guineapigfury

I suspect that the 3 year TIG isn't directed at O-4s, but O-6s. Retire as an O-6 and you're a DV for life. Same thing for Chiefs. I think this is a quiet way for Big Blue to incentivize senior personnel to stick around past 20.

I'm an RPA guy and I feel nothing but sadness and pity for the missile dudes. I don't know if there's anything to even say beyond that. At least they get tater tots.

Gearpig wins the thread.

Coincidentally, the other night at work the subject of desertion came up. One of our SNCOs was telling us about some clown who went AWOL for about 30 years before OSI finally tracked him down. This guy is hosed.

I'm currently in an RPA squadron and we were told that pilots with a "core AFSC" other than 11U or 18X were still eligible for the various Force Management programs. So someone like me (2006 11M) could theoretically VSP or be RIF'd. I think that this is unlikely given our grave retention issues in this community, but you never know. Even more mind boggling is that the sensor operators lost their reenlistment bonus, and we already have an impossible time holding on to those guys. My DAFSC was changed to 18X according to vMPF, I think this is just how they do things.

Never went to SOS, glad I got to miss out on the verbal Hot Carl.

FTFY.

So, things ended badly for those who deceived their friends and chain of command. There is a lesson in there somewhere.

This is good advice. Why did the flying go poorly? Is it a stick and rudder problem or are you behind the aircraft? You can learn the required motor skills with practice, especially if you get a little flying in on the side. If you can't mentally keep up, then you've probably correctly assessed that you won't make a good pilot. However, if your issue is just being unable to land (my UPT class lost 2 dudes for this), then also consider the 18x program. You don't have to land the plane, you'll get a decent chance at shooting, and you can be in AFSOC. Whatever you choose, good luck.

Over at Terminal Lance the consensus on the USMC changes is that they are making their people miserable on purpose to drive people out. That should save them some money on severance checks when the drawdown hits.

What a shame, Vance used to have a pretty damn good finance shop.

I've seen it work 135 to 135 (3 times) and 135 to F-15 (twice). 5 out of 5 seemed to be doing fine, but in two the cases one of the spouses either got out or is looking to get out. The other option is for you both to go RPAs, since those are easy to get. As stated earlier, your best bet is to try and go for airframes and locations considered less desirable. Good luck.

I'm deployed with a bunch of guys who have the two piece flightsuit. It's definitely favored over the tan pajamas by the guys who can choose between the two.

Sounds like a great opportunity for jury nullification.

2.

Enlighten me. What is a "walker"? Is this short for daywalker? I'm always looking to expand my inventory of insults.

Well played.

The goal should be 3 weeks so that aircrew don't automatically go noncurrent.

The real savings aren't in turning Os into Es, but Es into Civs on the support side. All those finance and MSG airmen who can accomplish 100% of their tasks from a computer: turn em into GS-whatevers. 30 years to retirement is perfectly reasonable for clerks, and we can stop paying for GI Bill, TA, PCS costs, etc. As an added bonus, you'll reduce turnover and thus make them more efficient since they'll just repeat the same tasks for a couple decades in a row. Also, if they aren't in uniform I bet we'll find a way to leave them at home for the next fight, saving on deployment costs.

I went through UPT at Vance in 07-08, and we did have some AFSOC guy come give us a brief about U-28s. One time thing as far as I know, but an effort was made. However, word quickly filtered back that the mission was significantly less awesome than briefed. I don't know if that was true or not, but RUMINT and stories from their IPs is all most UPT students have prior to assignment night. There were no U-28 pilots among the IPs so RUMINT was all we had.

I think we've done this before.

Touche.

You'd have grievous morale issues because the O would be "stealing their shot". Also, I call the CAOC frequently, and I've yet to be impressed.

I bet his cellmate will take care of it at no expense to the taxpayer.

I feel bad for you guys joining these days. Letting people sign a 10 year contract, then leaving them unemployed for 6 months is unconscionable. However, you have just learned an important lesson in how the AF treats people. If you're ever in a position to change this sort of bullshit, do it. I hope you find health insurance for you and your wife. Good luck at UPT.