GreenArc

Same! I reached out just be safe; I’ll let you know if I hear anything!

Right on man, thank you so much! I'll reach out to confirm receipt.

Anybody here who submitted to the 100th FS F-35s get a response confirming receipt of application package? I believe they said they would within a few days, and to reach out if you didn't get that. I know it hasn't even been a week, but just figured I'd ask here! Best of luck to those who applied!

Facebook still showing TBD--maybe soon, though!:

Not to turn the focus away from the jets and the overall new potential approaches to aerial combat, but I've gotta wonder if those developers and program managers at Textron realize just how phenomenally cool and seemingly unmatched in complexity and impact their work is/could still be. I'm the absolute furthest from an expert on this topic, but it seems the only limits on a "situational awareness and informed action" hardware/software platform like Synturian is the data available to it, and then ability of the developers behind the scenes to harmonize that and present the results to the team in the jet in the most clear, actionable way. To do that, then have your hardware/software platform potentially adopted/acquired by the US Air Force, and then one day get positive feedback from the pilots in the air and the guys on the ground benefitting in real-world combat scenarios...hard to imagine a more fulfilling civilian gig. Having spent a good amount of time in "Big Tech", even the coolest projects I've seen or even helped deliver in some fashion with tens of thousands of lines of code or more can't hold a candle to something this. Not even close (and the screenshot of the noted UI--assuming that's the actual UI and not a sim/proof of concept--is surprisingly easy on the eyes, too, to boot!). I can't wait to see what the future holds here--truly incredible technology and potential!

I'm gonna piggy back and bump this question, as it's a great one and I'd love that insight, too, if anybody is able to shed some light on it. Thank you so much in advance!

Randomly came across this article about an RC-26 out of Houston, and this thread came to mind. I know there's an RC-26 info thread here, but it's super old, and since this thread is more recently active, has already touched on a few different related topics, and we have the NDAA mentioned here in-thread, I figured I'd drop this here, a bit of a summary on the 2022 NDAA re: the RC-26: You called it, @RPApilotSelectMSgt, and it sounds like we'll see the official plan for the future come 1 March.

Guard, off-the-street: Selected - Jan ‘21 MEPS Approved - March ‘21 FC1 Approved - April ‘21 Officially Gained - Sept ‘21 NGB Submission - Jan ‘22 Hoping I can get OTS in late spring/early summer, and hit UPT ASAP after that…fingers crossed as the process has slowed a good bit after moving much faster out of the gate than anticipated.

Right on; makes total sense. Thank you!

This might be a silly question, but did their Guard units “send them” to ENJJPT, in the sense that it’s a different/specific set of orders cut to/with the ANG Bureau vs those for “normal” UPT? Or is there an application process in TFOT for ENJJPT that they crushed? Thanks for any insight you can share!

Super cool stuff, @Zero; thanks for sharing! Will definitely have my eyes peeled around town today. I did not realize that the Termites were still flying after they had left Barksdale. Great group of guys that were there and some awesome unit history, too.

Raising this more as a fun-fact to your point that shocked me, too: Sold a used 2017 Dodge Challenger in May than had been in a wreck that required rebuilding the front-left side of the vehicle for $25,000 to CarMax. It was leased (Dave Ramsey taught me after afterwards to never do that again! 🤣 ) for a hair under that price. Couldn't believe it, as a previous offer from CarMax was only for $18,000 in February. IDK what happened between February and May, but they jumped the price by $7.5k. Recently looked into selling my wife's SUV but not quite getting the same level of offers from CarMax 3-4 months later. So IDK if there was a huge spike in demand/panic in May, or if maybe something specific to sports cars is in demand, or it was a mistake, but you best believe when they handed me the paper with $25k on it I immediately said "YES. WHERE DO I SIGN!".

Mind if I ask where you’re reading/hearing that? Not questioning the veracity of your intel, but genuinely curious.

Thanks a ton, @mightymighty! I've got what I believe will be 1-2 to things that may put things in jeopardy with the FC1. Definitely gonna come prepared with paperwork, and quotes/highlights from the Medical Directory and Waiver Guide. I may need a bit of lady luck on my side, but hoping I can thread the needle here and come through clean!

This may show massive ignorance here, but if you get an SG waiver approved, could that condition waivered by the SG still bust you from passing the FC1? Or does an SG waiver essentially mean you're good to go, don't even have to think about it any more? And another potentially silly question: When WP receives your MEPS physical, is it all of the documentation you as an applicant submitted to MEPS, or is it just the documentation the MEPS (appeared to only) use during your physical? I noticed there was paperwork paper clipped to the top of my folder, and a bunch of paper inside...and it seemed like the paperwork on the outside was where all of the MEPS folks were referencing summaries of my medical history, making notes, writing pass/fail for tests, etc. I could be wildly mistaken, just seemed that way. Thanks to anyone who has that insight!

Right on--thank you so much, and all the best to you on your quest. I'm in a similar-ish boat and in the MEPs process now, Lord willing moving to a successful FC1 after. Feel free to reach out/PM anytime as I'd be happy to provide any insight I can.

I wish I could offer some insight and not a question to you, but would you mind if I asked where you've seen the <5 AHI as the criteria for being sleep-apnea free? Is that an AF reg? I've seen it stated some places online, but not finding anything official from AF flight docs. Not doubting you, just genuinely curious! Thank you!

I'll give my 2 cents as someone who believes themselves to be a devout Christian and a recent off-the-street UPT select who's never killed anyone and won't be flying a combat mission, but did interview for a platform that could go kinetic and thus I had to be ready to take life before throwing my hat in the ring. I'll go light on the scripture and keep this relatively agnostic from a faith standpoint as I know you didn't specify your faith, but if you ever want to chat on more nuanced aspects of this topic (religion, philosophy, etc.), please feel free to PM me any time. I've given this one a lot of thought and it's good that you're doing so, too. So here's my perspective--and again--as nothing more than a civilian UPT select who's never been in combat, most likely never will be, and is nothing close to an expert or tough guy: I'm an avid shooter, and, once I'm in a CHL/CCL-friendly state soon, I'll be carrying my Glock 17 with me basically everywhere...and especially in church, as odd that may seem. So, whether I'm in church, a grocery store, a movie theater--whatever--if, heaven-forbid, I'm pushed to the point where my only option left is to engage a threat with my pistol, at that point, morally, I'm feeling pretty free and clear. Similar to how many of us were raised with our parents saying, "You don't start fights, but you have our permission to finish them," that's how I feel about engaging a threat with my concealed hand gun (or weapons at home during a home invasion, for instance). At some point, you're forced with the decision to take a righteous stand to protect life or to allow evil to prevail in that given situation, potentially letting it take the lives of others, even that of you and your family's. The latter is wholly unacceptable to me in every way possible, and I see no conflict with that philosophy and what I read in scripture. For me, if I may be so bold, it would be the same in combat. This may not be apples to apples, but, IMHO, it's close enough: If you're put in a position today at CostCo where you're armed and you see a bad guy indiscriminately shooting innocent people, do you believe that your religious faith prevents you from taking that shooter's life in order to save others, even your own and your family's? If so, I respect where you land--I have true pacifists in my family who share the same faith as I do, who have served honorably, and who have ultimately come to own different convictions than my own. But if that's not you--if you see no issue with taking life in such a scenario--then let me lay out a bit more insight into all of this: First, from my relatively limited understanding, you're not dropping any ordnance without a good amount of teamwork to confirm the target and to get approval to be cleared to fire. You'll have a knowledgeable and often highly experienced team of professionals around you all contributing to getting this right. You won't be going at this alone, and your teammates almost assuredly won't want to take any more life than they have to either...and when they do, they'll want to get it right just as much as you do. To me, that counts for a lot. Second, if you are in a position in a fighter to take life, odds are you're hitting a target who is either actively engaged in harming Americans (or innocent civilians), or they are planning to do so in some capacity. For me, if there are American lives (or other innocent lives) to protect, I want to be the guy doing it--I can't think of a more fulfilling or noble task than that of stepping up to the plate--even putting yourself in harms way--to support troops on the ground or to protect innocent civilians. Those kind of kills are the kind that--again, if I may be so bold--I don't believe I'd struggle a whole lot with. Having a few really close relationships to folks who have taken lives (and are still involved in doing so in the active duty Air Force and the Air National Guard), what they've told me is that they've yet to have a kill they wrestled with morally...but that it's actually the shots that they couldn't take or couldn't make (for whatever reason; if you ever read "American Sniper" by Chris Kyle, i believe he shared very similar sentiment) that still eat at them. Imagine having troops in contact and you can't get there in time before more casualties are taken or lives are lost...or, somehow, you drop on the wrong location. How do you think you'll handle that? How do you think you'll handle seeing/knowing that something horrific is happening to civilians on the ground, you're armed, nearby, and mentally ready to take action, but--for whatever reason--you are not cleared to intervene and stop that atrocity from happening? What if you see footage of that atrocity the next day on the news or shared on another message board somewhere, and now that's with you forever? I say all of that to say this: While I'm certainly not trying to tell you how to think about these things--just help as best as I can with my limited experience--situations like those above along with fratricide were the things that were a lot more prevalently on my mind, and that I gave even more thought to before submitting my applications. I hope that's helpful--my apologies for the novel this evolved into--and best of luck to you.

Anybody apply to the Iowa MQ-9’s? I know the RC-26 guys also out of DSM don’t send invites ‘till the 15th, but I I believe the MQ-9’s noted all invites will be out NLT Dec 6...just curious if anybody heard back on those yet, as it seems to suggest they could have invites already going out up to and until the 6th. Thanks as always; all the best to those who applied!

Right on brother; thank you!

Anybody happen to confirm how to submit to the Nebraska -135’s, is it via email or mailing in a hard copy? The posting reads like we should mail it, but figured I’d ask here just in case as an email is listed, too. Thanks as always y’all!

If there's anybody with info to share on that and is willing to loop me in, too, I'd appreciate that a lot!

Please forgive the stupid question, but that's incredibly low, right? And would it be just as stupid to assume that's somehow related to COVID delays for current classes?

Same for Tucson; best of luck to those selected to interview!

+1 Bay Area flying also tends to be in the 60-70 hours range for PPLs. I'm post-solo and at about ~45 hours total in a Diamond DA40 (btw, I solo'ed after ~30 hours. FWIW, for some folks, it all just "clicks" later than others. It took awhile for it all to click, but when it did, it felt almost as second nature as driving. While I still need to polish and fine tune some things, I feel incredibly confident in the air now. I used to feel embarrassed by it, but now? Whatever, I'm where I need to be with a strong grasp of the concepts, so it was all worth it). I think I'll be hitting my checkride and completing my PPL in that 60-70 range, and honestly, due to weather/fires (5 flights cancelled to start September), instructor availability, crazy busy airspaces/local rules to learn/etc., and only being able to fly in the early evenings due to a full-time job, it's just taken longer. I feel about 80% ready for my checkride--I just need to brush up on the weather and cross-country stuff and I'll feel good heading into that...whenever it can actually be scheduled, like @Jester203 noted. I think if I could have quit my day job and just flown and studied for 2 months straight, weather and checkride availability permitting, I could have been done in 40 hours, but everyone is different, and every location can be different, too.