Leaderboard

Proof that our senior leaders are idiots. Or at least badly misinformed. The airlines isn't the only industry hiring pilots. So just recently the F-16 porch had to non-vol 8 dudes out of cycle to Kunsan and lost a couple dudes from 7 day opt because of it. What does that tell you? The only reason the USAF is in good hands is because there are awesome dudes / dudettes busting their asses to get the J-O-B done regardless of all the B.S. You are out of touch.

I will be within 3 years of an AD retirement when my commitment is up. I am researching my Res/ANG options. Some may think this a dumb move. I'm not saying that I am committed to that option at this point. Check of the month, TFL, sure; it's a gamble that those would still be around if I stretched my timeline out. What would be a leap of faith for me, if I instead choose to take another assignment, is that the General Changs of AFPC won't pull another TAMI-21 or in some other dumbshit way send me back to this trailer park hell again. Lesson learned. Oh yeah: $25k per year to own my ass for anything more than 3 years? No. Fucking. Way. It will take substantially more than that before I give up the option to tell Big Blue to GFY.

I knew when writing my post someone would make this comment...though I thought it would be General Dumbass and not an actual rated guy. The 'Bonus', ie ACP in years past, is not just about a monetary annual payment of $25K...it has to do with who is legible, how many years people can receive this amount, half up front or not, and so on. So again, the 'Bonus' is not the same as it has been year after year and is vastly different compared to what it was in 90's. If all Big Blue had to do was toss out the words 'twenty-five thousand dollars' to get guys to stay in, why are they changing the terms compared to last year? If everything is so great for the AF, why are they willing to spend more money on fighter guys this year compared to last year?...and in such a tougher year with regards to sequestration? I know Hacker and most other rated dudes understand this, but General Dumbass will try and tell us that everything is the same...though clearly they are not. And as for the 'annual amount' being the same (which I never said it was not), $25K has quite a bit less buying power that it did 15 years ago, but I digress.

I punched very recently. I was at the 12 year mark. It wasn't because I hated AD, leadership, or my job. In fact, I loved the job. My thing was I wanted to call my own shots, live where I wanted to live, and I had no desire to go to staff, or PCS anymore. I was ready to grow some roots. I also figured if I was going to have a bit of a pay cut for a while, now was the time to do it. (Kid's are young and I don't have much debt.) I was fortunate enough to have an ANG gig lined up in my hometown, so that will help with the $$ for a while. Plus, I didn't want to totally give up "the life" and serving in some capacity. I don't have another job quite yet, but I do believe that there will be some opportunity in the airlines coming up. Sure, it may not the "hiring boom" some are suggesting but if I am fortunate enough to land a job, I think there is a better chance to gain seniority now than there has been in quite some time... I get it, it's not a perfect industry, and I am not stupid enough to think that I'll be sitting in the right seat of a FedEx jet in a few months, but I'm pretty sure I'll find something to do... I have ZERO regrets at this point, and I'm VERY happy with the decision. I've seen my family more in the last three months than I have in the past decade. I've been hanging out at the beach, drinking, and having a hell of a summer just doing shit I like to do. Sure, there's some uncertainty ahead, but I'm confident things will be just fine without the security of AD. Hey, if the bottom completely falls out of my plan, I can just come back to AD because the manning plan is so fu%*ed up, I may even score a huge sign on bonus! Good luck to anyone else getting ready to make the decision...

Yep, I'll be submitting my Palace Chase paperwork in a week and a half (which will get denied), and then I will keep applying until it's approved or my ADSC is up anyway.

Merged previous post with parent thread - read this. Read this thread. Penicillin allergy is not important and will not require a waiver. Read this.

Define "senior leaders"... In the past year I have heard two 4 Stars and a 3 Star in three separate Q&A forums say they are seriously concerned with both pilot shortage and pilot retention issues with the immediate concern being 11F, but in reality it is with pilots in general. They were asked this question directly all 3 times (not by me). Are you saying these Generals were just paying lip service to the group of pilots they were talking to? I am not an A1 guy and I don't see the numbers that AFPC and the Puzzle Palace have, but what I have seen is experienced guys 7 day opting on a regular basis for the past 18 months or so... which I have never seen in my entire career. As it was alluded to earlier in this thread, this is now talked about openly in Squadrons where it never would have been just 2-3 years ago. What would be very telling, but something that would surely never be released is the number of takes for the ACP with their current duty station. I have several friends that have taken the bonus and all of them are in one form of school or another. So if the vast majority of those who signed the bonus were those who were planning on staying in (and won't even be actually flying for 4 of the 5 yrs of the bonus between school and Staff) is that considered a "victory" for these senior leaders? Serious question...

Guys, need some prayers their way.

We've talked about Gen. Yeager's attitude (and the reasons behind it) before, and I hesitate further denigrating the man. However, I think the real culprit may well be his present wife, of whom I feel little respect for. Hell, he should be out hunting and fishing until the bitter end, anyway. Perhaps a focus on her (assuming she is photogenic) would be in order? FM

So why did the senior leaders decide to spend $100k to buy 4 more years from these dudes if they are not worried? The new Air Force welfare system? The annual amount remains the same but why are you making the duration and total amount an irrelevant issue?

The same good hands that ran a SERB, RIF, and a voluntary recall to AD within the same year? That's the problem. Have you or "P-gon" senior "in-chargers" spent any time in an ops squadron recently? I am thinking no, otherwise you wouldn't have said anything this ridiculous. This goes much further than your information based on hypothetical data you P-gon folks vomit on spreadsheets and call it gospel; and it's more than a few dudes bitching on BODN. A lot of the stuff you read on here is a pretty good representation of what you would hear on a larger scale in the squadrons. Sure, I don't really buy the mass exodus or massive airline boom either. Believe it or not, pilots look outside the airlines for jobs. There are some pretty lucrative opportunities out there if you look in the right places, or if you have the motivation and drive to work for yourself... Bottom line, there may not be a massive exodus, but I think you are going to many more high quality dudes/duddets saying "FU" and taking the 7-day opt and getting out when an RPA or exec "opportunities" come up. It will eventually turn in to a manning problem and that "senior leaders not being worried in the slightest" will turn into a knee-jerk shit storm... Like having a simultaneous SERB, RIF, and voluntary recall to active duty... Oh, and Stop Loss...

Who was that Iraqi spin artist getting all the comical air time at the beginning of OIF saying that the Americans were being pushed back while there was simultaneous footage of the coalition advance in the same screen? GC reminds me of that guy.

A zombie elephant maybe, or a zombie whale.

If only I could figure out how to imbed a picture...an attachment will have to do.

to those dudes. The military is a bizarre mix of the most professional men and the laziest of shit bags. It's like a balance must be maintained so for every true red-blooded badass American, there's some worthless fucking piece of trash waste of space. Thankfully we have professionals like the rescue guys on our side. Coast Guard rescue included.