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1) Take a look at Freakonomics, perhaps the economics of drug dealers/crack cocaine... (and no, there is not a 1-1 comparison between drug dealers and fighter pilots). When you ask a kid what they want to be when they grow up, a few typical answers include - fire fighter, cop, fighter pilot... the first 2 typically or traditionally don't pay well. Why? Read Freakonomics. 2) Now thankfully you'll never be able to demonstrate this, but if you could - go down to the local fire house and find the first non-fire fighter (NFF) there and tell them (and the rest of the fire fighters) that the NFFs are just as important as the Fire Fighters... that their high school diploma and 2 weeks of OJT is as important as the years of training, studying, testing, learning, working out, and fighting to be luck enough to get an interview and to do well on the exam and to make it through probation, etc... that the fire fighter went through... then give the NFF a patch, even call them a "fighter", give them awards/medals/promote them for doing stuff that seems important in the station while the real work/sacrifice is being done on location, put them in charge of the fire house because you have to be "Fair" to everyone. Tell them that they can take 2 hours for lunch, 8 hours every other Tuesday to get better at their job because they don't have time to get better at it while they're doing it, tell them 9-3 is pretty decent work hours... then tell the fire fighters that, sorry we don't have enough of you so it will be 36 on/12 off, sorry if we put you away wet and put you back in before you can go home and see the family (you know they love their job, that they live for it, so why make life better for them?). Make up tremendous amounts of accolades for crap that means nothing and give it to the NFFs with great pomp and circumstance because we're all equal. Oh and their jobs? those jobs that NFFs do that are meant to support the fire fighters? Yeah, let them write instructions/rules that pretty much puts the responsibility on the fire fighters. When the fire fighters come back after a 36 hour blaze, delirious from the excitement and exhaustion, wanting to celebrate with their fellow fire fighters - force them to let the NFFs be a part of it. When they push it up too much - criticize them and kick them out for frivolous reason. Don't allow them back into the station until their uniform meets regulations,. When they save 3 kids but step on a cat - make sure you publicly flog them for it... when the NFF fails to show up on time for weeks on end and never gets the job done, be sure to do nothing about it. Obviously a bit black and white/extreme example... there are plenty of non-fighter pilots (myself included) in the AF that do amazing and incredible things for the fight and deserve the accolades and spoils (not myself) and this is not a bashing of support roles... this is an attempt to show you were the rot started. You/they/we can try to fix the symptoms (is it $, is it additional duties, etc.) but until you address the rot - the dis-mantling of (for lack of a better term) the glory, prestige, and respect that goes with a professional doing a professional job, that takes probably a decade to get good at (including a degree or 2, USAFA, ROTC, UPT, IFF, etc...) WE WILL NEVER FIX IT. Do they want medals and be on the front page news? No - they want the respect/honor for doing what they do, something the AF stopped doing a long time ago. There are important roles everywhere, I have no doubt that we need 99% of the people in the AF to do the job... but I can not think of another organization in the world that would try so hard to put everyone in the same lime light, all the time. What if Taylor Swift had all the roadies, ushers, back up singers come up and be on stage for every performance and give them a microphone? Do we diminish their jobs if we don't? To some extent everyone is replaceable, but I'm guessing there are not too many fire fighters serving excessively long commitments to be fire fighters. I have a few in my family, some of the most humble/honest/best people I know... I have never once heard them complain about being a fire fighter... why is that? 3) Fighter pilots are just the first and most prolific demographic... the rest of the pilots, the rest of the pointy-end-of-the-spear isn't far behind, add to them the maintainers, engineers, doctors, nurses, and any other professional that would be treated as a professional outside of the AF... appreciated for their knowledge, years of education, years of sacrifice to get where they are, etc... they'll be gone too, unless/until there is another recession.

No one should make life decisions or any decisions based off Freakonomics

$30 says we don’t hear anything today.

We gave out 1 fighter every other class in 2007, and not many more in 2008 because AFPC said we had too many fighter pilots. Fast forward 10 years and we have a shortage. No idea how this could have happened.

^so true. There is so much about the the AF that is so out of date it’s just sad. The way we promote, pay, incentivize, move, etc. Like several of us told a two star traveling around a year or so ago trying to find a way to solve pilots jumping ship - it just comes down to the way you treat people. Admittedly that’s a broad statement and encompasses many things. But when people are made to feel like simple undervalued cogs in the machine...well that just isn’t how you should handle some of the most highly trained and educated folks out there. I’m afraid there’s a great many things the entire military does that have fallen behind society and the way talented people expect to be treated and valued. Saying “people are our most valuable assets” in one moment and then treating them like cogs the next, all in the name of “needs of the AF”, well it simply doesn’t justify that kind of treatment to many people and I believe that pool of folks is only going to grow as time goes on with younger generations. People (especially talented) simply don’t want to be treated that way, in addition to having so little control of their lives in the mil, as Genghis John points out.

I know what you meant, but for clarity, I think the exact program at which you’re (rightfully) spewing hate is Phoenix Reach (ie, MDS crossflow). Phoenix Eagle is the MAF squadron CC selection board for O-5s and O-5 selects.

General caveat - I’m not an expert on every question you have but I’ll try and throw some bones your way. 1) Regardless of when your spouse moves, yes you should be able to move directly into base housing and not be subject to dorm life. That’s exactly how it played out for me when I moved and my wife later joined me due to her work. If your records show you being married that’s what they look for (regardless if she moves at that time or not). As far as you moving and then going to SERE, it just depends on what your orders say. If it has you PCSing to Vance with a date prior to SERE then yes it sounds like the plan is for you to move and then go TDY from Vance. You should not have to ever live in the dorms though given you’re married. You said something about a waiver? Not sure what you’re referring to but once you PCS any housing allowance you’re receiving will then change to the rates at your new (Vance) location....assuming this is what you’re getting at. 2) I would ask this directly to your TMO office to make sure. I believe you could do it that way but you’re going to have to investigate. 3) RNLTDs are NOT set in stone. If adjusting your date is advantageous to your family then explain the situation you your commander. If it makes sense, and won’t screw up follow on training, then your CC can certainly make changes to those dates through AFPC. Again, just go ask the question. 4) I would not wait till I got there. Call the housing office and start getting a feel for how close to capacity they typically run. Especially going into that time of year, they should be able to give you an idea of what to expect. You won’t know the final answer till it’s closer to move time. If they are full at that time then you’ll be able to go offbase to find housing. Have a plan for either case. Hope this helps a bit. Best of luck!

Part of the reason the MAF sucks in a lot of places is: Phoenix Eagle. Many of the MAF’s leaders are part of this self licking ice cream cone of careerism. On the other hand, most CCs I’ve met on the CAF side are Weapons Officers. Kind of shows the difference in priorities and why we rightfully often get shit on by the CAF. Fortunately, I’ve seen this trend start to change in the MAF. Quite a few weapons officers getting picked up for command. Many other “non-special programs” officers are also getting picked up and some of them didn’t even do in-residence IDE.

Agree with Joe, but my experience was the same at McChord circa 2013-2015. Fortunately I was a copilot upgrading to AC during that timeframe, so I didn’t hold a job “important enough” to be responsible for writing OPRs/bullets/etc. But I did sit at cruise a lot with ACs who were nerding out on OPRs and 1206s on their personal laptops. What a clown show. There were some things I enjoyed, but in general I hated the MAF, and I hope to never, ever return before I can punch.

Yup but it's not done anymore. The country is no longer to able to generate the levels of consensus necessary for the Federal government to function as it is currently structured. If we didn't try to do everything at the national level it would not be as big of a problem. Now the Federal budget is not the end all be all of the status of our national civic health, but it is a good bellwether. As to the Dreamers, the memories of President Regan's amnesty in 86 and the unkept promise of border security / immigration enforcement are not forgotten. They have to go first IMO (Dems, leftists, etc...) if they want any sort of permanent legal status for DACA recipients; give us at least 2 years of wall construction, heavy surge in deportations (focused on dangerous illegal aliens first), prosecution of employers who use illegal alien labor and English as an the official language of the USA and the Nationalists/Conservatives will reciprocate in kind... if it were me as leader of the Nationalists/Conservatives following that downpayment by the other side I would offer legal status first for the DACA recipients and then a medium term visa to green card status for the 20 million illegal aliens in the USA now, all of 'em, no path to citizenship at first but at a later state following other give and take transactions. The next big step would be IMO would be a program to allow a path to citizenship for the illegal immigrant population in the USA over a 20 year period but the concession would be a 20 year pause to legal immigration, end to birthright citizenship and an end to chain migration. Legal immigration is about 1 million a year so over 20 years, legalization of the existing illegal immigration would be about a wash over the 20 year period. This would allow enough time to release the pressure slowly not explosively. Harmony can be had thru give and take but both sides have to be willing to give big to get big. If not, this article by Jessie Kelly on the end of the USA becomes more and more possible: https://thefederalist.com/2018/04/10/time-united-states-divorce-things-get-dangerous/

The wait is harder now... Before, I was just thinking "we'll hear something when we hear something." Now, I can't help but think "what if I just didn't get it and that's why I'm not hearing anything?" Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts.

Print it as a pdf. Open it with adobe. Make a signature square where it needs to be signed. Sign it and send it.

Reasonable people can disagree as to the true status of so-called "Dreamers." Point is, lots of Conrgresspeople no-way want legalization for Dreamers much like lots of Congresspeople no-way want a wall. So, build a wall first (can't reneg on a wall that's been built already) then grant one-time legal status for Dreamers. Nobody gets everything they want. Everyone gets something of what they want. Used to be that's how things worked.

If that's good enough for Hillary, its good enough for us!

Your numbers are pretty close. Brabus is right about the flight pay, I think the old 650 went to 700 and the old 840 went to 1,000 (could be wrong). If you want to really fine tune your numbers, orders less than 30 days get you BAH type II (might be 30 days or less). At a minimum, as a part time Guard guy I get 111 pay periods a year. 48 UTA, 48 AFTPs and 15 AT days. If you become a technician then you only get 36 AFTPs. How you use your days is something of an art and may vary depending on your squadron. In my squadron we pretty much manage them all ourselves as our leadership let's us use our days how we see fit (within the law). I rarely, if ever, go into work without logging 2 pay cards. If I'm going to the base, I'm going to make a day of it and log 2. There once was rumblings of using 1/day and the part time mafia just LOL'd. AFTPs. 16/qtr max up to 48/yr. Since they're restricted quarterly I always use these up first, even if it's UTA weekend. I generally use the max in each quarter then start using UTAs to fill in the short fall. This usually leaves the 4th quarter of no AFTPs and all UTAs. Obviously that gets balanced out on years where I have a deployment. UTAs can be used anytime in the year, except while on orders. There used to be a WOM that if you were on orders for a month, you lost that months UTAs unless you had already used them. This led guys to using up that months UTAs before the orders started. I don't believe it's actually true, but I still try to use them before any known orders because who knows. AFTPs can be used on TDYs in lieu of orders (with some restrictions), however UTAs generally can't unless there is TAG to TAG approval (never have seen that in 17+ years in the ANG). AT can be used pretty much whenever throughtout the year. I usually use them for one of the many TDYs we may do in a year. That said if it's early in the year and someone else is willing to cough up ST (special training) days, I'll use those if able. That way I'll still have my hip pocket AT days available. Many years you'll see that close to the end of the FY a bunch of AT days show up. There are a few nuances with using more than 15 AT in a year, but nothing big. As an airline guy in a guard fighter squadron, I find it hard to actually use up all the pay periods available due to TDYs, deployments, the airline and actually having a life. Each month I normally work 8 pay periods in 4 days...some months more but no more than 5 days/month unless TDY. If I do get to use all 111 of them, as a major (17 years), I expect about 30K gross (min). That said, due to deployments, TDYs, etc...I've rarely dropped below 50K/yr. 2018 was a 3 month deployment plus a single 2 week TDY and I think I grossed 65k. Best of luck, I've been in the ANG for almost 18 years and I'm still learning about all the pay statuses we have available. With the exception of technician, I've been in pretty much every pay cateogry we have....AT/ST/UTA/AFTP/ADOS/AGR/ADSW. I've deployed overseas with another squadron and have sat alert with other squadrons. Even went TDY with my squadron while on alert orders with another squadron...talk about blowing finances mind!

How stupid do I think the average person is?... Well there is this... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It’s the most relevant buzzword, though. A bureaucracy full of old GSs is a real problem for national security.