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Thanks to b1bhandler and others for your comments and they are most appreciated. As a member of the MARS phone patch net and seeing the recent comments, I thought I would provide some accurate information on the current net. We are members of the Air Force MARS program. Sprint used to provide phone cards but has pretty much quit them and as the current ones run out many are not renewed. However, the majority of the stations have unlimited nationwide calling and one or two have international calling capabilities. DSN is always available. We are not supposed to mention frequencies, but since they are already posted on here 13927.0 is the primary frequency and 7633.5 is secondary. Many of the stations monitor both these frequencies at the same time. First call should be on the primary and then try secondary if no one responds. If it is felt that better communication can be accomplished on one of the other frequencies then the operator will request you move but normally the 4, 11, 20 and 27 are not regularly monitored. Calling and operation information is on the websites mentioned. The members of the net appreciates your service and it is an honor to be able to help you. Regards, Richard/AFA6BU

Official email channels. ETA: I share info when I get it because we all need to stay informed; we need to take care of each other.

If I had more down-votes left today I would apply them to every single one of your post on this topic. You've folded flags at a funeral in -20 weather. That sucks, but I think the family of the veteran in the casket would trade you any day of the week. If that soldier can't buck-up, and perform under temporary personal discomfort, she needs to move into another line of work. Voluntary or otherwise. My opinion of your posts is that you handled mostly veterans from WWII, Korea, etc. Nothing from the OEF/OIF. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I'll second Fuzz's experience (or any AMC aircrew). Standing in formation at the ramp of a C-17 watching a 4yo son cry for his Dad, not understanding why he can't see his father, and being consoled by his grandparents because his mom is sobbing, being physically held up by another family member...its gut wrenching. Then having to do it ll over 5min later for the second casket, only this time it's his mother. She has her arms outstretched, calling her son's name and his is being restrained by family to keep her from running into the flight line. Those memories are three years old, and some of my last in AMC. To this day it makes want to do two things; 1) hug my kids and never let them go and 2) deliver instant, explosive justice on terrorist shitheads. I'm generally all about arguing both sides, but you've picked the wrong horse to back and need to let it go.

Commando Stare

What’s wrong with the Air Force? There are plenty of areas where one can point an elbow and the necessary changes aren’t going to happen overnight. Also, who says that there is anything wrong with the Air Force? There are always those that are looking to get ahead, not rock the ship and be yes men in order to advance etc. To them, there is NOTHING wrong with the Air Force. Who is the Air Force hiring to be pilots anyway? Most people that want to fly are extremely motivated, talented individuals with a beyond normal desire to compete, win and think ahead. That type of individual has PLENTY of options in 2014. Service before Self may cut it for a few individuals but for how long? The entire process of being a PILOT in the AF is broken. People: Come join an organization that will pay you less than a civilian job, move you every 2-3 years, tell you where to live and for some part, how to live. Deploy to shit holes for months on end and put the chance of divorce/family issues way beyond that of a 6-9, Monday-Friday, banker type. What’s the payoff for that awesomeness? Getting to fly military…wait, not getting fly military jets because during your 10 year commitment, you may only get 2-3 years in a fighter or spend 250-300 days away from home each year in a heavy. Then, after years of commitment and struggle head off to do something that is NOT piloting. So, score higher than other individuals trying to join the same organization, go through a gauntlet of mental/physical challenges and spend 30% of your commitment doing what you signed up for???????? WTF is right. What Doctor joins the Air Force and then gets told to be a nurse? What lawyer joins the Air Force and is then told to clerk? What Infantry officer joins the USMC and after three years gets told to be in charge of the chow hall? If you join to fly, then you should FLY. The pain in the ass to get a pilot slot is not worth NOT piloting. The same individual graduating college that can fly in the Air Force can more than likely become a DEA Special Agent. Those guys get sent to 1 office and stay there. That’s home unless you WANT to move. They get to fight the drug war almost every day and serve their country. Nobody tells them at year 3 of their career that “fun” time is over, it is time to sit at a desk and look at TPS reports. So, they serve their country, stay in one place for a career if they want to and make over $100,000 a year in journeymen status. They get specialized training in pretty neat fields, get to carry/shoot firearms and be a part of something bigger than themselves. MOST guys after hearing those options are going to choose DEA over the USAF pilot route unless Top Gun is a never ending movie in their own head. Places: Where is the great AFB that one would like to be stationed at? Ever pull out an old book showing what the USAF looked like in 1986/87 and see plenty of tiny little dots all over the globe denoting bases? Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, England. You name it and the POTENTIAL was there. Not now and the future doesn’t look any brighter. If you are an F-15E Driver, you may get based in England. Other than that, there are no “foreign” options. There may be some “nice” places to live but some real back road, no thank you stations are the majority. The choices for a B-1/B-52 driver are just exhilarating. Or, one could be a six figure, service before self, badass DEA Agent in Miami/San Francisco/Chicago/New York/Los Angeles/Phoenix etc, etc, etc. So, join the Air Force and get to see the worl…ah we mean Iraq/Afghanistan/Kuwait/Dubai/Bahrain/Diego Garcia as a change of pace when you are not boring holes in the sky over Mountain Home and 5 feet of snow. There USED to be a Myrtle Beach AFB way back when awesomeness was the norm. Imagine flying A-10s out of Myrtle Beach as a 20 something year old? Sorry kid, that’s not an option because well, that would be too much fun, or too cool or would actually be a desirable place to reside. Does BRAC even consider the fact that locations they choose SUCK big time and people actually have to live there??? How about we shut down Cannon AFB and reopen Castle as the “West Coast” AFSOC facility. Anybody rather live in California, a few hours outside of San Fran or LA as compared to the middle of New Mexico? Yeah, me neither, f#ck CA, beaches, beautiful women and something resembling a normal standard of living. Again, don’t you know you are in the military and a “Spartan” existence in the dustville areas of society is what makes this career great? Things: Ahh, the reason one joins the AF. The wonderful things it has. Awesome shiny things that go fast, upside down, blow things up, carry more weight than any civilian thing, do in flight refueling etc, etc, etc. Wait, we don’t really want to promote those things anymore. That’s not who or what we are. We need to run around on the ground with the Army shooting M4s and pretending to be Special Forces. Where are the great flying machines and the opportunity to pursue a career, blasting around God’s creation in them? What happened to all the DIFFERENT kind of jets, located all around the world? Where are the dark and mysterious F-117s and its older track star brethren the SR-71? (Still waiting for both jets replacements)… Who is flying the EF-111s and creating electronic wizardry? (Hang out with the Navy and fly EA-18Gs in far less numbers) Where are the RF-4 pilot slots and the ability to see just how low and fast one can go? (See Predator suckage) Heck, where are the replacement up to 750 F-15Cs? Where did ALL THOSE PILOT slots go? What replacement aircraft and opportunities opened up when mother Air Force canned those birds? Wait, you mean there was no real direct replacement numerically????? You mean that today I can sit in an air conditioned container rather than blast by a shacked target taking photos from my SR-71 or RF-4? Yeah, that sounds awesome. Maybe I can fly around in a U-28 or take the MC-12 career path….that is now being given to the ANG. Air Force management has decided that they don’t need or want airplanes in the Air Force. How this works out long term will be looked into by RAND. Rant almost done but just real quick for the fighter scene: F-15C: Irrelevant since 2001 and doing circles in the sky over the great USA. Anybody think about the massive waste of resources and crew this program has drained? The Tomcat boys woke up and smelt the coffee after Desert Storm. They threw away the “Fighter” only mantra, hung BOMBS on their jets and contributed like nobody’s business. In fact, they put the Hornet fellas to shame. It sure would have been nice to see the Albino contributing in the fight for the past 10 years. Think of all the great things the community and jet could have done. F-22: Awesome aircraft, awesome capability but less than 200 built. How on earth did we fumble this program? Far more capable than the F-15C and in reality it will never see the light of day because we have just enough assets to do nothing with. Shame on those that allowed this program to be whittled away, they sound like John Boehner telling me that he is going to finally “fight” Obama over the debt ceiling and producing nothing. F-16: Squeezed for all the juice in its bones. No more revamps, remakes or add on equipment is going to help this bad boy carry on in a legitimate manner over the next 10-15 years. It’s been a stellar workhorse but it needs a great replacement. The same boys that brought us the F-22 program tell me about this wonder kid F-35 in massive numbers….. F-15E: About the only asset that is in mid stride and in good order. Anyone know what the heck we are going to replace it with? Maybe we should get out in front of that now???? A-10: Great asset that everyone but its owner loves. An aircraft of opportunity to demonstrate how great the AF can be at assisting the Army/Marines and every time we turn around, the AF is trying to destroy them. The ANG would love to take the entire program. Think AD will let that happen? Not when such pearls like the MC-12 can be fought over to hand down. U-28/Predator: Are these really military assets that anyone joins to fly? Really, you wanted to be an Air Force pilot so that you can shuttle rubber dog sh*t around in a Pilatus PC-12. Is it a great mission set that is vital? Hell yes. Does it qualify in the same breath as driving an A-10 or F-15E…..NO IT DOES NOT. Somehow though, you can be first out of JSUPT and get yourself a PC-12….just like a doctor, who went to med school and makes 69 times more $$$ than you do and is home every night to bang his trophy wife. How is your family doing after spending the vast majority of your time training/deploying? The point is, since the early 90s the USAF hasn’t bought anything in large numbers other than C-17s and some C-130Js (and I could have made the same equipment comments for the AMC side of the house). Management has shut down bases and squadrons with a smile on their face and not cared one iota about the long term side effects. Well they’ve arrived. There aren’t enough pilots left, to fly the worn down relics on hand, to all the place Dr. Seuss told us about. The whole AEF idea is up the creek with no paddle and nobody at the yoke to straighten it out. In the latest round of how to fix the AF, the people in charge have decided that the A-10 needs to go bye bye along with the KC-10, MC-12 and U-2. They tell me that the Global Turd is here to stay though because “Politics” has put too much pressure on them and they can’t get rid of it. Somehow, someway though, they continue to fight the good fight against “Politics” and have the A-10 marching right off into the sunset by hook or by crook. Ahh, the great MC-12 will be saved (Army has a similar program that does the same thing) but the A-10 (no replacement), KC-10 (no replacement) and U-2 (no replacement) are off to AMARG and the scrapper. No way to hand down the A-10, KC-10 or U-2 to the ANG boys? Bueller, Bueller.......... So, Beale AFB used to be home to the SR-71, U-2 and MC-12. Great aircraft, great mission set and great piloting. Now, it will be home to the RQ-4 Global Hawk and nobody leaves the ground. Ready to pull chalks and go be a real pilot elsewhere because it is not going to happen here brother.

That's pretty generous...

Oh gawd. Here we go again... How hard is it to realize that in the digital age, every one can see everything.

If we replaced all Wg/CCs with contractors, then it would be easy for us to fire them.

Spot on as far as I'm concerned

Well that's much better then. You can consider my outrage cancelled.

Just received an e-mail from AFPC confirming that my VSP application had been denied due to remaining ADSC. Filing my complaint with the IG tomorrow and possibly writing my Congressman a letter. AFPC = the biggest bunch of ass clowns in the Air Force.

The funeral and POW photos are good examples of why many people refer to the current young generation as "Generation ME". They took those photos only thinking how great THEY would appear in them and never bothered to think of how others would view it.

As much as I hate to potentially walk away from the (alleged) money, I'll Palace Chase as soon as my app is returned and I get back to home station. There's still a 365 out there with my name on it, and I don't trust A1 to get their sh*t together before I have to take it. This is stupid, people deserve better, and I'm tired of dealing with it. FWIW...if the RIF board happens before I can PC, my Do Not Retain Me letter will be written in f*cking crayon. The fat kind.

Some finance chick found a womens running magazine on some dudes desk

May they have the same reactions at their funerals/wakes/times of remembrance.

What bothers me more is all of those people went through the process of putting that photo together without any of them saying, "Hey, is this disrespectful?"

Assuming the RIF board meets in Oct, and if (a big IF) the timelines remain consistent with the artist formerly known as PSDM 13-130, then it looks like the pink slips from the RIF boards will arrive just in time for X-mas to go with a DOS sometime in Apr. I'll take a Pepsi challenge that the pink slip notifications get pushed back to Jan with a DOS NLT May because the board results will get delayed.

Sweet, monkey's off the AF's back for a hot minute.

The kind that the clue light comes on late for. The kind that just realized that the talent the AF needs to keep is the very talent most desperate to leave.

This happens more than you think. Less than 50% of Infantry types even given the option to stay in after their first tour, and for every 4 or 5 Lts in a rifle company only one will become a Company Commander. After their first tour they go do such grunty jobs like recruiting, they are in charge of platoons of Marines at OCS, or TBS or they are series commanders at boot camp. Have 3 combat tours, one as a line platoon commander, second as a weapons platoon commander and third as a Company XO? Sounds great 1st Lt, why don't you go into officer recruiting, or teach at an ROTC unit, or go work in an H&S company. If you get your ducks in a row and complete Expeditionary Warfighting School first as a correspondence student, then do it again in residence you might go back to command a MARSOC platoon or perhaps a line rifle or weapons company. Oh, you did that anyway? Sorry, we don't have a company for you, instead we have this great MAGTF staff job for you. I hope you enjoy living on a small deck carrier/LHD/LHA/LPD for 6-9 months at a time, just like if you were in the Navy. Then as soon as you become a senior Captain or Major you're back in a B billet, then off to work on more staffs. Oh, and as a Marine hope and pray you stay with the Marine Corps. If you get a joint tour and you aren't the #1 performer and don't have FITREPs that say you are a water walker you're going to be treated like you did something wrong. Why? Because Marines are supposed to be better than EVERYONE else at EVERYTHING. Period dot. Yut yut, ooh rah, devil dog, semper fi.... The infantry world chews guys up and spits them out worse than the aviation world does.

Brother, I will not argue that your view depends on where you sit and I know your community has been rode hard and put away wet, but the bitterness will not matter to anyone but you. We all face disappointment, trust me, I recently faced a big Air Force disappointment of my own and there was a simple choice, mope around or shake it off and lean into it. The Air Force is not fair...period dot...sometimes shitty people succeed, but the same can be said in the civilian sector. The Air Force is facing challenges, our shit is tired and broke, but there are still good people fighting to make a difference and we still bring an advantage to the fight that trumps anyone else on the planet. You have to control what is within your reach and if that takes you to a point where you want to get out, then I thank you for your service, you've done more than 99% of the American public and I am humbled that people like you step forward to serve. Let me offer some simple advice, do your best, accomplish the mission to the best of your ability, fight tooth and nail to take care of your people, and leave with your head held high. This chapter is almost complete for me and I want to look in the mirror when it is over with my family, my honor and dignity intact, and knowing I did my absolute best...I truly wish the same for you. PM me if you want to talk again.

This is the heart of the problem with the JSF. It's not really a Joint Strike Fighter anymore, it's supposed to be a Joint Everything Fighter. The logic that we only have enough money to develop one fighter amongst the services breaks down when you're asking a company to build a machine so complex that it meets the requirements across every service for completely different modes of operation. I would wager that had they had separate developments for a 85% common AF/Navy variant and separate Marine variant, it would have cost less for two aircraft programs than for one JSF program.

Why would I EVER EVER poison someone who wanted to give me mouth hugs???

Soon it will be FT by correspondence, before you go in residence.

Some questions first: Are you AD now or a civilian applying for a flying position? Did you ever receive any MH counseling/treatment as a military member or dependent? In the Air Force, the condition is usually known as "dysthymic disorder" (just a naming preference) and is part of the "depressive disorders" bucket. As you say, it sounds like you don't meet the dysthymia criteria in DSM-IV. If you can provide enough supporting evidence that you were mis-coded with dysthymic disorder, and the correct diagonses should have been adj. disorder, that pulls you out of one fire and into another. Adjustment disorder for greater than 6 months usually forces a reclassification from a "disturbance" condition to a mood or anxiety disorder. It may not be worth fighting over the semantics. Suggest you push for a waiver in the depressive disorder category and allow the Flight Surgeons and Waiver authority to analyze the specifics of the treatment/counseling. You should be eligible for waiver as you are more than 2 years from last treatment/counseling. You can't really call something like patient history a "black mark." The waiver will be assessed on your severity of condition and history since recovery. The most important thing to do now is get copies of as much of your record as you can. If you can't access anything, you'll need to coordinate (and likely pay) for another eval. The applicable waiver guide sections are "MOOD DISORDERS (BIPOLAR DISORDER and DEPRESSION)" and "ADJUSTMENT DISORDERS." Link in my sig.

Rookie mistake...won't happen again.

I doubt that. Air Force pilots have proven time and again that they will take a monumental amount of shit from the Air Force before caving. The military has three things going for it: 1) the patriotism/honor thing with people who wrap themselves in the flag or get most of their sense of purpose from their military service. after all, you should just play the game, make rank, and then change things. those people who get out are quitters, and you're not a quitter. you're an honorable Air Force officer and high flying aviator with the ability to make a lasting impact on the world! 2) the segregation of military people from the outside world -- military people are surrounded by other military people constantly, which breeds a risk averse attitude when it comes to changing careers. if all your college buddies, friends, wife's friends, and kid's friends are in the military cocoon, then you naturally start to think of the mil world/civ world as "us" and "them". a lot of people are scared of leaving their tribe and becoming one of "them". better the devil you know, am I right? 3) a lot of people seem to have it in their head that NOT getting a retirement check will leave you destitute forever. that, if you do 12 years, then pack it in for the long haul because you're over halfway there! so what if you get a couple of shitty assignments, 365s or jobs that you hate doing. you dont want to waste all that time you put in when that check is yours for the taking, you just need to endure the pain of it all! Anyway, that's my personal theory as to why AF pilots will eat shit from big blue and then ask for seconds. Most guys will bitch constantly about how everyone is leaving, and they're totally gonna vote with their feet too, and Big Blue will be sorry they lost so much amazing talent, hoping that someone important notices and gives a concession or two. Pilots keep hoping other guys get out, so they can stay and reap the benefits of things changing for the better. But the ACP take rate stays high, the gambit fails, and the pilots go back to eating shit again. All the while, General Chang smirks smugly, his predictions affirmed, as he updates the spreadsheets from red to green for the next A1 staff briefing.

I would suggest to see if you're about to get sh!tcanned or not...before you sign up.

Pretty sweet rant, but you clearly haven't actually ever talked to a federal LEO because you've got a pretty idealized (read: not remotely accurate) portrayal of their life. Not to say that the AF isn't hopelessly broken, because it is, just that the FLEO grass isn't necessarily greener. Also Congress controls BRAC, not the USAF, the USAF even tried to close Cannon the last time around. It was all set up to be shut down but thanks to some last minute lobbying by New Mexico's Congressional delegation it got pulled from the list, which meant that the base sat open for over a year with no iron and no mission while the USAF tried to figure out what the hell they were going to do with it. I'm sure if the generals had their choice they would've much rather reopened Castle as the western home of AFSOC, but they don't control that, and if you haven't figured that out by now you might want to take a look about all the other shit that is out of the hands of those in uniform. Exhibit B regarding this: the Raptor. You want to talk about those who let that program be whittled away? The SECAF and CSAF both got shitcanned by their boss for their F-22 advocacy. Can't do all that much if the SECDEF, much less Congress, isn't on your side. Also also I'm not even a pilot and I know you should probably stay in your lane WRT U-28/RPA/NSAV/etc.

Who cares? UPT is around 270 hours....equates to about 6 months in AMC. 1500 hours can EASILY be flown in 3-5 years for the average line guy. Personally, I don't think the military kids should worry about getting their ATP until they are at the end of their respective ADSC....then, your discussion is obsolete as everyone would have the minimums. After a 10 yr ADSC, most AMC guys are around 2500-3000.... What is your point again?

^^ It was a training coffin, where the peeps learn/practice folding the flag. Not a legit coffin.

I don't mean to interrupt the lynching party, but... Has anyone here ever made a macabre joke? I've folded flags at funerals in -20 weather: it's not easy, and yeah, they weren't as pretty or crisp as those folded in 60 and sunshine. I'm sure we joked about it amongst ourselves, but thankfully we never had a global audience for our conversations like this young woman has... Social media is dangerous shit. Especially for someone too young and inexperienced to know when to hold back the thoughts they might share with close friends. As anyone watching GWB's old speeches will notice, it's easy to find flaws when everything a person says is recorded, and the context is easily missed. Was it stupid for her to write what she did? Yeah. But you were children once, too. That's what kids do. It's called "growing up."

People make mistakes: it's called life. What's with the sweeping judgments? If only there was someone on BODN who has also sent an "email heard 'round the world."... A moderator, perhaps... Who flies (flew?) Strike Eagles... If only...