General Discussion

Received this email a few moments ago. I hope it is a hoax, but I fear it is not. "A head's up. Starting 8 Sep 08, the direction from the new CSAF is that everyone in the AF will wear blues (not Class A blouse) every Monday. Direction is forthcoming. This came from the recent off site the Chief had here in D.C. with all 4-stars and 2 letters."

A buddy of mine actually submitted this to finance in his efinance voucher. To be fair, his voucher from his deployment, which he returned from almost a year ago, has been rejected 10 times. Yes, 10 times. He is fed up, as some of the reasons for rejection have been absolutely ridiculous. Some of them were legit but it has gotten to the point where he has had enough and wanted to send a message. Note: He is well aware of the potential back lashing, but doesn't care. To whom it may concern, The last time my voucher was rejected was because I failed to include details such as the airports from which I traveled to and from for my post-deployment leave. I realize th…

Just looking for peoples insights and commentary from a more involved group than the retired hacks that flood John Q's message board with stories from the 80's. https://www.facebook.com/jqpublic The most recent/popular article is about Altus' OG/CC requiring mandatory blues this following monday for a DUI that occurred at the front gate this past friday night. To my knowledge, this was the fourth DUI in the OG this month, and these are from cadre for the FTU. Thoughts on the blues being "punishment" vs "a refocus on professionalism"? And the best way to approach from a leadership perspective to actually get people to follow and preventing DUI's? At this point it'…

I just discovered the trailer for the Korean film R2B (English title "Soar Into the Sun") on the Aviationist. It looks like pure cheese, and it's drawing the inevitable comparisons to Top Gun: https://www.latimes.c...,0,303239.story And speaking of "Top Gun," has anybody seen the 1990 Japanese Top Gun knockoff "Best Guy?" My JASDF buddies were telling me about it; apparently JASDF F-15s were heavily involved in the filming. It tanked at the Japanese box office.

This topic was touched on in the FY15 VSP thread, but no one had any real answers. Has anyone who has been approved for the FY 14 or 15 VSP received any concrete info on Transfer of Education Benifits (TEB) for children? The PSDM states: "6. Impact on Montgomery GI Bill and Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits: If a member has transferred benefits prior to approval to separate under VSP, then the member’s service obligation will be treated as complete. However, if the member attempts to transfer benefits for the first time after approval to separate under VSP, the member will not have sufficient retainability to enter into a service obligation and would not be approved f…

So much for the pre-flight... https://www.kake.com/news/national/headlines/Body-of-child-stowaway-found-in-US-cargo-plane-269083371.html

Interesting take on the use of the word hero- https://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-j-astore/why-its-wrong-to-equate-m_b_655611.html

Always lawyer up https://www3.gazette.com/projects/project/usafa-informant-program/

Saw the Air Force's 30-year strategy just came out, figured might be worth worth discussing. Wonder what predictions written in 1984 said about today...I'd venture to bet they weren't all that accurate. Maybe some of you old heads can chime in on that one. Link for the file, also see attached to download. AF 30 Year Strategy.pdf

When in the hell are we going to actually protect our own country? N4T Investigators: Rogue Mexican Army troops crossing the line There are about 28,500 US military personnel in South Korea right now assisting in deterrance and defense of the 15th largest economy in the world that also has the 6th largest military (by AD personnel) with a 2.9 million reserve force and we have almost no US military actually stationed on and tasked to defend the southern border. Can we get at least half of that on our border? One can dream though...

I just track selected, Laughlin 08-07, and was chosen to fly UH-1 at Fort Rucker and was wondering if anyone knows the chances in going to CV-22's upon completion? Also, any good advice for what to expect at Rucker would be appreciated too! Thanks!

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.

Quick question. Its been a couple years since I've been at Bagram and I'm heading back soon. I was wondering if anyone there now has any idea what the internet situation is? Last time, you had to hand over your computer to some sketchy dude that messed with it for a few minutes and then you had to connect to a crappy wired system that sucked anyways. I'm asking because I would like to use an iPad or iPod touch and do the Facetime thing with my kids. Is there WiFi now and how is the connections for doing what I mentioned or skype, etc.? I tried finding older threads in the search and I couldn't find anything. If opsec stuff is an issue, then just send me a message. …

Going to be commissioning in a few years; I'll have a few years in already as a prior enlisted guy, but what can I expect as a new LT? How am I going to get messed with? What assumptions are people going to make of me? What are somethings I should definitely NOT do (besides make threads like this)?

https://www.airtrafficmanagement.net/2014/07/malaysian-b777-crash-reported-in-contested-airpsace/

Co-pilots coming to legacy herks are being re-routed to RPA/AFSOC and C-130H will become integrated with total force, any more info?

She was recently promoted to 4 stars and will be the next commander of the Pacific Combat Air Command. What's interesting, her career started as a ABM and never piloted an aircraft. She should be in the running in being the 1st CoSAF without being a pilot. Interesting times for the future of the AF.

New Vance Wing CC put the kaibash on Friday. I'm dumbfounded that is deemed to be out of regs.

https://m.kcra.com/news/plane-crashes-at-travis-afb-air-show-in-fairfield/25806746 Apparently this was the performer: https://www.eddieandreiniairshows.com

https://sploid.gizmodo.com/the-designer-of-the-f-16-explains-why-the-f-35-is-such-1591828468

So didn't find this anywhere else but am curious if anyone knows the answer to this question: Do T-38 (or T-1) compete against every other base for assignments? I only ask because I hear that the scoring is different between Columbus and other bases. At Columbus we grade phase 3 checkrides as upgrades, meaning a 12G (a good score for us) means that we got 12 Es on the whole gradesheet. This differs from our T-6 checkrides that downgrade, meaning a 12G is ok, everything but 12 are Es. I have heard that other bases do it the other way around (T-6 are upgrades and T-38s are downgrades). I am curious if we compete against every base if this is screwing us at Colum…

Anyone know the correlation between transiting an IRS approved CZTE area and logging AFTO 781 combat or combat support time? I recently overflew the Red Sea but didn't land in any of the usual AOR locales. Do I get to log this? I asked the SARM folks but they fed me a line about having to takeoff or land at an airfield in the combat zone. They also said there was a list of approved ICAOs but couldn't produce the list when I asked for it (big surprise!). I know their takeoff/landing line is bullshit since I've logged tons of combat time while overflying Iraq on the way from ETAR to OTBH or vice versa.

Would you use one?

Reported by UK news media... https://www.itv.com/news/story/2014-01-07/helicopter-air-crash-cley-north-norfolk/

Unmasking advanced education for promotions has always seemed like a bad idea to me. I finally decided to write an op-ed on the subject and it got picked up by the Baltimore Sun. I am wondering if anyone really thinks this policy is good for the Air Force and why it has not been changed if almost everyone I know thinks it's an abomination. Here is the article. https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-air-force-degrees-20140204,0,2245525.story