BolterKing

Kinetic WASN'T difficult when supporting the guys on the ground was priority one, then in 2007 things changed. In 2008-9 it was difficult, in 2011 the turn around was averaging 30-60 minutes. On more than one occasion I watched guys on the ground suffer because chariot denied requests for fire. Retired guys can do what they want, that's the beauty of being retired. That gear handle pays a buttload now and keeps me home with the family 15 days a month... but haters gonna hate.

You are a raging tool. If you want a website keeping up with the "modern" Air Force and armed forces, scurry on over to Pinterest. "Modern" in this sense is not a good thing. Those prior generations you denigrate are the same ones that stomped the guts out of the Axis, won the Cold War, plowed through Iraq in 100 days, etc. Today I need a quorum of lawyers to commune for 60 minutes before going kinetic on a TIC, but only after I've done 900 suicide awareness briefs, signed a page 13 promising not to beat my wife, and given up all vices. Mission succes and support of the troops be damned, being (and more importantly looking) PC has become priority number one, and a great cost. Nice work.

In two sentences you contradict yourself. So do you go to Hooters for the high quality food, or to drink beer and stare at hot chicks in tight shirts? Congrats to the dude, but he made a public spectacle of getting engaged to his hot, scantily clad, mildly-public figure g/f. Pretty sure this forum is chock full of pictures of chicks and guys "objectifying women". Is it only off limits this time because you have a big brother complex or because he's a fellow Airman? Where is your protest in the 80+ page NSFW thread? I have no dog in this hunt, but there is a shit load of hipocracy flowing in this thread, and a lot of guys with hurt feelings for her.... when I'd be willing to bet she's got thicker skin than any of you and could probably give a damn less about what a bunch of internet forum puds think about her.

Glad to see all OK, good group of dudes.

Count me in.

The real tragedy here is another guy getting married. If he played his cards right he could've been banging 24 year olds for the next 20 years.

Brass, lead, gold and shelf stable calories. What what are we talking about?

She sucks, but does she suck as much as current elected "leadership?"

Link link for the love of God LINK!

It's also a very tough community to advance in. If you have career aspirations, there are no FITREP points for being a good dude. If you're not willing to climb over your friends, you're pretty much done before you start.

You asking this question, answers it. /sarcasm

See you could've stopped right there. Most SWOs are back stabbers, and most P-3 pilots/NFOs are just SWOs with wings. That said, I know some epic dudes from the P-3 community, and very few of them stayed past O-3, on active duty anyway. That definitely is a very different community from the rest of Naval Aviation.

Shack.

Communities of said back stabbers?

Your experience? Which is what exactly? Not even close to accurate.

This will never work, you may hurt someone's feelings.

Exactly, and what his chain of command did at best was derelict, at worst criminal. The dude had orders from a doc to not fly with the charcoal filter which started this whole thing. Would you have confidence in you COC under those circumstances? If they can't back you up for something this small, when your health is in question, what are they going to do down range? The lawyers make it hard enough to do the job, zero top cover from an image worried front office would make it impossible.

One guy died, countless others had waivering faith in the OBOGS system (the Hornet/Superhornet OBOGS has a HAZREP sheet a mile long, and it doesn't operate at 60k+). The USAF was keeping quiet and even blamed the AK crash on the pilot. These guys were whistle blowers. While the heavies were playing politics with a jet they felt might kill them, this was their only way to bring it to light. Normally I would agree, never talk to the media... But these two were willing to put their crank on the chopping block for the betterment of others. Says a lot more about the USAF than the judgement of these two. This isn't done yet, and I have a feeling the IG is going to be destroying some careers, and not of the guys on 60 minutes.

You can bang out an ATP in a weekend. If you think you want to fly after you get out, shell out the cash and get it done now. Do not waste your money on a 737 type.

Only seen it once. Douche rocket was universally shunned by his peers but was such a suck up leadership looked out for him. He's progressing last I heard, but he's very lonely doing it.

Another pitfall of the system is that the rating officer only has so many of each category to give out. So say in a group of 8 officers, only one can get an EP, two or three will get an MP and the rest P (early promote, must promote, promotable). Where this becomes a total fallacy is if the rating officer knows a guy is getting out. He'll give the "quitter" a P so as not to "waste" an EP. Thus you get guys getting top tier ratings, that otherwise wouldn't have. Then the quitter leaves having a stellar track record then showing his last FITREP as all of a sudden becoming a shitbag. That follows him/her into a reserve career. It's so common that promotion boards will try and overlook it, but can be a deal breaker for promotion or selection if the board needs a tie breaker. I recently saw an entire group of great dudes all get P's on their way out, and the second to last performer scores an EP.

Oh look, the Navy fired another senior officer. This is my shocked face. The best anyone can do anymore is break even. It turns great leaders into terrified yes men, and the ones that do really lead with a warrior mind set usually leave the Navy if they survive their command tour (we don't promote bold warriors). There are exceptions to the rule, but they wonder why junior officers are bailing left and right and why morale is in the toilet.

The pilots is a good friend, was glad to have him back with his wife and girls. There were a lot of mistakes made, and too many senior leaders sticking their fingers in the pie. Even without a mx det in Khar, most guys would have taken a divert. The Admiral is a great guy, and he didn't want a blue water situation either when he called for them to divert (against the air wing wanting them back at the boat). Admiral is a great pilot too. Admittedly the crew could have put their foot down and just taken a course of action, but as we all know that can be easier said than done. It's even harder in a deployed carrier environment where it may be days or weeks to fetch a hurt bird/crew. The FADEC on Superhornet engines is a double edge sword. It's great when it works, but if you need to limp and trash an engine to save the plane... It won't let you. This emergency was also compounded by a very subtle, and until now almost completely unknown quirk of the Superhornet.... When the probe is out fuel will only gravity feed from the wings once the LO FUEL warning trips open all valves. Until then you have trapped gas in the wings. Even once it starts to gravity feed, it's at too slow a rate or keep the fires lit. Almost no one knew this, and only a few sentences buried in NATOPS make mention of it. Classic Swiss cheese event, compounded by leadership micromanagement and failures, in a complicated environment. I'm just glad they got out. 100% accurate. Seen it happen with FAC(A) crews in the flight.

I'm out meow, but from talking to buds the Bureau is doing some pretty underhanded shady shit to keep guys in longer. Apparently now going back to the RAG (RTU) to get current counts as a major training event and warrants a 2 year commitment. Getting rehacked, to do your ing job, so that you can deploy.... Requires another two years. And the Navy wonders why guys are running for the exits. Apparently if you refuse that commitment, no more flying for you.... And enjoy the shittiest desk job in we can find for you. Leadership at its finest. Punishing the "quitters" of a volunteer force.