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Old guys: "The AF sucks. I'm leaving." New guy: "Yes, it does. I want out." Old guys: "WTF? Snowflake! ! You're going to get yourself or someone else killed! Be positive! It's all worth it! Best job ever! Your marriage is in trouble! Seek counseling!" euser, Your experience is your experience. If you believe you are having a poor experience in the AF, then you actually are having a poor experience. Your grievances aren't anything new or unique, so why are you being blamed for them? As the new guy, you need to realize anything you post here is not a contribution for selfless intellectual discussion, but an opportunity for a few others to practice self-righteousness and judgement, but not empathy. While there are many good discussions here, just be aware that you're currently involved in one where your post is being used to feed an addiction cycle of empowerment among some of the regulars. Remember that despite what appears to be "advice", the goal here is to make you respond indignantly and emotionally, not help you. The best advice you'll ever get on this website is never, ever, come here expecting to have a serious and honest exchange, about anything. This forum is only a game. Pot stir - Complete. 😄

It hasn’t been dumped into squadrons hands. AETC has allocated funds for technological innovation and senior captains with innovative ideas have taken the reigns and started sprinting. Old hats with a chip on their shoulder regarding the current state of pilot training are shit-talking because it doesn’t smell like the UPT of the early 90s. I honestly don’t get this forum anymore. People frequently talk about not having the clout to change shit until it’s too late and praise former AF rebels yet publicly continue to suck on the moms teet. Don’t take things so literally. If a MAJCOM is willing to carte blanche allocate funds for “innovative” ideas, how can you possibly construe that negatively? Big Wig Boss: “Here is a metric shit ton of money...make things better.” Officer with decent idea: “Thanks sir!” Everybody else: “Millenial SNAPs are fvcking horrible. The Air Force is reluctant to change. VR is hoakey bullshit...you’re not a real pilot unless you flew ELPs. Who cares that the senior captains and mid majors have more operational experience than any other recent batch of aviators — their opinions are worth less than dogshit. When will the AF ever listen to the actual mission hackers AKA the dudes who don’t give two hoots about anything other than airline apps?”

Step 1: Start out wide eyed and bushy tailed. Flying fighters/heavies/helos is the best thing you've ever done. Step 2: Try to change the world. Step 3: Get struck down for Step 2. Become disillusioned as the machine attempts to swallow you whole. (See: Monkey/Cage theory) Step 4: Find a Guard/Reserve Unit and GTFO. Step 5: Get hired by the airlines. Make a lot of money. Step 6: Military flying becomes fun again because you're suddenly kevlar and a true volunteer. You don't care about changing the world and the feeling from Step 1 returns. Step 7: ??? Step 8: Profit.

Did they increase squadron manning to account for the time that capt smith is having to take to do the additional work? MAJCOMs ought to drive the innovation by backing up with updated academics, syllabi, admin, etc in addition to not having everyone duplicate the same innovation. That’s called waste That’s the fucked up part. Get your head out of your ass about people not wanting things to be better. Just because people don’t agree with you doesn’t mean they’re wrong.

Jesus Christ....

Geezus, reading the new millennial snowflakes who are a notch below my generation of S.N.A.P.s complain because they “heard it on the internet” makes me want to flog myself for the 17 yrs of sport bitching. Bottom line to you new guys: the USAF could solve everything we complain about today and tomorrow we would be on here complaining about something new. “Hot pits? Why can’t we just hit a tanker?” “BFM again!! That’s 3x this week and my neck hurts!” “I only got to shoot 200 rounds on the range but capt Xxxx got 250...what a screw job!” “They capped my unrestricted climb at 10k...f-ing ATC” “Can you believe I got sh-t for not using my gov’t cc? Can’t believe I had to fly a fighter across the US, stay on the strip in Vegas then put up with this BS where I don’t get my reward points.” “Speeding on base ticket? SF guy just wishes he was a pilot and taking it out on me.” “Yearly FOD walk on a down day? Don’t they know I’m a f-ing pilot...let’s hide in the bar and drink coffee with booze instead at 8am.” “You have a problem with my patch that says “f-ck”?? I bet you never even saw the patchy shop in Korea you GD nonner shoeclerk” “Bud Light...WTF is wrong with Lt’s these days. I pay a solid $6 per month for unlimited beer and this is what I get? Back when I wAs LPA...” Yeah there’s a ton to bitch about and even the coolest parts of the job get repetitive and the fun wears off. It’s still the greatest job in the world. If you are lucky enough to do it, save your saltiness for when you have a reason. Even then your job will be better than 96.69% of the rest of society...you’ll just be like the rest of us: entitled pro sport bitchers who don’t get paid enough, respected enough etc. Things are looking up kids, and nobody owes you a thing at this point in your career...you are lucky to be here. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Step 7: you now have the money to get serious about other forms of recreational aviation. Go to Oshkosh... go to the Reno Races and roam through the pits... find the passion for cool aviation that has waned. Go find something fun to do at your local airport.

Give half your stuff to your first ex-wife?

The difference is that pilot production increased something like 30% per class with no additional resources already. Triple turns, flying on the weekend, etc. And now you get a pet project that eats up more time, with people that don't have the tools to make something good. This is exactly the kind of problem for the staff to solve, and if they can't, well, maybe we should rethink who goes to staff, or man then appropriately. (Side note, even the reduced T6 syllabus didn't come from staff, it came from a UPT base) The AF has access to human factors experts, software designers, and the ability to contact out to experts if needed. But no, lets not use those people, we'll just dump it on the line squadrons to figure it out. Don't get me wrong, I think it's an interesting learning tool. But is it really that much better than Microsoft flight sim or X plane? Or is VR just the new buzzword that everyone wants to jump on board with because it's new? Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Don't make me ban you.

I think it's total bullshit that all this has been dumped in the lap of squadrons to do "self help" build-a-sim projects...however, I believe the concept of low cost accessible sims with VR/AR for visuals is great.

RAND folks have no idea what they're talking about. In my 28 years on active duty, the worst base for sexual abuse... by far the worst... was Randolph. The majority of pilots I know were sexually abused by personnel at that base. Though I was able to avoid the ubiquitous and frequent raping, it happened to many of my friends. Many of them separated at their earliest opportunity due to the repercussions of said abuse. The amazing part is that this abuse still occurs and is known by USAF leadership. It is important to know where to find the culprits. They are hidden behind the letter A, F, P, and C. Keep your guard up! I'm sure many of you have been sexually abused by AFPC. If so, you are not alone.

If that's the experience at your base then great. I'm all about the squadrons getting the latitude and the funding to explore new ideas. We're doing that at Beale right now, and yes it takes up my time and energy, but I enjoy doing it and I'm not getting pressured from bosses to make it work with no resources so they can brag about it. However, what I've heard from others in AETC is that it really has become a full time job for some, and another look-at-me dick measuring project for leadership to show the bobs how innovative they are. Hacker is right we don't want the MAJCOM to provide a end to end solution, it's always a disaster (ref: EFB program). I've found the most successful technology initiatives happen when the pilot(s) with the good idea get the funding AND the ability to hire specialists to create and sustain it for them. It's not much different than all the other queepy jobs...who's a better front office admin or scheduler or UDM? They pilot who's there 40% of the time because they're flying/TDY/deployed or the civilian/contractor who sits there 8 hours a day and has perfect continuity? I'm supposed to be first and foremost a leader (or at least that's what the AF told me), so it makes no sense for me to be turning wrenches or screws on DIY projects. I should be hiring specialists to do that and providing the vision and direction for it. It's just like in business...Tim Cook isn't spending time running ethernet cables around the building or cutting the grass out front, because his time is worth more than that.

You sure that wasn’t my wife?! Sounds a lot like her

Except I didn't make the argument for unlimited training, that's a straw man you made (logical fallacy #1). Also, you're advocating under a false dichotomy (logical fallacy #2). Fielding VR potato and increasing hours is not mutually exclusive , especially under my argument that the reason we're faced with jousting for monetary position in the first place is the gargantuan contractor graft that has ballooned our defense budget to morally abhorrent levels. Have you instructed under the current VR products/paradigm? I have. This is work that belongs in an actual test squadron. This has zero place in operational training squadrons. We're about to surge in the next month in order to fix the timeline blunder created out of what was an amateur and hasty implementation of immature tech/process for the sake of appeasing a couple generals. BOHICA October. Here comes a hell of a lot of flying time and legacy syllabus to fix the VR blunder. The irony. Again, I'm not making a Luddite argument, just refuting the claim less seat time is a sunk cost in this discussion. It is not.

deployment #1= “this is awesome!” deployment #2= “cool, I got this” deployment #3 = “I’m the old pro now” deployment #4 = “well, here I am again” deployment #5+ = “ok WTF are we doing here!?”

I hear if you say innovate enough your OPR writes itself and a General gets another star

Well VR will incorporate the ROBD trainer to give you the hypoxia experience.

....sooooo OBOGS....?

You sound like someone who has never worked on staff. Staffs exist for one thing: red tape. I don’t know how VR / AR are being applied but I applaud those who are trying to make our process better. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

That sounds painful. NTTAWT.

Yeah but let’s get real: -If you aren’t happy flying a F-16, it is doubtful you’d be happy in a C-5 or anything else. -If your wife is unhappy at a fighter base with the ton of support that comes with it, she’d doubtfully be happy at a C-5 base or anywhere else. -Your life as a fighter guy is more stable than a heavy guy. If you want stability, go teach at UPT...BUT, pretty much all those bases are worse than any fighter or C-5 base or anywhere else...well maybe AFSOC. Two life tips: first, I’d plan for your exit from the fighter community and or the usaf ASAP if you and your family are miserable. It will only get worse of you aren’t enjoying it when it’s new. Second, and I hate to be saying this but if you are having marital frustrations now, really evaluate things. Like the USAF, it’s only going to get worse if you aren’t enjoying it when it’s new. You can blame location, jet, schedule etc for your woes and always be waiting for a greener pasture with work/family balance, but I’ve found that people who enjoy the USAF and marriage are the types who will make the best of it no matter what the circumstances. Dr Phil out. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Life pretty cozy back there in 1965? Because we're living in 2018.

Let us all know how you do in UPT! I assume since you’re the only Private Proctologist in the world you’ll be pretty easy to PID. Downgrade for planning right off the bat.

No, it’s about leveraging tech to train smarter in a digital world. Why would I chairfly in front of a cockpit poster when I could interact with something virtual that provides enhanced learning? You can’t have unlimited flight training available, just not possible...so why not capitalize on better, cheaper alternatives?

It's not necessarily about excluding them on purpose. It's about presenting the Air Force and flight training as an option to communities that don't usually hear that kind of thing, and hoping a few of them get interested. It's easy for a white boy from the suburbs of an Air Force base to get into the idea of joining to be a pilot. It may be harder for a girl who, even in 2018, still hears "That's a man's job" or "model airplanes are boy's toys". Similarly, in communities that are historically less educated, we can reach into those communities and show them the types of opportunities that exist for those willing to get an education. We may even reach the point where, similar to what the Air Force does with lawyers and doctors, we start paying for high school candidates with a high aptitude for flight to get an undergraduate degree (aside from the highly competitive USAFA process). I'm with you. The idea that we should weed out white men because "we have to many" or that we should promote minorities "to increase representation" is just terrible reasoning all the way around. I'm saying that we can do things to increase the number of minorities entering the service, giving us a greater number to pull from to fill those leadership positions/cockpits/etc.

I think the managed diversity thing has been tried before. "Special consideration should be given to women and minorities for possible past discrimination" is a direct quote of a directive given to promotion boards in the mid-90s. The subsequent lawsuits signaled it was a bad idea.

SOS is where I had my come-to-Jesus moment(s) with the Air Force. My career has been all down hill from Montgomery.

You seriously regret flying military aircraft only a year after UPT? Sounds like you should never have gone to UPT in the first place. To say it’s all the AF’s fault you feel this way is not accepting responsibility for your own attitude. Honestly if you’re so jaded after this short of time, you would have been just as jaded in the guard.

It’s not so much UPT bases, as bases located in Oklahoma! Steers and queers.

I made the mistake of engaging some lovely ladies on social media who were talking about Kavanaugh’s guilt. I simply asked their process for concluding his guilt and if they accepted he “might” be innocent. It quickly devolved into a man-hating session and the best they could do is “she must be telling the truth and you are a white-male a-hole if you don’t believe her.” This is politics as usual from the left...completely reliant in ignorance and emotion to push an agenda. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Starts early. I'm 8 years old, just attended my first airshow and I'm bitter AF.

With the rather important distinction that they used their completely lawful power to refuse Garland, and they didn't resort to exploiting a questionable accuser for the purposes of character assassination.

Second assignment, it’s when I figured out we really don’t want to or have a plan to win these wars and conflicts.

1) How do the training results hold up? 2) What value is there in every squadron spinning up their own version? 3) What is the level to which home-spin VR will be utilized to train of a single class iteration? 4) How does it get funded? 5) How do you get that shit to work with the Cyber dudes? That's just spitballing. By all means, keep home-growing (in each squadron) a separate solution to the same problem without any outside expertise for input.

It's almost that time of year again! 😋

I have to do this now :) Listen to Eminem's Lose Yourself 2X, then Rap God 1X, then shadow box in the mirror for 5 minutes... Then break out the agility ladder from high school football and do various drills for another 5 minutes. Next, watch your favorite GoPro cockpit footage video (make sure there is cool music playing in the background and tons of high-G maneuvers to pump you up). Next, do as many pushups as you can in 1 minute with more cool music playing in the background. After that, pull yourself to your feet and wipe the sweat from your brow while simultaneously drinking half a bottle of cold Gatorade with the other first firmly planted into your hip bone--once roughly half of the bottle is empty, briskly slam the bottle down onto counter top, making sure that at least some of it splashes out of the bottle. FINALLY, sit down and write the best letter of recommendation for yourself. You won't be disappointed in the results. :)

if we worked thru all those questions it'd take damn near 15 years to get anything fielded. as a comm guy i wouldn't be chunking spears at ops dudes trying to make things happen...there is outside expertise being sought...but it ain't from some base comm sq by all means feel free to stay in your lane and stfu edit: why the fck does it have to work with the cyber dudes? i dont think you know what the hell you're talking about. edit: IF you’re comm. cyber. Finance. Whatever.

Fixed.

UPT is light years behind the tech curve. UPT Next has lit a fire for innovation. VR is cheap. Easy to implement. Effective. Why not add that arrow to the quiver? and no this is not a problem for staff to solve. Staff is useless.

It's cool still fly with your mask down, because ejections are sOOOo rare. Oh wait.... The Air Force found the OBOGS problem and has a solution... just enjoy it in 4 years.... Nothing to see here. Off Topic: VR takes about 3-4 hours per 1 min of instructional video. This work has been dumped on no less than 5 Active Duty members in my squadron alone, the other squadrons are also jumping on the band wagon. So not only are we innovating like rabbits breed, but we are duplicating effort and shared information is spotty at best. But that's cool innovate gets you hard.

I'd say it's pretty obvious you chose poorly. WTF did you even go to UPT for? Show me the information you used to come to the conclusion that you wouldn't be expected to work long hours, live somewhere you may not have chosen to live or control every aspect of your life? Holy shit dude! Do you think civilians in professional fields don't work long hours or get relocated? Military families sacrifice. That's not new information. How about your spouse worry less about her professional career and more about raising your kids. One less group of latchkey kids in daycare which ends up costing just as much as the working spouse is making - net pay zero. T-38 vs C-5 vs 11F...... ever hear of a phrase that goes... "The needs of the AF"? You think you're the first guy to get put into a MWS that wasn't his first choice? You think you'd be seeing your kid more flying a C-5 around the planet? If you're spending most of your time in a fighter worrying about that laundry list you have there, you need to ground yourself. You clearly lack the confidence in your abilities to do that job effectively. Getting violated...🙄 GMAFB. Going to war/participating in contingency ops has been part of life in the USAF since 1990. Once again, it appears you chose poorly. Having regard for "life outside the military" is for when you're no longer in the military. Welcome to reality - either change your goals to match it or look into changing your AFSC before you do kill yourself or someone else. Guard or reserves isn't the solution to your problem.