Leaderboard

What about all that Servicing the President, Leadership 101? I think you've already thrown yourself upon the sacrificial alter. You make a shitty martyr. But hey, as you have so stubbornly argued, it can't really be that bad. When you figure out you had no idea what you got yourself into, just remember: attitude is everything.

According to PM, I was too subtle. I was using the term shipmate in one of two ways:

"Work" has many different meanings in this thread... Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Maintenance says jet is Code 2....you're taking it, right sir? But seriously, so glad the crew's ok. This could have been much, much worse. If you look off the nose about a jet's length, that's the start of a six-hundred foot cliff. Huge props to the A/C for getting this jet stopped and the crew off.

Again, until there's some confirmed backstory: all you have is some guys sport-bitching on here in my opinion. If it means that much to you guys, then someone send him a message on Facebook and ask him to explain here. And with that, I am going to leave Oklahoma politics in Oklahoma and go have a beer on the beach.

"Several years"... ha! There won't be anyone left except Lt's and Capt's in several years. As far as ART bonuses go, some units are offering them now, but not many pilots are taking them. One big issue is that the bonus money needs to come out of the units' civ pay pot, which means less on-the-spot bonuses and temp-ART positions for the entire unit. We don't get extra money from NGB for bonuses. It all comes down to this: It ain't all about the money. You can go to one of the "Big 3" legacy carriers or even SWA and make $140,000 a year by your 4th or 5th year. The thing to realize is that the airlines value your time so greatly that they're willing to pay you $120+ an hour for your time. What does a GS-13 make per hour? $50, but you work 200 hours per month instead of 75. Or you can sit short call reserve an hour from the airport and possibly get the whole month off. Jesus H, I don't think I'd know what to do with myself with a month off while getting paid and what's that you say? When I do work, I only have to worry about flying an airplane for a few days with no queep or pushing a pencil? Sold... it's not about money. It's about QOL/flexibility and while noone should have joined the military for supurb QOL/flexibility, it gets old getting shit on all the time and sooner or later, people are going to walk. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Don't know a thing about the man. Not sure what he's done to draw your ire. He's chosen to play the veteran card to help his campaign. Probably a solid choice in small town America. The lapel wings are goofy, but it seems like sour grapes to attack him for them. A veteran in the Senate (even state level) isn't a bad thing.

I was gonna let this one go, since I think others on here have already rebuked this garbage more eloquently than I ever could, but I just can't. Ummm - he gave you a wall of facts. Furthermore, that you refuse to accept the facts is indicative of your utter failure (inability or ineptitude?) to grasp the reality of the situation before you. Misjudged??? You think??? That was fcking predictable. In fact, it WAS predicted, on this very site. Which, IIRC, you scoffed. Time and time again you are told the ground truth. If not in your staff meetings, at least in this forum. Yet you plow ahead with your useless playbook, hoping that it works. Guess what, it's 4th and long and your playbook is shit. Someone needs to get creative - now. And I'll go ahead and give you another prediction - higher bonuses won't work either. Please. Take your kool-aid somewhere else. Nobody here is drinking it. You claim to be in A1, possibly even at the GO level, and you want to talk about core values? OK, please explain your meaning of integrity. I'd love to hear it, because I certainly can't tell by your policies. Stop loss = a violation of trust and contract = lack of integrity on the part of leadership that callously uses it as a retention tool. Officer first? You bet. All the way until the bitter end of my service obligation. Beyond that, I'm free to do as I see fit. Even if you geniuses decide to hold me beyond my obligation. May have to? This should be where you are investing most of your time finding a solution. You should not be looking at it as an unfortunate compromise required by A1 to ease the situation. It is the answer. We don't want more money. We aren't a bunch of washed up, grumpy old has beens that missed the boat either (as you've alluded to in several other posts.) We are the voice of the pilot force, representative of the majority. And in fact, it seems that several of us that are bitching the loudest on here actually have those opportunities that you value so much in front of us, or have already turned them down, voluntarily. Your interpretation of the situation is skewed by your addiction to the kool aid, brother. Open your eyes. We don't want more pay, we want more freedom to do the job that needs doing. This statement shows your cards. You really are blindly grasping at straws here, but unfortunately for the health of the Air Force, you've picked up the short straw and you think its the long one. You think that more of the same wanton mismanagement and lazy application of the "rule book" is going to solve the problem. News flash - this plan will have a negative effect on morale. At the expense of tooting my own horn here, by and large, the pilot force is the smartest, most capable cross section of personnel that the AF has. This is, in part, due to the very nature of selection for UPT and the weeding out process after. If you think that screwing the next generation will somehow escape the scrutiny of the current crop of pilots, you've (again) sadly misread your target audience. Who do you think is going to lead this next generation of screwed-over young LTs? That's right Einstein, the same people that are currently disgruntled by your abhorrent management policies. Making worse management policies will not help your situation. I think your most grievous error here is interpreting that the disgruntled pilots are simply looking out for #1. Wrong. Most of us are so disgruntled because we believe in the importance of having a strong, sustainable airpower force and we see how damaging your policies are to the bottom line of that force. If you think that continuing the downward trend of flawed management polices will not affect morale, you are clueless. I won't even go into this statement, as it's been thoroughly debunked in the preceding pages of this post. I will say that if you expect us to drink your kool-aid, pass it around, and make your job easier, while you continue to F-it up by the numbers, you are sadly mistaken. It's not on me to lie to those I lead in order to create a positive environment. They'd see right through that BS anyway, and then I'd be part of the problem. It's on you and your peers (if you are who you say you are) to fix the environment so that us front line leaders can have a chance of making it positive again. As Clearedhot so eloquently pointed out - senior leadership and their staffs created this mess, you can't put it on our shoulders. One last point. I don't know if G Chang is a troll or not. Doesn't really matter - the problems discussed on this thread are real, and I have no doubt that real AF leadership follow this forum. Please, for the sake of the future of the AF, read and heed. The pages on this forum ARE the Sq level ground truth you guys claim to be seeking. I've answered your surveys. I've spoken frankly to my boss. I've had these conversations repeatedly with my peers. I've mentored the Capts and Lts. Have some courage and make the necessary course corrections. Admit fault if that's what it takes, but show some of those core values that you love to tout. Integrity, Excellence, Service... For Fuks sake, I need a scotch. ETA: Damn, when did I lose the privilege of dropping F-bombs on this forum? Totally F'd up my post, I'd say.

Joining the active duty Air Force was the biggest mistake of my life. I wish I had joined the ANG; hopefully I'll be able to do just that in the next year. I graduated UPT, got my dream job flying the tanker then had it yanked away a couple years later when I got nonvolled to MQ-9s.

It is our future and our lives which is why people are upset. Rather than contemptuously dismissing what pilots are saying about their career fields, maybe you should listen and take to heart what the people who are the closest to the issue have to say.

I think a big part of what you're missing is that due to several problems created by poor leadership over quite some time, this has just become another job. The Airman's creed is a joke, a poor attempt at a PC credo that rings hollow. Even the core values have been eroded; how stupid would I be to blindly assume them to be infallible guidance when it is so clear that big blue leadership does not? The end result is that this has become just another job to many of us, and right now the competition for our skills is high. It's a seller's market. If you want to compete, you have to make the JOB better. You'll never compete with airlines (and several other careers; I'm not personally targeting airlines) on money alone, even with higher bonuses. You can't honestly think $35K/yr will make the bonus numbers stop sagging, so something needs to be done to fundamentally change the fact that the rank and file view this as just another job.

You sound like an SOS instructor. And the lethality of the USAF is decreasing every day you fail at retaining experienced pilots while forcing those who are staying to do every job but tactical protecting American and her interests job.

One of two things is true: he's either (1) an FGO at best with enough insight into our GO leadership to confirm our suspicion that they're completely out of touch or (2) actually an 0-7ish who has been pissed at pilots for 20 yrs and relishes the opportunity to spout off to us behind the anonymity of the interwebs. Either way, the result is the same: confirmation that senior leadership has fornicated away rated manning and ignored the obvious for years, only to hide behind money and core values. Sorry dipshit, your reference to core values will get only laughter from most of us. Gearpig shacked it. Yes, I will call you a dipshit regardless of your rank because you are one. Authority is issued commensurate with rank; respect is still earned and your ilk have earned none. If you were here in person I'd save the "dipshit" name calling but tell you the same thing: the problems you are trying to solve are of your own creation; your peers and their predecessors are bad leaders. Funny thing is that I actually enjoyed my AD time, got good assignments and never left a jet. I was going to school and would have been taken care of. I left without a bitter taste in my mouth. After 20 months of life in the ANG, I look back and realize how fooked AD really is and all I can do is laugh. The grass is so much greener on this side that another $10-20K/yr won't fix the problem - yet that's your only tangible solution in the short term. To to those of you on the fence, get out before stop-loss is invoked. Heed Chang's words and read between the lines - it will have to get substantially worse until leadership realizes their tactics are completely ineffective. Only then can real change happen.

Embarrassing but not as bad as writing up something INOP that is not hanging on the jet..... Which I never did as far as you know.

Absolutely join...don't let these sour grapes force you into any kind of hasty decision. You will regret that forever. Once in, work your tail off and be the best in your unit. Your leadership will fall over themselves to give you the choice assignments you want, all the way to Colonel. If you don't "have excellence," yes, you could find yourself like some on this forum, fulfilling needs of the Air Force that don't align with your plans. However, uphold the core values, and you won't need to worry about that. Be the best and you will rise to the top.

Is PTSD as common as this article makes it sound? http://www.gq.com/story/drone-uav-pilot-assassination