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Think of how many permanent schedulers, planners, training managers, equipment custodians, building custodians, deployment managers, records managers, voting reps, security managers, resource advisors, purchase card holders, and DTS reviewers we could hire for 60k per year...

Dude, I threw you a bit of a lifeline. I commend your positive attitude but you need to heed the advice to stfu and listen. Experienced guys are giving their gripes, don't discount them. I'm loving my USAF experience but I see dudes getting railed all around me so as someone who is happy, take it from me, there is a lot of truth being spoken here. Whether you dig it or not, you'll find out. But don't talk shit to experienced guys because whether you agree or not, you have Zero real insight. And don't ever ever EVER go spouting officer first at the pleasure of the president officer ship 101 outside ROTC or the shoe clerk 0900 PT session. I can't begin to tell you what a d-bag your post made you sound like. But keep up the great attitude. Best of luck.

I'm doubting he's a Major. The willfull cluelessness, unwillingness to listen to those actually doing the job, beclowning himself on an online forum, vomiting blue koolaid nonsense on officership and being stupid enough to volunteer for RPAs all point to 2 Lt.

There is no sense of entitlement going on here. We're not asking for dream assignments to the beach or only to work between the hours of 9-5 M-F. We want to do the job we trained years to do and the taxpayer payed millions to fund. As a tax payer you should be pissed the AF is taking assets it spent tens of million to train and sending them to a job that could be done by 18x ers that cost probably 5% of what a manned pilot cost to train. How do you think that army SF or Navy seal reacts when they get sent to a desk job? They get bitter and pissed. No offense but flying a RPA isent that difficult. Also, get a sense of perspective. This is a online forum where we can vent and sport bitch. When/If you make it a operational squadron you will see that many of us put on our happy face, go to work and hack the mish. Life isent always sun shine and rainbows. Stop being a douche

According to PM, I was too subtle. I was using the term shipmate in one of two ways:

Oh good an O-4 that's going to be shuttled up to the group/wing or ADO is really the "great reinforcements" that the guys getting crushed on the line need help from. I feel even worse that not only will you probably provide no relief but also will be some leadership position having demonstrated such great "leadership" views here on this board. But hey you're probably going to go far with the mentality you have since you're just drinking the blue koolaid by the gallon.

STFU! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had a reply typed out, but deleted it except to remind you that this isn't 2007 anymore. Please try not to come across as an institutionalized MSgt or you will lose all credibility to your audience, especially here. The era of the USAF saying "lol if you don't like it get out" is over because people are actually getting out (for pilots, in record numbers.) Here's some reading material: https://money.cnn.com/2016/05/23/news/economy/us-full-employment-williams/ https://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/local/sheppard-af-dealing-with-pilot-shortage-32953919-206e-55c1-e053-0100007fafc7-379165641.html https://www.commercialappeal.com/business/FedEx-ramps-up-pilot-hiring-to-avert-shortage-378450511.html

I've read that paper too. A lot of this community's problems are customer driven. However, the primary problem most pilots flying RPAs have is that their flying RPAs. Shiftwork in a box is inherently miserable.

Why crush a dude with a great attitude? I get that dudes are pissed and bitter but let him figure it out on his own. I did an assignment where two people before me didn't like it. Friends warned me off about it for both my career and family. For them it was no good. For my career aspirations and family life it was terrific. Ilovescotch....there's a fine line between being naive and uninformed. Keep the great attitude but heed the warnings on this forum.

I think this hits a huge question on every pilots mind when deciding whether to stay or leave, which I think a good percentage of pilots that wish to stay flying and not chase the proverbial command or promotion. On top of all the other queep that everyone complains about, it is whether or not the Air Force is going to decide to give you the boot at 15 years. All the VSP and RIF's done in recent years are fresh in everyone's mind. If I make conscious decisions to stay in the jet, thus increasing my chances of getting passed over to O-5. Am I going to get the boot as an O-4 at 15 years or get non-vol'd into the next 365 dropped to our wing? Even after I have already deployed 13 times in the last 10 years, not to include all said TDY's on top of that. I think there is a huge percentage of pilots who like the idea of choosing this exact career path (me included). However, the Air Force has institutionally established an environment that makes the idea of flying on the outside attractive, regardless of money. Make more money and have more control over your life, that's also not dependent on the pendulum swings of Congress or the current CSAF, easy decision for some.

Geting passed over sucks, but I flew every assignment. I asked myself if I'd rather retire an O5 who spent years on staff, or an O4 who didn't. Surprisingly easy question to answer.

A lot of you us sound like my wife in that every problem is the end of the world. I apply the same game plan of nodding and saying "okay" to most of these gripes. There are some serious problems in the AF, but to not even join based on queep is ridiculous. And you don't get excited flying a jet with USAF on the side? Wtf excites you? Maybe CAF/MAF life is just totally sucky, but in AFSOC you won't get anywhere if you aren't a mission hacker--regardless of PowerPoint skills. 2Niner, do what you want, but if you join don't show up jaded and crusty like a lot of these guys. Your career will be miserable if you do. Instead, snapshot your lowest moment in a cubicle and compare it to your lowest moment as a pilot, and they won't compare. When I get down about work, I think back to when I was roofing houses and my mood drastically improves. And the coup de grace about military flying is that I don't keep in touch with roofing buddies, but I'm still close friends with my UPT class. That camaraderie is rare and makes it worth it.

Chang is Butters... BUTTERS IS CHANG!!

Dude...think this through very carefully. you are entering into a 10yr commitment - essentially giving the AF the power to do as they please with you for 12 years. So, if "just the thought of going to reapers" gives you pause...you might be on to something by second guessing your decision. What were you doing 12 years ago? Secondly, you think you are entering your dream job - but think this through logically. Why the 10 year commitment? Why does the AF offer a pilot bonus of up to 225K...and why are the majority of pilots not taking it? Why would we be talking about stop-loss? i'm not saying you should / shouldn't proceed to active duty. What I would say, is if flying is all you seek - then you are bat-shit crazy for not looking at the guard/reserve. Disclaimer - I've been active duty my entire career. If, however, you abuse yourself nightly to a candle lit scroll of the airmanship creed ...then maybe you are the next General Changer and will love active duty. good luck!

This cat cracks me up. I have a hard time believing he's not just a troll well versed in pilot aggravation. If he's the real deal we're fvcked like BQzips mom on prom night. As for the RPA bit, some of those non-vol'd there enjoyed it, most didn't. I met some good people there. When I left, fortunate to get back to flying, I kept telling myself that the experience wasn't that bad, it was a great leadership experience and I'm better off for it. After a year I eventually I stopped lying to myself. There comes a point where you can no longer convince yourself Santa is real. My prime years as a slick wing captain were lost inside a GCS and my career growth was 3 years behind my peers. Aside from a property I purchased in Vegas when I moved there, the best thing to come from that assignment was the lesson learned never to sell my freedom to turn down a sh1tty deal. I am your poster-child aviation junky - part of the community that makes for easy recruits near your local ROTC detachment. Combine a young exposure to aviation with some early 2000s patriotism and the result is yours truly. After seeing how awesome I look in a flight suit with my sleeves rolled up, having to repeatedly tell young women that I'm married and having seen the vapes trail off my strakes from an aggressive closed pattern, my kids will undoubtedly want to follow in my footsteps. I'm already thinking about the conversation that I hope will inform them of the unseen surprises that lurk in a bureaucracy - Changs decide your next assignment, chicks don't dig droid operators, you get yelled at if your sleeves aren't around your wrists and Santa is not real.

Good god, man. Surely you jest. Flying should, by all accounts, be just the most awesome job ever created. Tactical flying is just about as much fun as anything. The job pays well. You get to serve your country in a meaningful way. And airplanes... f**k yeah. If the Air Force can only get people to do it by A) getting people too young to know better to sign an obscenely long contract, or B) by abusing the terms of the contract to keep people around, then senior leadership really needs to ask how they f***ed it up that bad and shake things up as much as necessary to fix it. Best of all, your people are screaming the solutions at you. Just step back for a second, listen without brushing them of as malcontents, and realize that you do actually have the power to do 75% of what they're asking for, and that you can do it with precisely 0% negative impact to mission effectiveness.

Let's be honest with our goals here for 6th gen.... If it doesn't turn into a 47 foot tall walking robot we failed.

Actually he is right. How are we going to get anyone to come if people are always talking about how bad it is. Maybe we should delete some of these opinions so as to not scare new people away Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

Congrats to all of the recent grads, and welcome to the best ride of your lives.

I'd reply but you'll just dismiss me as a troll. Whatever. Get out when you're eligible, try not to ruin it for the rest of us.

No, I'm suggesting you quit with the sense of entitlement. You serve at the pleasure of the president. Right now, the president, via the chain of command, wants you in RPAs. So try and make the most of it. You want airplanes. Too bad. It's not about you. Some of us are trying to help by volunteering. Maybe we can get some more, if we don't talk about RPAs as being a leper colony. That's all I'm saying. This shit should be obvious. We're supposed to be officers. This is leadership 101.