MooseAg03

For those 11Ms stuck at Creech, there are meetings tomorrow and Friday with HAF specifically for Alfa Tour Pilots who have not recatted. It seems only half of the base was notified. PM me if you want the details. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'd have to check the eligibility tables, but if I remember correctly 11U and 18X were ineligible just like 11Fs were - based on your core AFSC. I was one who tried desperately twice to escape this sinking ship last year. I still can't figure why they didn't cross flow more guys to RPAs instead of paying them to leave and waiving UPT ADSC. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Second that. Maybe the symbol changed for OPSEC purposes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's not what he's saying, but obviously flying the U-2 is not seriously one of your professional goals if you aren't willing to extend your time on active duty even one day to do it. If you've read this thread, you'll realize why the cadre would not be thrilled to entertain the thought of hiring you if they won't get their time and money's worth out of you for the mission. Won't your PCS incur a 2 year ADSC? If you're looking for a place and the CAOC doesn't suit you, we could use more bodies in the RPA world.

I got the e-mail and would love to at least visit to see if I'd like to apply. Unfortunately it seems I'll be stuck in RPA purgatory until I'm a major select, which I'm guessing makes me too old from what I've read on this thread. Good luck to everyone else.

I hope you guys are joining as 18Xers so I can leave this hell hole and get back to real flying.

You started pilot training 2 months after your EAD date? Wow.

Did anyone else take the mandatory Sexual Assault Prevention Bystander training back around mid-2011? The only thing I remember from it was how it was completely full of untrue racist propaganda. According to the teaching material, the term 'bitch' and the saying 'bang for your buck' both originated from white slaveowners and how they used to refer to their slaves. Female slaves were often called bitches, and male slaves called bucks and the phrase supposedly meant how much work one could expect to receive from his male slave. Everyone in class was sitting there absorbing all of this B.S. and then an IP in my squadron Googled 'Bang for your Buck' and tells the whole class the phrase originated during the Cold War as a reference to the power of atomic weapons. From then on, I view anything mandatory that is taught to me by the government with extreme suspicion. They used the 'mandatory' nature of this sexual assault prevention class to spew a bunch of racist propaganda to the entire Air Force. What a crock, and it doesn't surprise me that this stuff is being forced down the throats of all the EO guys in training.

I grew up wearing my 2nd cousin's red POW/MIA bracelet, Maj Curtis 'Dan' Miller. He was an AC-130 pilot in the 16th SOS and was shot down on 29 Mar 1972. When I was just beginning pilot training in 2008, I received a call from my grandmother telling me that the government had identified his remains. The family was skeptical at first, because the JPRC has been known to be eager to close out MIA cases. They elected to have an independent lab verify the DNA analysis. Finally on 29 Mar 2010, 38 years to the day he was lost over Laos, Dan was laid to rest at the national cemetery in Ft. Worth. I remember it made national news and his funeral procession was over a mile long. It meant a lot to the family, his widow, and his mother to have such a heartfelt homecoming. His wife Sue told me the story of how the Air Force had a Colonel escort her to Hawaii and the lab showed her all of the work they did to identify his remains. There they had his entire service dress uniform made up, and placed his remains in the casket and sealed it. She said he was flown home on American Airlines and when they arrived in DFW, the entire ramp shut down while they held a ceremony and transported Dan to the funeral home. I traveled to Ft Worth for the funeral, and was amazed that the 16th SOS had quite a large showing and provided an airplane for the flyover. Now I wear a black KIA bracelet with Dan's name on it since he has finally been brought home. https://www.wfaa.com/story/local/2015/03/08/13559954/

If the AF was smart, they'd seriously pursue upgrading the T-1 via Nextant Aerospace. Right now they sell a completely overhauled B400 for under $3mil including the donor airframe. I imagine using current T-1s would cost less than $2mil per copy since we already have the jets and don't need fancy interiors. This would include new engines and avionics. The fuel savings alone with more efficient FADEC engines would pay for this after about a decade of use. The airframe life on a B400 is unlimited when properly maintained, I'm sure some of the T-1s have been beat to hell and may not last much longer, but it's worth looking in to.

There is an RPA pilot/sensor survey that is being completed outside of official channels. It is to obtain as much statistical data about RPA career field manning and the future plans of current operators. PM me if you would like to take it.

One of those 'stressed' career fields was just on the list of overages and it took exactly 1 month after the 2nd round of VSPers separated before the AF started screaming about critical manning for RPA pilots. If the future looks so bleak, why did they just pay a bunch of qualified pilots to separate? I know Creech lost 2 dozen current RPA guys and tons of 11Rs were paid to leave that could have been cross flowed. The recent Creech generalapalooza gave them a taste of what will be coming over the next 5-7 years. Dangling extra flight pay will not solve the problem, as 11X guys are not eligible for that and most will not sign the ACIP contract and give up their ability to walk. Dudes are sick of spending 1200 hrs a year locked in a box along with dealing with AF active duty BS. The foot voting started last year, in case you missed it, and it will continue.

Which will make the problem worse, as more guys will leave to take contractor positions for higher pay.

Or Stop Loss...

I'm jealous...

I'd like to hear from guys still in the C-17 squadrons about what this is doing for ops tempo. Where does our ability to surge during the next Haiti, Hurricane Sandy, or Japanese tsunami come from when we lowered our available crews by one third? Also, second and third order effects...this higher ops tempo will more than likely drive more guys out in the future. If you drive guys into the ground, they will leave at the first opportunity. Haven't the last two rounds (3 if you go back to 2011) of VSP taught us anything?

I've got plenty of shop work that I'm responsible for. I'll let the gung-ho Lts who are looking to go to weapons school for RPAs go through and update academic slides, etc. Thats the queep I was referring to, LTs are definitely not "running the squadron."

So you're saying I have to sell out to RPAs to be a team player? Go f*ck yourself. I'm at work everyday flying my 6+ in the container. I don't have to kill my hope of getting back into a cockpit to be a team player. I'll take my chances and if an airplane isn't in my future, I'll bail.

It's not just discontent over the job and being taken from an airplane, although that is the majority of my issue. The problem is that I now have no defined career path because nobody can tell me what will happen over the next few years. All you get from the RPA community is constant pressure to re-cat and give up the opportunity to ever fly an Air Force aircraft again. No thank you, I did not sign a 10 year ADSC for that kind of deal. I'm glad we have motivated 18x Lts in my squadron, they tend to take care of a lot of the queep that the rest of us would rather not mess with. However, I refuse to volunteer to do the same job along side guys who have a 40% shorter commitment any longer than I have to.

Jealous...

This. That's one of the main reasons I tried to VSP. I think the trajectory is going to be lower in the future.

The ratings aren't everything, ours is a 9/10 and it was awful. Plus you don't have the freedom to just put your kids in any public school, it's all based on zoning. They make it stupid easy to disenroll them for homeschooling though. Vegas is a perfect argument for school vouchers.

It would be quite a bit more bearable. Look at the big brain on Brad. Edited for poor memory likely due to consuming a good portion of a beer tower.

Thanks for the life tips. The dude asked if people hated living in Vegas so much, and I gave my opinion. Yes, I probably had a little too much Crown before I posted that, but f*ck it. I tried to vote twice with my feet and was shot down both times. Our little corner in NW Vegas isn't terrible, but the whole situation with having Creech out in the middle of BFE sucks for everyone. Believe me, the PCM being off base is not the solution to everything. Most times when you receive referrals, they send you to the Nellis hospital for treatment. You all can suck it.

I do. I have very little desire to spend my money down on Freemont or the Strip. The schools are terrible, and we have to live 35 minutes from all of the services at Nellis in order to be 40 minutes from Creech. I hope to move somewhere that we don't have to homeschool our kids for our next assignment.