Kenny Powers

It's not specific to just one community either, we are definitely seeing a lower quality product showing up in the fighter community as well. You can bitch about it, or you can step up and make these kids better. They're able and willing, it's on us to accept the challenge the AF has given us. Not defending the AF for any of the bullshit decisions they have made, but by the time the product shows up to my squadron, it's now my problem. I'll make them better and get them up to speed. Wont be easy but we cant accept anything less.

Damn it. You caught me, power clicked the CBTs.

Copy. Identifies as a "he". And all this time I thought those CBTs were bullshit.

I still have no idea WTF this thread is about.

Recruiters don't typically have any idea of how the hiring board selects candidates for interviews. They barely know how the process works at all, so just take what they say with a grain of salt.

All my best stories, amazing experiences, and life long memories are from when I was AD or ANG deployed/TDY. Those are also the hardest times because you're away from family. All the stories my wife and I talk about are from when we were active duty and we've seen it all. AD Enlisted, ANG Enlisted, civilian with great careers, now ANG pilot who's considering going AD. All in all over 15 years of service in some form or another. We never say "Hey, remember that time we all went out with that civilian company you used to work for?" Hell, I could barely get the guys on my team to go do a happy hour on Friday kind of thing, and I was paying with the company card! I also remember literally getting so bored at times at work that I got tired of searching the internet. Being in the military is tough, being a fighter pilot makes it even more tough. It's difficult, it's dangerous, and you're busy all the damn time. It's also not forever. I will eventually move on, so will everyone else. But flying through the AOR in the middle of the night and getting re-rolled to go drop bombs on ISIS to support the guys on the ground makes it all worth it.

What are the odds, as a traditional, that a reservist gets picked for a 179 or 365 somewhere? Does that happen still? I remember reservists in the B-course at Luke getting these 1 off deployments, as opposed to the Guard where you only really deploy when your squadron goes. I'm pretty ignorant to the whole deployment process for the reserves.

I always tell people that your scores, GPA, etc. are what get you the interview and they don't really matter much after that. Once you show up for the interview, we are trying to get to know you so we can make the decision based off the "whole person" concept everyone talks about.

It all comes down to the application, the meet and greet, and the interview. You need to win at least 2 out of those 3 to be considered, in my opinion. If you dont have a great interview, that can be overlooked if the meet and greet went well. If someone else nails all 3, then they'll probably get hired over you. If you don't do well in the meet and greet and you dont do well in the interview, then you're out. Sometimes it's also just really tough. The meet and greet goes well and the applicants interview well. So then it comes down to kind of our "gut feeling" about who we think would work out best in the squadron and go with that.

Maybe save the "Been rejected by a lesbian in a lesbian bar" story for when you are actually having beers. You can PM me if you need feedback. I have reviewed your application in the past.

Why would they? It might be happening but, just to remind everyone here, it's the exception, not the rule. So, unless your application is really awesome, most unit's probably aren't going to pursue one. Scores really aren't enough on their own, either. When we get 100 applications, I would say at least half of them have really good scores. So now I need to find another way to pick 12 or so people to invite to an interview. So I read through maybe the top 20 or so based on scores, GPA, maybe some other factors, and really try to figure out what kind of person you are by reading your cover letter, your letters of recommendation, and seeing what you have accomplished over the years. Then, we'll narrow it down to a dozen people or so and send out invites. My best advice is to try and find a way to make your application stand out and grab my attention. I honestly dont care how it's prepared but it should be neat and orderly, but no need to spend much money on it. It sucks when reading through the top 20 applications and they all read the same. Good scores, good GPA, and guess what? All letters of recommendation sound the same. When reading your cover letter, I honestly don't care what you type about why you want to fly with us. It could all just be bullshit that you just researched online the night before. I think it'd be awesome to see a cover letter, in bullet format, telling me about all the cool things you have done, the stuff the doesn't have a place on a resume. The stories you would tell your bros over a beer. And don't be a douche. These are all random thoughts after having a few beers. I encourage everyone to keep applying, no matter the odds. Age waivers are not common and I wouldn't expect a Squadron to be willing to work one, but you never know. You're application is really going to have to stand out and even then it's still a long shot. Use this information to make the best decision you can if you want to get in this business. Maybe the UPT ship has sailed, but there are other options out there that can still be pretty cool.

How'd you convince the pilots to let you do the flying?

Please, do go on about this loosing money...

I should preface that by saying I only use my GTC to pay for the airline ticket.

Or not having the funds to go on the next TDY because your card has lot been paid off from the last.

Drill Status Guardsmen. Your traditional 1 weekend a month 2 weeks a year type status.

Agree to disagree, maybe your experience with these types of situations is different than mine. And I dont know the timeline of the above audio (is it real time?), but I clocked about 40 seconds between barrel roll and crash. So what do you think would have changed based on your arguement above?

Who F#cking cares what uniform people wear?

I dont know your background, so I dont mean to insult, but once the Eagles picked him up on their radar, they could've shot him down at any given moment. Guess what happens to an airliner when you shoot it down? It crashes. Probably fully in contact. Missiles cause planes to crash by sending frag through critical systems, like hydraulics. Even if they spear the aircraft, if they dont render those systems useless, the plane will probably still fly. There is a reason we shoot x2 at airline sized aircraft. So, do we shoot a plane down with a dude who hasn't necessarily shown hostile intent and let it crash in a random place, or wait and see what happens? Not like you are controlling the crash either way, unless it was headed for a very specific target. Did that dude crash intentionally? Was there a good point during the intercept to shoot him down and not be worried about where the plane would end up? I dont know. I dont have a ton of ACA experience, but I have some, and i have intercepted dudes with live missiles on my jet. Things happen quick and the situation is extremely ambiguous. It's a pick up game trying to figure out WTF is going on and what the intent is. Unless I heard Rich on the radio sounding like he wanted to hurt people, or the voice of God spoke over the NORAD freq and told me this was a known terrorist plot, I'd have a difficult time shooting. Edit to add: As a fighter pilot doing ACA, it's almost never my call to shoot. It's my job to intercept the guy, tell NORAD what is going on, and try to help make contact (over the radio or visually) or direct him away from a specific area.

Real question: why do the -135 guys always have the lights cranked down so low in the AOR, while the -10 guys are lit up like Christmas trees? Only a few times I was really nervous in the AOR, and most of the time it involved night AR w/ a -135...

Yes.

We had F-15s ready to shoot it down, it wasn't required. You're upset?

I disagree. We didn't get lucky, our process worked. We knew the situation, the Eagle pilots and ATC fed up to date information to everyone involved, and the decision was made to NOT shoot this aircraft down based on the threat it posed. Had the threat assessment changed, then the decision to shoot it down would have changed.

No, not at all. Nothing cool about shooting down an airliner, regardless of the situation.

My point is, this is about the best possible outcome, unless the guy could have successfully landed somewhere without hurting anyone. A shootdown would have really opened a can of worms. All participants in a situation like this are using the most up to date information to make a risk assessment. Rarely would that result in an engagement order. Again, this situation turned out almost as good as you could hope.