C-146 Life?

[Ant-man]

What everyone else said…you’re gonna get shit on at some point in your career until you figure out that no one cares how professional or motivated you say you are, it’s demonstrated by your actions on a daily basis. Every AD student in my pilot training was ready to take on the world and be the next Chuck Yeager, but most of them (including myself) started flying and got a sobering dose of reality. Pilot training is HARD and it’s not easy to keep grinding  and maintain the drive to get better. Once you get to your first ops squadron it’s not any different. The grind starts over again as you work towards the next upgrade. If you walk in to a UPT class and adopt the mindset that you’re somehow more disciplined or serious or more deserving of a certain platform because of some factor unrelated to your performance, your classmates and instructors are gonna sniff that out and you’ll look like a jackass. It certainly won’t help you in the “be a bro” section of your ranking. Be in a competition with yourself. Don’t take criticism personally. Don’t argue with the IPs. They aren’t critiquing you because they don’t like you, they want you to get better. Help your bros. Keep an open mind about airframes. Ask your MWS IPs what it was like flying their airframe. Pilot training gives you this skewed mindset of what’s “cool” or not, and often masks the reality of the lifestyle associated with that airframe. List what YOU want and make sure it actually aligns with what your spouse is okay with. Alright, no more unsolicited soap container rants.

Now to answer what you were actually asking…AFSOC is cool no doubt. But every community has its upsides and downsides. I know guys in the AD 146 squadron as well as the AFRC squadron. It sounds like the reserves get the better deals. My AD buddy spent several months just flying rotators to the same type of bases that C-17s fly to. You’ll get to do things that are really cool, but don’t think you’re gonna be Barry Seal in American Made. Also there’s only one AD squadron, so the 146 doesn’t drop to UPT too often. We had one in my class and the guy was a top stud in the T-1. You could very well be the number one guy in the class and the Air Force just doesn’t have a spot for you. Luck and timing is everything. Look into the U-28 and the MC…they do some really cool stuff. Hell, if you want some difficulty and excitement, flying C-130Js out of Dyess in an 8-ship airdrop is more high-speed than what you’d do in many other career fields. You like a challenge? Fly a platform that requires air refueling. You wanna work with some spec-ops hitters? Fly the HH-60. You’re gonna find shiny pennies and shitbags in every community. AFSOC certainly doesn’t have a monopoly on professionalism. Best of luck to you, and remember…work hard, be a bro!

[Skitzo]

Jumping in — back when I was a part of the push to transform the 318 SOS from straight PC-12 NSAV (similar mission to the -146) to the U-28 we literally had one squadron with two different missions.

A lot of the PC-12 guys couldn’t understand how we got satisfaction from the Draco mission (left turns for hours and hours) and same us for them (all you do is fly from point a to point b).

We had a few of those folks cross over to the Draco, I wonder if looking back on it which mission set they preferred.

Im glad I ended up in U-28s, after being a part of the TAMI push from BONES. That community was all about getting the desired effect and the plane was a means to an end. ILSs and patterns were a necessity to get the job done. Draco is all about meeting GFC intent.

That being said there is something to be said for having a buttload of twin turbine time.

Good luck with your career it goes by so fast.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[filthy_liar]

9 hours ago, Prozac said:

You need a sense of humor & some perspective. While I certainly feel for the OP, & understand where he is coming from (we’ve all been there), a big part of assimilating one’s self into military aviation is understanding that when you serve up softballs, the bros are gonna swing hard. I have faith cooterscout will eventually figure this out & have a perfectly good career even if some guys ribbed him on the internets once.
 

Cooter: here’s the best advice most of us can honestly give you: Wherever you end up, don’t suck. The end. Do that & you’ll do alright just about anywhere. 

I have both.  Thanks for telling me what a big part of assimilating into military aviation is all about.  Kinda like four fans telling me to get out and travel or some crap.  This board used to be a place where kids with no military aviation experience could come in and ask questions and not get raped.  You of all people Prozac, should be ashamed of promoting that behavior.  You've been around, you know better.

[FLEA]

1 hour ago, filthy_liar said:

I have both.  Thanks for telling me what a big part of assimilating into military aviation is all about.  Kinda like four fans telling me to get out and travel or some crap.  This board used to be a place where kids with no military aviation experience could come in and ask questions and not get raped.  You of all people Prozac, should be ashamed of promoting that behavior.  You've been around, you know better.

Bro I have been here since 2005 and it was never that place lol. 

[FLEA]

Just now, FLEA said:

Bro I have been here since 2005 and it was never that place lol. 

I'm fact I used to mentor Lt's and cadets it was fine to read but be very careful posting and better to get information from a source you know. By the time you've made Captain you've put up with enough bullshit you know not to take anything here to seriously.......

Pretty sure I even have a few lashings from Toro in my ROTC days....

[filthy_liar]

22 hours ago, Biff_T said:

Calm down Janice.  He's going to get destroyed at somepoint in real life.  He might as well get a taste for free

What an asshole.

[filthy_liar]

10 minutes ago, FLEA said:

I'm fact I used to mentor Lt's and cadets it was fine to read but be very careful posting and better to get information from a source you know. By the time you've made Captain you've put up with enough bullshit you know not to take anything here to seriously.......

Pretty sure I even have a few lashings from Toro in my ROTC days....

Well if lashings from some internet dude named Toro turned you into an asshole, you're still an asshole.  And before you go all oh he just said something bad about Toro - I'm banned all the time on here.  Because I don't care about Toro.  I think bashing young kids because that douche Biff said is a dick move.  Don't do that.  They don't log on here to get bashed.  They don't know any better.  I log in here to get bashed.  From a bunch of internet nerds.  And I get banned.  Pick on me, not the newbie that was asking an honest question.

[pawnman]

8 hours ago, filthy_liar said:

Well if lashings from some internet dude named Toro turned you into an asshole, you're still an asshole.  And before you go all oh he just said something bad about Toro - I'm banned all the time on here.  Because I don't care about Toro.  I think bashing young kids because that douche Biff said is a dick move.  Don't do that.  They don't log on here to get bashed.  They don't know any better.  I log in here to get bashed.  From a bunch of internet nerds.  And I get banned.  Pick on me, not the newbie that was asking an honest question.

Clearly you don't get banned here enough. 

Or do you just save up all your posts for the small window between timeouts? 

[Biff_T]

9 hours ago, filthy_liar said:

What an asshole.

I don't know where you went to UPT, but if you think I'm an asshole, you must have had some really nice, fun loving IPs.  

 

[filthy_liar]

11 hours ago, pawnman said:

Clearly you don't get banned here enough. 

Or do you just save up all your posts for the small window between timeouts? 

Honest question....are you a female?

[filthy_liar]

9 hours ago, Biff_T said:

I don't know where you went to UPT, but if you think I'm an asshole, you must have had some really nice, fun loving IPs

I did.  Same in the Rangers.  You are a fucking asshole.

[pawnman]

1 hour ago, filthy_liar said:

Honest question....are you a female?

I'm not. But it seems to say something about you that you think that would be an insult. 

[Biff_T]

On 2/2/2023 at 10:11 AM, cooterscout said:

Say there's a C-146 at drop night. What should one expect from that life? Is it under-discussed because of how cool and secret the missions are, or because it's not exciting enough to talk about? I've had a friend tell me it's the ugly step child of AFSOC.

This entire thread is probably what it's like being a C-146 pilot.

A lot of AP on flying, while bitching with/at the asshole to the left or right of you at cruise altitude.  

Every community has people trying to be their best along with dirtbags.  Here's a tip, when you show up to UPT (assuming you're not there yet) don't tell your IPs how you want to be the best, blah, blah, blah.  Just show them.   

 

Lol.  Good luck man. 

 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Biff_T
Afterthought

[BashiChuni]

2 hours ago, filthy_liar said:

Honest question....are you a female?

I’m sorry I laughed my ass off reading this 😂 

[filthy_liar]

23 minutes ago, Biff_T said:

This entire thread is probably what it's like being a C-146 pilot.

A lot of AP on flying, while bitching with/at the asshole to the left or right of you at cruise altitude.  

Every community has people trying to be their best along with dirtbags.  Here's a tip, when you show up to UPT (assuming you're not there yet) don't tell your IPs how you want to be the best, blah, blah, blah.  Just show them.   

 

Lol.  Good luck man. 

Good wisdom there.

[Springer]

On 2/4/2023 at 11:21 AM, Ant-man said:

 Keep an open mind about airframes. Ask your MWS IPs what it was like flying their airframe. Pilot training gives you this skewed mindset of what’s “cool” or not, and often masks the reality of the lifestyle associated with that airframe.

Best advice to a UPTer I have seen in a while. YouTube vids also "skewes the mindset" of what is cool or not.  Very little of your life is spent in the cockpit.  The "lifestyle" you want should play a big role in what a/c you choose.  Fortunately the choice I made was the correct one for me.