General Discussion

The Air Force lost a great airman today when 1lt Anthony Riggan and his wife nicole passed away in a single engine plane crash in Co Springs on their way home to spend Christmas with family. https://www.krdo.com/news/26248211/detail.html Anthony was a B1 pilot at Ellsworth AFB and a UPT classmate and good friend to me and many in the Air Force community. He and Nicole will be sadly missed.

We seem to have extras...any takers? https://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/australia-looks-overseas-for-defence-staff-20111227-1par2.html The Australian Defence Force is trying to recruit laid-off soldiers, sailors and air crew from Britain, the US and other western countries in order to fill recruitment quotas. Australia is reportedly looking for defence specialists, such as fighter pilots, submarine crews and officers and are offering fast-tracked citizenship as an incentive, The Australian reported on Tuesday. According to the newspaper the Royal Australian Navy has sent a delegation to Britain to discover how many retrenched sailors, particularly en…

Gents, I am not a flyer. I am a comm guy (that's "cyber operator" in today's Air Force...). Long story short, I am writing the AFI that addresses how you pay for gas away from your home station (e.g. AF 664s), turning in those docs when you return, and how the WRDCOs get the bills paid. I've spent lots of time talking to WRDCOs since they are the focus. I've also talked to couple of pilots, but no boom operators. I'd like down low on how/what actually happens when you have to refuel away from your home station - both on the ground and in the air. I'd also like to know what happens to the 664s and 791s when the mission is complete. The older Air Refueling …

Fantastic, Boeing wins one for the home team.

https://www.examiner.com/x-5411-NY-Military...One-The-Problem https://www.examiner.com/x-5411-NY-Military...wo-The-solution It's an interesting idea, not sure if it's be feasible.

This is a video the pilots in the scout platoon of the company I was in made in 1988 (B Co. 4-229th AAHR) at Ft. Hood, TX during our unit's start-up and reciept of the AH-64 Apache. It's a parody of the "Apache on the Move" video made by MD to tell the world how awesome the Apache was back then (and it really is, but after a while it got tiring to always hear about the Apache -- I mean the OH-5.8 had been around since the late 60's)! To really understand the parody, you should watch the actual "Apache on the Move" video, if you have time (about 10 mins). Here's the link: As far as the OH-58 Parody (called "Kiowa on the Move"), it's here, and is also about 10 …

In today's AFA Daily... I didn't know the BUFF was "conceived" in a hotel room! Cheers! M2

Christmas almost came early for China... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16292244

Just saw it on the local nightly news. No news on any casualties. My prayers go out. -Hawk 4 killed. 2 injured. *Update

No this is not a VSP question. I have a couple questions after digging through AFI36-3207 on Officer Separations. My ADSC ends on 1 Sep and I'm looking to start a full-time MBA program when I separate. I found this section in the AFI about going to school. If I'm reading that correctly, if the school I get accepted to starts the fall semester on 25 Aug I could separate under this clause and start the semester even though my ADSC isn't complete until 1 Sep. Is that correct? Assuming I'd been enrolled and pay the tuition. If not, my other question is how far out can you request a separation date into the future? Throughout the reg I keep seeing that you mus…

I just got a a T-6 PIT flying job - moving this summer. Looking to see if there are any folks there in San Antonio who can give me info on where to live, schools, etc - the normal stuff. Right now, we're looking to rent in the Stone Oak or Canyon Springs area, but looking for opinions. Thanks

Rebalancing the Rated Pipeline: The Air Force needs to boost fighter pilot production to 278 pilots a year as it works to rebalance the rated training pipeline, wrote Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz in a letter to Air Force major commands and members of the Air Staff. Schwartz said this will be accomplished primarily through the new active associations with reserve fighter squadrons. Specifically, the Arizona Air National Guard at Tucson will support "significantly more" B-course students each year and reduce the number of foreign military sales students. Air Combat Command will reduce the F-16 flight training unit syllabus. The A-10 crew ratio will increase and more …

https://www.aviationw...channel=defense

Can someone please explain what military cap and flying cap is? Thanks.

This is a great story in ADN about PJs serving in OEF, recounting one day during Operation Bulldog Bite. It was a phenomenal story to hear first hand, and the ADN reporter actually did a good job. This is what should be in the press, not some all-female crew flying a KC-10. Makes me wonder if any shoes at Bagram had any clue what was going on outside the wire while this was going down... ADN Article

Fuckers!

Anybody got time to kill and feel like doing some interesting reading? It will probably open the your eyes into some realities that you haven't given too much thought. First, read this Congressional Research Service Report for Congress on the security issues facing Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. Read between the lines. Next, read this recent article from The Atlantic. Read between the lines. My opinion only, the real reason we are in Afghanistan is a convenient excuse to keep a foothold in the region so that we can keep tabs on Pakistan's nukes. From the Atlantic article: “The single biggest threat to U.S. security, both short-term, medium-term, and long-term, wou…

Of course we all know what today is, and we have all answered the question hundreds of times as well as reflected personally on todays events 6 years ago. I dont want to turn this thread into that. I was just curious if any of you were flying CAP's or any other mission that day that could relate the experience, what it felt like being the only ones in the air, having semi-silent radio chatter (if it was). Just was curious

Interesting. Any A-10 drivers out there up for this? "The U.S. military’s veteran A-10 Thunderbolt II is built for battle: a titanium-armored cockpit protects its pilot from explosive projectile hits, and it can carry weapons like a 30-mm nose-mounted cannon to take out enemy tanks. Now the National Science Foundation (NSF) plans to arm a retired Thunderbolt not with bombs, but with scientific instruments, and use it to study the inside of violent thunderstorms—where winds, hail, and lightning would take down lesser planes. The NSF recently awarded a $10.9 million grant to the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., a to refurbish a retired Thunderbolt fo…

I just received notification that my US Standard Issue (Oakley's military program) account needed to be renewed. As a part of that process, I was instructed that a copy of my military ID card was required... I informed them that photocopying U.S. Government identification cards is a violation of Title 18, U.S. Code Part I, Chapter 33, Section 701 and punishable by fine and imprisonment. And asked for instructions on how to renew my account without this requirement. Then I started wondering if everyone on here--especially some of the younger crowd--was aware of this, so I am posting the info here. From what I have been told, there are exceptions f…

Anyone have the 411 on this gig?

And the pendulum swings again. https://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123280212

https://www.wtkr.com/news/military/la-fi-bunker-buster-bomb-20111117,0,7519435.story Pretty cool, but by my math that's over $15M per boom. I hope we're getting more than just 20 for our money.

Now, that the ANG has the C-27J mission in total, where is the C-27J School House? I have no idea if the AF senior leadership truly wanted this mission, but it's great in receiving new airframes regardless of size. Nice decision on the part of Sec Def Gates, who made it possible. He cut the legs from under the Army on this one. Since the AF likes to play down and dirty by playing Army with new PT standards and JET/ILO assignments nowadays, why not transfer all of the Army's fixed wing aircraft to the AF as well. That will be an additional 250-275 airframes. Possibly another 800-900 pilot positions. Let the Army specialize in helos, that's their bread and butter anyway…