Standby

Makes sense that attrition was higher when everybody flew the T-38.

Whatever you say dude. You left the white jet world 5 years ago and it sounds like you did so with a chip on your shoulder. Of the T-38 CRs I have loose knowledge about, all but the internationals were eliminated or deferred to other training pipelines. I can't speak for all of UPT but I know at our base the standard is just that. You clearly believe that a large portion of recent T-38 graduates did so without meeting CTS. Maybe it's time to re-blue and show us how to actually grade these kids and demonstrate what honest CTS looks like. Side note: since when did IFF students get Form 8s?

When a T-38 student graduates from SUPT, he can fly instruments and formation per CTS as directed in syllabus. If said student magically forgets how to do these things at IFF, they should be washed out. Don't make this into an argument regarding the quality of instruction because a fucking monkey could develop these skills even in the shortened syllabus using YouTube and some words of encouragement. The burden of training FIGHTER pilots rests soundly on the shoulders of the IFF and FTU courses. The commanders of those units are also fighter pilots. You (11Fs in training command) are the gatekeepers of your community, choke yourself if your wingman can't figure out how to fly wings level parallel to flight lead in the ops squadrons because the buck was passed by your peers several times over.

A lot of emphasis here on SUPT T-38 training for future fighter pilots. You don't need a fighter or bomber pilot to teach T-38 rejoins or tactical. MIF is MIF. There is a reason why IFF exists. If the product after the FTU is shit, you have nobody to blame but the 11F community. Only 11Fs teach at IFF and FTU.

Which courses tag you with an S prefix and increase your deployment opportunity?

^^^this x1000. The S2V is by far the best boot I’ve worn. The heels wear out somewhat fast but I’ll buy them over and over.

It’s all in good fun - cheers!

Calling total fucking bullshit on this. We all know the type of culture that existed in the Block 10 days and while it may have been fitting at the time, I'm certain that even the greybeards who came back in leadership capacities were glad to see that it had changed. Facts are facts: UPT direct accessions changed the age distribution, the program became more inculcated into the normal AFSOC hierarchy, and the "cowboy" culture disappeared. What remained was a more highly skilled group of aviators who knew when to push it up and how to do it properly. You know damn well the type of skeletons that linger in the U-28 closet and a lot of those black eyes haven't been seen recently which is for the better.

https://www.e-publishing.af.mil/ AFMAN 11-217V1 for instrument rules. 11-202V3 for basic flight rules. Each MAJCOM has its own supplement but the parent reg should get you started.

I used to think that. Seems like it is working well for Air Force pilot retention. If you want people to stay, treat them like (valued) people and make it about them when practical. Practical as of late should mean all the damn time.

If you play into that game it’s your fault.

My thought: $1.2B for 12 old airplanes...what a steal. If only we had purchased more Raptors when they were $140M a copy.

Good god...best piece of literature I’ve read this entire year. Finally some news I can rally around.

Realistically, you both won’t get Raptors or F-35s. It’s easier if you both are stellar student pilots because the drop can be worked appropriately. Biggest piece of advice is to pick an airframe with lots of assignment potential and not limited on training slots. If you haven’t already done so, you both need to sit down and come up with three COAs: 1) you’re both great and have reasonable certainty for assignment preference 2) one of you is good and the other isn’t 3) you both suck. UPT is an environment where timing is everything but the squadron leadership has a much larger impact on assignments than naive 20-something-year-olds generally believe.