Leaderboard

Another piece of intel I was able to get from AFPC. Typically, the board receives about 300 applicants per year, this year they received 250.

WHO will end research into 'extremely unlikely' theory that COVID-19 originated in Wuhan lab "The investigators have visited hospitals, research facilities and the seafood market where the first outbreak was identified, although their contacts in Wuhan are limited to visits organized by their Chinese hosts." I feel so much better...

I have .000069% hope that it'll be released tomorrow.

If AFPC only understood that the sooner we find out, the sooner we can continue to be productive at work 😂 @takingamessage I 100% relate to your message. I’m sure we’re all on the same boat thinking how we could’ve made our apps more competitive.

I'll be completely honest, I'm sweating mostly because I didn't do my best work. Fact is, my PCSM is coming in below average compared to last year for Pilot, but above average for the rest of the positions - but I wouldn't rate my odds of accepting another position high. I'm in this not entirely unique but uncommon position of having been a UPT med-dq re-applying to go back. Of course, that's captured in my form, personal letter, LOR etc which I would say overall are pretty solid. But for some reason, I let myself be convinced that for that reason I didn't need to re-do my TBAS or AFOQT since 1) they were good enough the first time and 2) I was afraid of taking them and getting a lower score. Now I'm beginning to think I probably counted too much on my prior-UPT experience and whole package, and probably should have put more emphasis on the score itself. Of course it's too late now, but I'm hoping this doesn't become that thing I always look back to as an example on why it doesn't pay to become complacent. Not that anyone asked... just venting to get those nerves out! Edit: on rereading this I'd like to emphasize this ain't a pity party. Just recognizing that I'm sure lots of us are having last minute "what if" thoughts. I will emphasize that any failure is mine and mine alone, of course. And any failure is a growth opportunity and all that good jazz.

Barely missed? His own vice president shot him down. He lost in every court his legal team entered. It's amazing how we always seem to be on the precipice of catastrophe, yet never fall over the edge. Perhaps we're not as close as our emotions, and political puppeteers, lead us to believe.

I wish that's how it worked! Essentially I was told that applying at 26/27 (interview was just after my birthday) that it didn't show dedication, and I should've been applying 3 or 4 years ago. The applicant pool has gotten much more competitive especially with ROTC being allowed to go straight to guard now, so I was only in the top half of applicants he said. He was a prior enlisted crew chief as well, I thought I had a good shot, but obviously not a guarantee. I was told to do some soul searching and consider active duty because at my age it'll be hard to get fighters. Feels real bad man, but getting the VT interview definitely has my hopes at fighters back in the reality realm so I'm chugging on. I absolutely agree though, that they don't owe me a thing. I was given a job, a valuable trade skill, free education, and two bonuses in my enlisted career, they've given me a lot already.

How in the world did she even make E-9??? Never mind, I know why, forget I asked. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Optics. Can't preach diversity then remove your diversity hire only a few months in. Or less than a full month into the Biden administration, which also ran on a platform of diversity.

I doubt anti-vax theories running wild in the Republican base is solid theory for the disparity. More likely in my mind is a general difference in the perceived level of risk of the actual virus and a good dose of tribal politics on top of that. "The risk is overblown by left wing media" turns into "the risk is actually very low." The left was jumping up and down about how getting a vaccine out anytime soon was impossible not three or four months ago. So now that they're pushing it, the tribal instinct is to fight back regardless of the logic or illogic behind it. I'm actually curious what the narrative would be if Trump had actually won the election.

This still leaves a big out for them to not release tomorrow. I'll feel a lot better about release date once something is put on the Rated AF Portal page. Here's to hoping we find out tomorrow and being prepared for another delay.

Capt-- I’m just waiting on final approval to release the PSDM. I’ll release it as soon as I get the approval…hopefully by tomorrow. Cheers, Chris

She'll be popular due to a failure of our institutions to protect the American Dream for regular citizens, rise because she is willing to say politically unpopular things that alienate her from the establishment but ingratiate her with her base, use social media to bypass the usual structures and speak directly to her followers, lack any sort of real understanding of the system she wishes to change, continually say things that are factually wrong, not offer a face-saving route for her opposition to side with her, and ultimately fizzle out because she can't make the transition from activist to diplomat and appeal to a broad spectrum of voters.

At some point people will realize she's the (D) version of Trump. I suspect her political fortunes will be similar.

How did you make it 20 years in the military?

You forgot reflective belts...

"Ta-Ra-Ra-BOOM-Dee-Aey" (She said) Okay, so let's configure our ideal spacecraft, which carries people - even though they don't have to go. Mine would include: (One) - iPad or equiv. sized computer (to run everything, and tell those pesky humans to shut up when needed) (Two) - COVID-19 protective masks, to be work concurrently (maybe three if it's 2023 or later) (Unlimited) - Piddle packs, as a toilet (head, for you seaworthy fellows) will not be installed Please feel free to add anything you like to my starter list

Have we sacked the guy responsible for the sacking?

LOL the rated page still isn't updated.. It sucks waking up across the pond trying to figure out what happened. Deep breaths everyone. Good stuff about the slots!

You have to do both. AF needs to do exit interviews of a pilots leaving (all would be great), and take that information to build a model. And then continue to do exit interviews to assess the model and correct it if needed. Or even better, survey why pilots leave AND why they stay (maybe every year when you your flight records review, or every other year, or at "critical" points in your career) You need a model, because it's difficult to sort through reams of responses to figure out what's wrong. And even if you can extract data from it, it's frigidly to determine what factors are correlations versus causal. And without a model, it gets near impossible to see how two or more factors interact to create new correlations or causal interacting factors. Problem is that the AF isn't really doing the surveys, so their model may not be accurate. Or maybe it is reasonably accurate, but they don't take action for one reason or another (limited budget, statutory requirements, or don't care). Maybe the retention model shows that given the limits on the AF, they can't fix pilot retention and can only slow the bleeding, and the only viable solution is to increase pilot production and accept the situation for the next 10 years.

@takingamessage glad to see we're all being relaxed and professional about this. While refreshing the portal and the forum on the minute and getting no work done at all this AM.

Sorry bout that, thought we sacked the guy responsible for those.

I'm just urging to see how Wednesday becomes Monday next week, and becomes March, and becomes 2022.

Loose/open vs tight/closed cultures goes the other way than what you're thinking. You could have a strong sense of self worth and be in a tight culture/closed society; those aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. Here's a couple pretty decent articles on it: https://behavioralscientist.org/tight-and-loose-cultures-a-conversation-with-michele-gelfand/ https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/loose-vs-tight-societies A tight cultures tends to resist change. It has stronger ("tighter") social norms that it holds to be important, and punished those who break those rules. Life's good if you buy into the cultural norms, but sucks if you have different views, even if they are logical or could be justified. The benefit though is you have a strong social connection and baseline, so it's very easy to identify threats to your culture and respond to those threats quickly (the society already has buy in to respond, whether it's tacit or overt approval). Some examples of tight cultures would be Pakistan, China, and Japan. A loose culture tends to tolerate or accept change. It has weaker ("looser") social norms, and it's more tolerant of social rules being broken. So generally, the culture is more accepting of outside ideas. Great for creativity, invention, and innovation. But since there's less consensus on right and wrong, it makes it very hard for that society to identify threats to the society. Examples of loose cultures include the US, Australia, and NZ. That's not to say one is "better" than the other, but there's trades that are made within a society. Think of it as multiple sliding scales on different issues. Plus, open societies/loose cultures can respond to threats quickly. For example, US response to 9/11 was pretty much instantly unifying with a fairly rapid response.

Just got around to reading that article. Lengthy for sure but well worth the read. I’ve never agreed with the folks out there who claim widespread voter fraud, voting machine manipulation and the other various conspiracy theories. I voted for Trump and I recognize that he lost but not for those reasons. I do believe there was a calculated effort to defeat him using a combination of the main stream media, big tech, social media, Hollywood, unions, big business and the dem party. This article details those coordinated efforts. They held nothing back and they won. The playbook they used in the election is really no different at all in their everyday push to move progressive issues forward. It’s exactly what frustrates and disenfranchises conservatives every single day. You have to give the dems credit. They never take their foot off the gas.

I just emailed Chris and he said the CC release got pushed until wednesday

Listed at 3.8 million so the AF price would probably be 5.8 million a tail but even at that cost replacing the 178 Jayhawks in service today would come to 1.03 billion, spread that over 5 FYs. Fight like hell heavy aviators to keep a decent advanced trainer for heavy / crew tracked students or the Bobs are going to take your red stapler and put you in the basement with a can of roach spray. If by some miracle a follow on to the T-1 comes about, call it the Swingline and paint it red

Nobody cares about Burma.

Did all of the available B-1 fleet at Dyess get generated for the one in the flyover?

I used to have a civilian job before I decided one day to apply for an OTS pilot slot. I don’t know your background, but to those here that have only known the Air Force as a job in their adult lives (or a kush airline pilot gig afterwards that was enabled by your AF job), I would caution that the civilian world isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, it can be unimaginable doldrums where entire years run together into the same memory, and then you die. Even a non-flying AF job has more excitement than 99% of the jobs out there. It’s like an Air Force staff job, except that the things you’re doing are not important whatsoever. Maybe at staff you’re just a cog in the military machine (“Why am I working on Afghanistan stuff, we shouldn’t even be there. Balancing this stupid $690m budget”) but as an average civilian you’re more like a cog on a worn out typewriter that has already been donated to Goodwill and no one’s told you. You’re certainly not doing stuff that kids would be interested in during career day. Plus the constant financial stress of things like a recession, COVID, and company underperformance that has nothing to do with you. Some kind of Neutron Jack comes in and deletes entire divisions overnight, college grads first. Civilian workers are cast offs and liabilities that take money directly from their bosses wallets. Your Air Force boss might be an asshole, but not like that. All I’m saying is the grass ain’t greener, and I wouldn’t stop any of my kids from joining the military. Well maybe except the Army.

In the AF there is a culture of pretending a SGT of any sorts is superior to an officer under the rank of O-6, and if they are an E-8/9 then maybe even more authority than an O-6. It’s perpetuated across career fields and weak officers let it happen. They even support it by telling young officers they need to shut up and listen to the Sgts. I’m sure you have already noticed, that compared to the Navy and USMC, authority is non existent in the Air Force below the wing commander level. A piece of paper stamped by an A1C holds more merit than the command authority granted to most “commanders.” The need for a squadron commander to ask “mother may I” through the group and wing CC, and in some cases to a star (like covid ETPs), is absurd.

But we all spent 14 days in Q-town quarantine, so we should all be good to go, right? Or were we just wasting our lives sitting in that mold infested, shithole?

Suck it Putin. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/air-force-secretly-acquired-russian-153600585.html

Oh, we're back to normal?!? Sweet, I hadn't heard!

His "chance to talk," was a random, unannounced FB post. None of this impacts me, I'm just calling like I've seen it go down so many times over my career. His post reads like he knows (or thinks) it's not going to be well received and is trying to get ahead of it. Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised. Patton would be fired 10x over in todays overly PC military, likely after he told his bosses we're fighting this war like a bunch of idiots. If we're paying our generals to win wars, we should probably take some of that money back.

That speech is full of so many bullshit false maxims and buzzwords I want to puke. The truth is many people think the Air Force is okay, but not the best. It’s not just awesome or soul crushing for the majority of folks. Which means there is a legitimate need to consider the entire picture when deciding on service. Many people can also make significant money outside of the Air Force. And they wouldn’t have to put up with holier than thou generals saying that you shouldn’t consider any amount of money in your calculations for your future, when money determines what kind of future you and your family will have. The talk about no amount of money being worth your life is also bullshit. Most of us will not come into actual significant physical danger during our jobs. And everyone knows that. When you sign the bonus, the vast majority of folks aren’t worried about being shot down or crashing, because, truth be told, those are extremely improbable. I’ve been on multiple fighter deployments, and, truth be told, I was often more worried about missing out on time with my family than the threats. His post, when broken down, says that you should not be worried about compensation whatsoever, because the job is so much more important. His post, when broken down, is such a poor argument that it could just as easily be applied to say that flight pay shouldn’t exist. That tricare shouldn’t exist. That BAH tax status shouldn’t exist. Why should the military provide any benefits whatsoever to career military officers other than job stability? Why don’t we stop paying doctors bonuses as well? Why should anyone actually ever make more than basic needs? His post, when broken down, debases the very pragmatic fact that, while almost all of us serve with a large amount of patriotism and nationalism in our hearts, we have to also simultaneously be preparing ourselves and our families for retirement. Because serving our country realistically means we are giving up the other high-performing lives we could live. Im predicting a short sighted decision that will backfire laughably when the dynamic reverses in 2 years.

My violence is "principled", and your violence is "terrorism". Protest should make people uncomfortable....unless those people are elected representatives of the people, in which case it is illegal.

I think that's the new administration's plan.

I cannot not handle this stress for two more days...sigh. Thanks for the update!

https://local12.com/news/nation-world/snow-removal-dispute-leads-to-double-murder-suicide-in-pennsylvania-cincinnati-goys-spaide https://photos.smugmug.com/Mobile-uploads/i-sZQNsVC/0/78733bc6/640/received_170185234600466_mp4-640.mp4

Sorry guys but this isn't really up for debate. Trump will go down as one of if not the worst president in US history. The longer you deny that or make mealy-mouthed statements about how his SC picks were pretty good or how he didn't actively start a new war, the longer you will look like an ignorant fool. Send me your address and I'll ship you 15 more punisher/Molon labe stickers for the back window of your sweet truck. The best parts of trumps presidency were when he stuck perfectly to a script or when he did absolutely nothing. Anything he actively involved himself in went to shit almost immediately.. including but not limited to: the border wall, immigration in general, covid, saudis murdering a journalist, not being a sexual predator and hanging out with them, the election, Iran, literally anything having to do with the climate, literally anything having to do with race, his own family business, nepotism, any public speaking event ever, his own taxes, public health guidance, respecting people in the military, being tethered to reality etc.. etc.. etc... He got three Supreme Court picks.. wow amazing. Now tell me, is that more luck and timing and having a Congress that green-lit them for you or is that just trumps brilliance? I bet it was the former because his own SC picks didn't seem to think he was too brilliant when he brought them nonsensical election fraud allegations. I would never argue with you over the fact that most politicians are phony and will lie to get ahead. But there's only one politician in my life and in my parents life and in my grandparents life who denied fair election results right up until the moment his followers invaded the capitol, killed people, and endangered our elected officials who were actively working to certify that election. It literally took the entire world standing still, looking at America, and wondering, "are they about to implode in a civil war" for this damaged egomaniac to back down. I'm 1000000% with @Homestar on this one. Trump was bad on a different level. If one good thing came out of his presidency, it's that his treasonous antics separated the principled conservatives from the droves of bandwagoning celeb-obsessed trash, and maybe that will allow a healthier conservative movement to happen in the future.