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Step on the gas. I'm hoping we have some inside people ready to throw a molitov at the right target at the right time, fire up the mob with the right chant, but don't go as far as streaking in the quad. That's when you lose em and they go back home.

Very interesting. Short drive to the Hague as well. Given the trouble they've caused over the years all over the world it wouldn't hurt my feelings if they ended up in Federal Court over here. I'm sure we'd have to waive the death penalty but I'm ok with that.

Senior IRGC and Iran leaders families have fled Iran...to France of all places. This might really happen.

Lmao, this is worse than Stranger Things ending for good.

Update: I am no longer hopeful

You might be right, if a unit were to lose or change its mission for this said unit / state leadership would have to have A LOT of confidence that the plane & training mission would last, I saw the C-27J bait ‘n switch up close and personal, that’s a few years in the rear view but I’d be surprised if the ANG institutional memory has forgotten it. I think you probably could get some takers for this mission as there are more than a few MWS’s in the ARC that are not looking relevant going into the future, if you approached a Wing(s) with a plan to keep them gainfully employed, no significant long term change to the economic footprint in the state and public support from AD leadership that this COA will be supported for 10+ years at least, some I think would raise a hand. Yeah, if AD students are allowed to attend it could exacerbate the problem of FTU waiting, or if scheduled correctly it would more slowly produce but not overwhelm FTU intake, all in the execution. All simulators…. Yup, that’s the real devil / part of a way forward I think leadership sees as the easy button. The thing is it is half right. I’ve gone thru two airline sim programs but after I’ve had 20+ years flying so it was appropriate for me to learn and safely, reliably operate a transport category aircraft in routine operations. That is not the case for 99.9% of UPT studs and the range of flight operations they will be required to perform if called upon. A hybrid of ME flight training then a solid type+ course in a transport category level D sim, maybe. The best argument against all simulator ME training I think (not that the AF would follow it) is if all sim ME training is acceptable in quality and risk then why hasn’t the commercial world embraced it?

Document, document and document EVERYTHING!

This, and you may want to get actual legal advice on how to proceed. I know there is a lot of knowledge and experience on this forum, but this is one area I would most definitely discuss with a lawyer before going forward. Control the narrative, don't let it control you!

Do NOT do this. As much fun as it would be, this is textbook reprisal and would get you in actual trouble rather than just having to deal with BS complaints. Treat him no differently than you did before, other than document everything and obviously watch what you say. If there isn't a paper trail, it is your word against his and he is apparently willing to lie and play minority cards. And I mean document absolutely everything. If he shows up two minutes late, log it. Makes a single disparaging remark about someone, log it. If he walks into your office to ask when something is due, log it. However, and this is going to be the really painful part, you should start a similar documentation with everyone else, except the disciplinary part and maybe not needing quite the same level of detail. Otherwise if this ends up going sideways and you bring the documentation, the other side is going to logically ask to see the similar log you kept of your other employees. Otherwise they can claim you're only documenting him because he filed a complaint, which is also reprisal. When I started to have a problem with a guy that worked for me, I just kept a word document open on my computer. Anytime anyone that worked for me stopped in, I'd put it down. As simple as: "0945: Airman Snuffy asked due date for MFR - Friday". Depending on how often people stop buy or you go to their offices, shouldn't take too much of your day. Finally, if your boss doesn't have your back then you're probably SOL. I'd wait a week or so and ask for a sit down to talk about how much this guy is destroying the workplace. Even bring up the EO complaint as an integrity problem, which actually could be legitimately used against him if other people there will back you. If your boss still won't cover your back, then you're screwed.

He needs a bag of Buc-ee’s Beaver Nuggets to go with that 44oz Coke Zero.

I don't think you're going to find states that have the money/manning allocation available to add another sq of pilots/MX/etc. to fly a different airframe. I'm an expert by no means but I think the only way this gets done is by dropping the current mission at said base. Also, the bottleneck question wasn't what I was asking. This gameplan will open up more heavy spots in UPT, to be filled by AD LTs, so now you have more grads from UPT combined with this ARC Rapid Aviator Program (or ARCRAP). These two things only make the bottleneck at the ftus more acute. Even if you keep the number of pilots going to ftus the same as it is now, there is still a bottleneck at the ftu. If you hold guard dudes until you have a class of X before they start ARCRAP to help reduce the throughput to heavy ftus you're only going to make guard dudes wait longer which is a disincentive for guard units to fund this. All of this is easily solved by doing what AD already wants to do, which is sending all heavy dudes through a sim only course. No late graduations for weather or MX, and if you threaten the IPs correctly there will be no hooks. Thus, the ftus will know exactly when their next group of students are arriving, yet thete is still a bottleneck..

Good questions. The bill payer I think would be the ARC, O&M pays for training and usually that account is pretty fat. Call it 300 students x about $150k in contractor provided program. 45 million, not chump change but likely cheaper in the long run versus sending them thru a T-6 primary course. I had a modicum staff work in the GWOT days when funding was flowing but my gut tells me it’s affordable. T-54s or other T jet would be based and manned as an additional squadron at an existing Wing to piggyback as much as possible on existing facilities. Might diminish or eliminate the existing mission but methinks it could be an associated unit if leadership kept it clear what the intent was for dudes volunteering or assigned there. The devil is always in the details but 2-3 year tours to stay below the 5 year limit for a full course requal would probably be an acceptable bill to the ARC in manning coverage. T-54 instructors would be generated in house, type course and then syllabus if no previous King Air time. Other T jet would be initial cadre and commander designated then establish a similar process. I think this would help the bottleneck at heavy FTUs by more clearly showing heavy pilot production (at least a large portion of them) to heavy FTU intake. That is you know X number of students in this pipeline are all destined for an X FTU slot, adjust backwards the allocation (number and report times) of UPT slots to the ARC to fit the proper rhythm using wait times from graduation to FTU training start as your primary trend indicator. I’d have to do some serious number crunching with access to data I don’t have but… I’m confident that if I did it would be cheaper. The boost in productivity really comes from the freed up space for the AD if they wanted to backfill those slots that the ARC is no longer in. Expansion of the UPT enterprise but overall cheaper if run at planned capacity, higher production if desired if you backfill slots, smoother production if you choose to not backfill due to wiggle room in the regular UPT system. I deleted formation as most of the instructors in this phase 1 would be civilian and likely not familiar, form would be covered in mil instructed flight training.

Are you able to control what he works on? If so, maybe give him nothing but shit tasks that you don’t really care about (since he’ll do a shit job). Maybe it pisses him off enough he quits. And if that doesn’t happen, at least you can stick him in the proverbial basement with a red stapler where he can’t affect anyone. Record/document all interactions and never meet him alone.

Is this cheaper than what's currently out and can max produce pilots? I feel like that's what big air force is gonna want to even consider looking at something like this. I personally don't mind the idea but some formation is still good, even for heavy guys. The 135 bros and the air droppers all do formation. If they considered an actual solution instead of throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks, I'd probably volunteer to go teach upt as my next assignment.

Who is paying for it Who is buying the iron What units are losing their current mission to swap to T-54s How is losing that current mission set/acft going to impact AD Who is training/qualing theT-54 instructors How does this help the bottleneck at the heavy FTUs Zero dog in the fight here btw.

Have you asked him to stop being an ffing homo?

I am a flight commander in charge of a section of 8 people. Half are civilian. 7 out of 8 are outstanding workers. I have 1 that's always been a been of a problem. He is the stereotypical, curmudgeon ex-military government employee I won't get too deep into the details but he's constant undermining authority, doing what he wants, and making consistently negative comments about other employs and myself when they're not present. He loves to gossip, spread rumors and pit people against each other. He just creates a very poor toxic work environment for everyone else. He's been doing this before I started. He is generally awful and has been a problem since I started the position a little over a year ago. As you all know, it takes an act of god to punish or fire a government employee. You need to have a long, documented history of misconduct to even initiate actions. I have been slowly documenting his behaviors and I have finally brought it to the attention my leadership, and was pursuing disciplinary action to finally pursue some formal punishment or removal for this jackass. After his feedback session, my boss called me in, and told me that this employee was going to EO because of homophobic discrimination. This individual is gay, but hand to god, none of the things he claims actually occurred. We didn't even know he was gay. He says we frequently use homophobic language and it makes him feel uncomfortable. I will take a polygraph, put my hand on the bible, whatever to attest that this is not true. My boss got scared from this, and I was just told to drop it. How can I deal with this guy whose constantly holding the EO gun to us?

Chevron, shell, Exxon, p66…..

Not an airline, the big global oil companies.

Dumb question from a non-flyer - "super major" is a large airline? I'm assuming and we know how that goes. I think it could also be a oil company?

Been in the industry for 14 years. US Oil in the $50 range is barely profitable. Mid east different story. keep in mind when it slows down lots of other industries are hit. No new wells or pipelines no pipes or valves are ordered so steel production is hit. Welders, pipe fitters get hit, Caterpiller takes a hit etc….lot of downstream players beyond the super majors like chevron and Exxon. revenue % from production also funds many govt programs. also price of oil and fuel prices aren’t always related. That’s called the crack spread. A super major likes when oil is relatively low and fuel is high.

I get you and while I've never been in the industry myself, I have family who've been in it across generations and decades. Truth in advertising some of my investments do better when prices are high. I actually know two engineers who started in the industry and went over to the government side because they got laid off and didn't like the boom bust of the industry. That's the Oil Industry for as long as it existed. On your point about refineability and the sweet vs sour etc. I defer to those I know that know better. I've made mention on here before that more than a few on BO make their living burning jet fuel so that's an industry that can live and die on the price of oil. If it makes economic sense to go back to Venezuela, the oil companies will do it. Another side effect of lower oil prices is pressure to go EV is less and whether that is good or bad is a matter of your perspective. I would also think low prices are a part on the equation in Iran unrest going on now. I think long term from a strategic perspective a robust oil production in Venezuela can help give us some leverage around the world that really hasn't existed in the past.

So I thought about something, if UPT is maxed out and there is a portion of students that know they are going back to heavy units (a few guys sometimes do very well and switch to fighter units and vice versa but that’s the exception and not the rule) why not establish an ARC only program, half contractor half mil instructed to alleviate waiting in the regular UPT system / boost productivity? Adopt the 141 based training for pre mil instruction, but a stand alone program, then 1 or 2 locations for the multi engine mil based training. No T-6 time. GA based PPL with INSTM training then AMEL and x-country. Tailwheel, upset recovery and acro basics. No formation in this phase. About 160+ hours. Mil instruction in a T-54 (130 bound students plus others) or a successor to the T-1 (Phenom, Hondajet, Citation). About 60+ hours. Thoughts?

You all don't know shit about the oil industry. You need to watch more Landman and get learned.