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In fact, memorize this...

Why didn't you just say that the first time? You know, instead of spouting off like a complete douche?

To be sure, drones stunted my my professional growth. However, when I was fortunate enough to go down range in the mighty viper after my stint in the black hole, the 1400 hours I spent watching Hajis through the Robot one-eye had some very transferable skill sets. I knew the capes of the droids which came in very handy while strike planning on the fly with the Jtac/Droid operator in dynamic situations. Also, when you watch the bad guy for the amount of time I did/ you have, you gain an intuition about bad-guy behaviors and can sift through the chaff of a civilian tending his goats vs ISIS trying to camo an arty piece in a water truck. Be grateful to return/go to a manned platform, but once you gain some experience in your new airframe, don't be afraid to share your experiences. BL, don't sell yourself short and good luck. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'll throw in my 2 cents. Been married to my wife (1st and only) for 10 years. Got married a year before UPT. I was very upfront and honest that I wouldn't have a whole lot of time besides Saturday and half a day Sunday, until I was done with UPT. She actively supported me because she knew it was my dream and she wanted me to be happy. 10 years later, we have been through countless deployments, TDYs and short notice interruptions to our life. She's been a single parent for probably the majority of our youngest kid's life with me being on the road. I think you need to be upfront and honest. Paint her a realistic picture. If she is a keeper, she will stick through it with you. However I have never once put my "career" in front of her. That's not saying that she has always been happy or that it's all been easy and yes there are some things that you just have to do as part of the job. If you have messed up priorities expect to not have the same family you started with when you retire/separate. I've seen it all too many times. Most of those guys leave with a lot of bitterness and regret. The Air Force will one day be done with you, but your family should be with you forever. You have chosen a tough life. Rewarding but tough. Not just on you, but your wife and your kids never forget that.

The ones that were born male don't count. Which wedding?

Not everyone catches the yellow fever.

I think a lot of what happens is we grow up. Bright-eyed LTs become husbands and dads and start thinking about life after the AF and making more little league games. Priorities change as we get older and the AF can't control that.

Not to mention it's what pays the bills (for most of us). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Anyone with two working brain cells saw this exodus more than 10 yrs ago. The amazing thing was that our pretty darn good upper management ignored/denied all the signs even after being directly briefed

I partly disagree with this. If you ask any UPT stud if they want to do the airlines maybe 2% will say that is their goal. Ask any Capt/Maj and only about 2% want to stay in. So something is happening between year 1 and 8. I think we would be surprised what some good, top to bottom leadership would do to retention and QOL. For too long the Air Force has taken for granted that their people just had no other options. "You unhappy? Fine, just leave. We will find someone else to replace you." I am not saying that increasing airline pay isn't enticing some to leave, but I would say that the mass exodus to the airlines is really just a symptom of the larger issues that the Air Force has failed to address. I can go into specifics but I think that has been beat to death. The Air Force has successfully turned the best job in the world into something that dudes are jumping over each other to leave... That's hard to do.

Why on earth do they wait until War College to teach this. It should be required reading for EVERY commissioning source.

So classy.

If you're referring to the Geographic Combatant Command(er), the proper acronym is GCC. COCOM references command authority, similar to TACON, ADCON, OPCON, etc... Get your shit straight.

Dr. Lehman was the 65th Secretary of the Navy and a member of the 9/11 Commission. More importantly than SECNAV...Dr. Lehman was a Reserve A-6 Intruder B/N (Bombardier/Navigator) and continued to fly out of NAS Oceana even during his days as SECNAV. He was a little before my time...but from what I heard around the squadron spaces, he was popular...had his issues and distractions, but was a pretty effective SECNAV during one of the largest peacetime build ups of our nations military (the 80's). Here is a little taste of what I mean: Posted by aaron on February 19, 2008 Got this kickass story from Gunner John Lehman was the US Secretary of the Navy from 1981 to 1987. He was also in a rather unique position being an active Navy Reserve flier as a Bombadier-Navigator on the A-6 Intruder. In the rank of Commander, he certainly was nowhere near the highest ranking officer where ever he went. However, as Secretary of the Navy he established Naval policy, sat at the very top of the Navy chain-of-command and every Admiral in the Navy answered to him. Never the less, when we put on the Navy uniform, he was just another Commander. Lehman typically would do his required Navy Reserve training at NAS Oceana, not far from his Secretary’s offices in Washington DC. He enjoyed talking with the guys in the back bar at the club. On one such night the Base CO, Dynamite, walked in, spotted Lehman and walked over to apologize along the lines of "Mr. Secretary, I’m sorry, my staff didn't tell me you were aboard the station." Lehman said "That's OK Skipper, I'm just here as a weekend warrior bagging some flight time." Cramer replied, "OK Commander, then get a f*cking haircut and be in my office at 0800!" Lehman immediately walked across the street to the BOQ barbershop!

All of the talk of increasing 11F production, just to make sure that 11F staff billets are filled, reminded me of this blog post from a couple years ago. I feel like the whole damn defense apparatus of the country is somewhere between "Bloat" and full-on "Failure/Implosion." http://www.oftwominds.com/blogdec10/lifecycle-bureaucracy12-10.html "Tip of the spear" military forces and readiness are left twisting in the wind while the thousands of senior officers in the Pentagon and Services jostle for promotions. At the point of implosion, there are more captains, colonels and generals than actual war-fighters. (There are plenty of barbers, cooks, waiters and assistants, though, to serve the senior officers.) Benefits for the survivors are left basically untouched while new hires are fired to preserve the budget for those with seniority. At some point, the mission of the bureaucracy is completely lost, and the citizens' patience with institutional incompetence and self-aggrandizement finally runs out.

Guys, if you have even a RCH inclination to volunteers for a cross flow, do it. Worst case you can go back to flying heavies when your adsc is up. I've never met a heavy > fighter cross flow who regretted it. For those thinking "But my precious career and school slot!"........F-ck that! I know a lot of former pilots/generals and not one of them ever talked about how they miss command or schools. But they tell me often how much they miss the flying and when it's over, it's over. Nobody outside big blue will ever give a shit that you were an in-res ACSC/AWC guy below the zone.....but you'll be talking about your flying stories and experiences your whole life.

Oh good god, man. I was going to let this die rather than participate in a classic baseops dick-measuring contest, but the irony here is just too rich. You lecture your homie about not spouting off about that which he knows nothing of, but then you reply to Moose's very valid points with a naive combination of ignorance and NG propagandist talking points. Once again, you have no clue as to the capes of the U-2. On 4 U2 deployments, I personally have never wx cancelled a U2 mission and can count on one hand the missions that I saw wx cancel. I've climbed and descended through ice, lots of it. I've dodged TS by looking out of the window. I've landed in 1/4 mile vis, mobiled sorties that landed with lightening and TS very close to the field, and mobiled and flown missions which landed in excess of our crosswind limit. The U2 is extremely flexible WRT weather. On station and enroute, we are ALWAYS above it. Can you claim the same things? Not queep unless you are ignorant or just touting the party line. WRT threats, yes, we have capes to operate in those denied environments, jamming and kinetic. Your lack of knowledge here is glaring, but this forum is not the place to rectify that. Grab iowa and go to the vault. Sure, all gobble drivers are now stoked to be there. Wait, let me find my BS flag... I can't even believe that you are persisting with this pack of 12 bullshit. As Moose already pointed out, it's not your POS jet that anybody cares about, its the freaking billion dollar sensor. We don't have 12 packs of those. And yes, distance matters. Especially vertical distance. How high can you guys carry the payload again? Clueless again. You need to open up your aperture beyond mx/wx limitations. Perhaps the U2 wasn't tasked to cover GH shortages because we're already maxed and operating at near 100% rates. Truth. Also, perhaps there have been instances where the CCDR needed an asset in the air RIGHT FUCKING NOW and the GH never entered the conversation because it's not even remotely possible. But guess who can surge, waive shit, plop a driver in the jet and get on station FAST. Ask your intel folks where/when this situation might be applicable. Or ask any U2 driver. Finally, we agree on something. If indeed the GH were merely complimentary to the U2 or its ultimate replacement, that would be fantastic. But for some reason the boneheads making the rules have decided it should be either/or. And therein lies the problem with the GH. And of it were so simple to modify the GH to carry U2 sensors, carry them higher, and generate the power (electricity) required for the next gen, then trust me, NG would have done it long ago. The problem is that it is not a simple remedy, and may in fact prove impossible. Which could leave us with a subpar platform replacing a more capable (and cheaper) platform for the sake of politics. I don't care what you fly, that is a fucking fail.

Ha. Ok. Whatever you say, buddy.

Whether it's easy or hard to get away on the weekends or not, life in the USAF with a spouse/loved one is all about expectation management. Set her expectations now that it is unlikely you will be able to travel to see her very often at all -- anything more than that and you are her hero because in her mind you pushed he limits just to see her. If she wants to know what time you'll be home, tell her 8pm even if you think 6pm is possible. Tell her that two 365s could happen before you hit 20yrs. If you only do one, or even none, she'll feel like she's won. Words to live by from a fighter pilot in my first squadron. Expectation management.

BWAA! Hahaha!!!