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T-Pain, I'm not arguing with you one bit. Please understand I'm not pontificating and stating you must have the job satisfaction I did. My career was exceptional... and unique.. and I spent a lot of mental time planning through various things to make it go my way. No doubt I was fortunate in things I couldn't control. Even my U-2 cohorts will tell you I had a charmed career. Had things gone for me like they went for some other people on here, I'm sure I would have separated or retired before my 28 years. I remember sitting in front of the Alconbury MPF (CBPO for you old guys) when my UPT commitment ended and the bonus was offered. "Get out or stay in?" I sat in my car with the engine running for about 30 minutes questioning the decision. In the end, I went in and signed up for 6 more years (or whatever it was). Glad I did. Here's the bottom line. My overly-long post yesterday was simply aimed at Joe's statement: "it's pretty f*cked up to turn down a massive improvement in income and quality of life to drag your family from base to base, suffering through deployments and taking a massive paycut just because you want to wear a bag and go fast." That rubs me the wrong way. Big time. I've heard this sentiment from others, and I've heard it often: that my selfishness and unwillingness to leave the military has caused my family pain and suffering, and a reduction in their quality of life. I'd be a rich airline Captain, had I separated at the 6 year point, right? And my lack of seeing the big picture financially has prevented my family from being wealthier. And my time away from home negatively affected my kids... as opposed to the 18 months I was Executive Director and when I was home, I was in my office working from 1900-2300 most nights, and unable to do stuff on the weekends. There's more to QOL than meets the eye. I really don't think that's what Joe's message really was intended to be... but that's what I hear when I read people that post "you're crazy and doing a disservice to your family if you stay in 1 day past your commitment". I've had U-2 guys seek my advice, and in some cases I've told them they should leave the AF at the end of their current commitment. If I was in their shoes, I'd certainly do it. And had I gotten the fighter I wanted out of UPT, I doubt I would have lasted beyond my 6 year commitment. It turns out the U-2 Program was the perfect fit for me. I only left because they threw me out. I do not begrudge anyone that leaves when they are done. They gave 6, 8, 10 years of their life to the country, and deserve every ounce of my respect. But don't tell me I'm fucked up because I decided to stay for 28.

Wow, lay off the MSNBC bro it’s getting to your head.

"Raptor, may I touch you on the throttle?"

Fvck you my friend... fvck you.

RVs are awesome planes and I had the order form filled out for an RV-7. However, after talking with quite a few builders I decided to hold off, maybe down the road. Orbit gave a pretty good description above about the various RVs. I'll add that I really wanted the RV-9 but after lots of research figured you're much better off with the RV-7. They're pretty close to the same plane, but the 7 is aerobatic. This is huge for resale value! If you like the Kitfox, you have got to check out this guys videos. His day job deals with filming/expensive cameras, plus he lives near a bunch of BLM land, which means he can land anywhere can make awesome videos. Also, check out the Rans S-7 or S-20 if you're interested in an alternative to the Kitfox. I've flown with a few Captains recently that have built the S-7 and they love them. I've flown both, they are a blast to fly and they're essentially the same plane, but the 7 is tandem and the 20 is side-by-side. I ended up going with the Rans S-21 and my wing kit is showing up to my garage in a few hours. I don't really care to fly aerobatics in an aircraft that doesn't have an ejection seat, and would rather bounce around the local dirt strips, with the occasional weekend trip. It's relatively new, but much of his stuff is being reused from other kits he has designed. It's STOL-like but will cruise around 155mph @ 75% with a 180hp motor. For me the build time/complexity was a huge factor, and that's another place this plane excels. Given that it's all aluminum (CNC milled parts...read very little drilling/deburring) and built mostly with blind rivets, they're forecasting 500 hours, not including paint. Based on a few bloggers that have already started their wings, that seems fairly accurate. On top of that, there are very few times where you need another person there to help you, which is key since I live by myself and don't want to have to always bribe my buddies to buck rivets for me. Here is one that is already built. It's hard to tell in the pic, but the doors and roof are all lexan...great for visibility. Cargo space is pretty awesome and is easy to access due to the large door and seat that fold down quite a bit.

Because Raptor will become self aware, travel back in time and try to kill your mom.

Anyone looking to game the system should do themselves and anyone looking to leave the military for airline flying a favor and forget trying that bullshit. You are literally screwing all your buddies down the line because the airline that you (perhaps legally) are taking advantage of is going to look at every potential mil new hire through the brown colored water that you just shit in. Additionally, mil guys already on the property who are doing their best to do things ethically are going to get caught up in the ball of dung that you just insisted on starting downhill. As if all of that isn’t enough, do not underestimate the fact that there are varying levels of animosity festering amongst your non mil co-workers. Don’t be the guy that confirms their suspicion that it’s your fault they’re sitting reserve over their kid’s birthday while you’re off doing whatever it is you do.

Duck congrats on your soon to be major select status. At least you won't need a 2x passed over waiver for the ARC.

hear that duck AFPC is 'bout to suck yo ass back into the fold baby!

Nope. His cyber awareness training expired and the jet locked his account at a very inopportune moment.

Lost in all of this is just how corrupt and partisan the FBI has become. The FBI just released the IG report on McCabe and it states he lied to numerous senior officials, he lied under oath to BENEFIT HIMSELF, and he was the source of a leak during the election. Comey's book excerpts are flowing and I could care less about the insults and hand size drama, but he admits he the following: He failed to tell Trump he knew Hillary paid for the Dossier, he decided to release the late breaking info on Hillary only after he noted she was ahead in the pools, and he released potentially classified information through a friend to drive the appointment of a special prosecutor. Bottomline, love or hate Trump, the top two "Leaders" of the FBI leaked information. Sickening.

Any why are you wondering that? Only Blue Falcons ask those questions.

While it is true that a precedent has been set over the past couple of decades regarding the President’s near limitless power to get us into conflicts, does that precedent make it ok? It seems that many people are opposed to this idea only when the “other” party holds the executive. Some of us have been opposed to this idea for the last three administrations.

So you're making the point about Obama sometimes attacking Syria without Congressional and sometimes not attacking Syria because he did not Congressional approval? How about instead you just admit that Obama did the same thing Bush did, and now Trump is doing the same thing Obama did...

It's no more sickening than publicly warning of missile strikes against Syria, waiting a week for Assad to empty out and evacuate facilities, and then proclaim "Mission Accomplished" for spending $90+ million to move some fucking rubble around. Or firing your second National Security Advisor after he publicly expressed a hard stance against Russia. Or firing your Secretary of State after he publicly expressed a hard stance against Russia. Or shelving the Russia sanctions passed by Congress with near-unanimous support. Or saying our UN ambassador was "confused" when she announced the US was thinking about additional sanctions against Russia for the Syrian chem attacks. Or personally leaking critical intel from our allies to Putin's ambassador during a WH meeting, and also burning our source for said intel in the process. Or firing the FBI director, and then publicly and openly admitting in an interview that he fired him over "the Russian thing". Or repeatedly getting caught in lies about dozens of campaign contacts with Russians who have ties to the Kremlin. Or having campaign personnel and your first National Security Advisor plead guilty for lying to the FBI over their Russian contacts. At this point I don't know what it'll take for Trump's supporters to just acknowledge that this man is compromised, is a present and clear threat to the nation, and needs to be removed. It isn't a partisan matter. Pence is the successor and there isn't a single liberal who wants to see that hyper-religious zealot in the Oval Office. But it's better him than a possible traitor.

Siegzy, welcome to Beale. Lots of GA flyers there Be sure to check out the High Sierra flyin which is held annually.

My buddy I and just got hired at Beale (tankers) and were looking at going 50/50 on a PA-20 Pacer with fat tires. Trent Palmer is up in Reno, and Kevin Quinn does his HSF thing up at Dead Cow every year. Pseudo bush flying sounds like an awesome time.

I have zero faith.

Check paragraph 10 of the 18-02 results document, it says "The next AFRC OTS/UFT/URT selection board will be held on 05-06 march 2018. application deadline is midnight, 25 February 2018. This board will select only unit sponsorship applicants; no unsponsored applicants." I'm definitely not saying to not try, but just relaying what I've heard/seen. It sounds like getting in touch with that IP on ALPF is probably your best bet. MAF = Mobility Air Force (i.e. heavies) LNO = Liaison Officer

There are no guard fighter units with flying WSOs. Curious if a ANG fighter unit would hire a WSO even for queep... There’s a reserve unit at Seymour Johnson for WSOs but they only hire qualified folks, not off the street.

Huggy, I've enjoyed reading your posts for the last 10+ years and I can't say I know exactly what your career has entailed, but I'm pretty sure it is a bit different than most dudes who have joined in the last 15 years. It only makes sense that your outlook from the U-2 and the T-38 is different. "service to the country" and sacrifice is in the eye of the beholder, and some continue to value that more than other things, and thus choose to stay. Unfortunately, what joe1234 said is what the air force and the airlines have provided us, a decision that is becoming easier and easier to make with our feet.

I think it's more likely there would have been an order of magnitude more dead women and children. Any significant action against Assad, and by that I mean something hard hitting enough to destabilize his rule, would have left a power vacuum that only one entity was in a position to fill at that time. And that entity would have made his chemical attacks look like Disney World. Certainly a good reason not to make "red line" ultimatum statements if you can't back them up, but nevertheless, Assad is still around largely because he quickly became the lesser of two evils towards the latter half of 2013. No politician in this country would admit it, but we went from threatening to remove him to orchestrating our moves in the region around (tacitly) ensuring his stability nearly overnight. This all being before the Russians got involved. As a side note, I'm no champion of Obama and on the strategic issues I agree his overarching philosophy was weak, but come on: Bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki, Jessica Buchanan, Ahmed Khatalla, etc. They're all easy to pass on if you're truly spineless.

FWIW every T-6 reserve flight at UPT has a Unsponsored LNO.

Question #1: No, the ANG and the USAFR are totally separate entities. You'd need to get sponsored by a Reserve unit. If you got picked up by an ANG unit, you'd have to relinquish your unsponsored Reserve selection to process with the Guard unit. If you'd already gone to OTS and commissioned into the USAFR via the unsponsored route then it would probably be totally impossible to go ANG at that point. Question #2: Traditionally, the point of the unsponsored route was to get guys into training prior to getting sponsored (then they'd need to find a sponsor by Phase 3 of UPT or they'd be automatically assigned to a unit). The latest word I've heard is that they're getting plenty of sponsored candidates now and it seems like the future of taking unsponsored candidates is in question. I've heard that recent unsponsored candidates now aren't being sent to UPT until they're sponsored due to a UPT backlog, and I've also heard that AFRC isn't really bothering with unsponsored candidates at the moment unless they think you're exceptionally qualified.

To be fair, it looked like a tablet they were using as a thermometer. But a tablet is something the FBI would have taken.

1/2 your mom = 300lbs

Let’s cut to the chase then. If he wasn’t Green Dot current, look no further.

Maybe Trump will have more latitude after his re-election

Any speculation on the calculus of Assad actually using the weapons? Seems like he's contained the rebel groups quite well, and has the upper hand in the conflict. Why do something that risks inviting more direct US involvement? We've already made clear that we're more or less OK with him killing people, as long as it's with conventional weapons. So why use chemical weapons to achieve what appears to be a marginal military advantage?

Actually, that was most of it.

You know, Joe, the "military life" isn't for everyone. You're certainly not the only one that has made a similar statement/post, and it is certainly not my goal to poke you in the eye. I simply have a different outlook I'd like to share. While you consider my decision to stay in "fucked up", I certainly didn't, and I "wore the bag" for 28 years. It's a "service to the country". There's sacrifice involved. And my family got to be a part of that experience. No, my kids didn't get much of a vote. The career decision was mine to make. You're right: I could have improved my "income" had I separated at the end of my 6-year UPT commitment, but more money wasn't my goal. As for "improved quality of life"... that's a personal matter. Serving as a USAF pilot was my dream... and I was living my dream. The satisfaction I had in doing my service was my "good QOL". And my kids relish their time living on base. They were very happy times. I signed up to serve. And when I got married, she agreed to it too. Oh yeah... she was a military brat who never stayed anywhere more than 3 years while growing up. I guess the lifestyle rubbed off on my oldest kid, who is now a Lieutenant, and commissioned despite outsiders saying it was a stupid decision, based on civilian career potential due to graduating from a prestigious private university. Said Lt is apparently fucked up like dad. As for me, I could have been an civilian engineer like my dad, who had a PhD. I went to 4 different high schools in 4 years. Is that fucked up QOL in your book, and is my dad to blame? I meet people now that say "my oldest is in 7th grade, so we need to stay h ere until he graduates". Really? Well, ok. If that's what they need, then so be it. To me, it seems odd when they only reason is that "they are established in football" or "with their friends". But I respect it. They know their family's needs better than anyone (hopefully). Having spent 18 months as the Executive Director of a very interesting civilian group after I retired, I can tell you the experience was worse than being on active duty in many respects. The AF isn't the only organization doing things terribly wrong and inefficient. If you want the money, and hate the QOL, then don't join the military. And if you make that realization while you're in, get out at your earliest opportunity. Many of my friends did just that. But in my case... as bad as things had become in the AF by the time I left in 2014... I still looked forward to going to work every day.

I feel bad for whoever gets fragged for this SIB. Not only do they lose a month+ of flying, but they have to listen to Raptor dudes refer to their jet in the 3rd person. ("And then, Raptor did....")

When I was the Chief Pilot at my unit I briefed my guys I would back them up 100% on MLOA disputes with their airlines UNLESS they were gaming the system over the holidays, then I would side with the airline. You are screwing over the buddy who has to fly the Xmas trip and you are screwing over the buddies in the unit who may be trying to get hired by that airline. Fly your damn Xmas trip.

and then offer him a 10% discount to the nearest Trump hotel like a boss