Leaderboard

I was at Beale going through initial training that day. We were in the squadron and the fog was so thick there was no way anyone was doing any flying. Then, we hear the KC-135Q's fire up and taxi. WTF? We couldn't see them... we couldn't see the buildings across the street... but could hear their takeoff roll. It sounded like they rolled the entire length of the 12,000' runway without climbing. They were obviously loaded to the gills and doing something real world. I was very glad I was NOT in one of those jets, rotating just in time to clear the departure end lights with no visibility. My hat was off to those crews. As it turns out, they were the tankers that refueled the F-117's... which I believe was the first time a -117 dropped a bomb in anger. Boomer, out.

No, @Toro handles those.

They’d find the military is not even close to 70%. More like 40%. 10 year AF pilot, left seat C-17 vs 10 year major airline guy, left seat MD-11.

As a LT I was barely making over minimum wage, all while married, spending 1.5 yrs away from home, and doing shit that was hazardous to my life expectancy. The manager at the restaurant I worked at in high school was making more than me. And that’s as an officer. Not complaining, but pointing out how ludicrous this article is. Then again, if they specifically were talking about the non-support group that spends 25 hrs week actually working, but work is defined as fucking it away whole sale with little effort attached, they’d be on to something.

Your #2 above is basically how FedEx constructs a large percentage of their trips. The same deadhead from "domicile to the city you live in" scenario you describe is exactly how many of our pilots go to work on their trips. The additional wrinkle to any of our deadhead trips is that if you deviate and do not use the scheduled deadhead flights from domicile, the money from those tickets is yours to use to get where you need to go. Those not quite as fortunate to be able to hold deadheads to their actual home city, avoid the classic commute to domicile on their free time by using the money to fly from home to the city in which they begin their trip. Usually they are doing that during the "footprint" of their trip which incorporates the time spent deadheading from base. A paid commute on company time in most cases while accruing airline FF miles and the benefits that come with those. The FedEx contract does not allow us to be positioned for work on our own aircraft jump seats except under rare circumstances. Last I knew, that was not the case with UPS. They make more use of their own aircraft to move their pilots which isn't going to allow the same level of flexibility. While not as good as living in domicile, it's so much better than a classic pax airline commute. Definitely a better option for some of us than holding our nose and moving the the suburbs of Memphis. Fortunately, most of the major pax airlines guys hope to land a job with have better options for domicile cities and if circumstances allow moving, driving to work is the best. I just relocated to Hong Kong in conjunction with a move to the left seat. First time in 14 years that I'm living in domicile. While not quite the same as driving from the DFW or ATL suburbs (I don't have a car here), it's nice to worry less about getting to work.

I'm gonna go ahead and say lunar deployments suck and the astronaut bonus is an insult.

Ok, boomer. See? It works on several levels here... I'll show myself out...

I recently interviewed "Hacker" Haskin about his time as a UPT student, UPT IP and IFF IP (amongst other things!). He shared a range of advice and thoughts across about four hours of chatting. Those looking to go to UPT might find it interesting:

Hard to believe, but thirty years ago at about this time, I was just finishing up my fuel balance after refueling on the way to Panama.

TLDR: military pay raises over the last few years (that don’t typically even keep up with inflation btw) are probably unfounded because it appears we are paying people more to do the same work (if you ignore that they have axed a ton of manpower over the course of that time and it’s constantly “do more with less”). Some people think there should be productivity data to back up pay raises...[in a business that isn’t defined by productivity and is hemorrhaging talent in some areas] edit: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/12/20/us-troops-may-be-overpaid-new-study-finds.html Found. Also, similar opinion, different think tank: https://defense360.csis.org/bad-idea-paying-servicemembers-more-to-do-the-same-amount-of-work/

I’ve been unable to unsee the Death Star on the UAL tails for years. Also their salt/pepper shakers are mini-Death Stars in business class. I saw the black painted UAL Kylo-Ren 737 taking off yesterday in Newark. It was quite fitting.

Truth about United Airlines finally comes out

Even with enlisted aircrew, a lot of people of varying ranks think they have to be everyone’s friend. Not the case. Don’t be a jerk to the E’s, but be clear, direct, and fair with them (that whole golden rule thing) and you’ll do fine. Biggest thing I’ve seen with E’s is that if you know what you’re doing and treat them respectfully, fairly, and lead them, they’ll run through a wall for you. If you’re a weak person that tries to be everyone’s friend, they’ll run all over you.

Spacepersons

A boomer, refueled a crew, full of boomers.

I loved Navy Fed for my used car loan. I do not like them for banking though. Your ATMs are more limited than USAA and (at least this is true of 4-5 years ago) they charge ATM fees on top of what is charged by whatever ATM you use.

Navy Federal was really easy to deal with and gave me a really good rate. The dealer was able to beat that rate big a small margin, so I went with them. But I was impressed with Navy Federal's customer service. I feel they are what USAA used to be years ago.

Yes. The idea is that better APZ folks get picked up. Not that it’s perfect, but I agree with it and it actually makes sense for the AF. It does, however, suck for folks who might have been picked up IPZ in the old system, but may now have to wait five years if APZers continue to outperform (or out-record) them. The question right now is if this new IPZ window starts where BPZ or IPZ used to start.