brabus

Agree with Stitch - starting a local club can be great. In fact, the only con of doing so vs. an AF aero club is you don't have government subsidization, but a non-AF club can win in every other way, from better airplanes to no bullshit red tape. Remember, the best thing the AF does is fuck up something that should be awesome.

Stop talking to this guy, he has no idea what he's talking about.

It probably will take ~10 years to get the hours airlines are looking for if you don't do the regional thing SocialD mentioned. That said, you only have one chance to fly fighters and the rest of your life to fly large aircraft. And that's why I completely disagree with this guy's opinion on what you should fly - lots of fighter pilots in the airlines.

Prioritize your finances to allow for consistent training (at least 2-3 flights per week). Any less of a rate and you’ll spend more time and money over the course of getting your license. Look into student loans specifically for flying if you’re not generating enough money with a side job, internship, etc. I’d say $7-8k should be about right, +/- depending on where you live.

With "standard locality" I'd have to be a step 9 to break even with Maj AGR, even with the 25% bonus. You must be figuring in a hell of a locality pay (which I'm not saying isn't possible, but by definition location dependent). And that doesn't include all the ridiculous asspain that goes along with being a technician that doesn't exist as an AGR. So I'd say you need to be a step 10 to start getting ahead of a Maj AGR...how many O-4s on here who are 13 step 10s? Bottom line, moving to AGR is the right move...the better move is laughing your way to your next fill-in-the-blank airline trip.

Yep. Ha, it’s been draining for quite some time - but this and one other thing pushed me over the edge into sub-zero faith.

At the recent OG council the OGs advocated for max bonus (i.e. $35k for 1 year orders vs. current $15K), A1 concurred on the idea, saying they agreed with the pilot shortage. FM folks were on board. And then A3 says there isn't a pilot shortage and they don't see a need for increasing bonuses to allowed, full amount. Un-fucking-believable...the operations guys (e.g. "us") say there isn't a problem, but even the manpower non-operators are saying there's a problem. Admittedly I generally blamed this stupidity on A1, well turns out it's our own guys backstabbing us. The ironic thing is I said to my OG a few weeks ago how I had lost all faith in the staff to do anything right (referencing another crucial topic)...well, apparently I can lose more than 100% faith.

No application, offered 2-3 CC options, which they didn’t want any of them, so they left AD. WG/CC said take the “last option” or you can retire to one of them, and the same except here’s a shit sandwich 365 to the other (he separated at 18 years). I know this is hard to believe from a CAF perspective (pawnman’s experience is CAF standard), but it certainly happens elsewhere.

I know a couple who were given the choice of command or separate.

I’d ask for a source on that. If you SIE from UPT, that’s one thing, but I’m skeptical you giving up an unsponsored RES slot to pick up an ANG slot prior to starting UPT would be an issue. You could probably even do that while in UPT (though I’m sure it’d be harder/more paperwork required).

School, undesirable attached jobs, undesirable PCSs, higher 365 threat, a command they don’t want, etc. I’m just the messenger, not saying these are my opinions.

It was a mostly tongue in cheek statement. Though I actually know a couple guys who don’t want O-5 (due to the attached strings that currently go with it), but still want to stay AD for a host of reasons. Not for most of us, but to each their own.

So does that mean more Maj line IPs and less of those individuals forced to move on as new O-5s? In a backasswards way, maybe it’ll some what improve retention. Probably not, but this may actually not be as bad as some probably think it is (not that I would ever advocate staying on AD any longer than you absolutely have to).

Look for a chiropractor who takes full x-rays as part of their initial screening for new patients..do it out of pocket (i.e. off the record). There are some very good ones out there who may be able to help, and it won't cost you much to at least try the easy road first. If it's something worse, like a herniated disk, you'll have to likely go through someone else which will involve insurance, etc.

Know many dudes who have stayed at Eglin/Nellis for multiple assignments...PCA is an easy option (relatively) when you have multiple wings at the same base. Though I'm guessing neither of these are where the OP is.

Of course it depends...but I also think it’s hyperbole to say “a lot” of guys find years 0~11 to be a mistake. I would buy “a lot” of guys generally enjoyed their LT-capt/young maj years (in spite of their natural love for bitching), and would consider staying past initial commitment the actual mistake. This is from a CAF perspective, and I know it may not apply to other commands. That said, is life in the MAF/AFSOC truly magnitudes worse than the CAF? It does sound worse based on heresy from MAF bros, but I don’t get “unbelievably worse, made a huge mistake!” from those bros either. It was a general statement, not necessarily applied to the specific situation of 120 day tanker deployments.

Shack. There’s A LOT of cynical sport bitching on here. Not saying there isn’t an element of truth to some of it, but young guys should absolutely pursue flying in the military. It will most likely be an awesome experience and a 1000% better way to spend your 20s flying than slugging through regionals.

Vermont - Visits are good; not required, but a good idea. Multiple non-VT guys were hired last board.

Hours...I think its 500 in type if its your first/only fighter, or 100 in type if you have > 500 hrs (or maybe 750, something like that) in a different fighter. From what I've seen in three MAJCOMs, experienced = Cat A/1 (published mins), but one sup or another usually caps you at 300-1 without OG waiver. Obviously not the case in USAFE as Hacker pointed out and I'm sure there are other places as well. In PACAF we got the waiver quite often due to shitty weather in that part of the world. Of course that usually meant it was shit weather up to high enough we were getting terrible training anyways..."all Cat A's to the ops desk!" is not the call you want to hear from Top 3. Gotta love the FHP meat grinder.

Pretty sure the fighter world is generally 300-1 once experienced, with OG/CC waiver down to published mins. local sups may allow published mins all the time at home field.

I would be very surprised if the cost to secure the border in the same manner we secure highly sensitive sites didn't significantly surpass the current cost of just building the wall. @Vertigo I'll give your robot idea support - good idea to use that technology to track intruders and direct CBP. Even better when said intruders are held up at a physical barrier, giving CBP response time. My home's barriers won't stop anyone determined from getting in, but they will give my wife and I plenty of time to meet them with firearms in a very advantageous way.

You can stay past 20 in an AGR or traditional position, just depends if the unit wants/needs you. In most units I've been around (mine included), any AGRs beyond 20 are in leadership positions/next in line (group and wing level). There are year limits still per rank (i.e. 26 years for Lt Col without a waiver...I think).

If you put an appropriate amount of effort in during ROTC/school, you'll likely get a pilot slot. That's not to say good dudes who should have received a pilot slot haven't been surprised with a nav slot (luck and timing), but I think those are a minority. Nothing in life is a guarantee, including the Marine PLC program. Go with the branch/mission you think you'd like the most, work hard in ROTC/college and it'll probably work out, especially with such a pilot shortage that'll likely continue for several years.

You just described the negative aspects that exist in EVERY military branch. A lot of the bullshit we hate is DOD mandated, i.e. every part of the DOD is held hostage to SAPR training, cyber awareness CBTs, etc. Finance sucks everywhere, every branch has non-mission focused support people who will piss you off with their apathy and daily failure to be held to a reasonable standard. Our AF bitch/gripes/complaints are not special to the AF, they exist in every branch. I highly recommend you don't make a career decision on shit you've heard/read on the internet, and certainly don't make one that revolves around avoiding bullshit (every large organization has it). Make a career decision based on what you want to do, mission, etc, not on trivial bullshit and your perception of how bad or not it is.

100% agree - I should have clarified swaps allowed AND the manning to support. If manning can't support, then tell AD to pound sand and we're (the ARC) only supporting 90 days of the AEF. I think 90 is the absolute max that is somewhat sustainable (60 would be ideal and more sustainable).