FourFans

Yuuuuup!

Lots to unpack there, but I'll give it a shot. One conservative Christian man to another...in front of everyone. A: The covid shot requirement does not take military aviation off the table for you. It might right now, but not forever. Eventually either the military will withdraw the requirement, or there will be another option of non-stem cell based vaccination (like an actually researched and studied non-emergency-use vaccine should be). It all depends on your basis for rejection. I, for one, had no defensible basis, as I happily and ignorantly received 8 rounds of the anthrax vaccine without asking twice, as I was young and stupid. That proved to be 100% risk/0% reward. Long story short, make sure you sincerely understand your basis for refusal, and that it's not just under the "I will not comply" category just because you don't like it. That's a childish defense based on ignorant emotion. If you have a sincere objection based on logic, stand firm on it, and find another way to your dream. If you say "it was my dream..." and hold that with the same hand as "I won't get the shot because..." and expect sympathy, you'll get none...at all...especially here. No one is stepping on your dream. You are holding a personal belief higher than your dream, and that's no one's choice but yours. Pick one. 2: Decide now what precisely that 'itch' is. If it's to fly, there are absolutely no all-denying barriers to you. Serious obstacles? Yes, but nothing completely stopping you. Life will suck. Pay will be low. Hours will blow. For a while. Make up your mind that you want to fly, then find a way. There. Are. Many. Even from a military background, I've yet to meet two guys with the same exact path. From the civil side, there are innumerable ways to end up in an airplane. It will heavily depend on where you're willing to live and what lifestyle you're willing to accept to get to your desired end state. Even then, the end state will change by the time you get there. Accept that as fact and your life will be easier. If you are a family man, and you want to be a pilot, your family life will suffer to some degree or another. Schedules suck. You will be away from home. You will miss birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc. But you were wanting a military life...so you should have been ok with that, right? Because military life is like that, only worse: you're gone longer, to worse places, for less money, while leaving your family is bad locations away from family, and oh yeah, people may be actively trying to kill you. Decide WITH YOUR FAMILY what level of life style you're willing to accept, then get to grinding. (If you exclude your bride from that decision, you will end up divorced) D: A 'standard' civilian track can take as little as 3 years to be in the right seat of a big jet. One track: earn your CFI, teach your ass off in little airplanes, get hired by a regional/cargo feeder, then get hired by a lower tier ACMI...OR go to an aviation academy like what United is starting...OR go fly a sky tractor crop dusting...OR go fly king-airs for CBP...OR work to get hired by a fractional...OR...fly bush cargo in Anchorage...OR...the list goes on. Get to studying. As much of a dumpster fire as AirlinePilotCenter forums are, the other side of that website is pretty informational, and you can find some pretty good data in the forums if you're willing to wade through the BS. Decide that no job is beneath you, and you'll be fine. If you choose the millennial attitude that some jobs are just too hard or too underpaid or too dirty, then yeah, your 'itch' will never be scratched, and you will be forever limited. If you choose that road, that's no one's fault but your own. If they say you need a vaccine to get the job, and you quit looking, that's your fault, not theirs. In short: Nut up or Shut up. There is no better time to get into aviation. Decide what you will or won't do, then get to work. P.S. I dis-recommend SE Asia. That results in a different kind of 'itch' that I've heard never goes away.

...until a failing PEA gets you kicked out of the institution...as it should.

How about automatic 4.0 PEA (physical fitness GPA, which at a service academy is as important as military and academic performance) to guys that are morbidly obese and would otherwise get kicked out, yet are held on as "managers" for sports teams as they "develop skills". Or exemption of athletes from military duties that all cadets are required to do. It was an unhealthy eco-system 20 years ago, and I'm sure it hasn't changed much.

I'll lead in with this: welcome to Baseops my sweet summer child...oh wait... WELCOME TO THUNDERDOME In general: in AMC, you remain in the airframe you were assigned initially. C-130 slick bubbas stay in C-130 slicks. (common misconception: C-130 slick dudes do not easily slide into the AC or MC-130 unless selected). C-17 guys stay in C-17s. 25% of that C-17 force is airdrop qual'd and you'll have to ask an airdrop guy what that's all about...not my world. In honesty, there a lot of sincerely and deeply experienced dudes on this board. The question you've asked has been addressed many...many...many...many.......maaaaany times, HOWEVER it may or may not have been addressed recently. The environment is changing rapidly with each UPT graduation. The short answer to your core question: "if I track C-X am I stuck in C-X" the answer is unknown. The real answer is that that the cross-flow program is highly active and highly political...and HIGHLY TIME SENSATIVE. If you fly transport (C-5/C-130), then the tradition crossflow wants to put you into a tanker (KC-135/KC-10/KC46)...and vs versa. That transfer is 100% dependent on luck and timing. I can't say anything at all about fighter to fighter transfers. I ain't gay, but those tubby bitches love the cock. Be the best you can at your job. When you're given a job (reads.airframe.you.didn't.want) continue to be the best at your job and you will have options. Succeed and you may find that you're airframe is actually what you wanted (often happens), or that it steppingstone you to where you needed to be.

Post the name. That pronoun is a cuntfart and should be treated as such. I haven't slapped something in a while and I'm due. If you're a 2-star, you are no longer shielded by the "military official" BS. Who is it?

Bitch please. Obviously staged...we all know that telsa owners don't have beards without manbuns. Asshat.

So, how much avgas can you put in the silos of a converted ballistic missile sub? Maybe couple that with an amphib tanker, or just airfields with dock access? Just saying, it's hard to blow up a fuel depot that you can't find...

Definitely one of the coolest layovers. You gotta check out Connie.

Wait...are ya'll arguing about the amenities of a new tube of shame, yet no one's going to deal with the fact that someone said "combat" and "tanker" in the same sentence?

What's that? A millennial version of a 1911?

FIFY

*spoiler alert* 1000 sweaty germans in one tent, each drinking at least 5 liters of beer each, all wearing leather pants that have never been washed.

I heard Putin is only drafting "non-cisgender men" though...to make sure proper diversity...so there's that...

Correct. You are now discriminated against based on your gender. If you are white, you are now discriminated against based on your skin color. Obviously, the only way to get rid of racism and bigotry is more racism and bigotry. In other news, I highly recommend "Undaunted Life" a podcast for men, about men, by a man who is unapologetically a Christian man. No stones are left unturned. Not for the faint of heart.

🤮🤮🤮

All kept I hearing was the drone operator thinking: "don't crash don't crash don't crash don't crash"

...which I doubt. Considering the lack of consistent funding and support they've had over the past decade, they'd be lucky to have HUMINT resources in place to give appropriate reporting. CIA has been getting crapped on since Clinton, and it can take decades to develop reliable and well placed sources. That said, with the rapid deterioration of Russia in...well...everything, it's entirely plausible they've had walk-ins with good intel.

I don't care what Penny Benjamin you knocked up...that story has to be amazing! ....but did you die?

Oh FFS. If you'll laugh @Bender when he's drunk...laugh at me. I taught that asshat how to fly and drink!

Dude. Find those slides!!! If the 'men' I currently fly with are able obtain a FC1 at their age...with 'her slides'...i'll be amazingly able to fly at the age of 82 by the time I'm able to retire because of the amazing work of 'women/men/things/amorphous.animate.objects' such as her...

FedEx takes a 24% hit. Not a good sign. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/15/stock-market-futures-open-to-close-news.html

It's not that they can't let it go, it's that you just don't understand. You weren't there. You wouldn't know... If I had a nickel for every time I've been told something like that in the past two years...

you're gunna need a bigger plane

As a registered independent who's voted both red and blue, I think like you. We'll disagree on a lot, but we agree that the political answer is somewhere in the middle. Sadly, I agree. This is the only kind of answer that will actually get implemented. We can dream all day, but in the end my opinions should not be your law, just as your opinions should not be my law. What I call murder, someone else calls women's rights...but the truth is that we're broken, fallen people who A: need a savior and B: will not make it if we chose to die on every hill between your opinion and mine. Don't get me wrong, I've chosen several hills as mine. My sword will be notch and my shield dented by the end of this war, but if I chose to fight bravely and die quickly on Every, Single, Hill, I'm useless in my cause. If only we had a background...call it a history...where we all agreed on some basic moral truths...