General Discussion

Spending the night in Tampa so I can brief one of the muckity mucks at SOCOM. These tanker boys got it made. It's been a while since I've RONed here and the place looks great. New housing, new facilities everywhere and they even program the rental cars for you. I got in mine and it went right to Mons Venus.

I remember seeing in some pics in a post of Bagram before the shoe clerks invaded. Does anyone know where these were posted? I used the search function, but no such luck. Thanks!

In a couple past threads, the subject of wives' opinions on their (pilot) husbands work issues was brought up. Some people (who I believe to be non-flyers) seem to think we (flyers( disregard our wives opinions; nothing could be further from the truth. I value my wife's thoughts 110% and feel that on many issues she has more rationale and insight than I do. However, I absolutely cannot stand when I hear a wife "talk shop" with regards to the details of her husbands work. Why? Because the wives are not in the squadron 12 hours a day to see the details of what goes on and experience the soap-opera BS of AF politics. All they get is what they hear second hand from thei…

So apparently some stud from 09-09 overspeed his t-6 checking in inverted during his area solo. Anyone know the details of this? Sounds like a dumb way to end your short Air Force career?

I'd like your opinions... Will airshow attendance suffer due to the current COVID-19 situation? Or will people tire of so many other "events" being cancelled that they may make extra effort to go to an airshow?

So, I see all these posts about drops at Columbus/XL/Vance and what not, but never see anything about the drops at Corpus...anyone out there in good ole Texas training for the C130, let me know how those drops usually go and the likelyhood of getting the type C130 you want out of there! Thanks a bunch

I searched, I swear...couldn't find anything. Funny TDY name tag names, anyone? I want some ideas. Here's what I got so far: Hugh Jorgan Haywood Jablowme Jack Mahogoff Harry Paratestes Oliver Clothesoff ...and that's about it. Add your favortes to this list.

In a recognition of special operations forces’ reliance on their conventional partners for “enabling” capabilities such as intelligence analysis and engineering, U.S. Special Operations Command head Adm. Eric Olson is rehabilitating a long-lost “truth” that acknowledges the contribution non-special ops forces make to missions. SOCom and its subordinate commands have long touted four “SOF Truths” that encapsulate the command’s self-image. These four statements have become enshrined in special operations lore, frequently quoted by special ops officials. But few special operators know that the SOF truths were written by a non-special operator, or that a fifth truth wen…

When in UPT, does a student know exactly where he or she is ranked as far as class standing, or is it usually a guess? thanks

Fox News reporting one of the jets hit a house which is now on fire. CNN reporting that it did NOT hit a house and that the pilot may be a live...lets hope for the best.

https://m.voanews.com/a/activists-islamic-state-fighters-shoot-down-warplane/2571759.html Hope he gets recovered.

I'm enlisted in the Navy right now but applying for the next OTS board in May. I know that it's a long standing tradition in the Navy that when an Ensign (O-1) gets their butter bars, they give a silver dollar to the first enlisted member to render a salute. I've read that they have to "buy" their first salute and every one after is supposed to be earned. Anyway, I'm just wondering for those of you that have gone the OTS route, is this something the Air Force does? If you've seen the movie "Officer and A Gentleman", you'll know what I'm talking about. Thanks in advance. CSpearsFly

A recent post with the Shangri-la nose art got me goin, so if any of you have some swingin nose art pics, post away. I want dames with nice sets of wheels, patriotism that fills my young little heart, and humor that busts the gut. Cheers, Stuck

Since starting UPT I've noticed a pretty steady berating of the airline industry by the staff. Just about every briefing I attended as an APT'er or now while in Phase 1 has included shots fired at the airlines--specifically, the pilots themselves. Everyone from my flight commander on up has said something at some point: airline pilots are "puppets" or "bus drivers", military pilots are "much better trained in all aspects of flying" and if you wanted to fly for the airlines, "you wouldn't have come here". We have a lot of guard/reserve guys in our class and most, if not all of them, have said they're planning to head to the airlines when eligible. But none of them have bee…

I've done a lot of reading on the what goes on after you make it into UPT and what happens from there on. I liked how Baseops had some personal journals for people, it really gives you an idea of how the whole process works. However, I noticed that most of the journals I saw were for people doing heavies . Is there any reason for this trend? Is it just that personal character required to come onto a website and post your personal story is restricted to people who choose heavies? I believe only one of the journals was a T-38 track and it was a B-1 drop. What are the statistics on track selects and drops? If all goes well with Phase I and Phase II, are you likely to get…

My wife and I are moving to Hickam on Friday, Just wondering if anyone has any last minute tips on housing/jobs. Thanks

without getting into any specifics, for someone here who knows what I'm referring to, please PM with a link or point me in the right direction on where to find this document. Apparently my unit has been using the AFSOC codes for a while and I'm trying to figure out if ACC does the same thing, but I don't have the parent document, just the pages from it about the AFSOC codes. These are used to come up with the Mission Numbers that go on Flight Authorizations... thanks for any help.

Good Afternoon, I'm currently at Pensacola in Nav/WSO training. I just finished API (both pilots and navs go through this together), and I have at least 3 weeks off before I start Primary Nav training. I was originally selected for OTS as a pilot but was DQed for PRK pre-op being out of limits so I was redesignated as a Nav. The AF just changed the reg so my PRK pre-op is now well within limits. I've thought on this for nearly a week now and I can't decide whether to pursue getting my original assignment of pilot back or not. I'm THRILLED at the chance to be a WSO. On the other hand, I've always wanted to be a pilot. I'm age-critical (prior-enlisted) so I don't …

One of my biggest gripes with UPT is that I have only two rides [EDIT:] in Phase Two [/EDIT] to teach the student "everything he/she needs to know" about flying VFR. We military pilots love to brag about how much better we are than most of the civilian flying world, but god help me when I tell another pilot that I didn't "back-up" the VFR flight plan on the GPS. If you made it back without incident, your check pilot should have gotten a swift kick in the jimmy.

https://m.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/petraeus-scandal-puts-four-star-general-lifestyle-under-scrutiny/2012/11/17/33a14f48-3043-11e2-a30e-5ca76eeec857_story.html

Since it's been asked about and/or discussed in several different threads, I'm just going to post this here... Related documents: Mission Essential Determination -- Basic Military Training and Technical Training During Coronavirus Disease 2019

First of all, I graduate from USAFA in 2019 to establish some context that I will be putting in AFSC preferences in August and not long after that competing for ENJJPT. For the last two years I have been playing mental ping pong trying to figure out whether or not I want to apply for ENJJPT or just elect to go to UPT. I have narrowed down the aircraft that I want to fly in my head eliminating fighters (I think). I have a strong desire to fly in AFSOC, specifically the MC-130 but if not, I would take any platform to be part of that community. If I didn't fall into AFSOC I think I would then place the A-10 as a second choice and then slick C-130's. What I am wonde…

So, the AF Times put together a list of all the CONUS bases ranking quality of life according to "everything from school quality to the local economy, crime rates to traffic, and climate to on-base amenities, such as commissaries". I don't agree with their list and am pretty surprised by where some of the bases ended up. I'm curious what everyone's opinion is of the best base. Here's the AF Times list.

Had an interesting conversation with an IP who has a friend "in the 'know'". This is basically third-hand information, so I apologize in advance if something was lost in translation if you happen to have more detailed intel. He mentioned the Air Force is "considering" standing up a program whereby recently separated military aviators who graduated from Air Force UPT or Naval Primary would be recruited to continue federal service as a civilian T-6 IP? Interestingly enough, he also mentioned that under the auspices of this program, "highly-qualified" civilian accessions 'might' be eligible too. The criteria for direct civilian IP accessions isn't set in stone, but he said t…

I'm skeptical this will happen or if there is really a need but there is a good bit of research going into this... https://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161220-the-aerial-tankers-that-helped-shrink-the-globe https://www.google.com/patents/US20030136874 https://www.range-unlimited.com/ https://theconversation.com/in-flight-refuelling-for-airliners-will-see-non-stop-services-shrink-the-globe-39931 Reading this and thinking about my own time flying the mighty 135, the only way I could see this happening and being profitable/logistically sensible is if you could synchronize the tankers and receivers by a reciprocative schedule/flight plan or rendezvous .…