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What's a PPL run these days? $15K? Plus the free time to fly and study? In addition to participating in organized athletics (which also involves time and cost). That's a huge hurdle to overcome to increase your chances, especially if you're trying to remain competitive in other selection factors (grades, athletics, community service). That being said, the AF is trying to help bring more people who may not be able to afford a PPL into the selection pool (including minorities/women) with scholarships for PPLs: https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Holm-Center/AFJROTC/Flight-Academy/ Plus, generally UPT studs who have (only) a PPL are generally indistinguishable from those who don't by the end of the first T-6 contact checkride. My hunch is that having a PPL decreases your odds of washing out (initial solo is one of the big milestones), mainly because having previous flying experience makes the learning early on a bit easier on average and making that individual a safer investment for the AF. One problem in modeling (like figuring out who to select for UPT) is once you identify a maximum in the model (like maximizing UPT graduation rate based on selection factors), the question becomes "is that a local maximum, or absolute maximum." In other words, just because I find a peak in the model, doesn't mean I've necessarily found the best solution in the solution space. You may also have potentially competing goals (minimizing UPT washout vs producing the most skilled pilots). Maybe selecting athletes produces a handful of "great" tactical pilots, but if there's a higher washout rate, is it worth the cost? Or is it better to select to minimize washout rates and accept "average" or "acceptable" pilots (if the minimums weren't good enough, they'd be higher...)? For better or for worse, pilots run the AF. If we select pilots to only focus on being the best tactically, it hurts our ability to groom operational and strategic level planners with tactical experience (unless the AF were to allow non-pilots to fill those higher level roles). At the same time, focusing solely on the operational and strategic levels may leave us unable to win at the tactical level to achieve those operational/strategic goals. So we need a mix of pilots with different skills, backgrounds, and career desires. And since the AF is run by pilots, it acts as the greatest filter into who is allowed to lead within the AF, so it gets a lot of scrutiny.

Now that Mazepin has made a fool of himself 2 days in a row, can we get this punk out of there? Too bad Comrade Gene Hass needs the money he's gstting from his Mazepin's dad. Sent from my SM-N975U using Baseops Network mobile app

GD he has a punchable face. And “doughy moron” for a guy that’s ran 2 MAJCOM’s and had the audacity to say that getting a PPL is an indicator of having a more advantaged upbringing? What a moron. *White privilege trigger warning* I understand the SJW type initiatives if that’s what the people you’re trying to recruit are thinking about now. But recruiting to fly for the services had never been an issue. With that luxury, why not stack the deck to get the best candidates*? I’m also not ignorant to the fact that there are probably some diamonds in the rough out there (look at WW2 fighter aces from rural backgrounds with minimal education), but these upper level policies are about the whole and not the individual. And the diversity thing is always pumped up as different perspectives to find better answers etc. That’s the opposite of what you want at the tactical level. You want people that are brilliant at the basics and then can leverage those attributes accounted for in recruiting in the non-standard scenarios. If you’re really recruiting for an eventual diverse senior officer corps, that’s a different story. Maybe it’s just a chicken/egg thing. *How the AF determines best candidates is slightly flawed, IMO. There needs to be much more consideration placed on athletic skill and not just academic. In my experience, gifted athletes with average intelligence compared to superior intellectuals with poor athletic ability are much better pilots.

Surprised that no one has pointed out to this crowd that in addition to getting an USAFA appointment, UPT slot, T-38 track, Raptor assignment, and admission to Harvard, his wife is a smoking hot fitness model/actress/influencer or some shit from Australia. I'm sympathetic to his concerns, but yeah.....hard to feel sorry for this guy.

The majority of people and groups are trying to implement changes for the sake of being able to say they have done 'something'. Another large group of people are just parroting the first group because it's easier than making their own decisions. The dumb leading the lazy.

Just like my student on his I-NAV cat check.... 😄

Can’t you still transmit COVID regardless of vaccination? https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/fully-vaccinated-against-covid-19-so-what-can-you-safely-do-2021032522230

194th is planning on April for now...stand by for notifications

I’ve got apps in at both the fighter squadrons, nothing yet. I keep checking my email like a mad man for the 194th though haha. They said either an April or May board with interview notifications going out two weeks prior. So it could easily be mid to late April for the 194th if they in fact run a May board. I wouldn’t expect anything from the 122nd yet since their deadline isn’t until May 15th.

I find it amusing that people confuse the concepts of right and left with respect to modern American politics and 19th/20th century European politics.

There are certainly instances of this... there always will be. But by and large, I didn’t see it during my T-38 FAIP days. Most pilots that got cut in -38s were for single-ship things. We had one in my class and he ended up being an F-4 WSO. It’s been a long time but the ones I remember were mainly T-38 Contact washouts. But it didn’t happen much: we lost 21 people in my UPT class and only the one guy was in the T-38. I do recall one in another Flight that was washed out on his Nav check. I kid you not. Late in the Formation phase, we got notified if we were going to the FAR or TTB track. That was where the syllabus split and the TTB track did more out-and back Nav events. Overall, I liked “the old way” and if I were King, I’d send everyone to the T-38/T-7, dump the T-1, and dust off the old syllabus. Certainly, there are ways to do it better than we did... but there is no doubt in my mind that the T-7 would be a great platform for all USAF UPT graduates.

He's not wrong.

Well, it's not like a lot of people are listening to experts anyway. Fauci said schools should be the last things to close and first things to open, and the CDC recently announced that 3 feet away was good enough, no need for 6 feet of separation for anyone under 18. Yet schools in NYC and LA are still closed. Follow the science indeed.

Love those riffs... Being a leftist wealth distribution spokesman has yielded Tom Morello a net worth of $30M (according to a quick search of the interwebs) thanks to capitalism and free speech. Let the irony flow through you.

Their entire body of work is blatantly marxist and anti western. Also, musically amazing. Sent from my SM-T380 using Tapatalk

“Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses” Referring to police as KKK members seems pretty obviously “left”. Honestly the song is 30 years old...you’re just finding this out now

That's disappointed. Duckworth has generally seemed reasonable. And I loved when she lot into the guy that hurt himself playing military prep school football for claiming "disabled veteran" status with his business. So I'm disappointed to see her being part of that kind of bullshit. Sent from my SM-N975U using Baseops Network mobile app

Just emailed AFPC yesterday with the same question; they said assignments are being loaded now, should be flowing in the system NLT mid next week. Picture is fr the UFT board page on the rated assignments portal.

We've already entered a single aircraft UPT world right now with UPT 2.5 By 2025 all the T-1s will (might) be retired and it doesn't seem like the money is there to buy enough T-7s to replace the T-38 in UPT. But if money it no object, I'd prefer UPT maintain a dual track pipeline where future fighter pilots can work on fighter pilot stuff and mobility pilots can practice copying ATIS.

I think you might be late to the party...this has been common for RATM for 30 years.

If you’re a T-1 stud: 69% chance of a C-17 then rest is 1-2 AFSOC, couple wide body ISR, rest tankers. If you’re a T-38 stud with a pulse (even if it’s faint) probably a Viper but 33.3% repeating chance of a 5th gen; the other 1-3 studs will get a bomber. If you’re at Laughlin, 87% chance you get FAIPd. Better yet, if you’re at Vance or Columbus...you could FAIP to XL!

This has been RATM's politics for a long time. Have you actually listened to their lyrics?

Judging by how people here react to the idea of not wearing flight suits on staff tours, having callsigns taken away, or reaching way back, blues on Mondays...yes.

As someone who currently identifies as a pregnant female pilot, of course! But seriously...yes, it is important for the same reason that it is important that my daughters can look at female astronauts, the Vice President, and other women in any career field and imagine themselves in that position.

Sometime around November/December 2022 is when I anticipate you'll see the formal transfer of power. Post mid-term elections. Ol' Joe will probably experience "a fall," or some other mundane injury that'll put him in the hospital for a week or two. They'll invoke the 25th amendment, and Harris will be "temporarily" in charge. Joe will emerge from the hospital after a couple weeks, but it will be revealed that he's suffered "something" (a blood clot, a minor stroke, a minor heart attack, etc) that prevents him from continuing to serve. At that point, the Presidency will formally transfer to Harris. Some of the unfolding of events will occur over the holidays. The parts they don't want you to pay attention to are easier to mask during the holidays (much like bad corporate news is always released on a Friday before a three-day weekend). At the same time, they'll try to leverage the "spirit of the season" to rally the nation behind Biden and his family. Expect candid pictures of Dr Jill Biden and a bunch of grandkids waiting patiently at Walter Reed for news on Grandpa Joe, complete with a Christmas tree or two in the background. January 2023 will dawn with Kamala Harris as President of the United States. What that means, who the hell knows. I'm sure there will be renewed federal support for transgendered non-binary circus clowns, and other such theatrical nonsense. More importantly, any remaining roadblocks to our increased intervention in the Middle East will be dropped. Who ever is our Enemy #1 in the desert will be attacked with renewed vigor (either overtly or covertly). Iran would be the first guess, but if not, maybe some second-tier player like Libya in the early 2010s. At the same time, they'll crank up the monetary printing presses for good, and break-off the knob. Fun times I'm sure.

China Joe's pandering to identity groups was just his playbook, and helped to get him elected. Disgusting, but that's his party. The horrifying thing about his prerecorded speech was that he had one of his mental breakdowns during the speech. He gets off the teleprompter, starts to try and thank SECDEF, but not only can poor pathetic Joe not remember the Secretary's name, he can't even remember where 'that guy over there' works. This man is NOT President. There is clearly a reason he never gives press conferences any more. Harris has gone beyond just measuring the Oval Office Curtains. She's already hung hers up.