Leaderboard

There are several things to keep in mind when using MARS Radio: Call on the primary frequency first. All MARS stations monitor the primary frequency both day and night. The secondary frequency is night US Time or when you are close to the MARS station and he can not hear you on the primary frequency. Some MARS station monitor the primary and secondary frequency at the same time. Give your approximate location if not classified. The MARS station can often improve reception if the operator knows which way to aim the antenna. Having the antenna pointed correctly can make the difference between "Loud and Clear" and "Weak, Barely Readable". The location does not have to be specific. The state or country if not the US or Canada is sufficient. The MARS station might give his location and ask which direction you are from him. Call multiple times. To avoid confusion, the only station that will answer you on the first call is the "Net Control" station. If "Net Control" does not hear you, other stations will respond after your second radio call. Also, if you are answered by an operator other than the net control, he will usually first contact the NCS to see who will handle your patch. Talk distinctly. Another station may be assigned to you based on your location and rotation of the operators. EXAMPLE RADIO CALL: "MARS RADIO. MARS RADIO, REACH 123, NORTH ATLANTIC, OVER" If after calling several times you do not get any response, you may wish to try again in 30 minutes when propagation may be different or try the secondary frequency. You may be moved to another frequency for better communication or if there is active traffic on the primary. Please pass this information on to other crews.

here

I sensed a great disturbance in the (air) Force. As if a million shoe clerks cried out at once... And then were silenced.

Yeah me too...god damn it. In other news this came out FSS: Important guidance regarding TERA (as I'm reading this, if you're twice passed over don't expect to be contined but you will be allowed to apply for retirement): As outlined in the FY14 Force Management program, the Secretary of the Air Force has authorized Temporary Early Retirement Authority, or TERA, to those members eligible to apply. As the CY14 Promotion Board schedule begins, TERA will be available as a part of post-board actions. If a member is a two-time non-select for promotion, is not offered selective continuation, and is TERA-eligible, they will be given the opportunity to apply for TERA after the public release of the promotion listing. Specific instructions will be included in their non-select letter. The Retirement Date associated with this targeted TERA window will be the mandatory DOS established by the board (1st day of the 7th month following approval of results by USD P&R).

Should somebody tell Hagel all the 50-year-old U2s were retired years ago? The current ones were built in the '80s...

CSAF said at AFA, and told the MAJCOM CCs Corona South, SOS in residence will be the norm. If you can't go due to ops deferments, etc you will be required to complete the correspondence course. He said you will be allowed to complete SOS in correspondence if you can't go in residence. He also said you will not be allowed to do IDE in correspondence and residence. If you are a select, you will be blocked from enrolling in correspondence. He did not address the issue of candidates completing correspondence in order to be competitive for residence. I clearly understood his intent that appropriate PME, either residence or correspondence, was required for promotion to Maj, Lt Col and Col. I have heard no discussion about delaying PME until the last look. I assume early (but within eligibility window) completion will be more favorable than completion at the very end of the window, but I have not seen the specifics. Bottom line, get your PME done I you want to get promoted. AAD is not required now (his words), but CSAF said he will put out policy to keep boards and senior raters from considering AAD for promotion prior to the Col board. He said AAD was personal development and should not be considered for professional development or advancement. He said you can get one prior to the Col board during IDE, either in residence or correspondence, or get one on your own. He said job performance should be the most important factor in promotions. Hopefully he will put out the policy soon, we have been talking about it for long enough.

If you ignore that it doesn't make a better recon platform than the U-2.

Glad to see the folks at AFPC have their priorities straight at such a crucial time...WTF!! https://www.airforcetimes.com/article/20140223/NEWS/302230007/Air-Force-launches-new-BBQ-competition

Why work hard trying to break encryption when you can just wait for stupidity and incompetence to run their natural course.

Where did you get that, and how can we get one?

I'm confused.

He didn't really make a lot of sense. What if you don't get to go? A 6-9 week SOS course is one thing, year long IDE/SDE is another.

Some of his ideas are misplaced. He talks about the inability of he old corps to adapt to the Coin fight. What he doesn't talk about is he generation of "middle managers" we have raised in TOCs around he AO who only operate in an environment of informational saturation and risk aversion via the tactical directive of the week. Think about how many times you've walked into a TOC that looked like a best buy or flown around with a units as small as squads putting up their own UAVs to get eyes on exactly what you described via voice. How many commanders want your rover code the second you check in? Those commanders have no preparation for a real fight. The fight against a peer or near peer force not clubbing seals like we have for the last decade where more thought is put on things like ROE arm chair quarter backing and asking crews to think is engaging the enemy "worth it." Those kinds of officers have found themselves embarrassingly behind the power curve as we switch our training and Eval process back to pre 9-11 focus. So no it's not time to just fire all he old guys. Most of those old guys have good stuff to bang into the heads of all he O3-O4 guys they will be in charge when they leave.

Point taken, but if only Gen Jumper signed the "practice bleeding" memo... He did push the changes, but he left it to Gen Brady his A1 to sign the practice bleeding memo. And people took it for what it was worth, a memo signed by someone other than the Chief. How many times, on this board, have people bitched about a squadron CC coming in and making changes without consulting with his people? Without buy-in, none of these changes will stick. Hell, many of them may not stick anyway, but at least he may get some buy-in and they may stick around for longer than one CSAF. I see his changes as common sense changes but not all people do. Over my career, I have watched this issue come full circle and back again. There are always the one or two dudes that will see it the other way, but at least he is making changes and using data/ real experience to back up his changes. Maybe they will stick this time...time will tell.

I'm not reading many posts from people concerned about getting fired. It seems like people are more interested in how quickly they can get out. After more than a decade of doing more with less, increasing deployment lengths with decreasing dwell time, and the Air Force being run into the ground by incompetent leadership, we want out. I'm voting with my feet that if they want to have a war, they need to fund it and have victory conditions. And if they want to have an all-volunteer force, they need to treat people better.

I used to run one of those shops that made tail flashes on base and I can give you some advice. It won't answer your question about companies set up specifically to make tail flashes though. my biggest recommendation would be to figure out who runs the fabrication flight at your base and ask him/her for some advice on how to go about this. They might even be willing to make you one to use as a template for all the rest of them. Aircraft "sheet metal" could be one of 69 different materials from aluminum to carbon fiber to titanium to fiberglass to a combo of all four. However the skin of the B-1, F-16, F-15, and most of the older planes will be mostly a variation of 2024-T4 aluminum. Any private fabrication shop will know how to order this specific kind of aluminum. It's not realistic to expect the bone yard to strip aluminum off off old planes for you to use. So now that you are armed with that knowledge, you can take your template to any private sheet metal fabrication business and ask them how much they would charge to replicate your template. They should be able to paint and apply the vinyl decals as well. It might take a while for them to get it perfect, but once they do, you will now have a local company set up to continue making the things long after you go away. PM me if you have other fabrication questions.

If only we as an Air Force could attain the same level of clarity and transparency for force shaping as we've achieved for cuff links.

Members have from simple to large stations. I have a fairly large station with six HF transceivers, four HF power amplifiers and an array of antennas to cover all HF frequencies as well as VHF/UHF coverage. Photos can be seen at https://afa6bu.org. I usually monitor the phone patch net frequencies most of the time when home averaging 40 hours or more a week. Can do other things while monitoring. When not on the net or at the same time, I also do support with the US Coast Guard through their Auxiliary and chase working as many countries as I can. Have just over 300 worked up to now.

Thanks to b1bhandler and others for your comments and they are most appreciated. As a member of the MARS phone patch net and seeing the recent comments, I thought I would provide some accurate information on the current net. We are members of the Air Force MARS program. Sprint used to provide phone cards but has pretty much quit them and as the current ones run out many are not renewed. However, the majority of the stations have unlimited nationwide calling and one or two have international calling capabilities. DSN is always available. We are not supposed to mention frequencies, but since they are already posted on here 13927.0 is the primary frequency and 7633.5 is secondary. Many of the stations monitor both these frequencies at the same time. First call should be on the primary and then try secondary if no one responds. If it is felt that better communication can be accomplished on one of the other frequencies then the operator will request you move but normally the 4, 11, 20 and 27 are not regularly monitored. Calling and operation information is on the websites mentioned. The members of the net appreciates your service and it is an honor to be able to help you. Regards, Richard/AFA6BU

The funeral and POW photos are good examples of why many people refer to the current young generation as "Generation ME". They took those photos only thinking how great THEY would appear in them and never bothered to think of how others would view it.

FOD..scheduling more than a day ahead of time...meeting any sort of deadline...watch out

Still waiting for CSAF decision on a proposed policy that prohibits completion of SOS in-correspondence prior to attending in-residence. Correspondence would be required if attending in-residence is not possible, but double tapping or requiring correspondence as a pre-requisite would be prohibited. Hopefully it will be official soon, lots of traction.

The problem is that the AF already has the institutional memory of the "practice bleeding" debacle. Gen Jumper was before my time, but issuing the practice bleeding memo and laying it on the line for Schwalier give him a lot of cred in my book. I'd wager the average crew dog was fired up about him back then. Without overhauling the system and setting the example by crushing a wing king or two that don't take the message to heart about forgetting about masters degrees, nothing will ever change. In a 4 yr tenure as CSAF, I'd bet it could be done with enough horsepower. Laying the groundwork sounds like bullshit. None of this is to say everything is ed. The AF will go on just fine, but these things could be made better on his watch.