Danger41

Does a prenup do anything if you don’t have anything?

They probably (like most of Europe/NATO) just know the US will keep them safe. We (American tax payers) just bought them a squadron of F-35’s so why not? Mostly sarcasm there but sigh… https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-buy-25-more-f-35-stealth-jets-3-bln-deal-2023-07-02/

Oh man…get that dude to drop back in on some of the political threads to really get the blood up.

Gotta love the comments section. Which one you guys is this BAMF?

The F-15C is on the way out and being replaced by either the F-35 or the F-15EX. For now, Portland, New Orleans, and Fresno will get F-15EX. Barnes, Jacksonville, and Klamath Falls will get F-35. As a result of Klamath, I'm assuming that Seymour Johnson will pick up the EX training mission but that's purely a guess. I don't know if Klamath will be continuing as a B Course but I assume it will (similar to San Antonio) to help absorb training capacity.

“Fighting spirit one must have. Even if a man lacks some other qualifications, he can often make up for it in fighting spirit.” -Robin Olds

I’ve got zero issues renaming this place after a dude that flew B-29’s in WW2, got out of the AF Reserves as an O-5 (and gave up an airline line number!) to be a W-4 in the Army. He then earned the Medal of Honor doing 15 evacuation flights to save 29 ARVN soldiers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Novosel

Some Air Force guy at CGSC is rock hard reading these posts.

Take it from a father of 4…your kids and wife will be fine if you have a solid relationship and are clear on expectations. It sucks being gone but if you make the time you have count, it’ll be fine. If you can’t square that corner and want to be a stay at home dad, just SIE now, finish your career as a finance OIC, and move on to something else. Spoiler alert: Whatever you end up flying, you’ll be gone a lot. Even FAIP’ing you’ll be working your ass off 12 hours a day for years.

I’ve researched this a good bit and this is the most convincing argument I’ve seen. This is just a condensed clip of a way broader conversation, but starting at about 1:20 he talks about the historical vulnerability points to Russia and Ukraine + Crimea are key to 2/3 of them. That coupled with demographic collapse in Russia in the near term has forced them to make their move while they still can. What isn’t addressed is more of the psychological aspects of Putin’s view of the Russian Empire (pre-Soviet pre-Bolshevik era) that also have influenced this supposedly. I’m not a geopolitical expert or anything but those reasons (mainly articulated by Peter Zeihan but some others) make the most sense to me.

That's one of the great untold stories in this massive retention discussion. There's plenty of folks that I wish could be retained that have moved onto bigger and better things, and I wish them all the success in the world. There's another large portion of folks that are just absolute buzzkills and drains on the squadron that are net negatives to anything besides being a "1" in the pilots column. I'm thankful they raised their hands and did their job, but it's usually better for both parties to move onto something else.

I’ve steered several friends toward the Ranger Regiment , NSW, the Marines, and AF Special Warfare. They all were worried about transferable skills and I told them if they could handle one of the aforementioned jobs, they’ll be able to get some job on the outside because they’ll be able to make things happen with a winning attitude. What really drove the point home to me was when I went to a recent reunion with a bunch of bros I played college football with. They all were so interested in my stories and a bunch (including 3 former and 1 current NFL player) said they wish they would’ve done that. Do cool shit with your life and don’t rush to being a fucking square.

Fixed that for you. I keed, I keed…

Yeah but if I’m hiring folks and a dude walks in wearing a Stetson, spurs, and this playing in the background, he’s getting hired.

I tell them that if their ultimate goal is to make money, don’t join the military. Go make a pile of money selling insurance or working at initech and updating code. If you want to have a fulfilling life, do something with a purpose beyond making money. That doesn’t have to be the military, but that’s a great option. And the current state and assessment of the trends isn’t some Orwellian proto-gay state despite what a lot of you think. The kids today think differently but I promise you they would make the Greatest Generation proud if they’re called upon. Like Brabus said, every preceding generation thinks the succeeding generation sucks. Where our recruiting is going wrong is they are leaning way too hard into the “woke” crap and not selling the purpose side of the military. And the benefits. 18 year old young men are the same as they’ve always been and the more macho aspects of the military of blowing shit up, operating cool equipment, etc is the ticket. Not cartoons about a female with 2 moms. Not to single that soldier out, but that’s the truth. Same with the Army changing their PT test that was tailored toward more general strength and athleticism. When women were having significant problems with it (but getting better over time), they just scrapped the test and went back to the old one that more women could pass. Stuff like that looks horrible to potential recruits. To me, one of the other major problems with recruiting is the constant stream of cynicism from meme pages and comment sections. Lots of it is funny as hell, but to impressionable recruits seeing all that who don’t have the context, it’s different. That stuff is way more effective at reaching interested recruits than PA would ever dream.

Carpe diem man and make shit happen. In everything you mentioned above, they all need good people. Including the people that call you. Hell, if you want to be in the CIA you apply on their website, not via some cloak and dagger recruiting service. Clock’s ticking.

Not to make this an ACSC discussion, but if we base our nation’s war fighting strategy around a littoral force dependent on Close Air Support, we deserve to lose a big war. I love the Marines as much as the next guy, but I also believe in a lot of various Air Power theorists that think CAS is a poor use of it*. And the Marines have tried pulling their own Air Force move back in Desert Storm and got smacked down hard for it. Everyone also seems to neglect the prerequisite that CAS assumes localized air superiority. That happens by USAF and USN fighters clearing the air picture, working with ground based fires (not to mention NKE) to do SEAD, tankers to support it all, support assets to F2T2, and more. That’s just to allow every Marine a rifleman F-35 pilots to drop GBU-12’s to support their fellow Marine (who is probably an F-35 ground FAC…which I love). It has been 70 years since an American on the ground has been killed by an enemy airplane. Hopefully that helps with trust but probably not. Sorry for the word vomit but it irks me when people accuse the USAF of not caring about CAS. What I’ve seen AF dudes (in a wide variety of platforms) do to support guys on the ground is crazy. That was also in very permissive environments with close tankers/bases. If we are chopping ATO sorties to CAS in a China scenario, it’s a poor use of resources IMO. *Easily the most satisfying missions of my life were doing CAS and supporting ground units via JTAC.

When OEF 69 kicks off, if my (hopefully) retired self hears about F-35’s and B-21’s doing XCAS for some strike cell that thinks cleaning out the bays of strategic bombers on dirt farmers is the greatest thing ever, I’m protesting to my elected officials and streaking through the pentagon.

Assuming one gets hired, what is the typical training progression? T-38 then U-2 or vice versa? T-38 in house or at PIT?

Easily the best contribution to this thread.

Amen. On that note, you all seem much more educated on this stuff than I. I’ve done some casual research on power generation and am genuinely flabbergasted why there isn’t a major push for nuclear. Any ideas?

The YouTube algorithm offered some great advice on your topic to me today. Watch the clip below, especially the line starting at 5:06. Not saying you’re going to be shoveling shit In Louisiana, but…

Another example of the frozen middle, in my opinion. The GO’s are pushing ACE, empowering junior Airmen, etc and then young bucks want to run with it, but they get stymied with the aforementioned crap. I hate it and personally have never bought into the narrative that support functions are so inept and only aviators are worth a crap. It’s nature vs. nurture where as young pilots you’re constantly bludgeoned to make decisions, be the HMFIC, meritocracy via performance with assignments, etc. Support O’s are told to follow regulations and not fuck up, all while in a very resource constrained environment. It’s going to produce different outcomes. Ive always been a fan of the Marines TBS. I don’t think the AF needs to go that extreme, but even something cheesy showing how a days frag is filled in a combat environment and how all the various pieces tie together. Get the young Finance O out on the flight line for a day helping the hydro guys in an MC-130 in 100° heat for 12 hours and that’ll help contextualize why pay issues are important. Have the rated guy go around with a CE crew fixing random shit and how they prioritize while under strength in personnel to fix what will help launch those sorties etc. And don’t make it ASBC 2.0

Door isn’t t closed to come fly jets. If you decide to stay where you are, try to be happy with that and dump the “what if” thing. Because I guarantee you’ll never have stories and life experiences anywhere close to what I and a lot here have had. And that’s fine. You’ll also have alot more time to do what you want and spend time with your family than I’ve had. Also fine. It’s completely an individual thing. Don’t look for feedback here. Lots of people here are great. Lots are losers. Do what’s right for you.