brabus

To Nsplayr’s point, I volunteer with Young Eagles when I can; over the years I think I’m up to about 3 or 4 black kids who, when asked, “so what’d you think man, want to be a pilot now!?” responded with, “well I can’t be a pilot because I’m black.” Wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t been the one they were talking to. So why’d they answer that way? Well, the short of it is they’ve been fed a complete bullshit lie about life, this country, and the people in it. And unfortunately after a little more talking to them, my feeling has been they’ve received most/all of the bullshit POV from friends and relatives, NOT from the KKK guy down the street shouting slurs at them. The communities they live in are so uninformed/misinformed and continue to internally propagate completely false narratives against themselves. To that end, I completely support outreach/educational efforts in these communities - I want every minority kid to know they can be a pilot if they so choose, and at the end of their adolescence road, I have no problem if none of these kids are selected if they don’t make the bar, but if they do make the bar, then welcome on board and I’m glad to have you! Now, quotas and going for specific percentages - that’s bullshit and a complete miss. Targeted informational outreach and recruiting, but without any affirmative action bullshit, would be a good thing.

I wish they paid better, because it does look like a great job from the mission/flying aspect. Also, why aren’t there a bunch of ANG units doing this? Seems like that’s the perfect setup for a unit to do no-shit state missions, which is in theory a big reason the guard exists.

SCEA. It’s there, but perhaps not every teacher is a member, which is why you personally may not have heard about it.

Teacher unions are at the heart of everything that’s wrong with the public education system. Dismantle all of them - nothing will fix this problem outside of complete “burn it to the ground” and rebuild from the ashes. I feel bad for all the good teachers caught in the crossfire.

@Prozac I literally quoted what she said, and you respond with your own inference of “well what she actually means.” Maybe after the AF you can swing a job as a spokesman attempting to master the art of deflection, backpedaling, and deceit.

“MAGA republicans are an extreme threat to our democracy…” So yeah, that’s exactly what she said, unless you’re arguing “MAGA republicans” does not refer to people who are Trump voters.

In the fighter world most pilots will do a “long/full” TX if they haven’t flown the aircraft previously, senior leadership types not withstanding. If you’ve flown similar aircraft (e.g. F-16 TX to F-35), you may get away with a shorter course, and a lot of that is driven by available slots/funding.

I think we do pretty well at “whole person concept.” Of course high scores, GPA (degree type factored in), etc. matter. But also the interview is huge - I’ll take the 29 yr old hockey player with a 2.9 GPA who’s a volunteer EMT over the 4.2 GPA/99s, works at LM, awkward 23 yr old. Scores aren’t everything - demo you can handle hard work, have faced adversity and not quit, are a team player and a dude we want to go to war (and the bar) with. There are also incredibly smart people who are gifted academically, but you can just tell they’re not the “get into the fray” type. That’s OK, just fighters aren’t for that person.

Fighters

Another angle: “Free money” gov bailout - now where’s the incentive for universities and lenders to reduce costs and rates? This in reality rewards universities and lenders for their actions. I think most people are in general agreement that the cost of college and their buddies in the student loan business are out of control, but why do people simultaneously think dumping gas on the fire will put it out, because that’s essentially what is happening. Let’s not also forget the impact on the deficit and fucking over millions who did pay for their degree/those who couldn’t afford a degree and were responsible enough to not take a loan out they couldn’t pay back.

He explicitly stated his desire to apply the law in the same manner across the board, without prejudice to political party affiliation. That’s exactly the opposite of “political reasons.” You’re not this dense, stop throwing straw man bullshit at the wall and hoping it’ll stick. Are you for or against cases being revisited and subsequent charges being filed many years down the road, e.g. a 40 yr old murder? Since Hillary wasn’t charged, there is no double jeopardy issue here. How is revisiting her with the SAME scrutiny as Trump (or anybody else for that matter), and potentially bringing up charges in the future any different in the grand scheme of things? Why do you view that as a bad thing?

All opinion and not supported by regs… I say it depends on what deal the unit makes with you. Can you do all of your training in one or two multi-day trips (e.g. 1-2 round trip drives) per month? You can have hotels paid for on UTA/AT days, but also have to factor in you won’t get a hotel if you have days that are ATP only. If you can do that, I’d call it doable. If you can’t do that and it’s going to be more frequent trips per month, then I doubt it’ll work long term and I wouldn’t blame the unit for passing on you.

I personally wouldn’t spend money you don’t really have to go anywhere past your PPL. PPL is good enough to show you actually enjoy flying and are teachable. We’ve hired several people with single digit flying hours. Apply everywhere and don’t enlist in the ANG, too old to start playing that game.

They should fly it single seat. Boeing can sell an optional aux gas tank for the back seat - win win!

Flying experience is good to have, but your real hurdle is age at this point. You need a pretty convincing cover letter and package to support that you’re well above average and worth interviewing over all the applicants who are in their young to mid 20s. Experience is certainly a quality, but there is a point of diminishing returns, especially in the fighter world. That said, we’ve had several boards in a row that we’ve interviewed 30+ yr old individuals because they appeared pretty exceptional, some of them got hired. Point is, still worth putting the effort in, but know you need to really wow in your package (starting with cover letter) to get the attention needed to secure an interview. In person visits prior is a good way to give that a boost as well.

She can handle both, don’t worry!

What a great American!

BQZip’s mom…like a golf ball through a garden hose.

Great post Danger. Just wanted to highlight this one part directed at a general audience…a big YMMV, but I punted airlines for a while due to this belief. But reality is even if you’re flying a “full” schedule of say 16 days, that’s 2 weeks of a month you’re doing 0% work, not even getting texts about work. Now let’s throw in the thousands of games you can play in the airlines schedule/money wise that can reduce that work-money ratio significantly in your favor. It’s worth considering what “home between airline trips” is compared to “home while working for the AF.” And FWIW, there are tons of schedules out there that are not some heinous 5 on/2 off, repeat…unless you’re in the regionals. To be clear, not a spear at your personal plan or your reasons (I think they’re great), but more just putting this out there for guys like past me. Talk to your airline bros before immediately passing on the idea because “I don’t want to be gone from home all the time.” It’s far more nuanced than that.

If vipers, growlers, and/or arty can’t provide effective SEAD in hypothetical X situation, hogs and vipers aren’t doing CAS.

Completely agree - it’s a spear at bureaucrats and acquisitions, not the bros.

Maybe, but also if you’re an F-35 guy focusing on CAS, you’re fucking up. But the USMC should have never got F-35s in the first place, but that’s a separate discussion. So to be fair, the USMC bros are stuck in a super lame catch 22.

I spit my bourbon out, dammit Danger!

That sounds like too good of a deal, but it would be awesome.