Leaderboard

Yeah but you get an extra $250 a month for family separation so that totally makes up for it. I say this as I'm about to say bye to my two month old kid to do a nice non flying six monther... I can't wait to spend that extra $1500 of FSP! Where's my fvckin eye rolling emoji?!

So I’ll pitch in with a possibly unpopular opinion that I guarantee will trigger Mark1, but the day to day sacrifice of deployments is exponentially worse on guys with kids than single dudes. I missed my wife’s birthday 4 years in a row, 3 Christmases, and a lot of other kid milestones (First steps, etc). Single guys missed Hangout Fest and the Star Wars premiere. I’m obviously exaggerating here, but when you said that, I was looking for my standardized eyeroll emoji.

Average calendar day at AA means we'll get 5:15 x number of days per trip. You could therefore have a 7 hour day on day one, 2 hour day on day two, 2 hr on day three, and another 7 hour day on day four and get paid 21 hrs. The trip just has to average 5:15/day. With min calendar day, the minimum per day is 5 hrs and 15 min. So in the above example, you'd get paid 7 hrs on day 1, 5:15 days 2 and 3, and 7 hrs on day four. Min is much better than average (SWA and FDX have this figured out). The end result will be longer pairings (more 4 days and 5 days), less commutable trips, and more flying (the optimizer will make it more efficient). BUT, you should work fewer days per month for the same credit. Won't affect our reserves at all, except that they'll hit 73/76 hours sooner. Also requires more manning. Both are obviously better than our 1/1 (1 leg, sit 30 hours, 1 leg home) that only pays 11 hrs for three days, but it'll involve more work.

None of which are A codes.

Yes. Line bidding allows you to know before hand exactly how the contract language will allow you to manipulate your vacation days (sliding/moving days, among other things) against known days off and known trips that will be impacted. PBS doesn't allow you to do that, even if implemented the way you say. It would still be "surprise!" with whatever schedule PBS puked out for you based on dozens of seniority factors that are tough/impossible to predict, rather than the single seniority factor that determines what you can hold while line bidding (and which it is substantially easier to predict). I liked PBS when I was at the regionals for most of the reasons you do...but mostly because I'd never worked anywhere that gave me anything to compare it to. Now that I've worked under both, give me line bidding forever and PBS can lick my taint.

GDP <3.0% two quarters in a row and a third expected to be at or near 4% Dow up a gagillion for the year Major tax reform passed; corporate rates cut to very competitive in global market with other nations (Germany, et al panicking). A fair few other things going right, IMO. Countered by an on-going FBI investigation (which itself seems to have ethical/institutional bias of its own complicating matters) Loss of a sure-thing Senate seat National debt still climbing. Overall, a winning year. edited to add/note: Politico, never a conservative outlet, published a damning and very long expose of the last Administration interfering, then killing, a high-stakes investigation into Hezbollah's drug trade in order to appease Iran and get that deal done. Should be a good show to watch associated with that one.

Paul Ryan

Nailed it! Out of curiosity, what made you pick those locations? Montgomery I get, they have access to over water ranges and are close to other 5th Gen assets. However, I can't understand WI at all. They're airspace isn't very good and you have to juke and jive around noise sensitive areas to get to initial (funny enough, much like VT). Last time I was there, you couldn't even do patterns due to noise complaints. I have no desire to fly the 35 and even if my squadron had been on the list, I would have done everything possible to stick with the Viper until retirement. They want 3 years full time, after a TX, for that thing...good luck getting that out of your part timers. Anyway, there are a few other squadrons that make so much more sense than WI. I shouldn't be surprised, tactical considerations be damned, politics clearly with the day.

Get high, get fast, do some good work. Go downtown, drop some bombs, kill all the assholes. Land, drink some whiskeys, tell stories at the bar and go home drunk to a wife who hates your lifestyle and thinks you are too old to still act like a degenerate child. Pass out, wake up and do it all again. Caveat: not for everyone.

"pretty darn good"

People will die. Period. Hope it’s worth lives.

Since the families are a huge part of retention calculus, I don't think your crusade against service members with families is likely to go anywhere.

I have consolidated a handful of the questions on this thread in case anyone wants to print them out for an interview prep. What leadership skills do you bring to the table? What is your career plan after you complete UPT? Why do you want to fly XXXXXX? How do you feel about killing someone? Explain induced drag. What’s your idea of a perfect day? Do you wear pink shirts? Do you have a fart can on your car? Have you ever met an f-15 pilot, if so did he hit on you? Favorite movie? Biggest accomplishment? Biggest failure? What did you learn from it? Explain your speeding tickets Why did you get a C in calculus? How do you deal with stress? What do you think UPT is going to be like? Have you done any research? Why do you think you should get this slot over the other candidates? What is the toughest thing you have ever done? What is your civilian job? With your civilian job, how often will you be able to fly with us? What accomplishment are you most proud of in your life and why? How do you think your civilian aviation experience will fit into UPT? What makes you think you'll be successful at UPT? How would my best friends describe me? What do I think is my biggest fault? Define the term Leadership What does it mean to me to be an officer? Tell me about a time that you had a disagreement with a peer and how you dealt with it Why do you want to be an Officer? A pilot? Which is more important and why? How do you feel about the possibility of having to shoot down a civilian airliner? If your dog was drowning and a complete stranger was drowning, who would you save if you could only save one? Who has been the most influential person in your life and why? Are there any questions for us? Why you? Tell me what leadership and integrity mean to you, and how they go together What will you do if you don't get selected? Why didn’t join the Air Force earlier? What are 3 characteristics of a good officer? Have you ever had to make a difficult decision? What else are you interested in besides flying? Loyalty vs Integrity? Why fighters? Are you applying to other units? How would you interact with other UPT classmates? Why you over the other people asked to interview?

Lotsa hate from these boyos...

Yes. It went well if I get hired. Can be improved if I don't get hired.

"Fox 2!" A kill is a kill, amirite?