MDDieselPilot

Just got this automated email gem today: I swear it wasn't 6 months ago I heard AFPC was looking at majors in the 2004/5 STRD timeframe for non-vols. Now it's '07? Looks like pick'ns are slim and they're having to jump ahead to source enough folks. If you check out the 365 list, the 11Gs are damn near all "advisor" roles.. one lucky SOB gets to be an exercise planner at the deid.

Are searches still a thing? I haven't been searched since Randolph in 2004/5. Guards would usually ask if I had time for a search since they had to do so many per hour.. They were pretty chill about it so I didn't mind.

Where is said thread?

For me - 2 years left on my ADSC. I was late to UPT, so I've watched lots of my peers bail even if offered sweet school options/follow on assignments. I'm stuck in a dead end staff job and AFPC doesn't seem to give a damn that I'm willing to go fly an airplane. The longer I don't fly, the more I want to walk away at the end of my ADSC. It was telling last month when Gen Holmes addressed the issue at WEPTAC. Evidently 9 dudes (11F) who got school all turned it down to get out.. I personally don't think big blue GAF about the whole issue.. they'll wait it out until the next economic crunch when pilots get furloughed and come back in droves for a paycheck.

You wouldn't have a JTR source for that would you? At my current shithole assignment, we were actually threatened by our GS-15 DTS AO that we would not be reimbursed for regular official travel if we didn't ask him ahead of time, via lengthy email with full details of the trip (even if a DTS auth was submitted/approved), if we had his blessing for the trip. Given the substantial amount of free time I have with this job, I've started to entertain myself by passive aggressively challenging him on all things related to travel funding.

underrated post

Good luck to anyone applying.. I'll stay in my shitty rowboat of being stuck AD for the long haul.. late to UPT, current in a shit non-flying assignment with few options back to the flying world.. Feels like all the good airline jobs are getting snagged. I'm sure when I retire I'll at least be able to get a flight attendant job somewhere. Anyone like their coffee extra strong? /crying myself a river

Bruh, you sound kinda angry. What's your choice of beer, I'm buying... Our area just dropped by $250. BS.

How does that work for two people in the same system (i.e., Air Force) are paid the same to work in bumfuk, OK vs Honolulu or the NCR? It's either grossly overpaying person A or grossly underpaying person B. Just so I know we're not stretching things here... exactly how many deployments have you been on? And you're saying of those, you've literally lost count of how many were due to said reasons?

Just me or are there a lot of commanders getting axed this year? 375th WG/CC fired https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2017/12/12/wing-commander-at-scott-air-force-base-fired-after-5-months-on-the-job/ WS/CC fired https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2017/09/26/air-force-squadron-commander-was-fired-after-allegedly-drinking-on-duty/ This dude was screwing around with an E-4... on the surface it seems he deserved it. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2017/05/02/squadron-commander-at-moron-air-base-relieved-of-duty/ Thunderbirds https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2017/11/29/air-force-thunderbirds-commander-relieved/ Intel GP/CC.. alcohol related, but he was over the German limit by ~.001, and under our .08 limit. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2017/09/22/air-force-intel-group-commander-relieved-of-command/ Macdill WG/CC https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2017/10/09/wing-commander-at-macdill-was-relieved-in-july/ https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2017/11/14/air-force-security-forces-commander-at-nellis-creech-relieved/ https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2017/10/07/maintenance-group-commander-at-eglin-air-force-base-fired/ I've worked with or know a couple of these guys along with another one or two not listed who were fired this year.. all (that I knew) were great guys and highly respected. Shitty to see their career hit a brick wall.

My G-dad flew the RF-4C at Shaw, though he retired in '70. Funny - he always talked about how much power the F4 had.. I guess coming from the planes he flew from '43 to '70, they did.

Is AMS and/or RAW working for you guys? The pages won't load for me over the last week. I've been itching to see the FY17 Retention report..

As an AD guy who has reached out to similar units looking for any position (AGR would be preferable) and been turned away.. what's the reasoning behind this? Are your Sq's willing to go short-handed a while to keep the AGR/tech spots open for the traditional guys when, one day, they may want or need the full time job? I understand looking out for your own, but it's a bit confusing to me as to why a unit won't give a slot to someone willing to fill it when their own people are busy doing their own thing.

Im sure. I'm in one. If I told you what my job and actual workload is, you'd probably lose all hope in the air Force. I have yet to hear of an effective way for individuals to call these positions out. Right now, the only method is to convince their commander to let the slot go unfilled or (ideally) do the paperwork to lose the billet. We all know no commander would do that in a million years. Thus the pilot shortage and perpetual cycle of filling useless roles.

Eh, if the OG sent out the email it would have been more appropriate to go through them for info and not proceed direct to the functional. having said that, I don't think it's worth worrying about. Just tell your boss you were innocently looking for info and didn't intend to cut out the chain of command.. next time you'll do it right. I think the AF culture of not being able to talk to the functionals (typically) is a huge disservice. I have a number of Army buds across the spectrum of MOS's. When I told them I never had a direct line to my functional until very recently, they were blown away.. even the infantry guys say as a Lt you could email/call the assignment guy and discuss available jobs. I believe the current crop of functionals at AFPC are making a HUGE effort to open lines of communication with their crew force. The C17 guy has weekly DCO sessions for anyone who wants to join. I've inquired a few times about assignments and he had no problem giving me his thoughts. Hopefully the trend will continue - AFPC shouldn't operate behind a shroud of secrecy when they're controlling some of the biggest changes in our lives.

For those not WSJ subscribers, how do we view it?

I'd like to know the details not included in that story, as there is always more to it. That being said, this is just embarrassing. How long will it go until the military sees major changes in it's judicial culture?

Different communities, different atmospheres. I got burned by a load one time because she "didn't get a full 12 hours crew rest." At an undisclosed location in southwest asia, I set my crew for alert around 15hrs prior. I went by her room but she didn't answer after knocking several times and there was no chow hall/cadillac/bra note on her door. I wrote the alert time on her board, and left. Alert time rolls around and no call.. I eventually call the DO and he said they canx'd my line because I never notified my (1 of 2) loadmaster. Evidently, this young gal was sleeping when I came by, stumbled out of her room with 9 hours left until alert, saw the legal time, and called in to say she wasn't going to get a full 12 hours of rest... EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD JUST BEEN SLEEPING. I was irate, but how do you explain to a very new airman when to bend rules when she could very easily burn me again with "Well Capt DieselPilot said it's okay to violate this AFI." I'm guessing you're in a crew community as well, but sometimes we have to account for the lowest common denominator which means following the rules past any reasonable expectation.

I recall talking to a second assignment guy from hickam who said he got ripped his first day walking in the sq.. I always felt bad for him, moving from the best C17 base to that dude's squadron. After that, I always made a point to walk across their grass anytime I was in the vicinity.

Here here. That's a heavy weight for the MP to carry around.. hope they're okay too.

Yea, and with the news that we're making another push in afghanistan, there's no flipping way that deployed billets or ops tempo will go away.. I imagine all those suggestions we made for reducing deployments just got flushed. On a different and likely highly unpopular note, I know this forum is largely full of disgruntled types and we all come here to b1tch about what's wrong.. but some of you guys may need to step back and think about something positive in your life. :D We all just got an unscheduled pay bump and anyone but the most deluded dunce would know it wasn't going to be significant.. There's really no reason to piss and moan about it, IMO. The NDAA was signed.. even if CSAF wanted to give us a million each, he's still tied by the budget. Given the facts, I would say the only change I think I'd have made is to give earlier guys a larger bump (i.e., 6 yr guys would be much closer to 1k/mo) since those are the ones coming close to a decision point of get out/continue at 10 years. Otherwise, each of us with a decent flying record is still basically set for life, barring any long term economic meltdown, and we're doing what we love. I say all this as a guy who recently left one of the best flying locations in the AF for a "staff" job (in hopes of better promotion potential) that is quite pointless and borders on fraud, waste, and abuse and my 3yr old son lost one of his feet a few months ago.. Be thankful for the small things, they don't come often enough. Ok.. back to complaining about coffee that isn't strong enough, a/c isn't cold enough, and hotel housekeeping didn't leave a mint in the right spot on our pillows. :D

when are you returning? edit: and why the hell is the wg/cc concerned with this? talk about micromanaging the OG..

What do other guys in the sq say? Take the JFTR/JTR reference to your sq/cc, have them email the finance CC. if that doesn't resolve it and your sq/gp/wg/cc can't help, IG complaint.

You don't fall under USAFWC do you? PM if you'd like, just curious.

Any chance you saw or have a good idea of the viper dudes' records? i'm astonished they aren't promoting every 11F who doesn't have a negative indicator.