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It's not binary. I've strafed and dropped bombs in troops-in-contact situations. I've given numerous "cleared hot" calls from the ground. I've spent many nights far removed from the FOB, and enjoyed that "first hot meal" after a few weeks that you reference. Happy to do it. None of that changes the takeaway here. How many RPA orbits have you seen pissed away by the Army SPC sitting at the S2 desk on the TOC floor who doesn't have a real task, so tells the MQ-1 crew to just start cycling through the target deck looking for "suspicious activity"? (Rhetorical, but I saw it nightly for the better part of a year). Big Army asked the Air Force to go all-in to throw resources at a problem that the Army maneuver elements didn't have, and nobody on the ground knew what to do with any of it. Your argument can be distilled down to "you haven't seen the ground truth, but the USAF focus on supporting US Army COIN actions over the last decade saved American lives and killed some bad guys." To that I say "noted." We stopped F-22 production, TAMId a bulk of our talent, extended deployments to 180 days, and deployed weapons officers / test pilots / instructor pilots to do non-flying jobs that could be done either stateside or by an A1C with no training. We RIF'd a bunch of experience, and then grounded half the fleet in 2013 for "sequester" because we wanted to fall on our sword rather than playing the budget shell game we finally started playing in sequestration every year since then. RPAs are cool, they do good work, they're far superior than a Hawg, Viper, Buff, or Strike Eagle for a persistent ISR tasking. No disagreement. That doesn't change the fact that we hollowed our entire force and culture, perhaps irreparably, to fight a war against enemies equipped with little more than small arms, rocks, cell phones, and motorcycles.

Which one uses LOX? Buy that one.

No way man. Gates’ obsession with and increase to 69 caps of RPAs was a total waste due to the utter inefficiency of the Army intelligence priority and assignment system. We could have given them so many fucking drones to cover every inch of Afghanistan for every hour of the day and they would have fucked it away. The USAF crews that were working those AORs did indeed do great work, but it was in spite of the way it was waged. Gates does not get credit here.

The best part of being an aviator is the squadron life. I heard it described once as like being in a motorcycle gang, but your mom is proud of you. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Whatever you fly is the best airplane in the Air Force.

More importantly, I've heard of people using Linkedin as a dating site for professionals. Anybody had any luck picking up hot business chicks on these sites? As an airline pilot, I think it's time to start looking for my first ex-wife. Bonus points if I can get alimony out of the deal.

23 missions over Afghanistan and 18 over Iraq, dropping 180 weapons (Danger Close 19 times) by the time I stopped counting with two months left in the deployment. GFY. It was possible to adequately support the Land Component without mortgaging the future of air superiority, which is one of our core functions and the umbrella under which the Land Component has to fight in any future conflict where the enemy has airplanes.

Let's not forget that all this and the Army also owned enough resources to sustain ~35 CAPs on their own but refused to go to a remote split ops architecture because it would mean loss of organic control of their assetts. Personally, I think it was right to go all in on the COIN fight. I am not a believer a 5th Gen war will ever happen. However I do believe the capability is necessary deterrence. That said, it was rather aggravating watching all of this come off the backs of Airmen while Army had significant capability to support their own air support requirements and did not want to update their Command and Control to the 21st century.

How many missions have you flown in Afghanistan or Iraq where HVIs, VBEDs, Taliban leaders, or IEDs where identified and blown to shit from above, there by saving lives? Maybe you never got to see the Army guys eating their first hot meal in the chow hall after being on the side of a mountain for weeks. Or seeing guys close up after their vehicle hit an IED. If we weren't in Afghanistan and Iraq to fly more missions per Gates, there would have been far more dead mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters from the Army, Marines, and Special Forces. Thanks to the USAF, lots of the enemy got the death wish they were always screaming about on YouTube. No virgins included.

I have a hard time believing that the Air Force wouldn't offer continuation to rated guys in the midst of a pilot manning crisis... But then, they've done dumber things.

There's good flying, good traveling, and good living. Pick two.

The main reason top leadership got leg-swept in 2008 was because they weren't playing nice with the Army and CENTCOM's insatiable desire for RPA orbits, and wouldn't back down on 5th-Gen at a time when we were committing 150,000+ soldiers at a stretch to fight a counter-insurgency against the stone age. They replaced CSAF with a yes-man who would play ball, thus setting the service back a decade while throwing our remaining resources at the Army's insatiable appetite for ISR feeds in exchange for a GWOT participation trophy. There are a lot of separate issues that factor into the black hole we're in right now, with respect to manning, experience, and morale. But if you wanted to pick a single point along the timeline where the wheels came off, it was firing CSAF in 2008 for ignoring illiterate enemies on mopeds in order to focus on a 5th-gen war. The Minot nuke fiasco, while unsat and hugely embarrassing, made for an easy way to sell the firing, but ultimately wasn't the main driver. Hell, the pilot-in-command of the B-52 continued on her HPO track after the deal.

Dropping 18x unguided Mk-82s just north of Tabqa Dam last March after being told for 6 years "We'll never drop dumb bombs in combat again."

Well Gents, it’s been fun but Duck is now a twice passed over Captain on his way out the door. I appreciate all of you who reached out and offered me advice throughout the years. I know that I will have a ton of questions going forward as I transition to the next step. This community is awesome and I love (most of) you guys.

Copy - did you fly the Super T or still do? Asked as I took a closer look at your account image (Super T initial cadre) Concur with AT-6B, avionics are more advanced (up to MIL STD 1760) and while built in .50 cals would be cool, I doubt they would be worth it vs. another platform that can employ the more advanced PGMs in the inventory. Not sure if this link has been posted but it is a pretty good side by side comparison of Wolverine vs. Super T: https://rhk111smilitaryandarmspage.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/the-a-29b-super-tucano-versus-the-at-6b-texan-ii/ I think the quoted price of AT-6B at 14 mil a copy is a bit low but it is cheaper than the Super T, better avionics, and some performance advantages. Plan to finally get this plane (about 14 years late but better than never...): - Pick the AT-6B at the end of Phase II of LAE in August - Plan on buying 175 for the AF and get the USN/USMC to buy 50-75. Half AD, Half ARC, FTU is a joint venture at a Guard unit with political pull to get the Guard friendly elements of the MIC to help push the rope. - Distribute the squadrons to retain some of the MQ-9 crew force by offering dual qual opportunities or homesteading, this would also be done in conjunction with an honest effort to improve QoL for RPA folks. More & better base choices across several time zones. 11s & 18s could fly pilot / cso respectively and for enlisted sensors, make a CCAF degree and a commander's recommendation enough for an OTS program with a designated follow on and flying opportunity in the cso station. - Before we lose all good will towards us, get some of the Allies that join us on foreign adventures to buy a LAAR also, up to them on which. But establish that when the West goes to fight long wars in the Arc of Instability, we are going to do it somewhat efficiently and not wear out the fast jets doing NTISR. Just buy it AF....

Might as well. You have chicks out there trying to use Tinder as a legit dating site! "...if you're just looking to hook up, swipe left!" Go to match if you're not down!

Our allies in the region are shaking in their boots with the expansion in the SCS. For some reason we're still in the mindset that the Pacific Ocean is going to protect us from Chinese shenanigans. The Navy has brought it up a lot. While I'm not scared of their engineering, I am scared of their numbers. They're also just as resourceful and cunning as we are and have a culture built on "fighting outsiders." Their cyber capes are pretty detailed in Open Source info, but it's like the rest of their capes - mass makes up for a lot of other issues.

Yeah I agree. Can’t wait to sign the paperwork Monday.

I do t think it matters. Whether they had a a continuation board or not.... they aren't going to go be sep pay to anyone likely, they selectively continued everyone without the need of a board. Blanket continuation for everyone. If they did not do that, then they are dumber than we all thoUght.

I took off for missions in country. We always had countless Army and Marines saying thanks in the chow hall. I see things a bit differently than you. I think 99% of us never left our CHUs (Iraq) or BHUTs (Afghanistan) when the incoming alarms sounded because we were too tired from flying. Let me die in peace while I sleep please. Our experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq just sent a very clear message to the Russians and Chinese just recently. We have a level of cohesion amongst our services that you shouldn't f with and it was put on full display for the Russians up close. The Russians thought sending hired mercenaries and some Syrian forces to attack special forces at a gas plant in Syria was a brilliant idea. They were messing with US military personnel who all have tons of experience from Iraq and Afghanistan. All that combat time and experience came to bear on 200 now dead Russian mercenaries and Syrian forces in a matter of 4 hours. Sergey: We lied, those are our men. "Can you please stop killing our guys." Mattis: Sergey, can you hold for a sec? HIMARS 198...199...200. On that day US 200 - Russians 0. I will always take those numbers. You can now walk into a bar with your AF ankle tattoo and at least have a very small amount of decency amongst our ground pounding brethren. Imagine that same scenario minus your tattoo of course, if the AF was fairly non existent in Afghanistan and Iraq.

LinkedIn offers military and veteran's free Premium access, which is normally $60 a month, for free. It's good for a year. Starting next month, they're offering it to military spouses for free to help network and make it easier to find jobs due to PCS's. https://linkedinforgood.linkedin.com/programs/veterans/premiumform

Killing ISIS while your friend shouts at you on the radio and getting a big hug from him when he got back in one piece. Best/most rewarding days of my life. Outside of combat, SEAD and FAC(A) are great because they're both very dynamic...I like the challenge of flying into the fight with a decent plan, but knowing it will change 69 times in the next hour and I'll have to make those 1 sec decisions that will determine win or loss. Flying fighters is like playing a very competitive team sport...it never gets old (but the queep and AF bs sure does!)

That's probably the most accurate summation yet of assignments I've heard. Although you don't always get two. But I would say you are garunteed at least 1.

Exactly. Just fucking buy something. Get it done FFS

Kenny, I'll give you my opinion on the matter, but I hope others post theirs, as there are certainly many, many other viewpoints. The U-2 guys that have gone in to the aerospace sector were pretty well networked, for the most part. While some of that was through the U-2 Brotherhood, much of it was also because they built relationships with various the people from those companies while they were on active duty. They would go TDY to conferences, site visits, etc... and made the effort to stay with the entire group, rather than bolt and do the "aircrew only" bar scene once the meetings ended. For example, one friend of mine became a trusted agent and social friend to a couple of Flag Officers, an Under Secretary, and and some other heavy hitters you would know from recent news events. I have very little first hand knowledge, but I assume the same opportunities exist within your community. LinkedIn: I built a profile years ago, but have never used it. I'm sure there are success stories out there, but the positions I were offered were not something that I could imagine happening on LinkedIn. The Executive Director position I had from 2014-2016 was purely a result of meeting some CEO's and entrepreneurs at Oshkosh, and spending many hours engaged with them on a personal level for a couple of years. One interesting "networking" thing that happened was at Oshkosh in 2003 or '04. Two of us flew a Beale T-38 there for static. Met and spent quality time with some people from Virgin. A couple of nights later, I'm at a small, private house party in Oshkosh with about 30 people. It wasn't until we walked out to the pool area that we realized Richard Branson was hosting the party. Too bad I had no aspirations to move to the UK or Mojave. In summary, Kenny, I don't think the positions you would want will easily materialize through job postings. But that's just my opinion, since I have no direct experience with social media job hunting.

Your consol has been approved. 😄

I never used a recruiter, but wouldn't rule it out. As with CH, building relationships was the key to any opportunities I've had. In my case, I kept those relationships alive because I liked the people I met... it wasn't to "find a job". But the job offers that came my way were a unintended consequence of those friendships. If you're 12 months from retiring, and expect to start networking now to find a great opportunity, it will be very difficult, in my opinion. Many of the opportunities I've had were developed over relationships that went back many years.

Sounds about right

Pointy-nosed generals? Those are politicians first. Just like the heavy generals. And aren’t those heavy generals just doing amazing work with the MAF?

Being the first US military aircraft to ever land at a certain uncontrolled airfield in Afghanistan, bringing in medical supplies and personnel after a natural disaster... while an AC-130 was overhead ready to take down anyone that flinched.

Few things validated our purpose in H-3's back in '06 (IMHO), more than being launched for a live AE ALPHA Alert - extremely rare. One hour from the call to wheels up headed to OAXX x 2 to hopefully make a difference. Was an incredible symphony of coordination and precision, all with the Top 3 there at the plane, watching our every move. Agree with the last two as well!

With or without dinosaur puppet?

Behind on FHP and green dot, more time required for UCI prep - there will be no weekends for the next month to support the wings priorities. Oh and remember guys, we care about families! Also, you're deploying for 6 months in 34 days, sorry not sorry we didnt factor that in...

As a guy who plays a role in the hiring process: Don't forget to put your availability date on your resume. It's something that seems really obvious, but most of the resumes I see lack it.

Probably? When I was at Travis, it was queep only. Straight from the slides, the #1 Wg priority was OPR/EPR timeliness. The Wg/CC himself was editing 2Lt OPRs to get rid of white space, literally working through the night to do so. Every Sq had to submit full-up 1206s for every possible award (think Blacks In Government, Airman of the Week, Verne Orr’s Wife’s Award, etc). By the time I left, there were 18 quarterly awards categories in addition to the 69 bullshit stand-alone ones. Each was boarded at the OG, with nominees showing up in service dress to the board. Of course, it didn’t matter if the nominee personally kicked bin Laden in the balls, because the squadron with the best copywriter/secretary/chief editor (aka FltCC/Exec/SqCC) combo who were most in accordance with the mandated “Brown Bag” (yak) bullet writing style won anyway. Additionally, every Sq sent up weekly mandatory “Weekly Activity Report” bullets to be run up the flagpole. We’d send up deployment successes and one-off first time mission stuff, but the only things that ever made it out of the Wg were volunteerism bullets. I kid you not, in a Wg with “AMC’s Largest Ops Gp”, well over 95% of what they chose to report to the NAF was decidedly non-ops. They may as well call themselves the 60th Mission Support Wing. The only two Weapons Officers worked as the Wg Exec and Wg DS. There was no mission discussion anywhere; our Sq didn’t even have a room certified to discuss classified information. This was a place where the guys returning from AETC white jet tours were the voices of reason.