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Whatever all these fees total up to = the amount of 1-2 taxi rides you took and don't have a receipt for. Fuck them, you can play their game.

@FlyingSquirrel NOTHING is guaranteed boss. I was a select that PCSd to my training base and am now a civilian. My life changed in just under 21months. Just because it looks like the ADSC will take you out to 18 does not mean the AF has to honor it. It’s a one way contract...just like the bonuses they’re throwing around. You’re a capt based on your timeline so you know how the manning bowls/flows concept works. They’re flooding the coffer with bodies...so you know what they’ll drain it in 9-10 years when they realize they’re too fat. @TeafChief @Rage W. Regardless what you want to do in the AF i’d say go to SOS first. Yeah the kool aid is terrible but the (then) 5 weeks was a stupid nice reprieve from my ops tempo before hitting the UFT grind/MWS training grind. Made some really great friends in that 5 week vacation oh and some $. My CC (11 type) painted this picture on timeline: 6-7 year capt gets picked up makes 7-8 yr capt as you PCS, you enter 18 months of UPT (+casual/IFF) then graduate as a 8.5/9.5 year capt going up for O4 as a “student” mind you. Get to your MWS school (best case scenario 3 months) and start upgrading. What he was trying to get at is i would not be performing the duties of my rank/grade like my senior capt/new O4 peers. Fun fact you need a ETP to attend SOS after 8 years TIS. It’s easy and almost automatic so moot...but a thing. You’d be the new guy showing up causing extra paperwork. Not the best look according to my guy, showing up SOS complete looks better although i doubt it’s heavily weighted in a flying sq. BL: you can push UFT dates back to work UFT/PME since you have the golden ticket in hand. My dates worked out well with a summer PCS/RNLTD. But my CC had to go to bat at the WG to move me up on the WG priority list to go to SOS. The wing used a standing seniorty approach for next up and i was the brand new guy. He pitched it, they bought it and I was off to SOS in April and finished in May. Not at all trying to be a negative nancy but there are shitty realities out there that i went through. Just want to share my experiences so folks dont expect unicorns, rainbows, and smooth sailing once they get notified they achieved their lifetime goal.

No, the point of the card is the kickback the wing/base gets for people using it.

So why even bother with “gate months” anymore then? Makes zero sense.

Same boat--supposed to go enroute to my next assignment (March). I'd like to get it knocked out, but I'll roll with whatever big blue directs.

If picked up the ADSC will push me out to 17.5-18 years, so I’ll absolutely do 20. If not, I’d opt in and file to separate the next day to chase a guard offer. Goal is to fly for the Air Force, I’m not too hurt if AD doesn’t work, I’d just like to line my finances up one way or the other. So fingers crossed for this month

Why would the AF push their timeline to aide you and potentially hundreds of others in making a decision with potentially lifelong ramifications? Just opt in. It hurts less.

If you flew T-6s you'd do the T-38 T-X course then IFF at Randolph before b course.

Padre can you give us a hint as to what the unofficial news was?

One of my bro’s I met at my FC1 was a cobra dude, similar resume to yours (WTI etc). He got hired by an AF reserve tanker unit and went straight to Altus for the tanker FTU. He wants to do airlines and was done with tactical stuff. He didn’t have to do any additional fixed wing stuff, and he hasn’t touched a fixed wing aircraft since pilot training in 2008 (he did the exchange thing and did T6s at AF pilot training). But he never did t1s or any other fixed wing follow on prior to going to KC135 school. I’m assuming if you want to go fighters you’d have to do a pretty robust T38 course and then the full B course...that’s what I’ve heard 2nd hand but can’t speak to the exact syllabus.

He says he's looking for a job, not a hobby.

Manually masturbating caged animals for artificial ensemination

If you haven’t already, find the first officer up the finance chain on your base. Stop arguing with airmen and NCOs.

The black boots sucked. Sure it looked good at the time, and mine were totally comfortable, but they were a pain in the ass and everyone has this romanticized memory of them. 1. They required even a minimal amount of maintenance (except for the internet badasses who will claim they never did any boot maintenance--sureok) 2. They didn't stand up to even minor abuse of being on the flightline, and the leather would easily damage and gouge out 3. The wax on the boots got all over your shit when you packed them in your bags 4. The boots got fucking hot if you spent any time outside or standing around on a tarmac. 5. It was just another reason for chiefs and shoes to run around being an assholes to the vulnerable airmen and LTs who get separated from the herd 6. They looked like shit unless they were well maintained, which they almost never were 7. for fucks sake you had to wax them...what century is this? Yeah I had several pairs of comfortable black boots, but I've had comfortable sets of green boots. However none of them hold a flame to a nice pair or Lowa or Salomon boots. Shit keeps getting better, and everyone is pining for the good old days of shining black boots like they don't have anything better to do.

Unless you’re an 0-6 or higher, in a command billet, nobody needs to be doing a year deployment, period. I can understand needing that continuity at the 0-6+ level....outside of that you’re damn hard pressed convincing me there’s any good reason someone needs to spend a year over there. You tell me what job exists at the 0-3 ~ 0-5 level that absolutely must have the same human being in it for a whole year. I call BS on that noise.

I got out at the end of 2015 when the bonus was $25K a year. Exactly one year later, for my first month of second year FO pay, I cleared $25K...for the month. It was that moment I realized “the Air Force is fu*ked”.

"Countless hours" and this is what you came up with. Please tell me you're not in a position to affect AF retention policy going forward. 😉 The reason for the pilot crisis isn't the mystery you make it out to be. Read the "Dear Boss" letter from whatever decade you prefer and you'll find your answer. Really? They leave because of added responsibility? A 4-ship FL or Mission Commander leading a Flag mission or doing the real J.O.B. in the AOR has accepted a pretty significant level of responsibility. If you think that individual is reluctant to accept an ADO, DO or CC job because of the leadership responsibilities, you truly don't understand the problem. How do you know they're "excellent officers"? There's no guarantee of that any more than there is that every pilot can be one either. One thing's for sure: "Leading men" 🙄 in the true sense (i.e. on the pointy end into actual combat) isn't going to happen in Intel or the Maintenance squadron. Taking an 8-ship into true combat isn't the same as showing up for the morning Intel PPT slide show or generating tail numbers for a 12 turn 8. The leaders required to do those jobs are not interchangeable. Until the USAF is willing to acknowledge that lost piece of very important information, it will continue to lose its best pilots and leaders. I have yet to meet a pilot who was truly a "leader of men" and can bring game to an actual combat mission, inspire his pilots to put their lives on the line and do what is require to accomplish the mission who didn't care or have a passion for flying and all that goes along with it. Tactical competence doesn't just happen save for the occasional gifted savant. Without caring or passion, a so called "officer who happens to be a pilot" will never attain that level and more importantly, understand and appreciate the mentality of those under him who are striving to achieve it. They will continue to try to deny it takes a very different officer AND pilot to fly daylight attacks on Germany, tangled with MiGs in the alley, go downtown in Pak-6 and take the fight to our enemies of the last 30 years. You don't magically create those pilots from the PC, no squadron bar, no nametag, no o-club, peacetime, make everyone feel like equal war fighters USAF. Being willing to bring game, put your life out there daily in training and combat requires a special officer and pilot. If the USAF finds a way to keep those guys around, that will be a huge step in the right direction. In the meantime, we have the ones that do dumbass things like take "Home of the Fighter Pilot" off the main gate at Nellis.

Makes sense, wouldn’t want the gun to explode during the day in your locked case, thus causing what would likely be the largest MASCAL event since Hiroshima. Idiots.

Hail Bernie, full of grace. Our commune is with thee. Blessed art thou among comrades, and blessed is the fruit of thy planned economy, communism. Holy marxism, Mother of Lennin, pray for us Capitalists, now and at the hour of our victory. Amen.