Danger41

Any updates on the retirement/non-retirement?

Blue symbolizes leadership and Orange symbolizes cowabunga, dude.

If you are interested in being a pilot for the military and not concerned with having to deal with the career development stuff (PME, Masters, etc), then going and flying the line for the ANG is probably a better bet. Personally speaking, I have greatly enjoyed my military flying career. I've been luckier than most with assignments and gotten to do some very cool things. I've had some raw deals as well, but overall I have enjoyed the experience. I will bitch about stuff as much as the next crew dog, but I enjoy this job. One word of caution, the luster of the job will wear off at times when you doing things you know are absolutely pointless. Military flying is a lot like golf. You swear you're done with it and then all of a sudden you hit a great shot and you remember why you love it in the first place. Good luck to you.

Pretty sure I would deserve a Silver Star by that metric.

A toast...

I also watched "Lone Survivor" and agree that it was well done. It wasn't like the book talking about how SEAL training sucks and they are all supermen. Other than the opening credits, training wasn't even mentioned. It had good character development and drew you into the story. I wish there would have been more time spent on the Pashtunwali portion of the story, but it was good. Definitely reommend a viewing.

You sound like a FAIP. Yes, that was meant as an insult. You sound like a FAIP. Yes, that was meant as an insult.

That is a dedicated wingman in picture 1. Eyes stay on lead the whole time, no matter what.

That's definitely the saddest part to me about the whole military. The days of building espirit de corps at the O Club on a Friday night are gone. It's just plain stupid to get wasted at the club when the SF is sitting right outside waiting for you to do something while drunk and bust you - ending your career. The days of everyone looking out for each other, handling shit at the proper levels, and getting the j-o-b done are long gone. I think that's more of a societal thing than a military specific thing, but the military is just a microcosm of society. Truly sad. And I believe there are some good leaders out there. But like Brabus said, they are often the ones that know this is the end of the line for them. It seems that often those that are trying to continue on are some of the biggest chodes I've ever met. Not trying to be passive aggressive to Liquid or other O-6+ on this board, but I know even they have seen it. Last point, I have a lot of respect for Liquid for having the balls to get in the mix with the likes of us knuckle dragging mouth breathers, take the spears, and articulate his position when he knows he will be shat upon mightily for it.

Immel-spin reminds me of the "Nigerian 8". Heard about it from a bro at Vance that had Nigerian students in his class who were doing aero when a dude completed the first loop of the Cuban 8 when he then rolled inverted again while 45 degrees nose low and tried to pull through. IP saved it by over-g'ing the jet and blasting through the MOA floor by several thousand feet. I had a buddy call up Denver Center and say "Can you say again? Sorry, we got the defog on up here". My stupidest moment was probably in the T-38 when I forgot to adjust the heat on my 4-ship checkride (aka my last 38 UPT ride) and took off, put the gear up, burned myself, and then fogged up the canopy completely trying to adjust it. The fog turned the canopy into 0/0 while trying to rejoin so I went completely blind, overshot somewhere into the Gulf of Mexico from north Texas and then didn't get rejoined until 20,000ish feet. Good times.

MAF vs CAF evaluator mindset, IMHO: In my current community, we are an island of misfit toys from all the different communities. It seems that in AMC (and former AMC dudes), the pinnacle is to be a higher up in Stan/Eval. In the CAF, the pinnacle is to be a Patch. I think that's why there's such a difference. In AMC, you have to flex nuts in order to show you can be a badass evaluator that will hook people without any qualms. CAF bros treat checkrides as an annoyance and something that we have to do between training for the actual mission. Hence, very few Q-3's that will slow down the training with the requisite requals and all that cheese. One man's opinion.

Anyone else seen this website? I keep seeing people all over Facebook liking it and it's awesome. https://www.squadronposters.com Apparently it's run by a C-17 pilot and he and some of his bros do all the art. Pretty cool stuff.

The snow was so bad that local authorities in Rapid City were asking people with snowmobiles to go around and see if people needed help since emergency vehicles couldn't move. And, in classic South Dakota fashion, the temperatures were over 60 degrees the next few days and the 3 feet of snow was nearly gone 72 hours later.

In my UPT class the former airline guy smoked UPT and was DG. He then almost washed out of IFF because he didn't understand flying the airplane aggressively and didn't have a fighter pilot attitude. A couple classes later the former airline guy did wash out of IFF and went to fly heavies and is loving every minute of it. Hueypilot nailed it (sts) with his bottom line.

Learn how to read an approach plate and other instrument type procedures if you are really interested in starting studying early. It won't help you at IFS, but it will help you at UPT during a very challenging phase. Studying early and/or flying in advance can help you but you have to keep one thing in mind: Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. Don't teach yourself bad habits and then have to unlearn stuff. Also, a great lesson from this thread is that you will run into some giant douches like Lord Ratner who don't get it and think they have to treat people like shit. Don't take it personally and learn from your mistakes. At the end of the day, we are all on the same team.

I always thought "Combat Gnat" was a good one.

ViperStud is spot on. I wish that AFSOC did a better job of selling itself to students at UPT. When I went through EN, there was zero AFSOC representation and studs were dropping U-28's and NSAv like it was going out of style. I know more people would have been interested in the mission if there was some exposure to wtf they would actually be doing.

Classic. Also, read the comments. I swear at least 75% of the populace is legally mentally handicapped.

Definitely a chill organization of very professional guys. It's amazing how the most high time dudes are bros to the young bucks. There is also hardly any hazing of the new guys since they will be out the door in a few weeks with the rest of the squadron cutting their teeth all around the world. I've seen multiple CSO's and young pilots with over 1,000 combat hours before pinning on Captain. Hard to hassle that guy as an FNG. First names are used like call signs in a fighter squadron. 90% get the first name treatment except the Lt Col's and other leadership types.

Very helpful Bronco and Odium. Can you talk to your Det/CC and explain your situation? I would explain the loss of health insurance thing being your main drive to want to go active asap. You will have a lot better luck with that angle than the "I just want to start flying" thing.

Amen.

So which MWS's are allowed to post? And do Non-flyers get an opinion? Joe is annoying and but he also has a point. The E-dick measuring contest is ridiculous.

Nah, it just proves how little people care about the LGPOS.

Was there a B-1 near?

Can't believe this hasn't been posted yet. www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/22/eric-fanning-air-force-secretary_n_3483390.html Opinions?