General Discussion

I'll be down at Randolph for nav training in early June. I'm wondering if anybody knows what the current BAH rate is. It could really help me out while I'm looking for possible places to stay online. Also, for those of you who had to live off base at your first duty location and had no aquaintances in the area, did you live alone or with a roommate? Is permissive TDY enough time to find a roommate? I can see some definite advantages to living with a roommate who is going through nav training at the same time, but I don't know if its worth the hassle of finding one and hoping they are a good one. Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks. Edit: There are alr…

I was a passenger on a cross country flight the other night, and happened to look out the window at just the right time to see the ISS whizzing by. It got me wondering whether pilots who fly often, especially just before sunrise or after sunset, see a lot of satellites.

Has anyone tried taking an FAA test at the Advanced Instrument School in Oklahoma City? I'm trying to take my Military Comp test for commercial license and heard it's free to take it through the USAF. Looking to save a hundred bucks or so, and the POC listed hasn't returned/answered my calls.

The Montana Air National Guard is holding a pilot board again. Packets must be recieved by 15 February 2015. See the attachment here for all the info or check out the wing's homepage and follow the link in the bottom right hand corner for the announcement letter. Thanks! 120thairliftwing.ang.af.mil 2015 UPT Application Procedures (rev).doc

I don't like to call dudes out, but one of our regular Base Ops contributors made a nice save the other day. Well done buddy, glad you're safe! Maybe we can get him to chime in and give us the lowdown! https://www.ksla.com/story/27624967/small-plane-crashes-in-red-river-in-shreveport SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - Over a dozen emergency personnel responded to the scene of a plane crash. Shreveport police tell KSLA News 12 that a small single engine plane reported a mechanical failure just after 1:00 Sunday afternoon. Authorities say the plane made an emergency landing into the Red River about a half a mile north of Shreveport's Downtown Airport. Mark Crawford …

Can't believe Sony is pulling this because of the threats. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-30528772

So we've got 2 POVs we're going to ship back to CONUS here in a few months. Suffice to say all the people moving right now have put me off of using the company the gubment's contracted with. I've dug through the JFTR, but just looking to see if I can double up with a personally contracted company and be reimbursed for the cost of the single car. Similar to personal procurement of tickets. Thanks.

Split from Track Select thread so as to not have it be buried, with update on the article. Best part of the night was the student who got cancer....pulled from training for 15 months...beat cancer...came back, kicked ass, got a Raptor. Fucking awesome.

Champ Kind has been lurking the board for more than a decade giving good advice to the young 'uns, so he has been upgraded to moderator.

So the new USAF captain board just posted their results and many of us believe there were some mistakes made. There are people who were wash backs in flight school who got promoted and others who graduated in the top half of their flight school class and top of their FTU class who were nonselected. There is a certain airframe in which everyone at that schoolhouse when the packages were sent in was nonselected. My understanding is that a promotion board cannot discriminate based on the job. A promotion board has to select based on job performance while a retention board can discriminate based on the job. Maybe there was a paperwork issue out of that FTU? Has anyone had exp…

In case you've made it to this board, you find a growing number of military docs frustrated by interruptions in training, long deployments, in between dealing with the machine and all its paperwork/PME/AAD (this is not a typo, BTZ LT Col requires an AAD not your MD) and nurse commanders who scream and yell and throw clip boards. I invite you to peruse: https://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=72

I just received an email from finance that because of my entry date I am eligible for a $30,000 Career Status Bonus (CSB) because I am entering my 15th year and I entered the service during the REDUX years (40%x High3) I have the choice to turn down the Bonus and be on the High 3 plan (50%xHigh3). Ordinarily, I would opt for the High 3 plan and reject the bonus...that said... If the AF decides to non-continue twice passed over Majors like they did in 2011, (which I think is about a 30% possibility in 2013-an educated guess only, I have nothing to back this up) and I reject the CSB then I am basically giving up 30000 that I could use for any number of th…

When I called, the rep said it was in response to incomplete DFAS info. It's well past the normal 3 year statute of limitations. Anybody else dealt with this?

Although this link is to a story about AF issues with innovation (I will not attempt to comment on its validity or the author since there are many experts here on both), this is something we talk about across the services. Is being a “free thinker” a personality liability? We all have personal biases and want the way in which makes our living to be the most relevant, but are we going to lose our military edge because we cannot look for answers that may not support theses biases? What are your thoughts? https://omnifeed.com/article/ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/12/03/a_pilot_speaks_the_usaf_is_harder_on_internal_ideas_than_it_is_on_evil_insurgents_ac_130#./a_pi…

Does anyone know if the 75 day use or lose leave policy is still in effect for 2011? Or did it go back to the 60 day max leave. Trying to make sure I don't lose 15 days. Thanks.

This was already posted in the "What's Wrong with the AF?" thread (as a good thing), but it deserves its own thread for now. Release of the change to 39-2903 has re-authorized colored Friday shirts, name tags, and morale patches. Note that this applies to everybody, not just flyers. Can I get a harumph?

Hey bros, Anybody have a copy of the little business card Florida sends out that says military members can use an expired license? My bro is renting a car tomorrow and needs it.

does anyone know the background story to the 9 AF SII that was just released regarding checklist discipline/not deviating from checklists? I'm assuming there is more to the story...

Report 1 dead 1 Serious injury

I've heard that the F-117 has been flying since it's retirement. Pics prove it. Now here's an explanation. https://intercepts.defensenews.com/2014/11/we-now-know-why-the-f-117-is-still-flying/

Hello, I am conducting research regarding runway incursion reporting as part of the research requirement for a Master of Aeronautical Science degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The purpose of this research is to identify whether differences exist among different organizations in terms of how often runway incursions are reported. All participation is voluntary and anonymous. In order to participate you must be over 18 years old and have worked in the last three years as: An air traffic controller at either a US military or civilian airfield -OR- An airport manager or in airport operations at an airport that had a functioning air traffic control tower I…

Anyone remember the names of Afghan students who have graduated UPT in the U.S. I think most of them were sent to Columbus, but with continuity over here (none), it's hard to tell. Working on yet another pet project and this would make things much easier. Please PM me names if you remember them, and do not post them to the public forum. .Mil addy available upon request.

With the huge amount of uncertainty surrounding a drop of out T-38s (from F-22 to Cannon NSA), do dudes currently want T-38s? There was talk that one would be able to switch to T-1's if they didn't like it - did that ever happen? Are guys being forced into T-38s? There was talk when I went through 38's that some dudes weren't strong enough to make it and that the reasoning was that T-38's weren't as desirable as they once were. This was when drops included <gasp> several fighters. I imagine that has shifted/is shifting yet further...

Elders, Our class's drop sheet came out this past Friday and today we were snooping around AF Portal and came across AMS. We found that when we put in 2LT and C-17 with "All" as the base selected, the bases that showed up exactly correlated to what was on our drop sheet except there was a number next to how many slots were available. The same held true for other planes we typed from our drop sheet. Was this coincidental, or did we stumble upon a way to find out how many of each plane/base we dropped?

Hawker Hunter Mk. 58 out of Pt. Mugu. No ID yet. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-plane-crash-port-hueneme-20141029-story.html Him him....