10 year commitment.

[tunes]

It's not a breach of contract. UPT grads have the ability to SIE rather than take the assignment and the commitment. Not sure if anyone has actually done that though.

I will agree that sending someone to full-up UPT and then to a UAV for their entire commitment makes absolutely zero sense financially. It's the equivalent of sending someone to med school only to be a pharmacist. Reason number one billion why the AF, and our country, is ######ed.

girl did that in columbus about a year ago... -38s to AWACS and she SIE'd the day after assignment night at CBM

[tac airlifter]

Your ADSC is what you owe the Air Force for AFTER they send you to pilot training--they can do whatever they want with you after the training is complete.

while not technically a legal breach of contract, it is a breach of the spirit of the contract and I think that is what he was saying. And he is right, dudes who got sent to UAVs through the whims of the air force felt screwed. I've talked with a lot of TAMI21 guys and they feel jilted that no matter how good they were, because of their hours in their year group they were left with no choice. Guys we non-vol'd from my last squadron were good guys and good in the plane; what the AF did was totally within their right, but how is it good policy to leave a large portion of your force feeling unjustly screwed?

[BFM this]

how is it good policy to leave a large portion of your force feeling unjustly screwed?

10 years from now I imagine that this era will be referred to as BT2 (Bathtub 2).

[SocialD]

No I got my UAV while I was in c-17 IP upgrade. And no im not a bottom feeder. I was first to upgrade to AC & IP out of my peer group. I just had a CC who didn't really "know" me b/c I was sent to the wing right before his change of command followed by FSO and then a ground deployment away from my squadron right after. I've just been a flying whore my first 3 years on station and never said no to the schedulers. Well guess who's the boss going to send to a uav? Not the execs, dudes who plan dining-outs/golf tournaments and booster club prez. He's going to send the guy who's not strat'd b/c he's been TDY the last 3 years. Funny thing is I volunteered for an ops assignment 6 months prior then later to go to altus. However at that time AFPC would not let me go OPS yet because I didn't have enough time on station and then later altus all of the sudden became a good deal and was hard to get... ridiculous

Well I think I got my point across. I'm bitter. But life's not fair.. it is what it is. The air force doesn't owe me anything and I don't owe the airforce anything after my ADSC.

until then embrace the suck!

WOW...Copy, break out the kneepads to get the good assignment!

Sounds like a bro that wanted Helos so bad he could taste it. He was a great bro, helped everyone, was an all around great dude. He busts his a$$ and finishes #1 in T-6's, only to be forced into 38's. WTF, I guess hard work DOESN'T always pay off. Of course he's the dude that dusts himself off and kicks a$$ in 38's, but still kinda a crappy deal when the helo spot goes to a guy that finished well below him...

[busdriver]

Sounds like a bro that wanted Helos so bad he could taste it.

I'm actually surprised this sort of shit still happens with regard to helos. I thought we had made inroads and dudes were no longer "counseled" when they wanted helos.

[El Sloppo]

Happened to this guy about a year ago. OG/CC himself (Eagle driver) felt it necessary to have a one-on-one to figure out why I wanted to fly helos. He wasn't a dick about it, but I think its ridiculous nonetheless.

[MechGov]

I'm actually surprised this sort of shit still happens with regard to helos. I thought we had made inroads and dudes were no longer "counseled" when they wanted helos.

Our #1 dude in T-6's (VN) was counseled by the flt/cc as to why he wanted helos. Actually, he was wondering why very few of us wanted T-38s. This was when it seemed like nobody was dropping fighters and UAVs were usually 2 to a drop.

Later in toners, somebody a couple classes ahead of us SIE'd when he dropped UAVs. Caused a lot of drama...leadership wanted him to stay in. I think he separated anyway, but not without a lot of stink eye from his bros, especially the guy who had just hooked his 89 ride.

I think 10 years in UAVs is a shitty way to go, but we all know that we're gambling with our careers on every ride in UPT. It's not like we didn't have 13 months to at least prepare for the possibility.

[Hacker]

a large portion of your force feeling unjustly screwed?

I think the core issue here is a widespread problem of expectation (and entitlement) management on the part of the rank-and-file. In other words, people feel like they're entitled to a lot more than Big Blue ever 'promised' or even implied.

It's been nearly 20 years since the era of banked pilots, RIFd officers, etc, from the early 90s drawdown period. We should ALL be well aware that such measures can be taken, and that we will have virtually no recourse if it happens. Wanna talk about getting shafted? Hundreds of those guys got fucked Long Dong Silver-style and for most of them it came out of nowhere. We don't have that luxury of ignorance and can't be the wide-eyed doe when the shot seemingly comes out of nowhere, because we SHOULD all know what the possibilities are.

I agree that it would suck to get some of the bad deals I've read about here, heard about at the bar, and seen around the AF. But, let's face it -- there are LOTS of people who get 'screwed' all the time. If it hasn't happened to you at some point in your career, chances are it will. If you make it all the way to retirement and haven't gotten the shaft by Big Blue at some point, consider yourself lucky because you're in the vast minority.

Bottom line, bros, getting screwed by Blue is simply part of the job description. Embrace it, or you'll end up living a pretty unhappy couple of years in the service.

Edited November 13, 2010 by Hacker