C-12's in Africa

[Guest Hueypilot812]

I mentioned the embassy gig to my commander not too long ago and he was concerned that it would cause me to get passed over for Lt Col. Honestly I am not that worried if I make O-5 or not, and if serving at an embassy doesn't display any responsibilities that would make me a good O-5, I don't know what would.

I have noticed that the info I get regarding the embassy jobs is spotty at best. We had a guy here at LRAFB volunteer for the C-12 job in Turkey...he obviously is not Turkish nor does he speak Turkish. My CC did say that if I wanted a shot at the job, I should perhaps learn a language, and I'm in the process of learning Spanish. Maybe having a DLAB score will assist me.

Now you said that all these jobs are rated 16F positions...which I've been able to find on AFPC. But that web site gave the impression that RAS officers were different from the AIRA positions...I'm guessing that's changing?

So here's a good question...I'm a C-130 IP, and a former C-21 IP...let's say I get accepted into the 16F program. Are my chances of flying anything good? Or does this mean I will likely serve as a RAS at the five-sided puzzle palace or a non-flying embassy job? I love the idea of doing an embassy gig...but honestly, I love flying too. Once I'm done with my time here at LRAFB, I will have about 6-7 years left before I can punch my 20-year ticket (I'm prior ARNG too, so that added 2 years to my AD AF time). That's about 2 tours...and it's my intention to fly commercially in my second life.

My fears are that if I get into the RAS/16F/embassy stuff, that I might land a C-12 slot, but I might also spend the last years of my career manning a desk. This isn't all THAT bad, but as for planning my next life, the airlines/corporate operators won't like seeing a guy who hasn't touched an airplane in a while. You say they have lots of quotas for pilots...and you also say they have to put them in jobs that allow them to accrue gates. Due to my prior flying service with the ARNG (UH-1s), I have enough gates currently to stay on staff without flying, and I would hate for AFPC to find that out.

Bottom line...I want to do some of these off-the-wall jobs, like serve at an embassy. BUT, I want to fly as well! Yes, I can stand to do a staff tour...but I need to end my AF career in the cockpit so I can transition to another flying career after. And from what I noticed, there are WAY more non-flying 16F jobs out there than there are flying positions. From what I gathered, there are only about 8-9 embassies that have a C-12 connected to it.

Can you clarify to us pilots whether a 16F job means we'll stay flying? Or does it effectively transition you to staff? Again, I don't care if I get 100 hours a year, or 400...I just want to maintain some kind of currency.

[sputnik]

I can't find the attache list anymore. It's not on AFPC where it used to be, and their search function produces jack shit. Anyone know where it is? Help?