raimius

...and more delays... https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/09/17/special-ops-plan-buy-new-light-attack-fleet-may-get-pushed-back.html

Did you not realize this is the internet?

Yeah, 9x19 or .380acp are generally good choices. I like the Glock 43X (15+1 with aftermarket mags, and it is single-stack thin). P365 and S&W Shield 9 or Shield EZ .380 are also popular. As to the Glock MOS. It's decent if you want to run a red-dot. The mounting plates do have some history of flexing and succumbing to fatigue after higher round counts though.

Also a great way to make helicopters even more the red-headed stepchildren, who will struggle to work with fixed-wing dudes for lack of background. It's a terrible idea, IMO. It will reduce quality (flight experience) and introduce cultural problems wrt "big AF." Finished Rucker with 218hrs, with a little over 100 in Hueys, but that was in 2012. Showed up to my first ops unit with about 290, if I recall correctly. Now, we could get new copilots with under 200, from what it sounds like. Anyone remember the most dangerous time for aviators...?

I'm not saying "do what we have always done" or "F that high tech wizardry." I'm just tired of leadership claiming that the new generation can learn with less experience because they had smart phones as kids. It's a poor justification of continual cuts to the training pipeline. Now ops units have to do as much training as the FTU to get mission capable co-pilots, and they still barely have basic skills down. (That's a knock against the training program, not the students.)

Anyone else tired of "this new generation will learn with less flight time because they grew up with electronics" BS? Yeah buddy, all your current captains and most of your majors did too...wanting the same for less doesn't make it work.

Unless you pick something with only a couple bases, you'll move often enough that you won't spend more than a few years at that base you were hoping for. Now, if you really want a base where their aircraft only have 2 bases, sure that may work. I'd say, pick off mission/type of flying. That way, you get some happiness wherever the AF places you.

I think 2/3 of my flight was on CAP at one point. I hooked a boatload of rides pre-solo. Got to the serious praying stage for a bit. It worked out. I eventually "got it" enough to do decently on daily rides, 2nd best in checkrides, and got my first choice at track select. Exercise and eat decently. Get enough sleep! I realized I need about 6hrs for academics, but 7 or more to fly decently (part of my pre-solo issue).

A little late, but Leave No Man Behind has a wide collection of CSAR cases.

🍺 Very sad to hear...

Depends on the RW CAS you are comparing. An Apache is going to be different than a Huey. Probably, could be somewhat similar though, as airspeeds are likely to be somewhat similar (at least if you take a slower fixed wing). That said, some helicopter tactics aren't going to be available unless you have STOL capability and a headwind.

I believe the human mortality rate has always hovered right around 100%.

There are often admin/support jobs in squadrons. Another route might be in the maintenance realm. I don't know the common pre-reqs for those jobs, but you can look at M1 or Dyncorp for more info.

Checks!

Agreed on the first part. I'm not quite so sure on the desensitized part. Before this, I had not realized we regularly lose upwards of 50k to the flu on a yearly basis. It's one of those things that is the result of working with large population numbers, but you don't really think about the numbers until you try to start comparisons. CNN doesn't go into months of coverage for 48k suicides or 50k flu deaths (not to mention cancer, heart disease, etc). I'd rather say that people DO worry about what CNN et. al. squawk about, rather than what is actually happening or not. (e.g. people fear active shooters more than car crashes, but one source kills dozens in a year while the other is 20k-30k)

I grade to the syllabus, but that doesn't mean I stop there and call it good. A "G" or "3" or whatever the MIF calls passing is enough to pass, but I don't want people whose goal is to barely pass to be my coworkers. I don't expect perfection, but being better than you were yesterday should be the dominant attitude in a healthy organization.

I get the whole "If the minimum wasn't good enough, it wouldn't be the minimum" attitude...but that's usually what you tell yourself when you don't do very well. Personally, I don't want to fly with aviators that want to do the bare minimum at flying. (CBTs, queep, etc?---sure min/max perform that and get back to your real job!...but your actual job? Shouldn't you be really damn good at that?)

That is a weak deflection. The topic is government overreach and the violation of constitutional protections based on "emergency needs," not the wisdom or foolishness of being religious. We can see your opinion on the latter by your condescending posts, but you are using your opinion against religious groups to mask the issue of the government violating numerous civil rights in an inconsistent and (sometimes) non-medically relevant manner (banning socially-distanced activities or "gatherings" of people who already live together, etc).

If banning church services (even ones following health guidance) even makes it to a judge, we have a F'd up situation. The fact that numerous civil servants thought it was a good idea AND did not reconsider when first called out demonstrates that these concerns are not simply academic hyperbole.

A cluster all the way around... Send out a 30+ recipient email with opsec/national security concerns that makes it to the press? Yeah, you are going to get fired. Publicly denigrate the (popular) CO you just fired to his (supportive) crew and the audio makes it to the press? Yeah, you are going to get fired.

It is preferred, but not required. It is required for TPS. Probably a lot of old data floating around that is assumed to be current. "You need 20/20 vision to be a pilot." Maybe true in WWII, but not now!

Crossflowing RPA operators would still get you wingmen/co-pilots, just ones with far better air sense (and closer to retirement). I suppose you could upgrade them faster, but it's not as good a fix as simply retaining your pilots who are already experienced.

Not sure how much that will happen, but I'm thinking they'll go back to civil war with the Taliban controlling most of the country. Not sure there is any other realistic outcome at a price we are willing to pay...just kind of sad that it will likely return to status quo ante after 20 years of effort/thousands of lives.

Under 5 years until Aug 2001 conditions...

I'll admit that I still like to give some jabs at RPA, fighter dudes, and missileers. That said, they all do important things in the end. You'll probably take out more bad guys than 90%+ of the manned community and/or provide life-saving intel to teams on the ground. If that isn't something to value, I don't know what is. Now, if your heart and soul is set on flying, you have some options. 1. Fly as a hobby. It costs money, but you get way more freedom. 2. Keep trying to cross-train. There are cool AF flying gigs, and some cross-flow does happen. 3. Get out and fly civilian, when you can. I'd try to keep a couple things in mind: A. What part flying is fulfilling to you? (physically flying or making a difference to others?) B. Does your job have to be THE thing that you get fulfillment from? (Probably not, but it is nice). C. A lot of times things work out better than you expect. (Certainly has vs what I wanted on my drop night.)