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I know what you mean. It's just that we are legitimate. I guess my point is where does it legally say that two people can be equal owners, but three can't? Or can three but not four? I realize it's perception but damn.

Quoted for truth. I flew C21s, KC10s, and C130H3s (all 3 to many Conus and oconus locations, and logged O1 time in all 3)....the Lear was the easiest and most family-friendly, the -10 the most comfortable, and the most widely-travelled, and the Herc the most fun and challenging. The only one I'd volunteer to go fly again is the Herc.

C-130H at Yokota Take all this with a caveat since the C-130H is going away and being replaced with the J (same mission, just no engineer, navigator and much more advanced systems.) Also, I'm at Yokota which is one of the best flying assignments in the Air Force, so what I say will not necessarily mirror Little Rock or Dyess. Maybe Ramstein.. 1. Ops Tempo/Deployment: We don't deploy anymore but the ops tempo is absolutely crazy. This is cool if you like to fly like me, not so cool if you value family life. That being said most families love Yokota/Japan. Tight knit community here and the Japanese are absolutely wonderful people (although robot like.) We fly about 30 local lines a week, and about 20 off station missions a month as a squadron. Not to mention, exercises (to awesome places like Thailand, Guam, Philippines.) Life is busy. Young guys can expect to fly their asses off and I'm sure that will continue with the J transition. Captain-Major types, still expected to fly the line often (which is great,) but also manage a flight, 18 additional duties, MC for an exercise and be in-charge of the air-show. One thing that sucks about the H is that it breaks ALL the time. Very frustrating to go try to fly the line and the plane has a 3 hour ETIC thus your line cancelled. Your 2 day off station can turn into a 30 day real quick. Not too bad if you are single and like being on the road but very unstable. 2. Lifestyle/ Family Stability: As a young guy it is awesome. I've been to 80% of the countries in Asia in the C-130. While we don't deploy, we go to some very challenging, remote airfields that really put your PIC skills to test. We go to Nepal often and as a bro of mine would say: "there is no way to legally take off out of that place." Mt Everest is 29,000 feet and we can't even climb that high. As I mentioned, most families love Yokota, all families live on base and single dudes/dudettes live off base. 3. Community morale: The base sucks, plain and simple. Worst support service I've ever seen. Not knocking on any one individual, I know many great dudes in comm/finance/etc. but as an organization the base is horrendous. People care more about keeping track of resiliency training/SAPR/w/e than launching planes. 4. Advancements & Future of the airframe: Future? Guard/Reserves or go J. Most H guys are going J so that's cool. Advancements? We get a lot of opportunities here that you won't get elsewhere. Young captain as mission commander of a combined/joint exercise with Philippine/Korean/Japanse/Aussie C-130s flying together in formation? Hauling cargo and people into third world countries? Dropping Cambodian paratroopers out of an American C-130 and planning the whole thing? A lot of advancement. 5. Preferred PCS locations : Yokota or Ramstein. Dude, at the end of the day, I love the C-130. We get to travel the world like our C-17/C-5 brothers but yank and bank like our fighter bros, 300 feet of the ground, in formation, to an assault landing or throw shit out the back like our bomber bros. It truly is the best of all worlds.

Endangered species, mate.

Actually it doesn't. I assumed they were pretty good at deploying the B-1s and just couldn't handle doing something different. I've come to the belief that maybe we should just have one pre-deployment center with a massive warehouse where you show up three days before your rotator to knock out all your ground training and pick up all your gear.

*Edited because I didn't RTFQ* C-12s weren't on your list, but there's nothing bad about them. 1/2 -- deployments are rare (and usually voluntary). Banker's hours most other times and even RONs are pretty unusual. 3. Morale is great because it's a good deal in a good spot and most people asked for it 4. The plane isn't going anywhere soon 5. Elmendorf/Yokota, unless you're with DIA or AFMC. And if you hate it, you only have to deal with it for 3 years.

AC130U 1. Ops Tempo/Deployment It changes from time to time, I've seen it as slow as 1:2 (3 month deployments) but currently the longest dwell is 1:1 (4 month deployments) and multiple guys are on dwell waivers. Deployments are pretty good when we're doing what we're designed for. There's a lot of times recently where we just get used as a dual sensor ISR and that sucks. 2. Lifestyle/ Family Stability There are people/families who absolutely love it and others who absolutely hate it. My family and I are fortunate to be the former. There will be a decent amount of both day/night flying at home and the opportunity to be home or gone a decent amount depending on your personal priorities. In my experience the squadron is willing to work with you for big events to make sure you're home. 3. Community morale Much better than some communities, but there will always be people who think it's the worst place in the AF. The squadron is like the older brother who beats on you but will kill anyone who isn't family and looks at you the wrong way. 4. Advancements & Future of the airframe There are always exceptions, but once you're in AFSOC, don't expect to leave. For some that's a blessing, for others it's a sentence. You can probably count the number of gunship guys that have gone back to white jet tours on one hand. There have been a handful of guys who have made moves to other AFSOC airframes, if that's your thing. I am not the kind of person who is looking to be a commander of any kind, so I don't keep track of people who are. But I can say if you're willing to climb on the backs of others to climb the ranks, it probably won't be a very enjoyable time for you. Future of the airframe - the gunship will be around for a long time. The U won't. As soon as they figure out the AC-J dick dance, the U is on the way out. That was supposed to be FY17, but obviously we're still a couple years out from that. 5. Preferred PCS locations There's only one. So if you like the beach and fresh seafood, you're in luck. If you like Cannon, go to the W because the old transition from Hurlburt to Cannon (or vice versa) is quickly going away as the J comes up. There's still a few guys that go back and forth but any new guys will likely avoid it until the J is solid at both locations, and that will be several years in the making. There isn't a single airframe that is always awesome, but the gunship comes pretty close. Much like what Danger said - if you pick based on mission, you'll like what you get. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If we walk away from Article 5 than NATO is unofficially over. Better we kick Turkey out of NATO preemptive to them dragging us into the shit storm rather than avoid keeping our word. Seriously the only thing keeping Russia from pulling a Crimea out in Latvia, Estonia, etc is them wanting to avoid an actual shooting war where the possibility of escalation exists.

Since I've had quite a few tonight and am bored...i'll be your huckleberry. Our Air Force is broken code-3 and is getting worse by the day. You're either a naive dipshit or a pathological liar on the level of Mrs. Clinton. Either way, you're doing our service a huge injustice. If many in our morally corrupt society wanted to join...they are more than welcome to. We actually are an all volunteer force even though it quickly escalates into indentured servitude on the rated side, which you are quick to take advantage of (15 year commitments right?). Many in society are welcome to join and yet they don't. They don't answer the call. They don't possess the selflessness and patriotic sense of duty. As the culture continues to erode...more won't. "Some members" are so sick and tired of the culture that clowns like you and this current administration are responsible for. JQP nailed it with his latest updated blog post regarding fighter pilot manning. Our Air Force is falling apart at the seams and you're blind as a bat for not seeing it. Shame on you and those around you for not fixing it when you had the opportunity and insight given to you by members of this board. I gave you advice a couple of years ago when I was on my very last deployment- it mimiced everything that you hear here. I took your advice though and thank you for it. My feet made the right vote. You're welcome for my service but that service wasn't for you. It was for the boys and girls who's daddy's came home because I was in some shit hole for the umpteenth time doing my duty. It was for those that still believe in this great country and Liberty. I voted with my feet for my personal reasons and am grateful every single day. Not only did I spend my first year out of AD making more money than you do (no matter what your rank is), I saw my family a lot more and focused on "real shit" that includes lots of mission oriented flying. Having a desire to spend even more time with my family and maybe eventually get back into owning a business, I decided to go fly for a major airline. Holy shit is the grass so much greener than the rotten brown shit you constantly urinate on while telling everyone that it's getting watered. People like you truly don't get it and think that the airline opportunity is WHY we left...it most certainly is not! Back when I was flying vipers, there was no amount of money that would've made me even utter the word "airline." It is however the reason WHY we no longer have to work for dumb shit mother f~ckers who erode the incredible service and culture that we were so proud to be apart of. I miss it, but it's gone. Sticking around won't make it come back. I now spend ample time writing recommendations for my military bros and am so happy to get words when they get hired. I encourage everyone that I know to get the f~ck out ASAP before retards like you institute stop-loss. Most heed my advice like I heeded yours. All are thankful once they reach the other side. Someone in this thread nailed it when they mentioned the ripple effects. Most of the <1% of us that sserve end up with family that follows in our footsteps. It's part of the pride that we took in our former culture. I had two boys that were ready to fly jets. One of them heads off to study Aero Engineering next year and our discussions have already concluded that he is best NOT going into the USAF. My other son figured this out for himself a few years prior when he cried himself to sleep because I had missed Christmas yet again during one of my 9 deployments. How do these numbers fit into you're spreadsheets? Your 1% is about to become .1%! You're f~cking high. Our AF will be on life support and the culture will be so bad you might regret ever joining after you do. Forget doing SAPR 4 times a year. Well make suicide prevention a quarterly requirement as well. You should be personally satisfied but you likely won't be and its getting worse by the day. Who cares about money...but NDAA is already trying to screw you yet again because you make too much. Professionally satisfied...I was but God knows that most aren't. I'd consider this doubtful. Bottom bottom bottom line... Chang, you're a bumbling idiot. That's the beer, not real emotion. It's frustrating that no matter how much people on this board inform you, you always know better. You look at our lives quantitatively as though we are numbers and green/ red bubbles. We look at our lives personally because they are. We will never see eye to eye. When we resort to looking at things quantitatively- we leave. The emotion, culture, and personal aspect are why we joined and why we would stay (or otherwise leave). You should go ahead and retire Chang. Thank you for your service.