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Significantly more difficult, but as danger pointed out, not impossible. For those who have a realstic chance, the general hurdle is not skill/potential, it's time line and getting to the required level before time runs out.

Probably better keep that to yourself. I hear it's banned now.

Went to WP a few weeks ago. Just to reiterate, this thread is GOLD. I highly recommend everyone read it from start to finish before going. My experience went exactly as others described it. I only have a few items to add. 1. Get a rental car. The main medical office and the lab work are in two separate buildings on two separate AF bases (about 15 mins apart). Day one doesn't really matter but day two is when it pays off. After lab work, people trickle over to the main building and start on whatever tests they have remaining. Having a car allows you to beat the rush and get your tests done first. Also, if your lab results or xrays need to be redone, you will be required to travel back and forth between the two bases. All in all, it was money well spent. I can say with confidence that the car allowed me to finish up and go home a few days early. 2. Bring lots of snacks. On both days, my first meal was burger king around 1400. If someone had brought lots of food for the group, they would have been my hero. 3. They assign the group a room to hang out in and you spend most of your time here. Cell signal is hit or miss and you run out of things to talk about quickly so most of the time is spent sitting in silence and envying those that brought a book. There is a TV and DVD player however so if you bring a movie or xbox or something, everyone will thank you. 4. Go to the air museum. I have been to aviation museums all over the country and this one is by far the best. We budgeted 5 hours to see the whole thing and still missed out on two hangers. This is another good reason to have a car. 5. If you use your phone for directions, it will get you close but not to the right building. See attached. 5. No prostate exam. Rejoice! You wont get your oil checked on this trip. All in all it was a great experience. There were 30 of us and everyone passed. Only two people were iffy and the only reason they were under the microscope was due to their own self disclosure. I urge everyone to please keep your mouth shut when they ask the questions like "any history of _______" or "have you ever experienced _________". Let them find out for themselves. If you already incriminated yourself during MEPS then start working on your defenses because they will dig deep into those things at WP. Have fun. Good Luck. See you at UPT.

FWIW, there's a lot of guys who went to AMC first who were able to come to AFSOC (across the entire spectrum from C-21 to C-5 and tankers). These guys have the flexibility to potentially flow back (saw this with an EC-130 guy) to their previous MDS. The flow in the other direction is much more difficult. If you grow up in AFSOC, there isn't a lot of flex to get you into other options out there. If I were young again, I'd spend some time seeing the world in another MDS, and then determine if I wanted to flow into AFSOC or not later on in life. But I grew up limited to two locations and a continuous deployment rhythm to the sandbox over a decade with little opportunity to expand beyond certain theaters. AFSOC is exciting, but it can quickly become Groundhog Day. YMMV.

The were on their second deployment. The AC was a crossflow C-130 guy.

Got a myPers email saying I'm eligible for the bonus now. Looking into it as a prior bonus taker, I'd get the 11M rate per year for two years past my 20 years. I assume the 365 is implied. While it is awfully sweet of them to think of me, I don't believe I'll give up a year with my family and 2 years of seniority for 30k a year. Although if they give me a no 365 clause, and airline of choice afterward, I'd be tempted.

Previous 2 posts are wrong. In my WIC class, there were at least 2 T-6 FAIPs going through fighter courses. Being a T-6 vs T-38 FAIP has no bearing on follow on assignments.

The next day. Jeez man, nice way to stick with the sinking ship. http://www.f-16.net/f-16-news-article2167.html

Pretty bad assumption...the CSAF being the most obvious counterpoint.

The FEB recommended all three crew members keep their wings. The wg/cc agreed for the copilot and boom, but not the AC. Regardless of where you stand on this particular mishap, I have a pretty big issue with having a board, but disregarding the results, especially when the board sides with the defendant. Have the board, or don't.

No. They hand type it into the system and there is no block in the FPL for the pilot's name. If you look at a EUROCONTROL ACK message you will see the exact information the dude behind the desk typed in. Here is a 73 page document to help you learn:

I don't get it. I'll ask my fighter pilot buds to explain it. I guess it's like U-2 pilots talking about data links, tube food, and shitting in the space suit: it only entertains our group.

I was wondering about this myself. I am very happy with how my situation worked out, but was also expecting the AF to say "fvck you, you are getting promoted and serving out the remainder of your ADSC". On the other side of the coin, I talked to a couple of my 11x buddies who were passed over unexpectedly. Only one of them had a negative indicator. I had buddies that were current/qualified Viper pilots who ended up getting passed over, who were planning on staying 20+. How can Goldfinger and Wilson even have a straight face talking about a "Pilot Shortage" to congress, the airlines or whoever the hell else will still listen after the bloodbath from the past O-5 and O-4 board for pilots? Honest question. I really want to know how they spin this.

I've had it with these bullshit equivalency arguments from leadership citing how "good" we have it compared to XYZ community. Gen Rand has so many F#$% fanboys here at RND its insane, yet every time he talks this kind of bullshit those fanboys are on their knees gulping down the massive load. Gen Now land and his little meeting was only marginally better and at least by the end he seemed to be properly whipped into the correct mindset (time will tell). Before that I've heard the same kind of crap from numerous commanders when we complained about ops tempo with deployments stacked on top of TDY's, reinforced that we are "At War" as if that has any ing meaning any more after over 15 years. There is a reason I didn't join the Marines or Army, and while those patriots at Walter Reed deserve nothing but our utmost respect, they are not to be used as tools for ignoring the issues the force faces today. When I bring up leadership failings in a conversation it generally leads to a "well so and so is a good guy etc", but I feel more and more that regardless of how good a commander or leader you may be, your now culpable for this mess and arguing who the good ones versus bad ones is a waste of time. As it stands the effect is they are all bad because the outcome is shit, until any thing starts getting fix'd they are all failures in my book until proven otherwise don't care how cool they were before or are now.

I also find it disturbing that the instant Trump threatened to put Congress on the same healthcare as the rest of America, all talk about healthcare went silent and the next thing I heard was "Congress pivots to tax reform"... Edit to add: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/344847-gop-lawmaker-trump-should-cancel-health-insurance-subsidies-for-congress My point was merely to say that the mere mention of being on the same healthcare as their constituents made them uncomfortable enough to change the subject.

One of the only valuable part of SOS was the promotion board excercise. Taught me how and why pilots with perfectly clean records get passed over during a pilot shortage. I also learned that your record could be looked at by someone in the med group who won't tell the difference between a copilot/wingman and a weapons officer. It is why I strongly believe that we need to have separate rated boards. The fact that a few games of dodgeball, some obstacle courses and war gaming has the biggest influence on your career potential as an Air Force officer speaks volumes about what is wrong with the Air Force. I met some cool people from different career fields and enjoyed the southern culture from an overseas base but overall, a screwed up program.

Sounds like you think I was being intransigent when I was simply mistaken. OK, he flew the next day, my hypothesis was wrong (though that article doesn't clearly say he flew in combat the next day, just that he flew).