NHbound

Sorry, Azimuth, I saw this late. You should apply.

You and most everyone else's exit strategy involves joining a guard unit. Much like every other guard unit, we will hire non -135 ppl if we believe you will fit into our culture. As for the -46, it doesn't matter to us in terms of hiring, and it shouldn't matter to you. Good luck, ~NH

Revival - anyone else get a fat check from Sallie Mae today? Says it was from a settlement with the DOJ over SCRA violations.

Totally worth watching. Gave a great history of all of the steps/missteps leading up to the current situation in Iraq.

This is the one and only thing I remember from SOS. I had to read it again a few times to make sure it actually said that. I was just absolutely flabbergasted and disgusted at that statement. I knocked SOS out with a few other guys from my squadron while deployed to the garden spot of Southwest Asia. A few days after reading that, a crew got Q3'd for aborting under completely legit circumstances prior to S1. This is the culture we are creating for ourselves.

This is just... awesome. C130Johnson, I picked up a pretty sweet little HD camcorder prior to heading down to UPT, and had every hope of taking some cool video for the wife and family. I learned fairly quickly that it was completely impractical for a number of reasons, the least of which being that no OG/CC would ever approve of a stud taking a camera with them... especially on a solo ride. Honestly, you will have bigger things to worry about, like not sucking and killing yourself. When I switched over to T-1's, I went back to my old squadron a few months later and asked one of my old IP's to take the camera with them on a currency formation ride with 3 other IP's. OG approved, cool video provided for the wife and fam. It wasn't me flying, but it was at least a legit way to get it done. Could you get away with bringing one on your own? Probably, provided you don't do something stupid like post it on youtube. Most likely nothing will go wrong and you'll have a cool memory. But if you do something stupid, there will be some pretty compelling high definition video to assist in your rapid removal from the AF, or worst case, you'll be documenting your final moments for your family. Cool screen name bro. ~NH

This is my $.02 as a current -135 AC, and a Coronet Detail Planner with one of the Guard TTF shops. I have about 6-7 years in the 135 and about 3 years now of traveling around the world as a Coronet Planner on KC-10s. I'm not going to engage in any of the community/culture bashing or wenis measuring contests. Most tanker dudes are good pilots/booms and want to do their job well. Some suck, and want to keep sucking. No community is immune. From a planning perspective, JarheadBoom hit the nail on the head. A safe rule of thumb in the coronet world is that 1 x KC-10 = 2 x KC-135s. As a planner, we obviously love to reduce the number of moving parts whenever possible. But could we do some of our most complex coronet mission sets (ie, Strikes from KMUO-AOR or 22's from PAED-AOR) with only 135s? Of course. We have done it, all the time. We have also done them with only KC-10s. In the end, the missions are completed with similar rates of MX issues, etc. What matters to the people who’s opinion matter is that the fighters get delivered nearly on time, not a 10-20% cost differential. I have also seen it go both ways with receiver units. Some Navy/Marine units have squawked about 135s. Some got KC-10's. Some were told that the 135 was their only option. It mostly had to do with tail availability. I have yet to see a unit wait for a KC-10 to free up rather than deal with a 135 and go on time, especially when headed westbound. In the case of FMS sales, the rcvr units (most recently Tornados for me) get what they want for obvious reasons. As others have said quite accurately, if big blue does cut the 10 it will be completely about $$. A smaller inventory (less than 20% of the 135 fleet size) with overlapping capabilities would seem to be an easy target. All semantics about who has more items of flair aside, we have other jets that can offload gas and move cargo in the inventory, and rcvr units will adapt. We as planners will adapt, but it will suck. All that being said, I think this and discussions about chopping the A-10 are mostly posturing to wake politicians up to the impacts of sequestration. But anyone who convinces themselves that their job, airplane, base, etc, are indispensable in today's military is just setting themselves up for failure. ~NH

Shack. Exactly how it was for me, 7 yrs ago. YMMV.

This is partially true. I was on this type of waiver while at CBM for UPT, however in my case the waiver was conditional on having dependents and they were staying home. I have not heard of an instance of someone getting it without dependents. If you can hold off, I would. Interest rates will probably stay below 5% for the next year or two. You also want to minimize your outside stressors while at UPT, and a crazy tenant or a broken furnance blah blah etc that you can't do a thing about will just make you crazy. Lots of people on here have horror stories about that kind of thing. YMMV. Good luck and congrats on the slot.

Assume you have some factual data to back this up. Do you have some inside info on BRAC that we don't? Don't want to be a pot stirrer as obviously from my screen name you can see i am biased, but any of the east coast bases would have been a better choice than Forbes. How would two KC-46 bases in the same state be a better option? Lifecycle costs savings operating from the east coast alone makes up for any difference in initial construction. And from what we've heard, I'm not sure your statement about being cheaper is based in reality. ~NH

Edited: U for SA... thought you guys were talking about academic testing, not PT. I think I know the person you are refering to... a couple of us took our test a few weeks ago and one of the guys I was with who was behind me took one step into her office and she immediately yelled "I'LL BE RIGHT WITH YOU SIR" along with some speed brake hands. She did the same thing the next week, and this time he didn't even step inside the office. UFB. She also gave a long speech about cheating and UCMJ punishments... good thing we didn't bring the 100+ pages of gouge we had with us. On an unrelated note, I have to admit that this was one of the most laid back Deid deployments I have ever had. My boom got chiefed a couple of times, but I never had a word said to me, and my stache was wayyy out of limits. Having the Guard in charge has made a huge difference IMO.

So apparently with the end of BDU's the AAFES online store is no longer carrying bdu/flight suit rank. The nearest real BX is over an hour from me. Does anyone know of an online retailer that carries flight suit rank? Thanks. ~NH

I was not in his class, but he was two classes ahead of me at CBM. There were rumors about him all throughout UPT, to include that the Viper unit dropped him after T-6's. He was then "picked up" by a reserve buff unit, got dropped by them then ended up in MC's. I cant say I ever heard anything about the guy personally, but there was plenty of talk flying around about his general father. ~NH

This is a question I am hoping someone in the know like Finance Guy can answer. I recently switched from MPA to AGR orders. I opted to sell back the leave I accumulated on the MPA tour, about 58 days. I initiated the sellback in October, and deployed at the end of that month. Oct, Nov, and Dec are tax free for me this year. So the question is, is the leave sellback tax exempt as well? If so, it would be a huge chunk of change, leave sellbacks are taxed at 25%. Thanks! ~NH

Also got this today...

I worked at an FBO for a few months... plenty of overtime opportunity and awesome tips. Was a great way to spend a summer, and met a lot of cool people.

I can only speak from my experience at UPT, but I saw about 4 or 5 different pilot couples get stationed together. Two couples were FAIP'd, two went to McConnell for -135's, and I believe the fifth ended up at McChord. I will also say I knew one T-38/T-1 couple, and one ended up FAIPing and the other went to Florida for -15's. She is just now catching up with him by going to the -135. Just my $.02, but I would hang on to the pilot slot. Chances are even if you don't get your first assignment together you would almost certainly end up together later (white jet or staff tour for example.) From my experience as long as your leadership knows what you want and you work hard during UPT, they will work pretty hard to get you what you want. ~NH Edited for Grammification errors.

Funny, I would never say that. Civ experience provides no guarantee of "passing" UPT, but it does help. Basic stick and rudder ability, situational awareness, and airmanship in general are skills that can developed long before arriving at UPT. Just remember that a lot of what you learn will be tossed out the window. Again, funny. The AF takes people with zero aviation experience and throws them in a T-6, equally if not more responsive and powerful than the Decathlon. T-6 Fact Sheet Decathlon Fact Sheet To the OP: use the search function. Lots of discussion about various types of flight time prior to UPT. Just my $.02, the 20 hrs I logged in a super decathlon were some of the most helpful of my civ time when I reached the contact/final contact phases of the T-6 program. If you can afford it, do it.

TOTALLY NORMAL to not hear from him, especially during week one. I went through the Knoxville AMS so if it hasn't changed he will be able to use the phone during off hours in phase 2, which usually happens late in week 2. As far as the letter a day thing, I think I would have enjoyed that in the early phases. I'm sure you won't feel the need as much once he gets phone privileges. Things you can do: My wife listened to my rants on the phone and patiently reminded me of the bigger picture. She also bought a brand new dress, got her hair done, etc, before coming down for the graduation, and looked STUNNING at the formal dinner. That definitely made me smile. Don't worry, 6 weeks will be over before you know it... really.

I lived off VB for about 2 years when I lived down there. Most locals consider it piss, but the funny thing is they wont export it anywhere. Other good ones: Sam Adams Summer Ale Harpoon Celtic Ale (like Killians but better) Smuttynose Star Island Single and IPA Red Hook Copper Hook But in reality I have yet to meet a beer I do not like. Beer is good.

The AMS requirements are pulled directly from the AF fitness requirements, so take a look at those. They recently changed the standards, but at 74 inches you should be good up to 214lbs. They will definitely send you home for being overweight or incapable of passing the fitness test, no exceptions. Good luck.

Thanks!

Revival, but in a bit of a different direction. I wish to display my state flag and the American flag on my porch. I know the American flag should be displayed slightly higher than the other, but is there a correct position? IE, should it be to the right or left of the state flag? Thanks! ~NH

I drove my car and I thought it was worth it. During the final week it was awesome to be able to go out for dinner (even though being asked if we were in the Coast Guard all the time sucked.) You can store unneeded crap that you'll inevitably bring and won't need in the car instead of in your footlocker. My wife flew down for graduation, then we drove home together and it was an awesome way to relax.