Leaderboard

Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock over all the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around the table looking victorious.

Not sure if this belongs here or in the airlines thread. Qantas is sending their final 747 off to the graveyard and the pilot took the opportunity to draw a kangaroo in the sky on his way out.

Yeah ok. If you think a bunch of civilians forming a violent mob and wrecking property is the same as police protecting that property, JFC. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Definitely worth a read (click on the title for the full article)... Farewell to Ned Stark Col. Jason Lamb, AKA Col. “Ned Stark,” is a career intelligence officer who in 2018, began writing a series of provocative columns for Air Force Times and War on the Rocks about leadership development in the Air Force and where it had gone wrong. They went viral, sparking debate across the service, and even prompting Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein to offer him a job. Though Lamb ultimately decided not to join Goldfein’s team, he revealed his identity last year and consulted with Air Force leadership on personnel issues. He is retiring July 31, and now lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

I find it hard to believe that the units who are receiving 150-200 applications have had 150-200 visitors in preparation of the board. The unit that hired me didn't look at apps under PCSM of 80 and STRONGLY recommended a visit. So that has to eliminate a huge chunk right off the bat. Then remove all those apps over an 80 PCSM for folks who didn't visit unless they have some sort of crazy life experience and had a 4.0 GPA in mechanical engineering at MIT (or something) or are prior service. There was only 1 or 2 guys on my board who interviewed out of 20 that didn't visit prior to the board and one of them was a prior enlisted that worked at Edward's in flight test in some capacity. Pair all of that with the fact that probably 6% to 9% of the apps are folks who love the idea of becoming a military pilot and haven't even started the process or don't have a degree or have no life experience. Go visit. Make connections. Fix your short comings. It took me 3 years to get hired by the unit of my dreams. I visited 4 times over 2 years and they were located across the county for me. I spent thousands of dollars of dollars i DIDNT have so i could know the pilots at my unit. I changed my life to make this happen - if you want it bad enough you can too. The ones who don't get hired are the ones who quit - and if they quit applying for a slot they probably would have probably quit UPT too. Cheers guys and best of luck! I hope this helps.

No job posting yet but the 117 ARW in Birmingham AL is gearing up for a board in November with packages due in October. Should have the package requirements sent to me in a day or so if anyone needs them once I receive them.

Called Jacksonville this afternoon and they said to expect delays for the telephone interviews as far as mid-August, and for everything else to get pushed to the right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am3Q2LsPIk4 NTSB Board Meeting posted to YouTube.

Shoot, I started out applying to the local A10 squadron, and then applied to the tanker unit next door because flying in my home state was my first priority. Once I talked with the tanker guys and learned about the mission, I was gungho for that life. Lots of flying, cool trips, great community. Not that those things arent possible in the pointy nose world, but you never know until you give it all a look.

Shack. Studs also don’t realize how many badass and different missions are out there besides warheads-on-foreheads. When I went through T-6s, every Friday an IP from a different platform would brief us on their mission, family life, lifestyle, trips, etc. I knew at least five classmates that realized they wanted AFSOC/AMC after all.

For what it's worth, here's my advice on pilot training. Don't worry about getting non-vol'd to helos, they only really give those slots to people who make it known that's what they want. But like others have said, just keep an open mind. I'm going to let you know right now that your class is going to have a bunch of dudes just like you who think they are drawn to fighters, or CAS or whatever. A lot of them are going to struggle with airsickness, basic aero, pulling g's, and basic formation. There is a moment in UPT, usually early in T-6 formation, where students realize what they thought was a graceful, fun roller coaster in the sky is actually a hot, sweaty, stressful, painful, violent, very difficult mess. The T-6 formation phase creates a lot of T-1 converts.. and that's not a bad thing. People just don't know what they don't know.

Lots of undercover work is done with police anonymity for their own safety.

Also, as a member of the military...I'm not a big fan of federal law enforcement putting on very similar uniforms and conducting these anonymous raids. As if I didn't have enough to worry about from ISIS and Al Qaeda, now DHS is putting a target on my back for every antifa and BLM wannabe revolutionary. I'm also not a fan at all of the anonymous aspect. When they talk about "unmarked", the don't mean the "police" velcro on the uniform. They mean that there are no visible badge numbers, nametags, or other identification. No way to hold a bad cop accountable, because no one knows who it is. My personal thought is that you don't need to hide your name from the people paying your salary unless you're doing something shady.

I'm not sure how the author of that article managed to use so many words and still say nothing intelligible. Any clue what she was getting at? The only thing I learned is that we should be saying "airpeople" instead of airmen and that warrior culture is another form of white fragility and toxic masculinity. God help us in the next war.

For as much as you decry ad hominem and straw man, you sure do a lot of it.

“The term warrior, as a brand marketing term for militaries in western democracies, should be permanently junked; it sells an impossible image for soldiers, marines, airpeople, and sailors to live up to while preventing the civilian population from executing its oversight function.” How many times is that in the stupid creed again, for a force where like 5% of people do war fighting and 80% sit behind a desk?

I got one just for you Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Or cops hitting and pepper spraying an individual literally standing in front of them without any apparent malice or hostile intent.

Are you saying you are opposed to the police using unmarked vehicles? I may have missed it, but I don't see any evidence of the feds "hiding their identities" other than riding around in unmarked cars. It seems pretty obvious who they are when they are dressed head to toe in tactical gear. And I can guarantee you they are announcing who they are as they approach a subject. This may have been said before, but it seems logical to arrest someone when they are away from the crowd. That protects the perp, the officers and would not escalate things. It certainly is better than having the feds roll down main street Portland completely overwhelming these rioters. Either way, you can't destroy property for over 50 days with no consequences. There are law abiding citizens of Portland who deserve to have their lives and property protected. Enough is enough.

Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Guard/reserve is the way to go in my opinion. There is a lot of room for disappointment on the active side if you’re set in fighters and a specific mission set. Also, if you want to do CAS, then you don’t want 35s or 22s. The 35 doesn’t really do CAS. You should be shooting for A-10s, Strikes, and Vipers if that mission is important to you. What comes to mind when you hear CAS is really only done by a small number of aircraft. The A-10 being the only fighter that is regularly strafing and spending time low altitude. Pointy noses like JDAMs, and watching a 35 try to strafe downrange was just hilarious. Side note: it didn’t work out well for them.

Vermont Update so it is still a little ways out. The Vermont Air National Guard will begin accepting applications 1 November 2020 for a spring 2021 Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) Board. The deadline for applications to be submitted is 31 December 2020.

I'm just going to say you need to do a bit more research. I can understand your frustration with the guard/reserve side but if fighters/CAS is your dream then probably your best shot. For example a UPT class has about 20 or so active duty people. Each class gets about 2-5 T-38s on average. We are talking about a 10-25% chance you even make it to phase 3 on the right track. Then you have to simply not suck to get a fighter now a days and that may sound easy but it may not be. All I'm trying to say you really need to look at yourself in the mirror like so many others and decide if you went heavies would it make it all worth it. If not then honestly the Air Force might not be the best place for you because you will get screwed almost every step of your career. Other people with more experience please keep chiming in because I think our buddy is about to make a rash decision he may not be happy with in the end

Dang wouldn't that mean it would be held today? Haha...what a ride this has been. My sponsored package has been up at AFRC since January and they keep pushing boards back. Hoping for some different news tho 👍🏻

What if you get Mobility / C2 / ISR Heavies? Not a deal breaker I hope If you get to go to SUPT and the plinko machine puts you somewhere you can’t imagine now, make the best of it and there are lots of other possibilities on that second assignment if you shine on the first and get picked up Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Correct! I applied to the AFRC board this month. My recruiter told me it was pushed back a week and so far not sure what they’re doing.

I think some RPA guys are happier than legacy fighter guys...no kidding. At least as of a year ago at Shaw. As for CAS. A-10 is pretty much the only hardcore CAS jet. Fat Amy isn’t a CAS player unless it’s for a political speech to buy more F-35’s. F-16/F-15E do CAS but much different than a Hog. Not bad, but not great. Good to have focus, just don’t forget luck/timing have a huge influence so bs ready to open your aperature to missions/airframes. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

OP your gouge on RPAs is old. The community is a lot happier than back in the day and the mission set those guys are doing is insane (SCAR, AI, CAS, etc). I don’t even think you can drop unmanned out of UPT. Today, MQ9s are busier employing for CAS than any of the aircraft you listed including the A10. If you want CAS manned, gunships should be top of your list. Consider marines for attack Huey’s too but you said no helicopters? I’ve done manned and unmanned feel free to PM for pros and cons of each.

RPAs are unlikely from UPT. I ended up getting RPA from UPT back in the day, there was 1 year surge for RPAs so it opened up to UPT. I was released from my RPA job after 3 years back to real airplanes. Make lemons out of lemonade. My RPA experience set me up real good for my manned aircraft. I honestly don’t think I would have done to well in my manned airplane qualification course without my RPA experience. Helos do some badass things. Assignments out of UPT are about 2 things. Performance and timing. Only one you can control. If you have to have a certain mission set to be happy I would stick with video games. This forum is full of people who ended up in places they didn’t want/know about on day one and are thankful it turned out that way, myself included.

They actually changed this rule this year, you can turn down a rated position and re-apply. However, it was a rule in the past.

RPAs aren't an option at the moment out of UPT but that is never a garuntee. Also if you turn down a rated position on AD you become permanently inelligible for rated in the future. My basic opinion is this, if the thin possibility of getting a helicopter or drone deters you from trying to get a fighter, this probably isn't the career for you.

There's a good thread on this forum that you can find which track guys are currently getting to get good data on how likely it is to get each airframe. Correct me if I am wrong, but UASs are not a possibility anymore if you go to UPT on the active duty side (they are separate tracks). Also, you can turn down any rated position you are not interested in on the AD side. The way I look at it, apply and worst case you don't get selected, best case you are able to fly in the Air Force...not behind a desk.

Haha, ironically is he was passionate about that mission you could even argue ranking the MQ-9 on there given how much they were doing in Syria 16-18. Another thing too. You are making a HUGE mistake to discount helicopters so easily.

P520 LAF O-5 As Met records are now showing in PRDA. Hopefully that means a public release is on the horizon...

I've noticed this as well, mainly based on rejection emails. 😆 A few years ago they'd say things like "we had over 50 applications this year and it was a really tough choice". Now they're sometimes saying "we had almost 150 applications for this board and wish we could interview you all!". That said, there is zero sense stressing yourself out thinking about things like this which are out of your control. Try not to dwell on it. The interviews I landed a few years ago took me by complete surprise, and the occasional interview invitations I still manage to get are pleasant surprises as well. If it were easy then everyone would do it. Hope for the best but expect nothing. Hopefully things will work out, and if they don't, you'll be happier knowing you gave it your best shot. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a little discouraged each time I get the "thanks but no thanks email" or see someone here post that interview notifications went out while my phone and inbox stay silent. But I forget about it as soon as I see a new board notification posted somewhere and my heart rate picks up a bit with excitement. Try to filter out all the noise and stay motivated.

Absolutely noticing that trend as well!! I can attribute to a couple things. 1.) Airlines are no longer hiring due to the pandemic/loss of demand. 2.) Top Gun 2? Maybe a few from there even though it’s not out yet. 3.) C.W. Lemoines “Make them tell you no” YouTube channel. I know this seems obscure but I’m sure many of us in the application pool follow him. He offers amazing advice and just a great dude from the videos I’ve seen. However the popularity of his channel has EXPLODED in the past year, he just passed 250,000 subscribers recently. So maybe a mix of new people being motivated or people who didn’t think they were qualified throwing an app in to “make them tell you no”. Just my .02, cheers and good luck to you! Hope to see your “I just got picked up” post soon!

WTF does it matter how the police are dressed? I’m all for a good peaceful protest but the simple fact is, the far left cannot stop at that. They’ll push things further and further until they get a reaction. No problem with police in tactical gear, don’t give a foook the design. And I laugh when Antifa is smacked down. I’m a softcore libertarian but when people go too far (usually the left) I expect the taxpayer funded gov’t to lay the smack down to protect the average citizen. I thought maybe I’d vote for the libertarian this election like I did in 16....now I’m firmly in the Trump camp. The progressive left must be stopped. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

So when it comes to searching, I've got two go-to queries for Google: For ANG units, just copy and paste this: site:ang.af.mil "upt" OR "supt" AND "apply" For AFRC units, just copy and paste this: site:afrc.af.mil "upt" OR "supt" AND "apply" You can swap out "apply" with other words like "submit" or "deadline" and see what comes up! I've found 3-4 boards not listed on GuardReserveJobs.com or BogiDope.com this way; hopefully the more eyes searching the more options we'll dig up! Also, another thing to do when searching is to click "Tools" > and instead of "Any time" choose "Within the past month", so you know you're getting recent results. ETA: You can also just search by squadron (i.e. "47th Fighter Squadron" AND "upt", something like that) and see what comes up as well! I believe I've had some luck finding boards that way, too. That way, you can target specific squadrons that you're interested in and see if anything comes up! Best of luck to you all!

We've attempted to attack the supply side of the drug problem for decades. It has had zero effect. Heroine used to be the drug of trainspotting and 90's bands, now it's suburban. Pfizer doesn't murder it's competitors for trade violations, they go to court. If we took a fraction of the money spent on the "war on drugs" and put it towards treatment, the country would be far better off.

Most likely voting libertarian based on: 1. Ending the war on drugs. It has cost us so much time, money, resources, and destroyed so many lives. Just make marijuana legal everywhere and tax it. It's a policy that actually generates revenue while allowing us to slash costs. I'm more extreme than many...I'd go so far as to legalize every drug. Then the FDA can regulate the quality, doseage, make sure it isn't cut with drain cleaner or scouring powder, it deprives gangs and cartels of their largest revenue sources, and it frees up the Coast Guard and DHS to handle things that are actual threats to national security. 2. Ending the war in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq. Places are shitholes. They were shitholes before we got there. They will be shitholes when we leave. So let's stop investing time, people, and money into trying to make them less shithole and focus on the high-end fight, the way the CJCS and SecDef are telling us we need to. 3. Immigration reform. I'm a fan of border security, but I'm also a believer in the idea that America was created by immigrants. I would remove all limits on legal immigration and put the full force of modern technology behind the necessary background and safety checks. It should not take months or years to immigrate to the country legally. It should take a day, maybe a week if you have a complex case. Welcome anyone who wants to come here and make a better life for themselves. And yeah...that includes amnesty for people who are here illegally but haven't committed any other crimes. However, I fully support getting rid of anyone who has committed a violent crime while here illegally. Make the legal immigration process easy and fast enough, and you can really focus border enforcement on criminals...because they will be the only ones with an incentive to cross the border illegally.

Congress, just like the rest of federal/state/local politics, is too busy with protecting their partisan tribalism than to do what's best for Americans.

Tax policy, foreign policy, America first, military revitalization, freedom, smaller government, less EPA like regulations But if nothing else, just listen to Joe Biden attempt to talk for 6-9 seconds....

Props to you man. "Hold on babe I have to finish the brownie in this meal before you give birth"

You've clearly had different experiences with military medicine than I have. If your bar for success is 30 day waits to see a PCM followed by denying specialist care, treating everything with Motrin, and pushing most of the intake care to people without medical/nursing degrees, then sure, it'll be cheaper for everyone involved.

Since when did O-4 AD retirement become such an indignity? Don't answer that, I'm being rhetorical (as a career reservist enroute to one 😄). #winning #atleastihavechicken

Seconded. Quals: current majcom staff fgo Amplifying info: there's a handful of old GS civs hanging out, but outside of that i'm the only AO with recent (past 20 years) experience in my MDS. I'm the tactics, training, readiness, and Stan eval SME, since there's no one else. My job went vacant for the previous 2+ years, so I'm still digging the enterprise out of a hole of neglect. In my experience everyone else means well, they just have no context whatsoever, and that leads to terrible decisions.

Maybe I should clarify. My goal is Manned Fixed Wing, then CAS. The F-35, I’m sure you’re well aware of, has a CAS mission. From my research, the unmanned community is EXTREMELY unhappy. And actually being a current pilot, I know for a fact I wouldn’t want to fly drones. Better than sitting in an office? Yes. What I want to do for the rest of my life? No. I’m not completely discounting helicopters, especially Attack, it’s just not my first choice with my long term goals.

Perfect response, thank you so much. I was not aware that RPA’s (tentatively) were a different program. From the thread, it seems there’s a decently high chance of getting t-38’s. RPA’s are almost non-existent! Okay thank you. I wasn’t aware that it was such a low chance. I’ve poked around and it seemed like there was a high chance of getting RPA’s, so that’s why I was so worried. Appreciate the info!