SOS/ACSC information

[KingGuy]

There are options other than Maxwell.

Say wha?

[pawnman]

Question for those competing for a coveted ACSC in-res slot: this sounds appealing to you? Not flying for a year and change so you and your family can live in shithole Montgomery for a year or so? That's really where you see yourself in your mid-30s? I don't get the appeal. I guess I'm missing something.

You are. A year with my family where I won't be deployed, TDY, or even in the tower until 1am. Don't get me wrong...I love my job, I have fun flying, and I've enjoyed my deployments. But an entire year where I see my wife and kid for breakfast, potentially lunch, and dinner, and I don't work weekends? Sign me up. I wouldn't want to instruct there, or PCS there for more than a year. ACSC does sound like a nice break from the current mad rush of deployment, ORE, ORI, Flag, then another deployment, and then you can go back to your job.

Or you could look to do one of the joint or coalition schools. NWC is in Rhode Island. AWC is in Pennsylvania. The NATO school is in Germany...a year in Germany, with my family, and a 9-5 job? Almost sounds like a vacation, doesn't it?

[Homestar]

Say wha?

Joint PME and international PME are options...if you're painted in pure gold.

[Learjetter]

Joint PME and international PME are options...if you're painted in pure gold "platinum".

FIFY

[SCRIMP]

I may have missed it, but what is the new SOS (8 week) class like? What should I expect? Looks like I am going to the January class.

[Striper_WSO]

I was in the last five week class in Sep/Oct. The staff was working on the new 8-week curriculum when we were there. Their pitch was that they were combining the "best" of ASBC to the new 8-week curriculum.

From what I gathered, there won't be a lot of changes. It sounded pretty much the same as what it is now, but stretched to 8-weeks. You can expect 6-7 hr days, a couple of papers, a presentation, and plenty of time to golf. There was RUMINT that they were adding a test and daily quizzes (the 5-week course had zero tests). In short, the 5-week class was one of the least challenging things I have done in the Air Force.

[nrodgsxr]

Anyone else in the Jan 9 class?

I'm going and bringing the family.

Anyone else notice that they don't have rooms in lodging for families with children due to renovations? I guess I'm forced to stay off base and pay out of pocket

[Toro]

I'm going and bringing the family.

Anyone else notice that they don't have rooms in lodging for families with children due to renovations? I guess I'm forced to stay off base and pay out of pocket

Nobody's forcing you to bring your family.

[Skitzo]

I think I'm never going to SOS, the fix to a back log is apparently not to send you. Hope the board understands next year.

[pawnman]

I'm going and bringing the family.

Anyone else notice that they don't have rooms in lodging for families with children due to renovations? I guess I'm forced to stay off base and pay out of pocket

Awesome that they lengthen the timeline, and remove the family rooms at the same time. Seems that they could have timed that a bit better.

[DC]

The family rooms needed renovations sooner than later. They were pretty run down. Hopefully they've been working on them during the down time to minimize the impact rather than starting them now, just as the school is starting back up.

[sigmanugary]

I will be there(SOS) next week as well...I will be bringing the essentials like my Xbox and T-Pain Microphone. On a side note, has anyone else done the "pre-work" yet? I had to do an English test (no shit). The test was checking my spellin' and grama abilities...I scored an 80, oh well.

[Champ Kind]

I had to do an English test (no shit). The test was checking my spellin' and grama abilities...I scored an 80, oh well.

Tested under what standard? Tongue and Quill? LOL. Just wow. Why don't they just cut to the chase and incorporate writing proper bullets and rating your flightmates that you haven't met yet into the pre-course work.

What a waste of a program. Seriously. Hopefully they don't cut into the drinking time and make it even more painful.

[pawnman]

I will be there(SOS) next week as well...I will be bringing the essentials like my Xbox and T-Pain Microphone. On a side note, has anyone else done the "pre-work" yet? I had to do an English test (no shit). The test was checking my spellin' and grama abilities...I scored an 80, oh well.

"Pre-work"...oh boy, hope I don't get sent home for not having that accomplished soon enough.

[FUSEPLUG]

Yeah, I'll get right on that... More "work for the sake of work."

[nrodgsxr]

Nobody's forcing you to bring your family.

I guess you don't like yours.

[Spartacus]

Just my 2 cents... SOS is completely worthless and one of the biggest dick dances I've ever seen where everyone O-6 or higher that is there was an SOS DG or SOS class president blah blah blah and they make sure that you know it. I've never wanted to throw up as much as I did at SOS. It opened my eyes to what the AF really is and the people who lead it. May God have mercy on your souls who are about to attend.

[Rokke]

Just my 2 cents... SOS is completely worthless and one of the biggest dick dances I've ever seen where everyone O-6 or higher that is there was an SOS DG or SOS class president blah blah blah and they make sure that you know it. I've never wanted to throw up as much as I did at SOS. It opened my eyes to what the AF really is and the people who lead it. May God have mercy on your souls who are about to attend.

Wow. You must have been there when I was. I did learn one useful thing. A guy in my flight said his professional/life goal was raising two good kids. That put a lot of things into perspective and guided my career from that point forward. Not coincidentally, SOS was the last PME I completed. Still made O-5. And I've got a couple of awesome kids (at least in my opinion).

[Toro]

I guess you don't like yours.

Ah yes, entirely logical conclusion.

Is the Air Force also "forcing" you to pay for their travel to Maxwell? Are they "forcing" you to pay for your family's meals while they're there?

For fucks sake, you're bringing your family on a TDY. Stop being a whiney little bitch and just get a place off base.

[Guest]

Just my 2 cents... SOS is completely worthless and one of the biggest dick dances I've ever seen where everyone O-6 or higher that is there was an SOS DG or SOS class president blah blah blah and they make sure that you know it.

Things haven't changed in 20 yrs.

My SOS Flt/CC was a chick. She wouldn't shut up about how she and her husband were both DGs. I soon realized that was something every person O-6 or below on that base liked to lead off with. She had been Fogelman's aide and her husband was an Eagle driver who was attending ACSC and SAASS. She was "in the know" that a gal in my flight was one of Skeletor's still secret hand picked initial cadre of first female fighter pilots. This "special" student had to take a couple mystery days off in the middle of the whole thing. Come to find out she was at the Pentagon talking to Skeletor since he was planing to do a big press announcement a couple days after graduation with all the gals on stage with him. None ofthe rest of us had a clue at the time.

So, as for the silly SOS DG program...

I was the only person in my flight qualified to be DG because no one else met the academic minimum requirement.

That posed a serious problem for the school house. How was it possible that one of the first future female fighter pilots who was about to be on stage with the CSAF was not going to be an SOS DG? What should they do?

Well, they went back and evaluated all the test questions she had missed to see if they should throw any of them out. No shit. They were worried about credibility because everyone in the flight knew she wasn't academically eligible to be DG so they told us they were going to evaluate all of the questions that everyone in the flight had missed.

Now, none of us knows why this is really happening because the "first female fighter pilot" announcment is still several weeks away and no one knows why our flight mate is able to have her missed questions challenged/reviewed other than the fact that everyone knows she wants to be an astronaut someday and hence she really wants to be the DG because that will help her chances. Whatever. It just seems like another fucked up SOS thing.

Then, a major brewhaha. The word got out that this was happening and every shoe clerk student in the school who wasn't academically eligible to be a DG threw a tantrum. They wanted their wrong answers evaluated, too.

So, what do you think happened?

They did it. They actually had everyone sit through a day of looking at every question that had been missed. We did it by flight. No questions got thrown out by the students in my flight and the Flt/CC and super girl were both crestfallen.

But wait, there's still hope! Maybe some of the questions she missed would get thrown out by other flights!

Wait, what?

And then, the bad news. A couple questions were thrown out (questions our flight said should stand) but not enough to get her over the hump.

Boo-fucking-hoo.

So, then I have my pre-graduation debrief. All they want to talk about is DG and how important it is going to be for my career.

Huh?

I tell the O-6, with my Flt/CC sitting there next to me (for some unknown reason) that I refuse to accept their DG.

They freak. They say I don't have a choice.

I remain poised.

I have two more interviews, the last with a GO and all with my Flt/CC sitting right next to me.

I reamin poised.

I stick to my story that I think SOS is bullshit and I intend to prove that it is not required to have a great career in the USAF. They stick with the line that I have no choice.

I say I know they can do whatever they want, I just don't want or accept SOS DG and they should give it to someone in another flight who met the criteria and could really use it to benefit their career.

I get threatened that they'll "be watching me" after I leave.

I ask if that is some kind of threat.

They say "'no, not exactly...but you're making a big mistake."

I scoff (although I admit did wonder a couple times if I was fucking up and then I snapped back to the reality that I was at SOS and wasn't going to let them put me into the Maxwell PME is everything hypnotic shoeclerk trance). I laugh the whole drive home to Pope.

Two weeks after I get back I see her on CNN standing on the stage next to Skeletor and everything falls into place. I howl with laughter. I still laugh to myself when I think of that bullshit.

Although I would not suggest anyone else fall on a sword as silly as this...things worked out for my career just fine. DG is clearly used as a discriminator (it was back then, too) but it is not required to have a great career or get promoted early or go to FWIC or whatever else you want to do. Performance still counts. Be good at what you do. Roll with the punches, follow the "real rules" and don't sweat the small stuff.

Lesson Learned: some things never change.

[nrodgsxr]

Ah yes, entirely logical conclusion.

Is the Air Force also "forcing" you to pay for their travel to Maxwell? Are they "forcing" you to pay for your family's meals while they're there?

For fucks sake, you're bringing your family on a TDY. Stop being a whiney little bitch and just get a place off base.

no need to get all butt-hurt it was just a joke.

if it was a deployment or a real TDY i would leave them at home but im not ditching them to play useless shoe games for 8 weeks to check a box

anyone else staying off base and know of decent extended stay places? the lodging office/student mgmt was useless and i havent been back to maxwell since ots

[Homestar]

SOS horror stories abound, and are true no doubt. The DGs in my flight were an F-15 pilot (good dude) and a TPS penguin (engineer type and great dudette). Our flight decided early on to not sweat the small stuff, do our best, and let come what may. We had BBQs, took a trip to a Braves game, and generally just had a good time. It was amazing to see the hard-charging flight of in-their-own-mind SOS DGs implode at the end of the 5 weeks, while our flight of easy-going, get-along types excelled. We didn't win all the competitions, and we got stuck with the "run 3 miles" activity on warrior day (because we were too lazy to figure out how to do something funner...like play flickerball...ha!).

It doesn't have to be doom. You may be saddled with douche bags in your flight, but you'll also have a chance to expand your network outside your MDS.

That said, when I went through it was 3 weeks of work/briefings crammed into 5 weeks of training. I mentally checked out after week 3. I can't imagine how more time in the program will make it better. It will be interesting to get post-mission debriefs from the guys going to the new program.

I'm just lucky I didn't have to fall on my sword and turn down a DG :)

[Kilgore Trout]

Back to the issue of "pre-work"... If it exists, how do they expect those of us who get told the night before or morning of "Hey, someone didn't show up to SOS. Go home, grab your bags, we'll have a jet waiting to take you to Maxwell in 2 hours" to get it done?

Will they turn you around and send you back home (fingers crossed)?

Edited January 1, 2012 by FlyingRazorback

[Spartacus]

Lesson Learned: some things never change.

Rainman,

That is a crazy story, but it shouldn't surprise me. Props to you for having a set of these:

This is Rainman's truck too btw.

One question for you Rainman... After seeing crap like that at SOS what made you stay in the AF? (I'm sure WIC helped but still.) What advice would you be willing to offer to those of us who saw crap like that at SOS and are tired of it all? Is it going to be worth it to stay in? I know that each one of us has to find out that answer for ourselves and it is a personal thing but looking back on it all is there any advice you could give us?

Edited January 1, 2012 by Spartacus

[daynightindicator]

I see a lot of dudes lately getting really spun up about SOS. Take it for what it is - a paid TDY, very "gentlemanly" 9AM-3PM days, built-in workout time, a chance to meet dudes from outside of your MDS and swap stories and ideas, and a nice break from your regular non-flying duties.

Yeah, a lot of it is dumb and it sucks not to fly for a couple months, but overall it was as enjoyable as you made it (and profitable if you drive), and you meet some decent people.

If you get hung up on the DG stuff you'll get frustrated and miserable. Just ignore the douchebags and drink. The only thing I would be concerned about with the added 3 weeks is the effect it would have had on my liver - 5 weeks was enough for me.