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I like beta. The reason the Navy wants beta is that all their OLFs (aux fields) are 3000 ft, which is too short for a T-6 without beta to aid stopping in the event of an abort. They'd have to sink $$ into lengthening all the runways and they don't want to do that. And in some cases there might not be enough govt land to expand onto..

That's a Navy thing. When I drive on base in my civvies, I return the gate guard's salute. If I'm told to report into the CC for disciplinary action, or something else equally formal, I salute. We don't wear covers indoor either, unless under arms.

if you're going to fly helos in the AF, then you'd go to Kirtland for FTU to learn your MWS (the stage after wings are awarded but before going to your first operational unit). If you're trying for fixed wing, I don't know the answer, but I would guess you'd have to go to some portion of UPT. Now, if you also had Army fixed wing time, that might be a different story.

I want it. https://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2009...;WT.mc_sect=gan

the Army CAN fly in red illum now (at least in OEF). They have a stand-alone FLIR for SA purposes (not tied to any 1553 bus/nav system or anything, and the display is mounted to the side of the dash (where the adjustment handle for the pedals is), and currently the O-6 accepts that high risk now by mitigating with FLIR and flying acceptable approved low-illum routes. So now we get the call mostly when it's crappy WX. And that bit us in the a$$ recently. agreed with busdriver on how our assets should be used downrange right now. I'd like to not be sitting on my ass all the time, while the MEDEVAC bubbas fly multiple times a day. It's just not an efficient use of resources! As to why EUCOM and PACOM have dedicated CSAR (that also deploys downrange, too) is because of the higher potential for bad things to happen in those regions. Technically, we're still at war with NK, and China's looming large as well. That's the sort of conventional cross-the-fence-behind-enemy-lines war that would fall precisely into our mission set. Then on the EUCOM side, there's always Russia, I suppose. That unit used to be based in Iceland and provide SAR for that country as part of a treaty agreement with the US back in the day. Now they do their own rescue (we trained them up sufficiently, just like we trained the ROKAF up as well), and Kef closed, so they moved them somewhere else.

interesting article about a DARPA program called Sandblaster. If and when we get a new helicopter, hopefully this will be on it. And if we don't get a new helicopter, hopefully this will be added to ours. https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/darpas...am-is-on-03151/

like at the beginning of this thread?

don't forget if you go to the Springs, you'll get to do fly-bys at USAFA during noon meal formation. For that reason alone you should go slicks.

xerox. though I do think the Chinook is too big for our mission. I'll take what they give me, however!

all I said was that it was the least agile of the three.

Krabs, Helicopters are very agile. Swift and quiet? Not so much...and the Chinkook is the least agile of the three, I would wager. As for "net-enabled" some of the stuff I've read says they are trying to have a wireless ICS system, so maybe it refers to that? Or maybe SADL/LINK 16. We can talk to most everyone with our current radios, already... Mission systems I think refers to all the stuff we currently have (FLIR, AR probe, etc) plus more (hover coupler, TFTA, etc). As for "armed" and "self-protection system" I'm quite sure that refers to what we currently have, but improved upon (maybe DIRCM or LIRCM?) and at one point Boeing was touting defensive missles. Sounds like fun!

I'm here right now. Rooms: most buildings have a nice setup where you have a living room and a bedroom for your room. Your own bathroom (no sharing). One building (the new one, 22018) no living room, just a bigger single room, and your own bathroom. Each building has a wireless router, though the signal doesn't propagate throughout the building, so you have to go to the lobby/basement of that building for internet if you don't get the signal in your room. HOWEVER, each room will have wired high-speed starting sometime in May. Of note, the new building has an elevator, the older buildings do not, so if you don't want to be lugging a bunch of heavy shit up and down the stairs, ask for first floor or the new building. What have you got against SW Suites? First time I was here I was off base with them and it worked out really well (I had a non-a). Rooms are $39 (TLF is a little more), so that's $1170/mo. Should be plenty to find a furnished apt in a decent part of town.

definitely go ANG over ARNG if given the choice. You might be out of time given your age at commissioning as far as age goes. Pave Lows retired in Oct 08. Best bet is to talk to one of the Guard/Reserve units that flies 60s...and see what info they can provide you. Also call the helo functional at AFPC. Search around on the AFPC website for the phone number. His name is Maj Brad Dow. 210 RQS ANG Alaska 101 RQS ANG NY 129 RQS ANG Moffett, CA 301 RQS AFRES Patrick AFB, FL 305 RWS AFRES DM AFB, AZ

right now the Army is asking us for help with CASEVAC, at least in OEF, as we're willing to forward deploy to be closer support during a pre-planned op, and most of their birds aren't. So we are their "recovery birds".

if you fly the C-12 at Corpus, does that present a higher probability of getting an RC/MC-12T/W or whatever, since you're already qualified in the C-12?

there's already a 7-page CSAR-X thread in existence. Post this at the end of that thread to keep the subject matter consolidated. There's some interesting discussion in that thread (though none yet on this recent article you posted). https://www.flyingsquadron.com/forums/index...3&hl=csar-x

some feedback for CASH Forms Lite... 1. If I spend 20 minutes filling out the info for my Travel voucher, and then realize I should have said "Yes" to the question about if I received an advance (in the form of an accrual voucher), I've learned that when I go back to fix this error, it then erases EVERYTHING else I've done, and I have to spend another 20 minutes recreating the meat of the voucher. Not cool. 2. Why doesn't it submit the form electronically to the local finance office, instead of forcing you to print and walk it over? Just like with OPRs/EPRs, I should be able to sign my document electronically via CAC. Or, if this isn't viable, due to also needing receipts, why not make it like DTS, where you get a page with a bar code to fax in, and you can fax in your receipts as well, so they become e-receipts? This would reduce the paper needed to file the voucher (4 copies of orders, 4 copies of voucher, etc). Maybe someone already thought of this and then thought of reasons it wouldn't work, but I figured I'd throw it out there just in case.

seriously, has anyone been to FSO since the new blues policy came out or have knowledge here? Do we have to wear blues on Mondays while we're TDY for that course? Leaving in 2 ish weeks so I'd like to get an answer...

will I get a corrected W-2 as soon as I use my non-taxable leave? Or will it fall into 2009 for tax purposes? I plan to use some of these leave days in March, and the rest in April, and I don't want to do my taxes now if I'll just have to redo them later.

1. plenty of people talk bad about PEX (Patriot Exalibur), but once you take some time to get familiar with the program and set up your defaults properly (as a scheduler), it's actually a great aid to scheduling. Yes there are some things that could be better, such as when it notifies you there is a conflight, it should pop up with the conflict instead of telling you there is one, so you don't have to navigate away from the page you're on just to see what the conflict is and if it's ok for it to be there. You can set it up to automatically add 12 hrs of crew rest prior to a flight; you can check people's currencies, and in fact filters by grounding currencies to see who should be the priority for a particular event. It's a great SA-building tool. At my previous base, MX was also doing things in PEX, like pulling up the schedule on their own, which made the pen and ink meetings go a lot faster, and plugging in tail numbers against lines. My current unit actually put the whole FHP in PEX, which my previous unit never did. Both use PEX for all Stan/Eval functions. There's a nice Go/No-Go display in PEX with green or red dots, so instead of having to look down a printed sheet from ARMS to figure out what someone is red for, you just click on the red dot and it tells you that person is overdue an instrument approach, or is missing a date for water survival training, or they still need to sign off FCIF 09-03B. Then on the other side of the house, those who are not schedulers can login to PEX and easily see what they are scheduled for, can input commitments they have upcoming (outside of 2 weeks is our rule) such as medical appts or TDYs or Leave. "If it's not in PEX, it doesn't exist" is our motto for commitments and appts. It makes accountability a breeze. You can see with a few clicks of a mouse, who should be here and who shouldn't. Jokes about Skynet aside, PEX is a great tool, just like all things, you have to actually take the time and/or get sent TDY to the week-long training at Eglin to use it to its full potential. 2. There's talk of bring PEX online downrange, but currently there are compatibility issues with currency information managed by ARMS on NIPR and the inherent classified nature of the ATO being on SIPR. In my community, we fly hard crews, who sit alert for multiple days at a time, so PEX isn't really needed for that. Different for a fighter squadron, though. 3. Haven't run across any so far. Having a backup server and database of PEX information is probably a good idea, but unless the folks running your PEX on base are complete morons, that's already being done.

60 Driver, Your leadership and the leadership I just experienced here at BAF must be polar opposites. We've done flights (live fire, even!) with the AH-64s (CFACC blanket approved). The CFACC is onboard with doing CSARTFs once an AEF, though it hasn't happened yet due to the wing crack issue on the A-10s (no extra lines available outside ATO taskings). We're even getting launch authority for MEDEVACs delegated to a lower level (hasn't come out yet, but it's being coorded as we speak). Life is getting much better for our community downrange when it comes to doing our job when called on. Combat O (BAF version of Right Start) was MUCH less painful than any I've experienced at other bases. Although the 20 min that the now former Wing CCC talked about proper wear of the uniform was over the top. The new Wing CCC isn't like that. After hearing (and experiencing) the uniform nazis at deployed locations, BAF has ALMOST been the anti-nazi. The Wing/CC approved us to wear our Massif cold WX gear as outerwear around base, among other things. And common sense prevails -- no reflective belts in PT gear for the AF, even though ever other service on base requires it for their own. Our OG is fvcking awesome. I wish he would still be here when I come back in Sep. Hands down the best OG I've seen or had the pleasure to work for, and will make an incredible WG/CC down the road. If anyone else here knows Donk, you'll agree with me. Our OG/CCC is also fvcking awesome, but I guess it helps that he's aircrew (C-5 FE). Sorry you had such a bad experience here, 60 Driver, but it isn't like that right now.

that explains it

So, I did a search for FSO but it didn't return any results; I guess there's a three-letter gremlin. Didn't get any meaningful results from "Flight safety officer" either. Getting to the point, I'm going to FSO at KIKR in mid-Feb, just wondering if there are any tips or hints out there from recent experience. Know that I go to KIKR often, as it's the helo schoolhouse, so I'm familiar with the area and lodging and all that. One thing I'm curious about, though, are rooms space blocked for FSO, or do I stand a chance getting off base? Are the blues on Mon mandates applicable there? All I've been able to find just says BDUs or Flight suits are appropriate. What is a typical day like? Will I have weekends to go off and explore other areas of the state?

well, at my location, the CS/CC sent out an e-mail to everyone on the high side with some of the details. Sucks then that your base's CS doesn't afford everyone the same courtesy.

geez guys, maybe you should actually ASK a comm dude (or your SQ/CC) what the deal is, because there is, in fact, a good reason behind the internet restriction. Which shouldn't be discussed here. Go ask, and then you will understand.