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Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/25/2020 in all areas

  1. Fuck there's 4 verses? What the shit?!?
    6 points
  2. Baseops, like most military social circles, is an echo chamber of people who have never had their views confronted. You ever sit back and just let the irony that you all live and work in a socialist paradise wash over you? Once you're in, your job is secure (you face no chance of an immediate layoff, and the VAST majority of people can make it to 20-40 years if they want to), your healthcare is paid for, you get an affordable housing allowance based on your status in the system (oh and it changes based on where you are in America), you have a perception that budget doesn't matter (who cares how much that FHP or those TVs costs, just fly it and buy it so we get more money next year), you get basically guaranteed promotions that are based more on timing than on merit, you're handed a ridiculous retirement package that requires no self-involvement or contributions, the worst workers are paid the same as the best, you get paid when a pandemic causes you not to work at all for weeks, you get regular wage increases that keep up with or exceed inflation, you have 30 days of paid leave a year. The military organization keeps hundreds of thousands of people on payroll (in a money bleeding way) just in case they need them, paying them way more than the value we get out of them (the vast majority of the military is a self-licking ice cream cone when we aren't at real war). The military system is the antithesis to self-reliance, meritocracy, accountability, ROI, or profitability. But it sure is nice to be in it right now when the system out there isn't taking care of people.
    4 points
  3. All deaths on board will be recorded as Covid deaths. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    3 points
  4. I wouldn’t recommend that COA. I know a guy that did that and got absolutely crushed and several guys that got booted out of WIC for similar action in the last class.
    2 points
  5. I look forward to acting like I know the words and mumbling incoherently in rhythm at the next official event.
    2 points
  6. 1 point
  7. I’m sorry I thought this was America!!! *Cue South Park clip*
    1 point
  8. Anyone else who has a postponed interview due to coronavirus received any updates yet? Still standing by for status updates for mine. Got me like:
    1 point
  9. I've also seen this lead to delusions of grandeur for some prior military of what their "value" is worth when competing for jobs. This is especially true for my enlisted friends.
    1 point
  10. I did the long commute & flew to my unit for a couple of years. They paid lodging at a local hotel when I'd come in for drill, so that was covered. The first couple of times I'd just rent a car but trying to bomb in late Friday night made that kinda non-viable. I eventually bought a beater car, drove it there once (11 hours), and just left it parked on base. Would get an Uber from the airport when I landed, pick up my car, and hit the hotel. Not the best lifestyle, hope your time doing it is short!
    1 point
  11. Yeah don’t go anywhere... This green/red craziness CONUS/OCONUS stuff is just insane. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    1 point
  12. You’re waiving a bs flag at my college experience, one you don’t have any frame of reference to? Okay. At my school a few Poli Sci professors were attorneys, so unlike the peanut gallery of people who assume to the know the law, they actually did, unlike the Social Media Law School that most of the society apparently has recently gone to. According to this 2017 Pew Research Center Poll, Democrats are more educated than Republicans, with postgraduate experience being two-to-one ratio of Democrats to Republicans. Might explain why “it is a rare bird that doesn’t learn hard left.” Republicans apparently are not going to college. https://www.people-press.org/2018/03/20/1-trends-in-party-affiliation-among-demographic-groups/
    1 point
  13. I think that might belong in the WTF thread.
    1 point
  14. The following comes from the current application announcement: "An Air Reserve Component (ARC) candidate may be selected each year for TPS attendance based on AFTC and ARC requirements and candidate competiveness. An ARC TPS graduate will provide a minimum of 3 years of direct support to an active duty developmental test squadron upon graduation from TPS. An ARC candidate will contact AFMC/A3F and their respective advisor office to AFMC/CC if selected for TPS to determine the attendance funding and follow-on strategy. If a funding and follow-on solution are not achieved the ARC slot will be utilized by an active duty candidate." As of right now, attending TPS as a Guardsman is possible (was not the case a few years ago). You should also investigate the application requirements and the minimum qualifications. With those guides in mind, work hard to excel in your primary duties so that when you make known your desires with your supervisory chain, they will be willing to go to bat for you.
    1 point
  15. Half of NATO isn't even sure there is Chinese influence. They are happy to buy on to their Huawei 5G plans and belt and road initiatives. NATO isn't going to win us China. If we could convince Korea and Japan to get passed grievances and sign a tri-latteral, we would be like that meme of a dude walking with NATO but turning back and looking at the hot chick that is Japan/Korea (#5 and #6 on the Global Firepower Index). Regardless, both countries are still committed to working with us, just not with each other. What Germany, and most of NATO needs to realize about the US and NATO, is at the end of the day, states are going to serve their interest. The US interest in NATO has been declining since the fall of the Berlin wall. Without a clear purpose, the alliance doesn't really do anything for us. GWB tried to define this GWOT thing but it fell flat with some countries. Because we keep adding partners, the ability to provide clarity of purpose for the alliance gets convoluted. What may have been easy common ground to find among 16 nations in 1999 is really difficult among 30 members today. The people in the Alliance we are closest with, mainly France and the Five Eyes nations, we have other partnerships with that transcend NATO. I think 10K troops in the Pacific will do a lot more for us against China than 10K troops in Germany.
    1 point
  16. I dont know if theres a subtopic that this topic fits under so Im just posting this here. Here is my story of how I got picked up by a KC-135 ANG unit. Roughly 2.5 years ago, at the ripe young age of 28, I decided to pursue this thing with all that I had. I got started so late because, in my youth, I made some stupid decisions. At 19 I failed out of college (straight up just kind of stopped going). I really dont have a good reason for having this attitude. I just had little motivation, wanted to hang out with friends, work, and just do things my own way. In some respects, I feel like I only enrolled in college because everyone else I knew from my high school did. So I went with no real desire to be there with no regard for the consequences of doing so. Immaturity in its purest form. In the following 6 years, I was enlisted in the South Dakota Air National Guard as an AMMO troop. On the civilian side, I spent a year busting tires in a tire shop (1 year), then worked in a hotel front office (1 year). In 2014, fed up with making horrible wages, I went up to North Dakota and worked as a floorhand on a drilling rig. Money was great, the work was incredibly physical and dangerous, but I was finally making good money. After a year and a half, the price of oil went down the toilet, and my rig was stacked, and I was laid off. Then, in 2015, I found a job back in Western South Dakota near my hometown operating a bulldozer at a local bentonite mine. Somewhere along the way, I really started thinking about what I 'actually' wanted to do with my life. I knew running a bulldozer for 12 hours a day was not it. I enjoyed my time as an AMMO troop in the SDANG but, because I met my wife while 'deployed' to Korea in 2015, I opted out of reenlisting in 2016 so that I could move to Guam where she was stationed. After moving there, she was pregnant and done with her enlistment by 2017. This is when I really became interested in flying. My uncle, a former Naval aviator and retired Delta pilot, had always instilled an interest in aviation when I was younger but, through my ignorance, I truly believed I had just messed up my education beyond repair after failing out of school. (This is why I never even thought to look into the process of being a pilot while a member at the SDANG, an F-16 unit). But here I was; back in South Dakota, 28 years old, newly married with a young daughter and I knew if I was going to pursue this, I needed to go now. I was obviously incredibly discouraged at that time to find out that the age cutoff was 30, meaning that if I were going to be selected, then I would have to have been selected right there and then with no college education and no flight time. I had heard about the possiblility of age waivers and so, that was what I was going for. I reenrolled at a school that has an accelerated program shortly thereafter, began taking flight lessons, called the Ellsworth AFB Education/Training Center and scheduled the AFOQT and TBAS within the following 6 months. The best news about all of this was that the school I enrolled in actually doesnt take prior institutions GPA's into consideration, so I basically got a clean sheet. Probably better news was the age was bumped up from 30 to 33 last year which, to me, was the biggest relief and it made me realize that this was truly doable and lifted some of the weight off of my shoulders of the notion of a fruitless pursuit. I turned 30 last June and the time from 28 to 30 have been the busiest years of my life. I work 50 hours a week, go to school more than full time (amounts to about 20 credit hours per regular semester), fly as much as weather and finances permit, and try to be a somewhat present husband and father. I finally reached 90 credits this January, and started applying to units in February. I was obviously missing a Bachelors (will complete in August) and a PPL but, some units are stingier than others on prerequisites. I made a spreadsheet in which I mapped out every ANG unit in the country that has a flying mission and gave everyone of them a call (believe me, they dont all post on Bogidope). I got ahold of a few chief pilots, many recruiters, and left many messages requesting information about upcoming UPT boards. I got a text back the next week that literally read: "(Name) here, give me the basics; age, AFOQT scores, PCSM, degree, GPA, flight time." So I did and the following text he sent me about floored me. He said "Can you be here for an interview on March 7?" At this point, Im pretty stunned, so I called the guy. Wondering who this guy was, and who had the authority to invite me to an interview through a text message, I asked him what his position was and he said "Im the Chief pilot here." I replied emphatically that I wouldnt miss the interview for the world. Long story short, I am at the the interview this past weekend and they ask the one question I knew they would: "Its very obvious that you're passionate about this and that youve worked really hard the last couple of years to achieve this, but where was this drive and determination 10 years ago?" I looked him right in his eyes and said "Thats a great question. It wasnt there. I wish I could make up some excuse as to why I started this pursuit so late but I cant. I was a clown in my earlier years. I didnt take anything seriously and had no regard for the consequences of my actions. Full disclosure, because my transcripts dont show it, I actually failed out of college at 19. But life has a way of knocking you down and making you grow up and, after the last ten years of working full time, I realize the value of taking my education seriously. It is already paying dividends because I wouldnt even be at this interview if I hadnt started taking things seriously. I cant change the past but I hope that the last two years show you guys that I am serious about this." Overall, the interview went well. It was much more relaxed than I imagined and I got along really well with the other candidates. I wished them all luck, and just tried to realize that we were all here trying to achieve our dream. I just made it a point to be myself, be humbled, socialize and just be completely transparent about my mistakes and my journey up to that point. I found out two days ago (Just three days after the interview) that I had been selected. My offer is contingent on me completing my bachelors and PPL by the end of the year. So, while there is still tons of work to do, I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be given my dream job and will certainly be meeting those two contingencies. I want to thank everyone on this forum for sharing their insight and knowledge on the multitude of topics that this process entails. Im certain I will be referring to it in the near-future. This place is a great resource for anyone pursuing a career as an AF/ANG pilot. Lastly, though it sounds incredibly cliche, dont give up. I felt that at times I was never going to make it. The doubt definitely got to me at times that I had started too late, or screwed up too bad or, that I missed my opportunity and am too old. But, as the email I got from the Chief Pilot the other day states, my "ticket is punched." FWIW, here are is what my numbers were on the date of my interview. Nothing special thats for sure: Age: 30 AFOQT P:90, Nav: 78, AA: 55, V: 68, Q:48 PCSM: 72 w/14 flight hours. GPA: 2.93
    1 point
  17. Now, all of those women who weren't joining the Air Force because of that blasted 3rd verse of the song will decide to become Airpersons. Mission-critical issue solved. Leadership at its finest.
    1 point
  18. Let’s just get rid of it all together.
    1 point
  19. Never been a UPT instructor but I always hated UPTs system and felt anything could be better. The more and more I recollect on my experience there, the AF never taught me to fly. They handed me a book, a disk full of CDs and a syllabus and I taught myself how to fly, after which my progress was graded by an "instructor." (This is not a knock on IPs, they are great Men and Women who do the best with the tools they are allowed.) My understanding is UPT NEXT uses new technology in the VR and sim spaces to increase repetitions before students get in the plane. Working off my perception of how UPT was, it makes sense that if you give the students better tools to teach themselves you will get a better product.
    1 point
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