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As I expected…

You PCS first before going to IPT. My buddy is a T6 instructor out at Laughlin and I was talking with him yesterday and he said the kids that went to IPT aren’t back yet. Indicating it’s a PCS first.

So let me get this straight, 20 million illegal immigrants coming into the country is better than a small number of constitutional violations that are being resolved in the courts? That's the math. I don't work in the Congress, so I don't get to pick a made-up third option where the border is closed and there are no violations of constitutional rights. I have a choice between a candidate that made everything worse, dramatically, and a candidate who single-handedly reduced illegal immigration to near zero, while fucking up in some edge cases. That's pretty easy math to me. No one is denying the constitutional violations, though I suspect you would view far more of the deportation activity as a violation than I would. But even if I agreed with you on every single case, the alternative was a slow rolling catastrophe for my country and the country my children will inherit. Caveats are part of living in the real world. I will be very black and white in this point. If this is a literal statement, then you are a hack. And while I could put together a rather extensive list of individual things he has done that are quite easy for me or any other conservative-minded person to support, and I can even make a smaller list of things that any fair-minded liberal would support, if you can't do that on your own, then you are simply beyond any position that is worth engaging with. In that case, TDS is a fair label.

I was A FAIP and instructed in the T-38 from 85-88 at Columbus. Most losses in a UPT class occurred in the T-37 with a wash out rate around 30%, IIRC. We would usually lose 2 or 3 students in the T-38 in the contact or instrument phase. I don't remember anyone washed out in the formation phase. There was a change in the syllabus after a mid-air during a 4 ship rejoin. Those going to heavies got more nav and instrument rides and the guys going to fighters did more 4 ship. Worst class I saw in the 38 was when the AF decided to push more students through and limited wash outs. We had a class come to us in the T-38 that lost students in the T-37 for medical or SIE but not much else. It was a blood bath and we washed out half the class.

The Travis AFB Aero Club has a TB-20. I went out there 4-5 years ago and rented it with an instructor just to try it out. Enjoyed it. Maybe a good option for you to go sample it. https://www.travisaeroclub.com/our-fleet

I also saw this somewhere on X, so I just went to this site and pulled up the same METAR I’ll need to see some legit reporting/posts before I believe it. https://metar-taf.com/metar/KATL.20251102.1652

Anyone care to comment on the stupidity of coaching contracts? IMO, no taxpayer funds should be used. That's what TV deals, tickets, sports betting kickbacks, etc are for.

Wait until you get to formation and you realize that you completely skipped this in RIQ. Formation will humble you real quick.

I put Columbus Laughlin Vance. Don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere Enid with a wife and kiddos. My wife doesn’t want to be in Texas because she thinks the cartel will kidnap us close to the border lol

That’s a really thoughtful perspective — and I totally see where you’re coming from. The shift in training hours and structure definitely impacts overall preparedness, especially when phase 3 time isn’t there to reinforce fundamentals. It sounds like experience levels are narrowing faster now, which can make the learning curve at FTU a lot steeper. It’s interesting you mentioned the FAIPs too — that balance between getting them the right exposure while still maintaining training depth for new LTs seems tricky. Hopefully, with the added hours at graduation, some of that gap can be bridged, but it’s hard to replace real reps and mentorship time. By the way, for anyone interested in thoughtful takes on training, learning progress, and milestones, I’ve shared a few reflections on (removed) as well — different field, but similar themes around growth and readiness.