Motofalcon

Yeah, but then you have to pay back the unearned portion of the bonus - the kicker is that you pay back 100% of the unearned value, not the 75% you received after taxes. So it actually costs money out of your pocket to turn down continuation.

Yeah, they have been testing some new flight suits by giving them to a few pilots at a few bases to get feedback. I think there's about 6-9 new models with small variations in material, cut, or both. One of them is made of a material that looks "acid washed" and has a shininess to it - it looks like an older poopy suit inside out.

Counterpoint - I don't know what the purpose of the pin is since the lever should be sufficient (and easier to use and no "dropped pin/FOD" hazard). To be fair, the ACES II in the viper/eagle/hog has both an arming lever and a pin, except the pin is in the lever (not at the base of the ejection handle) and only prevents the arming lever from accidentally getting knocked down into the "armed" position (the pin in the new MB -38 seats prevents the lever from being armed AND prevents the handle from being pulled a la T-6, should the lever mechanism fail). Also, removing the pin in the big boy jets is a maintenance function (it is pulled and stowed before the pilot gets to the jet). When I was at RND I forgot to put the pin back in the -38 seat (arming lever was in "safe") and maintenance made me go back out to the jet to put the seat pin back in - they said they would not touch the pin (even though the seat was safed) and either the pilot or someone from egress had to put the pin back in. No idea why, just a stupid empire rule that didn't seem worth fighting. Its too bad that they harp on the pin so much, because a) it's unnecessary, and b) without it that lever can be quickly slapped down to arm the seat and then handle pulled. Not sure if it would have helped here, but maybe.

Yeah, well given how the AFPC folks responded back when the AFI had two conflicting notes (always pick the note that kept the member in sts), I'm pretty sure that now if it it came down to the AFI vs "a guy at the porch told me" there is a 0.0% Pk of being let out of an ADSC. I won't believe it until there is a written change to the reg.

It's not about "return on investment", it's about keeping people forever. If it was ROI, then you would owe a lot more time for the 8-month/69-sortie B course than you would for a 6-week/12-sortie T-X requal course, which would be more than you'd owe for a 2-ride post-DNIF in house requal. This is just gonna force people's hands into either 7-day opting earlier than they wanted or being stuck forever.

Good point - here's a few other situations I thought of that are sure to cause grief if an in-house requal costs 3 years: 1) MWS pilot gets tagged for non flying 179 or 365. The only way to insure yourself is to take an I/Q checkride right before you leave, so when you come back you aren't unqualified, just non current. That does take sq/cc approval for an out of zone check, and given what I've read in other threads about some sq/CCs, that may be easier said than done. I don't think that would work for your Cessna problem though, because once you get the qual in the Cessna, it voids your previous MWS qual, no matter how current the form 8 (no dual qual for the average joe) 2) MWS female pilot gets pregnant - during her DNIF period, her checkride expires. So does she pick up 3 years just to requal once she pickles? (This can also expand to any pilot who has a long term DNIF) 3) MWS pilot gets a Q3 and is directed to fly X sorties/sims before refly - does this count as an in house requal? Again, who is gonna track down every "RQ INST/QUAL" form 8 and attach an adsc, I have no idea. But it seems like the AF didn't think this one all the way through (shocking). It used to be clear that they were picking and choosing what they wanted to follow - now they just muddied up the waters.

This was discussed over in the adsc thread, but short answer: you gotta watch out for note 1c, because it says that an initial qual in a new airframe (like the one you would get when cross flowing to your new MDS) will cost you the full 3 year adsc, even if it goes past your initial UPT ten year commitment. Yes, note 1b and 1c directly contradict themselves, but when I brought that up to afpc, they stuck with 1c and I picked up an extra year when I got my T-38 initial qual. But it sounds like others have gotten it waived or reduced, so ymmv. Hope for the best (no extra adsc) but prepare yourself for the worst (full 3 year adsc for a form 8 that says "INIT QUAL" on it).

Yeah, but do they do a normal UPT syllabus (T-6s and then T-38s)? Because we had the Saudis at CBM as well (along with Japanese, Italian, a couple others), but those were called international students, not ALP, and they did the same syllabus as the US students.

Aviation Leadership Program; we take the best and brightest from up and coming countries (former eastern bloc, South America, Africa, etc) and put them through a 10-month T-6 only syllabus (basically T-6s twice) and then give them USAF wings and send them back home. It's a mil-pol program, because we take the young lts who show promise to become higher ranking/chiefs of staff/etc later on, so if we need to conduct ops in/need support from their country in the future (when these ALP'sters are in charge), we can hopefully cash in on the good experience/training/memories they have of the US/USAF. Most of them are already pilots in their home country; some of it can be pretty easy (I taught a Colombian Tucano pilot - flying with him was like flying CT, and he had gnarly stories about going after drug runners) but some can be ridiculously difficult due to language/cultural barriers or the fact that the kid may have never seen an airplane until he flew to America, so the whole concept of aviation is foreign (no pun intended). This info is CAO 2010 from Columbus (which I think was the only base doing ALP back then), others may have more current info...

To answer in order: 1) Yes, we are. Let us not forget that while everyone says we are "officers first, pilots second" we are actually "Americans first, officers second, pilots third". It only pays back dividends to the country as a whole to have well-rounded, educated people in the citizenry; mil, retired/separated, or otherwise. That was the reason behind the original Montgomery GI Bill. 2) We should be able to. 3) We are incapable of that, given the current leadership model under which we operate.

I think the whole "you will get punished for talking about something other than the Air Force" has one merit, in the fact that it insulates the young punks from becoming too salty too quickly. HOWEVER - I 100% disagree with it. That is a prime example of the AF treating the symptoms, not the problem. You can place a gag order (sts) or use ground evals to "punish" dudes talking about getting out, or you can fix the problem at the source and make it so there isn't such a monstrous disparity between AF and life outside (airlines or otherwise).

I've got a nice Dark Horse leather jacket, but since I probably won't wear it anymore after I get out, I was thinking I would go full Navy-style and take all my different patches from all my flying tours (all my old nametags, wing/sq/deployment/tdy patches, airframe, flying hours, etc) and put them all over it, so that jacket shows my entire flying career. I figure it's a better way than a shadow container to keep/show off the stuff that really matters to me. And you never know, maybe when I'm old and crusty I'll wear it to airshows or hobbling around the BX mall with my retiree hat...

That is true. The FY17 bonus only had one category of eligible pilots - initial eligible, i.e. your UPT ADSC expired in FY2017. No early eligibles, and anyone who had taken a previous bonus (not an early taker, but an actual previous bonus) was not eligible to renegotiate.

Yeah, yeah - you know what I mean. Besides making a point here in this discussion, I don't normally go around saying these things to any young UPT/MQT student I see.

Well, I read this two ways/have two opinions: 1) The flt/cc and/or IPs are trying to tell you that if you are only here to get your ticket into the airlines, you are here for the wrong reasons. What we do as military pilots may be similar (MAF) or not that close beyond the fact we are both in airplanes (CAF), but either way, this isn't Embry Riddle, so if that's what you are here for, get out. I see nothing wrong with setting that expectation right up front, especially with all the airline/AF exodus in the news; we don't want LTs who are just waiting for their clock to run out so they can go fly for the big 4 (we have enough O-4s doing that...) 2) You're goddamn right I'm better than an airline pilot. I'm also the best fighter pilot in the Air Force. If you don't believe me, come fly with me and I'll prove it. I say that with some sarcasm, but I also know I spent ten solid hours of academics about 2 months ago (and probably 480 more of self study) learning about to use M7.1 in my mighty viper and efficiently employ the 69 different weapons we carry. Not once did we talk about the fact that I am also flying an airplane at the same time (by myself #singleseat), and I'll have to recover it (via hand flying!) sometimes to 200' on an ILS. And I might have 3 wingmen following me around as well. That is just assumed. So when an entire airline pilot's - sorry, crew's - job is to take off, go somewhere else, and land, which is all of .80% of my cranium, yeah, I'll feel a bit superior. They can get butt hurt about that and cry during their drive home in their Maserati and lick their wounds while they don't work for a week, while I sweat my ass off in MOPP4. That's fine, that's the deal, and you bet your ass I envy them in some aspects. However, I also don't go around telling everyone I am better than an airline pilot, and they are just idiot bus drivers, or whatever. That's just poor form and seems petty. They have their benefits (QoL, money, etc) and I have mine (BFM, dropping weapons, shooting the gun, Red Flag, etc). No need for name calling, especially since some of them have been here and done this (ref Hacker above and many, many others on this forum)

Disclaimer: 100% speculation, we'll see what the SIB/AIB says in 6.9 months... There is no way a "wind gust" would flip a viper all the way onto its back during taxi unless it's a damn hurricane. Seriously, to lift the entire fuselage/engine up and over the wing?? Come on. Hell, a gust strong enough just to put it up on a single main and wingtip would be *hopefully* something the wx guys could forecast and would be well outside the normal limits and therefore a wx cnx. Now, a strong wind gust during landing, which pushed the mighty mighty off the runway and THEN it flipped - maybe. Not probable, but possible. But flipping on its back during taxi? I don't buy it. And while I feel bad for him and hope he has no serious injuries, that crew chief has one of gnarliest fam ride stories around.

Here's a question, since I am actually considering making a deal with the devil: When does the ADSC start? The only thing I can find is in the PSDM: "AvB agreements will be effective on the later of the two following dates: Officer's FY2017 eligibility date Day officer applies for the agreement" So since I am already past my UPT adsc, does that mean the day I submit my application (as soon as tomorrow) is when my 1 year starts? Just don't want to submit, and then in two months when the form has been screwed up & corrected multiple times, and then finally signed by me, THAT'S when my extra year starts.

I imagine overall the take rates will go up - I'm probably gonna take a 1-year, because I have additional adsc for an airframe switch, and I have to stay anyway - might as well take the money. However, I bet if we looked closer, there's gonna be a lot of 1- and 2- year takers, and very few of the 5-, 9-, or 13-year takers. The AF probably won't show those numbers, because it will highlight that long term retention is still a problem. They'll just show that overall the take rate is higher than last year.

From the PSDM: Eligible Officers: a. Active duty pilots (11X), RPA pilots (11U/12U/13U/18X) and CSOs (12B/12F/12R/12S) who have completed their UFT ADSC in FY2017. i. Other ADSCs do not affect AvB eligibility So I read that all they care about is that your UPT/UNT ADSC expires in 2017. Other ADSCs (school, GI Bill, PCS) do not disqualify you. Which seems (to me) that the 1 year can be a no-brainer for some.

I know of two - the data is slightly old (right around fall '15 or spring of '16, can't exactly remember). One was an 11F, one was an 11B, both in white jets. Neither wanted to get out, and I bet that even if the AF had told them they were never going back to their MWS's but would just bounce around AETC (so very little money out of uncle suckers pockets, no T-X courses/requals) they would've been totally happy with that. Instead we lost two dudes and had two more slots to fill from somewhere else. I realize the shortage discussion has somewhat picked up since then, but even back then everyone I knew at afpc was talking about it and saying how it was about to get really bad - and then they kicked out those two guys.

Last I checked, most of us signed up to be part of the military; more specifically, the US Air Force, the god damn "Fly, Fight, WIN" set of air warriors who rain death down upon the enemies and oppressors of the democratic free world. This AFPAK hands sounds a LOT like some state department, political BS that most of us specifically did NOT sign up for. If we wanted to be politicians, we would have gone into politics. Instead we are the warriors (not used sarcastically), the "blunt objects", the "politics by other means" type. Take your double-speaking, snake oil salesman pitch elsewhere. You'll find no takers here.

JTFC...

Until all the bomber squadrons start reporting red on SORTS and DRRS because their inexperience levels skyrocket and AC/IP numbers plummet... Sounds like a win-lose; win on an excel spreadsheet, lose actual combat capability. I'll go thank a personnelist for that. Pile-on question: where are all these UPT grads going to bombers coming from? According to the assignment night thread, almost every -38 stud is going to a fighter. You gonna take em from T-1s? So the shortage moves to the AMC world (more than it already exists)? this is a serious question.

Nailed it.

A toast to FAIP mafioso Shill - he came through PIT 6-9 months ago and rocked the course; was even nominated for a "Best PIT trainee of the year" award. A sad loss for America and the AF. Hook 'em all, my friend...