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Maybe save the "Been rejected by a lesbian in a lesbian bar" story for when you are actually having beers. You can PM me if you need feedback. I have reviewed your application in the past.

Maybe it’s not your stats that is the issue. Most units are looking at the whole person. Maybe you don’t interview well or not a fit with the units you’ve interviewed with. Try to learn something from each interview, ask for feedback, and try to improve on the areas where they felt you had a shortfall. Look internally and see what you can do to improve.

FIFY. Yeah, of course we don't want them anywhere near it...I'm just pointing out the massive fail that is IT in the AF. If there was money on the line we'd have competent dedicated IT support who would make shit happen, and do it correctly...unfortunately this is the government so the people out there with skin in the game are the ones who have to take care of themselves. I've been through PIT twice, most recently a year ago, and it was a vastly different environment than the first time circa 2011. There were O-5s scheduling in the flights, 9-3 everyday, total good deal. Now not so much, you won't find an IP just sitting in the flight room, they're either flying, briefing, debriefing, or sitting ops sup/SOF...or they're attached staff....or most recently being the lowest paid AF IT techs making VR sims. Dudes are pulling 12 hr days, double/triple turning, and generally trying to keep the system alive and the product good. Is doing PIT at UPT bases doable...sure, but it still requires time, money, resources, and people. At the end of the day all this boils down to is the AF has and will continue to lower standards to make more pilots because that is what makes the spreadsheet turn green.

Why would they? It might be happening but, just to remind everyone here, it's the exception, not the rule. So, unless your application is really awesome, most unit's probably aren't going to pursue one. Scores really aren't enough on their own, either. When we get 100 applications, I would say at least half of them have really good scores. So now I need to find another way to pick 12 or so people to invite to an interview. So I read through maybe the top 20 or so based on scores, GPA, maybe some other factors, and really try to figure out what kind of person you are by reading your cover letter, your letters of recommendation, and seeing what you have accomplished over the years. Then, we'll narrow it down to a dozen people or so and send out invites. My best advice is to try and find a way to make your application stand out and grab my attention. I honestly dont care how it's prepared but it should be neat and orderly, but no need to spend much money on it. It sucks when reading through the top 20 applications and they all read the same. Good scores, good GPA, and guess what? All letters of recommendation sound the same. When reading your cover letter, I honestly don't care what you type about why you want to fly with us. It could all just be bullshit that you just researched online the night before. I think it'd be awesome to see a cover letter, in bullet format, telling me about all the cool things you have done, the stuff the doesn't have a place on a resume. The stories you would tell your bros over a beer. And don't be a douche. These are all random thoughts after having a few beers. I encourage everyone to keep applying, no matter the odds. Age waivers are not common and I wouldn't expect a Squadron to be willing to work one, but you never know. You're application is really going to have to stand out and even then it's still a long shot. Use this information to make the best decision you can if you want to get in this business. Maybe the UPT ship has sailed, but there are other options out there that can still be pretty cool.

IMHO I will give a enlisted POV. Lets say you have a 15 year TIS MSgt who is the go to guy for whatever Sq he is in, for the sake of argument a Aircraft MX Sq since that is my background. He is great at making sure today's schedule has jets to full fill the contracted request from Ops. Deploys more than his fair share and works the crummy shift . His troops are trained and ready. Now this same NCO gets called into the E-9's office to discuss his future, gets berated for not taking part in the Top 4 activities, not being at the last 4 years Xmas parties (deployed), no bake sales, and only going to PME graduations if he has a troop graduating. No Senior Rater endorsement for you. You leave the office thinking that guy is a douche bag and why the hell would I ever want to be a Chief. Then your thinking its going to be a long 5 years . Now the USAF has this option of the WO program, its a no brainer.

My theory is that it all boils down to a generational issue with leadership. Our current senior leaders and fossilized bureaucracy didn't grow up with technology however they have been exposed it enough and have seen its benefits over the last 20 years. When it comes to the execution and what kind of skills and resources are required, they're clueless for the most part. They understand that they pay Lock Mart or NG or Boeing some astronomical amount of money and years later something magical appears on the battlefield This magical thing is proprietary and doesn't talk to anything else it wasn't paid to talk to. Pretty soon we need a new magical thing and so the cycle continues. They're just starting to figure out that the pace and quality of commercial industry has outpaced the defense industry and there's a LOT of things that can be done on the small scale with COTS tech and so the new word of the day is "Innovation"! Everybody innovate! Perfect example: Electronic Flight Bags. Let's use a tablet to replace paper FLIP...makes perfect sense. The tablet brings exponential capability to the cockpit vs. a paper FLIP book, but it also comes with exponential support requirements. It takes a couple airmen to order the FLIP, open the boxes, and stock in on a shelf. To support an EFB program, it takes hardware, it takes software, it takes management of said hardware and software, it takes a network infrastructure, and it takes smart skilled people to properly configure, deploy and sustain it all. And oh by the way the local comm squadron has/wants nothing to do with it...so fail there. I listened to Goldfien talk on the WarontheRocks podcast...he was raving about how we can use inexpensive off the shelf simulators to help pilots chairfly. I'm thinking to myself, dude we had this 10 years ago! A guy in my UPT class built his own T-38 sim in his house....and here we are just now figuring this out. Better late than never, but the bottom line IMHO is we're headed full speed ahead in a direction the Bobs don't understand, and the technical knowledge and support requirements for this "innovation" is more so than ever, and will require us as a service to rethink our IT model...putting IT specialists back in the units, shit canning NIPR, leveraging the cloud, putting contractors in place to execute the innovation at the direction of the green bags....that's how we'll be successful.

Can I frame this and send it to you if Beto beats Cruz in November? 🍺 Speaking of MJ, don’t vote for her if you don’t like her policies, that’s fair enough. But good people can have a diverse array of political views. It shouldn’t be that she is “uneducated” or is a “rat” just because she is a Dem. If she’s legit a good person (and I don’t know, but seems that way), then she’s legit a good person, full stop, even if you disagree politically. I have several Republican friends who, if they ever ran, I would vote for over a hypothetical doucher entrenched Democratic incumbent who wasn’t doing the people’s work anymore. Not always an easy call when you differ substantially on policy, but leadership and character also matter in my book, and I will always give a good fair look to a fellow veteran regardless of party. Even my right-wing friends who I could not vote for are still good people, and I’d absolutely encourage them to get involved in leading the country. We need more good people in general and veterans in particular to step up and serve again. Food for thought.

I don't feel like it, can you give cliffs notes?

Communism. Not even once.

I'm confused. Are they the 1% or are they lowly minimum wage servants? I think you've completely forget that athletes have always been outspoken and played major roles in conversation about racial discrimination in our society. Jackie Robinson said he wouldn't sing the anthem or salute the flag because of the racism he faced in society. Jessie Owens wasn't outspoken publicly but he certainly contributed to the debate. Tommie Smith and the other black sprinter made the black power fist on the olympics to raise awareness about oppression. Mohammed Ali wouldn't go fight for America because a Vietnamese soldier never called him the n word. Pay attention, this has happened for decades. I bet you would love for them to shut up, but probably like to hear Ted Nugent's latest opinions on foreign policy on fox news each week, because he's more qualified than a Stanford educated athlete. Just say you don't agree with their views instead of taking the cowardly way out and refusing to even discuss the problem at it's merits. Athletes are raising awareness that unarmed black citizens, who are legally presumed innocent, are executed by police at a rate 2.5 times more frequently than white men. Why are you so scared to discuss that issue? Why are you saying that kneeling is more disrespectful than some guy who wants to use that precious symbol to decorate his sleeveless tap out shirt?

I turned off Good Kill when he turns right leaving Creech to return to Vegas.

^This. Plus not only this but more Q3s, more PIT IPs with ZERO prior T-6 instruction experience (though some of them actually have been our stronger IPs but for others its a challenge) and to top it all off we have CUT our syllabus by a substantial number. As for this tirade of utter crap, Read the above quote for why your getting a shittier product point the blame at big blue for inability to retain any one worth a damn. As for IPs deciding to limit their risk due to OBOGs / Smoking in the cockpit with some common sense restrictions versus tone deaf UPT bases deciding the meat packing must continue regardless of risk well you just showed your naivety and youthful ignorance there. I have had both smoke in my cockpit from our EFIS issue as well as OGOGs reduce my cognitive ability in half (Granted half of near zero isn't much). Just because you special education students (some of you not all I suspect) at the UPT base are willing to take the risk doesn't mean we are dumb enough too. Since the recent SIB release however alot more confidence has returned into the system and more importantly confidence that the issue has a resolution in sight, I suspect our restrictions will be removed shortly. ^Don't hate. Good deal police watch out here! To be honest for my first couple of years here at PIT I worked just as hard if not harder than at my UPT base. Now that I am nearing the end I've made the conscious decision to give minimal #$%^ and limit my day to the max extent possible.