brabus

Raz was a great dude. I'm lucky to have met him 9 yrs ago, and glad to have shared a drink or two with him over the years. Godspeed and thanks for everything you've done for this country.

A nickel on the grass Gaza, the world is a lesser place.

Yeah OK, that was a relatively benign example. I know there are plenty of dudes out there with way more jacked up schedules. How bout working 14 hr shifts for a week getting up at 2 pm and then getting 1.5 days to swing your schedule 12 hrs the other direction? I've done that one several times and I shit you not we were told that's not a valid reason for ambien. This is not a contest for who has the shitiest schedule (I lose, got it), it's a statement about how retarded the recent anti-ambien thing is.

Flight doc at our last safety meeting gave some talk about how we will not get ambien unless for a specific mission, flight, etc. It was emphasized that any excess ambien not used should be destroyed and any found in our system if blood is drawn because of a mishap could screw us. So, when I have to switch from 10 am briefs to 5 am briefs over a 2 day period, that's not good enough to warrant ambien. We should "adjust our sleep schedule over Sat/Sun." Yeah, because that works. Or I could take ambien for one night and actually be safe to fly a jet vs. sleeping for 3 hrs and then flying a jet, which I will assure anyone is significantly more dangerous than flying 10+ hrs after ambien.

TUI = Close to zero effort. An MBA through them is easily feasible with your timeline. Do it and save yourself the reality of getting passed over for Maj due to lack of masters like several dudes I know. You can always do a legit masters later if you so desire.

Great, takes 15 mg to do anything for me...now I have to take 3 pills every time I want to sleep. How is a 10 mg pill making people crash cars presumably 8+ hrs after they took it? I call shenanigans...unless there really are that many people popping ambien and driving a car 4 hrs later.

Holy shit! That's one of the last places I would ever expect to get rid of Blues Monday. So one of the shoe meccas drops this, but others don't...WTFO. Oh well, good on them and I'm glad even that place has shown some common sense.

Do you just look at your SURF to see how many days you have (or rather, MPF has managed to actually track) for the OCONUS to ____ TDY time? Once I get 365 total I now get a (2) next to my STRD (already have one ST)?

Dear God! Guess he's a near-beer fan for life.

I remember once in high school when a dentist told me there was no way to become a fighter pilot unless you were a personal friend of a congressman. Just like the dentist, your parents don't have a clue about this subject. I'm sure they mean no harm, but this is one time you should not listen to your parents at all. Never just accept "you can't do this," "it won't work," etc. Exhaust all possibilities and effort before giving up and moving onto something else. The medical screening process is NOT friendly to you and they are not looking to help you out. Don't lie to their face, but certainly DO NOT offer up information. Only answer exactly what they ask and nothing more. Do not hypothesis that you have any condition unless it is 100% documented by a medical professional. If you start a sentence with, "well when I was 5 yrs old I...," just stop. Giving every little, minor detail about your health will most likely only hurt you in the long run.

Boxhead et al chime in as required, but how is it the UAV guys have less opportunity/time for promotion BS? You guys work your ass off, no doubt. But let's get real, across the majority of the rated communities, we're all in the 60-90 Hr work week grind, undermanned, don't have time to get Masters or volunteer at the local hospital, etc. On top of that, many of the MAF and AFSOC bros I know are gone 300+ days per year, making all that even more challenging. Perhaps there are less opportunity for leadership positions (don't know), but I just don't buy the "we don't have as much time as others" argument. Compared to the shoes, there's a huge difference in time available, but there is not that much difference for the most part for us rated guys, regardless of community you come from. There has to be something else that is holding the UAV bros down.

Unfortunately no. However, their selection of scotch is not too bad considering it's a class 6 in AL. The rest of the liquors and beer selection is decent enough.

2. There has to be something else going on, as I just can't see him as the fully-lobotomized "leader." He's definitely one of the good guys, at least last time I saw him.

That would be nice, but on the other hand it's awesome lugging those giant things around, complete with one cartridge of black toner that runs out 1/3 of the way through the TDY.

Prepare to smash your cranium against the wall, repeatedly. At least once you figure it out it's not too bad.

Nah, your Nav just failed the E6-B class and didn't want to tell you guys. Ignorance is bliss!

WTF...just what we need, more dickless leadership.

Good plan, unfortunately that'll last the neighborhood about 6-9 min. We're all fucked! I think Rainman's on to something though...who has a bathtub we can use?

Ram, you need me to ship a bunch of reserve booze from the states? I fear the next step is GO1 like you said, and with that, no buying booze allowed. I don't even want to imagine that purgatory.

Meanwhile Congress' ridiculous retirement remains untouched. Perfect.

God I hope the other MAJCOMs follow suit.

I submit the way its going is not where you want to go. I can appreciate your desire to do what you can to secure your dream, but you are in fact, doing it wrong and subsequently will probably not achieve your dream. Relax and stop sacrificing some good things in life because you think it will get you ahead, foot in the door, etc (it won't). I think it was Buddy Spike who said 69% of getting yourself that dream job is just being a good dude (and that also means being yourself, not pretending to be someone you think they want), showing a bit of aptitude and knowing when to STFU. All of that does not even remotely require you to burn through your bank account (buying a glider for example), give up on "the fun job," dump the girlfriend, etc. You seem like the guy who will role into an interview trying to be someone you think the dudes want to see, talking about aerobatic glider flying and how you gave up all this great shit because flying means more than your own mother. If you just shitcan that approach, be 100% yourself and most of all, be humble, you'll have a FAR better chance of getting hired. You're not going to impress anyone with the approach you seem to be taking. You will impress people by being a genuine, good dude who's actions and words speak to that. Lastly, flying anything can help you in UPT, albeit usually only slightly. Fly because you want to have fun, learn something new, etc. Don't get wrapped around the axle about instrument vs. aerobatics vs. tailwheel rating, etc. None are going to give you a magical advantage over the others when it comes to prepping for UPT. If you really want to drop 15K on a glider, go for it, but DO NOT do it because of some idea it will help you get a guard job or help you get DG at UPT - do it because you really have a passion for it (side note: probably want to figure out if you actually have a passion before buying your own aircraft...technique only). That's my candid, no bullshit response to what I've read here. Take it as you may, but realize while there are some sarcastic responses on here, there are several legitimate responses from experienced flyers. I suggest you take that into account before continuing down the "LOL, fuck it, this is the way it goes" road.

You're probably right. I wish I could say I hope big AF sees through this bullshit and deals with the big stuff and doesn't crush all the little stuff, but I can't say that...because I don't have that hope. Like Rainman said, who would have thought it'd be some 1CO that brought it all down.

I wonder that myself. In the few squadrons I've been in, the only possible way a 1CO could find something is if they went looking through desk drawers or went into the dude's shitter. Either is wrong, so it should at the minimum cancel out. I find it very hard to believe someone just left a songbook sitting on the ops desk. This "superstar" went looking for anything to discredit others and build her case.

Just feel out (sts) your new squadron and see what the general consensus is. I think most squadrons are CMR with few minor deviations. Definitely go with Pops or Mr. Lims if you happen to be in Korea.