brabus

New guys don’t even know why we do it (or rather why we used to have to do it). Minds blown when they are told it didn’t use to be all GPS time!

@LiquidSky I’ll say it again, the quality of time spent with one’s family is entirely controllable. That also applies to your spouse. I don’t recommend marrying someone who says GFY, I’ll only live in X. Guys who marry that chick will likely not have a great family QOL…but it was a choice they were not forced to make.

Barely any dust in AFG, no excuses for not having sparkling floors! How can I trust you to fight a war if you can’t keep your floors immaculate?!

I once called the NY state patrol to ensure I was protected by a federal law that enables me to transport firearms through NY on a XC move. The guy confirmed I was protected, and then said, “but not all troopers may be aware of, or follow, that law in the moment. But don’t worry, charges will certainly be dropped when you go to court.” Unbelievable - directly admitting NY LE violates federal law and is incompetent/ignorant.

You will miss things, but you will also make things. The quality of time you spend with family is entirely within one’s control.

FIFY

Just be clear on this, two things are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Pursuing mil aviation and placing high importance on family can occur simultaneously. You don’t need a 9-5 to have a solid family life. Not saying that’s what you are implying, but that could be inferred from your words.

Don’t know how I missed this, sorry dude. Hopefully it’s not too late, but I think what you’re feeling regarding the new civ job is normal - you’re excited at the “newness” and actually having a “real” job for the first time in your life. If you were a normal college student, it also probably feels like a shitload of money and perks. I’ve worked with tons of engineers and been around “that world” for years (from a pilot perspective) and guess what - lots of guys working late hours, “non-standard” times, Saturdays, etc. Especially newer guys - the grass is not always greener, just different. I think you are likely to significantly regret passing up an interview in a year or two after the “exciting newness” wears off and your engineering job is just a paycheck to you. But, I think 9-5s are the worst thing I could ever have to do and I thank God I can do something else. I also feel like near 100% I know who work a 9-5 are not fulfilled at all and just work because something has to pay the mortgage and put food on the table. Fuck that - go on an adventure, life is too short with too many unknowns to waste your time playing Office Space (my subjective opinion of course). I’ll end with this thought: if your heart isn’t in something (especially flying professionally), then don’t do it. Flying is not “just a job,” like a 9-5 could be. If you’re still passionate about it after a gut check, then press forward, but if not, then maybe you are just the 9-5 type…and that’s not wrong, just not for me.

Dude who does interviews at DAL, on my buddy’s JS the other day, told him they’re planning roughly 1K/year for several years. That seems fairly logical/realistic and didn’t come from SM rumor mills. So, probably as quality info as you’ll get. Of course everything is subject to change if another “black swan” happens.

This is 100% Boeing issues, not the beginning of a industry crash. Not saying that won’t happen in the future (cyclical and all), but this ain’t it.

In case you haven’t heard, KJP said all the videos of Biden blue-screen-of-death-ing are deep fakes and he’s completely fine. It is simply amazing the level of gaslighting the dems push out there on a daily basis. They truly think each and every citizen is a complete fucking retard and they know better than all of us. Every person should be pissed about what this admin blatantly thinks of them. Yet, we still have lots of people completely fine with being told they’re complete dumbass mouth breathers and a dementia-ridden man knows what’s best for them. The latter is what still surprises me the most.

An ALR-69 could run this country better than Biden!

@archer You are not wrong, unfortunately. @Smokin Sure, but I don’t think Putin gives a single fuck about those numbers. Unless someone with more GAS factor in the inner circle assassinates him and takes power, we’ll probably continue to see Putin drive on, body count be damned.

The PRC is loving our Ukraine gameplan…just saying. RUS hemorrhaged “treasure” for 10 years in AFG, what makes anyone think they’re not willing to do the same now? History shows they are a lot more willing to slug it out for years on end then people seem to be giving them credit for this round. Initial actions made sense, and not saying zero support, but things are off the tracks…specifically financially.

To be honest, every time this thread pops up to the top and I see the title, I immediately think, “lucky bastard!”

I’m not saying abolish background checks, because really what does the NFA do besides trample constitutional rights…the same background check. If you can pass a background check, then there should be no limit to what firearm you can buy/own. I’m not advocating people should be able to buy RPGs, tanks with functional main guns, etc. The worst part about the NFA is it’s a gun registry, which is the last thing we should ever let those fucks in DC do. That is communist dictatorship 101, yet here we are, with a form of a gun registry. It needs to be completely killed immediately.

I wonder what it’s like to fuck your way out of Dothan, only to move to almost any other Army base and eventually realize almost all of them are shitholes.

I really hope you’re right…except for the auto part! But it’d be a big win to shitcan suppressors and SBRs.

The guard is definitely better. But long days still happen for upgrade rides, bigger events, etc. The queep seems very dependent on leadership - generally it was much worse on AD. Overall, there’s a reason a majority of the high performers punch from AD to ARC at their UPT commitment (e.g. why you see a shitlod of patches in many ANG FS)

When can we kill the NFA - taxing me to exercise a constitutional right, GTFO!

Hey chief, this is an easy fix, change the AFI to allow awesome mustaches and we’ll stop having “problems.” Fucking chiefs, do I have to do everything for these retards! (No offense to the awesome chiefs that comprise 0.0069% of the ranks…and are probably all in the guard).

It helps that you’re doing awesome shit. Tons of people in the civ marketplace working 60+ hr weeks sitting at a desk. But yes, those days are happily behind me and I’m not working that shit unless it’s at war.

Let it be known, if you were “young” 30 years ago, you’re a geezer. Fuck it, when do I get my AARP discounts!

Averages in the AD fighter world: - Gone from home 50% of the time (TDY, deployments) - 60 hrs/week at work (at work time, not counting the hours you’ll sporadically spend at home finishing prep for upgrade rides…first as the student, then in the future as an IP). - Daily work times all over the place depending on training plan, airspace times, etc. If you have young kids be prep’d for time periods you won’t see them for days at a time since you’ll be gone to work before they wake up and home when they’re back to bed (or at least close to it). But then there’s a night week where you get several hours with them in the morning…just have a good coffee plan since you went to bed at 0230 and they woke you up at 7. The above are general for CAF fighter squadrons. If you take an assignment at some point to AETC, test (kind of…can actually be worse time-with-family wise sometimes), UPT, etc. you’ll likely get a reprieve from the hustle and have a lot more time with family. Great leadership vs. meh leadership can swing this either direction. The ANG is better QOL. How I handled the above with wife and kids: maxed the weekends with them, if I had the ability to get home early enough to have dinner and some post-dinner time with them I’d do that, then finish up whatever prep-for-next-day I had after kids went to bed. I took leave when I could and didn’t feel bad about it. There are less ops tempo times as well…sometimes you have a phase where you can get away earlier. Use those “gifts” to do things with family instead of having that 6th beer in the bar (but definitely have a couple!)

I’m not commenting either direction, but we’re basically at Vietnam-like in the late 50s/early 60s “before” the war. I’m sure many people had similar thoughts during that time period too. Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance and all that, but the comparison to that specific time period of SEA is not invalid