brabus

I generally agree with your statement above, but yes, there are a lot of otherwise smart people who immediately and blindly follow a narrative based on a headline, a tweet, a misleading infographic, etc. It’s due to one or more of the following reasons: laziness (they don’t want to spend time engaging in critical thought, research, comparing multiple sources, etc.), emotional connection (or aversion) to one side of an argument (and unwilling to let facts sway them), they live in a bubble that is better than what 99% of the world experiences and think they have ultimate SA when they actually have nil (I liken this to the Army’s self-image of their SA on how to use airpower), and they see modifying their viewpoints as losing/quitting/giving up, so they won’t do it (regardless of new information presented). I see the above every day, across the political spectrum, from college-educated, “smart” people. They’re good people, but they blindly follow a narrative and refuse to have an open mind to new information, or information that doesn’t support their opinion. They then are unwilling to accept that people may disagree with them, and are disrespectful, disdainful, condescending and/or aggressive towards them (vs. having an unemotional, respectful conversation). Much of America is driven by emotion (fueled by social media and the MSM). So yeah, a lot of otherwise smart people very much make their opinions while sucked deep into the FaceBook void, and I think that essentially is a vacuum of single POV information with more misleading and flat out false information than their is truth. Instructional Fix: Stop getting your information from social media, throw your emotions in jail for a second when you have a complex conversation, and be open to other ideas and welcome information that doesn’t support your bias. Even if you don’t trust it, acknowledge it and do some research yourself to verify it (from reputable sources), then don’t be ashamed to update your viewpoint if said info is found to be credible/accurate. Lastly, have respect for others and in the end, this is not a competition...be OK with someone else not changing their mind and accept that you can disagree while still being friends, neighbors, etc.

Test recommended non-fielding 2 piece in ejection seat aircraft...so, there’s a hurdle any anti-bag decision makers would have to ignore. Not saying it can’t happen, but it makes it harder. Honestly the 2 piece was preferred for anything out on the ground while deployed, but otherwise not a chance it’s better than the bag for every other situation.

Did I I just see a cop shoot at people standing on their porch? Tell me there’s more to this I’m not seeing...

You’re going to have to move to the unit location for at least seasoning, bare minimum. The length of seasoning and expectations afterwards likely differs a lot depending on airframe. At least with fighters, you need to be at the unit for around 5 days per month, and that doesn’t take into account days you burn not accomplishing required training due to weather, broken jets, etc. That is to say you’ll experience months where more than 5 days are required to get all the training done. Sure some guys make unique situations happen (for a while anyways), but there’s a reason the majority of fighter guys live at least within a couple hours, most sub-hour would be my guess.

You would rather have Schwartz? Hope you’re wearing your blues right now, it is Monday after all.

ACSC taught me that a growler is a strike asset with bombs. Those bastards have been holding their cards close this whole time! Thanks for the learning AU!

I didn’t, just making a general statement as a reminder when doing introspection. 100% of us let ego get in the way of seeing clearly at times. reattack your cover letter...that’s first impression along side scores. If I read a boring cover letter or one that is ridiculously over the top (e.g. it says what the author thinks I want to read vs. truth from the heart), it goes straight to the “meh” pile. Also visit as much as you can afford to; face time goes a long way.

Step 1: Do some introspection with the ego set aside and think about what you may have said/not said or done/not done (phone and in person interviews) that was a contributing factor to you not getting a job (there’s likely more than one thing). Step 2: Seek out a pilot at the home unit who was on the board and ask if they’ll give you more specific feedback on the interview. See if their answers are similar to what you came up with or are wildly different. This isn’t to say they will give you the magic answer, but it will hopefully let you know if you’re on the right track from step 1. Sounds like you simply didn’t interview as well as the top X candidates. But, that also may mean you were 7/169 applicants, which is nothing to scoff. Ask them what did the candidates (who were offered jobs) do/show in the interview that you fell short of? You can only improve on your shortcomings if you know what they are, but don’t expect to be fully spoon fed the answer, and you will certainly never improve if you’re ego gets in the way.

I fly VFR all the time, more than most fighter guys I’ve flown with. But, you know just as well as I do it’s not that simple when flying through busy class B with a 4-6 ship; VFR doesn’t auto-equal fuck off ATC/I can do whatever I want (I know you know that too). To the other point: Do wingwork, formation low approaches, formation low level, visual rejoins from BVR introducing bullseye concept, IFF surface attack, get ATIS while in fingertip (dick move Mav!), etc. All of those achieve what you’re talking about with direct correlation to things done, or concepts experienced, in the CAF. I don’t believe touching the wheels to the ground on the final portion of a formation approach adds a necessary experience/skill that the aforementioned list doesn’t 99% cover

Because we don’t have an FMS. Flying with IPADs is pretty new, so it’s only recently foreflight became an option to search for points (that you still then have to hand jam into your system). So a SID/STAR with a bunch of points you have to hand jam while clipping away at .85m sucks, for us and ATC.

I only learned about this option 4 months ago. First hack was out of Fort Worth, still had to play super-drink off with the controller who finally just gave up when I said I was doing 300 kts at 10k heading East through DFW until he gave me a different vector/altitude. He was less than pleased.

I hear you. I think it’s more a balance of risk vs. utility. We do a thousand things in fighters that are way more risky than a form landing, but they also meet the “required” bar for mission accomplishment. Form landings don’t meet the “required” bar.

That makes the most sense. Still need basic skill of flying close and doing tasks while close (radio changes, gear down, etc.), but there’s almost zero need for a form landing, and the increased risk of doing them so a student is “ready” for that 1 in a million chance in the CAF is not worth it.

ARC with AD-owned jets is nothing more than AD-lite. You’re not experience the real ARC life unless you’re at a stand alone without an AD wing next door.

UPT definitely is not the best part of a flying career, but I still generally had fun. Yes there was stress and I had some days I was pissed off, but in general it was not hell. I had awesome IPs and flight ccs for the most part, so I think that made the experience far better than it could have been. So yeah, it does get more awesome after UPT, but that doesn’t automatically make UPT shitty.

That is a nice, little invalid analogy I’ve seen going around. Cloth masks do not remotely stop spread as compared to jeans stopping piss.

That’s only saying you don’t get credit at the same time you’re receiving mil retirement pay, which doesn’t apply to you. While you’re away on USERRA, your FERS service years should continue to accrue. An example of the above would be you do 20 years in the AF, then retire from there and continue working your fed job. At that point you don’t receive additional mil-time-served credit towards your FERS retirement.

The attitude is easy to fix - they get kicked in the balls with increasing force until they change or are forced out of the community, whichever comes first. The intangible flying experience only comes with air time, so they’ll continue to be shitty/dangerous in those realms until they learn enough lessons through experience; that timeline will be individual-based. All of us will shoulder the risk. A real lose-lose situation.

Your mil pension time builds whether 32 or 10, with some minor caveats when talking AD 20 yr retirement vs. ANG/AFRES 20 yr retirement (main difference is when you start collecting). What makes you think your fed service time won’t accrue when on orders? Why do you think it matters whether ANG or AFRES? I was only in FERS for a little over a year, but I continued to accrue fed service time while on 32 orders during that time period.

Does the med DQ you from all mil service, or just flying?

Apparently they haven’t been paying attention to all of us essential workers who’s lives generally haven’t changed, yet we’re all healthy (including our families we come home to everyday) and we’re not rushing to the hospital. Haven’t had a single case for over a 1000 sample size on our base. Many of my non-mil friends are essential - nothing there either. Temp hospitals totally unused...yeah, but I’m sure this “medium stream” group of people will be TOTALLY different.

That’s a good point. I think the majority have done a good job, there are whackos everywhere and they don’t represent the majority. But an alarming trend is the false dichotomy so many people appear to be clutching - if you don’t blindly support total destruction of liberties or policy making based on unreliable data, then you 100% don’t give a fuck about health or safety and are a window-licking idiot dumber than the dirt on my boots. What if there’s a middle ground where people do care about health/safety, liberty, and don’t want decisions made based on knee jerk data, but instead acknowledge there is a moderate approach to problem solving. All three of those areas of concern can reside in one person, but the far left/right zombies following their “leaders” and wielding online pitchforks refuse to acknowledge it. The “my way is the only way” crowd needs to pull their heads out of their asses.

Guess I’m OK with a bunch of self-righteous, fear-driven, incapable of critical thought, bubble dwellers having no means to support their family while willingly handing over their freedoms like lambs to slaughter. But, despite their own dumbassery getting them there, I’ll still do my role to help pull them out of the shithole they gladly jumped into. Because that’s what Americans do. Good Americans don’t say, “well I don’t agree with you, so I totally have no problem if you just fuck off and die.”

What about rates for VA 15 yr refi or streamline?

Unassessable, $5 to the crew chief kill removing to clean the shit out of his pants.