Erthwerm

That's the point I'm making. We can't stay in the Middle East forever. Stuff like this happens and we just have to get over it.

I've seen anti-intellectualism be popular for a long time before Trump. It would appear to me that you're just parroting buzzwords. Additionally, there are plenty of racists out there who aren't Trump supporters. But hey, if you want to let a comedian's act dictate your political leanings, by all means, go ahead. I agree with you there. I have friends who fought in Sadr City, Iraq during the surge. President Obama wanted to start giving more control to the Iraqi Army and they lost Sadr City to ISIS. Stuff like this happens in war.

You have a 6 month wait to retest for the AFOQT so you might as well study if you take it again. The short answer is likely "it depends." Every board, from what I understand, does things differently. That said, you only get one chance to make a first impression. If it's no issue for you to retest, then do so, but I would do a lot of studying prior to retesting.

I haven't received anything from them. It's only been about 10 days, so it'll probably take a little longer.

Flight hours significantly help, as well, as you're probably aware. If you're below 70 on the PCSM score, it'd behoove (I know, I said it) you to fly as much as you can.

There already is an option that isn't the ED, and it's called urgent care clinics, which are all over the place.

No sh*t, when I was at Basic Training (Army Infantry OSUT) we had this "can't get right" private who was a total sh*tshow of a soldier. One of the Drills straight up asked him how he came to the decision to join the Army, he replied "Walmart wouldn't hire me." Thankfully he washed out, but there is no shortage of soldiers out there who would probably be homeless or dead without the military. Sometimes those people get promoted and become the most toxic NCOs. Sometimes they turn it around, but that's a small percentage.

That's called playing a stupid game and winning a stupid prize. I'm not a violent person, but my time in the infantry has made me tactically and technically proficient as far as moving, shooting, and communicating is concerned. If somebody starts smacking my car with a bike lock and threatening to kill me, it is not going to end well for that person. Edit: this is assuming that all my attempts to deescalate have failed.

Joe Rogan just had James Lindsay on his podcast again today and talked about how the woke culture has started to spread and the "epigenetics" of it, if you will. I found it a pretty scholarly dissection of the climate.

There certainly are a lot of us 33+ applicants around. Best of luck to you. Your scores are incredible and your flight hours will only help you. Do you have any volunteer experience? The boards are really big on serving the community (no surprise there). If you don't, maybe you can get some experience? I know hospitals are always looking for volunteers. It's not glamorous at all, but it certainly helps.

I used it and it boosted my score ~20 points. I highly recommend it.

It stands for the National Guard Bureau, which is the federal instrument responsible for the administration of the United States National Guard.

Ah, you're right, I accidentally quoted you quoting Brawnie. Again, you're right. I suppose a more elaborate way of illustrating my point is this: the government pays military members and then covers all of the associated living costs and then pays contractors to do that work while relegating SMs to do other work for which they're either unqualified or is not in their wheelhouses. I can't tell you the number of walls I've painted as an infantryman, and I'm not sure how the DFACs work in TFOT or downrange, but I know in a lot of BCT posts in the Army, all of our chow was made by contractors, not cooks, who could've used the practice, let me tell you. And look at how many contractors were used in convoys to deliver protected items during GWOT, it's insane. Those tasks could've been performed by infantrymen/cavalry dudes, or even SOF. BTW, I love your username. Were you ever in Batt or associated with them?

@brawnie I'm not an officer or a pilot (currently an enlisted grunt in the USAR in the midst of applying to ANG/AFRES units), but I'd like to address some of what you said, if I can. Admins, if you feel I ought to know my place, please let me know. I think most of us work in the "socialist paradise," as you put it, as a sacrifice because at the end of the day, we have to sacrifice certain things (where we live, how long we have to work, whether we sleep in a cot or a hole in the ground, if we get shot at, etc) in order to protect the constitution and the citizens it protects. For the most part, even in the civilian world, once you're in your job is also secure (barring any large screw-ups.) In the civilian world, your healthcare is also pretty much paid for and I've never worked a job that didn't have a pretty good PPO for a meager sum ever month (<$20). Depending on your organization, budgets can operate exactly like the military. The military doesn't really manufacture anything, it just uses things manufactured by contractors (for the most part,) so the whole socialist portion is a little misleading. Realistically, a government is only socialist when it owns the means of production, which is not the case here. Yes, we have certain safety nets, but given the fact that a 19 year old can have his ass shot off at a moment's notice in a far-off land with no creature comforts, I'd say that's a fair trade. With my civilian job, I have almost 8 weeks of paid vacation saved up. Some companies have no cap to their PTO. The military's main purpose is not to generate a profit, because it's not a business and therefore doesn't produce anything. The military (as far as I understand with my limited experience) exists to protect the United States of America and her interests. You can't really put a price on that. As for it not being a meritocracy, I really can't speak for the Air Force. I have seen some really crappy soldiers advance in rank and some really great ones also advance in rank. And vice-versa. It's very difficult to gauge ROI because because how do you effectively judge the necessity of a weapon until you absolutely need to use it? I think it's like owning a firearm: I have a fairly expensive rifle that I've spent many hours and dollars zeroing and turning into a hell of a tack-driver and killing machine at distance. I hope I never have to use it, but if I ever do, I would judge the ROI by the sole criterion that it eliminated the threat. If there's never a threat to eliminate, well, then I have to eat that cost, but what alternative do I really have? Now, to your credit, the military is rife with admin bloat and tons of money wasted on contractors who do things service members are trained to do and should be doing. I don't know how the USAF works, but in my short tenure in the Army, my pay has been messed up, my Enlisted Record Brief is still jacked up no matter how many times I go to S-1 and give them copies of my "I love me book." So in a lot of senses, it is kind of like a communist government. Once again, sorry if I've stepped on any toes or spoken out of turn. Admins, please let me know if I'm in the wrong place by posting here and I'll happily edit/remove this post.

Hey all, Adding another score update to this. Previous PCSM score from 2010 (yes you read that right): 70 Retook the TBAS this morning and my updated PCSM score: 89. My 201+ PCSM score is a hypothetical 99. I'm pushing through with an instrument rating and expect to push my PCSM score to a 95 when I cross the 80 hour mark by September (currently sitting at 47 hours) which is when I expect most units to start accepting applications again. If I have enough time, I'm going to try and push through to get about 100 hours, which'll push me to a 98 PCSM. Here's what worked for me. I recently started flying again and increased flight 10 hours for my flight review, and I studied 45-60 minutes every day for about 7-8 weeks. I'm married and work a full-time job during the day, so even though it was a challenge to stay motivated, I told myself that if I got offered a UPT slot, this would be my life for at least a year and that getting into this habit now can only help me in the future. My advice is to just really study. There are some pretty good study materials if you know where to look. I don't want to get gigged by any folks from the AFPC in case they read this, so I won't go any further, but just look around online for TBAS preparation materials. Spend at least a couple of hours a week doing focused study. Find a flight sim, get some cheap Rudder Pedals and a Joystick, and work on your coordination. Yes, you'll have to shell out a little bit of money, but honestly what's a couple hundred bucks when you're talking about accomplishing a goal most will never recognize? All in all, I think I spent about $180 on software and hardware for test prep. Additionally, come up with a system to quickly orient yourself on the Directional Orientation portion. Once again, I'm not going to elaborate for risk of giving it away, but there are patterns you can establish for yourself. The absolute worst scenario into which you can put yourself is trying to figure out where North is when the UAV is pointing to the Southwest and you're supposed to find the East target when the taking the test. Prepare yourself as best you can to always know at least where North is and to understand the other cardinal directions in relation. As far as how to prepare for the multitasking portion, I don't really have any advice other than be prepared to really focus. Get good at 3 digit addition/subtraction. Realize that you're not truly multitasking, but quickly serial-tasking. That way, you'll feel less overwhelmed. Also, if I can increase my score by nearly twenty points with focused study for a couple months, literally anybody can. Really commit to putting in the work and investing in yourself and you can increase your scores, too.