Bergman

You would be setting yourself up for some sort of backlash if you turn it down, whether it be a shitty follow-on assignment, 180/365 tour, etc. What if SOS turned out to be one of the best TDYs ever? Consider that. I had a similar attitude to yours (I was awaiting UPT dates when my SOS in-residence slot became available) and went anyway. We finished almost dead last but had a hell of a lot of fun. A lot of that was luck of the draw...good people in my flight and a good instructor. Your results may vary.

I agree with you. The Air Force should use the masters/AAD programs to provide additional capability. They would be better served by sending bright young officers to an in-residence masters program at an accredited univeristy for 1-2 years than some BS PME at Maxwell (and then calling it a "masters"). The sad fact is that the AF doesn't do it that way. That doesn't make it right, that just makes it the way it is. Everyone knows the game, so just fucking play it! Check the damned box and move on. Sometimes you can't fight city hall. Huh? You start out by saying that my timeline isn't achievable, then finish by saying that you followed my timeline exactly. WTF? I said, "...by the time you've been a Captain for a year". You're pinning on Captain and finishing it, right? Check. FWIW I had been a Captain for 14 months when I finished mine. So yeah, maybe I am just trying to pay it forward and help the new guys out on here by learning from my mistakes. The problem is that if you don't play the game and check the box now, you'll never promote high enough to help make these changes. Now THAT is a defeatist attitude.

^^ That is the gospel truth. When did BFMing the rules stop being a sport? Be polite, take the high road, and beat them at their own game. Then laugh about it with your buddies later. IMHO the "No Morale" patches are a great start. I know it's difficult to do this, but honestly just brush it off. Why get wrapped around the axle because someone told you to take your sunglasses off your head? Just laugh and say, "Thanks, my mistake" and then smile to yourself the whole rest of the day because that ass clown is stuck at the base while you get to go fly a $69M jet, doing something that is actually important, and that you likely worked your whole life to be allowed/trained to do! Don't lose the bigger picture here. True. But do you think guys will have more time to deal with this as more senior Capt/Maj types? No! That is when your time should be spent running the Stan/Eval or Training shop, or out there training the FNGs, or working on 3-1 or 11-2XX rewrites to make them better. Back when dinosaurs roamed the USAF, people actually had to PAY for their own masters! 100% TA is a godsend. Am I advocating that you start a masters program 2 months after finishing MQT? No. But there is no excuse for not having it done as a Lt, or certainly by the time you've been a Captain for a year. And yes I know it is a BS requirement, but sometimes you have to pay to play. You want to promote, make $125k a year as a Lt Col, and fly shiny jets? Check the damned box and press on. Whose fault is that?? A little passive resistance (i.e. show up drunk but not obnoxious) might be appropriate. If it's an adults-only party, and you have some sort of anonymous gift exchange...spend a hunderd bucks at the local Adult Emporium and get some gifts that are memorable. Don't tell anyone what you bought thus dodging any backlash. I could go on for pages, but hopefully you get the point. There are ways to make things fun without approval from the CC or his wife. THIS is the key! It is much easier to bitch and moan for your whole career than it is to show some intestinal fortitude when you get the chance. Be respectful, be persistent, and do what you know is right when you get the chance.

If we have enough PA folks to put out this fluff (does that make them fluffers?) then perhaps we have too many PA folks. I personally prefer stories about killing the enemy and getting the mission done.

Saw this driving through the front gate this morning, along with a gayed up Suburban and at least one semi. YGBSM!!!

Hilarious. And true. Well played, sir.

So what was the callsign??? Knowing the Navy, it is probably hilarious. In a "Funny ha ha" sort of way, of course. As opposed to "Funny queer" which is soon to be against DoD policy.

Apparently I don't know what the hell I am talking about, or at least I'm only about 4 years behind this policy. Thanks to FOU for correcting me.

Good news for those guys at least. Basically proves that this is nothing more than a thinly veiled RIF. Big Blue on this one. Another fiasco in the making. Fearless Prediction: NLT Dec 2013 the USAF will be offering incentives for rated officers to return to AD.

Wait...so no more black Tshirts, but all of the cold weather shit can still be black? WTFO?? This makes no sense at all. Seriously...WTF were they thinking? WHY SWITCH THE T-SHIRT COLOR?? It just doesn't make any sense. I don't get it. Really. WTF? Can airmen no longer afford black T-Shirts? What was the logic behind this change....other than change for change's sake? While I'm on this rant...and I am sure this has already been covered...but why change the boots?? I can understand the economy of scale in going to the same boot for everyone. Buuuuttttt....no, they couldn't get it right. We still can't wear the green boots with the tan flight suits. So no savings there. WTF? Who is running the show at HQ?? Please stop the madness.

You got that right. Makes me feel old. Damn.

I still think Iron Maiden's looks better.

Michelob Ultra Rating: 5 (which is high praise for an AB product, coming from a Milwaukee area native!) Reason: It was in the cooler next to the neighborhood pool, which I was in. At 2pm on a weekday. For the third day in a row. God Bless the ANG!

Damn! I thought this was just a "close call" type scrape. Nope...they pretty much ran into the building. At any point during the incident did the French waive a white flag toward the building or try to surrender to it?

Dude, don't know what rock you've been hiding under but glad you're here. You saved me a shitload of time typing in a lot of the same comments. Shack to you, sir. Chuck, you know the bitch of it is that there aren't that many old dudes around any more - especially in the flyign squadrons! The really sad (or perhaps good?) part is that people come here to get sound career advice. Agree with everything you said in your post.

It is good to be a Delta Captain. Except when your warbird is on fire. Damn shame about the airplane. Grew up going to Oshkosh watching the warbirds. Hope my kids and eventually my grandkids still get a chance to see/hear them.

Depends on the day. No.

Exactly. "Take a short shower, otherwise the base will be out of water in 3 days" usually works well. Of course, there is the Deid...which is 20 miles away from a metro area of nearly a million people (or more), so it's pretty hard to take their water rationing seriously. In any case, much like the reflective belt and uniform police, violation of an AFI, rule, or policy does not give people justification to act like an asshole and/or be disrespectful. Especially to someone who outranks them.

FWIW, we routinely use flaps in the -135 with hogs and -130s. SHACK! I've found that bottom of the block at 190 KIAS seems to keep the hog guys happy. Indeed. That's some funny shit right there. They don't call them Gucci boys for nothing!

Says the guy who flew a jet with titanium armor, bulletproof glass, and the ability to shoot back. What are us tanker toads going to do...drop a frozen pizza on them?? Please don't lump all tanker guys into the same pile. There are some of us out there who have A/Rd well below 5000' AGL, at night, without any special equipment (or totally awesome "Black World" patches that you see at the 'Deid ) in order to maximize the A-10s time on task/target...because the guys on the ground needed it. "Oh, nothing Marge. Just a little incident involving THE BOOGEYMAN! None of this would have happened if you had been here to keep me from acting stupid!"

Bet he gets a second star. At a minimum.

....where a 1 star general has to tell POTUS to "MOOOVVVVE (:52)" in order to get his CAC permissions reset.

IIRC that actually was a requirement in the early days, along with wearing the parachutes.

Shack! On a side note, I had the opportunity to haul some bubbas from your former unit to an exercise last week. They said you, "made three people cry during the first week at his civilian job. Two of them were dudes". You brute! Hilarious.

SHACK. Back on topic, nice job by these guys. I hope I never have to fly an Airbus. The RAT stops working once the gear is down, leaving 5 minutes of battery power. WTF? Was that thing designed by my 5 year old? I'll stick with Boeings.