hindsight2020

Indeed. I'm certainly not defending the AF assignments process. Our PCS outlays are an example of FWA imo. But that's part and parcel of the total war campaign the AD component has always had with the concept of homesteading in military life, as a matter of principle it seems. It certainly has spilled into Active Duty Lite (aka AFRC), while the NGB is probably the last remaining bastion of hope on that front. I've never witnessed a professional organization so gratuitously and pointedly contemptuous against their employee's home life, as the DOD. I know late-to-UPT guys who gambled and lost at ENJPPT. They took a special assignment heavy, which was a hell of a lot better than an FEB, then pivoted to T-1 land and moved on to better things, whether it be an AD retirement, or an airline pivot, or both! The unfairness of life is noted, but you gotta make some lemonade if you want to move forward. As to the degradation of UPT. Again, we're conflating subjects. From my vantage point having done it for the last decade (I've done all subsets of the UPT/PIT mission, with the exception of T-1s): it's pretty much a lowering of the hours/culling of events imho. MAF folks in 38s are frankly a red herring on this topic. Yes, there's an aggregate pressure on the development programs as a result (sorry if that triggers some, but it's what we've witnessed in PIT and phase-III alike), but most end up doing ok for the job given enough time and mentorship. Furthermore, I disavow the dismissive notion that phase III 38 rigors are so overstated, the ladies at the CDC could be tasked to do it and thus there's nothing to complain about on the IP development side. It is something I've heard from both some disgruntled T11K3D coded 11F that find the UPT mission set beneath them, and MAF guys resentful of the waiver impositions. I'm a casualty of the "bomber cap" stonewalling myself for years, so I'm not speaking from the cheap seats on this one. But a spade's a spade. Not everybody is cut out for T-38 IP work, upsetting as it may be for those who may resemble the remark. From my perspective, the MAF-38-butt-hurt "problem" arose when PIT got timeline/production pressured to punt that extra mentorship, a syllabus/resource allocation PIT was never designed for mind you, to the TI side of the UPT 38 squadrons. UPT 38 squadrons naturally wailed when IFF started throwing shade at them for a product that was legitimately rushed through, in part (not in whole) due to the low turnout of IPs based on said no-kidding attrition from TI. The finger pointing went off the rails at that point. And here we are....and now we have these drunken embarrassments on FB, coming full circle. Color me not surprised. I've seen the dynamic from two of the three-sided mexican standoff now (aka UPT-PIT-IFF). Everybody has a valid gripe on that, but again from my perspective, the product is rotting at the UPT level due to syllabus cuts. At the macro level, the problem is that every time one makes this argument as an older head, one gets accused by the NAF/MAJCOM of making a Luddite argument against PTN, which isn't the case at all. Fact is Kwast is out that job, and hopefully that good idea fairy will die with it. It caused enough chaos and production losses last year as it was (again, don't ask me how I know). Guess what made up for the losses at the expense of fatigue and manning for the least year? You guessed it: surging for a year on the legacy syllabus. And now AETC wants to take credit for that, whilst touting PTN as the solution to the problem they created, and not the genesis of the problem in the first place? Typical gaslighting. It's a total con job. The ultimate reality is that HAF has essentially accepted this dilution of quality, and the deaths we have and will cause as a result of this greening, are an acceptable and more importantly, plausibly-deniable quantity to them. So we're tilting at the windmills here as the labor pawns with no say in the matter. We all signed up for a certain level of commodification of our lives when we agreed to this indentured servitude. The kitchen just happens to be getting real hot on that front as of late. I'm not being flippant; I have a family I'd like to come home to at night, and buried two co-workers in the last year alone on account of this "so easy a CDC lady could do it" job. I'm just describing the water here with the benefit of a decade's worth of hindsight. Don't hang the postman.

We're conflating grievances here. They could give him a T-6 to SPS, problem solved. No meltdown, no waiver needed, no PCS expenditure loss, wifiey can still be assistant DA (jesus how many times did he mention that, it was like watching one of Khalessi's minions announce all her titles on GOT). As to the rest? Get a fvcking grip man. I have a story too. Many of us have a story of personal grievance in this line of work. Life's not fair, we make lemons with the batch we get pelted in the head with. I didn't go on a whiny bender on the internet about it. I have family challenges too, one I seriously considered quitting the military over. Jesus T-1 driving Christ do you AD folks not have better friends to commiserate to than the internet? Or is this a millennial thing, and it pains me to say that as technically I'm the oldest year of a millennial. Here's a pro-tip for that guy: Fighter units in the ANG/AFRC pick up separating heavy drivers every now and then as a consequence of circumstances/PFA/et al. Having a god damn melt down and posting it forever on the internet, where you allocute to still having a fundamental chip on your shoulder about legitimately sucking hind teet in ENJJPT and/or not getting what you wanted out of UPT 6-9 years ago, is not the starting point to a clean transition to the next chapter of your flying career. Here's another pro tip: There's a metric fvck ton of AFRC UPT drivers on this board (and FB). Ask me how I know. Guess who's also at the hiring boards for said FTG. Our main source of guys is separating AD UPT cats. Don't drink and internet,folks, though it may be a bit late for some.

The irony of your post ending in "I like working" in a thread about scoffing at airline work via MLOA, is must definitively not lost on me. Freudian slip if there ever was one, even if "tapatalk did it". 😄😉

chicken or the egg kinda thing ain't it? In any event, from my experience doing this gig for the last 9 years, MAF guys end up fine but require non-insignificant extra time and mentorship on flight lead admin and tac proficiency, let alone debriefing to what the hell is going on, before they're in a position to be able to instruct and supervise to the same level when undertaking undergraduates. Problem is it's mostly MAF, and FAIPS on a heavily diluted UPT run, that we are getting to PIT. The syllabus was legitimately not built for this. It was built for alpha-track 11Fs doing a quick proficiency spin up and off we go. FAIPS also had the benefit of more proficiency in UPT phase III, so the extra time was devoted to the instructional skillset. I've seen their evolution from both the UPT and PIT perspective. They end up fine for the most part. The problem is that we don't have the hours or the syllabi to provide that extra training.So predictably, the product suffers both on the UPT side and the IP development side. And the B-courses complain, it's not complicated. But senior leadership won't hear of it. IMO People have died already as a result of this greening up, but it won't be acknowledged. More will die as a direct consequence of this manning/quality issue, before the trend is reversed. As to the dismissal of the rigors of phase III to the degree that it proverbially doesn't matter and the ladies at the CDC can do it? That's just more of the same chasm that creates the animosity against 11Fs in the first place. The manning realities are here, the goal is to move forward and catch these guys up so they can provide a phase III product worth a damn. Currently we are not meeting standards, and the B-courses are paying the bill in the end. It's not an insurmountable problem, but cutting hours and syllabus events in the manner we're doing is not working. Senior AF is not interested in that answer, so we will continue failing the product. Nothing to see here. I digress. Everybody stay safe out there, not all the sea turtles will make it to the ocean on account of this, politically incorrect as it may be. G'luck.

yeah understood, "tragedy of the commons" behavior abounds. To each their own.

Froggy? Probation? LOL. Try the last trip of IOE. Seen it happen twice. And not just any ol' "31+" MLOA... no no, actual effin' Title 10 3-year EAD (AGR) orders. ...and that's why we can't have nice things.

I did it as a trougher during my days as TR, and I didn't have a civilian job (hence, the term trougher). Bank required LES and tax returns for prior years. I got approved. The moniker TR/DSG may be technically true, but I didn't consider myself a "TR" when I was working as much as a full timer and with no civilian job, for cents of the dollar of course, which is why I left that unit after years of empty promises for one who would offer me employment parity (AGR in my case, and I never looked back). But I digress. So yes, it's possible.

No comment on the money. That's your business how you run your personal finances. As to the ART, can't believe they're still peddling that crap over an AGR, especially in this hiring environment. 307th clownshow standard. I see not much has changed since I left that dumpster fire.

That's a bit broad brushed. I was also willing to not enlist, go become a proverbial dentist, buy into a Meridian partnership on the side and move on with my life, if I didn't get a mil pilot slot. There are alternative avenues to get to fly, even if not for a living or for the military.

For the record, I got no dog in your fight, I'm just an AFRC heckler passing by with too many memes and not enough targets. 😄

Damn someone leaked pawnman's PRF sitdown debrief with the boss.... too soon? 😁

Well.... f*ck. It was a good run boys. 😆

Fresno Guard. Standard. At least it wasn't embezzlement this time....

Airline guys who are paying attention always understood the Guard/Reserve job as an insurance policy, not extra cash. The issue today is that the value of that insurance diminishes in some of their eyes when they believe the airline environment to be so recession-proof that they don't need the paycut in the Guard/Res. And I'm talking about the guys without 20 year letters. History says they're wrong, but the merits of the mandatory retirements are also a different dynamic than the circumstances that created the Lost Decade. Of course there's also the juniority reprieve most use the mildrop/milleave for, civilian-only historical resentment and bad press about that little item notwithstanding. All that said, I concur, at some point the BS becomes so lifestyle-altering for the family that it truly is worth risking a furlough open vest. It truly has become that bad, and I say that as a mil full-timer with no particular desire to go airlines at this stage in my life.

I loves me my ejection seat carve out. G'luck with the Army cosplay peddling , it's noble work y'all doing out there. 🖕😄🖕

well, I guess we'll see how much people are willing to do for the sake of "getting to fly a fighter". My guess is the BTDT crowd will punch to the IMA/Cat-E world, since there's really nowhere left to 1288 to in order to avoid the combat desk non-vol these days, save for AGR status which currently only individually mobilizes under the very *bottom rung of the pyramid posted above. Frankly *that's only reason I'm still around in the capacity I am, instead of cutting stab trims in some guppy POS for 15% B-fund and more TAFB-and-family than I bargained for in this fickle so-called vocational choice. I suppose those TSPs look better now by comparison. Maybe. Messed up thing is it is my understanding you can't even dwell out of an invol IA by participating in those. Double stuffing. But don't quote me on that one wrt the Guard side, I only know about the AFRC side. Honestly, the non-dwell bit would be the thing that would make me punt at the job on the spot, even if I didn't have a 20 year letter; I don't care if they're letting me fly the Space Shuttle for the trouble. That would be a bridge too far to me.

Due to the close proximity I've had to endure with AD due to the TFI boondoggle, AD leadership always left me with the distinct impression they always found the Guard/Reserve the organic answer to what you're asking about. One OG pretty much said it in mixed company on a step bus: "we already have the technician track...it's called the Guard/Reserve". Can't say I was surprised to hear that from him, but I suppose I appreciated his honesty in the way he felt, especially in mixed company. To be fair to the guy, that's how we've been manning my last two squadrons. Hordes of carbon copy twice passed over O-4s with airline hopes, zero intentions of doing leadership/management work, and varying levels of interest in attaining an AD retirement in the Reserves. Only problem with that trend has been an increasing willingness on the part of the gallery to accept the AD lifestyle encroachment into the Reserves, but that's more relevant to a "what's wrong with the Air Force Reserves" thread. I digress. In short, no I really don't think the AD AF is legitimately interested in addressing your grievance. They may still not acknowledge it as one in the first place, even in this environment. They're certainly not going to address it with soft pay (aka non-monetary QOL incentives). That's anathema to the Active Duty Social Contract (ADSC for short lol). Massa never barters with his human property, as a matter of principle. This is like a commuting vs living in domicile question to me. Might as well be talking about two entirely different jobs. Are you an officer that happens to be a pilot as your retention shtick, or are you a pilot who happens to be an officer as your retention shtick? If the former, yeah 20 years potato. If the latter, perhaps this is ultimately a 10/10 hi-lo mix career of full time and part time work after all. To each their own.

volunteering...

I just can't reconcile how that language is being proffered in 2019. The turnover rate is gonna go to 11. The entire premise of even entertaining the Strategic Reserve model was predicated on enough baked-in experience not to worry about the chilling effect a "greening demographic" would have on spin ups. Under this paradigm, the Reserves become driven by R-ATP applicants only (aka don't have a better option at the moment), and if they don't mort themselves in training and/or drive the class-A rates to Pluto, they get to pass GO, collect $200, mainline number and at year 2 they punch from the mil cold turkey. The ART cadre gets burnt out, tightens the spiral. UFB.

Werd. That ^^^^ part will certainly be an interesting dynamic. That historical house slave trade they had with the ARTs was always predicated on letting those pigeons stay grounded and close to the house. Nobody gives themselves that much of a retirement and FAE paycut unless homesteading is the end all be all. Now you de facto invol mob them by virtue of lack of TR manning and yeah, you're about to see some reaaaallly penny wise pounds foolish outcomes on the day to day management front. I've already seen some ART lifer folks (lost decade types) who swore up and down they'd never utter the dreaded A word ever again in their lives, and they're already ballin' it up at big D et al. AFRC has absolutely gone tone deaf. And as I've mentioned before, we have TRs without 20 year letters leaving service with 10+ years of AD points on the table, cold turkey. It's complete willy wonka factory up in here. The whole place has jumped the shark lol.

who made you mod homey? Lady indeed doth protest too much. I smell management sycophant.

Nah don't be so self-deprecating, this is BODN, we're all qualified to comment! 😄

Hell, you just described my short tenure in the CAF (we called it CBP but it's the same shit), and the morale crush that lead up to 2007, and we all know what happened then. Now granted, I was an interloper in that community since day one (had zero intention of flying heavies any longer than necessary) but still, that make-work shit was also antagonizing the lifers too. I didn't join the flying vocation because I wanted to fly airliners, so the opportunity costs of stay/go were not the same for me. That said, it is certainly tough to reconcile this daily hassle when cats with my flying resume are getting paid $138/credit-hr second year plus B-fund and not getting sweat about pee tests, PME finger wagging, dealing with the "what are you stealing from me today?" patronizing environment wrt participation requirements and daily schedules (aka BONA FIDE Active Duty), let alone special bad deal projects like these TSP/CBP or worse, invol IA make-work pedestrian deployments. Thing is, it doesn't appear to me that they have any intention on giving an inch in the manner in which they go about these taskers. And I'll be honest, if we can't get traction on these QOL issues in THIS civilian hiring environment, then seriously, wtf are we even doing discussing this. It appears as though there's enough Reservists out there who are content with their lot, if Wings seem to be able to continue to peddle green manning slides to the Command in the midst of these taskers. I suppose I can see the fighter guys eating bad deals to "still get to fly a fighter". I certainly had zero intention of behaving the same when I was fighting perennial vocational-narcolepsy at the helm of a bomber or nuke vault. I can't speak for the MAF guys but I figure the dynamics would be similar, especially with airline job in hand. To each their own, but I don't see things getting better, if they haven't done so already in present hiring.

Considering their recent pullout from New York when they got taken to task about their anti-labor pre-reqs, I'd wager to guess you're right about and airline pilots labor groups' fate under their rule.