panchbarnes

I feel for you man, but the system is designed to push/filter the promotion-eligible candidates with the best chances through a small window, so the O-6s have to make some very tough decisions. Take some time off, regroup, return to work, remain professional, keep working hard, and look for assignments or projects that will build your credibility for the outside world (cyber, acquisitions, leadership...). Mentor the junior officers (if they are willing to listen) so they are informed about their own careers. Don't be one of the grumpy, ROAD dudes, because we have enough of them already. Plus, you'll never know who you might impress in the future. Remember, the rank doesn't define who you are as a person.

More bad news for A1...

Calling it now, next SECDEF is going to be Mike Rogers. This is interesting... https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-says-mattis-retiring-at-end-of-february-11545344800

BLUF: I'm still a big believer in the TX MF (class C) market, but based on what I am comfortable with I can't justify buying anything right now because of the average to below average CAP rates that I'm seeing. The Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac MF loan program is the best kept secret out there. I've put the MF search on hold because the numbers don't make any sense right now, will probably get serious again when the CAP rate gets back up to ~9 or 10%. I am on several MF marketing distros and there is just nothing good right now as compared to 2 years ago. I found a really good deal (~70 units) in Amarillo at the time but was not able to follow through with the transaction because of a conflicting TDY and still am kicking myself for it. I eventually bought a piece of land in Texas and am planning to build several units on it. The upcoming downturn in the housing market is going to be quite lucrative if you are a rental property investor. Timing is everything!

I swear everyone has the same Key to/Led Wg UCI "Excellent" bullet in their OPRs...one of the unwritten checkboxes. Of course sometimes you have to compete for the UCI ldrshp job, but that's a different topic. 🤣🤣🤣 I'll second that if you are on the border, a "good" 365 will most likely push your package over the edge. Combat/deployment time in your records is supposed to matter more when Gen Goldfein first came onboard, or so they say. As I've said before, HPOs are told when to deploy because they are being groomed to be a future "leader." Be proud of your combat/deployment experience and service to your country, but understand it won't make you an Air Force superstar.

First of all, GC's trolling skill is out of this world. A very talented writer, very impressive with the effort he put into his posts. I missed the old days of reading everyone's passionate angry replies to him. Kind of like SoCo's well written insight to his own experience. GC you should really considering publishing during or post-military (no sarcasm). So AFPAK HANDS was SECDEF Gates' baby, it made sense at the time in order to build up language and cultural expertise. In the beginning I recall HANDS absolutely climbed the ladder because of the program. Later on it even kicked off the well-intended, but poorly adopted APAC HANDS program. Once Gates left office, AFPAK HANDS slowly lost importance to the point it doesn't help ones career at all. I know a couple of people who joined for the sake of promotion, one lost the #1 strat to GO's exec and another got passed over twice, and was left to flounder on their own in the basement of the Puzzle Palace. The only recent success story I know of got a Command job at DLI after completion of tour and made the O-6 list. Apparently under certain circumstances it is possible to exit the program early. It sounds like Mattis needs to knife-hand the program and ends its misery.

AFA Mascost kidnapped and injured "The Colorado Springs Gazette reported that Aurora, a well-known school mascot for over two decades, suffered an injury to both wings when she was abducted by West Point cadets in a prank gone wrong."

Yeah great points, I knew SF, MXS, and others had earlier command opportunities. Our command track is more aligned with the flyers, which means waiting until O-5 to get on that G-series order. Then you'll have the underrepresented AFSCs like the 6X series, that struggle to find command billets. Regardless of the AFSC and size of community command billets, I think you should still push down SQ/CCs to the O-3s and the O-4s. Flyers are probably looking at early O-4s due to the lengthy training timeline and the follow-on ops tours. Better to get that leadership (management?) experience early rather than later. You'll definitely know where you stand earlier if you don't get picked up for command. Thanks for reminding me about the PRF...can we get rid of the justification sheet while we are at it?

I've always thought we should move the Squadron Command billets down to senior O-3s/junior O-4s. Army CGOs get real leadership opportunities early on (O-3 Company Command ~100 people). Navy LCDRs can command a ship. Why do we wait ~15 years before giving an officer Command (yeah I know there are exceptions depending on your AFSC)? In theory, early Squadron Command: 1. Weeds out the d-bags early on 2. Gives the Senior Leaders better data for selecting HPOs 3. Provides more accurate/honest assessments to the stratification process and O-4/O-5 promotion boards 4. Provides O-4s/O-5s with credible/applicable leadership experience for Joint/Non-Joint staff tours 5. Provides practical/relevant/recent leadership experience for IDE learning The O-5s can prove their worth on the staff (eliminating the CGO billets) and be pushed for SDE. Post-SDE compete for Group+ Command. Not a perfect solution but I think the pros outweigh the cons. Otherwise, the OPR changes is just a shell game.

My bad...My mind is playin' tricks on me...

14N Guy, one of your earlier posts you mentioned that someone told you 14N Lts don't get stratted, that statement is just flat out wrong. Also, in my neck of the woods, the O-6 recently convened multiple boards to scrub CGOs and FGOs records to have a knife fight and determines which shiny pennies the unit wants to push to the next level. Pretty crazy if you ask me because we are making pushes based on people's entire records of performance and not all of the supervisors were present to fight for their guys/gals. For the young lurkers, I'll share my observations with you so you know what you are getting yourself into before you cross that blue line on the ground. It's not universally applicable but this is what I've seen in my decade plus of TIS across multiple AFSCs and serving for different levels of command. Also had a few good mentors who shared their insights with me early on. If the more experienced guys/HPOs on this board disagrees with the content below please feel free to chime in and tell me why I'm wrong. I would have made a real pyramid for you all but I'm too lazy to do that. Before I start, I will say I think I understand AF GO's logic from way back. They want to put the best/most credible GOs at the Pentagon to advocate for AF's piece of the pie, and I believe the HPO program is their solution. I can support the logic of putting the best GOs at the puzzle palace/in front of cameras but I disagree with the HPO method of picking them so early in their careers. Understand to make it far, it helps to be fit, photogenic, and articulate. This is how you catch your sponor's attention and one way to the HPO on-ramp. Before you sign on the dotted line, understand if you priority is to serve your mission/hack the mission/spread freedom all over the world, then you are "most likely" to top out at non-command O-5 (best case scenario). If your priority is to become a General officer then the rat race begins as soon as you take that oath. At the end of the day promotion is a percentage game, what's your chance of making it to the next level? O-1 to O-4 for now is free, but what you do as an O1 affects your chance of making O-5 and beyond. For the mission hackers, from day 1, be the best at your job, be a good bro/wingman, do what's "right", enjoy/take advantage of the military career, be a good parent and spouse, check the required boxes as you see fit. Promotion past O-4 will be a crapshoot for you, a lot can change but you'll be stressed out and fight to be in the top 50% of your peers for many years (if you want to fight for it). For the GO wannabes, be a DG and be stratted as many times as you can early on. DGs/#1s at commissioning source, initial training, SOS, whatever...build that strong performance record from day 1. If you get picked up as an Aide de Camp as an O-1/O-2 then you are really set. Fight for high level Exec jobs as much as you can. Your strong performance records will get you picked up for the selective assignments later on. White House jobs, high level execs, special programs. It's a snowball effect. Someone long ago told me you can afford to make mistakes as O-1/O-2, O-3 is where people hold you accountable. That's really cute if you just want to make it to O-4. It's been said on this board many times, and it's true. You should know by mid-O-3 how far your career is going to go. The HPOs know because they have been setup for success from day 1 and they see their mentors' secrets to "success." For the non-HPOs, in most cases you should strive for a MAJCOM+ staff job by mid-O-3 and/or pick a specialty path that makes you stand out and increase your chance of getting noticed. WIC, FAO, TPS (sorry Olevelo), Phoenix XXXXXX, PhD, JOCCP, CNODP, WH, SOF, green doors, and etc. Also continue to fight for Exec jobs, and If you are lucky to pick up a sponsor, he/she will tell you when to deploy. Time your assignment right so you will be eligible for in-res IDE (very difficult w/ FAO). O-4 continue to fight for the exec jobs, staff leadership positions (duty title matters!), and time your assignment right so people knows you well when you need to submit the PRFs. I hated the old SOS and ACSC by correspondence and Masters degree requirements, but now I see you can't avoid ACSC by correspondence and a Masters if you want to increase your promotion chances down the road. ACSC by correspondence done early makes you eligible for non-AF IDEs and also JPME II (volleyball and/or softball) early, which leads to fully Joint qualified even if you don't get picked up for ACSC In-Res. Masters degree is required for O-6, and if you didn't do ACSC In-Res you'd be scrambling to get a Master's degree last minute when you have less time (family and responsibilities), so might as well knock it out early on in your career if you know you want that full-bird. This will also impress your boss as a CGO and gives you a leg up against your peers. I'm in no way of promoting the young folks to be a careerist, but I want you to know the rules of the game so you can pick the right path and be at peace with yourself later on in your career. I had a better understanding of this game as a late O-3/early O-4, kind of knew my promotion % going forward and decided to put my family first. The decision solidified after the 2014 VSP/RIF debacle. I was not affected but I saw how inept the senior leaders and the O-6s were in carrying out this task. When my O-6 thanked me for educating him on the VSP/RIF details so he knows how the programs affected his folks it solidified my decision not to trust this bureaucracy to take care of me and my family. I've declined quite a few "golden opportunities" since 2014 but I'm a much happier person for it and get to "enjoy" my work while doing what's best for me and my family. Good luck to you regardless of which path you choose. Just do the right thing and don't mess with people's careers. Added: I used to hate people fight for Exec jobs, but it's actually a great learning opportunity. You'll also walk away with decent strats/pushes from a senior leader. Execs get a lot of hate because they will get that better strat/push than the mission hackers...

what's worse is being disillusioned from one of the earlier assignments and you say fuck this, I'm out. Go on to a new assignment/deployment/unit that gives you hope in the big blue machine, only to be crushed again when the good deal/time runs out. You end up drinking yourself into a stupor and wonder why you fall for this shit twice... *in theory only, not from personal experience

This went out to everyone regardless of O/E, year group, AFSC. Funny thing is this e-mail is worded like one of the leadership self-nom opportunities. Btw, in our little corner, if you express the intent not to complete 20 years or pursue command opportunities, your next OPR will be without school or leadership pushes. I'm not a flyer, nor in a flying unit, but my AFSC/YG is undermanned. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALCON, SUBJECT: Aviator Technical Track (ATT) Selection Board Call for Nominations SUSPENSE: 10 AUG 18 BLUF: AMC will conduct an Aviator Technical Track (ATT) Selection Board in August 2018 to select Mobility Pilots to conduct a beta test on the viability of an aviation technical track. Eligible Personnel must be: - Majors and Major-Selects with Between 11 and 13 Commissioned Years of Service (CYOS). - Must be currently qualified in a Mobility or Trainer (with Mobility Core AFSC) aircraft as an Instructor or Flight Examiner. - Absence of negative quality factors. Commanders should nominate Mobility Pilots who demonstrate high quality flying skills, knowledge, and abilities without the desire to pursue command opportunities. Please see attached PSDM 18-62 for further guidance.

So O-5 is the new O-4

Don't worry, GP execs won't be leading tomorrow's Air Force. MAJCOM+ execs on the other hand...

Not surprised one bit. AFPC determines assignments primarily based on promotion opportunities, rather than Jt/CCMD requirements and skill sets...you know, force presentation and all that stuff we learned in PME...

The great BRS Opt-In of 2018.

the timing and scope of this sting are so puzzling...whats the end game? it's not going change a damn thing.

ESPN Link Seriously, of all the issues going on in this country, the FBI is wiretapping collegiate coaches for bribery? Who are the victims here? Are we really shocked that athletes are being "compensated?" How about scholarships? That's a form of bribery right? So many questions...

What you guys are describing sounds awful. If it's true, how does it get past the safety office (sounds like significant risks)? Does this proposed "fix" violate any FAA regulations?

Strictly responding to the "microaggression" apology at the Academy. Senior military leaders do not know how to respond to social media criticism and demands. The conventional thinking is to immediately appease to the younger generation and the social media witch hunts because it will win internet points and avoid online backlash. This method is effective in temporary quelling the social media faux outrages (often not the core audience), but in the long run it erodes good standard and discipline, esprit de corps, and effective military command and control. The correct thing to do is simple, everything in the military comes back to the standards/core values. Defend the standards and the core values and you will eventually be absolved from the internet accusations (whether or not the person has the courage to do this is a different topic for discussion). Mattis is the only person I've seen unaffected by the social media and traditional media attacks. He receives generally favorable supports from military members and civilian alike, because he stick to his core values/principles, simple and truthful with his answers, and his body of work gives him credibility. When I think of the SECDEF I think of lethality, he only cares about lethality (have stated many times) and it's my job to support his priority. I cringe when I see senior managers create selfies and mannequin challenges (Debbie James) or the NSA Director wearing t-shirt and mom jeans in Vegas (Keith Alexander) in an effort to connect with the younger crowds.

I feel hazed and my feeling gets hurt whenever I received LOR/LOCs. Can we abolish the letters? The microaggression from my supervisor needs to stop now!

MQ1 started out as pure ISR platform, then someone had the great idea of adding hellfires on the wings and here we are.

So for the folks that were around in the early 90s. What is this "all volunteer" assignment system that BK spoke of? Why did we get rid of it? Did it guarantee a good deal every 2 years? Anything close to Belgium to Hawaii to Ramstein to Aviano?