hindsight2020

Damn it. Beat me to it... What a FWA that place is (RND)

Famous last words alright. You do realize your flying days are in your rear view mirror right?

I did that in lieu of Active Duty for the first 4 years of my tenure in AD Lite. It sucks getting paid 60% for the same time and effort, but it's a hell of a lot better QOL vice AD, much better schedule, much more control, and IMO better than sucking buffalo for a nickle a herd as a regional FO commuting to a rsv line making food stamp money. Now, just like doing the regionals long-term, you bum/trough for more than a couple years and yes, it's a bad plan if you have a family. For full disclosure, I put my family life on hold (starting one) until I was sitting in a full time position. I know some who did have families and troughed; I don't envy that shit. The key to success in aviation is: have a really rich wife, or have a really CHEAP wife. But a meager-earning/non-earning wife with a sense of entitlement? (read: most of them) Um, no. Get rid of that one.

Not every week...

I'm not CAP, but the answer to your question is, yes. Refer to CAP's original post and the qualifications are listed for all three airframes (RTF thing bra'.. :D ). As a matter of fact, it's a much easier job to get than T-1 IP. Phase II is NOT the gentleman's course of the house and the manning reflects that... I'll just leave it at that... Call now and we'll throw in a complimentary "I'm a quitter and I like it!" T-6 shaped keychain with your application Seriously though, if you're interested feel free to PM folks like CAP and others on this board who work within the 340th who can give you more direct vectors. Recognize every squadron has their own idiosyncracies and manning situation, so it pays to inquire about and get in touch with the specific UPT location you're interested in.

Thanks. This^^^^

Though it is indignant for the peanut gallery to hear such utterance from booger eating FAIPs and however easy it is to discredit their perspective due to lack of exposure (not their fault mind you), the jist of the argument is about right. I have met plenty of mediocre hands, some outright scary, I've had to seeing-eye help/rescue in the jet who have cleaner FEFs than mine. Being good on test day doesn't mean you're good. It's lowest common denominator fellas. Hands don't really mean shit past a nominal threshold of performance. Which is why FEFs and OPRs aren't reflective of an aviator's net daily skillset. In Blue's defense, the job is designed for all of us to be carbon copies of each other, just like the airlines, so individual differences in mechanical aptitude for flying don't mean one iota nor are recognized or awarded, outside a few niche special flying programs that require overt demonstration of above-average ability in order to get in. As to the rest of the article. Man, those two sound beat down, especially the T-1 chick. Talk about soul-crushing sour grapes. Somebody send these two a "3 rules of life" postcard with rule #1 highlighted in neon yellow. So, other people undeservingly get better deals than you...Um, welcome to Life?? Could be worse, she could be on a RC box watching her nail polish dry (is that comment degrading to women? lol). The power of perspective...

Give the AF some credit, this is the heart of ALL of our labor problems. The concept of employer loyalty is dead. Our employer is no different. Take care of número uno and I don't mean lead buddy.

Sound advice. I wonder though, why did you decide to go that route then? Honest question.

I hear ya but to suggest there's validity towards crediting things such as PME and flight training towards graduate work is an absolute joke to the same real world you allude to. You can't have it both ways.

Do they accept Medicare?

Why are we doing this? Are there no qualified younger guys?

You mean troughing? That depends on the money pot. The answer in our neck of the woods is: it depends. Would probably help to be local. These days the commuting-to-trough is not viewed in very good light. But someone tell the bosses that freedom ain't free, I'm tired of being the broken record...

We just had a dude in our unit get passed over, found out he's DNRed because without him knowing he had been passed over once in the IRR. It's a total outrage being we can't even keep people from coming to our unit in fokin Mars. The dude is a Captain type as well. I haven't researched the specifics about it but I sure hope we go to bat for the guy and/or find a way of rectifying that situation. I had no idea the IRR was such a PITA for young guys with breaks in service. Food for thought for sure. Are you saying you got placed in the IRR by mistake? I don't think one could just make IRR pass-overs just disappear..

There are certainly other ways to recoup your retirement, specifically civil service or via a Reserve retirement (where you would most probably be able to make major btw). But the point is noted, having a 37K check a year is a very nice way of leveraging one's civilian employment income expectations from AD departure until civilian retirement. I certainly wouldn't scoff it. All that said, for me it would come down to job satisfaction. You take me out of the flight line as a continued lifer O-3 then forget it, I'd punch.

nah, merely further proof that even NKoreans hate yuppies/hipsters.....

I dunno, I don't think anybody is saying go to 20 as a continued O-3. I do think it's a decent free agency short term, especially if a flying gig. If a shitty gig comes out, 7 day opt and see ya later. I agree, don't let the entitlement of feeling owed a 75K severance package deter you from making opportunities from shit sandwiches. Now, if you hate the airplane you're flying and the associated qweep duty of being an AF officer, then by all means punching is the best route. I think some of the posters on here just aren't quite in love with what they're doing (read: airplane assignment) in the AF and getting the rug pulled from under them, a.k.a. denied invol-sep-pay, is like pouring salt on the wound. To those guys, nothing will make up for not getting to do what they wanted to do in the AF when they joined. I don't blame them one bit. Sometimes the dream to fly what you wanted and/or for how long as you wanted, is not in the cards (ask me how I know). But, be reassured, there's life after Blue.

That's an anaerobic test in nature. The regular AF PT test is aerobic in nature. You would see a lot more failures if you implemented the USAFA approach to the regular AF. Blue decided a while ago they want Lance Armstrong as their physical archetype, generally shunning those who focus on anaerobic conditioning. That said, I would love that idea implemented. Fuck, that's the first good idea I've ever heard come out of USAFA. I would smoke that test. Most in the AF would fail miserably, especially the upper body strength components. I've always been underwhelmed by the emphasis on aerobic fitness the PT test places. Amn Snuffy can jog fast in those reflective catch-me-fvck-me's, but can't carry a 50lb bag to the end of the track or drag/carry his wounded buddy's body weight 100 yards double time. Fuckin warriors alright....

You mean the Reserves right? Cuz we've been there for quite a while. It is what it is. Vote with your feet is right.

Office Space antics. Eight bosses (trust me, they are all your boss, even the enlisted ones), eight TPS report reminders...

Only to be topped by a nav on a min ferry crew refusing to fly the jet because his repeater altimeter, the fourth one on the airplane mind you, is a RCH below 75' from field elevation.... ...or an E-dub doing oxygen checks on the cotton-pickin' flare during pattern work.... Goobers..

You can do that in the CG and Army WO. As a matter of fact, lot more opportunities to do stuff like that. Not knocking the CSAR, but I wouldn't put it in the #1 reason for USAF aspirants. It's about dwell time at home, facilities and greater preponderance of fixed wing slots. The best paid regional airline, in essence.

LOL WTF The only decent job in 121 is management fo sho'

Im getting the popcorn this oughtta be good...

You think the majority of AF pilots don't already privately consider (via a combination of their motivations and aggregate actions) the AF the best paid regional airline? How much do you think the going rate for civilian pylet is at a regional? The majority of people didn't join the AF pilot ranks to pursue non-flying employment the day after their initial commitment. It is what it is. This is at the heart of the tragedy of the common AF pilot. I'm not particularly interested in the particulars of the Army WO program, I just wanted to use it to illustrate that limiting AF pilots access to a technician track has done jack shit to help with the leadership deficit. As such, the 'up or out' is a fucking failure. In the ARC side of the house they have started with the business of "vectoring" people who check a box in vPC-GR saying "I want my career managed for senior leadership". I think that's great. Unfortunately the rest of the ARC is still expected to act AD-Lite and jump through the PME 9th grade intelligence-regressing content, but that could be changed. If the 'vectoring' implementation had more teeth to it, volunteering to be vectored would keep the vast majority of AF pilots concentrating on their SQ level progressions and leave the senior level stuff outside of the spectrum of "flying planes, fvckin and earning a check". As an added, the OPR system would almost instantly see a natural grade deflation that could now be better suited to have the kind of visible graduations required to stratify few people for few jobs as opposed to a whole bunch of OPR-clones for the same few jobs. The savings on PME/AAD/AT/school TDYs would be significant as well, if fiscal restraint is of consequence to you. But the system has too much inertia to let that happen. As such and as you see displayed in the attitudes of many on here, nobody will sidestep their personal motivations in order to attempt to change something for the benefit of their peers and at the cost of his/her job/vocational satisfaction. Look, keeping somebody at Major for the price of "we won't fuck with you" is an incredible motivator for the majority of these AF pylet types. I could be so brazen as to suggest O-3 caps and you'd still have takers, though the numbers would dwindle due to what I call "all AF wives are O-5 wives" syndrome, but that's for another thread. There really isn't any decent reason to write off the technician track so flippantly as the AF does. You'll never get quality out of somebody who doesn't want to be there. This is basic dynamics of rational motivators. Why pay through the nose for said deficit?