jazzdude

There's probably some correlation between low staff numbers and retaining FGOs. My bet is not filling staffs initially probably bought some time to put in a longer term fix, but those fixes should've been done years ago. Instead, the can got kicked down the road. Outside factors also matter, and there's some RAND studies that show that pilot retention ebbs and flows with the availability of outside opportunities (aka airline hiring). People got tired of the AF, and started getting out. Staffs got shortfalled to keep the mission happening, but the trickle out kept going. Then the airline hiring wave started, and was followed very closely by the great RIF of '14 (I guess you can argue which actually started first). The severe cuts combined with great outside opportunities meant pilots had options, and if they didn't want to take an assignment (primarily to staff, as that's typically the next assignment once the UPT commitment expired), they could turn down an undesirable assignment. AFPC pressed to test initially (and did so with 365s as well), but we're losing experienced officers bailing late in their careers. Everything looks like it's running, and today's mission is getting done. But eventually, we'll have to pay the price. Staffs should be providing guidance to wings, and handling the longer view for planning for the enterprise, but a lot of stuff has been done poorly or just kicked down to the wings to figure it out on their own. Do you need rated on staffs? Maybe, maybe not. Having rated officers in key positions within the staff brings the experience and understanding of being out on the line to the staff, and should help temper any good idea fairies. Assuming that the rated person going to staff is a good dude/dudette and credible. It'd be difficult to build that level of experience without having that rated ops experience, though it looks like the AF is trying to do this via the multi domain operators (13O). The important thing is having an understanding of the challenges that face the wings/squadrons/line pilot face It's kinda like driving your car; you don't have to do any preventative MX, and your car will run fine, until one day it doesn't.

The staffs have been gutted for several years now, which hid the outward pain of the pilot shortage initially. My bet is the overage on FGOs makes up for the bathtub of senior Captains/instructors exacerbated by sequestration cuts and the great RIF of '14. Pair that with a low bonus take rate among the FGOs, and now you've got majors that can punch if they get an assignment they don't want, which in theory should help them stay flying the line. So the AF keeps an FGO instructor which helps the experience problem at the line/operational units, but the staffs get short falled again, maybe with even deeper cuts. Also with that, we've pretty much divested Navs on AD, which means the pilot force had to pick up the rated staff positions that used to be filled with Navs. I think the AF is finally realizing it's in a graveyard spiral regarding pilot retention, but the operational pressure to keep pulling back on the stick (ie not let up on operational tempo and taskings) keeps tightening that spiral.

I think that's where we're at now, with the extra attention on race given recent events (external to the military), and reevaluating of there's any systemic biases/barriers that can be removed. It'll make for uncomfortable discussions, but hopefully we come out the other end with better processes/systems to ensure the most qualified are promoted, and punishments are fair.

It's easy to say that we're a meritocracy as a military, but if you look at the comments on this forum, it doesn't seem to play out that way. Maybe to major, where if you work hard and are competent, you can make it pretty much on your own. But past that, it becomes a game of who you know, who is sponsoring you, and luck/timing (which can be influenced by a senior enough sponsor). It's the frustration of the guys/gals on the line hacking the mission seeing guys/gals who do exec/aide de camp have their careers accelerated. That in of itself may not be bad, but many of those interviews are done in person, or the application package required a full length official photo. If it was a true meritocracy, no photo would be needed, and any interviews could be conducted as blind interviews, in order to remove non relevant biases. But hiring boards still insist on requiring a photo, which allows the board to apply unconscious (or conscious) biases in their decision making. Any biases in the hiring decisions affects more than just that one job. It can make the difference between getting on/remaining on the fast track for promotion and not, or for command opportunities. The army did research into whether having an official photo in an officer promotion package affected promotion outcomes, and found that it did, with minorities/women doing better when no picture was included in their file. So now the army is set to remove photos from officer promotions, and they are going to rerun their experiment for their enlisted and warrant promotions. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/06/25/inside-armys-decision-eliminate-photos-officer-promotion-boards.html I get that we don't have photos in our promotion records, but since they are still used in hiring for career enhancing jobs, it still affects promotions by removing opportunities due to potential biases in the board. tldr: I wholeheartedly disagree with having minority quotas for boards. But I'm for any change that removes biases based on race/ethnicity/gender from hiring/promotion boards so that we can live up to our meritocracy ideal rather than just giving it lip service.

Mine pays out as a single $1k line on my LES (pay split equally on mid-month and end of month). I'm on AD, and the pay amount increased for me back in Feb 20. They even got the prorated amount correct in the transition month. My LES showed that they stopped flight pay, then restarted it at the higher amount that month.

Not much to really study ahead before UPT. UPT will teach you the AF way of flying. Some stuff crosses over (basic understanding of piloting skills), but it's different enough that any advantage fades quickly. Best thing I can tell you is take the time now to take care of yourself (and your family if applicable). UPT will be a busy year, and generally no leave will be approved except in emergencies, or if you finish the phase early and are waiting for the next phase or graduation (though who knows with all the DOD COVUD travel restrictions). When you do start, do take time for yourself. The advice I got as a student, and the advice I have to my students was to take Friday evening to Sunday morning for myself. Put down the books, hang out with classmates/friends/family, to recharge for the next week and not get burnt out. Study hard, but ask for help from classmates other students, and the instructors. Most will be willing to help if you're putting in the work. FYI, generally my first question as an IP was "what does the book say?" If you can't answer that, it's back to the books first, and then we can discuss what it means and how to apply it. Best of luck to you! ETA: to answer your question, getting your instrument rating probably won't help.

Only put down what you'd be okay with, because as far as the AF is concerned, you're volunteering for everything you put down, and big AF sees it as a win-win giving you your last choice if it meets the needs of the AF. ("After all, you volunteered! We're giving you what you asked for!") I was also in the pilot or bust mindset (though through ROTC). Only applied for pilot for rated consideration, and had joined ROTC knowing it wasn't guaranteed (but was okay serving the 4 year commitment doing something else if I didn't get picked up). It just came down to the fact that I liked flying, but didn't think I'd be happy with the other rated jobs, at least not enough to take on a longer service commitment. Not that there's anything wrong with those jobs (worked with some great CSOs and EWOs in my current job), but even now I still think those jobs aren't for me and I'm glad I was lucky enough to get that pilot slot. Best of luck to you in your process!

You can also look into being a sim instructor, whether for the Air Force, or for Flight Safety or CAE, etc. Had sq mates go that route and they seemed pretty happy with it. Not really flying, but not a desk job either. Pay seems to be decent from what I've heard doing those gigs. Some defense contractors also have sim instructor or test positions as well. It's not easy to match O-4 with flight pay, bonus and a little extra to match the tax advantage of BAH with anything besides stepping into a legacy airline, or maybe an engineer, and even then it'll be a big pay cut for about a year. My quick napkin math puts it at $180K to be at pay parity as a flying O4 on the bonus (ignoring any CZTE, per diem, etc), so you may want to start running your budget/adjusting lifestyle to something lower, maybe for at least a couple years as you make the transition. I know someone else mentioned it, but also consider non-flying reserves, since it'll likely have a much lower time commitment, especially if you're concerned about time away from home, unless your willing to move to your reserve job.

There's lots of stupid skills we take for granted like knowing how to give a good briefing. I've been to several acquisitions courses, and briefing/giving a presentation has always been a DLO. Lots of smart engineers (civilians) in those classes, but man, nobody taught them how to get in front of a group and talk. That's not too say I haven't met engineers that can't brief, but its something a lot of people struggle with. And you can get college credit for SOS and ACSC... So it counts just as much as the sweet TUI or U of Phoenix masters degree so many AF pilots got. Plus I wonder how many people getting the aero matters from Riddle used SOS to get credits toward their degree? I get the academic rigor feels (is) a lot lower than my engineering undergrad and engineering masters and grad certificate, but it still counts for something. Probably more useful for those middle management jobs you mentioned. Won't make my resume, but if it's an online application with all the space I want (like usajobs or airline apps), it'll be on there. Lots we take for granted because it's expected from us early on. Especially in the middle manager realm. It's just about selling what you bring to the table for a potential employer.

As stupid as pme can be, it's still formal leadership training, and is something that many people on the outside don't get the opportunity to do (leadership/team building training) There's a lot of soft skills, training, education, and experiences we gain both as pilots and as officers that are marketable, but you've got to sell it.

No for commissioned officers. A portion may be tax free (up to the monthly CTZE cap allowed for commissioned officers). But if your on the combat zone, your TSP cap goes up to $55K, so that's an option to squirrel away some of the bonus money as well.

I believe there's a paper for each instructor led course (draft is turned in during the self paced class just prior to instructor led)

So how do you get people to stay in (or join in the first place)? Can't reduce ops tempo. Can't increase bonuses. I guess you could kick all the dependants to the market for healthcare to save money. You could also cut BAH so it no longer covers renters insurance and only 95% of the expected housing cost and make the member pay the rest out of pocket, while divesting yourself of maintaining base housing and contracting it out to the lowest bidder. You could cut retirement and make the member take on market risk for their retirement.

Wasn't the 1 year vs 3 year cuts driven by the SECAF?

We do/did this with ENJJPT (heavies out of that seems to have been driven first by FTU backups followed by pilot production targets). Guard/reserve units can hire off the street for their mission/airframe, essentially tracking and assigning the stud prior to starting UPT. What benefits (to the operational units) come from having fixed wing training prior to rotary training? Aside from it's easier to teach a stud that already has flight time in a formal training pipeline?

Wasn't straight to Rucker for UPT-H a thing a while ago? What drove big AF to add T-6s in the helo pilot pipeline? Not saying it's right one way or another, but curious about the rationale behind both training philosophies (fixed to rotary vs pure rotary training). Army does only rotary, Navy does fixed to rotary.

Or those sweet C-27s at the boneyard

I think one engine inoperative approaches in the (trainer) aircraft are valuable. Doesn't need to be lengthy, but I think it would be value added training prior to getting to an FTU. Something similar in length say to a commercial multi engine add-on (intro to multi, considerations/factors like Vmc, EP training). Could be a top off post winging if doing an extended T-6 syllabus. At least in the C-17, we can't practice OEI stuff in the jet, sim only.

Depends on how you look at it. AFPC has to execute within the constraints put on the AF by Congress (funding, manning). If HAF/A1 really is engaging with Congress, then that's the best they can do to keep faith with the Airmen (and really all they can do to try and keep people who want to extend in), and hopefully the guidance to AFPC gets updated to give people the flexibility to delay/withdraw separation. All of the backstop measures you mentioned were offered likely taking into account the projected and approved seperations. The other option would be to delay ascessions, but that just move the pain from the seperating person to the person coming in. That happened to me and a bunch of ROTC grads when I commissioned, where we had to sign an acknowledgement that the AF could (and did) delay our entry date by several months (they also offered the opportunity to just walk away from the AF and not commission with nothing owed back). Unfortunately, it will take time to get the approvals (Congress), so if you had an approved separation for April/May/June, and wanted to now stay in, my bet is you're out of luck at the moment (something about timing is everything, better lucky than good, there is no justice). I doubt the grass is greener in this regard on the civilian/commercial sector.

If you don't gain the stick and rudder skills and overall airmanship in UPT, when will you gain them? Build the foundation there, and you don't have to teach those skills later in an expensive to operate jet when there's mission stuff to learn. Technology is advancing and making it easier to fly, so stick and rudder skills are less important, until stuff starts breaking. Not saying the discuss has to stay the same, but we need to think about what knowledge/experiences our pilots are exposed to during their development as pilots.

I'm guessing that it's not just pilots looking to stay in after getting an approved separation date. Even if it's not efficient, someone is crunching the numbers on manning and budget for the AF. And if they are worried about the budget/funding, it's probably more than just a few people wanting to stay in. Frankly, I'm a bit surprised that AFPC is allowing approved separation requests to be recalled to allow someone to stay in. Maybe they do have a heart and aren't just soulless bean counters.

I assume it has to do with end strength and what Congress has authorized regarding manning; have to balance ascensions with separations and retirements to stay as close as possible to what actually has funding.

Flattening the curve to slow the virus isn't just to slow the spread, it's to slow the spread to allow the hospitalization rates to stay within the capacity of the medical community to treat them. A vaccine reduces would reduce the number of people getting infected and needing treatment, but it's not the only solution. You could also attack the other end of the problem, increasing healthcare capacity to meet the demand. (Or hopefully, do both). But that requires significant investment ASAP, with some things having long lead times. I guess another solution is "sucks to be you if you get sick, you shouldn't have been so weak." That includes beds at the hospitals, doctors and nurses to treat patients, specialized equipment (not just ventilators) and the parts to maintain them, medications and PPE on hand and the ability to produce and distribute, as well as all the other support to make a hospital run. If non-medical companies retool to build medical equipment, how are they inspected to ensure what they are producing is safe? Or will standards be thrown out? So it looks like we're doing okay now, though PPE is being heavily rationed, and a lot of safety procedures and best practices regarding PPE for healthcare workers have been waived. Small sample size, but both of my family members in medicine are surging already at their hospital/clinic. We can't stay locked down indefinitely, my gut says late summer for easing up. But I don't think it'll go back to how it was in Jan/Feb either for a long time.

Yeah, they do. But like any profession, you've got a wide range of people, and with that comes with a wide range of beliefs and emotions. I chalk it up to a nurse that's frustrated and dealing with a crap situation. It's like asking a SrA or A1C how to win in Afghanistan, or how to deal with Russia and China-they'll have an option, but maybe it's not so great or realistic. It's an interesting question to work through (my wife is a nurse who works at a clinic caring for mild COVID positive patients). On one hand, you don't want to turn away someone that needs medical care. On the other, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. What we settled on was all you can do is the best you can for the patients you get while protecting yourself, and hope that the infection rates stay slow enough that the medical system stays ahead of the need. But that's based on her employer right now providing proper PPE (N95 respirators, isolation gowns, googles, face shield, gloves) and continuing to do so. As soon as she doesn't feel safe at work, she's got the option to quit, as we'll be okay on my pay alone (though I doubt she would make that decision lightly). Oh, and there's been a registered nurse shortage for years, and patient loads have been going up even before the pandemic, and I'm guessing it hasn't gotten any better for the nurses.

One of the biggest challenges is getting quality training time. When the schedulers load up the jet for currency beans, that local isn't going to be the greatest for tactical training, especially low levels. There's something to be said for having your butt in the seat for the entire tactical sortie, from preflight to departure to tanker to low level to the objective (airdrop or assault landing) and the egress home. Especially as a basic crew (with an IP over the shoulder running the scenario). But that's a been rarity. Heck, even in the sim guys short themselves. Lots of stuff you can learn and try (flying in mountainous terrain, challenging weather, etc), but a lot of guys are willing to do the bare minimum and get out early. Through with a busy ops tempo where 99% of your mission is RNAV coupled departure to vectors to an AP coupled ILS, I can see why it's easy to get into the airline mindset.