Whitman

That's some good stuff!

Ok lets leave this one to the motivated PME students at Maxwell (SAASS). In 2001, WM BRUCE DANSKINE wrote "Fall of the Fighter Generals: The Future of Air Force Leadership". It's a little outdated but it beats conjecture and opinions from "well-educated" sociology majors with split personalities. Here's what he had to say regarding Education, specifically commissioning source of AF officers: Current Navy senior leadership, for example, is much more heavily populated by U.S. Naval Academy graduates than found in the Air Force (see Figure 14). But this does not appear to be as strong for the Air Force. Academy graduates make up 59.4% of Navy, and only 34.6% of Air Force, senior leadership.176 The often-held perception that the Chief of Staff must be an Academy graduate does not appear sacrosanct. Ten of the first thirteen USAF Chiefs of Staff were graduates of West Point.177 Since then, the position has been held by two Air Force Academy graduates, but also one ROTC graduate.178 Figure 15 shows that, despite popular misperception, the percentages of officers from the Academy and ROTC remains fairly evenly divided at the most senior ranks.179 Figure 15 - USAF Senior Leadership (3 or 4 stars) USAFA - 35% ROTC - 49% OTS - 12% Other - 4% The article can be found here: https://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/saas/danskine.pdf

Agreed. I've never met a ROTC grad that's burned out (its nearly impossible), but I've met plenty of jaded AFA grads, which is understandable considering what they've been through.

Bingo. ROTC gives out around 550 slots (50-60% selection ratio), while AFA gives out about the same. Except there's a 100% selection ratio more recently, if you can fog a mirror you're going to UPT.

Having a PPL shows the Det CC that your serious about flying and he may or may not consider that in the CC ranking (I won't throw out a statistic bc I haven't asked each of them). Our detachment requested copies of licenses before the board met.......having a PPL certainly can't hurt you.

AF was too broke for TCAS originally so settled for the Navy's "premier collision avoidance system", NACWS. From what I understand the AF is slowly swapping out the NACWS for TCAS but I don't think all the Texans are TCAS equipped just yet. FWIW, BF Goodrich makes NACWS

Max out Roth first and foremost, make it a priority and it will pay off! TSP and personal investment accounts are good but focus on that $444.44/month first. Also remember that military aviation is inherently dangerous. 59 and 1/2 isn't necessarily a guarantee. So put away a reasonable amount of money each month and enjoy the rest. Like anything else in life, moderation is key......that goes for investing too!

What's a UTD?

I don't think we have to worry about that!

Engine Failure at night in a Cessna: Turn on the landing light before impact, if you don't like what you see, turn it off Engine Failure in a light twin: Good engine only gets you to the crash scene faster

HAHAHA.....Exactly why I sold my 01 CBR F4i before moving to LA (Lower Alabama).....the roads suck and Hwy 98 is very dangerous. FWIW, I hear Crestview has decent attempts at curves and if you go north to alabama it gets a lot better too.

Those are likely concurrent commitments so you would be eligible to get out in 11-13 yrs. I, too, would like to stay 20 but I think Guard/Reserves will prove too tempting.....one day at a time though.

By the regs (to lazy to look it up) you ARE authorized more than 1 DLA within the same FY. However, it is at a reduced rate. For instance, say a 2Lt gets assigned to Whiting for UPT and 8 months later is PCSing to Vance for phase III. That butterbar would receive 1350 the first time and 1083 the second time. The full chart effective Jan 07 can be found here: https://secureapp2.hqda.pentagon.mil/perdie...-2007-01-01.pdf

I wonder if these are allowed in the jet? Nike came out with contacts that fit act as sunglasses. They go on top of regular contacts so if you don't have contacts you could prolly go to an eye doc and get a set with no prescription. https://www.nike.com/nikevision/main.html

My thoughts exactly.......seeing the huge nose on the T2 in Beaver's rebuttal pics was hilarious. I like the new and improved CH, picking up Rainman's slack?

I always thought you made 1 LT two years after your DOR (halfway b/tween commission and going AD) but recently heard it's 2 yrs from your EAD. Which one is it? I understand time in service goes by your pay date which is the date you commission.

Why? It's only 1 yr.

Any chance of AFSOC guys going to fly the COIN A-10 since it would be in their MAJCOM?

Are the hogs still getting new engines? Big Blue wants to use the F-35 to replace the A-10 in 2025. That's what I heard last. That'll go over about as well as a pregnant pole vaulter.

You weren't joking

I think that's true, you don't have coverage until you EAD. Why did you sign a paper saying you already have coverage while you're waiting to go AD? If you really do, why not use that? Are you talking about dad's retirement military healthcare or what? More info. Best bet is to call cadre, hopefully they'll know.

Flew in a buddies AT-6. Did some cuban 8's, barrel rolls, wing overs, and loops. Did a low pass of their lake house at 200 AGL and 230 KIAS. He had his CFI so I got an hour of AT-6 flight time in my log book. Pretty cool. The best part was going convertible on downwind and landing with the top down. That was a great day. 2.0 in the J-3 and 1.0 in the T-6. Curtis was a great pilot and incredibly talented. Soloed 17 different airplanes on his 16th bday and got all his ratings in min time and min age. Had 2000 hrs by the time he was 22. Was set to take over his dad's business selling jets in Columbia but was killed in that same AT-6 later that year. Him and his father were alternating taking neighbors for rides in the community and Curtis lost an engine on take off killing himself and the passenger. RIP Curtis

Career and progression aren't generally good words to toss around on a flying message board. However, I know your intent and will tell you that AFSOC is expanding and there are plenty of opportunities. Cannon joint AFSOC command, CV-22, U-28, and increased manpower are a few of them. Remember the rise of the Fighter generals in the early 80's? It's been that way ever since and it's not going to last forever, especially with the changing battlefield that we're seeing today. I think a shift is AF leadership is going to occur in the future but it's going to be AFSOC or preds this time. It's a SOF war, let's face it. Bottom line: Career progression is for shoe clerks, go SOF for the mission.

Really? A spam can? The V tail has me spoiled. Care to explain the avatar? Traitor! haha Sleepy, you know as well as I do the limitations of the cub, speed and instruments are two of them. I was flying for 2hrs and didn't have the fuel to mess around, wanted to make my flight path as straight as possible. Although I did go off course once to circle around some deer I saw feeding on a pile of corn. I don't think the hunter was too pleased though!

I think so. That's like saying you want to buy the ultimate high performance sport's car but you also want it to be good on gas mileage and be able to fit 4 people, golf clubs and bags. There are trade offs with anything. For cross country I recommend an older V-tail bonanza with a 285hp upgrade. You can cruise about 160 kts and only burn around 12 gph. Buy a J-3 Cub as well and you will have one of the best XC and fun to fly combinations in GA. I've heard of guys doing barrel rolls in bonanzas but it's certainly not common practice in the doctor killer.