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And I’ll bet you’ve never looked at your phone while driving either, right? Pretty sure that’s deadlier, especially for innocent children considering the time of day when most DUI fatalities happen compared to distracted driving. So what’s an appropriate punishment for that, and should you turn yourself in to the authorities? Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

In matters of the law, ethics don't matter. The first is objective, the second is subjective. If we determine legal outcomes based on ethics, then the whole idea of equality under the law goes out the window.

Exactly why. I knew I wasn't going to be a squadron commander within my own community, and they dangled squadron command of a CPTS out there to "all AFSCs" who applied for retraining. I figured I'd do the training, do a two-year stint as a CPTS/CC, then come back to the cockpit. But I was "too valuable" as an instructor to get released from my career field. Timing strikes again...we just cut four other IWSOs loose from Dyess for various things like the Multi-Domain Warfare thing and going to Pensacola to instruct...so now we're short manned again.

Do I need to call a taxi next time I have been awake for 18+ hours, is the AF going to pay for this after a long shift or flight? Because you can still get arrested if the cop thinks you are impaired. Even though its not illegal to be drowsy they can still charge you if they think you are impaired. Is it safer to drive after being awake for 18 hours or have a beer and drive? Point is this is not a black and white problem and we can not treat it as such. Yes drunk drivers are assholes, i've been hit by one and was lucky that I was not seriously hurt.

A year in jail? Really. For how much BAC? 0.03? Career over, marriage over, kids disgraced for something I’d bet you’ve probably done yourself once or twice at a much higher BAC and gotten away with...

I applaud you for what you're attempting to do and hope you fulfill your goals. However. :D. You're insane if you go AD and resign from your position at a FAANG Company. Don't even consider it and block the AD recruiter's number. The opportunity cost for a 20 something to choose the military route is a fraction of what the cost to successful 36 year old with a lucrative and desirable career would be. Go Guard. I would suggest hanging on to your current career while enjoying the USERRA protections afforded to you while you serve. A Guard job can easily be turned into an full-time ADish career with you being significantly more in control of your life and having the ability later on to return to your career on your terms, or not at all. Or, if you find military service isn't exactly what you envisioned, you can remain part time. Serving is rewarding, but completely giving the reigns to the current AD leadership after you have already established a successful life for yourself is not. If you hate your job, that's different. But it sounds like your resume is strong enough to give you options far beyond what the average new AF AD officer has.

The hilarity here is that the same shitty 11F’s that are being complained about will be the ones who are shipped back to UPT after a 2 year touch and go in a fighter. From my little slice of the AF, my U-28 bros that went to 38’s (after ~2000 combat hours as evaluators) would all have ended up in fighters if not for the poor planning of being 2008 college graduates. But those guys are now not “good enough” to teach a guy how to fly tac and extended trail. I don’t get it.

I'm hoping self driving cars make this whole argument worthless in 30 years. Immagine a world with no DUI, no speeding tickets, no nodding off on 14 hour road trips. You text an app like Uber when you leave a place and a public self driving car with no han input required (other than destination) does the work for you. We're still a ways off but AI and new automotive sensor technology is going to bring us a long way.

Going to be the asshole on this one. Nobody forces you to fly exhausted. You can't equate having a couple drinks at a bar and choosing to drive home "buzzed" with flying in the AF.

@torqued I really appreciate this insight and it looks like a couple of people agree with you based on upvotes 🙂 I think guard is the right direction to go in as well. While I don't hate my job (hate is a strong word, haha, I would say more like I have been consistently discouraged for a few years now) I do want the opportunity to do something meaningful. I was also strongly told to NOT enlist at my age. My worry is that I will never get any type of commission and I will never get to fulfill my desire to serve the country. I realize there are other ways to give back. The vast majority of people have been extremely encouraging, based on my resume and LORs (with the exception of a few internet strangers to told said some choice things). I'm working on getting signed up for TBAS immediately. I'll begin applying to non-rated positions as soon as I receive my last two LORs and write my personal statement (which is arguably my biggest struggle right now - finding the right words without skewing emotional) Also I WISH recruiters were being annoying with phone calls 🙂 If anything I've been harassing my ANG recruiter (I already had one who was extremely rude to me. My new one is really polite) and it has been an absolute struggle to get anyone to help me network and get me signed up for various things. I'm not enlisting so I'm not on their radar at all. I understand that this is the reality of the situation and if I want anything done I have to do it myself (definitely not the corporate culture that I'm used to!)

Prioritize J model units. Wrung out and broke down H models, engine, prop, and avionics upgrades, as well as the ever present looming threat of J model conversions (nav and engineer career uncertainty) is adversely affecting morale in many H units.

2...it’s a complete crapshoot. Who knows, the H3 unit could get BRAC’d and the tails go somewhere else. There’s not much logic to it. Pick the unit that suits your needs and don’t look back.

Only when BQZip’s mom shows up.

Big Blue (AD, AFRC, ANG) thinks of us non Air Force rated babies as "bastards" from another branch. Your hours and mil training will have to be validated by whatever component that gains you. In the AFRC and for sure in the ANG, if the a unit likes you they will back you up on whatever waivers or hurdles you'll have to go thru. Simply because you are a prior service rated aviator will not make you a more desirable candidate. Its sad, but I've come to the conclusion that its easier to hire a "off the street" guy over an Army, Navy, USMC Aviator. Nevertheless, it is possible and the folks have done it. While I was rushing AFRC and ANG, I had looked at going AD as my plan LAST. I have the package checklist and the contact info for some folks at Randolph AFB that run the AD AFRC board. The checklist I have is from FY18 so it might have changed a bit. Also, bet you that the above Recruiter you are talking about probably already forgot to call/email you back. Its not that they don't care or don't know any better. Air Force recruiters are super busy and their are only trained in enlisting folks. They will not come hunt you down to answer all of your questions like recruiters in the Army or Marine Corp. You have to go the extra mile to get you the info you need. Like I mentioned earlier, I had found it more useful to talk to pilots in AD, ANG and AFRC to ask about the hiring process over just talking to a recruiter. Take advantage of the fact that you are in the military already and don't be afraid to "global email" stalked some people. Sounds crazy... but eventually you'll end talking to the person you need to. By cold calling folks instead of relying on a recruiter, I was able to schedule my AFOQT, TBAS, and FC1. Hope that helps. PM if you have anymore questions. Cheers

What about the rest of us in the E-4 to O-5 range? Are we good? Cause I feel like I drive better after a few drinks. I'm more cautious.

I tried to be a finance officer, but I couldn't get released from my career field.

I have a pretty low tolerance for O-6s that drink and drive. Did he blow a marginal BAC that might be overturned by a blood test? Maybe. I’ll leave room for nuance. I personally wouldn’t write NJP till proven guilty or if wrongdoing is admitted. But I’d also remove him from any position of leadership until a conclusion is reached. Not driving drunk is one of the most basic of social responsibilities. An E-3 gets a chance to learn his way out of drunk driving. An O-6 has much, much higher expectations. Drunk driving convictions should have a mandatory 1-year jail sentence with driving privileges suspended. It’s one of the most deadly things in n the country.

Further, I can believe the fitness standards are dumb, while at the same time being livid that this person can take command while being so wildly out of standards. Big Blue has told us that PT tests are important. I've seen people denied PCS medals over a failed PT test four years ago. I've seen people denied the ability to apply for WIC over a failed PT test seven years in the past. And then we put someone who can't put a PT test in charge. I don't know, maybe it's my own salt coming out that I never did anything wrong, never failed a PT test, did all the PME, etc...and this person who has either failed, or will fail, their next PT test is fit to be a commander, while the Air Force is telling me I'm in the bottom 25% of my year group by passing me over for promotion. I'd bet my next bonus installment that she makes Lt Col out of this command slot.

BRAC is 90% political and 10% logical to the needs of the Air Force. I would chose a unit whose culture you see yourself in and in a location you desire. Right now many units are upgrading the H model avionics, may go J one day or transition to another aircraft, there is no telling.

Its not a technicality. If there is data that says you breath contains a higher PPM of alcohol follow a belch than obviously the test is not accurate since it is not supposed to be measuring your breath but your blood based on the concentration on your breath. If LE disregarded this and you didn't know, and then popped positive after only one drink when you knew you were fine, I'm sure you'd want the courts to throw out the incorrectly administered test. Same thing, if you are asked to give blood and the nurse used an alcohol wipe to sanitize the surface of your skin to withdrawal the blood, that is not a technicality, that is the improper administration of a test. The test data is now invalid. Look, I get it, you don't want anyone hitting your kids, but that doesn't trump a lot of people not wanting to go to jail and lose their career when they did nothing wrong.

Don't we gripe against big blue's corporate fitness policy of focusing on appearance instead of performance? And now we want body shame and speculate on some random person based on a picture?

I don’t really consider Due Process a “technicality.” It’s in some famous document at the National Archives in D.C. Just became someone is “accused” of breaking the law, doesn’t give the DA/Cops/Government a green light to not follow the law to obtain a conviction/sentence. If you’re drinking a beer, get pulled over cause you did a California stop, get a breathalyzer because they smelled booze and have a .10 BAC, that’s a DUI in most jurisdictions. But you know you just had a beer, there’s no way that you could’ve blown a .10 BAC. During your trial through cross examination come to find out the cop that gave it to you was newly trained with the equipment and the equipment was last calibrated a year ago and was pencil whipped erroneously saying it was calibrated. You get acquitted/charges just get dropped. However, the holier-than-thou crew at work is too busy talking shit about you, not that they know any of the facts, because you got pulled over and charged with a DUI.

Quick story: U-2 bud does his T-38 check ride shortly after arriving at Beale, and flies it with the DO. My bud doesn't wear his nomex gloves. Examiner/DO debriefs him, and at the end says "you violated such-and-such regulation by not wearing the gloves, and therefore I will Q-3 you. It's a safety of flight issue." Bud says: "how could you tell?" Examiner/DO: "I saw it when you took the runway as you lowered your canopy." Bud: "so you intentionally allowed me to do the takeoff and the entire flight without correcting me on the spot for what you perceived was a serious safety violation? I'll take the Q-3... fair enough. However, you and I are going to go talk to the Squadron commander, and then the OG commander and I'm going to ask THEM if YOU should also be Q-3.". My bud ended up with a Q-1.

Here’s what’s wrong: brown captains rank.

Seems to me that telling the whole world about it online is a lapse in judgement in itself!

If you trimmed up would you look more professional and portray a better image of those you affect in your military capacity?

I think there's a process for getting OTH's turned into HD's if that's case. Try google, otherwise, I don't think you have a snowball's chance in hell unless you did some REAL good explaining in the package AND they even bother to read it after seeing the OTH. Sorry!

No shit...whatever happened to the days when prepping for the TBAS meant cutting yourself off at 10 beers the night before? Flash cards, computer games and juggling...WTFO.

Then tell your generation to stop being such a bunch of pussies. Seriously, it's just a little test, what the hell is everyone so paranoid about? At the point you're a freshman/sophomore in college taking this thing, you either have hand-eye coordination and memory skills or you don't. No amount of doing lame stuff is going to make any measurable amount of difference. But whatever, it's up to you if you'd rather spend your free time in college juggling or playing computer games than going to parties or doing other interactive activities.

according to past results, I would say you guys shouldnt get so wrapped up in the TBAS, because i know guys that scored a 20, 17, 15, 38 and they all got slots. the guys that scored 17, 20 both got fighters, im not sure about the 38 and 15 guys. not saying you should go wing it, but dont over stress yourself.

This stuff is crazy. The only reason you guys get all wrapped up about this stuff is because you know it exists thanks to the Internet. I had no idea anything existed or what the test even was. They asked "does anyone want to apply for pilot?". I said "sure, why not?". They told me to drive 2 hours to another school that weekend to take some test with a joystick so I did. You've got what you've got. Just have fun in school and quit worrying about stuff. They make almost everyone a pilot these days anyway.

I do not use drugs recreationally. I do not agree with them. I have known Adderall is a drug that is prescribed for ADD, ADHD and so on... Right now I’m a senior in high school and currently in a intense curriculum program and working around 30 hours a week. In order to keep up with school I have used Adderall around once a week to every other week. I am not prescribed Adderall and I have never used it for anything else other than to complete school work. Even though that probably doesn’t matter. How does the Air Force look at this? What are my chances of becoming a helo pilot? Other than this case I have never used any drugs that were not prescribed to me.

Just enlist in the army infantry you'll deploy so much in that organization.