viper154

Reason to be cautiously optimistic. As one of the recent UPT directs it makes me hopeful. I think if you can get out early you have a chance of escaping. As said above, I have heard the AF is expecting something like 40%+ of the initial 18x ers to stay. From my small corner and limited experience, that number is going to be closer to 2-3%. I think this projection is probably based on the assumption people are going to get through the pipeline on time, I can promise you Holloman is turning into more of a shit show everyday. I was lucky and got out almost on time but the majority of folks are graduating a month or two late, and the classes that just showed were told to expect that to increase by several months. Also keep in mind the amount of CAPs were reduced to up pipeline production. Soon as the pencil pushers see green numbers those CAPs are going to go back up. Sounds like it might be worth shot to try and volunteer get a bomber or ISR gig Either way, I wish you luck, hopefully we are all someday back in a real jet.

Oh really? Glad you plan on honoring that "promise" you just sold to 100+ UPT grads and stuck them in the box. Glad your plan to fix the manning issue is to screw over the pilots you non vol'd to RPAs. That should really help the morale. Hope your star stabs you in the jugular on your way to work tomorrow. If you are who you say you are.

You can have all the gucci gear you want, its not going to make a difference in the world if you don't have a force of highly trained/skilled/motivated people to fly/maintain/support the gear. I have seen your office, among others take the most valuable asset this military has (motivated people excited about their job) and turn them into bitter, disgruntled, and burnt out guys/gals counting down the days until they can GTFO. You don't get that its not about the money. History has shown, the most modern and powerful militaries have been defeated time and time again, by inferior and ill equipped enemies, that have a motived force with a reason to fight. People are your most valuable asset, and you are bending them over and giving it to them with no lube. Out. I have to go do my SAPR CBT............

You might have to put down some non rated jobs. Not familiar with the OTS process but I do believe I had to put a bunch of non rated jobs on the form even though I already a pilot slot and approved medical my senior of ROTC back in the day.

Great. Take away the only semi good deal.

RPAs were my first assignment out of UPT. Supposedly I will have the option to go back manned after a couple years. I'll believe it when I see it. At least I am suppose to go back. RPAs as a second or third assignment are almost a guaranteed death sentence to never go back manned. It sucks. If if age isent a issue work on getting your PPL how you see fit. Guard/Reseve units seem to like to see that on your app.

The vision you listed is fine. I believe the FC1 requirements are 20/60 or better before you need a waiver. They look at a lot more than just that though. Look at your other vision numbers and compare them to the regs, most of which can be found in the aviation med section of this forum. Physically, the PT test is a joke. The 100 is hard to get but if you go to the gym and run a few miles a few times a week high 90s are easy. Again, google AF PFT test and the numbers should come up. 1.5 mile run 100 is 9:10 or so, just passing is around 12:30. Good news, you have 3+ years to get better at running. Best advice, keep getting good grades, do all the extra clubs and shenanigans if you want the academy, and hit the gym/track. Even if you decide you don't want to fly, these things will all help you in life. Getting into ROTC is as easy as it gets. Don't get arrested between now and then, get accepted to a school that has the program, contact the det the summer you start college and say "hey I want to join" and show up when they tell you. Profit. Other tips. Look around this Forum. Their is a plethora of great info on here, some is easy to find, some is buried 30 pages from 10 years ago, so do some digging. Get some hours flying and make sure you like it. You would be surprised how many people show up to IFS/UPT thinking they are going to be the next F-22 triple ace, get a couple rides in the plane, and realize this isn't the business for them.

I had someone get my card info while I was at Randolph and tried making several $200 purchases at Walmart. They locked the card, called me, and I got a full reimbursement a few days later with a new card. USAA may not be as good as it use to and may not always have to best rates/deals, but they are still a good bank to do your basic banking and insurance needs. I've had them since 2010 and never had any issues. Knock on wood.

Agreed with the above. Get your scores and tell her to suck it. Look at other flight school options, 60k is a lot of cash for something that may not even work out. As mentioned above, look into some guard/reserve units as well. It can't hurt to put a package together and apply while your trying to retake your TBAS or build flight hours. My biggest regret is not at least trying for the guard/reserve. Having flown manned and now RPAs, RPAs suck unless your into it. Avoid it like the plague. And understand, especially being active the odds are at some point you may find yourself in a droid, even as your first assignment after UPT.

Do some research. Not sure how OTS applications work but all the ROTC guys now have to apply for all or none of the rated positions. Try to find something current but I'm fairly sure my class back in 2012 was the last that could pick and choose.

Retake the TBAS. I did mine in 2010 so the format was different but my PCSM went from a 9 to 80 from the retake. I didn't really understand a couple of the parts and bombed. After going home and thinking a kit and practicing some of the parts I did a lot better. If you got cash and time to burn get the PPL as well. Active duty is much more concerned with the numbers than where they came from.

I'm new the RPA community but my thoughts are no. No one cares if the patch says recon or attack. Far as the combat time, idk. Maybe some of you guys that have been around for awhile can get into the details about that, but again, my initial thoughts are eh. RPA QOL are only going to get better by having more man power, more/better locations, and perhaps a companion trainer program for the manned guys. Right now no one is going to give us money for a companion program. It seems they are trying to get some more locations open. The real deal breaker is manning and ACC is screwing the pooch. The 18x school house has gotten a blank check to expand their output. Great. The FTU is the real bottle neck/issue in the pipeline. I was at the school house for almost 7 months, out of those I spent 80-90 days doing absolutely nothing, that's just for IQT. MQT is another 2 months or so. The syllabus needs to be reworked and the instruction is all over the place. Scheduling is a nightmare. New students arriving were being told their scheduled 5.5 month course could take up to 9-10 months. The manning issue can't get better if they can't figure out a better way to get students through the FTU.

S&W M&P 9mm with 17 in my nightstand as well. My wife really enjoys shooting it. Well over 2000 rounds of cheap ammo though it, only had one or two jams/misfires. I keep the expensive self defense stuff in it for home defense. She has a Glock 42 that she (and I) both also enjoy shooting if your looking for something compact. Much less capacity though.

Depends on the weight. I think it's something like 50 cents a pound, but that's taxed at 27% or so. Plus your 52 cents a mile or whatever the going rate is now a days for mileage. Add in your per diem and DLA as applicable and you can make a good bit of cash if you own the trailer.

You need to talk to you unit as they provide the funding/waiver or whatever it is they do. We had several guys do this in my class. If you go this route you will be forced to live in the dorms.

The UPT directs are now getting the last 3 weeks of the 18x course at Randloph so we get some time in their RPA "SIM"s. I'm from one of the first classes that started getting RPAs from UPT again, and my number got called. You can see the difference between the UPT direct guys and the 18x guys. As said above, a lot of the 18x guys are good dudes but they lack a lot of the airmanship built from being in the air, flying form, working with ATC , having multiple radios, IFEs etc. Getting 40 hours at doss and 40 hours in bamboo bomber t-6 sim (most the buttons and switches are just pictures under plexi glass) Isn't the best to build flying skills. From what the 18x guys said most the sims were instrument sims, and for those of you who don't know the MQ-1 and 9 have absolutely 0 traditional instruments. The first UPT directs are just graduating the FTU, but myself and all my peers going Reapers have had few or no issues. Edited. I failed English.

Clovis is a debatable combat zone depending on where you live.

Do a court house wedding, don't tell anyone and bring her along. Unless your in such a bad financial situation she needs to keep her job, in which case how do you expect to pay for flights ? And if she is working full time I would expect she has good enough health to fly and see you as well. I think every weekend probably ain't going to happen. Maybe once a month, or on the long weekends holidays. UPT is stressful enough, dealing with airline bullshit, sleep, travel ect every week sounds like a recipie for a bad time, mmmmk

I think it's if you can get back in 12 hours for the RPA Squadrons at Holloman. We were told at some point Vegas is local area for the guys traveling back to see family on weekends or house hunt. Can't site pub though. Never read it or care to. Last AETC base was a couple hour drive. (6 is ringing a bell)

As a student at the MQ-9 FTU on 3 separate occasions I've gone 10+ plus days without having an event. Doesn't matter who you want to put in the seat if you can't get people trained in a timely manner to fill the seats. Graduations are 6-8 weeks after the scheduled date (which is 5 months to begin with) and only getting worse with the influx of students.

I don't. I had trouble finding one before I started. Best bet is to find someone who is going through UPT now and ask.

Bold Face/ops limits, do millions until your brain hurts. -1 if you feel like you are at level to understand it. If you have some IFR knowledge you can read some of the AF IFR pubs. Don't be a douche, everyone wants to be the next triple ace f-22 driver, not everyone and their mom needs to know it 5 times a day. Stay in the books, help your bros, don't suck. Profit.

Numbers look good for a RPA slot. Rumor mill is the guard/reserve is having some trouble recruiting. Far as the UPT vs URT it depends on the unit. I would expect URT but some units send dudes to UPT. (I know Syrucuse does UPT for most guys) And yes you could switch if your unit lets you go. If you go to UPT you could have the option down the road of going back to a manned asset.

Only looked at the first few pages but seems 90% relevant. Needs a slide about the "RPA manning ship" hitting the ice burg and the FTU using a bucket to try and bail the water out, while the weapons school wanna be (s) are too concerned with the color of your debrief marker. If I had dollar every time I was told only "only certain SQDs do this and you will probably never do it again" I would have a down payment on my house.

Citizen Eco drive night hawk. Love it. Wife got it for me as a gift. I think it's $300 bucks ish. I've had it a couple years, wore it all through UPT, No complaints. Also got in the Wingman Watch Company when it was a kick starter. I got it a couple months ago. I also really like it. It has a decent stop watch for a analog watch. It's a good product made by a small business company owned by fellow aviators. Stick with the leather band.