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I am not sure if you mean “flown either black jet” or either T-38...no to the former, yes to the latter. I stated things the way I did because I find it amusing whenever A models show up on the ramp, they look brand new. In my head I conjure up a scenario where people who would be fixing things that are C-specific now spend their days on the line with a wash bucket and wax rag keeping em shiny. This wasn’t a knock on the people who use the A model, but when you compare A to C for UPT (THE primary function for the trainer) there is no question which is undeniably better for the intended use.

If everyone but you has missed the point, I think a different point has been made that you’re missing.

Surely I am not the only one who thought instantly of this?

Hopefully you meant to say he’s working on getting his seniority number (at the Majors) and not his AF line number. Because F that noise.

I bet if we deleted the NAF and the Group, everything would work just fine.

So let me add another review on Trident Home Loans. When Marty says they are here to serve, they truly mean it. My wife, decided we should purchase a new home being built on our same street. My son gets to stay with his friends, my wife gets the house and options she wants and I get...the payment (happy wife, happy life). I contacted Marty and he linked me up with his ace closer Jennifer. Throughout the entire process (and it is a process), Jennifer was there at every turn...weekends, late nights, she is truly dedicated. We decided to use my VA and put down enough to keep the loan under the Jumbo threshold. Expect to provide a LOT of paperwork, not a knock against Trident, just a fact of the VA and the Underwriters given the housing crash in 2007. There were a few nit-noid items that were requested that were somewhat off the wall (for some stocks and FUNDS I own the underwriter requested a detailed prospectus and K-1s...hard to get K-1s when you own .001% of a giant fund), Marty stepped in to inject some common sense back into the process. Everything was on track until the builder missed the planned completion date by over three weeks and put my rate lock in jeopardy. My wife was so fed up with the builder she was ready to walk away from the deal, Marty and Jennifer kept the train moving. If you folks don't know, extending a rate lock can be expensive and Marty did it out of pocket even though the delay was caused by the builder. To complicate matters even more, the day before closing my wife became very ill and had to have emergency surgery, which again put the entire process in jeopardy. not only did Marty and Jennifer help keep the process moving, the wife of a retired vet works in Marty's office and she reached out to provide meals and any help while my wife was recovering. Luckily my wife made a fast recovery and we were able to close on the house a few days later. From top to bottom, Trident is a class act full of people who get the military and will go the extra mile for you.

The guard has more AGR spots than the reserves, especially units with alert missions. The reserve has a lot of full time guys, but most are ARTs (active reserve technicians) and are GS 11-13s...so they wear a uniform and rank all the time, and work/fly full time, but are not AGR. Those technician slots exist in the guard as well. As to finding a recruiter, that’s not a simple answer. For guard, you basically have to go rush a unit, get hired, then they will help you with a recruiter for that unit to bring you in. With the reserves, most people do the same...that is they rush a unit, get hired, but have to get a Reserve Officer Accessions Recruiter to do the official hiring. They then have to get picked up by the centralized AFRC pilot board. Generally (lately anyway), sponsored candidates get picked up. If you are going mil helo to ARC helo, you don’t need to go to the AFRC board, but still need an officer accessions recruiter to do the magic.

Going down the same road as Pawnman, could it be that a majority of the public realizes that a minority of the population is shouldering the burden of military service and would like to acknowledge that service and sacrifice through whatever means they can? WW2 involved almost everyone, few were sheltered from it, so it was shared sacrifice with everyone in the same boat. Now, not so much.

Glad to hear you can predict the future. Document it all. Send it all to the va. You have no idea what minor issue now may be the bane of your existence in 20 years. I used to have similar thoughts about folks “milking” the va. But the way the va operates is so completely foreign to military folks (and military docs) that I think the best way is to throw as much (legitimate) poo at the wall as possible and see what sticks. Sleep apnea? No idea. Get a sleep study and find out. GERD? if you have recurrent heartburn that’s worth 10-20%. Knee issues to the point you have a hard time going up stairs? Not service related. One time plantar fasciitis that has completely healed, 10%. Broken digits that don’t work right anymore with reems of X-rays and pt, not service connected. It completely seems like there is zero rhyme or reason to the answers the va gives....until you start to peel back the onion a bit and wrap your head around a completely foreign way of doing business. It helps to have good help. But until it all starts making sense, throw as much (legitimate) stuff at the va as possible.

Not sure why this even a debate...new seat, two radios, GPS/INS and a glass cockpit sounds like a way better platform than a black jet with shiny ass tailpipes.

Back in the 90’s it was more common. I flew with some awesome guys who went from herks to F-15C and A-10’s. Even a helo guy who went to fighters I found they had great perspective and probably appreciated their fighter more than others who knew nothing different.

I know a herk dude in vipers. If a prop guy can do it, anyone can!

I'd take the new one as well, flew both. Sequenced? As in Huggy's Friday night "going out" shirt? No, its either seat can punch out both seats

Interesting view. For an USAF pilot, the straight replacement cost of training is in the multi-million dollar range, even disregarding the morality of trying to protect our people when the tech is readily available. I'm going to disagree with you on this one.

FWIW one of the c-17 crossflow guys was DG at IFF.

Hindsight, Good perspective and excellent post. I'm glad you like the seat. It's a done deal, so anything I write is meaningless. As it is, I wrote entirely too much, and drew attention away from my point: the new seat was very expensive. And arguably for only a slightly better capability. I think it is an abysmal integration into the T-38, and not done well at all... much of that based on the options of other IP's I know that have flown both the A and C. Some of them have told me that would prefer to be riding on the Northrop seat. They don't like the seating position (more vertical and forward, I'm told), the lack of storage, visibility, etc... Did we meet at Stuck's memorial in Los Angeles? I knew him when he was still in college, and spoke to him about a week before the mishap. I'm familiar with the mishap and firmly believe he would be alive today had it been the Northrop seat he was flying in. In the case of Mark Graziano, a U-2 bud who died in 2009 in a T-38A with the Northrop seat... he might be alive had they had a sequenced seat that would have allowed the guy in the rear cockpit to punch them both out. For me, there's nothing I like about the T-38C, and if given the choice, I'd take the A-model every time.

A large number of the SEALs I've met, worked with, and had working for me were raging pricks. Looking at the video and having close ties to that mission, it is very clear we left Chapman alive on the battlefield. The audacity of these asshats to deny the plain as day evidence then denigrate a brave fucking hero who never quit and gave his last full measure...well...FUCK THEM.

I don’t mind if you bag on me...I understand. Lurking around here long enough, I get a tiny sense of what you guys think/feel about those of us not in the operations community. As much criticism as the 2014 RIF gets for its effect on the rated community, the MSG went through several cuts prior to that, going back to ‘05. Those cuts coincided to times when we had a ton of guys fragged out to support joint and other service missions in CENTCOM. Deploy often and long enough, and you don’t get SOS DL done or no exec jobs and you’re on the chopping block. You guys know the deal. So this negative selection of people out doing combat-related missions (traditional Air Force or not) creates the environment you see in non-OG communities today. I’ve said before there needs to be more inter-breeding and cross-pollination between Ops and Support. I love my joint job...I haven’t touched my primary area of expertise for almost 2 years and gained a whole new set of knowledge. I’ve gotten to do staff work that made its way up to NSC and POTUS (well, as a backup slide). Of course, since I made O-5 and am resurrected, they’re cutting it short to send me to...wait for it...HAF/A4. But, in the words of the warontherocks article...I’m just “happy to be here.”

Twenty bucks is twenty bucks. I'm a sole breadwinner, man.

And their product does a fine job. But I NEVER had qualms about riding on the very capable Northrop seat for ~4000 hours. It has done... and will continue to do... a fine job.

I think Guardian would disagree...

Pfffftt..... Usaf doesn’t give a fuck about a-models or the folks flying them. At any level

So true

All nine made it home today...

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

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

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

Well I’m trying to get something out better than “f-22 pilot made a UPT student on the road to washout” mistake. Climbing away before gear up is something I learned in a prop retractable and every plane since. And if a combat loaded hog can lose an engine on takeoff and keep flying, a F-22 is really out of excuses on how this happened.

Gear door drag on an F-22? Seems hard to believe 60-70K worth of thrust wouldn't be able to solve that minor aerodynamic challenge.

Kudos to Marty for taking good care of his customers and encouraging them to post here . NBKC Bank is still very much a player. We just don't post on this forum very often. Lots of business to go around and it sounds like both Marty's team and mine with NBKC Bank are working hard to make sure the pilots in our community have good financing options!

I gotta say, very cool of the Colonel to give his approval for civilian family members permission to drink alcohol (responsibly). Didn't know they needed his permission, but what a nice gesture.

The same way a guy at AF/SE who had PCS orders to command a squadron was passed over. The dumpster fire continues...