Hacker

There's much better video over at the Red Bull website. Tons of slo-mo cameras from multiple angles that show just how close he came to not flying out of that. I used to fly with Hall at Seymour when he was on his exchange tour -- a great dude and an equally great pilot. Happy to see him get out of that one unscathed.

I keep a digital logbook (an Excel spreadsheet) that tracks both military and civilian flight time. The military time is logged exactly the same (more or less) as it appears in AFORMS, and the civil time is logged as FAA regs proscribe. The digital book allows me to split off the time into mil-only, civil-only, or both, depending on what I want to use it for.

Oh, don't we wish that were true. Unfortunately the AF only pays lip service to heritage, and even then only selectively when it conveniently fits in with the current 'warrior monk' ethos. Disgusting.

Not lost it's mind...just traveled back in time 30 or 40 years. Curt LeMay standard.

The WUGs sometimes fly against them as fam, and sometimes they're also red air during the ME phase.

Wonder what drove this about-face.

It's not just about learning. It's also about harassment, and being able to take that harassment because of the big boy pants you were issued when you hit the big leagues.

Rainman, I heard a funny story about you from a deployed location...the story's unimportant, but the punchline seems especially appropriate here: "There's no fucking crying in baseball!!"

Electron conservation, every bit as critical as C-3 comm.

I can't imagine how tough it must be for you to have to type those extra two characters and completely spell "your".

I love all of Rainman's negative rep.

Valid shot. I didn't even see the link in the post to Huggy, so I'm a retard.

Good post.

Thanks. A 'yes' would have sufficed.

Is your "S-word" Col Sargeant? He was the Commandant when I was a punk Lt out at Nellis in the 90s.

This is unfortunately AF standard these days. There is no over-reaction too large in response to something that might be remotely questionable to someone at some point in the chain of command. It's like a competition between who can make the most conservative decision and deal the harshest penalty in response, just to ensure that some superior can't be potentially displeased with the result. With respect to spirit missions, I dunno when people stopped getting issued thick skin and started thinking that crying to mom/dad was the correct answer whenever someone hurt your feelings. A recent spirit mission at an AETC base was met with a similar cry-baby response, running to the leadership to punish the perps, rather than using that emotion to plot an even better response (the way it is supposed to be done among warriors...or, at least among adults who can take personal responsibility for their emotions and defense of their own pride and property).

So, they can put on an ME Phase LFE, but can't organize a spirit mission to a location that is manned around the clock? Seems like that would be a pretty easy mission to plan based on some of the ME Phase plans I've seen.

4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42

IMHO, that is a low standard -- I believe that every T-38 track graduate should be capable of graduating IFF (a higher performance/capability standard), but it isn't up to me. The statement, however, was in response to the assertion that in Phase III the standards were being lowered for dudes who would end up in an RPA -- a statement which is untrue in my experience.

Well, you can choose to shoot the quote full of logic or take it at face value. I didn't come up with it. Here's more from someone else who is an experienced fighter guy and RPA guy: https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/military/48614-drone-pilots-gaining-influence-usaf.html#post771512

I am currently a Phase III IP, and my Squadron Commander has said, in no uncertain terms, that "the minimum performance standard is a student who will be successful as a BUFF copilot." So, I haven't personally seen the weak sisters you're referring to passed through to graduation with the understanding that they'll soak up the RPA on assignment night.

This is what one of the RPA SQ/CCs has to say about the Beta guys: So, not only is the underlying assumption of the skills of the "average" UPT graduate that goes to RPAs incorrect, but the actual assessment of the Beta class performance seems to be massively mis-stated.

No, no regrets about being active and staying AD. There is a lot of grass-is-greener syndrome with people who make such statements -- I was certainly one of 'em. For a time about 6-9 years ago, I was hellbent on leaving AD and going to the ANG for all the same reasons that most people state; stable job and location, less deployments, less BS and politics, less queep, less cutthroat from people trying to make rank, etc. Unfortunately, these reasons come from an era that has passed. Today's ANG/Reserve units are in the deployment rotation just as much as anyone. The last two BRACs have changed MANY of those units' missions (if I'd gone to three of the four ANG fighter units I was hoping to go to, I'd no longer be flying a fighter), and some of those units have even gone to RPAs. With respect to the queep and admin, there is just as much of it there, too, it's just of a different flavor. True, it's a flavor that some people find easier to stomach, but it is there nonetheless. I second the idea of reading this thread over at APC, which has a lot of guys talking about their experiences leaving AD for the ANG/reserves (or retirement) and their reasons for wanting to get back on Active Duty. I have several peers who left active duty for greener pastures in the 2006-2007 timeframe and their experiences seem to mirror many of the thoughts in that thread (all of them except one have either gotten AGR jobs or back on AD). Certainly there is nothing *wrong* with the ANG and Reserves -- it's a great way to serve in and of itself. It's not, however, the Panacea that a lot of people on AD seem to think it is.

Eh? The WHOLE POINT of buying the OA-X is to be able to sell them or give them away as MAP/Military aid. WTF does the A-10 have to do with that?

This is the most moronic thread I've read on BaseOps in quite some time. whatever, YAAFM.