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Well, this puts another point in the "get out" column for me. Bust my butt as a young single dude to get a short tour so when I'm ready to start a family I won't have the threat of a 365, only to have that taken away. Follow that with an AETC assignment and an attached flyer assignment, and now I'm hot for a 365. Only so I can probably go to staff next assignment. Time to start updating my airline apps again...

Yikes bro. You behind the Wikileaks stuff too?

Quoted for historical context. 5x UAVs for 11X trained officers. Current drops pale in comparison. Also note that Duck has been causing trouble here since at least 2009!

My perspective is clearly different. Having witnessed the un-brainwashing of a couple T-38 guys who got banished to the dreaded C-130J (where they loved it and did great things in combat while getting shot at), I can only assume that T-38 guys still scoff at things like KC-x to Kadena or Travis (sweet locations), U-28 and C-130J (where they'll get more real world missions than any other airframes around), or anything that's not an F-22 or F-35. Got it. I was bi-polar on my track and drop-nights too. Cannon certainly isn't appealing, as with the Offutt assignments...but wow, perspective boys. There's a preponderance of good locations for the heavies, on top of the fact that the pilot shortage makes a heavy-fighter crossflow much more likely right now. I recall seeing T-38 drops that had a total of 1 ops fighter and dudes being stoked to be FAIPing and not stuck in Minot or Barksdale. Open the aperture. If you call it good, it becomes good. Call it bad, it becomes bad. It's all perspective.

17D I'm glad you post here bro. Keep doing it.

AAFMAA was significantly cheaper for much more coverage for me as an average dude, non-smoker in decent shape. YMMV.

Per AFPC (MAF Assignments Facebook) # of ST is still king followed by recent deployments If no one has an ST then the list is only people without >45 in the last 5. If everyone has >45 in the last 5 then all are even. The HAF intent is to deploy the slugs who have never deployed. If someone has a ST they are at the bottom bottom unless everyone has same # of ST and deployed >45 in 5.

In my experience, yes there is a notable difference. In my research, USAA asked something along the lines of "Do you fly often?" If so, their rates went up quite a bit. AAFMAA didn't have a flying occupation penalty, and specifically noted that they cover people who fly for a living.

yeah well fuck that snowjob. There's nothing "perspective" about PRP and flying the memphis belle in the 21st century. The check ain't bouncing... it's about all I got outta that one. I'd quit before I do that again. I got my AF wings and I own my own airplane, so I got nothing to prove to myself anymore by wearing a bag and practice bleeding for a living.To each their own. All that said, absolutely, I'm a firm believer of 'it's not what you do, it's who you do it with'. In hindsight (see what I did there lol) I think things are as they should be. I think I would have enjoyed the hell out of physically flying the Viper, but would have probably not meshed well/enjoyed the ancillary/cultural hazy shit that comes with it. Lord knows I've enjoyed shorter debriefs in my life as a result lol. As an older man I've become aware of that nuance, and I'm at peace now. I admit it didn't feel like it 10 years ago. In all honesty, the fact is I got a family and then life got complicated, so the "live to work" impositions of certain airframes in this line of work just became complete non-starters for my current priorities in life. Which is why I do love my trainer job. It's weak sauce to the youngin's, as it should be, but i'm really happy with it. I wouldn't mind a light attack mission if I had to do it all over again. A-29 or the sort. It's a bit more engaging to me than the bomb truck driver without a pickle button thing. Knowing the AF though, they'd prob fuck that up too. Guess should have joined the Army ....nah. LOL

I simply don't believe them.

So true. I don’t know how many people talked bad about going to Dyess back in the day for the herks. I loved it and the bros I flew with. It was a good bastion of tac flying for a while. But you make what you want of the assignment.

Excellent post

^Shack.

Maybe if the Senate had been included at the time we signed the Paris Peace Accords, we wouldn’t have left behind hundreds of POWs. http://mobile.wnd.com/2015/07/mccain-and-the-pow-cover-up/

“He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; ...” The vote you are referring to was to block legislation to keep our previous president from agreeing to a treaty outside the limits of the Constitution. Definitely not the same as seeking approval from the Senate. Only the in the tank media would spin that as a Democrat victory when he was agreeing to the deal in an illegal manner in the first place. A treaty requires 2/3 of the Senate, period. Now maybe we’ll do it the right way.

It’s a direct result to the institutional lack of focus on flying. If it’s not a priority to the AF, it tends to not be a priority.

And I completely understand you calling it as you see it with your massive military aviation experience. As a PIT IP, I have been surprised by how terrible a large number of AF pilots are regardless of airframe.

Funny to see how drugs and sock puppet videos get you the same treatment

I always drop my bombs/shoot my missiles with at least 6.9g on the jet to give my weapons that extra "umph".

Why SFS Cops would lose a mental battle with a piece of toast Chapter 8: You're supposed to keep the bad guys out, not the good guys in (thanks CH for picking up Chapters 6 and 7) During our NATO inspections at the Heath, operations were moved to the flightline and you had to enter and exit via a single gate guarded by the cops. I was leaving after after a particularly rough day - the flights didn't go great, it was almost 2AM, I had been at work nearly 13 hours (and was due back in 12), and I hadn't seen my wife or kid in three days. As I approached the exit gate, the sirens started to go off (impending Alarm Red - lockdown). I was - no $hit - 15 feet from the gate and started to run before the announcement actually came over giant voice to tell us we couldn't leave. Before Giant Voice started talking, the cop at the gate informs us that we are about the go into Alarm Red and we cannot leave. TORO: Dude, we're two feet from the gate, let us out. COP: Sir, we are in Alarm Red - I cannot let you leave TORO: No, we're not actually in alarm red yet. Listen, I've been here 13 hours, I've had a rough day, I'm in a pretty $hitty mood, just let me out. COP: No sir, I can't do that TORO: (looking at watch) I go into crew rest in about 3 minutes - you have to let me leave. COP: No sir TORO: Listen, either you unlock the gate or I'm going to climb over it. COP: Sir, we're alarm red - you cannot leave. I take a look at the gate and see the slapnutz hasn't actually secured it - the lock is just hanging on the latch. I pull it open and walk through. He ends up reporting me to the OG/CC who goes through the roof. The story - as told to him - is that I stormed up there and just blew through the gate...no mention of crew rest. As soon as my SQ/CC heard my side, he calmed the OG/CC down. To all those who say SFS cops life isn't rosey and they've got it tough in Iraq I say - suck it. These guys aren't in Iraq, they're here in the safety of America pulling dudes over for speeding in empty parking lots at 2am and drinking IBC root beer. Who do I blame? I blame the SNCOs and commanders of SFS for not instilling some semblance of common sense into these young impresionable troops.

Toro - Here is Chapter six for you; Not my best behavior, but at one time I did enjoy poking the skycops in the eye. As a young maintenance officer I had multiple run-in’s with a very over-zealous TSgt type skycop. The first event happened one day at lunch when I pulled out of the base gas station and onto the main drag at Charleston AFB. It was hot and I took a long pull on my bottle of IBC rootbeer. The skycop who was himself speeding the opposite direction saw the dark colored bottle and decided it was a matter of national security so he hit the lights and did a power slide 180 in front of all the other cars to race back and get me. He obviously called for back up because two other skycop cars joined him and they are out of the car with weapons before he even got his fat butt out of the car. I know what is going on and decide to play it up a little. He walks up to my window barking orders to keep my hands where he can see them and the rest goes something like this; Skycop Jackass – “Who do you think you are , drinking and driving on my base”. Young 2Lt – “Why whatever are you talking about (while pretending to push my bottle of rootbeer to my side. Skycop Jackass –“Sirrr (with as much disgust as he can muster), I saw you drinking and while driving I am taking you in” Young 2Lt – “Since when is a crime to drink and drive?” Skycop Jackass– “(Temper causing his face to get red), No more "Sir", just “Step out of the car and place your hands behind your back” Young 2Lt – “Sgt you are making a mistake and I would appreciate it if you call me “sir” Skycop Jackass – (skull now shooting blood out the top), grabs my arm and orders me out of the truck. Starts to read me my rights and tells one of the other officers to “get the beer out of the truck”. Young 2Lt – (biting cheek so I don’t laugh out loud), “Sarrrggee, you’ve made a huge mistake I was not drinking and driving with beer”. Skycop # 2 – “Umm Sgt so and so, we have a problem” Skycop Jackass – “What the @#$* are you talking about?" Skycop #2 - (very sheepishly), “Sgt it is a bottle of rootbeer.” Skycop Jackass - “YOU GOTTA BE SHITTING ME, give me the damn bottle”” Young 2Lt – “I tried to tell you sarrrrggee, by the way can I have your name please” Skycop Jackass – “mumble mumble mumble”

"I'm not gonna lie, we're the bottom of the barrel ASVAB-wise" - quote by an ex-SFS MSgt. now Lt. That's genius - take the dumbest people in the Air Force and give them the perception of power and an M-16. They may not get DUIs, but go read the base blotter and you'll see they get busted for plenty of other stuff. In the three years I was at Lakenheath there was a pretty big drug problem, and do you know who were the largest majority of guys getting busted? That's right - cops. I have a vast supply of SFS stories and I just got ANOTHER one this week, so here goes: One of my students had his parents in town last week and on Monday he took them to the flight line to see the jets and take pictures. Everything was approved and his parents had a flight line photography approval slip. That day went without problem and Tuesday they decided to go to the arming area and take pictures of him as he was taking off (this is fairly standard). As they're snapping their pictures, a couple cops approach them and give them the standard interrogation. When asked if they have permission to take pictures, they show the slip from the day prior and explain that their son is in one of the jets that's about to take off. The cops confiscate the film and tell them - I $hit you not - they cannot verify whether they were taking pictures of something classified on the film -- pictures of FTU jets getting ready to takeoff?!?! Do they try to call somebody to verify these people's relation to the pilot? No. Do they try to call OPS or MX to verify that there is absolutely no way classified information could be attained by taking pictures of FTU jets taking off on a training mission? No. Do they care that if these people had simply changed the date on their photo slip it (magically) would make everything alright? No. Do they care that there are personal photos on this film? No. The film is taken to the cop shack and put in the evidence locker because it 'might have classified info on it.' So the student explains to me what happened and I call the cops. After a bit of a run-around (talking to 3-4 different airmen who have no idea is going on) I finally talk to a TSgt who says the whereabouts of the film are unknown - it isn't in the evidence locker and we can just plan on not getting it back. After a couple minutes I get the impression that this dude just doesn't care, so I go get the SQ/CC involved. Fast forward to yesterday - the cops have had a week to try to locate this film - and my SQ/CC is at the SFS dispatch desk talking to a supervisor. BOSS: Hey, I'm LTC Pilot and I'm trying to get back some film that was confiscated from the parents of one of our students. COP: Yes sir, we have been unable to locate that film. I'm afraid they're not going to get it back. BOSS: Really? Say, can you tell me why you confiscated the film in the first place? COP: Yes sir, we were unable to determine whether the film contained classified material. BOSS: And where's that film now? COP: As I said sir, the film is lost. BOSS: So you're telling me that you've lost potentially classified material? COP: (the hamster in his brain wheel trips over itself and the cop's IQ halves by dropping 6-9 points...warnings are going off in the cop's cranium "Does not compute...does not compute") Uh...uh...well, we don't know for sure that there was classified on the film. BOSS: And how were you going to verify that? COP: Uh sir, we were going to have MOC view the film BOSS: And when were you going to that? COP: Uh....just as soon as we found the film BOSS: And where is the film? COP: Sir, it's lost. BOSS: Copy, the classified film you lost. You're doing a great job Sgt, glad to see that Seymour Johnson is in your capable hands. If the interest in this thread continues, I'll type up another 'Why SFS Suck' story later today or tomorrow.

ENJJPT IP...just when I started to calm down you reminded me of another reason SFS cops suck. After some aircrew buffoonery on a weekend TDY followed by an enlisted OG troop getting a DUI, the OG/CC hit the roof and we recalled for an OG commanders call on a Sunday. So I get my $hit together as quickly as possible and forget to grab my wallet with my military ID. I do, however, have my flight line badge since it's tucked in my flight suit. When I get to the gate (this is Lakenheath) I show the gate guard my line badge. COP: Sir, I can't let you on base with that TORO: YGBSM - do you know what this is? COP: Yes sir, you need a military ID to get on base. TORO: Look, I just got recalled and I forgot my wallet. This should be as good, if not better, than my ID. COP: Sorry sir, I can't let you on with that TORO: Are you serious? Do you know who issued me this line badge? (He looks like me somewhat puzzled, like he's not sure if he's supposed to answer, so I answer for him). The cops -- you -- issued me this line badge. Do you know how I got this line badge? (Once again I get the confused puppy look) I had to show you my paperwork and my military ID to get this line badge - this line badge gets me access to many more restricted places than my ID. COP: Uh...sir, I understand that, but I can't allow you on base without your military ID. Inner voice starts swearing again - I take a gander at his rank and name TORO: Okay A1C Slapnutz (name changed to protect the retarded), I'm gonna go back home and tell the OG/CC that I didn't make it to the recall because you felt a line badge was insufficient identification to get me onto base. COP: (Both neurons in his pea-brain firing wildly as he contemplates using common sense) Okay sir, I'll let you on this time, but don't let it happen again. Cops. If we didn't have 'em....we wouldn't need 'em.