Leaderboard

I don’t care about the rank, I care about the pay. Make me a Capt to 20 for all I care, and let me just fly the line. But you better give me a fat bonus. Much more than the beans they’re currently offering.

I have a experience with an Air Force that has 2 tracks. Track 1 - academy, no limit Track 2 - think OTS, Lt Col max with slow promotions. End result: a bunch of Senior Captains who are awesome pilots, terrific leaders, great bros with tons of experience....., .......being led around by Lt Cols (same age/time in) who spent most of their time in schools, playing officer politics to get promoted and shining their asses that suck at tactics but are in charge. The USAF would end up the same.

there is a fing car in space going to mars. two boosters have landed simultaneously. Elon Musk is a very stable genius.

I wonder if you 3 liberals on here can get a waiver to march with your pink vag hats?

Save some of that tongue lashing for self reflection. Pass a fucking budget.

Who can't see the AF getting an ADSC for "flight only track" then dropping them as an O-4 right before they become protected for retirement? Sounds EXACTLY like what the bean counters would do.

There's really no benefit to Big Blue promoting you to Lt Col in this instance. You're already locked in for 20 and you're not going to be a CC, so why would they voluntarily give you more money? This just sounds like classic AF carrot dangling.

here's the best way to arrive at a decision: - ask your boss for some additional work, 12 hour days, a sketchy network connection, and a pay cut. - schedule eight flying lessons in one month (middle of the day or middle of the night is fine) - randomly cancel one for a meeting, cancel two for maintenance, one for weather, then cancel three more because your last one is an unexpected two week cross-country (TDY) during your daughter's birthday to a motel 6 (DoD lodging). rental cars are not authorized. - use your free time to think about all the additional work piling up while jogging in a circle around the motel or by reading Clauswitz and Boyd. - during the flight home, as you swoop and soar on laughter silvered wings, reflect upon the majesty of flight as you log 3 more multi-engine jet PIC hours for that Delta job that's only 12 short years away. - land and retrieve your non-vol deployment letter to the desert in your office mailbox and retrieve the divorce papers from your home mailbox. - drink heavily. if you can do all that and feel good about it, you'll know the path is right for you.

yes, but it takes a bit of effort. first, you use a bid sorting program so sort your bid from most days off to least. unfortunately, after you recieve your bid line assignment, there isn't a way to straight drop a trip into open time. say you receive 4 three-day trips. you first post your undesired trip in the trip-trade/giveaway (TT/GA) section of the scheduling board website (crew web access). if someone wants it, they will pick it up and it will disappear from your schedule. if it's somewhat undesirable, you may be able to trade with someone who wants to slide a day left or right, am flying for pm flying, a 1 day or 2 two day for your 3 day. there's plenty of guys out there looking to fly more. If for some reason that doesn't work out, there's electronic line improvement trip trade (ELITT). scheduling dumps all the unassigned trips into a pot. if you're quick on the draw at noon on the day ELITT opens (I think it's around the 25th), you can swap your trip for one that is more desirable (or easier to give away in TT/GA). by the end of the day, most people have been able to trade away their lesser trips. decent trips are still available throughout the month, but they're usually weekends, early departures, or late arrivals. advertising your trip for giveaway works well on the union msg board and facebook. all that being said, going to work is my way to relax, unwind. it's engaging, but not stressful. i normally end up flying my line and not bothering with the above. if I need some specific/extra days off, i have always been able to get them. days off are always a phone call away if you are feeling sick or fatigued, but the pay is good and difficult to give up.

Pay me as a major. Give me a 50k bonus. And hire a personal secretary for 35k with no additional duties, no quiep, Zero staff deployments only warfighting in your MWS, don’t make it 0 possibility to still make it to leadership track if at 20 years I think I might want to, and I still probably wouldn’t choose this path or stay in. The AF is in a world of hurt. They have burned a way to large segment of their people without care and now that we have power they just don’t realize what’s going on. I honestly don’t think even robin olds could fix the institutional leadership rot that we have in the AF. And since they are the ones in charge what motivation do they have to change. They can leave at any time they want. They are currently making a good amount of money and they aren’t stuck with the long term fall out of the decisions that they are making today. They don’t care about anything but their own bottom line so why should we care about anything else?

I doubt that'll get approved. White hoods, however, have blanket approval.

Read Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy...it will all become clear.

I wish that the GAU-5 SBR ASDW the F-15Es have in their seat kits are distributed more to the masses. A full size M4 in a cramped H-60 cockpit will probably be useless for anything other than a PL or forced landing, especially if the aircraft rolls. In the same vein, why are we still using the full size M9 as a sidearm when there isnt a lot of best real estate (especially when carrying M4 mags)? The Navy has all their aircrew use the M11, why does the AF and Army still use an M9?

1 million bucks for 8 years. 500k up front. They need to start there for a realistic bonus. Only offer it for the next 10 years until they get out of this mess

Why promote a Lt to Capt to do the same job? I had wings as a 1st Lt, so we're all good right? We all know that enlisted can fly airplanes (no sarcasm), but this is a different flavor of the same argument which suggests that enlisted pilots are a solution to our manning crisis - why pay someone less to do the same job? Does being a General in today's Air Force mean all that much to you now that we all understand the HPO system and the behind-the-scenes of how one makes it to that level in our organization? I would argue that rank has already diminished in importance because it isn't doled out in an egalitarian fashion in our organization, and if you walk around any flying squadron (at least in the fighter world), you'll see that general attitude. People's quals make a bigger difference than the color rank they've stitched on their shoulders. That's one side of the coin. On the other hand, you could argue that rank is a reflection of someone's responsibility (in many cases it is). So someone who has likely achieved every qualification the Air Force has to offer, and has spent a career doing the actual dirty work of the Air Force, not being a "leader" or signing OPRs, or getting selected for some special "development" program, is likely a better candidate to wear higher rank than someone who reads "books" by "authors". I could also make the argument that because the retirement of a Lt Col is worth about a 1/2 million more than that of a Maj, they deserve to be promoted to that level as well. Especially considering that the cumulative risk a career flyer has assumed is much greater than someone who pinned on wings, flew for one or two assignments, and then spent the next 12 years in "school". That person has served our country to a greater extent than a school-weenie, and should be compensated appropriately. Here's an idea: get rid of flight pay and increase my pay scale so I'm compensated at a greater rate than other AFSCs who don't accept the same risk I do. That compensates me now, and in retirement. Raimius' post below is exactly why Lt Col is a necessity.

i'm watching a live youtube feed of a mannequin in a space suit sitting in a convertible slowly rotating in space with the earth in the background. interesting times indeed.

It's not like we've got anything else better to do.

FIFY.

I'm already out, so I don't have any skin in the game, but I'm wondering if people really believe that you should promote to Lieutenant Colonel doing nothing but flying. I mean, you get a raise based on years in service, it's how the pay tables are built. But if all you're really doing is flying, it doesn't seem to make sense to make someone a lieutenant-colonel for something that a captain, or in special situations maybe a major, is needed to do. Now if the strategy is "the Air Force is stuck between a rock and a hard place and we want to take full advantage of the situation," then bravo. But do people honestly believe that it's fair, or even logical, to make someone who does nothing but fly and maybe manage one of the simple flying programs a lieutenant colonel? Change it to Major and I'm 100% in agreement. Increase the incentive bonus for crusty old majors to financially compensate them, cool. But giving the rank seems to me to only make rank less meaningful. Am I wrong?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2018/02/05/u-2-versus-global-hawk-why-drones-arent-always-the-best-solution-for-warfighters/#6175eb0c4d7e someone is on your guys side

Here's what it comes down to and this will never change: Progressives, like yourself, are still very upset that Trump won in November 2016....especially after Trump was/is on record saying stupid/disrespectful shit, and coupled with nearly every poll/analysis saying Hillary had this election in the bag. I get it--you and half the country don't like it, and the Gorsuch confirmation was additional salt in the wounds. Also, traditional Republicans can't stand Trump either because he does not follow traditional Republican norms, hence why guys like McCain and Lindsey Graham aren't fans and are very reluctant to work with him on non-traditional legislation. Conservatives (largest single group of the Republican base) don't like Trump for who he is/how he acts, but is fairly happy with what he has done over the first year (Gorsuch, tax cuts, saying pro-Israel stuff, etc). This all leads to progessives scratching their heads even more as to how he won, how is he getting some things done, and how is he doesn't fold to their attacks on him. So what do they do, they scream Russia and call him a racist. Yet, if the economy is still humming along in 2020 (who knows if it will be, I have my doubts) then Trump will get re-elected, especially if the Dems go further left (Warren, Bernie, or Harris type candidate). So in the meantime, progressives will stay the course on the Russia and racist talking points and truley hope something breaks in their favor. Will it? Possibly, but I doubt it. This is coming from a person who would have loved to see Rand Paul received the nomination, and would have been ok with Cruz as a second option. Since there wasn't either, I supported Gary Johnson one again. That being said, I appreciate Trump reducing more regulations (vs a net add), and adding guys like Gorsuch to the Supreme Court vs a guy like Garland. I also come out ahead on the tax cuts, but will be annoyed (but not suprised) that they're not reducing overall federal spending which takes us further down the hole. As for his crude/stupid comments, that doesn't affect my pocketbook when the economy is doing well, so I just continue to dislike him as a person and like it when he does stuff of which I approve. But for you progresives screaming Russia, this short conversation between Obama and Medvedev shows politicians will do whatever they want, whenever they want if it helps them/they can get away with it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keXx0zxTarE

3 part walk-thru of the Martin Mars water bomber by aviation legend Kermit Weeks. Part 1: https://youtu.be/snFZgLi5Pqg Part 2: https://youtu.be/M5EpKW0wok4 Part 3: https://youtu.be/xy5EHT5bm5o

I bet 90% of those parked in the desert would start right back up. You’d just need to have someone there to bounce on the wing a couple of times during engine start.

Thank you! No I didn’t. Kept my original scores and have discovered over time that most units don’t care about scores, this is subjective, and worry more about the whole person concept.

Ram, Something that I think the reserves does very well is take the long view on things - they'll gladly sacrifice training opportunities for quality of life sometimes because they know they have to keep guys around for 10+ years. Your philosophy: It sounds great and probably maximizes the short term combat capability of a squadron. However, These types of priorities drive people out of the service completely and created the situation we're in today. The unintended consequences of your list read like this: 1. No cross countries, low levels, or taking students up to 50,000 feet. All gas must be used for maximum training. 2. Commitment is measured by metrics like time spent at the squadron, at squadron events, and early PME/masters completion. No slack will be given to those who "self select" themselves as non competitive. 3. Debrief until crew rest for the next day to catch all of the lessons. Friday pilot meetings begin at the end of the last debrief and last until every person has had a chance to tell us everything they possibly can. I know you didn't necessarily mean any of what I wrote, but I would suggest that you are not the first soon-to-be DO with that sort of philosophy, and look where that's got us. The paradigm needs to shift from crushing people for short term goals to creating a sustainable method to maintain a healthy fighter force. I do not think your path is the way.

That is one of the scariest things I've read on here. You and Bernie into timeout.

@YoungnDumb How many were in your class total and how many listed fighters at the top of their dream sheet? I am at OTS right now RNLTD 7 Dec to Vance, trying to guage my chances of drop that vippppppppppperrrrrrr