Chuck17

I signed the paperwork once I arrived at school. Before I signed the ACP, I had to sign a 4-YEAR commitment to attend school in-res - one year for the PCS, three for the school. Same for anyone who is going to In-Res. So those of us who were eligible for this years ACP, AND were or are going to school, are already committed for 4 years anyway. "They" essentially gave me 125 grand for another years service. Instead of 4 years for school, I'm on the hook for 5 for the ACP. I stay an extra year, make bank, and end up at the 16 year point when it is all said and done. If that sends me to some shithole for a year, so be it. I will take my check o' the month club payout at 42 years old, thank you very much. YMMV. "WTF Chuck? Why are you sharing this BS I dont care about?" you say... Well, there is plenty of shit-on-the-AF-talk here at Baseops. This isnt a bleed blue rant. This is a "YGBSM" rant. Why? Because YGBSM that they are handing me a check for 5 years after telling me I am already committed for 4. That is the most backwards thinking I have ever heard of. There is no reason that people like me are the target. If I am the target, this whole program is FUCKED and needs to be scuttled. Why? Because I was going to stay anyway. I needed ZERO additional motivation to continue my service. This ACP program needs to be geared toward people who are on the fence. And that means UPPING THE ANTE to keep the guys who are the core of experience. Do you have to scuttle the entire program and start over? Nah. You need to compensate dudes like me, but dudes who are facing no motivation to stay require a hell of a lot more than the paltry stipend that is currently offered. Up theirs, not mine. You've got me. We need THEM. Just a thought, and hoping to keep the conversation going. Cheers. Chuck

Sweet crap. I did the safety thing. Run this up to the Wing FSO. If the Wing balks, go to the MAJCOM. Withholding something until the "wing gets briefed" is idiotic. There is NO REASON they are withholding, other than their own ignorance. Chuck

Copy all, everyone has to have something to keep them up at night I guess... Like I said, I never understood the obsession with this kinda stuff. We've branched off from the focus on sexual assault to a focus on white whales. Since we have to toe the Big Blue line and show that we are doing SOMETHING.... I got it, message received. Move along folks, nothing to see here. Chuck

Too bad we can't have this so easy. We don't want things to change that drastically, or we'd end up with the AF's greatest chowhall commander getting put in charge of flying wings... if there was a way to up the standard, I'd be all for it. Sadly, that has never been the case, so we watch as the we get older and the bar gets lower... and lower... Chuck

Holy buckets, what corner of the AF did you grow up in? Maybe this is part of the problem... dudes cant get honest feedback because this kinda thinking has led to everyone thinking they're a shit-hot rocket ace and not knowing the majority of the squadron thinks they're functionally retarded when it comes to doing the J-O-B. Perhaps, if we provided a little more honest feedback in a manner in which it STUCK (Not some BS desk drawer feedback session), we would help weed the garden a bit. Maybe we wouldn't HAVE to promote 90% of dudes to Major - are you kidding me! 90%!? Hell 10% of the Captains I know don't deserve to be captains. We called them "double Lieutenants" when they got promoted in mass in 2009/10. And 90% of them will make Major? WHY? Because they all think they're gonna be CoS of the USAF, because they can't get honest feedback and their paperwork says "My #1/200 glasslicking booger-eaters; IDE ASAP, Astronaut Corps a must--this guy is NOT a dipshit" But no.... we can't. We have to "keep them in" despite the guys gettin' it done wanting them out. Can't have anyone get their feelings hurt. Kinda like... Ugh. How is the view from that high horse? Gotta be better than down here. I never understood the obsession that we have with stuff like this. Is it envy? Is someone having fun, enjoying their job, their "culture" as you say soooo foreign and evil that it must be outlawed? If (fighter) pilots were singing songs about railing dudes would it be somehow less taboo? I wonder if the Army has the kinda stigma amongst the non-operators that we have in the AF? Do all of their support-non-kill dudes think all the Rangers and SF and paratroopers are all out of touch, require a cultural change because killing people is morally questionable, and glorifying it through culture somehow promotes that culture and causes them to be murderers and rapists, etc? I don't sing, but I watch porn and read playboy - I am just unprofessional if I talk about it in the bar? Maybe I just like naked women... Dudes go out and deal death to our enemies everyday, putting their asses on the line, and people sit back in their office and preach on the morality of their culture, their traditions. BALLSY, no points for SA though. I'm sorry we are all delicate flowers who can't take feedback. Maybe that's something else we need to start in the flying community - have our own promotion boards so dudes can tell it like it is on performance reports while the rest of the force gives each other the virtual ass-pat until we get our asses handed to us by some other country in a no-shit shooting war... Chuck

28 graduates in my class: 2 foreign, 2 ANG, 3 AFRES, 21 AD. Of the 21 AD folks, 4 have punched thus far that I know of... 90 days left on ADSC, 17 of 21 still in. I'm not shitting on your argument, I'm just saying there is likely a bell-curve in a file in some desk at AFPC that supports your end and my end and everything in between. FWIW, I just signed up. Chuck

1. Life is not fair. 2. Timing is Everything. 3. There is no Justice. Chuck

I'm sure this was put together by some exec - hence the severe exec points. Chuck

You must have found a unicorn. I think your assumption on him passing the info is most likely. Unfortunately, it sounds like the most lethal as well. Thanks for sharing your experience... I have a feeling this is gonna suck for a while - isn't there a saying about only being able to see see 25% of an iceberg above the water...? Ugh. Chuck

Good points. But, every time I hear about this I laugh. What would a Stop Loss do to the flying community? Know what a non-vol, stop-lossed pilot is? Non-current - to the point of belligerence. DNIF chronically. NMR'd as a matter of fact... I have heard it 100 times that "currency is the responsibility of the individual". Think there is any incentive for a stop-lossed dude to maintain currency? MR? What are they gonna do if he is stop-lossed and was getting out anyway? Give him paperwork? Disciplinary action? Send them to Leavenworth? Doubtful. Everyone else who ISNT getting out would end up picking up the slack. Talk about turmoil... This is a non-idea from non-thinking, non-operator glass-lickers at A1. Simple as that. They don't know any better. I'd pat them on the head and move along... if the idea wasn't so dangerous. Chuck

PM sent. Chuck

I thought this thread was about spectacularly high gravity in Iowa and hating on morons who make noise complaints... but Im down for bashing awesome misakes in my own community too, so pick your flavor... Chuck

Depends - what you see is standard SKE/FFS (formation flying system) spacing (4000', L/R 500') from a vantage point 36,000 feet below where I was sitting. It's the worlds finest "admin system" - meaning we have the ability to hook up the autopilot to maintain station off of lead. This was an admin leg to get home, nothing more, so we use the FFS system and let the jets fly themselves off of what lead is doing (for the most part). FWIW I'd always rather fly with the bros then be single ship... Tactically, if the weather was complete dogshit, and we were in the soup, I could couple to lead and maintain position without ever seeing him. Makes for great formation integrity when you otherwise couldnt see a thing... and usually stays on long enough for me to get clear of clouds. Comm out depends too - when using the FFS, you dont need comms - lead passes cues (up, down, left, right, faster, slower) back to the flight, your jet will match speed and heading changes, turn over the same geographic point, etc., you have to tell it to climb and descend. It has a text message feature that is useful for telling lead he sucks at leading, telling 2 to STFU, etc. But it doesnt require comms so long as you are hooked up to lead. Like I said, it's nice until you hit clear air down low, then I get to do my job. Chuck

3x WIC birds RTB from Nellis to McGuire. Number 3 is one sexy animal I can tell you that... It IS the most efficient way to spread chem-trails. Chuck

You're telling me there is NO ONE in that squadron thats willing email that story directly to the CSAF? Chuck

Not to mention the current ribbon of flying hour cuts, shortages in training, experience.... SQUADRONS at CHS get one local a week, 5 sorties a month now? No wonder! That's insane! And don't tell me the sim is the same! Thats total bullshit! But as long as we keep fixing symptoms, we will continue to hemorage, wreck jets, crews, hang dudes out to dry, kill people (the wrong people) and screw ourselves over. Starting to wonder why I'm still here.... Chuck

From Bergman: "The Ultimate Tactical Approach: Even YOU don't know where you're landing" Hope it all gets sorted out without any additional shenanigans on departure. Chuck

Having some experience with these, I can tell you that at the MLR, the Promotion Board, and at the DT, the wing commanders, etc in attendance that are reviewing records are told EXACTLY what to look for. And they are given specific guidance on what different AFSC identifiers mean (W, K, T, S, etc), on what the standout discriminators are (WIC Graduate, AF-level "Of the Year" awards, DG's, strats, etc.). Not only that, these dudes (in our case) are Line AF colonels. They can read a record, all-be-it with some coaching... The promotion boards are VERY fair. The DT boards where wing commanders fight for their dudes to get a good school or get schools at all, THOSE can come under heavy influence... Huge difference. From what I have seen, you need to show SEVERAL things, not just one, to make the biggest splash. To go far (no particular order): - PME (In-Res preferred) - Masters / AAD's (note, I did NOT say BAC+, guys love telling each other a BAC+ is enough - it is not anymore) - DG from something, the more the better - WIC / TPS is good, gives you a one-up in a lot of areas over your peers - Instructor / Evaluator helps. - Awards (not nominations), the higher the level the better. Nominations are good, not great. Annual awards are a big deal. - Have your house in order - SURF, duty history showing progression, Medals, etc should be correct, present - Push lines on OPRs help - Good Strats - from as large a population as possible - group-level or higher When it comes time to go to things like School Selection at a DT Board, it is a little different. Hard work and a great record will get you school, but having someone fight for you is all the better. Doesn't always happen, but at the Major level is where things REALLY start to get political. Love it or hate it, having someone pull for you (made easier by being a hard worker and a good dude) is a good thing. That's the way it is... Chuck

First and only. Chuck

Gents - if you (or more importantly your crews) did work in Japan last year, print this, distribute, and take it to MPF. The Humanitarian Service Medal ain't much, but helps get them the recognition they deserve. Chuck HSM Message.pdf

Speaking as one, who hasn't been one.... WG/CC's do that to take care of a guy who went to WIC and served some time as the Patch, but needs to be taken care of, or needs a push... Remember, "Like promotes like..." Far be it from me to speculate, but from my own observations, there are sometimes dudes who need a bullet or a push from on high because they were late bloomers, or their timing otherwise just sucked, or some other reason has the deck stacked against them and they are otherwise hard workers and good dudes. Going off to be the exec checks a box. Don't think that the AMC guys have the market cornered on box-checking. Pointy nosed guys are just as guilty. From what I have seen, it also has to do with the fact that many less-than-familiar upper-echelon commanders inevitably have a patch work for them at some point in their career, and suddenly they MUST have a patch work for them all the time, or they make billet "Y" a W-coded billet. And while the WIC and A3 work to kill that shit on a semi-annual basis, it still happens more often than you'd think. THAT is why Patches go off to do random-nerd-taskings (read: exec jobs). Good or bad is your call. For example, when a Patch works for "the boss" and becomes the "#1 Major of 800 in my MAJCOM", that dude is now a 2-Below, School-Select and on their way to being a general officer. It happens. Good or bad is a judgement call and depends on your point of view... Chuck

Truth. How much REAL thought do you think happens there? Why debate things that matter now, that you have to use deductive reasoning to formulate an argument that is supportable? Why not make you debate something that 6900 books has been written about (all of the books are in the library of course)...? If we require you to THINK and articulate... some people might fail... quell horror. I know two guys, both WO's, both school selects, who got SOS Instructor with IDE follow-on as their school on their first look. Think those guys wanted to go? Think they were at the bottom of the pile? I dont. Both are O-5s, DO's, on their way to being sq/cc's. I think theyre doing fine. I also think they are most definitely the exception. Chuck

+1 to you sir.

Nah, it wasn't. It was an educational one, for all of us. And it also wasn't that big of deal, and 100% the right call, and they agreed with me. It wasn't a matter of shitting on an O-5 / O-6's desk. It was a matter of telling them that ain't the right answer. That's all I'm saying. Planning a party aint the right answer for those guys. If you want to scoff that, I got nothing else for ya. I will say this - in certain circumstances, say the WIC graduation ceremony, I think there's an exception to my statement. But for the WOs at the Wings? Negative. Sorry for the thread derail - back to the regularly scheduled bashing already in progress. Chuck

If this is true, then your Patch buddy is at fault for allowing himself to be tasked. It is pretty simple dude - when I RTB'd from the WIC I was hit with a similar tasking that I would not and could not accept. I had a flight to run, training program to build, and several Flags to get ready for - not to mention sending dudes out the door daily on real world ops. I was the one patch wearer in my community on base. I couldnt afford to NOT do my primary job - and I told the Sq and Grp CC's that I wouldnt do the job they wanted me to do. PERIOD. If your boy got shackled with that garbage, it's because he let it happen. I would agree that some MAF CC's, due to their general lack of experience with patches, dont know what to do with them, so they use them as a dutchboy - to plug the gap and do the no fail mission/job/get the shit done so the wing/grp/sq doesnt fall flat on its face. And it's up to every patch out there to call KIO when it comes time to holiday party planning or anything that isnt related to tactical training, employment or going to war. The rook CC's always want the patch to come up and be their execs because they do good work. But if the patches say nothing and accept their fate - then they are part of the same problem. The WIC is not a bad thing. And Patches still get RIF'd, have to do masters degrees and ACSC in correspondence.... so no, it is not a place to hide. That bullseye on the left sleeve is nothing more than a target. You only get one chance to not fuck up... Chuck