ClearedHot

A reflection of endless deployments and some VERY caustic folks getting promoted. One person in particular did a lot of damage, he refused to let a Gunship EP go to the B-2 program...so the guy got out. He refused to let a C-146 guy apply to the U-2 program...so the guy is getting out. He also refused to let a CV-22 Flight Lead apply for TPS...so that guy got out. At one point earlier this year they were 1/14 on gunship pilots. I know the shortage of 11Fs has allowed some former TAMI folks to flow back to fighters in the guard and reserve, the 11S community lost several patches to that situation. As some point this shortage is really going to snowball and require drastic measures.

I have not looked at the AFPC site lately...because I am RETIRED, but I heard today the retention rates remain ungood. In the 11S community the target ACP takes rate is 64%, the break even is 52% and the current take rate is 32%....and falling.

Next thing you know we will be changing the name of this site to nerd ops dot net or something. Bunch of script kiddies...

I went though survival school 100 years ago and we had a Lt Col flyer in our class...he had just returned to fly from a staff tour and was about to take command...curing the "audit" they discovered his record did not reflect attending Survival School so they made him go back and do it again. He was MISERABLE and made each once of us promise we would make a hundred copies of the grad cert and mail one to everyone we knew for safe keeping.

Apparently someone should mentor you on basic reading comprehension.

I think you are confusing mentorship with advocacy and sponsorship. When you say your "PRF looked pretty good"...I hope you mean because you had a record of superb performance, stratifications, contribution...not that actual way the PRF was written. Your tone seems to indicate otherwise, as in your mentor showed you how to write a grammatically perfect draft for your supervisor. I am not trying to be an asshole and yes I get it, there are still some lazy supervisors out there who take a "draft" OPR or PRF and push it forward, but the rules have become so extreme with regard to how things are worded, quoted, documented...this is really commander business and has zero to do with mentoring. Yes your mentor may help you work through goals and important boxes that must be checked for promotion, but there is FAR more to it. My concept of mentoring and what I tried to do for many people over many years was provide LIFE and Career advice that often included a dose of painful feedback. Mentoring is often more about listening than speaking and while the advice may focus on building a successful career, it should not be the only intent. I've mentored good folks through very bad times including divorce, a death in the family, PTSD and just dealing with the normal stresses of life. I escorted a very good friend to mental health when he discovered his wife was cheating on him and sat there with him for hours, she was his world and it took him down at the knees, thankfully he recovered. I've wept with parents as they processed the loss of a child. And sadly, I've sat with a son as he processed the death of his father. Mentoring is SO much more than career advice. I'll get off my high-horse now because trust me, I have fucked up just as much as I've gotten right, I just have very strong feelings on the subject mainly because any success I had as an aviator was because of two people who mentored me and demanded I be a better person and aviator. Mentorship is not perfect and sadly mentors can fail...sometimes miserably. I counted Baba Rand as a mentor for many years and when it counted most, he wasn't there. Maybe instead of asking if the system needs more mentorship, we should all just go out and do it.

What "retirement benefits" come with the rank Lt Col? It has zero impact on your retirement pay which is a straight line calculation of the average of your top three years of pay. The only impact is on your blue ID card where it says rank. I remember a philosophical discussion last year among a few bros who pinned on O-6 but wanted to bail before wearing it for three years, one wanted to retire as an O-6 because he perceived a post-AF career advantage, the others were going to the airlines. I told them the only real impact of retiring as a Lt Col was you couldn't call protocol to get a DV room on base or park in the reserved parking at the Commissary/BX...which ironically at Hurlburt has now been converted to "E-3 and below parking" to complete the pussification of the Air Force. I pinned on O-6 at 19.5 years and stayed until 26, looking back I wish I had punched at 20. Answer question #1 and do the math, do NOT be afraid of the next chapter.

As usual Beerman has some sage advice, you really have to answer question #1 before wasting any brain bytes on the other stuff. I would suggest you ask yourself where you want to be in ten years and work backwards from there. If your end state is an airline job then mathematically and economically you would be best served to retire as soon as possible, line numbers are everything at the airlines and getting the the airlines a two years sooner could make a HUGE difference in quality of life. It makes me sick to my stomach to hear you doubt you'll make Lt Col because you don't have any mentorship, the system is completely broken when the average bro feels like this. Given the growing shortage of AF pilots, I would think most will make Lt Col, it appears the pilot exodus is accelerating at all levels. I just heard the promotion opportunity to O-6 on the next board has been raised to 55%. Given other indicators I think other promotion rates will increase as well. In a perfect world, where are in you in ten years?

Tracking and came to the same conclusion...The supplemental packages for my family cost more than the entire Tricare prime fee. We are lucky to live near two major regional military hospitals so unless I am missing something it doesn't make sense to purchase the supplemental.

Anyone have particular experience (good/bad) with the Tricare supplemental packages? I've looked at the MOAA and VFW plans but not sure which way to go. We are staying Prime for now while I get a bulging disc fixed and my wife has a torn rotator cuff repaired...after that we are thinking of going standard. Any feedback/examples appreciated.

Flyby Shack.

Shack, we have little control...it is sickening how high some of the most basic and mundane decisions are pushed just to CYA. For a service that has the tenet "Centralized Control, Decentralized Execution." the service takes great pride in throwing that out the window at every opportunity. My first real clash with the system occurred when I was a squadron commander. I was given the AFPC commanders hotline which was a direct number a G series commander could call to work real people issues. The officer side was fairly straight forward in that I knew the lanes I could work to impact a person's career and assignment options. The enlisted side was a complete abomination. Long story short, I was manned at 63% on the enlisted side and I had a guy who had been in the unit for two years and had some family issues (his dad was terminally ill),...suddenly they wanted to move him to the AOC and replace him with a line Instructor from the critically manned ops unit. I found out the ops unit was going to get a long-term DNIF guy coming back from overseas. I talked to the other two squadron commanders and we all agreed, let the ops guy keep the much needed instructor, let me keep my guy who was doing three critical jobs outside his own (and I could manage his schedule to take leave to be with his dad), and send the DNIF guy to the AOC...makes sense right...not to the "E-9s" at AFPC. I got a few days of push back and finally called the head E-9 functional to explain the situation and ask for some common sense. His reply..."Sirrrrrr, the Air Force Enlisted Assignment process is far to big for you to take a personal interest in someone." I lost it...Why the FUCK am I a Commander if I can't take an interest in my people! I elevated it all the way through the Wing/CC and I LOST. We are broken...LEAVE while you can.

The Air Force does NOT care about you, they care about increased health care costs as it impacts the bottomline. The way the seniors spew the core values is ohhh sooo Ironic given the lasted indicators. Internal memos calling to relax standards at Fighter RTUs...relax PT standards...what next...drug standards. The way we manage people is absolutely laughable.

I knew him well and bought into his BS when he was a Colonel. He gave some great speeches when he was the Commandant of the Weapons School and acted as if he genuinely cared, turns out it was nothing but empty words. Get out...as soon as you can...seriously, run for the door while you still have an option, it is only going to get worse.

Further proof of how broken the Air Force is... https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/960240/general-officer-announcement Try to destroy people based on a text....have it overturned and STILL make GO. Baba Rand continues to disappoint.

The setups are far to canned...Move the Red Air Tanker...nothing like a fist fight all the way west just to have Red literally roll inverted off the boom and call a kill on you 30 seconds later.

I would not.

MULTIPLE studies, papers, proposals with great merit considered and CRUSHED by senior leadership over the past 12 years. The math is OVERWHELMINGLY in favor of a lite attack platform that would provide more CAS capability, help with absorption, help season and solve a host of other problems, but the all jet 5th gen mafia ran a genocide operation to kill any serious consideration. I was personally threatened (career wise), insulted, chastised and nearly banished on several occasions by VERY senior USAF officers. The truly sickening part, we could have had a highly suitable aircraft in the field YEARS ago for pennies on the dollar.

I have a good bud who flew Vipers in the ANG THEN went to med School. He loved doing both but eventually had to quit flying, he is a surgeon and it requires huge commitment...he is CONSTANTLY complaining about the costs of things like malpractice insurance so the numbers for 30+ airline career, especially in the current environment, made be better on the flying side.

I was accepted and passed on med school to go to UPT...broke my mom's heart in doing so. Looking back after 26 years, if I had it to do over again, you SNAPs would be calling me Dr CH...actually you wouldn't be calling me as I would ignoring all of you and concentrating on the boob job I was going to do in the morning.

1. Not designed for high aspect BFM,,,and while not meant to be a replacement for the A-10 it is faster. 2. I actually agree with two cockpits, as noted not just a replacement for the A-10 and FMS considerations come to mind that make two cockpits a necessity. 3. Sort of...again not meant for air to air but other sensors (GMTI and a few other toys), will greatly add to SA for CAS. 4. Design work in progress to ad air refueling. 5. True, but then neither does the AT-6 you prefer...pods are a solution for both but strongly prefer an internal gun. 6. Not true...threat warning piece an easy add and being worked, ECM is the bigger show-stopper in my opinion, but that too is being looked at.

I disagree somewhat, perhaps based on my experience in the AT-6 and the shortcomings I noted. You don't have to be an expert flying the Scorpion to notice the benefit of an extra engine, the speed, or the placement of a a wing that does not block downward visibility. That being said, there could be other faults that I don't know out of ignorance...regardless still worthy of a basic discussion.

Curious why you would pick the AT-6....not hating on the AT-6, in fact I've flown it and did an assessment, lots of good, some bad, tremendous potential. I have not flown the Scorpion, Yet...but I would note some advantages just looking at it compared to the AT-6 and A-29, two engines, wing placement, speed.

Did mine with Seth Lake and Mike Jones in Little Rock (Searcy) early July. Started with Seth and studied the Aztec for two weeks prior. At the end of our first flight a Tachometer cable broke and it was going to be five days to get a new one. Seth arranged for me to fly with Mike Jones the next day and I checked the following. Minor drama the day of the check, on taxi back from the single engine landing I was just about to take the active when the airplane started shaking, had a flat nose tire. It took the maintenance guys almost three hours to fix it, but all worked out in the end. It sucked have to learn a new airplane for a check ride in 36 hours, but I passed...the debrief was, "well I've seen all I need to see."

Thanks folks, I still have two months of terminal leave. I think my eyes were glazed over when they covered that in ETAP.