General Discussion

Curious to hear from all the AF aviators and such around here. Do you like/love your job? I'm going to assume most of you do, because you're on an online forum in your spare time talking about it. The "why" is the most important part. Also (to the pilots) are you happy with your airframe or do you wish you had something else?

I know there's a bunch of so called "military websites" for selling your home and I've looked at a few but I'm curious if anybody has had any luck with this sort of thing? My Realtor said if I found the buyer he would do everything for .5% so if there are any credible sites out there I'd like to give it a try.

Howdy- I'm trying to plan my cross country (T-6) and want to remain overnight at KDWH. It's listed on the AETC Letter of Agreement list, which just means we can land/refuel there, right? I've got another list that's labeled "14 FTW Joint-Use Civilian Side Tracker", and KDWH isn't on there. I've been told by the step desk at Randolph that they indeed do remain overnight at KDWH, and that there's some AETC-wide RON tracker. Where can I find this? I asked my IPs, and haven't gotten a good answer. They keep referring me to the local 14 FTW list. Thanks!

I'm gonna start traveling here in a few weeks. What size bag will fit into a travel pod? Any suggested bags that are good for taking all your shit downrange?

Any of you old heads know where a young guy can get those spiffy name tapes every crewdog has on all their gear/ luggage/ A-3 bags, etc? Any phone number or website for a company would be apprecicated. Chuck

Here ya go, how American's feel about the military services... Cheers! M2 Gallup Panel Military Perceptions Study.pdf

How long do the effects of the G warm-up exercise last? And, assuming you do this exercise at the start of a sortie but then are unable to go straight into BFM or ACM, would you repeat it before you start pulling Gs? I am also curious to know how much of a difference it makes to your ability to sustain Gs without experiencing GLOC.

I've been searching and can't seem to get a good answer as to why the A-10 is called a fighter. The best answer I got so far was that it handles more like a fighter. Someone also told me it had air-to-air kills versus Iraqi helos before the Eagles got any kills. Talking with old crusty Navy dudes, they were proud to be called 'Attack' pilots versus fighter pilots. Even though the A-6, A-4, A-7, were all tactical jets, they identified themselves as attack pilots first and the fighter guys were all the F-types. I never saw an old retired colonel more offended than when I made the mistake of even implying that the Hog wasn't a fighter, but an attack platform (meaning …

"The OTA will be for a five-year technology demonstration of an airship with three weeks' endurance, a 2,500lb payload with 16kW of power, and an operating altitude of 25,000ft, 80kt dash speed and 20kt station-keeping speed. The payload will include EO/IR sensors, SAR/GMTI radar and Sigint, plus communications relay." There's few things that should be unmanned. This is one of them. I was most surprised by the "20kt station-keeping." Somebody is optimistic about winds aloft! All that endurance could get us great intel as our Gucci ISR/EW systems drift into hostile areas... On the upside, probably not a terrible idea if a non-retard puts together the requiremen…

I'm sitting hear on Christmas morning continuing with the "What do I do with my life" discussion. Lately I have had alot of heartburn with the Air Force and I can't figure out how to make my remaing 5 years of service commitment work for me. For instance, by no means am I the first person to complain about SOS and a masters degree. I have completely swallowed the blue pill and conceded to the fact that I have to do SOS in correspondence in order to be competitive to attend in residence. But what I'll do now is make sure that I do it only on the Air Force time. If that means that I spend 2 hours in front of my computer instead of putting up briefing boards, reviewing …

I was just curious for the guys who have an engineering degree/ or pursuing and engineering degree. Specifically aerospace/aeronautical I'm interested in the above: What exactly are they? What classes are involved? Experiences you had? What you thought? I'm wanting to give myself options once I graduate to possibly going into test flying. And after that possibly becoming an astronaut. But i don't want to set a trap for myself and get bad grades because before trying to become a test pilot/astronaut I have to get accepted for UPT. And I'm not even sure whether I would like the course or not, I think it looks real interesting. Any suggestions that you could…

Colonel Robert L. Howard, age 70 and believed to be the most-decorated living American before his death, passed away Wednesday from pancreatic cancer in Waco, TX. Here's to him! Biography: Colonel Bob Howard is a native of Alabama, with his home record San Antonio, Texas. He entered military service on July 20, 1956 and was medically retired on September 30, 1992. He received a direct appointment from Master Sergeant to First Lieutenant in December 1969. His thirty six years of military service included over 33 years on airborne status. He participated in two movies concerning airborne and special operations missions, both featuring John Wayne. He made …

When in a cell, when does lead pass the AA Tacan to 2? Us heavy guys don't see a cell often, but lately I've been on several locals where we have. Everyone seems to be passing the AA at different times. Couldn't find it in any tanker manuals. Just curious.

I've lived OCONUS collectively for over five years now and I just found out about these discounted APO/FPO flat rate boxes. It's (nearly) too late for this Christmas, but the USPS offers Flat Rate boxes for shipping to APO/FPO that are a couple bucks cheaper than normal flat rate large boxes (11.95 vs 13.95). For those stationed overseas who have relatives sending them stuff, let them know about these. Your folks may be able to get the boxes from their local post office, but they can also order them online (in packs of 10 or 25) and there are no shipping costs to order them. The link to USPS is here, but you can get them through a number of other sites (like stamps.c…

Heard through the grapevine, bean counters want to take away our access to Jeppesen approach plates! Tell you what; the Jeppesen African charts sure beat FLIP, hands down! What gives?

Ok, so me and a few other cadets are going to Tyndall over spring break for some F-15 rides but we don't have anywhere to stay yet. Does anyone have any past experience going there and remember where they stayed? Everywhere we are looking so far is ridiculously priced, so let me know if anyone has any ideas

Has anyone else heard of this happening yet? Just got word that PT shirts are now required to be tucked in at all times, including during PT (which is absolutely ridiculous!). Who makes these rules?

White House aides insisted F-22 be removed from Obama speech venue When President Obama spoke to troops at Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base last month, the unit there parked a shiny new F-22 fighter plane in the hanger. But according to multiple sources, White House aides demanded the plane be changed to an older F-15 fighter because they didn't want Obama speaking in front of the F-22, a controversial program he fought hard to end. "White House aides actually made them remove the F-22-said they would not allow POTUS to be pictured with the F-22 in any way, shape, or form," one source close to the unit relayed. Stephen Lee, a public affairs officer at …

https://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,533700,00.html

Anyone heard anything out of the Corona? We have heard that the PAD for the new nuke paradigm has already been written and the conference was pretty much just an informational meeting. What about AFCyber?

Time to do more with less, folks! (Pretty soon we'll be doing everything with nothing) https://www.military.com/news/article/af-to-jettison-3700-airmen.html?ESRC=airforce-a.nl My comments on the article WTF? We can't manage an extra 4000 people spread across the world? That's like more people at each base!?! As usual, the Air Force solution is to reduce the number of experienced, active duty experts in their fields while continuing recruiting efforts in the same manner. So we realized there was an experience gap and plussed up our forces. We have new missions in addition to the old ones...so we are cutting forces?!? Where's the logic in that?!?!

Air Force jet crashes north of Edwards AFB CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. (AP) — A military jet has crashed north of Edwards Air Force base in Southern California. Kern County fire spokesman Sean Collins says the Talon T-38 went down about 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the Mojave Desert. Collins says he has no immediate information on the crew. A T-38 can carry two people. Lets hope they got out.

Edited, duplicate info

What are those numbers forward of the horizontal stabilizer in the B-52 for?

I heard a rumor the other day that the AF is looking at hiring prior active duty pilots back on to active duty. Apparently mother AF has paid too many dudes to get out and is now a ton of pilots short (1k). Any other rumors out there? If so...what are your options (UAV, UAV, or UAV). I know they have done it in the past (2003)....even gave guys the bonus to come back in. Some of them got pretty sweet assignments. Could get intresting. Anyone in the know?