Maul

GC, Truce. No need to be "coddled" as you stated in the other forum. Most of what you have to say sounds like legitimate cold truth which is good to hear every now and then. Cynacism helps us cope. As previously stated "one of the bros" is not = "great leader" = is not = "box checker" is not = "great pilot". Lot's of confussion separating "good pilot" = "great leader" for many. w/o getting too much into my previous post, those who are passionate about aviation understandably are not unbelievably stoked about moving to staff, embedded email drafts, .xls, TMT, and the vast array of staff queep which awaits them. Hopefully you can appreciate this whatever your background may be. Point I tried to make earlier in my other thread was I completely understand the USAF wants the guy who is a great pilot w/ tactical expertise and experience AND a great leader w/ the right skills/experience to be a valuable asset and sometimes the officer truly gets something useful out of their AAD because they put a lot into it and sometimes they min run what they have to IOT get by w/ their ops tempo. I meant what I said where I was extremely fortunate for leadership who recognized my tactical record over my breadth record (AAD) and went to bat for me. I know in another command, I wouldn't have had that opportunity and I don't think that is the correct environment to foster leaders who want to be tactical experts first before moving on to operational and strategic environments where the breadth (AAD) is needed more. We may disagree on this and is likely due to our different experiences (i.e. I got lucky (sts) and you may likely have acquired your AAD early in your career and felt it was beneficial at a tactical level and signalled to Big Blue you were in it to win it). The scary reality is although we hope for things to wind down and be better for the "bros in the trenches" when this whole OEF things wind down, my initial thoughts point to something more scary where sequestration barely scratches the surface. A larger portion of the american public is largely disconnected with the military and struggles to see the value w/ no "tangible" opponent. Mix this with a time of accountabiilty for spending, a congress which purchases Global Hawks, C-130Js, F-35s, possibly F-22s the USAF hasn't asked for and has told congress such spending hurts the service, and you have a high probability of increased manning cuts/reductions in compensation. Instead of complaining about the bonus and promotion, the reality will be a genuine concern for job security. Couple this with a tactical bubba who has been "outta sight-outta mind" due to the amount of deployments and we have another situation where we screw over the guy who has probably sacrificed more for God and Country. Yup, couple a deployments are great for paper, but sadly after that, "gee, thanks for your service, sorry your records don't have breadth" is a huge disservice when hopefully most of our guys deploying are doing so in hopes of making a contribution (although this also may not be the case when QOL gone is better than QOL at home). On another note: Totally agree WRT the epic hiring boom like no other happening soon. I have plenty of friends w/ apps in and their phones are not ringing off the hook. Not too big on the conspiracy theory, but I can buy airlines/media spinning the facts slightly w/ the hopes the FAA would back off on the 1500Hr rule and before anyone else goes there, I have been looking at the airline retirement estimates....religously. Do I think more hiring will happen in coming years?, absolutely. Many will be filled by the throngs of RJ drivers hoping to get a better paycheck w/ more hours than their military counterpart who has stopped flying due to budget issues. Plenty of military will be hired as well, but not enough to hurt the AF's feelings. Why? Because the USAF is an institution and doesn't have feelings. We occasionally have leaders who care deeply about the people their decisions affect, but they also have bosses, who have bosses, who have elected officials (american taxpayer) / extremely powerful lobbies making the final decisions when it comes to how much money is left to give to the guy in the trenches. Edit: Grammer

Whoa Killer. Top Rope is fine. I read the AFI. I understood my Wg/CC would have some serious explaining to a GO if I wasn't recommended (although my less than knowledgable Sq/CC did assert it happens all the time). I understood the rules and yes, I thought it would be better to have my AAD prior to last look. I was also under the impression I wouldn't be held until last look because I didn't have my AAD. I suppose this is the mentoring I missed when the OG leadership seems to attempt to "fix the glitch" for the AF for the non AAD school select. At least this was my impression after I thought I would be recommended 2nd look and was surprised when I wasn't. This year was also followed by a blank 2-below PRF. I know I likely wouldn't have had a prayer, but I still felt dissappointed. I thought I was trying to do everything expected and shouldn't gripe. I suppose the service is better served by those who don't complain about the system. I was surprised you went straight to get the f**k out and do us a service and Kill yourself while your at it. (Drama for emphasis) I have had a positive experience for the majority of my Air Force career with great assignments, opportunities, and good luck/timing. I probably shouldn't complain about my admitted self-induced pain. The last year or two has been especially difficult for me and my family (Boo-hoo, right. I'm sure others have it much worse and have lost their families). As we've been told the entire time (at least I have seen it), checking all the boxes doesn't guarentee you anything and in the end the Institution will march along just fine after any of us leave. For those who juggle with the decision to dedicate more time to the Air Force or to a Family, I hope everyone is able to navigate those waters safely with their families intact. Yup, nobody is forcing me to stay. Just seemed a little venomous for a post concerning the overemphasis (IMHO, probably not yours) of the AAD. But unless an entire year group decides not to get one, it will continue to be an easy way to stratify.

Liquid, Your comments are appreciated. If you'd like to see the spreadsheet point system, I'd love to send you an example via PM. Truly disturbing stuff. I'm the fortunate recipient of a school select designation w/ no AAD/BAC+ at one command followed by 3849: Not Recommended x 2 Years at my next assignment. AAD/PME/Initial Qual/Requal/IPUG value = what you put into it. I double turned classes for my ERAU AAD recently and got almost nothing out of it personally. I got more out of my Formal Flying Training programs which I felt were more important. Now that I'm AAD/PME box checked, I have difficulty even wanting to stay (besides the obvious financial benefit), but every day feels like a prison sentence. Probably because I'm deployed again doing something I don't enjoy (non-flying) surrounded by concertina wire, rarely leave the compound, and work out a lot. I suppose many struggle with the transition from tactical (flying) to Ops/Strat (staffs), but I'm pretty sure I didn't try so hard at Formal Flying programs IOT get a DG w/ the end goal of being a glorified secretary w/ MS Office skills and a tactical background. It seems it's unlikely the top 20% will stay too far past the bare minimum when they've been metaphorically a** raped (SAPR reference) with expectations/time away from family leading to lesser qualified individuals (those barely in the top 50% who checked boxes and hardly worked resulting in higher QOL and more reason to stay) taking Sq and OG commands. I think this is the fear of many in the forum when the guy at the top of the bottom 50% might be a great leader. Those who self identify via PME non completion (Yeah, this just screams "screw you promotion board") and marks a clean kill. Now that I'm AAD complete, it seems like it should seem easier looking back, but I can still testify it was awful and easily the worst year of my life (due to the expectation laid out by leadership and my personal choice to put it off until I was being threatened to be not recommended on my third IDE look, and double turning classes while playing DO). I could have made it less painful by doing it earlier in my career, but as I was taking all my classes at ERAU w/ a bunch of Lts/Early Captains I couldn't help but thinking their efforts were at the expense of some level of tactical expertise and whatever practical application of the AAD towards the higher level knowledge required for staffs and joint environments won't be retained by a Lt. Probably should happen as we prep officers for these staffs. We should set up schools to develop these leaders with the skills required for these environments.....Oh wait...... Long live Gen Jumper's recommendations although they will never truly be in effect since DPs are given by the SR and SRs will use metrics easily identified by .xlsx products like the one I mentioned above. Maybe I'm wrong. Just my 2 cents.