brabus

To an extent, yes, I don’t think we should have to. Spending 1/2 a sortie doing tac turns and rejoins because the dude can’t even do that right is beyond egregious for an MQT sortie. The basic shit that gets fucked up should take less than 5 min of the debrief, not a large portion of the debrief. This doesn’t apply to every new guy by any means, but it sure applies to far too many of them. As far as the hours discussion, we had guys from the viper FTU show up with 70...I had 90, and with no extra rides. 20 hrs in those initial days of flying a fighter are HUGE. I don’t think the quality of student has decreased, but the lack of air time quantity/lowered standards is what’s crushing our flying force. That said, the F-35 FTU has been producing some great wingman, and I really mean that. But unfortunately, that’s probably because we’re still riding the wave of getting the top performers...that’s going to change in the near future.

AFOQT scores are only one factor...we have skipped hiring lots of people with high 90s because test scores are not what gets you the job. They certainly are a factor in getting an interview, but so are several other things (cover letter, LORs, meeting you in person prior to interview weekend, etc.) Good advice from Cav.

Sure I’ll have 10 or 11...good part is the alley out the back door of Xanadu’s makes a nice nap location while waiting out curfew.

I just googled “fuckin new guy” to find some funny meme to post. Low SA...wish I could take that search back.

I realize I probably added nothing to this discussion with this statement since I can't elaborate on an unclass forum, my bad. I guess what I'll try to add is PACOM is an extremely important AOR with actors that have far reaching implications beyond just that AOR's boundaries. I agree with putting more effort towards PACOM than EUCOM if forced to choose.

Disagree. No I won’t elaborate.

Personally I can only understand a desire to FAIP if you have family reasons driving the decision. I know many FAIPs who are great dudes and kicked ass/gone far after their FAIP time. So it’s not really a career killer by any means, but I also can’t imagine choosing to miss out on at least 3-4 years of operational flying, especially as a young guy (assumption). I also know tons of dudes who have never taught at UPT, so I wouldn’t use the logic of “get it over with now because it’ll just happen later if I don’t.”

It amazes me how much some professional pilots (mil and civ) can lack humility/scoff at other types of flying or specific training. I have a couple thousand hours in fighters, but landing a tail wheel the first couple flights felt like I might as well be back in UPT. It’s been fun as hell learning TW/GA aerobatics, and it has absolutely made me a better pilot overall. Every pilot should do it as soon as they can afford to.

I think we continue to prove how we as a nation are completely incapable of the middle ground. Violent protestors, looters, etc. need to get shut down immediately. It’s bullshit they’ve been allowed to do what they’ve done. BUT, they need to be shut down legally and with as minimal force as required to get the job done. The shit going down with this federal action is just as much the type of stuff we fight to prevent as stopping the dipshits taking over portions of cities and destroying/looting/trying to dismantle the country. They’re both bad, and the people who don’t see that are blinded for one or more reasons.

I wish we we would shitcan almost all of both parties and take a libertarian approach. But, there is so much batshit crazy, anti-American bullshit from the left that I have to vote the other way just to stop them from tearing this country down and turning into a socialist wasteland. Unfortunately the people I consider “true Dems” (I don’t mean that term negatively) have had their party overrun by the far left. Honestly they should just break it up and all these far left people should become part of a different party. Bernie is an idiot, but I do respect the man for being honest about his stance on things and outwardly acknowledging he’s a socialist. Until the Dems can either dissolve into two parties, or shut down the radicals, there will be lots of Americans who aren’t huge Trump fans, but they’ll still vote for him/his party (or abstain from voting) because the other option is just ludicrously out to lunch. It’s a sad state of “lesser of two evils.”

Agreed. My time under Tricare prime is 180 out (in a total abortion kind of way) from standard/remote. Seeing civ docs with freedom of choice (assuming they take Tricare) is so much better. Tricare prime is “great” for cost, but you get a dog shit product...good luck if you’re anything but strong and healthy.

The Massif elements is a great jacket. A warm enough shell, in addition to some layering, for cold days and light enough to be good for the borderline jacket days. I’ve used it 0-50 deg with good results across the spectrum (layers matter obviously in the cold temps). You’ll be sweating your ass off in 40+ if you’re working hard (hiking with a pack, etc.)

Concur. Now can we get back to when that Japanese kid down the street is going to pay me my owed reparations for Pearl Harbor? I’ve suffered long enough...

We have a shitload of SIIs right now...so by definition how special are they? And most of them are things like do a good preflight, have discipline, how to take a piss in the jet. These are MAJCOM leadership’s answers to increasing safety. What in the wide world of sports is going on here!

Fuck yeah...that’s about the only thing that will matter to anyone when they’re having a beer on their porch at age 69, unless they were a careerist douche, then they’re drinking zima on their porch alone, lamenting “their” staff job they never got. There are lots of bros who probably should have been given a DFC, etc., but what went down was glossed over as “just doing their job.” The good, and even the bad, memories are all that matter in the end, not what job was held, school attended, or even airframe flown. Here’s to wiping shitbags off the face of this earth!

Even better, I’ve been both PT and FT with the flight pay change and still get 6-9 paychecks/mo regardless of status. Why is it so hard for support functions to do their job effectively. The way they operate, I’d be GAB-ing 90% of my sorties due solely to pilot error/incompetence. The other 5% would be something truly out of my control, and the remaining 5% I’d get airborne and summarily expect everyone to be stoked and thank me for a job well done.

B courses have been cut down for years, and yes, the general product has lagged behind preceding years. Lots of kicking the can down the road to the CAF. So, it’s the entire AETC pipeline that’s a problem, not just one part. It’s also not as much the tactical employment part that is concerning, it’s the general airmanship that’s alarming (decision making, risk mitigation, SA, basic flying tasks like instrument approaches, etc.) As I’ve said before, the naturally strong swimmers persevere and overcome quickly, but the average guys lag the fight and it takes way too many “concerning” flight hours until you have a reasonable amount of faith they’re not going to kill themselves or someone else. This is a common viewpoint amongst the experienced members in the CAF. I’m not speculating on what happened at SW or LN, but I won’t be surprised if this type of stuff is a CF, yet is summarily ignored and swept under the rug by “leadership.” Now for you ACC (that’s right, you’re not innocent in this), the quality/quantity of training is bullshit. When I was a LT-young Capt in the viper, I got about 269 hrs/yr in training (not accounting for any combat hours). I now see the same aged guys (who have had alarmingly less AETC training than I got) get 40-50% less flying. Our sims are also dumpster fires. The mission complexity and difficulty has increased significantly over this same time period. You want us to do something well beyond combing the desert (and not finding shit), get fucked! Organize, train, and equip...how do you think you’re doing ACC? Maybe some serious introspection is on order. And I haven’t even had my first beer today...time to go fish and lower my blood pressure. (“You’re cool” directed at the bros executing the training mission)

“We need 69 min POL before you can drop $100k worth of weapons on this desolate pile of rocks”.

Wow, apparently the real-world inspiration for Randy Marsh is also a pilot...

I also remember the DE telling us the few stories of why people had hooked and they were really dumb things. I was thinking I would have hooked the guys also. So, bottom line was the DE was fairly low threat unless you really fucked it away.

When did they do it and what was their specific gripe? At least 4 years ago it was great.

My assumption is ENJJPT produces less “shouldn’t have been assigned a fighter” types since they started having crew aircraft as an option. Back in the day if you could graduate, you had a very high chance of fighters, so guys got fighters who probably would never have even gone 38s at a SUPT base. Lots of great pilots have come from ENJJPT, but it’s undeniable there at least use to be a leak where the weak swimmers snuck through. FWIW I also know several great dudes who should have got fighters out of ENJJPT, but didn’t due to some low-fighter-count drops that started occurring back in ‘10 or so. Luck and timing matter, even at ENJJPT.

I’ve seen both ways...what the two previous posts say, and what I said (MFRs stated unable to make meals from TDY start date through end date). You definitely at min should get M-F MFR (and not have to fill out lost meal forms).

Every day, not just during the week. Shouldn’t have to fill out Lost meal form, just need an MFR, usually signed by someone in FM, that states you’re authorized full per diem because your schedule precludes you from making DFAC meal times.