USAF bringing back Warrant officers.

[Prosuper]

[Prosuper]

Wish I had the opportunity to do this when I was on AD instead of being told by an E-8 all you do is deploy and do your job. Surprised not to see degree requirements in this. Has big blue finally seen the light, that Senior NCO's have become mostly a class of perfumed princes. It will be a great opportunity for SSgts and TSgts who will never make MSgt due to circumstances that they will never have a good enough board score.   

[Lawman]

Wish I had the opportunity to do this when I was on AD instead of being told by an E-8 all you do is deploy and do your job. Surprised not to see degree requirements in this. Has big blue finally seen the light, that Senior NCO's have become mostly a class of perfumed princes. It will be a great opportunity for SSgts and TSgts who will never make MSgt due to circumstances that they will never have a good enough board score.   

I’m gonna warn you, due to its relative size the tech warrant community can be extremely clique’ish on gatekeeping upward mobility. The other bad trend we seem to have is a lot of WO positions in the MTOE exist at such a level you get bosses with rank that discount your expertise because you’re just a W2, or warrants that try to wear daddy’s rank which is no better than the out of control E8/9.

I’m am glad to see the Air Force embrace the concept of specialization over ladder climbing and I do think it’s something we should get behind DOD wide.

I just hope in growing this new community they can avoid the pitfalls and negative habits we created in the Army.


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[HuggyU2]

The inability of the USAF to fix issues of "specialization" in career fields without feeling the need to create yet another rank structure is simply failed leadership. 

[Swizzle]

Wonder when the E8/9s realize WOs displace their billets by DOMPMA...

[Sua Sponte]

15 minutes ago, Swizzle said:

Wonder when the E8/9s realize WOs displace their billets by DOMPMA...

SNCOs were always fucked by doing jobs WOs in other branches do (excluding aviation) for less pay. 

[M2]

3 hours ago, Sua Sponte said:

SNCOs were always fucked by doing jobs WOs in other branches do (excluding aviation) for less pay. 

The SNCO corps brought that on themselves...

[AC&W]

8 hours ago, Prosuper said:

It will be a great opportunity for SSgts and TSgts who will never make MSgt due to circumstances that they will never have a good enough board score.   

Opportunity is limited to Airmen with requisite skills in IT and cyber.

6 hours ago, Lawman said:

I’m am glad to see the Air Force embrace the concept of specialization over ladder climbing and I do think it’s something we should get behind DOD wide.

More likely facing the economy of losing IT & cyber talent to the free market than embracing specialization.

2 hours ago, M2 said:

The SNCO corps brought that on themselves...

Bombs Away LeMay axed the WO program due to change in public law establishing the SNCO corps.

"The approval was also economical, using E-8 and E-9s to fill superintendent positions was significantly less expensive than utilizing warrant officers to perform similar duties, the introduction did not Eliminate WOs, just their procurement."

https://www.afmc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3735263/flashback-return-of-the-in-betweener/ 

[Biff_T]

Passed over Capts and Majs in the Silverback lounge are basically pilot warrant officers.    

[BFM this]

20 hours ago, Biff_T said:

Passed over Capts and Majs in the Silverback lounge are basically pilot warrant officers.    

Where do I sign?

[Biff_T]

4 hours ago, BFM this said:

Where do I sign?

When you figure out this secret, it's usually too late.  Lol.    I think you can find this golden ticket 🎟 in some whisper alley kinda backshop,  full of this motley band of misfits (pilots, gunners, booms, navs, FEs, loads and every now and then a broken 11F) somewhere in the OSS.   

When I retired.    My boss was one of my Lts.  Lol.  Thats how you do it. Wink 😉 

Edited April 28 by Biff_T
Afterthought and Ingles

[nsplayr]

4 hours ago, BFM this said:

Where do I sign?

Guard MQ-9. And you don't even have to give up the rank!

We have, right now, 5x Lt Cols who just fly the line full-time on T10 orders and have for years. Shit, none of them are even IPs! It's wild. Best kept secret I've seen in my career so far. No leadership/management required, yet get paid (almost) the same as the AGR SQ/CCs and DOs who are busting their asses every day and twice on drill weekend.

Not a bad gig if you can get it.

Edited April 28 by nsplayr

[BFM this]

20 hours ago, nsplayr said:

Guard MQ-9. And you don't even have to give up the rank!

We have, right now, 5x Lt Cols who just fly the line full-time on T10 orders and have for years. Shit, none of them are even IPs! It's wild. Best kept secret I've seen in my career so far. No leadership/management required, yet get paid (almost) the same as the AGR SQ/CCs and DOs who are busting their asses every day and twice on drill weekend.

Not a bad gig if you can get it.

Been there 

Done that

No thanks 🤘🏼
 

…now when the T-6 companion trainers show up on the flight line, you’re on!

Edited April 29 by BFM this

[nsplayr]

2 minutes ago, BFM this said:

…now when the T-6 companion trainers show up on the flight line, you’re on!

I mean yea, that would be awesome, but it's never gonna happen, at least during the remainder of my career. There was some excitement about that possibility when light attack was seemingly going to happen, but that program was about 15 years too late and obv it didn't happen.

The AF really put the whole community into a box canyon with the 18X program. That should have ended YEARS ago and everyone should have been sent to UPT. Copy the limited capacity of UPT as we have it constructed today.

But the tradeoff is that if/when the MQ-9 goes away, unless there's a similar platform in terms of how we operate it (doubtful IMHO), all those rated officers are going to be hung out to dry. ~2,000+ people currently trained in AF flying, WX/pubs/class A international and CONUS + tons of weapons & systems experience.

The only way out of the canyon is an 18X to 11X transition course, but that for some reason has gotten zero traction. It won't affect me, but all my my young LTs who are 18Xers are going to have to figure things out when the mighty Reaper heads off to the boneyard. A companion trainer of any kind would go a long way to giving RPA pilots the airsense you gain from actually being in the aircraft, but again, zero traction.

To piggyback on a comment I made in another thread, give me the gov AMEX and I'll buy about 50x DA-62s, give RPA pilots the FAA instrument rating equivalency they deserve, and I'm betting 96.9% of them can be made in to competent manned pilots ready to be assigned elsewhere in Big Blue when the time comes. The biggest problem is many of them might just punch and go to the airlines if they had a manned mil companion aircraft to build time on 😅

And maybe while you're at it you can consider what's left of the RPA pilot job for warrant officers, seems like a perfect fit.

[brabus]

1 hour ago, nsplayr said:

It won't affect me, but all my my young LTs who are 18Xers are going to have to figure things out when the mighty Reaper heads off to the boneyard.

I hadn’t thought about those guys, but man you’re right, I don’t know what those poor bastards are going to do. I’ve heard of some decent jobs in the civ world, but how many? Direct man-in-the-loop RPA ops as we know it (at least in the mil) doesn’t have a long life ahead of it. 

Edited April 29 by brabus

[HuggyU2]

What's the projection on the future of the MQ-9, and/ot a fleet drawdown?

[Polar Bear]

On 4/27/2024 at 10:09 PM, nsplayr said:

Guard MQ-9. And you don't even have to give up the rank!

We have, right now, 5x Lt Cols who just fly the line full-time on T10 orders and have for years. Shit, none of them are even IPs! It's wild. Best kept secret I've seen in my career so far. No leadership/management required, yet get paid (almost) the same as the AGR SQ/CCs and DOs who are busting their asses every day and twice on drill weekend.

Not a bad gig if you can get it.

Do they still have to work nights and weekends on T10 orders? 

[nsplayr]

4 hours ago, Polar Bear said:

Do they still have to work nights and weekends on T10 orders? 

Indeed. Working weekends and shift work is the downside.

Still, our unit (and I think most) work 16 out of every 28 days, which is noticeably less than Mon-Fri. Plus on later shifts there are about 10 dudes in the building and I’m often in charge, so it’s a more chill type of work day.

I can complain because I’m aircrew and it’s our god-given right, but not too much, it’s a good deal.

Coming up on 10 years homesteading in a place I want to live and I’ll (inshallah) still get an active duty retirement out of it, staying at the FGO level in a flying squadron, no staff, etc.

There are way worse ways to spend the back half of your career than as a Major/Lt Col line dawg IP occasionally getting to sling hate at our enemies all while sleeping in your own bed every night.

Edited May 2 by nsplayr

[ClearedHot]

On 4/28/2024 at 8:26 PM, nsplayr said:

To piggyback on a comment I made in another thread, give me the gov AMEX and I'll buy about 50x DA-62s, give RPA pilots the FAA instrument rating equivalency they deserve, and I'm betting 96.9% of them can be made in to competent manned pilots ready to be assigned elsewhere in Big Blue when the time comes.

[Boomer6]

2 hours ago, nsplayr said:

 because I’m aircrew

 

[nsplayr]

You old retired fucks are just haters, no worries 😎

I landed one plane downrange, took off another one, drove home & now I tucked in my kids and am watching NBA on my couch.

If I’m lucky the airplane I took off will be minus a couple of hellfires when I go back in and land it tomorrow 🇺🇸

All title 10 orders, no deployments, no PCSing, part of a great squadron. Life is good. Hit me up if any of you poor bastards on active duty want to rush the unit, we happily accept bottles of whiskey and cases of beer every drill weekend from pilots looking to be a part of one of the best deals out there.

Edited May 2 by nsplayr

[BashiChuni]

24 minutes ago, nsplayr said:

 

I landed one plane downrange, took off another one

tyfys

[gearhog]

5 hours ago, nsplayr said:

If I’m lucky the airplane I took off will be minus a couple of hellfires when I go back in and land it tomorrow 🇺🇸

"If I'm lucky, someone will have banged my wife when I get home"

[CaptainMorgan]

I landed one plane downrange, took off another one, drove home & now I tucked in my kids and am watching NBA on my couch.
If I’m lucky the airplane I took off will be minus a couple of hellfires when I go back in and land it tomorrow

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