Fuzz

I keep hearing that CFPS is supposed to be going away sometime this year and being replaced by JUMPs. My base is still using CFP.

We don't need them in 5 years, we needed them yesterday. Also it's the same thing we've heard about CSSs coming back for years now, I'm not going to hold my breath for something years down the road.

So just like the people who own Air BNB/Crashpads? So what exactly is the difference then?

The best they could come up with is a "fire hazard" shows they really don't have much to stand on and are grasping at straws IMHO. For instance, at Altus there are dozens of houses used as crashpads, every house has to meet fire codes by law and there are laws covering landlord responsibilities for keeping properties in safe, habitable condition. I'm sure this is the case for the rest of the US as well. This also doesnt even cover requirements by insurance companies or property management companies that run these crash pads for the owners.

From talking with leadership here in AMC, it seems that the OSS/CC position is being highly looked at for future upper leadership because it deals with so many non-rated careers fields similar to what a WG/CC might have to deal with.

I'd go with your guard unit, chances are with such little time left at your current station no one is going to really be interested in opening the can of worms that situation with DFAS entails. Also even if they did, I'd be doubtful that you would get any resolution before you PCS'd anyway. Better to get the ball rolling wherever you will have the ability to keep it going the longest, also your home unit probably has more of a vested interest in your well being than whatever FTU unit you are at.

Absolutely call your Congressmen, it's amazing how fast DFAS gets their ass in gear when some from a congressional office starts poking around. However, I would advise you give your command a chance to use their avenues before you go to your representative or at least give them a heads up.

So nothing is going to change, hopefully they'll get serious soon...

Already covered here:

It didn't for the last decade plus, now it's a booming employment prospect. Also many of the intangible skills that you gain aside from flying skills may not be readily apparent to someone who has zero knowledge of or exposure to the field. Hence the reason many gravitate towards support fields that teach more readily recognizable skills.

The Army has been trying to fix the lack of minorities in combat fields for years, you can find dozens of articles about it with a quick google search. They've tried targeted recruitment, incentives etc. none have worked. Why? Well minorities (especially blacks) gravitate towards the career fields that provide skills for post-military service and translate to civilian jobs well. Being an infantryman is great but for a black kid with not a great education, "slaying bodies" as a skill on a resume isn't going to get them very far. On the other hand, a couple years working in logistics, as a mechanic or some other similar field gives a great chance of landing a good job after they finish their time in the military. https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/09/18/dont-blame-my-army-for-the-lack-of-black-officers-in-combat-commands/

C-17s having been wearing them deployed for almost 2 years, we starting to wear them when we head down range on TACC missions.

I find the ratio of pilots that are capable combat aviators higher in the AD side, that doesn't mean we don't have shitty pilots. Most AFRC and guard I've come across haven't cracked the 3-3 or 3-1 in years. That doesn't mean there aren't phenomenal pilots in the reserves or guard and with the flood of people moving from AD to the other side the mindsets are changing for the better.

I'm sure it varies by community but the guard and reserves from my experience provide an MWS qualified pilot sure but that doesn't usually mean a combat ready or capable pilot.

I think Rand did a study and determined that joint basing was at best a wash and worst a more expensive. Being on a joint base, it's not the worst thing, but funding always favors the owning side and more so when that side has a Corps with 3 star in charge. The biggest issue is the cultural differences like you mentioned the Army has 4,000 privates sitting around if they are in garrison to use for manual labor. As we all know the in thr AF everyone has a job, which causes the exact problem of mowing grass. Army: "just find an E-2 to mow your grass you don't need a landscaping contract!" AF: "all our airman have jobs". Also the when the Army is home they are in a garrison mindset, which doesn't mesh well when the AF side a mobility wing sending planes out on operational missions everyday. Couple months ago a big storm was expected to roll through and the AF leadership was considering evacuating the aircraft, but the Army (which owned the base Ad Hoc system) sent out a message early releasing everyone immediately without consulting the AF leadership. They stopped it before it got too far but they apparently couldn't grasp why we needed to keep people around to launch real world missions or prep jets to evacuate.

We tried that already with Fianance and Comm and it's been a shitshow. Local Comm and Finance squadrons got gutted to centralize "support" now they don't have the manpower or authority to deal with issues.

Now limited to a max altitude of 5,000': https://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/04/21/navy-increases-restrictions-t45-flights-new-cockpit-episode.html#.WPpoDT8OY2g.twitter

Depends on your definition of healthy, what the bean counters consider healthy to make their stoplight charts green or what we need to get the mission done. The C-17 is 105% manned on paper except they reduced our crew ratios from 3.0 to 2.5 and closed 2 squadrons. Yet our mission taskings havent decreased anywhere close to reflect our current manning, but according to AFPC we are overnmanned.

I've seen the same thing repeated elsewhere on several pilot social media pages or by friends. Homestar copy shot with the maintainers but that bring us right back to the issue we all hear about with wearing ABUs to "fit in" with the rest of the AF. When the highest ranking pilot in AMC won't put on a flight suit to address his pilots, what does that convey to those who are fed up with an institution that doesn't value their skills and training?

I know a couple non-rated folks who volunteered for it. Most of them had degrees in international relations, experience with the CRW or some type of similar background, so for them it fit with what they were interested in. Now as to the family life yeah you can tell it takes a toll, but one guy is an O-6, SDE select so I guess it has some merits if that's your cup of tea.

4ish year program, consisting of alternating two, year long tours at "home" (usually some staff from what I've seen) and two 365s working with the Afghanis.

Appealing to pilots while wearing ABUs, sounds petty but when you're facing a national crisis every piece of the message matters.

Well like I said I deleted that email pretty quickly along with the "aid de camp to Gen X" email. Regardless it's a stupid program for rated personnel given our manning crisis and I'all believe it when I see it about future squadron commanders.

My brief skim of it before deleted it like every other AFPC spam email was that only a couple non-rated career fields were eligible.