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Aviation Continuation Pay (ACP - The Bonus)


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2 hours ago, SurelySerious said:

But you have the opportunity, a pivotal moment, to implement actual organizational change and fix the culture that is driving people to leave. No money required, just amending useless/harmful policies and leadership behavior.

Or, you can implement stop-gap measures that will perpetuate the problem of discord.

True - but thinking about this, is he (next CSAF) willing to do what is really necessary to recover the jet.  In order to affect the change needed, pretty much he's going to have change out if not the entire GO cadre in USAF, a helluva lot of them and get a SECAF willing to clean out the dead wood on his/her side also.  Lower echelons also to some degree.

We can come up with great proposals but until you get rid of the obstacles that just water it down till there's no punch nothing will happen...

He will have to let a lot of his friends get a chance to get on board or get a pink slip...

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I hope people like Chang are taking this info and choosing to use it wisely. Honestly I bet they are not.

Just sat in a meeting with a bunch of IG members and they said that every base they visit complains about two things: two much queep (in the form of additional duties and what not) and poor manning.

This queep stays for some ridiculous reason and there are ways to fix the manning (start by going back to the first problem).

Also take a look at flight pay they numbers haven't changed much since 1989. That inflated value of the $650 a month category is $1185. I know that doesn't change everything but that is $6k a year. Maybe that doesn't fix everything but it won't hurt. I personally would rather take a flight pay increase of signing my life away to collect about $15k in bonus money.

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Guys, this is easy from the AF perspective...if we start having a significant long-term problem with retention, we'll stop-loss in the near term and move to 15-yr commitments long term.  Take it to the bank.  And before you pilots start whining on this forum, you knew this would be a possibility when you signed on the bottom line.

The more of your friends that take the bonus, the longer we can put off S.L. and expanded commitments.

How ridiculous is this? Do you actually read what you post?

So if individuals have already signed TEN year commitment they should sign another one (up to 9 years) to prevent up coming up with a long commitment.

Sounds completely sensible......or not.

Let work on common sense here.

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16 hours ago, General Chang said:

Ok, let's all take a deep breath and take the emotion down a notch.  Big picture...HAF has bigger fish to fry than keeping pilots on the right side of the happy meter.  Top of the list: finding $$ to recapitalize our fleet.  We have tools to (short term) solve a potential pilot shortfall and (long term) ensure it doesn't happen again.  No hesitation will occur if we cross the red line.  Pilot satisfaction is simply not at the top of the list right now with tools like stop loss, expanded commitments, and (good possibility) expanded bonus options available.

Hate the messenger all you want...fair warning: heed the message.

You can have all the gucci gear you want, its not going to make a difference in the world if you don't have a force of highly trained/skilled/motivated people to fly/maintain/support the gear. I have seen your office, among others take the most valuable asset this military has (motivated people excited about their job) and turn them into bitter, disgruntled, and burnt out guys/gals counting down the days until they can GTFO. You don't get that its not about the money. History has shown, the most modern and powerful militaries have been defeated time and time again, by inferior and ill equipped enemies, that have a motived force with a reason to fight. People are your most valuable asset, and you are bending them over and giving it to them with no lube. Out. I have to go do my SAPR CBT............

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Question from a new Lt (flame suit on) who won't graduate UPT for another 2 years or so: If the ADSC is increased to 15 years, would those of us who have already signed the 10 year ADSC paperwork (before commissioning) be grandfathered in or would we have our ADSCs pushed out to 15 years as well? Research indicates that shorter ADSCs were grandfathered in at least once in the past.

If this belongs somewhere else, let the public humiliation begin and I'll change course.

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First off, nothing's certain until it actually happens. There are lots more rumors then facts. I've taken a few surveys on my thoughts of a 10 yr ADSC + 5 years reserve, but the only place I've seen a 15 year AD commitment discussed is here.

Secondly, you'll sign more ADSC paperwork when you get on AD. Those will be the ones that matter. 

Finally, the decade+ ADSC paperwork only takes effect from when you complete training. If they change it up after you commission (which would be incredibly poor taste but whatever) you can drop on request from training. While some may frown upon this, it happens enough for it to be considered common. When push comes to shove, people realize they don't want to spend the next 10+ years of doing something they don't thoroughly enjoy.. and we'd rather the student makes the choice in pilot training than once in an AD unit.

 

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The last time they changed the commitment...people at a certain point at USAFA were grandfathered in. I think the same happened with ROTC. Those who were not at that point but were "committed" (juniors) were allowed to leave USAFA without a commitment but had to sign the 10 year ADSC to enter UPT. The rest of us schlubs got no choice...10 year commitment when we entered UPT.

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38 minutes ago, 172 wannabe said:

Question from a new Lt (flame suit on) who won't graduate UPT for another 2 years or so: If the ADSC is increased to 15 years, would those of us who have already signed the 10 year ADSC paperwork (before commissioning) be grandfathered in or would we have our ADSCs pushed out to 15 years as well? Research indicates that shorter ADSCs were grandfathered in at least once in the past.

If this belongs somewhere else, let the public humiliation begin and I'll change course.

A1 only intercepts course at 90 degrees so about every 4-5 years we go from full scale right or left deflection, either force shaping or stop loss of some sort, even if they made you sign a 10+5 type of commitment I put the odds of the AF staying on that manpower course that long as quite low, more likely during your commitment they would offer a Palace Chaise or other option to cull the herd based on some tea leaves or other equally based reasoning...

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It's incredibly disappointing how easily leaders talk about breaking the adsc contract through stop loss. It shows their lack of respect for us, and their lack of concern for the long term viability of this service. A 1 sided contract is no contract at all, and should not be referred to as such. 

To the Lt above, don't join this organization. Get out while you can. It's seriously not worth it, and it's only going to get worse. Chang is 100% right on what the future holds. Join the guard or the reserves if you want to fly military airplanes. 

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One of the saddest things about this whole debacle is that there are good dudes who are Majors and Lt Cols right now who will be left holding bag when the train finally does come off the rails.  The managers Chang represents will have their retirements and their well-paying consulting jobs and it's likely none of them will be held accountable for the Royal cluster they made out of a once great organization.  Hats off to those of you who choose or are forced to stick around and clean up the mess. 

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Jesus, are all the former posts a result of a dysfuntional gov't that doesn't know how or what to do? Is all this a result of the "establishment"? Starting to seriously wonder, let's bleed money off the military to pay for all the goddamn social programs that the democrat and socialist movements that have started in this country. Thanks to all the liberal mainstream media bias, teachers union (SCHOOL SYSTEM), etc, to dumb down our kids (and now adults that are supposed to be responsible) to think this way. just f******* disgusting. 

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Just to be clear, I am not slamming the previous posters. I am ranting on what a I perceive as an overall failure of our current gov't to not take care of our servicemen.

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Ok, let's all take a deep breath and take the emotion down a notch.  Big picture...HAF has bigger fish to fry than keeping pilots on the right side of the happy meter.  Top of the list: finding $$ to recapitalize our fleet.  We have tools to (short term) solve a potential pilot shortfall and (long term) ensure it doesn't happen again.  No hesitation will occur if we cross the red line.  Pilot satisfaction is simply not at the top of the list right now with tools like stop loss, expanded commitments, and (good possibility) expanded bonus options available.

Hate the messenger all you want...fair warning: heed the message.

Holy shit. If this is true, then you a-holes at HAF really are clueless. It's like the entire AF is stalling and leadership thinks they can pull out of it by adding more back stick. Great job gents, keep holding that stick in your lap (sts) all the way till we hit the ground.

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If there is stop-loss, go back to your SERE days of using passive resistance.  If I was stop-loss'd, I'd stop doing every single additional duty and focus 100% on flying.  I'd call out sick at least once a week.  I'd fail every single PT test.  Hell, I'd find a way to go DNIF without messing up my airline prospects.

This.

Pretty much what I was implying in my post a couple pages back. Good luck keeping the opstempo up with a force of indentured servants. If they implement stop loss as a retention tool, life's going to get much worse around the Sq for those dudes with a legit ADSC remaining when all the stuck-by-stop-loss dudes start dragging their feet. in A...

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On 5/17/2016 at 11:02 AM, ClearedHot said:

Choke yourself you sanctimonious prick.   

[lots of awesome slap down]

You represent much of what is wrong with the current system.

 

Well...  that oughta just about cover the fly-by....

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On May 17, 2016 at 6:02 AM, ClearedHot said:

Choke yourself you sanctimonious prick.   For the record, you are not as smart as you think you are, you have simply become a mindless part of the collective, endlessly spewing the same old PA verbiage.  Here is the thing, I know the game, I’ve done all the in-res schools….ACSC, ASG, War College in DC…and I’ve sat behind the glass doors on the E-Ring as an exec and watched the buffoonery.  Playing the $ money card overlooks a GLARING error, we did it to ourselves.  The lack of vision from people like Buzz and Zatar is what got us here, for all too long we have been stuck in the endless Do Loop of “we can only have a fifth gen force” and we are paying the price for it in spades.  10 years ago a LOT of very smart people tried to tell them the $ crunch was coming and we could not afford a force of only F-22’s and F-35’s.  Despite the fact that on the second night of OIF A-10’s were fighting inside the “Super MEZ”, the seniors insisted we double-down on fifth gen and now we cry when we have no $ to buy anything else. What do you expect when we are flying Raptors that cost $44,000 a flying hour and F-35’s that cost $36,000 a flying hour instead of a mixed high-low fleet that could have economically fought the fight we have been in for the 15 YEARS!  Then as we piled ever more coal into the 5th gen steam engine that we couldn’t afford, we decided to cut people to pay the bill, and we took those people from the admin heart of the Squadrons (CSS), where they were needed most…Now, after purposely cutting people we suddenly come to the conclusion that the Air Force is On Verge of Manpower Collapse…freaking brilliant! 

Sadly, we had multiple chances to off-ramp this road to perdition and the Navy tried to show us the way like in 2006 when they broke the “no more 4th gen fighters for any service pact.” I was there the day the boss found out the Navy was getting 24 extra Super Hornets and I was in close trail as he barged into the N-8 office screaming explicatives at the CNO and his XP staff.  The Navy response “well the Super Hornet is not a 4th gen airplane, it is a 4.5 gen airplane and we probably can’t afford all the F-35’s anyway.”  Congress has been more than willing to gift us extra Vipers and Eagles every year, but we foolishly keep saying no and doubled down to the point we had to start closing fighter squadrons to pay the bills.  The last ten years have seen a steady retreat from the TacAir redline, No lower than 2,300 fighters!…Ok No lower than 2,100 fighters!  There was a huge gasp at 2,000, but we sliced right past that number faster than some late night yaki mandu through your system after a Friday night in Aragon Alley.  As we started closing fighter squadrons we suddenly had fewer to fill AEF taskings so the bros and sisters on the end of the whip have to run even faster to make up for the shortage…starting to see the picture now?

When it comes to your "retention tools" again, you don’t get it…what you call having bigger fish to fry than keeping pilots on the right side of the happy meter and using STOP LOSS as a retention tool is the PROOF that the entire thing is a scam.  How can senior leaders profess to care about the force, mission first…people always, and say things like “Morale is pretty darn good” almost in the same breath they admit the Air Force is on the verge of a manpower collapse?  This CSAF has made countless impassioned speeches about caring for people and “every Airman has a story”, but in the end as you admit the people are just numbers and their happiness doesn’t really matter.  I get it that you will never make everyone happy and there will always be sport bitching, but this is something very different.  This is the heart of your ability to be an Air Force, your professional pilot force telling you with their feet…”THINGS ARE Fed UP!”  Only 38% of the pilot force took the bonus last year and the numbers look worse for this year…so I would submit you better make time to fix the happy meter. 

 It is not about hating the messenger, it is about hating the smug asshat that parades around the room showing glee in his pronouncements from on high.  You represent much of what is wrong with the current system.

Very mature, Colonel.  Now that you feel better about yourself, let's discuss facts.  A1 misjudged the effects of the 9-yr bonus.  I acknowledge that.  From the personnel perspective, however, A1 has a specific playbook and specific rules to follow in these scenarios.  The AF is desperately trying to get Congress to approve higher bonuses.  If successful, this will help slightly with officers on-the-fence.  Next, some stop-lossed officers may rebel, but most will do their duty and uphold the core values (all should...we are officers first, as you learned in your schools).   We may have to eliminate some of the extraneous additional duties at flying squadrons or authorize more civilians to help.  So be it.  Finally, a 15- or 20-year ADSC for UPT will have limited effect on the morale of pilots currently in, and the AF will still not have difficulty finding people to sign-up to fly...the novelty of flying never diminishes amongst a population enamored with it.  If AF recovers from the pilot shortage down-the-road, A1 can curtail ADSCs.  That won't be anytime soon, however, as AF will need to send more current pilots permanently into RPAs for the foreseeable future to meet Army demand for orbits.

Pilots- you can help create a positive environment in your squadrons as we move through these difficult times.  Emphasize the positives...flying hour programs are healthy, and pilots moved into the RPA community have the opportunity to establish themselves as leaders in the "community of the future," which can be a huge opportunity to excel.  Also, RPA operators are home more, per the spreadsheets.  Please help your GO leadership, and we will get through this together.  Stay positive.  You will sleep better tonight.

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Dude, are you just a shitty algorithm hosted on AFPC's computer network?  Talk like a f-ing person.

We (pilots/navs/E flyers, etc.) are not curious, foreign creatures "enamored with flying" that populate your spreadsheets.  There are real god damn human beings out there risking their lives to protect our country.  Treating people like cogs in a vast faceless machine is a big part of the problem, and you exemplify it perfectly the way you address everyone here on the boards.

"We may have to eliminate some of the extraneous additional duties at flying squadrons or authorize more civilians to help.  So be it."

SO BE IT??  You make it sound like a bad thing...this is one of the many solutions that would alleviate actual pain points for your front-line operators.

Stop loss being used means you all f-ed up at your job so badly that you have to basically go to the nuclear option.  Congratulations.

Edit to add: lol... -1 reputation point from General Chang.  I'll take it.

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38 minutes ago, General Chang said:

Finally, a 15- or 20-year ADSC for UPT will have limited effect on the morale of pilots currently in, and the AF will still not have difficulty finding people to sign-up to fly...the novelty of flying never diminishes amongst a population enamored with it.

And the current generation of senior leaders will sail off into retirement patting themselves on the back for having saved the Air Force.

Then somewhere between 2028 and 2030, a bunch of people who liked flying in their twenties start to have an inkling that there is more to life than the Air Force. Suddenly they come to the stark realization of just how long their prison sentence really is. They'll come to absolutely despise the Air Force, and they'll have another decade with nothing to do but poison the waters. And they will. 

Or you can just fix the stupid things that piss people off.  The current generation of leadership sails off into retirement rightly knowing that they left the Air Force a better place.

Then somewhere between 2028 and 2030, a bunch of people who liked flying in their twenties are still in love with flying, leading and delivering an uninterrupted ass kicking to our nation's enemies. They see the last 10 years as an opportunity that's good for them, good for their families, and good for their nation. They'll come to love the Air Force and spend that second decade nurturing a whole other generation in how to run a fantastic organization. And they will.

But you're right, Chang. Your way is better. Let's just do that.

 

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1 hour ago, General Chang said:

...and the AF will still not have difficulty finding people to sign-up to fly...the novelty of flying never diminishes amongst a population enamored with it. 

That's what is so f_cked up about the fact that there is a shortage in the first place.  We were all there in our high school/college days believing that there couldn't possibly be a better job in the world than flying bad ass jets in the Air Force.  I knew people who at the time would say they'd do it without pay, or from the Minot AFB's of the world without hesitation.  And they'd happily climb over the dead body of their own mother after stabbing her in the back in order to make it happen.  That kind of enthusiasm is strong enough to withstand quite a few atomic morale crotch shots without wavering an inch.  All it takes to keep a person like that on active duty to 20 years is just mediocrity from upper level management.  Not stellar leadership, not an above average effort, just mediocrity.

And yet here we are.  The Air Force can't produce enough pilots each year to replace those that are beating back their peers in order to get to the Air Force ejection handles first.  That took active effort on the part of the Air Force to pull off.  It's an amazing enough accomplishment that it should be a case study at all the professional development schools.

You (and your peers) pulled that off, Chang.  Bravo.

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30 minutes ago, General Chang said:

...let's discuss facts.

... Stuff...

Finally, a 15- or 20-year ADSC for UPT will have limited effect on the morale of pilots currently in, and the AF will still not have difficulty finding people to sign-up to fly...the novelty of flying never diminishes amongst a population enamored with it.

  ...and pilots moved into the RPA community have the opportunity to establish themselves as leaders in the "community of the future," which can be a huge opportunity to excel.

Fewer and fewer young people want to be pilots let alone military pilots.  Sorry to break it to you, but Top Gun has run out of gas as a recruiting tool.  And anyone smart enough to fire up Google can read this forum.  So just keep educating them.

I have been around young people interested in flying, and countless times heard them be told to not fly for the military because, "they are smart enough to make enough money that they can just fly for fun."  Then to have retired military pilots tell them in the same conversation that "it isn't like it used to be."  The best I can do after that is to keep a straight face and say nothing, because they are both telling that kid the truth.  But what do I know I am not an A-1 genius that got us here.

As far as the RPA stuff goes the Air Force is just jumping from one coat hanger abortion of an idea to the next to try and solve that manning problem.  And right now the AF is paying General Atomics 250,000 - 400,000 a year per pilot to fly RPAs.  Depending on if they deploy or not.

That is the truth from the real world.  Sorry Chang you may be right about Air Force personnel policy and what the general staff is doing, but that doesn't make you an expert on the rest of the stuff you are spouting off about.

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Emphasize the positives...flying hour programs are healthy, and pilots moved into the RPA community have the opportunity to establish themselves as leaders in the "community of the future," which can be a huge opportunity to excel.  Also, RPA operators are home more, per the spreadsheets

You are so full of shit.  FHPs are NOT healthy, they're terrible.  Our jets are broke, B-Course syllabi have been slashed multiple times with too much training kicked to a broken/underfunded CAF (not the FTU bros' fault, it's management's fault) and every year the new guy is less prepared for combat because he gets shafted on quality flying training.  Us "old" guys can hang on because we have enough experience to fall back on; luckily when we were young everything hadn't completely imploded yet.  I have seen entire squadrons who I would rate as below average - it's not the bros' fault, its the fact the squadron is full of young, inexperienced dudes who are trying their best, but big AF refuses to give them the tools required to succeed.  WO's and the couple "real" IPs in the squadron slave to fight the uphill battle and get their guys ready, but even their 75 hr work weeks aren't enough because again, management has taken so much from them in terms of ability to provide adequate training.  Those same squadrons are hemorrhaging experience at an astronomical rate for all the reasons mentioned elsewhere.

Not an RPA guy, but I think it's fairly safe to say very few of them give a shit about leading the "community of the future."  You managers might think that, but it's not true.  Home more?  Maybe they don't deploy to the extent that many of us do, but they're living in not very desirable locations, many doing a job they were involuntarily forced into, and from what I've read here, they do some fairly rough work schedules.  RPAs provide a lot of capability in specific situations, but just because they do doesn't mean you have happy people operating them.

These are statements of fact, not emotion.  I cannot comprehend why you and other senior leadership refuse to see these simple facts and listen to your people who are the ones in the trenches.  You don't like to think so, but the reality is your O-5 and below people out there in the CAF, MAF, AFSOC have much higher SA than you do on the day to day realities.  That's not an insult, it's just how it is...some day I might be the old guy sitting somewhere, but if that day comes, I will rely on the guys below me to shoot me straight and provide recommendations...and I won't scoff them.  That's a trait of good leadership I have seen growing up in this AF.  You guys have a job to do which involves thinking on a strategic level.  But it is extremely naive and a complete failure of leadership to ignore everything you get from the tactical level.  Your flippant attitude towards anyone "below you" and how "we" could not possibly have any idea on what's good/bad in the AF because we don't have stars or whatever your metric for "credibility," is the primary reason we're all telling you to off and getting out.  Many good dudes at the tactical level would stay and help solve the problems, but its clear senior leadership doesn't give a shit and will never listen to us, even when we're screaming the answer in your ear.   

You're right on one thing, there will most likely be a continuous supply of 20 yrs olds ready to sign anything to fly.  But that makes this already hollow force just become worse and worse until some day we just hope we can keep up with the ability of Sudan's AF.  Hyperbole a bit, but the point is valid.

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Pilots- you can help create a positive environment in your squadrons as we move through these difficult times.  Emphasize the positives...flying hour programs are healthy, and pilots moved into the RPA community have the opportunity to establish themselves as leaders in the "community of the future," which can be a huge opportunity to excel.  Also, RPA operators are home more, per the spreadsheets.  Please help your GO leadership, and we will get through this together.  Stay positive.  You will sleep better tonight.

This cat cracks me up. I have a hard time believing he's not just a troll well versed in pilot aggravation. If he's the real deal we're fvcked like BQzips mom on prom night.

As for the RPA bit, some of those non-vol'd there enjoyed it, most didn't. I met some good people there. When I left, fortunate to get back to flying, I kept telling myself that the experience wasn't that bad, it was a great leadership experience and I'm better off for it. After a year I eventually I stopped lying to myself. There comes a point where you can no longer convince yourself Santa is real. My prime years as a slick wing captain were lost inside a GCS and my career growth was 3 years behind my peers. Aside from a property I purchased in Vegas when I moved there, the best thing to come from that assignment was the lesson learned never to sell my freedom to turn down a sh1tty deal.

I am your poster-child aviation junky - part of the community that makes for easy recruits near your local ROTC detachment. Combine a young exposure to aviation with some early 2000s patriotism and the result is yours truly. After seeing how awesome I look in a flight suit with my sleeves rolled up, having to repeatedly tell young women that I'm married and having seen the vapes trail off my strakes from an aggressive closed pattern, my kids will undoubtedly want to follow in my footsteps. I'm already thinking about the conversation that I hope will inform them of the unseen surprises that lurk in a bureaucracy - Changs decide your next assignment, chicks don't dig droid operators, you get yelled at if your sleeves aren't around your wrists and Santa is not real.

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1 hour ago, brabus said:

O-5 and below people out there in the CAF, MAF, AFSOC have much higher SA than you do on the day to day realities.

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^.  These people have SA because they ARE the mission.

The Air Force is short on manpower and funding.  I get that.  Until the F-35 abortion gets sorted out, this money MUST go to the human capital that execute the mission of the Air Force.  There are no bigger "fish to fry".  What does that look like?

1)  Bring back support personnel so that fliers can focus ON THE MISSION.  Being well rounded and having a wide berth of experience is something that we simply cannot afford in this fiscally constrained environment.  I spend OVER HALF OF MY TIME DOING SUPPORT TASKS FOR THE SQUADRON.  Free this up, and I can fly 2-3x more a week, stay smart on 3-1, current tactics and TTPs and my proficiency goes through the roof.  This is a common theme coming from CAF squadrons PLEASE SOMEONE LISTEN TO THIS.

2)  The root issue here is that instead of placing resources in technology and new aircraft (which are important to an extent) we need to place those resources back primarily in the pilot corps.  Throughout history the USAF has been kicking a ton of ass with near parity in equipment.  Why?  Aircrew culture and training.  From F-105's (designed to deliver nuclear weapons) doing the SEAD mission in 'Nam to B-1's and B-52's doing CAS(!!!) in OEF, the 11X corps figures out a way to get 'er done.  A highly motivated, highly trained 4th gen force (preferably 4th + 5th gen FI) flying some legacy aircraft in a reasonable fleet size (this is key) will be able to do so much more than a hollow fifth gen force.

Yes there are hours to fly in our FHP, but I also agree that the squadrons are not even close to where they were a decade or so ago.  Invest our limited resources in our pilot crops (flying hours, training, exercises / TDYs / squadron support staff) and big blue will see long term returns.

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8 hours ago, General Chang said:

Now that you feel better about yourself, let's discuss facts.  [...]  Also, RPA operators are home more, per the spreadsheets.  

So... are these the same spreadsheets that fed this article in the AF Times one month ago?

"And on the officer side, bomber, recon and surveillance and special operations pilots and combat systems officers, as well as RPA pilots and rescue CSOs, are the most heavily deployed per capita."

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General, some counterpoints:

Your personnel perspective is narrow and your "playbook" is obsolete. You're asking active duty pilots to help you so that everyone can get through this, but you're offering no specific meaningful changes. You are offering more money, yet you're criticizing people for going to the airlines for that very reason.

No one is begging for more money. Everyone is begging for a better quality of life and career and the leadership that allows them to simply do their primary job. You're trying to fix the right problem with the wrong solution. Throwing more money at it will not fix it. I've been an airline guy for a few years and in any given month, I have the opportunity to nearly double what I'd would have made had I stayed on AD. I don't. I trade quality of life for money every single month. I work 6-10 days a month at the airline and approx 7 days a month at the Guard and all of them doing what I love to do, fly.

You're appealing to member's obligation to core values, yet the perception is senior leadership is increasing failing to uphold the core values themselves. Hypocrisy makes people upset. 

1. Integrity (doing the right thing). The common perception is you're rewarding box-checkers and yes men with promotion and not leaders. You're not addressing the day to day struggles of being tasked with meaningless bureaucratic minutiae irrelevant to the mission. Unnecessary 365s and all the other grievances... you simply dismiss them as whining. You are not listening, let alone doing the right thing by your people.

2. Service Before Self. The common perception is you're telling your people to suck it up and deal with ever increasing workloads and deteriorating quality of life because it's their duty to their country. Everyone wants to serve in their primary duty or lead others in their primary duty in defense of their country. People are not refusing to do their job, they are refusing to do all the other things you are attaching that aren't actually "Service". There is coming a point where you will no longer be able to convince people to spend another 365 in a cubicle at the Died or orbit an RPA over some 3rd world shithole for years because their nation is in dire need of that Service.

3. Excellence. There are a lot of problems and many of them have been illustrated in this thread over the years. Some are bitching, some are legit. But you either do not acknowledge or dismiss them. If you're a General, and I think you are, we expect General Officer level critical thinking and creative solutions. You should understand that through your posts, we're seeing "playbook" and "rules" instead of critical thinking. We're seeing "Bonus" and "Stop-Loss" instead of creative solutions. You're even admitting to exploiting the dreams of the young naive public who is enamored with flying and tricking them into signing a jaw-dropping, unbelievable 15 year contract. None of that is "Excellence".

You're asking your people to help you but you're giving them no reason to.

Shack

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