I wanted to be an Air Force pilot my entire life and if you asked anyone that knew me back in AFROTC they would tell you I would stay in for a full career. However once I got into the "real" Air Force I found the focus in C-17s to be about anything but flying. I was never talked to by management about my last tactical approach but about how I was an "embarrassment" for not having my zippers zipped to the appropriate length etc. Thinking that it must be an AMC thing I headed over to T-6s to see if the grass was greener. However it was anything but. Regardless of how hard I worked as a USEM or Chief of Programming I was given second class treatment by our fighter centric management who were the castoffs from the F-15 community. Fear, sarcasm, and intimidation are their tactics in managing a squadron as I came to find out. They looked after their bro network and literally couldn't care about any of my goals or desires to become A PIT instructor FCF pilot you name it. The kicker was my squadron commander directly lied to my face about how I was not selected for 2+2 because of time on station when in reality he never pushed my application beyond the squadron level. I wish the next assignment would mean an improvement however seeing the calibre of the people the Air Force Deems fit for command leads me to believe that VSP is the best option for me
The Air Force has helped me out as an aviator in so many ways but it's time to move on with a new phase of my life where I decide who I want to work for, where I want to live and how I wish to live.