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You can't hide shit. The risk reward equation is untenable. You'll get caught. The judge will spank you badly. Be as reasonable and compromising as possible. If you can work through the details without the need to be right, if you can let her dump on you a little bit if that's what helps her get past things, then set aside your ego and let her. My ex and I wrote up the details of our divorce on a legal pad one afternoon at my house before the kids got off the bus. There were a couple of little things where I felt like I could of done better, but there is no amount of money in the world worth the aggravation. I know still have a friendly relationship with her and the kids have done better for it. Whatever gains I might have eked out would have been totally eaten by attorney fees. My kids never hearing anything bad about their mother come out of my lips? Priceless. Money? You'll make more.

Gen Goldfien, You’re doing a great job. You understand what’s important and have the most combat street cred of any CSAF in the last 20 years. That said, if you let combat capability worth $Billions walk out the door to save $300m annually in bonus money, you’ll destroy our Air Force. None of these slides talk about the cost of a $100k bonus (a pittance) vs the exponentially increased costs of continual experienced pilot backfill production. The bottom line - if you don’t pay us more, you will continue to spend $Billions to solve the airlines’ pilot production problems. You’re making them money. Most of us see staying in the Air Force as the equivalent of paying $Millions in opportunity costs to continue serving. It’s hard to look at the wife and kids and tell them that we’re forgoing all that money and QOL to keep going on adventures. Army vets in Congress pushing back? Joint Staff complaining? They don’t understand the problem. Tell it like it is. Sincerely, A 2x MWS IP

No sense in lying to him or buttering him up. In no way shape or form is he doing a great job. He’s a douche. He is part of the problem.

If you guys could all just be a bro and stop this getting out business...I can quietly finish my palace chase before I get trapped. Mmmk. Thanks.

Just remember, we have enough pilots to fly F-22’s to bomb poppy processing huts in Afghanistan....this crisis is a crisis on paper and meeting numbers set on what we theoretically need to theoretically fight a theoretical war. Once they are unable to send people to drill holes in the sky for 6 months over the desert I’ll worry slightly...til then, helluva a show.

Just how bad is it?

I'm always entertained by the inevitable APC post (or here, for that matter) opining, "why would the airlines hire a fighter dude who doesn't know anything about their business when instead they can hire someone who knows how to be part of a crew and use an FMS and fly into high-volume airports like the airlines do?!" Well, dude...why don't you ask the hiring folks at the airlines, who don't seem to see the same problem with it that you seem to think there is.

Just FYI: Airlines give zero f#cks about this. Same training for all no matter how "airline ready" someone might think they are.

Yeah, it certainly feels that way when half the line flyers in your squadron get non-vol'd to deployments and stupid AFPAK hands bullshit, while the other half are ladder climbing bitches eagerly volunteering for wing exec, aide-de-camp, and Phoenix whatever bullshit, leaving you and like 3 other dudes to fly the entire schedule. Glad I'm out, haha.

http://www.airforcemag.com/Features/Pages/2018/February 2018/USAF-to-Grow-Out-of-Pilot-Crisis-by-Increasing-Training-Not-by-Competing-with-Airlines.aspx http://www.airforcemag.com/DRArchive/Pages/2018/February 2018/February 15 2018/USAF-Losing-700-T-6-Flights-Per-Day-While-Fleet-is-Grounded-Growing-Out-of-the-Pilot-Crisis-Making-Space-a-Priority.aspx

Thought I read somewhere they're going to keep the existing bomber base infrastructure, i.e. Dyess, Whiteman and Ellsworth all get B-21s. Assuming 100 jets, and the existing number of operational B-1 and B-2 squadrons, 12-14 tails per squadron, plus the FTU, it seems to make sense to keep all three bases.

How many Wing, Group, & Sq execs at those bases? How many jobs across the AF being done by guys with wings that could just as easily be done by someone else, or better yet, eliminated all together? How many bullshit missions being flown just to show the AF is all in? How many flown just to close out flying hours? How much time wasted fucking around in DTS, dealing with pay, mpf, and myriad other tasks that should be done by support personnel,you know, to, like, support the operators? There is LOTS of low hanging fruit here, but seemingly very little motivation to actually harvest it.

The Air Force isn't interested in saving money, it's interested in spending money. Take a look at historical budgets across the AF. Money never actually gets "saved", it gets moved. Falling short of the 12,696.9 pilots the Air Force says it needs is being called a "crisis", but we're larger than the next 10 or whatever Air Forces combined. (I don't know if that's accurate. i made that up). Even if we reach a point where a lack of pilots results in excess flying hour program money, they'll simply shrug and move that money elsewhere. Calling this a crisis with impressive presentations of stats on ppt is a tool to be used to fund new programs and acquisitions. If the Air Force has to choose between paying a few guys to stay in a few more years, or potentially being funded for new initiatives costing hundreds of millions to increase pilot production, they're going to go with the latter.

According to other news sources, it's also going to Whiteman and Ellsworth. So...

So we will overpay for contractors to teach upt, overpay for a new trainer, and fly our current airplanes into the ground trying to fix this..........why can’t we just pay current pilots more. Would be exponentially cheaper. 1 million for 8 years, 500k up front....take rate goes from low 40s to high 80s overnight. This isn’t hard

How do you know? This has potential.

How do you know?

Yes, and that is how the bed you've made over the last 15 years feels to sleep on, Big Blue.

Ended up selecting 3D1X2 Cyber Transport Systems. Thanks all!!

Must be my memory slipping in my old age. Could have sworn they offered fighter guys $50K/yr a year or two after I took my bonus, but maybe they had the option for 50% up front or could sign twice as long. Don't let my mistatement derail the thread. Bottom line bonus needs needs to be $50-65K this year. The other thing AF needs to realize is they have to get rid of the service commitments associated with the bonus too. Just offer $50-65K extra per year when your UPT ADSC expires. Even if a pilot only stays for 1-2 more years it's money well spent. In the last year I've sat in on more than one brief with GOs who were convinced it's SOLELY QoL and money plays no factor whatsoever. With the amount of surveys I've gotten dealing with pay and bonuses hopefully that is starting to change. Money's the only fix to help stem the outflow for the next 3-5 years until QoL cultural changes can start having an effect.

Pulling G's would be a no go as well.

For the Task Force dedicated to this problem, I would bet it all that people forced back not enjoying life is not even part of the equation. Pilots are just numbers to them and their PowerPoint slides don’t care about your feelings or actual combat power or even winning.

When they cancel the light attack idea, the buzz phrase they’ll use will be “we need capabilities to win the next war, not the last one.” Even though we’ll be still fighting the last one when the next war kicks off.

USAF may be screwed, but damn do they make some good-looking powerpoint decks!

I like how they spent so much time on their graphs to show that they’re in trouble instead of researching why they’re in trouble.

Recent controversial legislation was pursued by senior USAF officials that would seek to delegate that authority down to the service level. I would imagine they are near the threshold and should the balloon go up with NK it would be on in an instant. I would say get out as quickly as possible but I personally think the situation is so bad they would immediately recall folks to active duty.

1. We don't know. Something less genocidal than a few years ago. 2. To stymie Russia/Iran. 3. Yes. I would add there is no good move in Syria (or what's left of it) just less bad moves than others depending on what day of the week it is. Bomb the remnants of ISIS, Al Nusra, Al Qaeda, etc... try to avoid the Russians / Iranians but sure as hell don't back down if they try shenanigans, keep the Kurds armed and fend off the Turks/Iranians from attacking them, keep funding the Iraqi central gov as it is better than letting it implode and hold your nose while this shit sandwich is chewed on for the next 5-10 years. Unless we are ok with letting the Kurds get the shit kicked out of them when we pull out (sts) then we are there to keep them semi-sovereign, not bombed and attacked with chemical weapons. They're good allies, they deserve our support.

Unfortunately that major has moved on from AFPC and I haven't seen any of the current members post on here. If it is released on the 16th again this year we might find out tomorrow.

Nothing new. *Key players of the aircrew associated with the '07 BUFF bent spear got 2-BTZ. So yeah, that's about right..... * = ({})

At least there wasn't a cable car attached to it like last time...

Ok, you asked. Fedex 777. Mission is to make the company billions and for me grab some of the crumbs to the tune of $250K a year as a co-pilot(First Officer). Typically work 12-14 days per month either all at once with the rest of the month off or week-on, week-off. Much of that work time is soft time (i.e. not actual flying hours). Typically, I'm paid for 80-90 flight hours each month, but it's rare for me to actually have air under my ass for more than 50 hours each month. Since I'm an FO, many trip are as a relief pilot which involves deadheading around the planet in business or first class to various locations where I will meet up with the crew and act as the "free agent" third or fourth pilot on a long haul flight and then part ways. For the last 10 years straight, I've made the highest level in American Airline's frequent flyer program annually and have 1.5 million miles to use for family leisure travel. I can choose how I orchestrate my passenger deadhead flights using the company money available and any extra $$ is available for various travel expenses incurred in conjunction with any trip. Next month, I will be picked up at my house by a limo (paid for by Fedex) and driven to O'hare to begin my journey to Tokyo. My trip is due to start on a Thursday but since I'm not going to follow the deadhead schedule, I will stay home on day one getting paid. Friday, I will fly from O'hare to Tokyo in a lay flat business class seat sipping single malt and maybe catch a movie. From there, I'll take the bullet train to Osaka and have about 48 hours off before I have to work. My only flight on this trip is a 4-hour leg from Osaka to Guangzhou, China. Once I arrive in China, I'm done. I have a quick 12-hour layover and then I'm scheduled for 3 day deadhead sequence to get back to Memphis. Since I don't want to go to Memphis, I'm going to stick with the original plan of a private car driving me to Hong Kong which will get me to my first flight out. Thanks to my frequent flyer status, American has upgraded me from business to first class on my HKG to DFW flight. Once at DFW, I'll hang in the lounge until my flight back to O'hare. Once back to Chicago, another limo will take me home, dropping me off on Wednesday, 5 days after I was picked up. Since I shaved some time off my trip home by deviating, I'll be on the clock for almost 24 hours after I get home. For my trouble, I'll have about 30K more frequent flyer miles and my paycheck will be about $10K fatter (before taxes). Now the rest of the story........ About the time I'm landing in China after the 4.0 from Osaka, my family will be doing the Christmas morning routine. Being an almost empty nester, that's okay and gives someone with little ones a shot at being home. Hardly as noble as it sounds. I'm just a lazy MFer. Getting paid 10-grand to deadhead in style back and forth from Asia so that I can fly a single 4 hour flight is a fair trade off. That trip plus another for the first 6 days of Dec make up my month. So, that's one snap-shot of the Fedex 777 thing. Believe it or not, I've had better months, but this will definitely be a good one. The bad ones can be tough but with a little seniority, the good far outweighs the bad. Our bad doesn't hold a candle to the long days those of you still doing the job for big blue deal with. So, when you decide to bail, come on over - the water's fine. I usually get a paid commute via private car and first class international deadhead every month. There's lots of "Q" in the QOL and I definitely recommend it. Also, WTF is a "stewardess"?

The B-52 community flying with the Raider callsign probably really struck a nerve with the Doolittle Raiders because several of their bros ended up executed in China...what a slap in the face to those men that the Buff community would dare fly with the callsign Raider. Buy you know, yay heritage!........wait, that didn't happen because none of those Doolittle Raiders were a bunch of whiny SNAPs. Sounds like some of your friends need to get over themselves. Not a bomber guy, but I think the name pays a great tribute to not only a historic bomber raid in WW2, but also to the bros who were lost in 2008. Seeing it any other way is beyond ridiculous and extremely self-centered.

I'm sorry man, but history is full of callsigns (especially from WW 'Nam) of men and women who paid the ultimate price while flying their war chariots, both in battle and while training for battle. If the B-52 community is offended by the name Raider, maybe y'all need to dig a little deeper into history and come up with a list of names and call signs we can't use until we give you SNAPs sufficient trigger warnings and enough time to retreat to your cozy safe space. YGBSM. Personally, if I morted and Big Blue decided to name an airplane the same flying callsign, I'd be fvcking honored. You can't un-mort the mort, so your only option is to remember (with reverence). Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

With these numbers and forecasts I'm surprised stop-loss hasn't happened already.