brabus

Flying with other units happens all the time. How often and duration of such is wildly dependent on multiple factors and nothing anyone can predict for you. Bring it up to your sq/cc when you’re getting closer to the end of seasoning and see what he says. Going with a deploying squadron who needs manning help is your best bet for hours, tax free pay, etc.

Danger is right; I know some great leaders who, due to poor luck and timing, have a lot of fighter time and no combat time. It is not a reflection on them as pilots or bros, but rather AFPC not syncing them up with deploying squadrons...life isn’t fair. As far as Combo, well she’s avoided Q3s because wing/cc wouldn’t let the SEFE give her one. And then she became a SEFE...zero cred.

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/new-years-eve-swingers-party-upsets-hotel-guest-theres-crazies-in-the-hot-tub This is what happens when the average family man runs into U-2 pilots in Sacremento on New Years. A guest who only identified himself as Huggy said, “we offered to let his wife and 18 yr old daughter join in; I don’t get why he was so upset, we were just trying to be inclusive...just can’t make some people happy.”

Second powder...good skiing with the kids and good mil discount. It’s a bit of a drive though if you’re hard up on staying in SLC every night. Never skied Solitude, but looks like they’re about the same cost and closer to SLC. Looks nice on the drive past, not sure how it is for beginning kids.

to Pyro. Hopefully the Rats are working on a fund for his kids.

As a LT I was barely making over minimum wage, all while married, spending 1.5 yrs away from home, and doing shit that was hazardous to my life expectancy. The manager at the restaurant I worked at in high school was making more than me. And that’s as an officer. Not complaining, but pointing out how ludicrous this article is. Then again, if they specifically were talking about the non-support group that spends 25 hrs week actually working, but work is defined as fucking it away whole sale with little effort attached, they’d be on to something.

Agreed. I’ve worked with great Army bros who get it at about the O-3/E-6 level and below. Get above their level and you hit mostly full retard land with zero comprehension of how to manage and use air effectively, efficiently, and safely. It’s like watching children with no SA bicker and attempt to assert dominance over others, all while ignoring any and all inputs from the adults who actually have SA. The Army needs a large cultural shift to employ weaponized fixed wing effectively, efficiently, and perhaps even safely (but I think the last one isn’t much of a hump for them to get past). FWIW from my outsider perspective, this is all a much smaller issue in SOF (minus the 160th issues mentioned above...yep, that was nice).

Be the best SNACKO the world has ever seen.

Totally agree there are many scenarios where datalink, etc. is a min force requirement. I’m with you, but I would still like young guys to show up with more general air sense, the ability to know where other things are by comm/time and bull/map correlation (e.g. decent geospatial awareness of the AO without having the answer on a screen), and better multi-tasking ability (especially with degraded/denied blue capes). I bet the IFF/UPT syllabus could change to leverage what tools they have to grow those types of skills. For example, I’ll probably never do a lowat ingress to 10/20 pop again, but maybe, given the tools they have available, that’s the best way for IFF to put the pressure on a guy and make him Mx SA on 3 other aircraft while executing threat reactions, making radio calls and maneuvering in 3D to not hit the ground and accurately fly the attack. The tactic is not exportable to an F-35, but the holistic lessons of geospatial awareness and multi-tasking under stress is. Now that shit is funny!

Concur overall. But it was a good laugh in the bar after a hot pit F-35 sortie where no datalink worked and I flew visual “old school” tactics the whole time. We mostly joked about how all of the Lts would have rolled inverted and ejected had they been in that situation. Tailoring needs to happen, with less focus on archaic syllabus items, BUT there is still value in some baseline fighter pilot skills...the young guys rage with all the Gucci shit working, but they flounder when their technology pacifier is taken away. And it’s not their fault, they weren’t afforded the opportunity to build those baseline skills like we were; now they have to build them in the CAF.

Shack on coffee! Of course the assumption is someone has a grinder. I don’t leave home without mine...bullshit coffee is for ISIS. I’d also avoid Halloween candy. I think in general dudes will really appreciate home baked goods and more substantial/healthy food like bars, decent trail mix, etc. I don’t know anyone who was pumped to find 2 yr old airheads or a dental office free toothbrush.

Perhaps. And yeah there’s some hyperbole in there, but I still remember the SOS exercise on promo boards when every non-pilot immediately tossed aside the pilot in favor of non-ops PRFs...simply because all the ops-related stuff on said PRF was foreign to them, thus they put more subjective weight on what they knew - volunteer stuff, CGO of the year award, etc. Granted it’s just captains, but people don’t change that much: case in point, the total lack of ops SA was very evident in a MSG type squadron/cc I had deployed once. As a “fast burning” O5 who probably some day would sit on a board, she had no more SA on the ops side of the AF than the Capt shoes in my SOS class. So, board composition is still a factor, albeit maybe not the #1 to be concerned about.

So we still have some shoe clerk who knows jack shit about flying and puts no score emphasis on WIC, #1 IP, flying combat related awards/rankings, etc. They’ll still be putting emphasis on bullshit that doesn’t have to do with flying jets and killing bad guys. Not a whole lot different from what it has been. At least you won’t compete against the PA officer who has a shitload of time to projo and volunteer for a ton of stuff while doing their second masters.

And there’s the rub. It’d be nice and desired to have both positives, but if we do only get one (because the perfect scenario is unlikely) which do people want? The thing that chaps my ass is how emotional people get and so easily turn a blind eye to facts. I think Obama was very well spoken, polite, resembled the “consummate” politician of a first world country, but I also think his administration fucked it away horribly and he did a terrible job. I think trump is the antithesis of those same qualities, but his administration’s policies and actions are in general far more in line with what this country needs (my opinion obviously). So, perhaps he is the blowhard asshole that we needed at this particular time in our country’s existence. Doesn’t mean someone like him is the answer in ten years, but for now I think we needed a shakeup in the political elite class across both parties. In the end, I don’t care who the man in the seat is or if I’d invite him to my bbq, I care what he and his administration does for America. And right now, the dems are run by socialists, so yeah, I’ll take the loudmouth asshole over that.

A lot of things are “unexplainable” when you’re not in the know. Human nature.

I would think a Navy fighter guy would know enough to acknowledge how much he doesn’t know. But, maybe he has a buddy in the SEALs who told him about how awesome publicity is.

They like guys who don’t know how to flare or put the gear down? Bold safety strategy cotton, let’s see if it pays off...

Ask your security manager/GSSO. There are travel lists, but none are applicable to all personnel. Just depends on what types of clearances you hold. Ukraine is probably good to go for you.

Valid devils advocate, but as you pointed out, I bet near 0% will do anything of actual necessity or value to any war. So, I hope none of those guys get tagged.

They are. But it’ll be the aircrew’s fault when it happens, root cause be damned.

Bad idea for combat mil aircraft. Not as bad if you’re talking a stratus that can be disconnected from power/not taken on the plane as desired (talking C-X aircraft, not fighters). Completely different ballgame when it’s integrated into OFPs.

God I hope that holds true. We were fighting ADS-B 5 years ago and the FAA was incredulous about our arguments regarding OPSEC and cyber security. You’re right dick heads, you do know more about threats to our military. ADS-B in GA, love it.

I know a couple guys who did VA claims in your same position, no issues with AFRC. I have one friend who was in your position and got the break X from AFRC...as he was still actively flying fighters on AD. I say all this to highlight there is no guarantee either way. The “safest” bet WRT still being in AFRC is don’t do VA until retiring. But, this is not statistically relevant data, and you’ll probably get a few data points both ways when talking to pilots.

Shack. Once per year I watch several fighter pilots, who otherwise rarely work out, embarrass the shit out shoes at the PT test. They may be gasping for breath at the end of the run, but they sure as hell ran the fuck out of it for no other reason than to beat their bros (and everyone else). It’s called mental strength and a desire to win; about 90% of the non-ops people don’t have either trait.

I’m with surely, no rep from the organizations that get the AETC product at the end is a foul. The bob’s need to hear how the product they’re ultimately responsible for is not cutting it.