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Actually, this is pretty cool...

Chuck covered what I've seen in my rapidly dwindling career. I'm an "also ran" who isn't going to stick it out because the AF decides I can't do "X Job" until I've paid certain dues. Being a DO fucking ruined this for me. I've had to explain to my young CGO's repeatedly that I'm not a HPO/Unicorn/whatever even with really good strats and good jobs. Doubly so since the outgoing Group/CC fucked me with no-strat last OPR, so glad that prick retired. When a group/cc strats a Capt to keep a streak alive despite the Sq/CC saying he don't deserve it...you know it's time to hang it up. With 18-days left to terminal my family and I have decided not to play for a multitude of reasons. But the number one I'm seeing now is being able to tell someone I'm not interested in a job/location and there's nothing they can do about it. And if I ever run into someone unable to manage as that former group/cc I can ask for an insane amount of money, or walk. It just wasn't worth it to stick around 7-more years (min. 3 moves) before retiring in grade as a O5 "hopefully" to be closing out as a Sq/CC trying to find a job at almost 50. Only thing keeping me was the basically-zero possibility of BPZ.

Hey man, your claim was we can cut training because our aircraft and flying are universally way safer with newer stuff. I’ve provided you at least one example where that is not true, and it’s one they plan on keeping for 69 more years. My claim was cutting UPT kicks the can down the road, which is exactly what you are proposing in taking more FTU training time to teach the basic instrument flying skills that should be learned in Undergraduate Pilot Training. It’s your burden to come up with a new argument.

I hear what you are saying but we need to step back and look at what UPT (whatever variation of it we are on Next, 2.5, SUPT, etc.) is really supposed to be doing: namely producing strong pilots with a base of experience to begin their aviation careers, sorting & assigning said officer-pilots into communities where their demonstrated skills and abilities will allow them to serve the needs of the Air Force and winnowing the classes as appropriately between those who can and should serve as pilots and those who should not. I don't like that last point particularly but I know it is a necessary evil, I went to the dreaded 89 ride and passed thankfully but it was nerve racking to say the least. I hate seeing those who want to fly and serve being told this is not for you but it has to happen at some appropriate rate to ensure the team is strong. Not every lesson at UPT may have a direct practical translation to an MDS but the fact that the student demonstrates the ability to master that task, skill, body of knowledge and apply it consistently probably means they will be good at the truly required events they will have to perform in their assignments flying the line. Antiquated skills that require physical flying ability, on the fly mental agility and the ability to recall knowledge relevant to said tasks are not perfect filters or tests to ensure that UPT always will produce strong pilots and capable aviation leaders but they work to some degree. Treating UPT as only a pilot training program and how to get that program to produce more widgets faster at some absolute minimum level of skill required misses the point that it is a filter and forge, we may be setting ourselves up for a worse problem than a pilot shortage in the short/medium term for a long term problem of a potentially weak cohort in our operational and leadership roles of the Air Force. Just the two RMOs of a grumpy old man.

I would say the fact that you identify needs by community would indicate you don't see the same problem as everyone else, hence, your going to argue to a wall at this point forward. What most people here are trying to communicate, is that UPT is the only oppurtunity you focus on being a good pilot in your career. Do communities need "this and that" is a loaded question. What people are edged about here was there was a time the USAF could say it produced the best pilots on earth, and all of us, being USAF pilots, took certain pride in that. I don't think you can continue to say that when the AF has now refocused it's priorities to graduating pilots with the minimal effort expended, or even hiring outside pilots and not training them at all. The fallout isn't an overnight mission failure but a slow regression in safety, best practices and eventually confidence and capability to complete more advanced tasks while flying an aircraft. There will be a point where the USAF won't be an authority on those topics, and as the nation's primary air component do we really want that?

UPT builds a baseline aviator. Erode that seat time, and you kick the can to the next training course and the next and the next to build in those basic airmanship skills that should have been learned earlier. There are things you do or know that only have happened because you have flown and developed habit patterns over the course of years of flying.

That's where SKE comes in. C-130 pilots are well-positioned with the skills of yesteryear, ready to knock out the enemy with a surprise invasion of 60 airplanes providing mass on DZ. When the time comes just get behind us.

About 7 more engines! <cue drums>

I was in DC for the 2015 event. We managed to grab a spot on the Memorial Bridge (not sure of the construction status today). This avoided the crush of crowd at the Lincoln Memorial itself and wasn't so far away that you couldn't hear the roar of radials. It was May and the temps started to climb as the day went on. I'd definitely figure out a way to carry a small cooler and a lawn chair if possible. I didn't take a camera because I wanted to live the moment through my eyes and not a lens. For me, definitely once in a lifetime and I hope you manage to make it out there.

Alright ya'll figured I'd offer what I have. I spent at least a couple weeks trying to get in touch with a pilot at the 199th fighter squadron. Finally managed to get one of the AD pilots who passed me the email of the squadron DO Lt Col Horton. I emailed him and he informed me that the HI ANG does not keep a set schedule on their boards and the only way to get board information is indeed to go through the recruiters. He put me in contact with the recruiter that deals directly with their boards MSgt Manalo. PM me if you are interested and I will give you her contact info. I sent her an email and she reached out to make sure I had all the prerequisites done (AFOQT etc.) and then she sent me the requirements for the application package. She has a database started and will shoot out a mass alert to submit your package when the submission date drops for the UPT board. The 199th, 203rd, and 204th run joint boards so she will be the gate keeper for all 3 if you are interested in something other than the F-22's as well.

The double standard is mind blowing. Seriously, it is absolutely unbelievable.

I was in the East Coast CRG from 2015-2018. It was the best assignment I've had so far. First, the CRW has three total groups - one Air Mobility Advisory Group and two CRGs (one per coast). The AMAG has two Air Mobility Operations Sqs, two Mobility Support Advisory Sqs, and the Mobility Support Ops Sq. AMOS is the deployable AMD for AOC augmentation. MSAS is the Air Advisor/BPC mission, with the West Coast having an AOR of SOUTHCOM and the East Coast having AFRICOM. MSOS is the home of all but 2-3 of the AMLOs, they are spread out at ~40 OLs. I can't speak to the day to day routine for the AMAG squadrons, but when you're in garrison is usually pretty relaxed business hours. The CRGs have three squadrons - two operational and one support squadron (CRSS). I did time in both of the operational squadrons on the East Coast in a couple flight CC roles. I was on the road A TON for both exercises and real-world deployments but I'm a pretty low-density skillset (I'm not a pilot) so I got tapped for a lot of trips, more than the rated bubbas. Garrison schedule was usually pretty laid back, PT time every morning and into the office by 9:30 or so and I was usually gone by 4:30-5:00 unless there was mission planning happening. The rated guys rotated through a few positions in the squadron, usually a flight CC job to start and then group training or stan eval or a wing position. Deployed positions for them were CRE Ops Officer and CRE Commander. CRE = Contingency Response Element, about a 60-80 person team normally led by a rated O-4/5 as the CRE/CC and usually two O-3/4 CRE/DOs. Rated also have the opportunity to get LZSO certified so that opens the door up for LZ trips. You'll get a lot of experience leading enlisted earlier than you'd probably get elsewhere. A CRS is ~180 folks with ~12 officers total. The worst part about it is probably the Joint Task Force - Port Opening alert mission. Each of the 4 operational squadrons rotates taking it for ~3 months at a crack and during that point your travel is somewhat restricted, but it's not terrible to find a replacement for a weekend if you want to take leave. With the exception of the Sq/CCs the rated folks got to fly. A lot of them were attached at the units they came from and the squadron paid for them to go TDY every other month or so to go fly. Some of the C-17/C-5 bros who were attached at the 6th or at Dover picked up actual trips. It really comes down to what job you're doing and how time consuming it is, but most maintained pretty basic quals. Happy to answer any questions.

Reprehensible that DOJ/FBI fought so long and hard to hide the, apparently, exculpatory information regarding Flynn. Including, and especially, the secret deal that DOJ and Flynn's original attornies worked out in secret, without Flynn's knowledge, because DOJ had found some legally threatening "discrepancies" in the law firm's operations. So Flynn's original lawyers advised he fall on the grenade in order, at least partly, to protect themselves from further government investigation. Flynn was never aware of these shenanigans. Separate and unrelated: And all women must be believed. Right? Right!?

Fix to fix, especially in the Tweet, was the reason 50% of studs washed out back in the day! Bust a check for a muffed fix to fix, then the vultures would start circling.....a vicious cycle., and very unfair to guys who would have been great pilots in the real Air Force.

Sad to hear how much of UPT has eroded. I can understand the immediate logic behind cutting sorties for T-1 students but the reality is the AF always made better pilots slightly above the cut of the civil sector because we focused on building good airman (in the occupational sense of the word) first. You may never do a loop in your RC-135 but the concepts behind energy management and visual ques translated over every platform in a multitude of other skill sets. More than that, you instilled fierce confidence that graduates were able to take airplanes and fly them at their performance envelopes. Simply put, there was a time where the Air Force cared about making great pilots first, and then finding a weapon system for them. Now the emphasis seems to be getting them to a weapon system, and we'll worry about the pilot stuff later.

That’s only saying you don’t get credit at the same time you’re receiving mil retirement pay, which doesn’t apply to you. While you’re away on USERRA, your FERS service years should continue to accrue. An example of the above would be you do 20 years in the AF, then retire from there and continue working your fed job. At that point you don’t receive additional mil-time-served credit towards your FERS retirement.

I agree with you in general terms. Older generations tend to think they had it harder, uphill both ways, new kids just don't get it etc... But many of us have personally observed UPT get watered down in very measurable ways in the last 3-4 years. We're not talking long-term generational bias here. I saw the syllabi get noticeably shorter and less rigorous over the duration of one assignment. Just some T-6 examples since that's what I know: No more ELPs No more formation landings No more advanced aero for T-1 bound students Lower check ride MIF on a multitude of maneuvers 30% fewer sorties overall 50% fewer checkrides 50% fewer solos Now we can debate the pros and cons of each, but I think it's undeniable we are plainly doing less total training time and events. I've always said that if you get enough ADOs in a room who are worried about timeline, they could come up with a reason to waive any sortie in the syllabus. "What's one sortie after all?!" "Is the pattern-only solo really that important?" "Does this T-1 bound kid really need to form solo? Lets just waive it." This thought process is insidious and has resulted in a gradual whittling down of our core training. And it happens in all of the perfectly well-intentioned syllabus rewrite conferences too. Everyone is looking to "improve efficiency" because there isn't an OPR bullet for holding the line and keeping quality training the same. VR training was never intended (by the people developing it) to replace regular UPT events. Or speed up the pipeline. Or fix the pilot shortage. It was intended to improve training by providing an additional resource that was more accessible than standard sims. Having been involved with it from the very beginning, it's incredibly frustrating to watch the air force twist a good thing and pitch it as their silver bullet solution for problems they created.. But I suspect I am very much preaching to the choir. \endrant

We've only know for the past hundred years of aviation that more flight time directly correlates to better pilots. At least on the T-1 side at UPT, how much more likely is a former airline pilot with 3,000 hours to DG than someone whose first time at the controls was in IFT? I showed up to my squadron out of UPT and they referenced the 250 hours I received there. They didn't realize I got slightly more than half of that. So people can complain about the declining quality, and maybe it's true that we younger folks just suck, but it's also a disconnect between resources expended "back in the day" versus now.

Talking about irony...

Because the A1 and AFPC cohort believe they have to keep the blinders on the middle 80% to retain sufficient numbers of eligibles for senior positions. Everybody knows who #1 is, and most people know who #2 is. We all also know who the bottom 10% are. The trick is making #3 thru #75 all believe they’re #3 and that they have a chance. That way, they’re all willing to do the things that are expected of #3 and if #3 thru #25 all punch, we can pretend #26 was #3 all along, and he’ll believe it. If the middle thinks they’re, out of the running, A1 and AFPC will lose their denominator.