Track Selects and Assignment Nights

[Tulsa]

8 minutes ago, LookieRookie said:

There's a top level .ppt discussing opening Moody again for that reason that I've seen.

Sharing it with the Fighter Group and Rescue guys or kicking the CAF out?  Good luck getting the MX group out of the old T-6 Squadron if they share it.

[LookieRookie]

2 hours ago, Tulsa said:

Sharing it with the Fighter Group and Rescue guys or kicking the CAF out?  Good luck getting the MX group out of the old T-6 Squadron if they share it.

From what I remember that COA is for when A-29's are gone and maybe other airframes. It's on my work computer and I can check next week.

Edited June 11, 2016 by LookieRookie

[tx_flyer]

3 hours ago, HeloDude said:

Class sizes are increasing and more people will be going to T-38s with more heavy/non-fighter options being dropped.  This is directly from leadership...

Pardon the ignorance, I just want to clarify. You said "T-38s will go up and heavy/non-fighter options will be dropped" as in heavy/non-fighters will be lessened or as in heavies/non-fighters will appear in UPT drops more frequently? 

[HeloDude]

3 minutes ago, tx_flyer said:

Pardon the ignorance, I just want to clarify. You said "T-38s will go up and heavy/non-fighter options will be dropped" as in heavy/non-fighters will be lessened or as in heavies/non-fighters will appear in UPT drops more frequently? 

As in more T-38s will be available at track select and also that more heavy/non-fighters will subsequently be dropped from T-38s...

[Duck]

It's cyclical. We are back to 2008-2010 all over again. We are going to flood T-38s with more studs and send them to all sorts of other non-CAF assignments. The only difference I see is there will still be lots of fighters dropped. More and more casuals sitting BIT waiting for B course dates. We've been here before guys. Maybe this time they won't turn the fighter pipeline off for 3 years and then wonder where the f$ck all the 11Fs have gone.

Last night I was worried they were going to non-Vol a dude into fighters at ENJJPT... It was close.

[hpfulguardbum]

5 minutes ago, Duck said:

It's cyclical. We are back to 2008-2010 all over again. We are going to flood T-38s with more studs and send them to all sorts of other non-CAF assignments. The only difference I see is there will still be lots of fighters dropped. More and more casuals sitting BIT waiting for B course dates. We've been here before guys. Maybe this time they won't turn the fighter pipeline off for 3 years and then wonder where the f$ck all the 11Fs have gone.

Last night I was worried they were going to non-Vol a dude into fighters at ENJJPT... It was close.

More and more studs want to go the t1 route and are feeling the pressure into going 38s. It varies from class to class but it's an interesting time in the upt pipeline. Where are these studs doing casual before hitting B course? 

[Kenny Powers]

^^^ Saw that once, think the dude strategically performed horribly in IFF and washed out, magically going back to heavies.

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[stract]

8 hours ago, LookieRookie said:

CBM is increasing class sizes too. AETC is one 1 T-6 squadron short for production requirements. 

There's a top level .ppt discussing opening Moody again for that reason that I've seen.

 

8 hours ago, Tulsa said:

Sharing it with the Fighter Group and Rescue guys or kicking the CAF out?  Good luck getting the MX group out of the old T-6 Squadron if they share it.

That is the most horrible idea I've ever heard.  I was at Moody when we were sharing with the AETC folks, and we were lucky if we got 1 hr of range time at Grand Bay twice a week, because the T-38s needed that airspace for their overhead pattern to 18L/36R.  Grand Bay Range is a 30 second flight east of the runways.  And the next closest range we can use is Avon Park, 2 hrs flight time away, followed by the Navy water ranges 30 miles off the coast of JAX...Gunnex AA and BB, 2+15 away.

And then the AETC MX folks required all the ramp ballpark lighting to be on at night so they could see to do their MX, which meant we had to ask nicely for them to turn it off for an hour at night so we could shoot at Grand Bay without getting blinded every time we turned east (restricted firing fan meant fires to the south only, on an east/west axis), even though all the AETC aircraft were parked under sunshades that they refused to provide lighting to.  And 50% of the time they whined enough that we couldn't get the lights off.  Which then lead to several KIOs because we couldn't see each other while shooting.  FML. 

And having to hold waiting for all the T-6s to land because they were worried the student pilots would freak out when the helos came into to land on the helipad didn't help matters.  Now the issue isn't getting range time from the T-38s, it's sharing the range time with all the other users on base (the primary DZ for the 820 BDG is on Grand Bay Range, and of course the A-10s like to go brrrrrrt on a daily basis, too).

Edited June 12, 2016 by stract

[MD]

10 hours ago, matmacwc said:

8 years ago, 36 (Harrumph) was a pretty normal class size.

My class was 34 to start, graduating 16 or so. way back in the day.

 

5 hours ago, Kenny Powers said:

^^^ Saw that once, think the dude strategically performed horribly in IFF and washed out, magically going back to heavies.

 

Big Blue caught on to that way back when. At that time, if you washed out of IFF, you remained an ACC asset. Meaning EC-130 or E-3. AMC got tired of being the dumping ground for all of ACCs IFF washouts.

[innovator]

On 5/28/2016 at 9:38 AM, guineapigfury said:

They're being told they'll get to go back to real flying.

That checks. I have talked to guys that are headed to Creech from UPT. They all have the notion that they will get their desired air frame ~3 years at their duty station......and from what I understand there is no written guidance or memo anywhere. I hope it works out for them in the end. 

[yzl337]

1 hour ago, innovator said:

They all have the notion that they will get their desired air frame ~3 years at their duty station.

So imagining things or being lied to, awesome.

[guineapigfury]

I'm the last guy to defend Big Blue, but the last bunch of UPT directs were told they could leave then allowed to do so.  We'll see.

[hispeed7721]

1 hour ago, innovator said:

That checks. I have talked to guys that are headed to Creech from UPT. They all have the notion that they will get their desired air frame ~3 years at their duty station......and from what I understand there is no written guidance or memo anywhere. I hope it works out for them in the end. 

I spoke to a few buddies at CBM and they've said the DO has gone into each flight a few weeks before dream sheets are due and told the studs point blank they will do one tour in RPA's and then back to manned flying. Apparently some studs asked for it in writing and the DO as well as the Sq/CC basically said "take our word for it"

[matmacwc]

1 hour ago, innovator said:

That checks. I have talked to guys that are headed to Creech from UPT. They all have the notion that they will get their desired air frame ~3 years at their duty station......and from what I understand there is no written guidance or memo anywhere. I hope it works out for them in the end. 

Years ago there was written guidance, 1 tour then a manned aircraft.  Desired airframe is a stretch, none of the -38 guys I knew went to fighters.  And let's be honest, it isn't the top of the class going to Creech, the AF knows that.

[Duck]

I'm the last guy to defend Big Blue, but the last bunch of UPT directs were told they could leave then allowed to do so.  We'll see.

From the guys in my class who went RPAs they told me that they were constantly bombarded by leadership to recat and told doom and gloom on how they would be so far behind they would never catch up to their peers and probably be passed over as a result. I can imagine being told that for 3 years would take its toll.

[GKinnear]

2 hours ago, Duck said:

From the guys in my class who went RPAs they told me that they were constantly bombarded by leadership to recat and told doom and gloom on how they would be so far behind they would never catch up to their peers and probably be passed over as a result. I can imagine being told that for 3 years would take its toll.

It's heresay, but if true, they had shitty leaders. Was it a conversation in passing or a "you should recat, we're talking about your job here" type harassment?

What's the difference between UPT-Directs and a late-rated dude? Some recat, some don't; some are doing well back in a traditional platform, some aren't. It really comes down to the pilot and attitude. Bloom where you're planted.

[Grouch]

11 hours ago, hispeed7721 said:

I spoke to a few buddies at CBM and they've said the DO has gone into each flight a few weeks before dream sheets are due and told the studs point blank they will do one tour in RPA's and then back to manned flying. Apparently some studs asked for it in writing and the DO as well as the Sq/CC basically said "take our word for it"

"take our word for it"

F*ck that. They're just going to pull the rug on those kids come the three year mark, and play the "need of the Air Force" card. But hey, thanks for working really hard in RPAs under the premise of our false promises.

 

10 hours ago, Duck said:

From the guys in my class who went RPAs they told me that they were constantly bombarded by leadership to recat and told doom and gloom on how they would be so far behind they would never catch up to their peers and probably be passed over as a result. I can imagine being told that for 3 years would take its toll.

They're still trying to convince people to do that. Apparently it would be "detrimental to my career" to remain an 11M.

[sqwatch]

. Bloom where you're planted.

Lol

[Sprkt69]

17 hours ago, GKinnear said:

It's heresay, but if true, they had shitty leaders. Was it a conversation in passing or a "you should recat, we're talking about your job here" type harassment?

What's the difference between UPT-Directs and a late-rated dude? Some recat, some don't; some are doing well back in a traditional platform, some aren't. It really comes down to the pilot and attitude. Bloom where you're planted.

Second hand information confirms leadership asking everyone to recat. The guy I asked refused to recat, then punched out for the Guard to fly fighters again.

[Fuzz]

23 hours ago, guineapigfury said:

I'm the last guy to defend Big Blue, but the last bunch of UPT directs were told they could leave then allowed to do so.  We'll see.

I'd say that's more "paroled" than "allowed to leave". Several guys that I know in that bucket are worried they're going to be pulled back because they were IPs and already have the RPA stink on them.

[Duck]

I'd say that's more "paroled" than "allowed to leave". Several guys that I know in that bucket are worried they're going to be pulled back because they were IPs and already have the RPA stink on them.

I would say very likely. Just like guys who go to AETC somehow find themselves ping ponging back to it time and time again.

[viper154]

17 hours ago, Grouch said:

"take our word for it"

F*ck that. They're just going to pull the rug on those kids come the three year mark, and play the "need of the Air Force" card. But hey, thanks for working really hard in RPAs under the premise of our false promises.

 

The first couple classes of us that got UPT direct are rather savvy on the AF bs. There is a pretty general concensus that we will do the job asked of us to the best of our ability, but sucking the blue D and volunteering for shit deals for hope of a jet latter is not something most of us are not willing to do. We already got the rug yanked once and know this could very well be a empty promise. Especially with nothing paper.  

We we heard the recat rumors as well. 

As discussed earlier in the thread, seems like manning should be better in the RPA world in the next 2 years. With the manned pilot shortage continuing in a tailspin hopefully it will allow us to get out. Key to success is to get back manned before 2019 when all the 18x guys start punching. I would expect less than 5% of them to stay leaving us right back in the current RPA manning shit show. 

[matmacwc]

1 hour ago, viper154 said:

The first couple classes of us that got UPT direct are rather savvy on the AF bs. There is a pretty general concensus that we will do the job asked of us to the best of our ability, but sucking the blue D and volunteering for shit deals for hope of a jet latter is not something most of us are not willing to do. We already got the rug yanked once and know this could very well be a empty promise. Especially with nothing paper.  

We we heard the recat rumors as well. 

As discussed earlier in the thread, seems like manning should be better in the RPA world in the next 2 years. With the manned pilot shortage continuing in a tailspin hopefully it will allow us to get out. Key to success is to get back manned before 2019 when all the 18x guys start punching. I would expect less than 5% of them to stay leaving us right back in the current RPA manning shit show. 

First couple classes were like 2008.

[Boomer6]

END 16-11

-38s:

F -15E

F-16

A-10

T-6

F-16 ANG

A-10 ANG

[YoungnDumb]

4 x F-35's dropped on Friday for FAIP's.

1x Vance

1x Laughlin

2x Sheppard

Everyone else is still waiting on their assignments.  These 4 had to get them early as they all head to IFF August 31 and the T-6 dudes need to start their T-38 transition ASAP.  Guy who got it from my squad got his assignment on Friday, Fini flight yesterday, T-38 intro today.  From what we've been told the 4 FAIP's will head to IFF and compete against one another for 3 F-35 slots to Luke AFB.  No idea what 4th place will get, though they've hinted at an F-16.