Jump to content

Sad that the Guard has come to this...


Stiffler

Recommended Posts

Is the "AD-lite" mentality predominantly staying out of ANG units? Of course with the exception in this thread...

I would say it varies wildly depending on your leadership. When I first enlisted we did 30 day AEF's with a swapout at the 15 day point. Then it went to 30 no swap, then 45, now 60, the next is supposed to be 3-4 months no swap, with rumors of 6 months. If 6 month deployments happen, we will start to see a huge retention problems, which has generally never been a problem. Heck, at one point we had a 1 year waiting list to enlist.

We've gone from OPRs being another pain to accomplish to them now being scrutinized heavily. No one knew WTF an ODP was until this year. We are being briefed that if you want O-6, the criteria has changed big time. Need to hit 3 of 5 criteria (masters, joint command, In-residence PME, staff, can't remember the last one). I know one particular squadron who "highly encourages" getting a masters (their state pays for their masters, most do not). Medals have suddenly become a thing. Some states don't allow alcohol on base, no friday shirts, "morale" patch police. Also, coming to an ANG Wing near you...active duty WG/CC! Not a dude getting out of the AD to GO GUARD, but an AD O-6 doing a 2-3 year tour then moving on to his next AD assignment. This could be huge, I will be watching to see how it pans out. Overall, I we still have it pretty damn good, stories from bros and the endless stream of AD guys rushing our squadron are always a good reality check. Times are changing for sure, some good, some really bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, coming to an ANG Wing near you...active duty WG/CC! Not a dude getting out of the AD to GO GUARD, but an AD O-6 doing a 2-3 year tour then moving on to his next AD assignment. This could be huge

Ho-ly shit. That is not going to be good for anyone. In case you don't know, we have some real winners wearing O-6 rank on AD.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, coming to an ANG Wing near you...active duty WG/CC! Not a dude getting out of the AD to GO GUARD, but an AD O-6 doing a 2-3 year tour then moving on to his next AD assignment. This could be huge, I will be watching to see how it pans out.

Where did you here this? Never heard anything like this ever mentioned. Fighter thing?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would say it varies wildly depending on your leadership. When I first enlisted we did 30 day AEF's with a swapout at the 15 day point. Then it went to 30 no swap, then 45, now 60, the next is supposed to be 3-4 months no swap, with rumors of 6 months. If 6 month deployments happen, we will start to see a huge retention problems....

Done, Bama.

Rumormill is Hostage is trying to break the ARC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, coming to an ANG Wing near you...active duty WG/CC! Not a dude getting out of the AD to GO GUARD, but an AD O-6 doing a 2-3 year tour then moving on to his next AD assignment.

Sort of. If SECDEF approves it, there will be a test case starting soon at one guard base with a RegAF TFI detachment. The guard wing commander would get title 10 and title 32 authorities to be the legal commander of both the guard and AD guys. If that case goes well "dual status command" could spread. This also means that guard commanders could command RegAF wings someday with the same authorities. And vice versa. It would only happen in TFI units, not in standalone ARC units. Could be a good thing. Could be a bad thing. Time will tell. But once again the ANG bureau is fully on board.

ANG 4 star was not but "caved" from what I heard.

Absolutely 100% false. I was in the room. He made it very very clear that he did not agree with AFRC and that he was fully on board. In fact, he went WAY out of his way to make that point.

Rumormill is Hostage is trying to break the ARC.

False. It's financial believe it or not. About 15% more cost in MPA to swap out at 90 days and there is no money. Edited by Danny Noonin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not rumor, it's full up true and in writing. Director of ANG is fully on board by the way. AFRC CC was not, but he lost.

And there you have it! It will be interesting to see what 6 month deployments do to retention. Also, wonder if the ANG will be "volunteering" for these or if the AD will be forced to activate the squadrons to deploy them.

False. It's financial believe it or not. About 15% more cost in MPA to swap out at 90 days and there is no money.

What does it cost to activate an ANG squadron?

Edited by SocialD
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And there you have it! It will be interesting to see what 6 month deployments do to retention. Also, wonder if the ANG will be "volunteering" for these or if the AD will be forced to activate the squadrons to deploy them.

They're just going to mobilize everyone, volunteer or not.

And I think retention will tank.

What does it cost to activate an ANG squadron?

It depends.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Such irony that the ANG has been a shining beacon to so many frustrated dudes on AD for so long, only to hear that it's starting to suck so bad retention is going to be an issue.

Word. Maybe that palace chase/palace front plan of mine needs to sit on the back burner for a minute to see how this plays out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If my unit starts mobilizing dudes in order to non-vol them for 6 month tours they will lose about half their people. Guaranteed. As it is the sequester/budget shenanigans of late have driven most of our bums (the workhorses of the squadron) to seek outside employment. We are seeing many getting job offers, so it appears the hiring boom is slowly arriving. ARC/ANG leadership has enjoyed an over abundance of volunteer labor for the past decade due to the sorry state of the airline industry. That is changing rapidly and they are about to get a rude awakening. The next 5 years will be fun to watch.

BTW I still love the guard, and am highly recommending it to my AD bros. AFRC, not so much.

Edited by PasserOGas
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If my unit starts mobilizing dudes in order to non-vol them for 6 month tours they will lose about half their people. Guaranteed. As it is the sequester/budget shenanigans of late have driven most of our bums (the workhorses of the squadron) to seek outside employment. We are seeing many getting job offers, so it appears the hiring boom is slowly arriving. ARC/ANG leadership has enjoyed an over abundance of volunteer labor for the past decade due to the sorry state of the airline industry. That is changing rapidly and they are about to get a rude awakening. The next 5 years will be fun to watch.

BTW I still love the guard, and am highly recommending it to my AD bros. ARC, not so much.

If you are a tanker dude, then this may not apply to you. This is an ACC commander policy as the force provider of CAF assets to COCOMs.

By the way, guard is part of the ARC (air reserve component). I assume you mean AFRC?

Edited by Danny Noonin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Putting you that much closer to 20 yrs on AD anyway...

Halfway there is a still a loooong way to go when my crystal ball says the future holds a 365, less and less flying and no end to the retarded BS.

I'm too far out from check O the month club to just stick it out. I'd rather go fly for the guard/reserve as a traditional guy and get a real job. Then I still get to fly and big blue doesn't own my ass anymore.

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And there you have it! It will be interesting to see what 6 month deployments do to retention. Also, wonder if the ANG will be "volunteering" for these or if the AD will be forced to activate the squadrons to deploy them.

They're just going to mobilize everyone, volunteer or not.

And I think retention will tank.

AMC finally cracked the code after a decade of trying, and we are starting our third year of "partial mobilization" in the AFRC KC-10 community (albeit with a LOW committment at the moment). Standard -10 deployment lengths; the days of AFRC -10 crews doing 14-day or 30-day lines are gone, probably never to return. Also, the process for individuals to volunteer to go with an AD crew has been made nearly impossible (personal opinion: so AFRC can maximize their "credit" for supporting AMC via the mob.).

For years, whenever our SQ generated some voluntary desert lines, a vocal group of graybeards in all crew positions would always say "Fuck that. You want me, mobilize me. Then I'll go." Then we did get mobilized... and a large number of those graybeards pulled chocks. Troughers who, in the past, could always be counted on to step up and take a desert line, have found .civ employment, and more folks are coming to the realization that this ain't gonna get better. Until they park the -10 fleet, of course...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you are a tanker dude, then this may not apply to you. This is an ACC commander policy as the force provider of CAF assets to COCOMs.

By the way, guard is part of the ARC (air reserve component). I assume you mean AFRC?

AFRC. My acronomicon was FUBAR.

Edited by PasserOGas
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you can find a full time gig in the same town as your base, it truly is one of the best jobs in the world.

This, or start your own biz while bumming. Just pulled my first drill after 8 years of AGR stupidity. Great feeling to come in, do the J-O-B, and leave knowing that I don't have to be back for a month. Got a nice beard going right now, too.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm too far out from check O the month club to just stick it out. I'd rather go fly for the guard/reserve as a traditional guy and get a real job. Then I still get to fly and big blue doesn't own my ass anymore.

2!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...