SCRIMP

Something you should consider is to never pass up an opportunity for Uncle Sam to pay you. Whoever talked about the weight is spot on. Buy the truck and a small home gym. Move that shit first time...make money on the process. Hell, if I was single and a shiny 2Lt again, I’d buy my ass a 5th wheel or some shit. Pay off that MF in the first couple of years then BOOM...something you can use for a long time. Buying a trailer of your own is something that the AF will eventually buy for you through moving costs.

You have been given plenty of advice. Your idea to fly in and buy something off the lemon lot, etc has plenty of holes..you should be focusing on preparing for what’s in front of you, working with your classmates, socializing at the club, etc. Buying a junker in the local area opens up opportunities for the car to be a distraction...broken down, filled with meth and dead hookers, unreliable transportation, etc. Listen to the advice of others. Buy yourself a new vehicle and drive it cross country. I’d get one of the new eco-boost F150s so you still get all the functionality of a truck and decent gas mileage. That way you are prepared for what’s in front of you. Make the most of the drive. Stop being a bitch. See some cool shit on the way. Listen to a book on tape. Do anything other than ask for advice and then complain when it doesn’t match your preconceived notions. Seriously, stop arguing. Buy a new, reliable vehicle that won’t be a distraction (to use as an excuse) for your future failures. You don’t know what track you’re going to get (if you graduate). You could end up moving several more times during the pipeline. The scary part of all of this is your SA LOW Light is flashing and you can’t see it.

There was more as well...

I’m running into roadblocks at Nellis. It seems like Flight Med/Med group just changed their 422 policy to where you have to have a separation date to get an SHPE scheduled...to get a separation date, I have to have a 422. This revolving door of suck is starting to make me nervous that I won’t be able to hit my Aug 18 proposed sep date. Additionally palace chase/front has now been bumped down to the lowest priority. This logic seems reverse considering they are working admin seps and retirements over folks that are still willing to continue service in the guard/reserves. I’m not expecting common sense to prevail in this but any help would be greatly appreciated.

My flesh peddler is telling me he thinks asking for anything greater than six months off my ADSC will result in a denial and subsequent flail to actually get a package approved at the six month point. I’m only asking for seven months off for an test prep program with my new company. Flesh peddler said that I could potentially request the 7 months off but in my package put that I could accept a date at the 6 month point. Any suggestions on this from the bros with experience? W11H.

Part of the problem with your statement is defining ‘who is jack’. ACC rescue is rarely in position to execute a SOF CSAR because they are holding alert for the CAF. I do agree that ACC holds the reigns far to tight. Freedom of maneuver would be great but it comes down to defining the mission. You can’t have a niche mission that isn’t defined as you just end up being good at nothing because you prepare for everything. It would be great if someone would just make a decision...until then I will just continue to look for ARC/ANG jobs. Anyone have any openings (sts)?

With the constant threat of TL;DR: https://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=AD1015743 I appreciate the dialogue. It is starting to feel like this decision is being made in a HAF vacuum so I mainly wanted to start the discussion to see if those who rely on our service was aware that it may be changing in the near future.

Fingers falls in the same category as a customer of AFSOC. I wasn’t around back then, but do you think that AFSOC has changed after 16 years of GWOT? I’m asking those still strapping on the jet to cross the wire into OIR if they think it is a good idea to have their insurance policy being held/funded by a different MAJCOM that may or may not hold the mission of CSAR at the same level of priority.

Part of my concern is the rumor floating around the punch bowl is that the HH-60W purchase is going to be reduced so they can buy an additional 12-18 CVs. My concern is that AFSOC doesn’t actually want the mission and you “customers” won’t be as much of a priority as a secondary mission set. This move also causes problems for the guard/reserve side of the house from what I understand. The more this discussion continues, the more I wonder if this discussion is occurring because ACC doesn’t want the mission either.

The acquisition process alone is a highly attractive benefit for a move to AFSOC. It seems like it is a lot easier to get the material solutions that are required for a 3rd gen helicopter to affect 5th gen needs. It will be interesting to see who will still hold the execute authority if AFSOC owns us but we are operating for the CFACC.

The discussion of moving CSAR from ACC to AFSOC is alive and well again at HAF. I am curious what the actual customers of our “insurance policy” think about this move. I would also love to hear from the AFSOC folks in the room if this is actually a mission you want to execute?

HH-60G, callsign Pedro66, was shot-down in the Helmand River Valley...not a fighter or bomber...sorry, I'm not sorry. There was a lot of BDA on USAF helos.

Can someone PM me some information on the Vance Reserve squadron. I had zero luck today via the global. I have a ton of questions. Thanks in advance! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thoughts and prayers for the 33d.

Some of y'all need some perspective. Next time you are over in the Stan, please feel free to swing by the PEDRO pad and clean the blood out of the back of our helicopters. I don't care if the patients in the back of my bird (dying, missing limbs, dead) are gay, straight, tuck their junk back and cluck like a chicken...they deserve equal rights. Their partners deserve equal rights if they are are one of the unlucky who don't make it back home. IEDs do not discriminate...why should we?

I'm pretty sure that is from his own bro running him over during the getaway...partially anyways.

I shouldn't have watched last night's episode. It was good, but definitely brought back bad memories. It is tough to watch, but I love that this show attempted to displayed the tragedy and insanity of war. 99.9% of Americans don't understand what is going on to the men and women serving over there. Picking up the dead and dying day after day can do incredible things to your sense of normalcy. It is surprising how normal a GSW can seem on a daily basis. I still remember my first missions over there and just thinking...this is insane. We go out and see the worst of the worst...when we get back to the TOC, dudes (officers and enlisted) just go back to playing X-BOX or whatever they were doing. I always encouraged my crew to check up on our really bad patients when we got off shift. It wasn't for everyone, but it made me feel better. It is hard to describe what war really looks like...and granted, we are only there to pick up the wounded. We are rarely in the actual fight that caused the injuries, but it is still impossible to describe. The look of desperation, fear and chaos seeing the injured carrying the dead to the helicopter is impossible to really describe. I don't give a ###### who does more missions, who's balls are bigger...I am just glad that someone is there to be there for the men and women on the ground. Cheers to Tricky, Dustoff and Pedros alike.

The escort requirement is for women and children. There was a rash of incidents early on (before the escort requirement) where were would pick up a woman or child. After they were treated and released, they would be murdered in their village because they thought they had been dirtied by the Americans. There was also another rash of incidents at Lash where armed gunmen would enter the hospital and kill certain people (many of which filled the description above). I don't know why they insisted on picking up the escort when the dude ended up being a MAM. We own several tents/buildings at each of our locations so people are usually spread out a little. When a mission drops, the Flight Lead, #2 AC, CRO and TL go to the TOC for the drop. For some reason NatGeo focused more on the PJs during this portion of it. In reality, it is the Flight Lead developing the game-plan with the CRO/TL for whatever the mission requires. The PJs always deploy their own gym since we can't leave the alert facility so that is always nice. Other than that, dudes are either watching movies, working out, sleeping or doing homework. When there isn't a mission it is just a mix. Sometimes we are all hanging out with each other. Most of the time it is weird thought because they are always re-applying their bronzer. On Sundays at Bastion the PJs would invite the British nurses over for a team crossfit workout. That was always a good time.

If I remember this mission correctly, the dudes on the ground were a non-partnered group of Afghanis. That would be the main reason to not go in there for a hoist. The helo is a sitting duck in a hover where even if the RPG doesn't kill you right away, the sudden spinning crash into the ground most likely will...or the fire, there is always the fire. Picking up non-partnered Afghanis is not something we do on a regular basis...at least not the last time I was there. A hoist is always an option though.

9 AF/CC

Gen Wells asked this question at the Q/A session at our base as well. He asked for a show of hands on how much the "health and wellness inspections" would improve the environment. When noone raised their hands, he pulled a SSgt out of the audience and she told him, and I am paraphrasing, "everyone shouldn't have to wear diapers just because one guy shits his pants." I thought it was well said.

Funny thing about this is that the question came up during a recent Q/A session with Gen Wells. He flat out said that it is not in the cards. We fall well below the F-35, KC-X, Bomber of the future, etc. At least he didn't mention Tops in Blue.

From the premier it looks like it is going to be a great series. I highly encourage everyone to watch.

Watch the video titled "Unique Hobby". I don't know why it didn't link to that video. The www.youtube.com video was hilarious. Thanks! Regardless, it is a video, on the af.mil website, of people LARPing on base.