Track Selects and Assignment Drops

[Guest AFlyer55]

Stats are generalities only and there are always exceptions of course. I am the first to advocate setting a goal for yourself and going after it. Hell, that is exactly what I have done over the course of UPT. You HAVE to be able to see yourself where you want to be in a year or 5 or 10. That's usually the only way to get anywhere in life. What a lot of people fail to recognize, and ski&fly fast alluded to it, is that so much of your career will be dependent as much, or more, on luck and timing than ability and attitude. I am simply warning against being the guy who thought nothing but fighters for 4 years of ROTC, a year of casual, and six months until track select, only to be told that his dreams will not come true and he's going to be flying something else. That guy, I've seen too often (on assignment night as well), becomes angry, withdrawn, and sometimes more cocky than is due, and it ends up that he digs himself a bigger hole and ends up with a worse assignment than he could have had with a good, "i've done, and will continue to do, my best" attitude. Hang onto your goals. I'm simply trying to shed some light on the reality that Air Force pilots are moving more and more toward mobility and UAVs, with the fighter force continuing to shrink.

[brabus]

I am simply warning against being the guy who thought nothing but fighters for 4 years of ROTC, a year of casual, and six months until track select, only to be told that his dreams will not come true and he's going to be flying something else.

What's wrong with that? You should have that attitude towards anything you really want to do. Now, I completely agree that being the guy who has a shitty attitude because he doesn't get #1 is a BAD idea and usually does land him a worse assignment in the end (due to said shitty attitude). However, it's good to focus on a goal, and if you don't get 38s, then realize it's not the end of the world and move on. But to sit here and say the attitude should be: "Man I really want to fly fighters, but I probably won't make it based on statistics...oh well, lets look at option 2"...even before starting UPT. That's just stupid.

[Guest AFlyer55]

What's wrong with that? You should have that attitude towards anything you really want to do. Now, I completely agree that being the guy who has a shitty attitude because he doesn't get #1 is a BAD idea and usually does land him a worse assignment in the end (due to said shitty attitude). However, it's good to focus on a goal, and if you don't get 38s, then realize it's not the end of the world and move on. But to sit here and say the attitude should be: "Man I really want to fly fighters, but I probably won't make it based on statistics...oh well, lets look at option 2"...even before starting UPT. That's just stupid.

Agreed. I'm not being clear. My point is don't be "that guy" should you not get what you want because it will bite you in the end. Part of not being "that guy" is being open, not consigned, to options 2-4 from the beginning. Giving up before you start because of the stats is definitely NOT what I'm pushing for at all. My apologies.

[Guest slappy]

Don't mean to poop on people's parades but if you haven't heard UAV's are officially going to be dropped to some poor unsuspecting studs from here on out at every assignment (this is AF wide). They're saying there will be two per class maybe three for the first drop which means that with the U-28's, no F-16 drops till 2010 and probably no more F-15C drops ever, getting a fighter even here at ENJJPT is going to be tough to say the least. I don't know what that does to those percentages you guys were trying to work out but it's definitely screwed up.

[brabus]

Agreed. I'm not being clear. My point is don't be "that guy" should you not get what you want because it will bite you in the end. Part of not being "that guy" is being open, not consigned, to options 2-4 from the beginning. Giving up before you start because of the stats is definitely NOT what I'm pushing for at all. My apologies.

Got it...I guess I just read your original post wrong. I definitely agree with the above.

[usaf36031]

Don't mean to poop on people's parades but if you haven't heard UAV's are officially going to be dropped to some poor unsuspecting studs from here on out at every assignment (this is AF wide).

Poor? probably. Unsuspecting? Definitely not.

This has been a long time coming, and it's definitely the talk of the town here at XL. I anticipate a crowded drop night for 09-01.

Hold on tight, them bitches is a comin'.

[Jenkspaz]

Poor? probably. Unsuspecting? Definitely not.

This has been a long time coming, and it's definitely the talk of the town here at XL. I anticipate a crowded drop night for 09-01.

Hold on tight, them bitches is a comin'.

I'll probably invest in some protective headgear.

[ClearedHot]

Guys bitch about assignments today so I thought I would post the drop from our class.

Like some of the other comments, some in the top of our class did not want fighters...not that it mattered, our class did not have any available for active duty guys.

1. B-1 Ellysworth

2. KC-10 Seymour Johnson

3. F-16 (Guard - Duluth)

4. C-5 Dover

5. C-130 Little Rock

6. F-15C (Guard - New Orleans)

7. C-130 Dyess

8. KC-135 Grand Forks

9. Banked Transport

10. F-15C (Guard - Klamath Falls)

11. Banked Transport

12. Banked Transport

13. Banked Transport

14. Banked Tanker

15. C-141 (Guard DC)

16. Banked Tanker

17. Banked Transport

18. Banked Transport

19. Banked Transport

20. Banked Transport

21. Banked Bomber

22. Banked Transport

23. Banked Transport

[sky_king]

"Banked"???

[Texaco]

"Banked"???

Pilot grads who had to do a non-flying job for a few years before they take a flying assignment.

[Hacker]

What is the cause of this? I have never seen it before, and didn't know it was possible.

He's not talking about that happening today -- the bankings happened in the early 1990s, and that's the drop that he posted. Notice the C-141 and the KC-10 to Seymour as indications that's not exactly a recent UPT drop.

[ClearedHot]

What is the cause of this? I have never seen it before, and didn't know it was possible.

It was VERY ugly...no fighters period dot...half the active duty guys went to desk jobs for three years...and it showed when retention options came around.

Of the original active duty folks, only four stayed past their original commitment, one of those was a Captain in UPT, his commitment took him to 14.

[HiFlyer]

That's a terrible drop, and a reflection of terrible force management. I'd hope the AF learned its lesson from the bank years, but I doubt it. The big difference between that period and now is that at least the banked guys got a flying gig down the road... that's not going to happen for the UPT-to-UAV crowd.

Don't blame the AF...look across the river. Your ever so short-sighted representatives in Congress were the problem. For the AF, it was either train and bank or shut down about 70% of their UPT capability and not be able to train pilots in a couple of years when they could clearly see the bulge disappearing. They chose to adopt the "banked pilot" system so they could keep the system functional. It lasted about three or four years, then the system ran short of pilots and everybody went back into flying jobs (or got out). This kind of thing has happened several times over the last forty years as Congress tries to solve short term budget and political problems by sacrificing long term stability.