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9RW/CC Change of Command today. Two back-to-back U-2 pilots as the Wing Commander??!! Am I taking crazy pills?? Col Clark arrived in 2018... the first U-2 pilot to command the Wing since 1985. He got a LOT done. Great job, Andy. And now Col Fox is the Commander. Top-shelf choice. No doubt, the tradition of excellence will continue. Congrats to Hf on taking command. Thinking of applying to the U-2? They hired someone yesterday. Not for everyone... but how about you?

you aint wrong...im holding onto the rope and looking down *gulp* but i'm going to let go...i promise...this december...(i think)...(FML).....(airlines come back).....

If only woke people would listen to this black person. Such a wonderful man.

That's just fighter privilege bruh. 😄 Jest aside, see my comments above regarding controlled grades. BL, it ain't gonna happen for our esteemed aspiring quitter unless he does some time as a TR/DSG first.

Few years ago at a staff job....an Army guy was telling me that an AF officer was complaining that he was not formally trained in "planning." The Army guys' take was that every graduate of any commissioned officer program is certified in planning and leadership. Something to think about.

Trend since 2011 at least in that community, unfortunately.

They also graduated their second WIC class yesterday. They’ve got people who get it in charge and being invited to the right seats at the right tables. Pay attention to Beale, and apply if you want to be part of a revolution in ISR.

I’m current AD enlisted stationed in England and I absolutely love it. I think it’ll just depend on where your priorities lie, if you’ve got an opportunity for a 2 year tour over here I would take it. If it’s 3 or 4 I’m not sure what I’d do. Obviously makes it tougher since there’s not really a way to rush units.

I’m 30, current military, doctorate degree, and high scores, but my flight hours aren’t amazing. I think I’d trade my degree or scores for 4 years off my age based on the feedback I’d received. I know it’s vague but I hope that helps.

AETC/AFPC as another RPA dude figures out their plan to meet the timeline by eventually reducing the syllabus to Mavis Beacon.

I'm not in your position, but I have been told "no" more times than I care to count on account of my age (I'm 30, going on 31). Honestly 28 is when it becomes crunch time, but it probably doesn't affect your competitiveness until you're 29 or 30. That said you never know if the Air Force might suddenly reverse the age limit again.

I don't disagree at all -- I was just digressing. I was speaking in more general terms of the pro-STEM/anti-"liberal arts" current in certain quarters, not arguing with you particularly. I'm familiar with the "bullshit jobs" hypothesis. I think if anything he understates their prevalence. Most probably wouldn't consider software developers to fall under this category, for example. But if they spend their days tweaking frivolous mobile apps in an effort to trick users into giving up their data and clicking on ads, I'd say they more than qualify, much-vaunted STEM background notwithstanding.

You can afford to be lazy when the state runs the media and censors the internet. All those woke protestors should head to HK and see what it's like to protest against an authoritarian government for real.

104FS is making phone calls today for everyone waiting on a response.

Except it isn't that simple. At all. Most people already believe exactly what you just said. But that's clearly not good enough, which is why we're forced to have this endless creep towards full wokeness. If it was as simple as treating everyone with respect and basic dignity we wouldn't have people suggesting slavery reparations, or that we should suspend due process to #believeallwomen, or that we abolish the police.

Kaepernick could have all the skills in the world. But we will never know it. He has a terrible attitude and he makes a statement and makes it all about him. Not the movement. Hence no one wants to be around him. If he protested in a good, society building, people building proper way he would have got a better response. As it is, Kaepernick is a product of the own society he claims to hate. See where he grew up? See his family? It’s the difference between dr king and malcom x. Malcom x did things with force and violence. Dr king will he remembered and celebrated for a long long time. Not X.

You don't think there's an agenda? BLM has a website. Their agenda is spelled out. I think you're presenting a very inaccurate portrayal of the conversation. One side is repeatedly and now violently lying about the realities of crime and policing in America. When the other side tries to discuss these statistics, it turns out you're a racist for saying so. I'm not ascribing these tactics to you, but considering federal politicians are actively making this argument and Pulitzer winning media figures are repeating it, I don't think I'm mischaracterizing the movement. This stuff is not haphazard. When you control the language you control it all. They know that even if you don't.

Class 2 w/EKG if over 40. At the moment the only aircraft is an OV-10 with an Aerial Supervision Module (ASM) qualed pilot. ASM is a serious upgrade and we don't have an in-house ASM training program so only someone crossing over from the BLM or forest service could fly that OV-10. I imagine that a C-130 or two will be based there. Jury's out on how senior you'd have to be to get a C-130 at KMCC. Senior I'm guessing?

E-3 (pilot perspective) 1. Ops Tempo/Deployment -- Very stable. 4 months deployed, 12 months home. A lot of guys don't go on every rotation, so you very well may have a couple years or more home. 2. Lifestyle/ Family Stability -- Probably the most family friendly you will find in the AF. Deployments are predictable and spread out. You typically take off and land at the same location. Some TDYs to make flying interesting, but not a ton of them. 3. Community morale -- Here's the difficult thing about E-3s. As pilots, we are the red-headed stepchildren of the red-headed stepchildren. AWACS gets the shaft from ACC. The aircraft upgrades go to the mission systems in the back. Flight deck on the E-3 is very old school. Oh and we are a tenant wing of Material Command here at KTIK, which means our sqdn facilities are embarrassingly awful. Like third world bad. We also get the shaft in our community as well in terms of things like strats, school, jobs etc. The community revolves around the 13Bs. Most of our leadership is made up of 13Bs, which can be painful for pilots/navs. A lot of them are good dudes, but it's real awkward when a brand new CP know more about aviation than the Wg/CC. 4. Advancements & Future of the airframe -- E-3s are very bottom heavy right now. Too many CPs, about the right amount of ACs, and not enough IPs. Because of this, it's tough for CPs to upgrade. Lots of mouths to feed in the squadrons. 5. Preferred PCS locations -- Another positive of the E-3. Most guys start at KTIK. OKC isn't a bad place, but not too exciting. From there, if you stay in E-3s, it's Kadena, Elmo, or GK (NATO). All good options.

13B on the backend of the E-3 here. Don't think there many any E-3 pilots on this forum. I'll give you the data I have though. 1. Ops Tempo You can expect to be deployed for 4 months and then home for a year. (Currently in the desert for my 3rd in 2.5 years, that is rare) Deployments can wear you down with how long our sorties are. TDYs are plenty and go all over the World. You can expect 4 to 5 TDYs during the year off. When my Sq gets back we're doing WTI, Maple Flag, Red Flag, and Green Flag West. That's just the schedule through September. Home station, you can expect to fly at least once a week, maybe less. We have a ton of Co-Pilots flowing in. Home station sorties are standard at 7.5 hours, 10.0 with a tanker. Normally you're home by 1700 unless you have a late show. Just an assumption, but I think we are the only platform that shows as early as we do. Some shows are 0330 to take off at 0600 to meet a morning vul on the East Coast at 0900. I don't mind them. But I'm just hanging out in the back until we get enough altitude to turn the systems on. 2. Life Style/ Family Stability I think AWACS has a great Life Style and its not too bad on the family. Like I said above, most days you're home by 1700. In most cases you know a year in advance when your going to deploy. TDYs are fragged out early. You have plenty of time to plan. We have to plan early since there are 20 people on a crew, If we bring 3 crews, an MPC, Staff, and MX to Vegas, that's a lot of people to put up in lodging so we have to get out in front of it. There is lot's of buffoonery, however. Example: Got married in Sept of 16, we deployed in Nov 16. The CC canceled my Honey Moon because I would miss the Road to War Brief on the first day of Spin-Up (for my 3rd deployment). Wife was not pleased. Also, showing at 0330 to find out the jet is on jacks in Doc 2 with a massive hydro leak. May be ready at 0900 or it may not, but you can't leave the Sq until we know for sure. Things like that happen here and there. 3. Morale Can't speak on the front end morale, but they all seem to enjoy it. I've heard the jet is a beast and fun to fly. The backend morale is damn low. There is sometimes a divide between the front end and back end. The MCC usually an O-4 or O-5 owns the back end. However, the AC usually an O-3 or above owns the jet and is responsible for it's safety. Backend needs to go to the East Coast to get in a Viper SEAD Vul, but flight deck needs to go Dyess to get some off station transition. So training priorities become an issue as well, it's normally hashed out on MP day prior to fly day. If we take off late or something moves in the timeline, it's usually a discussion in the air. 4. Advancements & Future of the Airframe E-3s are getting a flight deck upgrade. Not sure when it will be completed. But the flight deck bros are all excited about it except the Navs. We have old no glass gauges and it's being upgraded to glass(see AWACS Dragon Mod.) There is another upgrade that I'm not familiar with, but it will no longer require a Nav. The E-3 will be around for a while. When we're up and everything is working like it should, there isn't a lot we can't see and can't listen to. With 20 radios and an unlcassed radar range of 250NM, not a lot of platforms can provide that kind of capability. 5. Preferred PCS Location If you're AWACS, "Mother Tinker" will always bring you back. Pilots have 3 locations they can PCS to from Tinker. Elmo, Kadena, and GK. Preferences are all over the place. Just depends on what that individual wants. Most folks say any where but Tinker. And that includes white jets. If you have more questions, feel free to PM me. If I don't know the answer, I'll track down my AC and get the data. Lot of great stuff on this thread. Full disclosure, I'm looking to get to UPT in a year or so. TurnHer

RC-135: 1. Ops Tempo/Deployment: Varies by RC-135 model. For RIVET JOINT (RC-135V/W), you can expect 1 or 2 deployments per year as a line flyer. Desert trips go for 90 days and every other trip (EUCOM/PACOM/SOUTHCOM/etc) traditionally goes for 60 days. Between that, there are plenty of opportunities for Nellis trips supporting RF/WIC/other exercises. Everything is pretty well planned out for the following FY so there are few surprises as to when you will be hitting the road. Things have slowed down over the past couple years compared to the near 1/1 dwell that the community was sustaining circa 2010. It used to be that younger dudes could bank on a few trips to the desert before getting to see other COCOMs, but that is not at all the case anymore. A lot of dudes will go a few trips before ever putting on a tan flight suit. For COBRA BALL (RC-135S), things are significantly more dynamic depending on what is going on across the world. I would have to check with some 45th bros for some current data, but it is not that uncommon for these dudes to still be on the road for 4-5 (or more) months a year for various durations. Not uncommon for these dudes to be on a 1/1 dwell still. For COMBAT SENT (RC-135U), their deployments are pretty well scripted but can still expect to be on the road for upwards of 4-5 months out of the year. Similar to the BALL, depending on the crew position (pilot/nav vs EWO), these dudes can be close to a 1/1 dwell. 2. Lifestyle/ Family Stability Depends on the squadron. 343d/38th dudes (RJ) have a pretty steady family life as they can typically plan things out better in the future. 45th dudes (CB/CB) seem to be more of the road warriors over the past few years and it takes it's toll as one would imagine. While you are at home, things are pretty vanilla. Standard business hours for the most part and very few weekends at the office. Omaha is actually a great town to raise a family in and there are more things to do than you would think. Chicago and Denver are both an 8 hour drive away and easy to get to for a long weekend if you want to get somewhere more metropolitan. 3. Community morale Totally varies as with other airframes. With all things RC-135, the community is huge and it's easy to get lost in the mix. Timing plays a huge factor in this and you usually see the unlucky dudes that have multiple consecutive desert trips hating life whereas dudes that have trips to the more tropical locations with a more positive outlook. There are not as many command opportunities in the 55 WG as other MDSs just given the few operating locations but x-flow to other heavy C2ISR platforms have been more common over the past 5 years. For 11Rs, you can expect that Offutt will keep you as long as possible as we are starting to see shortages in ACs. 12Rs have a little better luck with getting a staff release after you have met your O-4 board. The next few years look like they might get weird as we are prog'd to get significantly less from UPT/UCT resulting in the potential for slower upgrades and more time on the road. Everyone is kinda holding their breath to see how this all buffs out. 4. Advancements & Future of the airframe Even though the fleet is made up of '62 & '64 model -135s, they are all fairly modern on the inside. As Joe $hithead gets new toys, we upgrade our systems to match. The jets typically go to depot on a 3 year cycle for complete overhauls to keep them as technologically relevant as possible. Talks are starting to heat up about recapitalization of the capabilities on a different airframe. I have heard everything from a business jet to a 737 airframe to "what if ISR wasn't on an air-breathing asset." Personally, I would not expect to see manned ISR go away any time in the next 30-40 years simply from a foreign policy power projection standpoint. I think that once the E-8/EC-130 finally get recapitalized, we will be quick to follow suit. The nice thing is that we get BIG SAFARI to do our acquisitions, so I would expect the timeframe to be significantly quicker than other platforms. 5. Preferred PCS locations -Offutt. And more Offutt. The norm seems for dudes to do 6-9 years in Omaha before they can finally leave, but all roads will eventually lead back to Offutt... Not necessarily a bad thing since the Bellevue/Omaha area is a pleasant surprise, but there are not a lot of PCS opportunities to locations with permanent staff outside of Nebraska. We have squadrons at Kadena and Mildenhall, but they are only manned with ~10 permanent party flyers. A smaller number of dudes will get the chance to PCS to Souda Bay or to the depot at Greenville, TX but they are the exception rather than the rule.

C-130J 1.Ops Tempo/Deployment goodtimes are 3 day tdy once a month and 4 month deployments every two years badtimes are no off stations, one local a week and a deployment every year 2. Lifestyle/ Family Stability nno problem at all. Some night flights but not too terrible 3. Community morale highly dependent on squadron...make it good and it will be good 4. Advancements & Future of the airframe sSlow progression compared to other AMC assets, not a good hours builder for the airlines. That being said, the flying is more fun than other heavies...cause you are not preparing for the airlines 5. Preferred PCS locations Ramstein, Yokota, Dyess, Little Rock in that order

KC-135 1. Ops Tempo/Deployment- New pilots can expect 2 months on, 2 months off for deployments with various TDYs, exercises, alert mixed in. As you grow up in the community the deployments will slow a little. We do not deploy as a squadron but as crews. Because of this there is a lot more fluidity to the schedule with some people getting as little notice as a couple weeks. 2. Lifestyle/ family stability- As you would expect from the above. Squadrons are not as tight knit as the fighter guys. People tend to have their own social circles or just spend time with their family when they are home. Usually day jobs only last 7:30 to 4:30 so you do get a little more time outside of work when not on the road compared to some airframes. 3. Community Morale- Tanker guys pride themselves in being a pretty relaxed community. Most guys/gals are awesome people who won't get wrapped around the axle over little things that don't matter in the long run. 4. Advancements & future of the airframe- For being a 60 year old airframe she's been through a lot of modernization. The latest, Block 45, replaces the last of our steam gauges and replaces our cruddy autopilot, coming to a tanker base near you. The KC-46 is a long way out still and it will probably replace the KC-10 before it replaces the 135. In summary, expect to see the 135 around for a long time to come. 5. Preferred PCS Locations- Two overseas options, Kadena and Mildenhall (or somewhere else in EUCOM in the next few years). MacDill is popular, Fairchild is a hidden gem. Then add in TFA units and you have lots of great options with a couple not so great ones.

EC-130H Compass Call 1. Ops Tempo / Deployment As a newly checked out copilot, you can expect to fly or sim twice a week. You will rarely be the only copilot on the sortie but scheduling does a good job balancing out who flies what (mission, proficiency or aerial refueling sorties). When you fly, you can expect a 10 hour day from showtime to debrief. On your non-flying days, you will be stuck in the office doing your day job. TDY’s are pretty rare but you will generally fly a tailswap and one large force exercise (Red Flag / WIC Spt) within your first year. We currently deploy to two overseas locations in support of both OIR and OFS. Deployments have drastically slowed down for copilots and you can expect one four month deployment for every 12-16 months. 2. Lifestyle / Family Stability Overall the community is pretty stable. The 55th ECG is the only unit that operates the EC-130H so it is not unheard of for guys to stay at DM for 7 years bouncing between squadrons. The Group is good about taking care of its own but will take out the trash if you make a name for yourself. Tucson is a nice area if you enjoy the outdoor lifestyle and is very gun friendly. The deployment and TDY schedule allow for a generous amount of family time when compared to other airframes. 3. Community Morale Community morale has been pretty good for the last 4 ½ years. The biggest gripe I hear from new copilots is the waitlist to get on the deployment schedule. Flying the Herk is relatively easy, but flying it well can be difficult at times. Unlike our slick brethren, we only complete the non-tactical portions of the syllabus at Little Rock so we are not qualified on low-levels, airdrop, airland, or NVG operations. After completing initial training at the Rock, you will get spun-up on mission and aerial refueling procedures when you arrive at Davis-Monthan. Though the flying can be monotonous at times, the downrange mission is very rewarding and you do get the opportunity fly some interesting exercises. 4. Advancements and Future The future of the community is looking relatively secure. There were rumors of losing half the fleet (seven aircraft) but it never came to fruition. We are continually upgrading our mission system to keep us relevant against new emerging threats. Half of the fleet is also receiving an avionics upgrade that is essentially replacing our legacy instruments with glass displays. Though we have not identified a formal replacement, there has been talk of a possible G550 (EC-37) as a likely contender. As stated previously, the community does a pretty good-job taking care of its own if you do not negatively self-identify. For pilots, it is generally difficult to receive a follow-on MWS assignment. Evaluator/Instructor types leaving the squadron after 6-7 years will generally get white jets to P-Cola, C-Springs or the UPT bases. Occasionally we will see RC-135’s but this usually comes with the caveat of a remote to Korea or Wg Exec time. The remainder of our follow-ons are RPA’s with a spattering of green-door/U-2 exceptions. 5. Preferred PCS Only location is Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ

I'm not sure I can help much on this. When I was actively flying them, we had conus bases at COS, RND, ADW, BLV, MXF, and FFO. MXF and FFO were flights under the Sq at ADW. COS and RND were flights under the Sq at BLV. All under the BLV wing. Oconus, there was ETAR and RJTY, as well as MPPA. At least one staff agency (AFFSA) flew them as well out of ADW then OKC. Schoolhouse was Simuflite at DFW and jets at BIX. There were about 86 jets divided up between the locations. We rotated covering west coast and central, south, America and Caribbean. We all rotated iron swaps to desert and exchanging tails with oconus birds for corrosion control and other reasons. We rotated covering 24/7/365 bravo or alpha alert aeromed evac mission (2 units on, 4 off, repeat every three weeks). Near permanent deployment to PSAB. So much for history. As I understand it, only COS, BLV, and ADW remain. Schoolhouse at BLV. AFFSA lost theirs as well, and many went to a few guard units as those units transitioned to other aircraft. Many tails went to AMARG. I don't know if OCONUS units still exist. Now, if the mission is the same, each base offers up x tails for missions daily. A central scheduling agency apportions the missions to the units. A mission supports and lifts whoever can get approved. Could be a courier 2-striper, important cargo, or a 4 star general or a senior SES. Or, BLUE BARKs, aeromed evac, human organs, or you go rescue some other lift who's jet broke somewhere, etc. The important thing is to be on time and fulfill your frag. Each unit also likely flies 1-3 training lines daily. Most missions (60%) are 2-3 legs done in a day. Others include an RON, or a few per month are multi-day trips. Most training lines are 2-3 hr transition style locals at nearby fields, or sometimes out n backs. Occasionally, a unit will take on the enormous challenge of getting a long oconus trip approved to alaska, canada, south america, or a European jaunt (the trip planning is easy, getting it approved is ridiculously difficult). Crews normally showed 3 hrs prior for upgrade sorties, 2 hrs prior for all other missions, except alerts. Both pilots go over mission and brief, then one pilot files, etc and the other preflights. An experienced crew could be airborne (legally) in less than 10 minutes from showing at the aircraft. Lears are fun to fly, can kill you really badly in only a couple ways, and are pretty forgiving, so are excellent airmanship builders. Since you often service the jet yourself, and even make certain repairs yourself, the units expect a very, very, very high level of knowledge about the aircraft and systems, how they inter-relate, and how various malfunctions can affect the jet (think EPs for which there is no checklist). But it's not a difficult jet to learn or operate well. That's what I recall at the moment. If I think of anything else after my ginko-biloba I'll edit the post.

I am currently in AETC and only one of the Moose drivers I have talked to even want to go back. Personally I loved landing in different locations but the leadership seemed horrible, even from people that worked directly for JQP. I know the grass isn't always greener. Also Elmo is closing the active unit and rumor is Hawaii won't be far behind. Take away the two best deals and it's not as nice looking. The entire community is overmanned but that will eventually lead to a push like 2013 where even gets an RPA to level manning out. I rarely felt like a pilot. I was a systems and teams manager the entire time. Track the aircraft with an external computer, worry about crew rest, do TACCs job because they are fools, and try not to get Q3'd. Now I have the opportunity to put stick and rudder skills to use. I know it's not the future but I love not having an A/P to do my work. Would I go back? If they made me, I'm not going to say no but it is currently number 5 on my ADP. Edit for add: the main reason it's number 5 is the leadership that I have experienced in the communities. Even one of our SQ/CCs are my current location says the same thing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

KC-10 (I'll caveat up-front that my view is that of an enlisted Reservist, who's been out of the jet for over a year) 1. Ops Tempo/Deployment: Busy. AFAIK, deployments are still 56 days a pop, with AD guys seeing ADAB anywhere from 2-4 times a year, every year. The Reserves are still on the partial mobilization that started 5 years ago, and as of March of this year my SQ leadership said there was no end in sight. Plenty of TDY when you're not deployed - it's AMC. 2. Lifestyle/ Family Stability: It's AMC. Be prepared to spend at least half your time away from home. 3. Community morale: Not too bad (I think) on the Ops side. It's a relatively small community (59 jets, 2 bases), so after a few years of Dhafra deployments everyone pretty much knows who everyone else is. MX has been slashed and beaten to a bloody pulp, which causes availability issues and the occasional Ops vs. MX firefight. 4. Advancements & Future of the airframe: They're still modding the jets for the CNS/ATM mod, which is good. There was once talk of flying the jet into the 2030s, which was the whole point of spending the money on CNS/ATM. However, they're also still talking about the KC-46 turning into a KC-10 replacement... which is bad. I'm hoping they don't finish the CNS/ATM mod just in time to start parking them at AMARG, but the realist in me knows that unless Big Blue finds a shit-ton of money hiding in some dark corner of the budget (or if Boeing suddenly forgets how to build the KC-46), the -10's days are numbered. 5. Preferred PCS locations: Only two choices - McGuire or Travis. McGuire folks can live in PA and have a 30-40min commute to work, and pay half the property taxes vs. living in NJ. Philly is <1hr, NYC is ~1.5hrs, the NJ shore is ~40min depending on your beach choice. Travis is not far from the SF Bay area, and Reno/Tahoe is an easy day trip (I skied Squaw Valley once with half my crew, on a 36hr stop at Travis). If you're a gun guy/gal at McGuire, you can live in PA, get your PA LTCF and carry concealed (or open carry with no permit/license), possess any ammo variety and/or magazine size you'd like, and even own suppressors with nothing more than the usual ATF stamp. Just stay out of NJ with ANY of that on your person or in your car. At Travis... you might still be able to buy Guns & Ammo from the magazine rack in the BX.

U-28 1. Ops Tempo: High but stable for now. 3 gone, 6 home with usually a week in transit on both sides of that. 2. Lifestyle: It's fine but expect hours switching around a lot with night flying and early mornings regularly. 3. Community morale: Good but the older guys are getting worn out. 4. Advancements & Future: This thing evolves all the time so it's always on the cutting edge technology wise. That's a plus. In a few years, the U-28 will be replaced by something else. What that will be, I have no clue. 5. PCS Locations: Hurlburt and Cannon. 2/3 chance for Hurlburt. And in AFSOC, all roads eventually lead back to Hurlburt. Bottom line, if you pick based on mission, this airplane has one of the best in the AF now. If the big one with the Commies kicks off, we will not participate. But in the current counter terror fight, we get to have a big impact.

So just like Kaepernick.