these students go there is still no excuse. My 5 year old daughter knows what a coffin is and what it means! Even these students know exactly what theses transfer cases are used for... and if we still have good MTI's down at Lackland I hope nobody graduates basic without seeing lots of pictures of 9/11 and these flag draped transfer cases in the back of an aircraft. I don't think they in any way did this to disrespect our fallen heroes, but if these students and instructors aren't smart enough to realize how dumb that was then they aren't smart enough to be in my Air Force and they certainly aren't smart enough to be loading my jet!!!

Wow... just WOW!!! I can say two things about these ass clowns and the "findings" from Big Blue... 1) I have been moving cargo for my entire career. We definitely use chains and cargo straps to tie stuff down, but I have yet to see rope ever used for anything. Not sure the noose is an approved tie down method for anything for port dawgs or loadmasters!!! 2) If these guys want to joke about this stuff then maybe they need to add a little field trip 4 hrs up the road from Ft Lee to Dover to see what goes on up there. They wouldn't even have to schedule it, just drive up there on any given day and wait for the next hero to be flown home in a transfer case... it shouldn't take long as it tends to be a daily occurrence. Maybe these scum bags could get to see what I've seen far too many times standing on the DV parking spot in front of the Pax Terminal. They could stand in a formation and watch the honor guard carry the flag draped transfer case down the ramp of the C-17. They could see if they had the military bearing to hold it together when the 5 yr old little girl watches them walk by and says to her young crying mother, "Is that Daddy?" The same little girl who won't have Daddy to tell her how proud he is of her at her high school graduation or walk her down the aisle at her wedding. Maybe they won't think its so funny when they see the 10 yr old boy with tears in his eyes salute his Dad when the honor guard passes by wondering who is going to teach him how to throw that curve ball this summer or take him on his camping trip. I wonder how funny they would think it was when they saw a bunch of Navy Seals or Delta Team do everything they can to hold it together as they see their best friends carried off... guys that were killed standing right next to them days before. This is what happens when AF Management puts some useless masters degree or the length of your socks in a PT uniform on their priority list. I too am “obviously displeased” by what you feel is important these days Big Blue!!!

This shouldn't blow anybody's mind... it is actually a reflection of our entire Air Force and operators should take pride in this fact. Operators just get things done and don't need anyone to hold our hands or solve our problems... thats just who we are. I used to love sitting in Wing Staff meeting and listen to the Wing CC "go around the room" at the end... The MXG, MSG, Med Gp CC's would all have some stupid queep that they would spend 5 minutes babbling about. He would look at the OG and he'd always say, "OG is good, Sir" and the Wing CC would just smile. It was pretty much a not so subtle jab at the others saying, "We've got our shit squared away... you don't ever need to worry about us getting the job done."

I had to take a staff tour that detoured me into the DoD acquisitions world and can confirm that Director = Commander. Since about 90% of the folks in acquisitions are either contractors or GS types the Director title makes more sense because you aren't the "Commander" of a bunch of civilians. In the division I worked in there were about 300 people and there were only 4 of us that were in the military... the big boss was an SES. I know that among the services the AF tends to be known by the other branches as having all the “good looking women”, but in my personal experience dealing with the acquisitions world I am sorry to report... Wolfenbarger was probably the “hot chick”!!!

Fine... everyone is a warrior! How about A1C Snuffy doing escort duty watching TCNs take 3 months to build a bus stop at the Deid consisting of 4 metal posts and a plastic roof? Better example?!?

I'm just going to throw this out there... I'm not saying it is justification to keep it, but it is a reality. Those of you in the MAF at a base with both AD and RES or Guard can probably attest to this. When you have the weekly/monthly mission buy for all the Squadrons, the Reserve Squadrons could usually pick whatever missions they wanted provided they weren't activated. They normally had plenty of guys on orders and almost always picked a fair amount of downrange missions even though they didn't have to. These guys wanted to be in the fight just as much as anyone else, but having the Tax Free incentive is obviously a big draw and is a big relief for the AD guys. Anytime they took the 10 day downrange mission while we were able to put one of our crews on the 3 day CONUS run it was a huge relief for us and a win/win for everyone. You take that incentive away and you add that much more pressure to an AD unit that is already running their crews into the ground. We rely heavily on our Guard/Reserve brothers to make the mission happen, we can't do it without them. Probably not the PC answer, but it is reality. Oh, and I'm not a Tanker guy, but I will throw them a bone. That Marine on the ground shooting it out with the bad guys calls in the A-10 or Strike Eagle or Viper when things get really bad... those guys are there and ready to drop when they call. Now unless they invented that jet engine that runs on air and I didn't hear about it, the reason they have been overhead for the past 6-7 hrs and are ready to drop when the call came is because there was a tanker up there with them. Did they get shot at... no. But lets not compare these guys to the Finance airman sitting at the Deid giving the inprocessing brief about family separation pay.

I agree... we should support our warriors downrange. Last time I checked, I don't remember anyone downrange wearing blues! On a side note... I was deployed to the CAOC when all that was happening and there was a post on here that went viral over there that took said Wing CC's bio and ran through his assignments line by line as the perfect example of how Big Blue promotes guys into "leadership" positions based on box checking with virtually little to no actual proven leadership ability. They took his name out and it wasn't a specific "hit piece" on him, just an example of how the system is broken. I can't seem to find it, but it is buried on here somewhere... it was brilliant! BTW... that guy is a 1 Star now.

Anyone know how many hours these guys are getting over there? If you can do 60/60 and do lots of flying then it doesn't sound too bad, but I've spent plenty of time sitting for 2-3 days at a time in OEF just bored out of my mind. That gets old really quick!

Fine, she was a 300 lb, blind double amputee midget with a unibrow and a huge bald spot on top of her head, but the TIB tool was totally into her... and I banged her at baggage claim... I officially hate all of you! Well worth taking shit though to have a fantastic TIB cock block story. edit for spelling, grammar, and Jack Daniels

No, he was an E, SrAish I'm guessing... Said ETAR was his first assignment and was talking about it being the first time back to San Antonio since basic. Seriously... how many pilots do you know who make up a story about how they DIDN'T bang the hot NBA cheerleader?!?

This is what made it a true cock block... she gave me her card with her number and asked if I wanted tickets to see a game that week and then go out after, but I was actually there to visit another chick (don't think I didn't try to work a "date" with both of them, but it wasn't in the cards). Anyway, I got to totally shame the TIB tool; I walked up to him at baggage claim and said that I was in town visiting another chick, but if he wanted the Spurs chick's number he could have it to give it another shot... I told him she might be impressed with a tour of the building where TIB practiced or something. "And alas, the young gazelle learned first-hand from the lion of the harsh reality of the food chain on the Serengeti..."

I would normally never do this to a fellow airman, but I had the distinct pleasure of cock blocking a Tops in Blue tool bag on a flight to San Antonio a few months ago. We both totally lucked out by having a chick who was a Spurs cheerleader sit in the middle seat and the TIB tool didn't even let her get her seatbelt on before he told her he was in the Air Force (he had no idea I was too). She thought it was really cool and OBVIOUSLY asked him if he was a pilot. He immediately jumped in saying that all pilots were a bunch of prima donnas who didn't really do much other than take the credit for the work of MX and MSG types. He then told her how he just got picked for Tops in Blue and was going to be going to every combat zone in the world. It was hysterical; you'd have thought this guy was the T-Bird Lead Solo pilot who just won the Medal of Honor or something the way he was talking. He was PCSing in from Ramstein and said he hadn't been downrange yet. I just sat there quietly drinking a beer as she said two or three times that she thought pilots were a big deal in the Air Force and he kept trashing them. I finally just laughed a little when he said it again and she asked what I was laughing about... I told her I was apparently one of those prima donnas. She spent the rest of the flight with her back to him. I just couldn't let this hot chick think that this guy actually "represented" the AF! Sorry TIB tool... have better SA on talking smack on a flight to San Antonio! I've had lots of people tell me they are pilots now because they saw the T-Birds, Blues, demo teams, etc. at air shows when they were 4-5 yrs old (I'm one of them)... still waiting to meet the guy who joined because of Tops in Blue. I have an idea, before we start cutting demo teams (which actually are useful for recruitment) and more importantly before we start cutting 15 yr Majors... let’s start by cutting the AF Band of the Rockies... and the USAFE Band... and the ACC Band! Last time I was deployed there was a different shitty band with a dozen E-8's and E-9's being flown in by a C-17 every other week... to play your favorites from the 90's!!!

I would say 9/11 had more to do with retention than the 10 yr ADSC did. Simply the fact that there were very few airline jobs out there and the fact that they moved the O-4 boards up to the point that by the time your 10 yr ADSC was up you were already a pinned on Maj kept more guys staying. Guys who could somehow manage to get on with Southwest, FedEx or UPS bailed knowing that they could be back on the same pay scale in a few years, but in this economy it was too much to pass up $100K in the AF for $25K working for a Regional with a long road to upgrade, especially knowing that once you pinned on Maj you were good through 20 yrs. We'll know for sure this coming summer, but it looks like continuation may be a thing of the past (or extremely selective at best) which will most definitely play a factor for those ADSC fence sitters as you mentioned. I would be interested in seeing what numbers the AF (AFPC?) is using to determine their rated requirement. My big question would be this... are they using the current retention rates to predict meeting their future rated requirement and is that requirement a "bare bones" one? In other words, if retention rates for pilots after their ADSC is complete was historically 60%, but recently (assume since 9/11) it is upwards of 80% are they using a planned retention of 60% or 80% or somewhere in between? I've heard some crazy comments coming out of AF and AFPC PA citing the highest retention rates ever and comments along the lines of "pilots will stay on AD by a sense of patriotism" when asked about a pending hiring boom by airlines. The CSAF is obviously acknowledging the 11F shortage, but if they are using the higher planned retention % for their future requirements does that mean that the 11F shortage/gap is going to be bigger than they are advertising/predicting?

Change can't come from one guy, even if he is CSAF! It has to be a complete mindset change which would have to be embraced by an entire generation of careerists sitting below him. Does anyone really think that will happen? A CSAF can make waves and try to stick to his guns, but that is usually not the best career choice (Moseley/Fogleman). Even the CSAF only gets one, "But, Sir..." when he doesn't agree with something that is being pushed from above. They will pick their battles knowing that there are a dozen other guys waiting in the wings who are ready to say, "Yes, Sir" if they don't. I've met Gen Welsh a few times and listened to this USAFA speech... he is definitely one of the few at his level I have met that I've seen as a genuine leader. We definitely need more in the AF management system who think like him. I would love to see him as CSAF. If that happens I think his aide or Chief of Staff need to have him sit down about 6 months later and listen to his own USAFA speech again! He is definitely one of the good guys!

I think that another problem with our promotion process is that it is essentially a "one look" process. That leaves way too much up to timing. Sure, you meet a Lt Col board 1 and 2 BPZ, but those who get selected BPZ in that less than 1% scenario were identified far in advance so it isn't like it is a realistic shot for everyone else. That means the rest of us, in reality, get one shot at it... because we all know that the chances of APZ are about as good as BPZ. This if one case where the non-rated guys may have a huge advantage over the rated guys, especially at the Wing level. Lets say you are at a Wing where 5-6 guys are up for O-5 which means that the Wing CC most likely has 2 DP's to give and a "Super P". Well there are a lot of Sqs out there (FSS, Finance, MX, Comm) where the Sq CC is a Major... you have two of those and the boss had 2 DPs to give, he pretty much has to give it to his sitting Sq CC's! Now these are usually pretty sharp guys who may very likely already be in res school grads so it's hard to argue them getting the DP because they look much better on paper, but I've seen way too many guys fall victim to this bad timing. That just meant they became the gray beard line pilot that everyone knew as the MWS expert and they retired as a crusty Major, but from what happened last year with the non-continuation and the recent RIF it looks like that crusty O-4 may soon be a thing of the past. You put me head to head with all of the Pilots and Navs in my year group and lets start comparing FEFs as at least one factor. If I don't make Maj or Lt Col because I didn't make the mark than at least I know where I stand and I also know that we were comparing apples and apples. It would give us a chance to give folks credit for specific accomplishments vs. just looking for how many #1's they have on their OPR. A non-rated O-6 recently told me that any Sq or Gp "of the Qtr" awards on a PRF are almost useless as far as board members are concerned and are seen pretty much as filler. Well if you are a MX officer and there are only 6 CGO's in the Group that makes sense, but if you are in a large flying Wing and you had to beat out 325 other CGOs in your Gp that Qtr then I think it actually means something. I don't ever see them splitting up the promotion boards in my career by AFSC or even rated/non-rated and I'm not even sure that is the right answer. Maybe having a legit 2-3 yr promotion zone where raters aren't forced into a corner with DP's and P's just based on numbers? I do know that with budget cuts coming up and our current one strike and you're out promotion policy, we're going to lose a lot of great aviators both to non-promotion and a growing pool of pilots who just aren't going to play the game because they keep changing the rules on them and airlines look to once again become a viable option.

Just be careful of one thing if you are trying to use this for box checking for promotion (pretty much O-4's or O-4 selects). Remember that for any kind of a board/rack and stack these days, they are not only looking for if you have an AAD and PME complete, but also when you completed it. My last 2 bosses talked guys who had just pinned on O-4 into dropping their BAC+ masters and normal ACSC in cor for the OLMP, but then it was held against them when it came to rack and stack, school, PRF, etc because on paper it basically said "no AAD and no ACSC". Both could have double tapped classes and ACSC and been done in 6 months, but ended up not getting completion credit for either until almost 2 yrs later which definitely hurt them. It sounds like a great deal, but the definite catch is that your completion date for both AAD and ACSC are being used as a discriminator now. If you are starting with no masters work at all it is probably a really good deal, but if you can knock out the rest of a Masters and do the ACSC test a week plan to check the boxes a lot quicker that is probably your best bet. Pretty sad that we even have to discuss this as an issue...

Apparently that won't even help... check out the guys who just got RIF'd today who were SOS/Masters complete on the VSP Force Shaping thread!

My most sincere apologies to all of those out there who slaved for weeks to get a Trident University Masters... I have often been forced to throw punches with folks who dared to speak ill of the prestigious Embry Riddle Worldwide University from where I will forver hold my undying loyalty!!!

Well we certainly aren't going to be buying an extra F-22 or C-17 with the savings from cutting TA. But lets talk about maintaining our combat capability. I'll bet there isn't a single guy in my last Sq who wouldn't give up the $15-20K from TA that they used to get their forced and unwanted Embry Riddle or Toro degree if it meant that the Crew Dawg EP who got his walking papers at 15 1/2 yrs when he got passed over for O-5 could stay to retire! The AF is losing a whole lot more in capability by kicking him out than they will ever gain from all of those useless Masters degrees!!!

Perfect example of how TA is a good program when it is actually used for what it was intended. It was intended to be a service benefit, but on the AD officer side at least, has been hijacked by a bunch of clueless yes men who have forged a perverted view of the importance of education on the officer force. The AF would definitely benefit from the most educated officer force it can get, but that is not what they are getting. At Embry Riddle "Worldwide" (read online) a C-17 IP who has done SOS in res, ACSC in Cor, and has been to any AF formal safety course will get credit for half of their Masters course requirements before they take a single class. Of the classes they offer, the majority are probably on the GED level at best. Yup, got my Masters! Do you think that was what they had in mind when they introduced TA? Should I be pissed at my Wing CC and/or Sq CC (both were AF Interns that have degrees from George Washington that were paid for by the AF) that a great benefit was taken away from me when I really would have liked to have used TA to help pay for a legit Masters? Congratulations Big Blue... you turned a great TA benefit that could have been used to get a useful degree into the ultimate $25,000 Information Assurance CBT!!! I clicked through both as fast as I could, I learned nothing from either, and have a certificate from both... that are of about equal value!!!

You're 100% correct, I don't think the AF is looking to not train or qualify anyone. The concept of TA is great, but on the officer side what they are doing is shooting themselves in the foot by forcing a Masters and now looking at your Masters completion date to determine your "promotability". Think of it this way... how many guys out there who are young Capts flying the line are saying, "This is great... trying to upgrade to IP as fast as possible AND I get to spend all this time getting a Toro Masters!!!" TA should be used as a retention tool. My personal opinion is that the AF would be much better off if they legitimately kept a Masters masked... not sure you can change that cultural mindset though. Even when it was masked, my Sq CC's used to use a Masters as a discriminator when ranking PRFs. The point is that if you could use TA to get a legit Masters at even a descent State College or University in something that actually interested you or was going to be useful on the outside then people would look at it as a good deal. Instead what we have is a corps of Lts and young Capts who are more worried about a useless Masters and SOS in correspondence than learning how to fly their jet because they are worried about OPR Strats for future promotion and avoiding the next UAV drop (because we all know that in the CC's UAV rack and stack list of candidates there is a Y/N column for Masters/SOS)! Baseops.net forums prove my point! I've seen several posts on here talking about the Post 9/11 GI Bill and how good of a deal it is that you can pass it on to your kids/spouse, etc. I'm still looking for one that sings the praises of how great TA is for getting the incredibly useful Toro and Embry Riddle Masters!!! TA is a good program, unfortunately it has been perverted into a self-induced colossal waste of taxpayer dollars to essentially keep barely ligit online universities in business.