brabus

Dual qualed with inst form 8s (e.g. ACE), easy. Dual qualed (and actually worth a shit) with msn form 8s, nope.

If you want to fly 5th gen, now is your best opportunity. If you go 4th gen, your chances of crossing over are a lot lower. I say this based on what year groups F-35 is looking for, which is somewhere around '09 and younger. If you're around that year group or older (based on your late to rate comment), there seems to be very little chance AFPC will send you there after an assignment in another jet. Just something to consider.

Did you fill them with dirt by shovel each time you added a row, or did you stack them all, and then fill dirt afterwards? Sounds interesting...I'll probably wait and use the FEL next month when it's drier, but still sounds like a decent idea.

GS-11 first year, 2 years to 13/step 1? That's a massive pay cut for a mil pilot off AD, and not very desirable locations additionally. Even some young guys who aren't flight leads are GS-13 in the guard, and the rest are bare minimum 12s. CBP needs to greatly step up their hiring baseline pay to even remotely be competitive with a shit load of other aviation opportunity out there for guys leaving AD. I can't imagine any pilot would be interested unless they were dead set on living in Laredo.

For the purpose of this discussion, dual qual means a guy executing full up combat missions in two MDS during the same time period, which requires substantially more than "motherhood" flying. The ability to fly more than one airplane safely is not being debated here, it's the ability to employ more than one aircraft effectively in combat. Beale/Whiteman 38s, airlines, etc. are all basic flying/"standard" airmanship type stuff - they are not employing an MDS in combat. These two, different definitions of dual qual cannot be compared/inter-changed (apples to oranges).

The Army is using 3-09.3 procedures to conduct "interdiction-like", offensive targeting WELL clear of friendlies. Despite the lack of a true FSCL, this is an abortion of doctrinal application and devoid of tactical common sense. Disco is right on, the Army's stupidity is a massive supporting case for why the AF is its own service, but unfortunately we allow them to have ultimate control. Why the army is the supported command in OIR defies logic, it's a fucking nearly 100% air war from the US perspective. The AFshould at min have the reins in OIR, OFS is different. I understand your point, but regardless of reasons for its creation or its execution manner, I still think if dual ops came to RPA/Light attack, you would be very underwhelmed by the average performance level of dudes in either MWS. Everyone is not as good as you think and I feel very confident in saying only your above average pilots would fair OK. Essentially take a dudes performance level (SL abv avg, avg, etc) and subtract two. That's what you'll get in each MWS.

While nice at first thought, dual qual is not as easy as some of you think. I have flown with a lot great dudes who are dual qual, and these dudes happen to be some extremely high functioning human beings - as in way smarter than the rest of us bottom 99%...and capable pilots as well who do fly tactical missions in each type. There's about two of them I would even remotely consider capable of going to combat in one of their MDS in their current state (i.e. without picking an MDS and spending 3+ months getting spun up on how to employ well). Now just imagine asking an average dude to know two separate sets of TTP, different mission sets, etc. (who cares about the motherhood/systems GK...don't care, that's easy). Bottom line, you will predominantly end up with below average MQ-9 guy who moonlights as a below average OA-X guy. Not because he's necessarily terrible as an individual pilot, but because he can't execute two different MDS well; he can execute one at an average capability level. I know some of you can likely point to a guy you know who could probably hack it alright, but it's not about that one guy, it's about the idea of an entire squadron executing in such a manner, and by the way, that entire squadron is not made up of well above average pilots. This may not have been an issue 30 years ago, but shit is complicated now (for everyone), so there's a reason flying multiple types of aircraft as a CMR CGO/young FGO doesn't happen anymore.

Different perspectives are good, for both sides, as long as everyone is willing to listen. From what I've seen, both services generally send guys who are top 1/3 types, so generally they're decent sticks/dudes. But, there's always the exceptions.

I'm full time (and i mentioned that in the letter), which may have affected the outcome positively, but that's only conjecture on my part. If you are going part time, then it may be worth addressing how that will not significantly minimize your contribution to the total force...if the civilian job does work directly for the military, that's probably worth highlighting.

I've seen a couple VFA guys do an AF exchange, have not seen a Growler dude do one, but doesn't mean it hasn't happened.

Mine was one page, 2 main points. First, how the AD and the ARC both benefited - I'm in a TFI unit, so I talked about still instructing young AD guys along with their ARC counterparts and how this job move would allow me to have a greater, direct affect on those guys than my current (at the time) AD job. Secondly, I addressed my AD squadron's manning, specifically how me leaving early did not create an issue for them (i.e. filling lines, someone else was already there tapped to takeover my job, etc.) Bottom line, I think you should address these two points succinctly and 100% shit can any personal/family reasons, unless they are significant EFMP type stuff. Other than the more severe family cases, I think the AD not only doesn't give a shit about the personal side, it may even come off as whining and push them towards disapproval. This was the advice I got and followed - it worked for me, even during an 11F crisis. Additionally, the SAF guys personally talked to my AD SQ/CC and ANG OG/CC when reviewing my app to get their personal inputs (AD: How does this affect your manning/mission accomplishment?, ANG: Why do you need him early, how will it benefit you guys?) I got the feeling this is a new standard, so worth giving both sides a craniums up so they're not blindsided by the call.

Thanks M2. I'll just wait for the ground to dry a little. It's not worth risking ricochets.

Have any of you guys shot against stacked railroad ties as the sole backstop material? There are a lot of mixed opinions on the Internet, but many of these smell like 10% experience and 90% WOM. Looking for any experience-based info you guys might have. Big pic: I want to build a range on my land, but the dirt is pretty soft for heavy equipment at the moment (I think), so I was thinking about stacking ties as a somewhat temp backstop until the ground hardens a bit and I can use a FEL or track loader to build a more proper dirt berm.

Shack. I wish that C-17 dude all the best and hope to see him kicking ass in the future, but for fucks sake what is the AF thinking; LIMEX program + this = huge WTF.

we were rtb to Eglin that day and saw you guys land, solid work man. Too bad nobody got a pod on until after you were stopped, that would have been some good video to send over. Small world...

Yep...and I'll be the asshole who says the unpalatable truth: upt studs are likely getting the long rehearsed BGC version from the few fighter pilots who are at UPT because they got "screwed." Things are much different than 5+ years ago, the fighter community cannot afford to send all but the lower performers to an ALFA tour (certainly not the case when I went through). And that's the pool of IPs studs are forming their opinions from/on. I only hope there are enough older reservists around who don't fall into this category, but I have a feeling that's not the case/they're part time, so exposure is limited with those guys. Caveat: I realize this is a general statement, not saying every single dude falls in this category, but you're lying to yourself if you don't think most fall into it, for the current time period at least.

But has space not become such a vast and growing domain (much like air power in WW2), that it doesn't warrant it's own service? I think it's arguable the AF is not much different from the Army post-WW2 in wanting to keep a hold of all the toys, but doesn't have the capacity to use/develop those toys to their fullest capabilities. Thank god we became our own service, because in 2017 the Army still showcases daily how fucking retarded they are with the use of air power. I wouldn't be surprised to hear some space guys say the same thing about their current services. I say let them become their own service. The con is the asspain of joint coordination (by the way, coordinating space effects today is a metric asspain, so it's not like we're losing easy coord capes by shedding space), but the pros of better space capability/future ingenuity and taking that domain off the AF plate = more focus on AIR domain is more than worth it. I like the space nerds, they do great things, so this isn't flicking a booger, it's making all of us better/stronger in our true areas of expertise. And for fuck's sake, let's not be like the Army and act like we know best how to do everything...everyone stay in your lane and we'd be way better off as a military in general. FYI, that comment is not directed at the bros doing the J-O-B.

Directed energy is the future - it's not far off time-wise and it's scary as hell. We do not have that market cornered either.

Block 30s don't get it for a few years. I think the plan is to field concurrently (roughly) with SCU-11.

The F-16 has been extended to 2045, so they need to SLEP more jets to meet that timeline requirement. It is not related to F35 delays, but I think there are at least a few people who realize 4th gen will be required for quite a long time due to the numbers of jets required in the inventory to meet all the COCOM and OPLAN requirements, combined with the reality of our total 5th gen numbers (e.g. There will never be enough to have a 5th gen only AF)

Haven't experienced it personally yet, but it's about a 50/50 amongst the ARC bros I know. It seems to matter based on what orders you're on when AMEX does it's yearly check. If you happen to be on active orders during the check, fee is waived, if you're not on active orders, then you'll see a fee show up. That said, my plan is to not call AMEX at all and let it ride; if the fee shows up, I'm calling them and canceling my cards if they don't take it away. That line has worked for 3 guys I know. Edit: They waived one guy's fee and took away the other two's fee/canx'd the cards. So you really can't lose, at least based off this small sample size. The other ARTs I know just pay the fee because they think the benefits are worth it. Obviously the AGRs are unaffected.

Well if a robot = an A/A kill, then I know multiple, unrecognized aces.

Don't spend one second worrying about UPT until you start...Kenny's advice is solid! The right gouge will be there at the right time, so don't sweat it now.

Couldn't have made it through phase 1/2 without it! Ha, the things you wish you could tell your 22 yr old self.

Since you seem fairly hung up on education, let me educate you: pilots who decided to get their masters (a hard requirement for Major over most of my last 11 years) did so at night after their 12-14 hr work day that didn't include a single minute for a lunch break and most likely zero gym time. They also took their weekend time to complete, around likely going to work on the weekend for at least a few hours. See the difference? I'm all for an MSG airman working on furthering their education, but their primary job comes first and it is not acceptable to leave piles of work on the desk and bolt at the 8 hr point, leaving supported people hanging, often in shitty positions. Support function failure, even delayed orders and fucked up travel vouchers, may not lose a war, but they directly, negatively effect combat capability.