brabus

Consider the extra time, money, and depot absorption limfacs to push normal phase externally. Unlikely to be a palatable Plan A. The most cost effective and efficient way forward is likely in the realm of building HAS with weather driving the design (as lawman pointed).

The guard and reserve do plenty of fighting, not sure where this idea keeps popping up that AD is the only way to "get into the fight." I know several AD Lt Cols who have never been to war...shitty timing, nothing they could do about it. I don't think this desire should steer you one direction or another...luck and timing will play out whether you're on AD or in the ARC.

The best advice I ever received on AD was from a SQ/CC who is a great dude, pilot, and officer...he was also a HPO on the rocket ship, and he got there without wearing a single knee pad or being anyone's bitch boy. He is the type of person who the AF should promote to senior leadership, so they got it right at least once. That all said, here he sat as a HPO SQ/CC with a "bright" future (and he has gone on to do great things), telling me I hit a fork in the road at my UPT commitment. He painted his career path so far, then what it could be in the guard. He then unequivocally told me I should without a doubt get off the train at that stop and not be "trapped" into said track like he was. Best decision I ever made, and I'm thankful every day he gave me that talk early enough that I hadn't made any decisions yet that may have hurt my ARC options. Bottom line, when a dude like that is saying these things, you're only hurting yourself by not listening...and this was 5 years ago, things have mostly gone downhill since.

At least for us, mostly hanging around the squadron and talking to guys who have time. You'll find most guys will introduce themselves and make conversation if they're not busy. Don't be awkward and sit quietly in the corner - introduce yourself to dudes, but have SA on what's going on and don't insert yourself into a conversation/start talking to a dude who's obviously busy doing work. If there's a lunch push, go on it. Maybe someone will have time to show you a jet, but I wouldn't ask for it. Your goal is to meet people and get a feel for the unit, while we're trying to get a feel for who you are as a person and assess if you mesh with us definitely/maybe/not at all. Be yourself and go with whatever direction each conversation goes. You'll probably answer the same questions 10 times, mostly indirectly focused around "tell me about yourself" type questions.

VLPAD has opened up a lot of options (likely what Evil was referencing with the 3 yr Kadena assignment). I've seen multiple Viper guys stand their ground and get exactly what they wanted with AFPC - location they want with caveats in their favor (i.e. no non-vol deployments). As long as that program or variations exist, there will be good options to do a lot of 3 year assignments elsewhere if one chooses to do so. You also have an option to do operational test later on if you're looking for a few years change of pace (and you're the right guy for the job).

For starters, Draken's L-159 is better than a Viper in a few ways (and way better than a T-X). At a very basic level, an ADAIR jet without a good radar has limited effectiveness. ADAIR companies are already putting together 4th gen fighters with radar, datalink, EA suites. They will do it cheaper/more effective than the government could ever dream to do. Again, I think the government itself will be very limited in providing good ADAIR support until the LVC concept is actually useful (and that's a long time from now).

There's far more to adversary rep than a nice EA pod. You can't make good threat rep with just a pod - it takes several more components. And that's why the T-X in it's current state is not a great ADAIR platform. Perhaps contract ADAIR is the only good solution until solid LVC training is reality.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the AF make the T-X ADAIR at some point, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. T-38 ADAIR is barely useful (i.e. better than nothing, but that's about it). Now if those guys had jets with a respectable radar, better EA, and ability to legitimately rep adversary weapons/tactics, then it would be a lot better. Still doesn't meet 5th gen adversary needs, but better than what currently exists.

Valid, but the "I'm making shitloads of money with two retirements!" isn't going to happen if you're not going to 55 or near there. If you punch at 12, you still have to make up 8 years somewhere to get the AD retirement, then you still have to work enough GS time to be "worth it." So essentially you have to put in 13 more years (8 AGR+5 GS) to get both, and that 5 GS isn't going to be that much retirement, or at least not worth it for most people to do 25 years of total service. If you're a guy who wants to do 20 and go to airlines or other similar paying job, that 20-25 year period of service is going to be nowhere close to making up for your lost earning potential outside of government work. If your intrinsic value of service is worth enough to stomach an "extra" 5-10 years of GS time (i.e. 25-30 years of service), then more power to you, but that doesn't seem to apply to the majority of people. I think the GS thing can work for some people, but its an entirely different animal than most people first realize (myself included). I'm not a "bail to the airlines ASAP" guy, but after getting more insight into it, and having been a GS for the last 1+ years, its not nearly what its cracked up to be for many reasons. I'm not saying guys are idiots for going that path, but there's a reason many of us are only looking at AGR options for long term (GS is fine for a short period). I have a lot of friends +/- a couple years of my year group, and I don't know any that are planning on long term GS for retirement purposes.

I suppose anything is possible, but I'd say near 0% chance that'll happen, nor should money/time necessarily be spent on such an endeavor (in relation to other requirements).

Except the T-X doesn't fit the bill for ADAIR reqs. Firstly it doesn't have a radar, but even if it did, it's still a 4th gen adversary. We really need 5th gen ADAIR, or at least "4.5 gen" (e.g. more shit than this T-X could probably support). But that said, if it had a decent radar and ability to legitimately rep adversary HMS and weapons, it wouldn't be a bad thing...doubt we'll see that happen. Contract ADAIR is likely going to be the solution for a long time.

Still not worth it - it'd be a sortie spent doing very low yield training...guys can't even fly tactical formation or not fuck up other basic admin shit out of IFF. They need to unfuck those problems before even thinking about AR training. In a perfect world where those problems are solved, then I think you have a good idea, but still doesn't require an AR system on the T-X.

Reasonable points, but I think the most honest answer is it depends vastly on the state (guard) and the wing (guard or res). Some states are handing out step 7 with a bonus like free candy, other states/wings will start you at step 1 no bonus regardless of your quals. Our HRO is even denying step increases to weapons officers and OGV, because "what do they do that deserves a step increase? Denied!" I've been in a squadron with a reserve presence where I'd say quite possibly some of the most important/influential Maj/Lt Col fighter pilots work and they were making less money as ARTs than I did as a new Capt in 2012...I shit you not. So while there may be specific "decent" deals out there in the GS system, there are probably far more shitty deals. I doubt this will change until wings and HROs get their craniums out of their asses. The big "IF" to always consider too is will an individual honestly be willing to do this job until 55? I thought it sounded awesome when I was a Capt, but it took only a few months of working around a couple of those guys to realize there's no fucking way I was going to do that...I didn't know if I would eventually decide to go airlines, work for LM, or any other host of non-mil related jobs, but I knew that guy was not who I wanted to be (and not because they're bad dudes). To each their own, but this a significant piece of the puzzle that every person has to do some serious thinking about.

I hope it's not true they want to add AR to IFF...the AF has cut/is cutting horrendous amounts of training and producing lack luster products, but somehow we have time to add AR into the syllabus. Even if we we're healthy and producing pilots like we did years ago, I'd still say AR in IFF is a waste of resources. Not to mention the bigger question of which tanker units are going to support this...there are guys coming out of B-Course without AR because of tanker availability, now they think IFF will magically find tanker support? Guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Not worth it. If that's all thats available at the unit a guy wants, then I'd take it initially to get in the door, but I wouldn't plan on that for the long term/retirement purposes. 1. The GS system is filled with bullshit of the worst kind - a perfect example of govt bureaucracy and agonizing idiocy. 2. Who wants to work in the AF until they're 55 to get a retirement that you won't get paid until 60 (or maybe slightly earlier if you run it down with deployments, etc.) To really have a shot at two retirements, you're going to have to buy back your AD time (yeah I didn't want that $15K in my savings account anyways, can I please give it to the govt!) 3. Airlines aside and only comparing AD to FERS retirement, you have to live until around 80 at min before the FERS retirement starts netting you more money than an AD retirement in your early to mid 40s. And personally once I'm 80, I don't really give a shit about that paycheck...I would rather have been 42-45, start getting that check and living life/having experiences that I can look back at when I'm 80. Bottom line, the GS thing works out for that guy who joined in 1990 as a permanent GS and is still slogging along. That guy's life choice is great for him, but I think the majority of people are not looking for that lifestyle, especially for marginal pay and a very late retirement (compared to AD). Bring in the airline pay, and its laughable. I don't remember the details, but a break in service does have consequences, and you might be right about the BRS thing. Bottom line, do not have a BIS if you're going to punch to the ARC.