SocialD

We are well on our way to becoming AD. We have gone from 30 day deployments to 120-180 days. We have at least one wing with a active duty Wing Commander. Almost all Guard fighter units will have 1-5 active duty pilots in them, starting later this year (if they don't already). We are deploying Guard squadrons...just to deploy (cough...TSP). I have seen pressure being applied for our young guys to go SOS in-residence (how do we have money for this). Our OPRs have become downright ridiculous! How the fuck do you make an part timer OPR sound good enough to compete against a full time AD guy...they sure are trying! Rumblings of making a masters a requirement for O-6. I could go on and on. They are now sending Guard fighter squadrons on TSP. Deploying us to go fly CT, while they deploy another squadron to the desert. Otherwise put, deploying two squadrons to do the work of one. Deploy us to go drop bombs on shitheads, no problem. But deploy us to go fly CT, while you deploy another squadron to drop bombs, now you have a problem. You have now taken a bunch of part timers who would normally freely volunteer to deploy and turned them into ones that say, activate me. Of note, as the law currently is written, we are not USERRA exempt on TSP. Nothing like a non-voluntary trip counting against your five years of USERRA protection. As has already been said, the path we are taking leads to horrible attrition and losing what makes the Guard so great...experience!

A CFI certificate is valid for 24 calendar months. You can renew via a few different methods. In this case, you can renew it by proving that within the last 12 months (ie...not send something in every 12 months), you served in some capacity as a instructor for the Air Force. So as long as you still hold your instructor qual and actually fly, then you should be good to go. Edit: If you are no longer a military instructor, you can also renew it via a Flight instructor refresh course (FIRC). I have used the online FIRC from American Flyers 4 times now and have only paid once. Pretty decent deal, considering many other companies charge you ~$100 every two years. https://www.americanflyers.net/cfi_renewal.htm

Besides Ft Wayne, Kansas City, Boise, Pease, Seymour, etc...

From what I've been told...The Guard Bureau gets X number of T-1 spots and Y Nunber of T-38 spots a year. Sometimes they run out of T-1 spots, and have T-38 slots left, so they just drop them into a T-38 spots. It keeps from clogging on the training pipeline and having guys sitting around forever waiting to start.

You just can't compete with the experience level of Guard/Reserve maintainers. If I recall correctly, the MC rates of the B-1 (maybe the 130J too) went up significantly when they handed them over to the Guard. We still have crew chiefs who have crewed the same jet since we got them in the early 90s, many have crewed the same jet for 15+ years. The average rank of our flight line crew chiefs has to be E-6. If it's not drill weekend, I regularly get launched out by master sergeants, sometimes a senior. We have lots of maintainers (or any enlisted person) who serve 35-40 years. Hell my first Chief when I enlisted back in 01, is just now retiring with 38 years in military...Cheif for over 15 years. Ha, really going to go with that? I recently flew another squadrons jet who had just received them from the AD. Those things were a mess! From what I understand their MX grounded a few jets, immediately upon arrival. They wouldn't let their guys fly them until they unfucked all the issues (a few big WTF problem) they showed up with.

Let us know how it works out.

Or...."STOP GROUND LOOPING!!!"

NICE! Welcome, it's a sickness...you'll want more. Speaking of...I'm getting the itch to buy another 1911. The TRP is high on my list but I recently flew with a Captain who picked up a Dan Wesson, which has piqued my interest. He has a TRP as well and had nothing by great things to say about his DW. I have always heard good things about DW, a Valor may just be my next purchase.

Oh for sure. They're a quite a few guard squadrons out there that sound worse than AD. They tend to be run by guys who are off AD straight into full time jobs. So they've never been a part timer and don't understand what it's like to be one. Until recently they've never had to deal with part timers (since airlines weren't hiring) and it appears some have chosen not to deal them... I still think it should be a requirement for leadership to have been a part timer. At the very least we should get back to the days of the SQ/CC and/or OG/CC being part timers. *Note: Some stand alone guard bases now have active duty WG/CC. Will be interesting to see where that goes.

I've only had contingency orders extended to cover my leave days. Keep in mind, you can sell back more than 60 days in your career (if that's your concern). Leave sold from contingency orders and I'm pretty sure any order less than 1 year, don't count toward your 60 day limit.

I'm too lazy to look to see if this has been listed here before but here is an easy way to renew your CFI. Pay once ($99) for a lifetime subscription. I signed up for this before I went to pilot training and I'm currently going through it to renew my CFII for the 4th time. Best deal going! https://www.americanflyers.net/flightinstructor/online_renewal.htm

They can make an active duty guy the WG/CC of a stand alone Guard base, but they can't figure out how to let ARC guys be an IP in AD iron...sounds par for the course.

Lie, deny, counter-accuse, demand an apology.

I just listened to it (it's ~14:00 minute mark for anyone who cares). The reason it's confusing is because I had tons of Reserve IPs going through training. We already have a metric fuck ton of reserve IP's teaching UPT/IFF/FTU/PIT.

Huh? I'm not sure I understand this bullet.

WTF! Why is this not being blasted on every major news outlet?!? If true, there are probably plenty of lawyers who would be willing to represent him. I'd sue the shit out of everyone attached to this case.

No, I got it. I have just never understood the obsession, among active duty types, with getting a 737 type. I met guys who weren't even planning on applying to SWA that were getting that type.

Why?

I have been a Linux/Mac guy for years but I'm ok with different technology. The surface, so far is a huge let down. I've had it lock up multiple times, just trying to put in my password! A hard reset is the only way to unfuck it. That's ok until I'm descending into the terminal environment and need the plates. Used an iPad for years and never had a problem. This is just one in a long list of problems. If it's being used for flight it sucks. If not, I see you're point about encrypted emails, etc... Sounds about right for a govt program. Progress being held up by one person.

Edit...I would be very interested in the answer to the question above. Tell them to dump the Surface and pick up iPads. As someone who has used both as an EFB, the iPad is far superior...unless you like dealing with a slow OS, blue screen of death, system lock up, etc...

As a prior-E, I never once thought twice about my leadership wearing a bag. When I was in the AMXS, my MG/CC was a flyer and he very rarely wore BDUs. The first time I saw him in BDUs, I thought it was weird that he wasn't wearing his bag (since he was still on flying status). He was a great leader and none of us gave a shit what uniform he wore, I had other things to worry about, like my job! To 17Ds point, I think they need to bring back patches on the ABUs. I think it's a very small thing that goes a long way for our non-flyer force. It's ridiculous that we ever got rid of them.

Every base (including Guard) is allowed to have a marksmanship, someone just has to take the initiative to stand it up and run it. With it comes a ridiculous amount of 308/556/9 (I think 22 and shotgun as well) ammo. A friend of mine stood one up at his base and said to watch out for SF, they will try to take it over, tell them to fuck off. You can get some weapons but I guess that brings on additional ass pain. You are required to field a team to compete in a few events a year. It's a little work but worth it to have some ammo on the govt dime. Good job for a LT.

If nothing has changed, that is correct. You're only pay protected until you get promoted OR to your current orders end date.

This makes me happy!