Karl Hungus

Speak for yourself. I was smart enough to recognize how incredibly fucked up and toxic active duty is while a casual LT awaiting UPT over a decade ago. Perhaps it’s more of a challenge to do so for the brainwashed masses leaving USAFA.

None of the bonus is “worth it”, in terms of an incentive to stay on active duty longer than you otherwise would have, with money being the motivating factor. It’s certainly free money for those who were going to stay anyway, though. The only reason it doesn’t go lower, or go away, is so that management can point to the low take rates in a couple years to help justify their request for stop loss.

Examples?

That’s intentional and by design. The defense industrial complex at its finest- too big to fail.

The big gamechanger will be when they change the AD retirement so that you start to collect at age 60, matching an ARC retirement. It’s coming. Hopefully we will be “grandfathered” in.

Agree with most of what you said, but I don’t think changing the 1500 hour rule will be as easy as AF management thinks, nor would it “shut the flood gates” for hiring at the majors. It would make it way easier for the regionals to hire civilian pilots at subpar wages and benefits, prolonging that failing business model for a while. Being able to adequately staff the regionals might result in less regional flying brought to mainline, but Delta (CS100 and 717), for example, has already brought quite a bit of regional flying in house. Doesn’t even come close to hiring for the staggering number of retirements at the majors. They’ll still hire a ton of mil pilots, whether the AF likes it or not. I too don’t think AF managers are stupid... nor would I call them “shrewd”. I think they’re piss-poor at management, and basically are incompetent at effectively running a large organization. They certainly aren’t “leaders”, despite referring to themselves as such. I do agree that they simply don’t care. I know the pro-management frauds on this board would have you believe otherwise, but the AF really doesn’t get their management right most of the time.

Heard that you can get out of TAPS if you have proof of employment following AD- even had a friend get hired by a regional and use that to get out of it. What about the fact that you’ve got a reserve job by virtue of the Palace Chase? Good enough to skip this BS?

Perhaps Liquid had it deleted. I’m sure the workload from giving all those no-notice ground evals for folks talking about the airlines at work was just too much. The APC forums are a far better resource anyway.

BWI goes junior at SWA. IAD is fairly junior at UAL, with EWR an easy commute. Same at AA, only PHL is closer if you can’t hold DCA. Driving up to NYC is doable at DAL... and FedEx is arguably the most commuter-friendly airline of all, I’m sure you could make it work. All of those options are way better than active duty. Get an IMA job at the pentagon and get a retirement on the side. Unless you signed a bonus... whoops...

I’d imagine he’s pretty busy giving out no-notice ground evals to every pilot he comes across. That’s gotta take up a ton of his time these days. Can you believe he actually said that nonsense? Liquid doesn’t think you should talk about airlines at work, or else he will no-notice ground eval you “We should not tolerate talk and actions related to post-service employment at work. Do the f*ing job you are paid to do and plan for your post-service job on your own time. Stop the airline conversations in the pilot shop and make sure people are earning their damn paychecks. When I was a Captain and encountered pilots chatting about their airline prep in the pilot office, I would give them a no-notice ground eval to check their systems knowledge and combat readiness. It was amazing how fast that reduced the around time and set the standard that we actually focused on at work. Remember, while you are planning your next career, there are plenty of other people in the squadron that will be there for a long time and could actually benefit from your experience more than hearing the details of how and why you are separating.” Not at all surprising he got promoted. Management at its finest.

I wish more of your management buddies would participate on these forums. Would be interesting to see how delusional and out of touch they really are. Or, more likely, how much they really don’t give a shit, as it’ll be someone else’s problem after they leave. Sort of like how the Liquids and Learjetters don’t really participate anymore.

... to a level that didn’t even correct for inflation since 1999.

Management is in full-on panic mode. It's not just pilots who are bailing left and right- anyone with a pulse and a shred of risk tolerance is fleeing this sinking ship as fast as they can. How's your exit going Duck? I think you've stated you were looking forward to being twice passed over (and then released from indentured servitude)... has that happened yet? Would 100% promotion to 0-4 throw a wrench in those plans? Sucks if that's the case. Good luck to you.

Why does the AF/military think it has a monopoly on "leadership"? If anything, very little real "leading" happens in the AF- mostly just management in a leadership position. Plenty of opportunities to "lead" outside of the AF, despite what it wants you to think.

Sounds like Scoobs/Gilligan13 got bored and created yet another new login.

Heard multiple young copilots and ACs say something to the effect of "so can I claim I identify as a woman/man and get out of my UPT ADSC, un-identify as a man/woman, get hired by an ARC unit, and flee the sinking ship that is AD AF?" over the past couple of days...

You won't go in-res if you don't complete ACSC via correspondence first. We're back to the practice bleeding days.

This. Sorta destroys the whole argument that "the AF gets it's promotions and leaders right most of the time!!!" you'd hear from the Liquids et al on this board. In Liquid's defense, he must be really busy giving out his no-notice ground evals to all the pilots talking about the airlines at work... maybe that's why he doesn't participate here anymore. That's gotta be a full-time job.

Flight pay needs to be approximately $1250 (from $650) and $1615 ($840) to correct for inflation since 1990. I expect it'll go to around $750 and $1000. The raise will show us how seriously management is taking this "crisis"...

Hilarious, isn't it? People who were going to stay anyway take the devil's money (at an insultingly cheap rate, still less than their counterparts in 1999) and then act surprised that the AF is screwing them on an extra 6-12 months of ADSC. That they were going to serve anyway, for free.

Reducing the 1500 hours requirement simply makes it easier for the regional subcontractors to hire less experienced civilians (and military, if it's less than the 750 hours required for mil pilots now). It delays the collapse of the regional subcontractor model, and reduces the need for the legacy carriers to bring more regional flying in-house, which reduces the amount of legacy pilot jobs. Suddenly, the pool of labor to fly a 50 seat CRJ-200 for poverty wages increases. It doesn't change scope rules at all- each airline will still have scope limits with their legacy unions. RJ-obsessed management like Kirby at United will be happy though; why buy 737-700s or CS100s to bring regional flying in-house when you can fill every last 50 seat or 76 seat RJ under current scope rules with cheap labor? One less bargaining chip for legacy unions when management comes begging for scope relief. Won't stop the mass exodus from the AF at all, aside from reducing slightly the number of available jobs at legacy carriers as their growth slows. Retirements alone will destroy the AF's retention. If he really wanted to impact legacy hiring, he should be trying for Age 67, or Age Unlimited...

This. A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.

6.5 weeks. Still a complete waste of time.

Thanks for the response. I'm not even close to accepting a position with this unit, nor have I even applied. Just an informal conversation at this point. They are adamant that they're losing AGRs left and right, and will only hire into AGR positions. I'm hesitant to lock myself into long, one-sided commitments- AD will do that to you. Since I'm unfamiliar with how an AGR curtailment would even work, asking here seemed like a good way to find out. Agreed that I wouldn't want to come across as a "shit bag"... if there's an accepted minimum amount of time to serve in an AGR position before pursuing other options that would ensure my family's financial well-being long-term, be that one year or 5 years, it would be good to know in advance. There's a difference between what the unit prefers and what's actually legal, though- much like dropping mil leave after finishing OE, might be legal but not very smart. Hence why I asked.

Bump. Say one were interested in an ARC unit, but ARC unit wasn't hiring any TRs... only AGRs. Unit is in a "good" area (not a UPT shithole). How easy would it be to accept an AGR position, and then leave that position should an airline opportunity present itself? Yeah, burning bridges and all that... can one just convert from AGR to TR whenever they want, regardless of if they want to go back to the AGR position post-airline probation? What if the only "commitment" to the unit was the 3:1 ratio for palace chase? What does the curtailment process involve?