magnetfreezer

Federal Flight Deck Officer? Not sure what being a gun carrying airline pilot has to do with your entrance physical.

I'd talk to your COC/another captain with your situation and have them push it through (sts).

I guess that makes the B-52 the old guy who has to go back to work at Walmart since none of his kids found jobs?

'2' After hurricanes, many insurance companies refused to insure hurricane prone (generally coastal/low lying) homes in FL/charging exorbitant rates. People who built their houses on the sand complained and the FL insurance regulators responded by requiring the insurers to insure there if they wrote policies in FL. Many insurers took their ball (sts) and pulled out; the ones that were left generally raised rates and a state insurance collective called Citizens was formed to provide backup homeowners insurance if necessary and assess the cost on all insurance policies. That's why my renters insurance lost $15 worth of fees after leaving FL. My understanding with the homeowners insurance is that USAA too wanted to get out of the business but reinsure the military primary residences with one of the companies still doing business to cover their members. End result: Jim Bob with his 5 kids in a manufactured home 30 miles inland and 150' ASL is subsidizing the people who choose to build 200K condos on sandbars that are there to naturally protect the mainland from hurricanes (that's why they call them barrier islands).

USAA will insure your primary residence if you are AD mil on PCS orders (since they figure you don't have a choice to have a house there); several dudes have run into problems when they PCSed out of FL and USAA dropped the coverage on the old place (as they were renting it out) when they got a new one.

M2, thanks for the info as well - do they consider 7.62mm to fall under the .30 restriction or are AK/SKS etc cleared hot?

web search for "follow me sign" works

JSTARS The EWO types can also do EA-6B tours (don't know the official prereqs, know of F-15E, B-1B and B-52 guys who have done it though)

Most times if someone is trying to "get in to the AC" while crosstraining he could be reported to OSI (unless he is Navy)

B course=FTU=RTU=initial training on your real-world airframe. As of now everyone will go through the exact same training at Pcola and select at/near the end of the 11 months what their final airframe will be. There are still "tracks" right now with heavies going to Randolph and tracking nav/EWO and B-1/F-15E tracks splitting off at VT-86, but there shouldn't be any more new people coming in to the Navy program at Pcola. The CSO transition is still very much in flex so can't say much about final syllabus details or the wait to start. If I told you the times would most likely change by the time you went through anyway. I wouldn't worry too much either way - if you are a good dude, work hard, and have what it takes you will make it through; if you don't, you won't. Prior prep is OK, but you'll be alright focusing on each phase as it comes (sts); no need to start memorizing T-1 boldface before you even start IFS.

Phys/survival/various ground school stuff ~25 hours in the T-6 -> contacts, instruments and low level/forms ~75 hours in the T-1 -> LL/A-G radar/A-A/EWO (with a bunch of sims as well)

Any suggestions for a good self storage/gun storage near KRND? I'll be TDY enroute to EWO school soon and don't want to leave my guns/ammo with SF after hearing some of the horror stories.

WRT the thumb drive issue, has anyone AF-side had luck with the small USB hard drives? Several of the offices down here that needed to do a lot of data transfer/backup found 2" USB hard drives to use since the ban on the Navy side apparently said "flash" drives so as long as it had a spinning magnetic part it was blessed by the computer folks.

Yep, that is how the syllabus stands now. The official goal of the new training seems to be to produce someone that would be equally adept at being a F-15E WSO as a C-130 nav. I'll leave the details of how that will work up to the F-15E and C-130 guys.

As it stands now in the new CSO syllabus everyone will go through the exact same nav/EW training and then select their platform at the end. Ideally the CSOs would be able to handle either nav or EWO duties at the same time (like the B-1 and F-15 dudes do now). Right now, Pensacola does produce F-15 EWOs and WSOs, but the EWOs are just WSOs who volunteered to go to EWO school while on casual waiting to PCS to the B-course. In the new program all F-15E guys will be EWO trained (since everyone will be); there won't be a separate EWO position since there's usually only room for 1 WSO in the jet.

After the AF consolidates nav training at Pcola, the Navy is getting rid of the T-39s; to replace the training radars they are using virtual A/A and A/G radar in the T-45s: Press Release including the ability to fight another aircraft w/datalink off of TCAS etc or a ghost operated by a ground instructor; the A/G simulator pulling in a terrain database and GPS to generate a ground map. Don't know how well this will work since part of the WSO training was learning how to deal with a real-world flaky radar instead of the predictable returns from the sim.

Right now there are no WSO dorms at Pcola, pretty much everyone lives off base (although you can live in family housing or the BOQ if you want). There is plenty of drinking/beach activities to do in the off time as well as Destin/New Orleans/PCB etc on the weekends. IFS is all at Pueblo as of now. As far as the syllabus, about the only thing we know down here is that it will be T-6/T-1 (the buildings aren't even done yet). T-6s will be front/back seat depending on training phase, the rumor is the T-1s will be instructors in the right seat and students in the back instead of the current stud right/instructor jump model (the T-1s are flown by retired mil pilots as contractors so AD navs can instruct).

Old thread resurrection... hoping to select soon out of Pcola and they are offering a few Prowlers as a first assignment with F-15E follow on. The AF/USN/USMC instructors here who have done tours in the joint EA squadrons had generally good things to say about it. What are the perceived/actual negatives for AF WSOs going to the Prowler? Would the 3 year delay in starting the B-course be an issue WRT falling behind in experience with the year group?

Had a former Navy legal type say the Congress part of 88 applies to them as a whole instead of individual reps/senators, don't know if this is the official line though.

Jay's Guns up in Baker (N of Crestview): https://www.jaysgunsonline.com/baker.html

The normal people are those who have to implement/obey the law... maybe if a law is so complex only a lawyer can understand it it shouldn't be passed.

Have the Mossberg 500 Persuader myself, haven't had any trouble with it. If you're using it as home defense you may want to consider the normal stock instead, especially if your wife will be using it. That will make it easier to control especially with the 12 gauge recoil. Several shotgun instructors also mentioned that the pistol grip can cause weapon retention issues, don't have any experience with that though.

'2' Some of the trouble with it seems to be the slower exercises (6 count reps) which can be different from normal workouts. When I was in A-pool they had all AF take the FACT for personal reference (scores not recorded but the stashed LTs would go through all the proper form and reps, etc). For those getting down here now it should be even more convenient to practice since AF A-pool is now at wing 6 instead of NASC with the navy, so practicing in the actual machines/setting consists of A.F LIASON OFFICE - EXIT HALL - WALK DOWN (50 FT) VT-86 GYM - ENTER BQ - what was a marginal pass? Now it's either pass/fail (10 reps on the lifting and 20 on the calisthenics); they want it taken before selection in VT86 but it doesn't technically have to be passed until the fuge (obviously would look bad if trying to select Strike Eagles though).

Yes. Yes, it is. The tests however are not like college tests (or, fortunately, squadron academics tests either). The purpose (other than weeding out those who can't/won't be there) is to transition from college where 80% of the info is fed during class to an environment where you pretty much need to be up on the material (sts) beforehand and the class is for review/help with concepts you are having trouble with. It's not a crushing workload, but if you don't study at least 2-3 hours a day you'll have a lot more trouble trying to cram the night before. Min passing score on the tests is 80%, and failing a test results in a pink sheet (not sure what the AF equivalent is), remediate with the instructor, and retake the test the next day at 0600. If you fail the second try (or the first try after already having a pink sheet), you'll go to a board to recommend attrite/retain (they generally recommend retain). If you're retained, you'll roll back 2 weeks into the next class while re-attending the classes in the failed subject. The 3rd pink sheet is a visit to the O-6 in charge of Schools Command, he will probably attrite you (haven't heard of any 4th chances recently, but it's up to CC discretion). When I was going through there was only 1 AF LT that washed out for academics, in their case too much party-not enough study. There were several others with 2 pink sheets who ended up SIEing. At one point they were talking about force shaping SIEs/egregious attrites. Don't know if that is still the case. Probably 90% of the SIEs/attrites lately got sent space and missiles; a few others got personnel or logistics if they had a good attitude/rep during their casual jobs/API. Those eliminated for med reasons usually had the AF CSS here more on their side WRT getting the AFSCs they wanted.