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I feel like we heard that a lot about Gen Welsh as well.

What is your mil and/or aviation background?

COCOM = combat command (authority, like OPCON/TACON) CCMD = Combatant Command (e.g. CENTCOM/SOUTHCOM) CCDR = Combatant Command Commander PME acronym review complete.

The way I see it... Recent priorities of the American Military (in apparent order of importance): 1. Furthering social "progress" 2. Jobs program for congressional constituencies 3. Political poker chip for elections 4. Defense of the nation and its interests

If selected for a pilot position, your obligation to the Air National Guard will be 10 years of service upon completion of training. You will be required to fly at least 4 sorties per month, attend 1 drill weekend each month and be available for off base deployments each quarter. This application workbook contains information regarding your application for Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) with the Maine Air National Guard in Bangor. It contains the eligibility and application requirements. It also includes all of the important information that you will need to be considered for an interview. Questions regarding the application process may be directed to the Recruiting Office. The toll-free number is 800-643-2384. http://www.101arw.ang.af.mil/careers/index.asp (pilot training info at bottom) Application window open is open now through 13 May 2015.

True - the day after especially if it is a trading day on the NYSE and at the UN would be very interesting. I think China has made the calculation that military action itself is not a good idea but the credible threat of military action is better as they pursue their idea of One China - Two Systems. Right now, Taiwan ain't bittin' but who knows as things go on... Taiwan rebuffs Chinese leader's new pitch for unification Back to the topic of the thread though... Looking at the J-20 which seems to be kinda interceptor-like and with probably better combat radius from the size and fuel capacity compared to the F-22, the PLAAF seems to still want a maneuverable enough fighter (canards for the J-20) but will sacrifice some of that for range, speed and additional weapons or other capabilities (ECM, EA, passive sensors, etc). One AF is voting with its dollars in where it thinks Air to Air is going. Referencing Col Boyd's E-M theory and the way we have designed 5th gen fighters, have we put too much into that? That is maneuverability / rapid energy change is important but not as much as now as great BVR, good missile load out, combat range, power for speed / altitude to maximize 5th gen engagements and SA capabilities (Data Link, Passive Detection, etc.). I ask this as Stillion makes that point in his presentation but he takes it too far in my opinion with the idea of C2 mothership controlling UCAVs firing missiles separately but from 1990-2002 about 80% of the kills were with BVR or AAM, and have we reached the point where the fighters still need maneuverability but not at significant expense of speed, range, stealth, sensor capacity, weapons load, etc. Not arguing for an F-111 or a Thud but does a 9G thrust vectoring capable fighter still make sense?

Favorite AD MX stories from Dyess circa 2002-2003. We had one crew step to a jet that was broken. They asked for the spare and were denied. When they asked why, the response was, "if you take the spare, we won't have a spare." New jet, new day, crew gets involved in discussion pre-step about deferred MX. A fairly basic problem was being pushed off. When asked why, MX reply was that accomplishing the required fix "might" show the fire blanket around the motors was torn, necessitating a red X and replacement. They were putting off basic MX knowing there was a bigger problem. Prize winner: going out to fly a very high vis test sortie, a former maintainer out to support the test said his friends back at Tinker (B-1 depot) were surprised we were taking this particular jet on account of the large cracks discovered in the longeron. No notes in forms, but discussion with MX confirmed they were discussing it over the last week. We elected to take the spare, then move the weapons to a third jet before going.

Someone in my flt at COT who had degrees from two Ivy League schools failed an OTS assignment. When asked about it the response was something along the lines of "I wrote a grad-school level paper but what they really wanted was a fill in the squares paper that a ten year old could write."

Gen Welsh will be the next chairman and Gen Carlisle will be CSAF. Gen Robinson will replace Gen Goldfein as VCSAF when he goes to be a COCOM. Gen Gorenc will be a COCOM, most likely EUCOM.

I'm wearing my morale patches with no apologies from now on if they are OK having dudes run around in heels in their uniforms.

I wouldn't say that a TPS grad recommendation is the golden ticket, however, there is a reason why the recommendation form asks the write whether they graduated from TPS. In my experience, it almost always is better to have someone who knows you well write for you rather than a Wg/CC or GO if you cannot get a grad to do it. When you read the recommendation, you can tell if the person just signed a form pre-filled by the candidate (because it lacks a personal touch) which calls into question how well the writer knows the candidate. Blunt feedback: a 2.6 GPA is not great when the average select has around a 3.6-3.7 GPA. The minimum is 3.0 according to the application requirements. However, you demonstrated you can hack advanced engineering via your M.S. I would try to highlight your success in the graduate program in your application. Regarding the waiver status: call the office after you submit the waiver to check the status. You're not going to piss anyone off to ask as long as you don't bug them. It's your career, so you have the right to know. If you feel uncomfortable doing that, then ask your CC to track that info down.

There are no words for how fucked up that picture is.

However, these are both. Disgraceful. Good to know that I look unprofessional if I roll my sleeves up a little bit...

Ref my previous post.

I spent 2.69 years at a UPT base. We saw shit classes drop 6/7 fighters and the strong class right after them drop 2/4 fighters. The CC tried to shuffle assignments left/right and the best AFPC would give him is to have flexibility on where the FAIP fell. 99% luck of the draw. Timing is everything, learn that lesson now. Any UPT class that looks back and thinks they killed it based on their drop is living in a dream world.

Now THAT is a pilot retention program!

And here I am at the Deid just wanting a crew van with working air conditioning...

Ummm...this is not a valid statement. Not even close. It was what Big Blue needed. Luck of the draw. Nothing more...nothing less.

As a still flying, combat capable 55 year old airplane that has participated in every war since the current model's production in 1960 (along with the KC-135), I think the BUFF has earned the privilege of telling a few "war" and "there I was" stories. Also, if you knew your Air Force history, you would remember that the "mach tuck" you speak of was originally called a "bomber crush", which was a crease from the headsets that the WWII bomber crews wore over their flight cap during their combat missions. Other than those two minor critiques, you shacked the rest of your post. -9-

I suppose I can tell my story now... BITD (pre-9/11) in the other service, I was part of a crew doing a CH-53E static display at a hotel, for a national-level veterans service organization's annual fundraiser weekend. We flew in Saturday morning and landed in the back parking lot of the hotel, folded it, towed it around to the front parking lot, and spread it back out for the static. In the afternoon we did the fold n' tow routine back to the back parking lot for secure parking overnight, cleaned up, and joined the party. There were nearly a dozen Medal of Honor recipients in town for this event, along with CMC, the USMC Silent Drill Platoon and the USMC Color Guard, and the booze was flowing like rainwater. The stories that I remember hearing in that hotel bar were incredible (hindsight note - when in the presence of this much history, don't push it up so hard that you can't remember some of the stories later. The regret that comes later, leaves a mark on the soul that's not easily removed...); the kind of stories you literally read about in military history books, being told by the very people who made that history. Myself and the other two enlisted aircrew swine have MoH recipients buying us drinks, businessmen in the same hotel for their own agendas getting caught up in the fun and buying us drinks, drinks showing up at tables with no clue how they got there. I don't think I have ever consumed that much alcohol, before or since. At some point in the evening after the official dog & pony show was completed, some Silent Drill Platoon asshat who keeps shoving his way into conversations he wasn't invited into, decides that a coin check is warranted at the table I was at with one of my crew, one of the artillery guys in town with their M198 static, a couple LAV guys with their LAV static, and Sergeant Major Jon Cavaiani. Half a dozen shitfaced jarheads slam coins on the table and make (in)appropriate jarhead noises... and then a Medal of Honor is placed on the table. Silence in our little corner of the bar. One of the former Marines who raises a ton of money locally for this organization and several others, and insists that everyone call him "Wags", looks over at us from his spot at the bar, sees the table, and yells over the rest of the bar's noise, "Jesus Christ, Jon! You carry that thing everywhere??" SGM Cavaiani laughs, yells back "You're damn right, Daddy Wags!", stands up, and yells for the bartender to pour another round for all of us. Eventually I remember that I need to crew the helicopter (conveniently parked in the hotel's back parking lot) that is doing a flyover at the golf outing the next day, and I need to extract myself from the festivities and get some sleep. I vaguely remember doing "the pinball" down several hallways, an elevator, and at least one stairwell before I make it to my room. Through some miracle, I have the presence of mind to clean myself up, put a clean flightsuit on, pack my stuff (including the trash bags from the room), and set a wake-up call before I pass out on the bed. Sunday morning comes and I am functional, but barely. The rest of the crew isn't much better except one pilot, who didn't do the afterparty with us and is bright and cheery, and will obviously be doing all the flying. We kick the tires and light the fires with a fair-sized audience of people who have come to see our departure, after questioning us the day before on exactly how we got a CH-53E in a hotel parking lot. Pulling the gear & aux tank pins with the exhausts blasting on me nearly set me off, but I managed to keep it together on the ground. We lift and blast a quick turn around the hotel property about 100' AGL, and at this point I realize that I'm not gonna make it. Before we fired up I had put one of the room trash bags in an empty .50cal can and seat-belted it to the troopseat next to me, and I put my improvised puke bucket to good use. As we press to the golf course 5min away for the flyover, I'm rapidly filling the bag/can with dinner, God only knows how much booze, and breakfast. As we're blasting over the golf course at 100'-ish AGL and who knows how many knots, I'm frantically tying off a full trash/puke bag and getting the other one ready to receive the next wave, which is already on the way. 1/2hr later we're approaching the home 'drome, the second bag is nearly full, and I've decided the 20mm can of tiedown chains will be the next receptacle if I continue puking. Descending short final I have one last round of retching, and finally feel semi-confident that I won't be spewing uncontrollably any longer. Walking in after securing and post-flighting the aircraft, one of the puke bags breaks within tossing distance of the dumpster, and douses my lower leg and boot. Rest in Peace, Daddy Wags. Rest in Peace, Sergeant Major Cavaiani.

^^^^this class was incredible from what I heard. The best studs seen in a long time. Edit: at least on the 38 side. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So you all are really going to sit here and say the the AF demanded that Laughlin got a half dozen fighter types while they only demanded two from Columbus? Really? Since you are sitting here seeming to know the answers explain that one. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Yup you caught me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk