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Duck, congratulations on your promotion to Major!

So I’ll pitch in with a possibly unpopular opinion that I guarantee will trigger Mark1, but the day to day sacrifice of deployments is exponentially worse on guys with kids than single dudes. I missed my wife’s birthday 4 years in a row, 3 Christmases, and a lot of other kid milestones (First steps, etc). Single guys missed Hangout Fest and the Star Wars premiere. I’m obviously exaggerating here, but when you said that, I was looking for my standardized eyeroll emoji.

Do NOT get ICL's. Those would be non-waiverable. As far as flat corneas post PRK/LASIK, how flat are we talking? Less than 35 D? The AF has no standard for post op flat K's or corneal thickness for applicants (although we probably should), however, you may be risking your vision for the rest of your life and it's possible you may not meet the AF standards for vision if the outcome is really poor. Let me know if you want more details.

Get high, get fast, do some good work. Go downtown, drop some bombs, kill all the assholes. Land, drink some whiskeys, tell stories at the bar and go home drunk to a wife who hates your lifestyle and thinks you are too old to still act like a degenerate child. Pass out, wake up and do it all again. Caveat: not for everyone.

Major (select) Duck, field grade is an honor and a responsibility. Are you ready?

"pretty darn good"

Yeah but you get an extra $250 a month for family separation so that totally makes up for it. I say this as I'm about to say bye to my two month old kid to do a nice non flying six monther... I can't wait to spend that extra $1500 of FSP! Where's my fvckin eye rolling emoji?!

ah but haven't you heard!? they are going to take a high school grad and 6 months later <BOOM> F-35 wingman!!!!!! and do it with AI/SIMS so no IPs needed!!!!

CRM is not limited to heavies - it fully exists in the fighter world, you're just working with guys in another jet (single seat world). Flight hours are less overall, but flight hours are also not "equal" either...1 hr in a C-17 is not a direct comparison to 1 hr in a F-16; there's a reason fighter guys are getting hired by airlines at the bare minimum requirements, so I wouldn't personally be extremely concerned with "total hours" if airlines are eventually your desire. The guard fighters GENERALLY do 2-3 month deployments, unlike AD's 6 month standard. QOL in good; the flying/mission is phenomenal - do you want to fly at 100' AGL and 50K in the same sortie, blow assholes up, shoot missiles, fly in all corners of the world, go on awesome TDYs, etc? It's a great lifetstyle, but not for all...it's competitive, can be more stressful (good and bad), etc. If you enjoyed sports in high school/college, the camaraderie and competition, then you'll probably like it. If you though those guys were assholes and don't feel comfortable with competition amongst your peers, or think being 33 yrs old and still studying for several hours on a day you're not flying is bullshit, then it may not be for you.

Too lazy to search right now but isn’t that two? Careful friends, one more time and we’ll have beetlejuiced ourselves.

Maybe but waiting for that is not an option IMO. Again, I'm not sure the AFA or a sub-organization under it is the right vehicle but if we (those who believe the AF needs a major course correction) do not organize under a banner, communicate clearly and prove to the public and decision makers the problem(s) with viable, feasible, executable reforms offered and defended, then nothing will change. I have no delusions of grandeur nor am I naive to think this would be a sprint to a quick victory, it would be a marathon uphill in a snowstorm but it has to start somewhere. There's more than a few people on this forum I suspect that have access or contact with decision makers (HAF, Congress, Executive Administration, Media, Academia, etc...) and with a strategy, they could fight a good fight in the war for reform. Make a case in the public arena, publish articles, speak to interested media and win converts to the cause. This already being done but it seems to be going nowhere, with the only change of note being the belated and reluctant retirement system reform, nothing is prodding the Air Staff to evolve, something besides JQP and this forum has got to put the status quo on the defensive.

Having been in an FTU that has never washed out a pilot (100% graduation rate), I can confirm this is a morale drain.

That’s actually a quicker pace than average. My year group was something like 113 per month till the last two months of the year, when the last 900 or so numbers were pickled off in mass chunks.

My ops group has stiff-armed the majority of bullshit additional duties out there. The officers are all concentrated on primarily mission-related duties as well as flying. There is so much (worthwhile) work to be done to improve our platform and way of doing business. We couldn't afford to have a "flying-only" guy that doesn't help out with that. Pilots don't just pilot. Flying a plane is hard, but regular Joes can be taught. Learning all the technical shit is doable. Handling EPs is tougher. Formation is tougher. Doing all that in a jet is tougher. Doing that in the middle of the Pacific is tougher. Being responsible for multiple aircraft doing so is tougher. Add in weather. Add in GBAD and air threats and their intent to employ against you. Oh yeah, employment, that's why we're here. What, where, why, when and how will we use the thing? Meld that with everybody else's plan in real time. Who figures all that out and takes the responsibility for doing so? Who figures out how we're going to do that tomorrow and in ten years? The pilots (and navs). It sure isn't some mystical puppet master, and if it is, he's a pilot. So yeah, I want somebody with the ability to graduate fucking college first.

Enlisted Pilots? We already have a program where motivated E's can become pilots, it's called OTS. It works too. I know because I'm one of them. If an E thinks going to college while working is too tough....then pilot training will be impossible.

Thinking long term here, if we lose Incirlik our next move is to fully support the Peshmerga Kurds militarily and economically. The only reason this has not happened is because we want to keep using Incirlik. I also think that is the least of Erdogon worries is us or the Kurds. Putin will not be happy having his Black Sea fleet and oil tankers not being able to use the Bosphorus Strait. The next question after that, does NATO honor it's treaty obligations if Turkey and Russia lock horns.