di1630
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Everything posted by di1630
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Anyone think they will try to retain via bonus guys jumping ship at 20? Has it been done in the past? I might be willing to stay a few more years to keep flying an FTU gig for some extra cash. Thoughts? Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums
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Guys, if you have even a RCH inclination to volunteers for a cross flow, do it. Worst case you can go back to flying heavies when your adsc is up. I've never met a heavy > fighter cross flow who regretted it. For those thinking "But my precious career and school slot!"........F-ck that! I know a lot of former pilots/generals and not one of them ever talked about how they miss command or schools. But they tell me often how much they miss the flying and when it's over, it's over. Nobody outside big blue will ever give a shit that you were an in-res ACSC/AWC guy below the zone.....but you'll be talking about your flying stories and experiences your whole life.
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Top FAIP = King turd on Shit Island.
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Good words to the young guys who ask "why are all the pilots quitting...you have the best job in the world."
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Investment showdown -- beyond the Roth, SDP, & TSP
di1630 replied to Swizzle's topic in Squadron Bar
I own about 69 shares of a company that went bankrupt...can I write this off on my taxes? -
$12B could have bought a few more F-22s I think. https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/02/politics/us-air-force-f-15-upgrades/index.html
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Man, I'll be honest, flying fighters isn't what you see in the movies. Hell, it's not even what it was 15 years ago and I'll tell you why.....Technology. Don't get the idea that it's rolling in on a soviet tank in a 60 degree dive and pulling the trigger or saddling up on the 6 of a mig-29 with thrust vectoring to employ your gun. It's just not like that. I won't say it could never happen but nowadays with bombs that can guide themselves to where you are looking with your helmet mounted sight or data linked missiles....you don't need to be chuck Yeager or robin olds reincarnated to be a good fighter pilot these days with the stick and rudder skills. You will find however the successful fighter guys all have common attributes that allow them to work well as a team, problem solve, multi task, perform under pressure. The biggest thing is you have to want it. A lot of dudes want to be fighter pilots but don't understand the reality of it. Hard work, long days, kicks in the junk by your IP's...but it all pays off. It's an awesome job but again, not what you see on TV and 50 year old stories.
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Everyone is hung up on flying "aptitude" when the real focus needs to be "attitude". Give me a MAF guy who really wants to fly fighters and has a kickass aggressive attitude and he/she will do fine. I've known guys in almost every fighter who cross flowed back in the day. A lot of them were badass dudes. I saw some great potential students end up in T-1s or others because of bad luck/timing. Get some of them cross flowed and they'll do just fine after some experience.
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Scorpion has No gun?!?!......still almost effective as the 20mm noise cannon with limited ricochet ability in A/G missions.
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You could buy all the F-35s, scorpions and A-29s you want and pair them with A-10s, RPAs, you name it. Simple fact is, we don't have an objective or strategy to win and without that, we just drop bombs to drop bombs. We would be wasting the resources no matter which jet we are employing so we might as well have F-22s doing ISR at $69k per hour. Oh, and from the rumor mill. Look for F-35s slinging whatever expensive munitions they can load on such targets as tents and parked vehicles soon to get their "combat proven" stamp. Regoddamndiculous at all levels.
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We do not know what the next war looks like. We never do. It's why we have aircraft designed to be supersonic low level bombers and day-VFR air defense fighters doing low intensity CAS being led by generals who grew up thinking killing migs was the primary mission. Meanwhile after doing years of low of intensity CAS, we want to retire the jet that does it best and do it instead with a jet that costs 5x as much designed to fight the wars how we thought they'd look in 1996 when said aircraft was designed. But instead of buying planes for fighting the current war and know at likely future war (because that's a waste), we are procuring a new stealth bomber and upgrading our nukes. Priority problems? Anyone?
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Investment showdown -- beyond the Roth, SDP, & TSP
di1630 replied to Swizzle's topic in Squadron Bar
Anyone have a good idea for where to park $100k for 3-4years?....I need min risk of loss, really just looking to keep up with inflation until it's used for business startup money. -
No, IP skills does not always equal the guy who should be leading the squadron...tactics, yes, people, no. Listen, I know a ton of great WIC grads. And I know just as many non-WIC grads who were topnotch IP's but not pushed to leadership because they didn't have a patch on their arm....even though they were the most respected flyers/leaders in their peer group. I know some dudes who went to WIC simply to pad their resumes to get further...all smart, capable pilots but lacking the natural charisma or leadership traits normally desired. Because big blue pushed their paper record, the sq's were worse off when they were in charge. Good tactical leadership in flight , poor squadron leadership. WIC grads are generally above average as a pool to choose leaders from but if they'd rather be an exec than a chief IP, find someone else for WIC. A WIC grad should spend a good chunk of their career giving back to others with their tactical education. The system is broken...when people try to justify WIC grads in exec spots to get promoted, I fear we have lost our focus.
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All this patch talk goes deeper to another problem: going to WIC was never supposed to be a career enhancing milestone....it was so that an already good IP could go, get firsthand experience and bring it back to the sq. If there were enough resources, everyone would go to WIC.
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How do you feel about your airframe and mission?
di1630 replied to innovator's topic in General Discussion
Fighters are terrific overall and I've never met a fighter pilot who regretted flying them vs something else. The only bad part of flying fighters in the USAF is the USAF. I've seen a constant erosion of lifestyle fun and reward but it is still the best job in the world....just not as fun as it used to be or "could" be. Once you figure out the USAF game/system and realize the USAF needs you as an 11F more than you need it, the work drops off and the lifestyle quality dramatically increases. If you are willing to stab your bros in the back and sell your soul to climb the exec ladder into rank/school/Job etc. you will be miserable, hated or burn yourself out. -
Hi threat CAS could be used in the unlikely scenario ground forces are outmatched/outnumbered being overrun. The A-10 was going to get slaughtered in the Fulda Gap but the hope was it could help kill a few tanks to balance the huge outnumbered armor matchup. That was just accepted we'd lose most hogs in the opening days of WW3. CAS assumptions / conditions have evolved dramatically since the advent of the Hog. New weapons, threats, tactics....unfortunately I don't think our esteemed leaders have kept up. It's why we still have a cold war ATO cycle, consider a $140M aircraft for low end missions and call anything airborne talking to the ground close air support.
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I don't expect our leaders to understand CAS. CAS is a support mission to shape the ground picture...given we have no F-cking idea what our end state ground situation is due to inept politicians and PME educated cold war loves anything fast loud and air-to-air still watches top gun religiously mentality leadership. Current CAS education is about what I expect. You think we don't understand CAS.....you should see our allies.
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I had dinner with a Brit the other night. Some of the stories he told me of the EU courts overturning local rulings really put into perspective that the EU has morphed into something different than intended. I think the Brits will be better off in the long run not having to adopt the immigration rulings and economic problems.
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Good...Europe needs a shakeup. Maybe they will start to rethink their laws, immigration policy, shit military readiness and 36 hour workweeks. Glad to see the Brits took a stance and opted out of being controlled according to the lowest denominators.
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Interesting stuff. If Britain leaves, Scotland may revote on their succession plans. Economically it might be painful in the short term but I think the Brits would be better off long term if they left. The remaining EU would be weaker in all aspects.
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Why was he fired?
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Bingo...our generals aren't advocating/using resources correctly. We send B-1's at a cost of $69k plus per flight hour to do XCAS in Afghanistan. After 15 yrs, we should have 6-9 sq's of A-29's doing that stuff. Instead our inept leadership wants to do it with F-35's because they learned Cold War techno-strategy at PME but can't critically think/adapt. If our generals were held accountable like civilian company management, they'd all he fired for severe incompetence or in jail for defrauding shareholders (aka taxpayers in this case).
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More sh-t about career development....you'd think our mission was to produce generals and compete jointly by Chang's take. Personally, I'd rather get some competent leadership who knows how to win fights vs make rank by getting "pushed through the career pipeline" Currently our leaders cannot: -Effectively manage personnel -Efficiently procure new weapons systems -Retain most valuable talent -Formulate a winning strategy in the Middle East -Understand the most used mission set in the past 20 years (CAS) But damn, they did a helluva job making rank.
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There's also a video out there I saw a while ago. Narrated by the F-16 pilot who was flying at 100ft and clipped the trees. "How low will you go" I think was the name.
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Chang, I did my 69 page masters thesis 5 yrs ago on how to retain RPA pilots. I surveyed about 50 of them. Your data and mine seem to conflict. Listen Chang, I've never flown an RPA, I love my AF/country, you name it. I would have stayed in without a bonus so listen to someone who is not your bitter dissenter. I've had buddies go to RPA's who were some of the most upbeat, positive dudes I ever met. They took the assignment and I remember their fini flights...none were USAF RPA haters. One guy was excited. 5 yrs later, 100% of them are out. The stories they told me of shift work, denied career opportunities, horrid family life etc. made me appreciate my 179. Chang, I urge you and other leaders to get in touch with the "actual" pulse of the USAF. There is a huge disconnect somewhere with what you are seeing vs the reality of things. Despite your assumption, this forum is a pretty good cross section of what I hear in sq bars across airframes and the USAF from all ranks and backgrounds (no this is not just a pilot problem).
