FourFans

Concur.

Good info and thanks for that update. I didn't realize that FedEx was that tapped out. What do they say in the investment world? Past performance is no indicator of future success? That said, I'd be surprised if they all of sudden hit a wall and demand evaporates. ...though, I have been surprised before...

Input from a different view: I'm in a very similar boat. 17 years, O-5 (unexpectedly APZ), not hirably current (API-6) in a staff billet. I had a regional job lined up and ready when COVID hit. I could have pulled my separation papers, but chose to delay them 3 months instead. Now I'm separating in August and going to a not-FEDEX-or-UPS cargo carrier. I'll also be joining the AFRC as a traditional reservist. Not ideal or low-stress, but it's the right path for our family right now. Prayer, petition, timing, and luck will dictate a unique path for you. Had I chosen to stay, I'm sure I'd have 365 or 179 orders very soon. Our family is tired of an impersonal organization that demands loyalty, then responds by treating people like cyphers and not caring 6 pence what it does to families. I will still be gone a lot with my new job...which won't pay a lot. I will still deploy with my AFRC unit. I might even volunteer for a 179 BACN deployment or some such. But it will be on our family's terms, not AFPC's. That is worth it to us, and that's the path that we hear God sending us down, so we're stepping that way in faith. Don't let big blue paint you into the "it makes sense" corner with a bonus and 5 more years of servitude unless you WANT that road. "It makes sense" really reads "it's really helpful to have bodies that AFPC can put where ever they want" when the Air Force tells you "it makes sense" to take the bonus. Carefully weigh the cost on you and your family before you take that money. IT IS NOT FREE. It's an 'easy' road to go down. They intentionally make it so. Don't let the ease of that road influence your decision making. BL: Your path may not conform to "common sense" as found on the internet or in mentorship relationships. Tailor that path to your situation, you financial goals, your family's desires, and your own skills, calling, and goals. A 15 year O-5 is very hirable in the ANG and AFRC. Just yesterday I saw a 3-6 year AGR job open at the 601 AOC in Tyndall (1+15 hour drive from the Eglin bedroom neighborhoods) for an O-5. There are opportunities everywhere. Then again, your path may take you down a road that keeps you in...it's your path. You already know the uncertainty that comes with 5 more years about 2-3 more PCS...especially if you are a non-command O-5. Command O-5s get even more PCSs. There are VERY FEW roads as an O-5 where you get to homestead for 5 years...they exist, but they are rare. Remember this, in 5 years, you're going to very likely be done with the USAF and be starting another career...and the USAF will not care at all about you or your family then. Good luck with the decision.

Bwaaaahahahah!!! Unified NATO...countering Chinese influence...oh man, that's rich...that's good...tell another joke.

Not likely you'll find one either. It was a once off production if memory serves correctly. Don't have a picture, but it was a standard flight suit pen tab size. Tan flightsuit colored background with a dark brown boarder. Standard red dice angled off showing three sides centered in the middle of the patch. Rather nondescript. FF

Just re-read Flying Through Midnight by John T. Halliday as well as Starship Troopers By Robert Heinlein. Both highly recommended. If you were at Ali Al Salem in the 2005-2008 time frame, you might remember the dice pen tab patches that were inspired by Flying Through Midnight. FF

I didn't know you were a cyber guy.

If you haven't read "Space Cadet" by Robert Heinlein, you should. He wrote about this stuff in the 40's and 50's...and here we are. Absolutely incredible!

For reference, I agree with your post and think you are on point. One specific item concerns me though: Dr Fauci as our expert physician. I'm an ER doc's kid, so I've witnessed the difference between doctor who "administrate" vs doctors who "do". I'm making no judgments on Fauci, I'm simply making inferences base on his background, how he presents his opinions, and the content of what he says. He's clearly been a "do" doctor, and appears to be an "administrate" doctor now. Take this for perspective: Would you call any 4-star general in the USAF as our BEST Pilot, Cyber Expert, Personnelist, etc? I wouldn't. They lead those people. They filter a LOT of data and present it in politically and socially palatable format. These people are leaders and politicians, and they are only in their spot for 3-4 years. Fauci has been in place advising the US government for 40 years. He leads NIAID. He understands what's going on, but he is no longer the line "do" expert. What a lot of people don't know how respond to is that line expert "doing" doctors are saying different things than Fauci and the political-health professional advisories coming from D.C. That means, just like in the USAF, there are often different messages coming from the line than are coming from the front office. Any pilot watching the USAF's pilot crisis has seen drastically different stories from the Top brass and the Line flyer voices. "Pretty Darn Good", right? Fauci is a politician and knows how to package information. He also recognizes that he MUST provide advice that is palatable by the mass populous by way of the violently slanted media. The problem with that is we all now have digital access to more voices than his, and we're hearing dissonance in the message. As a (relatively) rational creature, I decide my way through differences instead of blindly trusting "experts" because i've seen FAR too many experts who weren't. Do you trust every Instructor Pilot or Evaluator simply based on credentials? Yeah, neither do I. If the "expert's" message differs from rational principles, I look for truth elsewhere. What I've seen and heard from Fauci, tells me that he's driving a personal/private/political agenda that does NOT jive with ground truth. (I get it, ground truth leads to ill informed masses making dumb decisions...that's a whole different discussion.) So I discount him and the mass media and search elsewhere. That makes me highly skeptical of any message that blindly references him based on credentials alone. I don't think I'm alone in that...not by a long shot. How do you think we're supposed to address that problem? What do we do when reason pushes us to disregard experts like Fauci when we taste the political agenda?

Bump. Callsign Chaos I can't underscore this enough: All leaders NEED to read this book. Mattis demonstrates the integrity and intent based leadership that could heal most of the problems our current military structure faces. Not many people have to integrity to innovate themselves into unemployment (he shut down Joint Forces Command, which he was in charge of, because it was basically useless). He also cuts straight to facts about decision making and how not empowering leaders below you hamstrings operational effectiveness and efficiency. Great book.

How is it that I haven't heard a single COA involving COVID antibody testing, yet I can get tested for free by donating blood. Seems like we're missing the simplest answer for a large part of the aviation population. If I can carry paperwork proving I have COVID antibodies, shouldn't I be good? We already do the same thing for vaccinations. This ain't rocket surgery. Facts, not fear. FF

Curious on this answer too.

Thanks for the good string of posts. I'm interviewing on Tuesday, and I really needed some real talk about Atlas that wasn't drenched in negative bias. Hoping to fly that Queen of the Sky with you. FF

This checks. 180 days is the standard timeline, but workable at 120. I'm in the process right now. I asked for, and got approved, a 90 slip in my separation just for COVID, but I would have been plenty comfortable for separation, and I started the process about 200 days out. It should be as simple as applying online through vMPF and digitally submitting the form requesting a change in your separation date. I had to stay on top of my local personnel flight, but my request was approved in 10 days. Getting separation orders is a different story. That requires AFPC to do things, and your MPF to do things, most of which the won't want to do until 90-60 days from the separation date...when you'll be on leave...so engage early and often when the MPF until they get the point that you're not to leave them alone until you get orders. Important side-notes: - Yes, it's uncomfortable telling an airline you'll be available for training when you don't (and can't) have orders in writing yet. It's hard to take it on faith that Big Blue won't hose you in the end, but we don't really have a choice. Set your availability date no earlier than the date you calculate to start your terminal leave (which you can't submit for until 60 days prior to it starting). If in doubt, go to finance and have them calculate it for you. - If you're separating for AFRC/ANG, engage with the in-service recruiter (ISR) ASAP. Things like getting on the scroll for a AFRC commission can take three months. - Have a plan A, B, C, D and Z, and don't rule any of them out until you're off IOE at your airline. God Speed! FF

Don't you dare tell the TF that, or the USAF for that matter...because the TF ALWAYS gets what they want. For the record, I couldn't agree more: Logistics = put it on a truck or a boat Deliver an Effect = move it by air Just sayin' FF

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/29/810537586/u-s-signs-peace-deal-with-taliban-after-nearly-2-decades-of-war-in-afghanistan Let the over/under bids begin.

Ok, I’ll stir this pot. I’d honestly want to hear his answer if he were fully read into the scope and scale of the challenge and given time to develop a solution for US broad-spectrum dominance. I’ll bet it wouldn’t look anything like the net-centric lumbering command and control beast we use right now. Smart people do things better than we do. If you’ve seen how an AOC works, you know I’m right. Just sayin

The defense rests. Don’t take the bonus.

Just for some kids that don’t know math: 1999 bonus and cap were introduced: $25,000, which it’s been in some form or fashion for a while, though it took far too long for big blue to realize that not just fighter pilots are important enough to offer a big bonus to... 2019...it’s now $35,000 Inflation says that 1999 $25k should be >$38k in 2019. Apparently flyers were more important in 1999 than they are today. Let that sink in.

Nope, but I did just get my separation date approved to depart the AD exactly at 17 years from commissioning. After what I’ve seen from AF “leadership”and personnel management, I couldn’t be more sure of this decision. No retirement, but I’m hoping the AFRC and airlines will appreciate whatever I have to offer them. No bonus is worth the abuse the USAF is dishing out these days. Dear USAF: Now you can say my morale is pretty darn good.

Concur. They work mostly 8’s with a day off every week. Several bring the family.

609th AMD at Shaw. Pretty sweet deal for a non-tax free location. PM me for details.

Standby to standby. The first FTU class is in progress and they’re about halfway through the pipeline. I might be able to get a temp check from the class when they role through my corner of the 13O FTU. I’ve taught one hour with them so far, and they are a broad cross section of the AF. Most seem intelligent and motivated...not voluntold...to be where they are. A1 Promotion roadshow will be a good place for promotion questions. More to follow when I can pass it. FF

Never give up hope. Keep your head down, do your work as best you can, and keep doing the right thing by those under your authority and influence (yes those are two different things). You can help those coming after you a LOT by going through what you’re going through. I say this from 2APZ to O-5. I PCS’d from where I got passed over, got a new SR who is worth his salt, and got a DP without even a full year in the seat. I’ve got a line number to O-5 now. Senior Raters know a good officer when they see one, and the current guidance is to promote good men/women. It’s all about attitude. Don’t give up, and definitely don’t draw your validation from the USAF’s bankrupt promotion system. You have a LOT more to offer. You’re not done yet. FF

The question is still hanging out there: With all the AFI changes out there, is continuation still a thing? Handgrips are raised, standing by to squeeze triggers. (Yes, I’m old and flew the tweet)