How do you feel about your airframe and mission?

[General Chang]

On 2/14/2023 at 6:49 PM, Internationalmesa said:

How is the C-130J lifestyle? I know they’re doing a ton out of ramstein and yakota. Anyone have a taken on it mission wise?

You’d be hard-pressed to find a member of the C-130J community who doesn’t like the mission.  

[VFR88]

Anyone have current updates for F-16, F-15c, or F-35 on the guard/reserve side? Thanks to all who give updates and feedback in this thread!

1.  Ops Tempo/Deployment

2.  Lifestyle/ Family Stability

3.  Community morale

4.  Advancements & Future of the airframe 

5.  Preferred squadrons/locations 

[Swizzle]

3 hours ago, VFR88 said:

Anyone have current updates for F-16, F-15c, or F-35 on the guard/reserve side? Thanks to all who give updates and feedback in this thread!

1.  Ops Tempo/Deployment

2.  Lifestyle/ Family Stability

3.  Community morale

4.  Advancements & Future of the airframe 

5.  Preferred squadrons/locations 

1. Recently Presidentially recalled to AD

2. Unstable

3. Unknown, They're figuring out their sh'niz

4. Unknown

5. Westerb European theater or Oktoberfest-staff-land

...I keed', who knows...its 5 o'clock somewhere 

[Anon1]

On 7/8/2023 at 4:08 PM, General Chang said:

You’d be hard-pressed to find a member of the C-130J community who doesn’t like the mission.  

Personally I dislike having landed in  the community. It is currently overmanned at the FP level resulting in flying 10-15 hrs/month.

They also managed the block 6 to block 8 transition extremely poorly. Way behind timeline in terms of tail conversion but most FPs are block 8 only out of the school house. It's been an issue that you could see coming over the past 1-1.5 years yet there have been no moves to make a reverse 8 to 6 transition course or dual-qual out of the school house. As a result you've got tons of co-pilots that can only fly half the planes on station. 

Top that off with planning 12 hrs to brief for 2 and fly a 2-3.0 tac flagpole line. If you get airborne. 

If you want to hack the mission, the herk isn't it. At least not any more.

As an FP I have flow 5 actual missions this year and spent less than 20 days on the road.

If you want to pretend to be to be tactical despite the reality of the modern fight then go for it. If you want to pretend to be an airland bubba and take 2 days and 12 hrs to fly someplace it takes a c-17 1 day and 6 hours to get after it.

Perhaps my timing for entry into this community was bad, but it's left me uninspired. If you want to actually fly your ass off, see the world, and do something other than drop training bundles or army dudes once in a blue moon then I can't recommend. 

 

[dream big]

5 hours ago, Anon1 said:

Personally I dislike having landed in  the community. It is currently overmanned at the FP level resulting in flying 10-15 hrs/month.

They also managed the block 6 to block 8 transition extremely poorly. Way behind timeline in terms of tail conversion but most FPs are block 8 only out of the school house. It's been an issue that you could see coming over the past 1-1.5 years yet there have been no moves to make a reverse 8 to 6 transition course or dual-qual out of the school house. As a result you've got tons of co-pilots that can only fly half the planes on station. 

Top that off with planning 12 hrs to brief for 2 and fly a 2-3.0 tac flagpole line. If you get airborne. 

If you want to hack the mission, the herk isn't it. At least not any more.

As an FP I have flow 5 actual missions this year and spent less than 20 days on the road.

If you want to pretend to be to be tactical despite the reality of the modern fight then go for it. If you want to pretend to be an airland bubba and take 2 days and 12 hrs to fly someplace it takes a c-17 1 day and 6 hours to get after it.

Perhaps my timing for entry into this community was bad, but it's left me uninspired. If you want to actually fly your ass off, see the world, and do something other than drop training bundles or army dudes once in a blue moon then I can't recommend. 

 

I know your frustration, overmanned FPs while trying to learn the mission and flying once in a blue moon is frustrating. Hang in there, everything in the Air Force ebbs and flows. I too was in an overmanned FP squadron flying 2.69 hours a month… then two years later I got 400+ hours a year.

However, your comments about “pretending to be tactical” are concerning. You must have shitty IP/FGO leadership if you do not understand the value of the herk in the next fight. PM me and I would be happy to discuss more on a different forum if you would like. 

 

 

[MCO]

12 hours ago, Anon1 said:

Personally I dislike having landed in  the community. It is currently overmanned at the FP level resulting in flying 10-15 hrs/month.

They also managed the block 6 to block 8 transition extremely poorly. Way behind timeline in terms of tail conversion but most FPs are block 8 only out of the school house. It's been an issue that you could see coming over the past 1-1.5 years yet there have been no moves to make a reverse 8 to 6 transition course or dual-qual out of the school house. As a result you've got tons of co-pilots that can only fly half the planes on station. 

Top that off with planning 12 hrs to brief for 2 and fly a 2-3.0 tac flagpole line. If you get airborne. 

If you want to hack the mission, the herk isn't it. At least not any more.

As an FP I have flow 5 actual missions this year and spent less than 20 days on the road.

If you want to pretend to be to be tactical despite the reality of the modern fight then go for it. If you want to pretend to be an airland bubba and take 2 days and 12 hrs to fly someplace it takes a c-17 1 day and 6 hours to get after it.

Perhaps my timing for entry into this community was bad, but it's left me uninspired. If you want to actually fly your ass off, see the world, and do something other than drop training bundles or army dudes once in a blue moon then I can't recommend. 

 

Sounds like a stateside squadron that isn’t connecting the tactical training piece to the fight for you. Still trying to figure out new normal post Afghanistan. 

[DirkDiggler]

12 hours ago, Anon1 said:

Personally I dislike having landed in  the community. It is currently overmanned at the FP level resulting in flying 10-15 hrs/month.

They also managed the block 6 to block 8 transition extremely poorly. Way behind timeline in terms of tail conversion but most FPs are block 8 only out of the school house. It's been an issue that you could see coming over the past 1-1.5 years yet there have been no moves to make a reverse 8 to 6 transition course or dual-qual out of the school house. As a result you've got tons of co-pilots that can only fly half the planes on station. 

Top that off with planning 12 hrs to brief for 2 and fly a 2-3.0 tac flagpole line. If you get airborne. 

If you want to hack the mission, the herk isn't it. At least not any more.

As an FP I have flow 5 actual missions this year and spent less than 20 days on the road.

If you want to pretend to be to be tactical despite the reality of the modern fight then go for it. If you want to pretend to be an airland bubba and take 2 days and 12 hrs to fly someplace it takes a c-17 1 day and 6 hours to get after it.

Perhaps my timing for entry into this community was bad, but it's left me uninspired. If you want to actually fly your ass off, see the world, and do something other than drop training bundles or army dudes once in a blue moon then I can't recommend. 

 

If you’re truly not happy in AMC and can’t find another venue inside your community for job satisfaction then come on over to MC-Js, if you’re looking for more tactical flying we definitely have it.

[BeefBears]

1 minute ago, DirkDiggler said:

If you’re truly not happy in AMC and can’t find another venue inside your community for job satisfaction then come on over to MC-Js, if you’re looking for more tactical flying we definitely have it.

For sure. I started out in slicks and got tired of training low levels and airdrops just to go downrange multiple times and only transport shit around.  I remember one crew bragging about doing a "real life EXERCISE air drop" in the red sea like it was some big deal. Yeah, we were training for the next fight, but it got tiresome hauling plastic dog shit to hong kong (sts) and never doing the mission we trained for.

Went AFSOC, and while the HQ leadership is a shit show right now, I deployed and did cool stuff on almost every sortie. It was a night and day difference.

[slc]

Guess I didn’t realize that block 8 v 6 requires a dual qual. What are the differences?

[yzl337]

16 hours ago, Anon1 said:

 

If you want to pretend to be to be tactical despite the reality of the modern fight then go for it. If you want to pretend to be an airland bubba and take 2 days and 12 hrs to fly someplace it takes a c-17 1 day and 6 hours to get after it.

Perhaps my timing for entry into this community was bad, but it's left me uninspired. If you want to actually fly your ass off, see the world, and do something other than drop training bundles or army dudes once in a blue moon then I can't recommend. 

 

This isn't new. When Dream On and I were baby FPs the story was the same. I cannot tell you how many senior folks told me, "### threat? We won't even take off if it is active." It is on you to develop yourself into someone who understands the bigger fight and how the 130 will be involved. From the AFSOC side of the house, I promise you it will be and AFSOC doesn't have the MCs to go it alone without the slicks. Be the FP who is in the vault, reading and prepping. Its not glamorous, hell, many days it won't be fun, but you'll start to set yourself apart and you may find yourself flying a bit more because you make yourself stand out as the dude who is trying to challenge themselves and those around them. Ask your ACs and IPs to incorporate more difficult threat scenarios, find your local patch and see if they can help, or at least point you in the right direction. If you are uninspired, then find or make your inspiration, if you are waiting for someone else to do it, you have a lifetime of disappointment ahead of you. 

[Danger41]

17 minutes ago, yzl337 said:

This isn't new. When Dream On and I were baby FPs the story was the same. I cannot tell you how many senior folks told me, "### threat? We won't even take off if it is active." It is on you to develop yourself into someone who understands the bigger fight and how the 130 will be involved. From the AFSOC side of the house, I promise you it will be and AFSOC doesn't have the MCs to go it alone without the slicks. Be the FP who is in the vault, reading and prepping. Its not glamorous, hell, many days it won't be fun, but you'll start to set yourself apart and you may find yourself flying a bit more because you make yourself stand out as the dude who is trying to challenge themselves and those around them. Ask your ACs and IPs to incorporate more difficult threat scenarios, find your local patch and see if they can help, or at least point you in the right direction. If you are uninspired, then find or make your inspiration, if you are waiting for someone else to do it, you have a lifetime of disappointment ahead of you. 

“Fighting spirit one must have. Even if a man lacks some other qualifications, he can often make up for it in fighting spirit.”

-Robin Olds

[Bigred]

16 hours ago, Anon1 said:

Personally I dislike having landed in  the community. It is currently overmanned at the FP level resulting in flying 10-15 hrs/month.

They also managed the block 6 to block 8 transition extremely poorly. Way behind timeline in terms of tail conversion but most FPs are block 8 only out of the school house. It's been an issue that you could see coming over the past 1-1.5 years yet there have been no moves to make a reverse 8 to 6 transition course or dual-qual out of the school house. As a result you've got tons of co-pilots that can only fly half the planes on station. 

Top that off with planning 12 hrs to brief for 2 and fly a 2-3.0 tac flagpole line. If you get airborne. 

If you want to hack the mission, the herk isn't it. At least not any more.

As an FP I have flow 5 actual missions this year and spent less than 20 days on the road.

If you want to pretend to be to be tactical despite the reality of the modern fight then go for it. If you want to pretend to be an airland bubba and take 2 days and 12 hrs to fly someplace it takes a c-17 1 day and 6 hours to get after it.

Perhaps my timing for entry into this community was bad, but it's left me uninspired. If you want to actually fly your ass off, see the world, and do something other than drop training bundles or army dudes once in a blue moon then I can't recommend. 

 

U-2s are hiring, fyi. 

[Biff_T]

On 7/16/2023 at 3:47 AM, Anon1 said:

If you want to pretend to be to be tactical despite the reality of the modern fight then go for it. 

Treat every sortie like it's real.  When you fly that operational mission, you dont wanna be second guessing yourself and your abilities to max perform the aircraft if needed.   Stay in the military long enough, you'll get a shot to prove yourself on a real mission.   It will most likely happen when you least expect it.   Always be ready.  Your crew/wingmen will be counting on you.  

Edited July 17, 2023 by Biff_T
One day i will learn how to proofread before I post

[Anon1]

18 hours ago, slc said:

Guess I didn’t realize that block 8 v 6 requires a dual qual. What are the differences?

Primarily software. A few small hardware changes. The transition course from 6 to 8 is 2 weeks. 

Nobody ever considered the need for a reverese snd it's screwing the FP community hard. Those dual qual'ed are flying their ass off while those that are block 8 only are flying 1 tac line a week and averaging 10-15 hours/month. I know one in our sq who got to 0 on their 30 day without taking leave. During their 6 month initial seasoning.

In a year or so you'll have block 8 only pilots who can't PCS to some of the AD herk units because they don't have any block 8 tails.

To all the others, without revealing too much this isn't my first rodeo. I know what a well functioning community/squadron looks like and this sadly isn't it. FP development out of the jet is lacking and in the jet is hit or miss. I'd say FGO leadership is largely absent (ROAD) and the below is the stark reality of the current Herk mission:

19 hours ago, BeefBears said:

I remember one crew bragging about doing a "real life EXERCISE air drop" in the red sea like it was some big deal.

The cgo patches are trying but you can only bandaid so much.

Personally I'm burnt out from busting my ass on the ground and bending over backwards to get a hint stick time. And at the end of the day job satisfaction is nil vs. my previous. Having been on another side of the AF, I can't rec the herk to dudes currently. It's decently fun flying and it's got another year or two to grow on me, but otherwise I'll be headed back to my bros with lessons learned or onto another community that feels it has purpose.

[MCO]

1 hour ago, Anon1 said:

Primarily software. A few small hardware changes. The transition course from 6 to 8 is 2 weeks. 

Nobody ever considered the need for a reverese snd it's screwing the FP community hard. Those dual qual'ed are flying their ass off while those that are block 8 only are flying 1 tac line a week and averaging 10-15 hours/month. I know one in our sq who got to 0 on their 30 day without taking leave. During their 6 month initial seasoning.

In a year or so you'll have block 8 only pilots who can't PCS to some of the AD herk units because they don't have any block 8 tails.

To all the others, without revealing too much this isn't my first rodeo. I know what a well functioning community/squadron looks like and this sadly isn't it. FP development out of the jet is lacking and in the jet is hit or miss. I'd say FGO leadership is largely absent (ROAD) and the below is the stark reality of the current Herk mission:

The cgo patches are trying but you can only bandaid so much.

Personally I'm burnt out from busting my ass on the ground and bending over backwards to get a hint stick time. And at the end of the day job satisfaction is nil vs. my previous. Having been on another side of the AF, I can't rec the herk to dudes currently. It's decently fun flying and it's got another year or two to grow on me, but otherwise I'll be headed back to my bros with lessons learned or onto another community that feels it has purpose.

Damn dude. Shitty timing and you even laid out the issues with the timing. Transitions end. Shit will still need to get moved to the front of the fight. Also, turns out we also train to worst case peer in peer but if we get into another less hot conflict guess who is going to be bearing the brunt of the intra theater airlift again?

Every deployment is different. There are squadrons that deployed and did 100+ airdrops on 1 deployment and literally the next group out did 0 on their 6 month deployment. They don’t make requirements based on what’s fun but what’s needed. Some of the stuff we’ve done in Africa is pretty cool, but it’s always changing from current world politics. No 2 deployments are the same.

There is a ton of stuff in the AF to get mad about and this is obviously an extra one, but you sound like you checked out as a 6 month FP.

[Danger41]

On 7/15/2023 at 1:48 PM, VFR88 said:

Anyone have current updates for F-16, F-15c, or F-35 on the guard/reserve side? Thanks to all who give updates and feedback in this thread!

1.  Ops Tempo/Deployment

2.  Lifestyle/ Family Stability

3.  Community morale

4.  Advancements & Future of the airframe 

5.  Preferred squadrons/locations 

The F-15C is on the way out and being replaced by either the F-35 or the F-15EX. For now, Portland, New Orleans, and Fresno will get F-15EX. Barnes, Jacksonville, and Klamath Falls will get F-35. As a result of Klamath, I'm assuming that Seymour Johnson will pick up the EX training mission but that's purely a guess. I don't know if Klamath will be continuing as a B Course but I assume it will (similar to San Antonio) to help absorb training capacity.

[The46IsntThatBad]

Unsatisfied herk drivers,

Consider coming over to the KC-46. The flying is unique, as we do a lot of shit that tankers normally don't do that would scratch your tactical itch. Co-altitude formation, NVGs in LZs, and receiver AR are a hell of a lot of fun. We're also at 40% manning right now, and we're continuing to take on more and more operational missions. The getting is good. We fly a lot. 

Plus, if your goal is to go to the airlines, an IP in a 767 is going to look damn good. We have yet to have a guy that's separated that hasn't gotten hired on by a major airline. 

Also we have ground cooling, a full lavatory, and a functioning fridge/oven for you 135 bubbas.  

You'll find you have a lot in common with your 46 bros, in that we ALL hate the C-17. We've recently absorbed a lot of big ISR guys (E-3s, E-8s) that are very happy with the move.  

[LookieRookie]

On 7/17/2023 at 5:06 PM, Danger41 said:

The F-15C is on the way out and being replaced by either the F-35 or the F-15EX. For now, Portland, New Orleans, and Fresno will get F-15EX. Barnes, Jacksonville, and Klamath Falls will get F-35. As a result of Klamath, I'm assuming that Seymour Johnson will pick up the EX training mission but that's purely a guess. I don't know if Klamath will be continuing as a B Course but I assume it will (similar to San Antonio) to help absorb training capacity.

Seymour will be training EX as part of E.

 

Kingsley will be an F-35 FTU along with Ebbing

Edited July 23, 2023 by LookieRookie

[Internationalmesa]

Anyone have experience going from AMC to ACC heavies (RC, EC, etc)?

[SurelySerious]

Anyone have experience going from AMC to ACC heavies (RC, EC, etc)?

There’s an extensive mental health evaluation.

[Rifleman96]

5 hours ago, Internationalmesa said:

Anyone have experience going from AMC to ACC heavies (RC, EC, etc)?

Yeah, don’t do it.  11R’s have been beat up pretty good the past few years; no bonus, smaller bonus, harder to make O-5.  It’s going to remain overmanned while they’re sunsetting airframes, good riddance JSTARS.  I would have given anything to get back to the Herc.

[dream big]

12 hours ago, Internationalmesa said:

Anyone have experience going from AMC to ACC heavies (RC, EC, etc)?

I haven’t met a single ACC heavy pilot who doesn’t hate their job. It’s usually those dudes fighting to get to AMC. Let’s see, in pretty much every ACC heavy platform you as a pilot are not in charge of the mission (ref tinker thread), you are literally the red headed stepchild of ACC, and as mentioned there is no reward outside of the cockpit. 
 

If I was king for a day I would put most ISR platforms (to include E-3s, E-8s) in their own MAJCOM. AFSOC would still keep some MQ-9s, GCCs would still get allocated their sorties, but you have a whole world dedicated to airborne ISR and C2.

[SurelySerious]

 
If I was king for a day I would put most ISR platforms (to include E-3s, E-8s) in their own MAJCOM. AFSOC would still keep some MQ-9s, GCCs would still get allocated their sorties, but you have a whole world dedicated to airborne ISR and C2.

Need to earn my opr bullet: then we’ll transfer it to the Space Force so it can be their red headed stepchild.

[jice]

20 hours ago, dream big said:

I haven’t met a single ACC heavy pilot who doesn’t hate their job. It’s usually those dudes fighting to get to AMC. Let’s see, in pretty much every ACC heavy platform you as a pilot are not in charge of the mission (ref tinker thread), you are literally the red headed stepchild of ACC, and as mentioned there is no reward outside of the cockpit. 
 

If I was king for a day I would put most ISR platforms (to include E-3s, E-8s) in their own MAJCOM. AFSOC would still keep some MQ-9s, GCCs would still get allocated their sorties, but you have a whole world dedicated to airborne ISR and C2.

Back to the future. That was called AFSS, then AIA, then AFISRA… then ACC consumed it and it became a NAF which became half of another NAF... and here we are.

[SurelySerious]

And no one’s sure what a NAF does.