pawnman

We were told that it's not optional to fill out the 3849. If you are a select, you were required to submit one. This became a player because one of the selects is trying to dodge school for at least a year because they are mil-mil and the spouse is a year group behind them.

Even though my ACSC class, completed during a 12-hour shift, suggested that maybe flying a $150 million aircraft from a $2.5 billion carrier to drop a $200,000 JDAM on one insurgent with an AK-47 may not be cost effective. But hey, maybe I missed something in the reading.

The rates at Dyess are not as good...but Ellsworth is still maintaining a fairly high reliability rate. I was there from 08-13, and I saw the change first-hand. I also saw a concerted effort to get ops and MX on the same page...we went from finger pointing in wing stand-up to coordinating prior to stand-up to make sure we were telling the same story. From threatening to call the O-6s to offering some other solutions and/or compromises first. From yelling at each other over the radio to talking cordially, face-to-face, at the step desk. It was much better.

I feel like we heard that a lot about Gen Welsh as well.

I remember thinking, when I heard Gen Welsh propose this..."Don't we already have an attack plane that is highly effective in permissive environments?" Someone explain to me why we're willing to canx the A-10 because "it isn't survivable in high-threat environments", while at the same time, look for a "light attack aircraft for low threat environments"?

Don't worry, we use those terms plenty in ops as well.

Not this Pawnman...unless I have a nasty surprise waiting when I return from my current vacation to the sandbox.

I guess I'm concerned that AFGSC will bring the same exercise/inspection schedule to the B-1...along with the current deployment tempo. Should be fun. Hell, at least AFGSC will understand the concept of a multi-place aircraft...all the wrangling we had to do to get iPads approved for a trial run seemed to revolve around "how will the pilot fly while he's holding the iPad?"...he won't, the pilot will fly while the copilot holds the iPad.

This is what made me view Michelle Obama's hashtag activism with distaste. Taking to the internet en mass is a way for the people to force those in power to do something or pay attention to an issue...Michelle, on the other hand, has very close access to someone with a LOT of power. Yet she's on the internet holding a sign, as if she doesn't interact with POTUS basically every day. If Michelle wants something done, she knows who to talk to. Did President Obama shoot her down, and force her to take to Twitter to make her point? I doubt it. To me, it would be like the Waltons holding a sign protesting for better wages for Wal-Mart employees, or Tim Cook holding a sign protesting working conditions at the Foxconn facility where iPhones are made.

Good luck with that. The B-1 community is even more hurt for manning than the B-52 or B-2. We keep getting told the reason 12Bs don't get a bonus like 12Fs is because the BUFFs have an overage of them.

Now I'm a little jealous...I've been wearing soft contacts for 8 years and I've never had them paid for.

There's a sign outside the construction site that lists the opening as "September 2014". Guess they missed that deadline too.

So...how long before they offer him big money to re-enter active duty due to the "fighter pilot shortage" we keep hearing about?

It's not reflected on the "stressed" career fields, because apparently across the force 12B is healthy enough...but within my community, we're hurting bad. So bad we brought back a guy who has been out of the aircraft for almost a decade, against his wishes, to put him back through the B-course. Not requal...the full B-course. Meanwhile, we RIF'd/did not retain/whatever we're calling it this year three current and qualified WSOs, including an evaluator qualified in the latest upgrade in the aircraft (the "strip out all the electronics and replace them with shit from this century" mod, AKA SB-16 within the community). So...AFPC clearly recognized we were short on WSOs, because they brought a dude back from 8 years outside the aircraft. Then cut three other current and qualified instructors. Net gain: -3 instructors, +1 WSO who was sent to the OSS and is unlikely to ever fly the new upgrade or deploy again before retirement. Makes perfect sense to me. Standing by for Chang to tell me it all has to do with year groups...because that's what the squadrons really need, not qualified aviators.

I feel your pain. 12B. My squadron is 42% manned, my sister squadron is 70% manned, and the OSS is in low double digits for manning...yet AFPC RIFed 12Bs last year. No bonus for us either, because we don't have the "F" identifier.

If only our Iraqi allies were as competent as they are depicted in this video.

Because those who don't force those who fly to eat MREs for two weeks, for no real reason?

Was it because he was actually involved, or because he was reading jihadi press releases in his down time?

Plus, a CSO will get paid way more.

I basically always vote against the incumbent. The entrenched interests are more dangerous than whatever rhetoric someone spouts in order to get elected.

In the mean time, Hispanic American citizens show "indicators" and are then subject to more in-depth searches and processing, all without a warrant or reasonable suspicion of wrong-doing. It's all OK though...anything for security, right?

All the same person.

Interesting. Are they completely locked down with regards to what you can put on them?

"Every dude wants a free iPad"? Ours are checked out at step, then turned back in. Total of 8 regular iPads (for the guys in the back) and 8 iPad minis (for the guys with less storage space up front). Perhaps there is some unique quirk about your aircraft that prevents you from using iPads...but since AMC already has them and has demonstrated them, that's what we went with. And it was still a year of wrangling with ACC to get them approved. Even now we're still in the trial phase, so we're carrying paper AND iPads.