FireMission

To answer the OP question: The opportunities are different. Non-rated will get the opportunity to command as others pointed out sooner in your career. You also have the opportunity to command Mx Groups or Mission Support Groups / Squadrons, or Air Base Wings or other random billets. However, you will not command a flying wing or ops group / squadron unless you are a rated officer. As far as other opportunities -- look at bios of random senior air force leaders and then see how many of them are non-rated. You will notice that the non-rated guys appear to be in the minority. BL: It all depends on what you want to do and why. The more separated you become from the flight line the more separated you are from the USAF's mission..... and the mission is where the opportunities are IMHO.

Good question? Why do people try to hang out and avoid going outside until after retreat is sounded? Or, why do they hang out inside of the doorway waiting for the national anthem to play before going outside? Wouldn't it be more respectful to go outside, salute, then go on to your car?

If you really want to know what he thinks about leadership then read his book. You can download the PDF from AU Press... check chapter 5 about building leaders. http://aupress.au.af.mil/bookinfo.asp?bid=32

I had a lot of old bookmarks and links that are no good now too. I think (not 100% sure) that they've moved a lot of that stuff onto the portal. I think I remember seeing an AFFSA Community of Practice on the portal too.

FAIL. You're missing the point of this thread.

When getting a briefing downrange, or at the 'Deid and briefers pronounce the word "potable" as "pot-a-ble" (apparently because you can put the water in a pot). Straight from the dictionary -- Pronunciation: \ˈpō-tə-bəl\ or for those that don't understand that notation, it is pronounced, "pote-a-ble"

Anyone see any OPSEC concerns here? Spouting out current SCLs? Maybe I'm just sensitive (STS).

That quote had to stop right there.... The reason being (nsplayr I identify with your dilemma) is that at 1530 on a Friday 60% of some squadrons (read AFSOC) are just starting their flight duty period. The other 35% of the squadron is deployed (if not more), 3% of the squadron is TDY/Leave, and the remaining 2% are just too beat up to care about hanging out drinking with each other while everyone else is pre-flighting/briefing, etc. I'm just making up percentages to illustrate a point, but it is hard to do these things when everyone flies at night. Only a small few want to sit around after debrief and have another beer at 3am on Friday night.

If you read the almost 90 pages of this thread, you would see that this is exactly what people on this forum are talking about. The point here is that leadership is NOT thinking about IEDs and snipers. They are focused on the flip flops and reflective belts. Recommend you build some more SA on the discussion here.

I think if the Airmen at the bottom of the chain COMPLETELY understood the mission and its importance, then all the ranks in between would too. It's a failure of leadership that makes some people think that rule enforcement is their primary reason for being deployed. You can't say that it is communicated well.... a typical commander's party line is that everyone is important. When Airmen hear that kind of thing it just sounds like straight up rhetoric! That's it. Many commanders come across like a politician covering his/her bases, and are managers... not leaders. Leadership needs to be more involved in letting everyone know EXACTLY why what they do is important to the war. They also need to realize that while all are important, some may be more important than others --- just a hard truth. For example: while the NCO working the DFAC to superivise TCNs is important to getting troops fed, thus keeping the flight line operating, thus killing bad guys. However, if he or the DFAC went away, lifestyle would only be harder, but the war wouldn't stop. We'd all eat MREs, etc.

Yes it works... though hanging your arm out the window isn't necessary for us. I also brought it to the chamber with me last time I went. The manual advertises an accuracy of +/- 60 feet IIRC, but I've noticed it is more like +/- 150 feet

How about when you see flight docs w/ an air medal just by logging time as pax... i mean ACM.

Just curious... what was the argument/sticking point that made the FEB keep you around? Was it the improper syllabus implementation as you mentioned earlier?

Just got a copy from amazon.com. I've already read about half of the engagements. Excellent first person stories (for the most part) from guys who are MiG killers.

I imagine that the original post in question should have said, "Doing CAS from OTBH." rather than at OTBH. If you were just feigning confusion, then I imagine you are just trying to stir the pot by comparing the CAS sorties being launched downrange versus CAS sorties launched from OTBH. But anyways, yes, CAS is done by assets at OTBH.