Rusty Pipes

Does this go by the Base it was signed at or where they were when it was approved? Had some buds sign on the way out the door. Just curious if those off at school would be considered AETC or their losing MAJCOM. I would love to see a stat that shows how many takers were in an active flying billet. I know several who signed the 5 year... all but one just PCS'd to school this summer (will most likely spend a year at school followed by 3-4 yrs on Staff) and the one who is still flying will be going to school next summer. I'm wondering what the real demographics are. Anecdotally, since Monday I have had 3 buds actively flying who are not school guys (2 C-17, 1 C-5) tell me they got hired by Guard/Reserve units and are punching between now and next summer. Both C-17 guys were initially told there was a good chance they could still go to school as non-selects, but were told in the past month or so by their bosses that with the new changes there was virtually zero chance... made their decision pretty easy; can't really blame them. The ones I know who did sign are all pretty sharp guys and I'm glad they got the cash, but even they joke about signing the ACSC/Staff Bonus. I would seriously like to hear Liquid or dare I say even Chang chime in to see this was the AF's target group or not. I can only go by what these guys have told me, but every one of them that I've asked said they had every intention of staying in either way. Maybe someone sitting down at Maxwell, Newport or Kansas can chime in with what the word is from those places first hand.

Apparently 55% of the pilots eligible just aren't grateful for the wonderful opportunity that is being bestowed upon them from their kind and giving Air Force... we will obviously be much better off without those ungrateful bastards who will be easily replaced!!! I'm sure most of those takers are putting that money to good use... it can be expensive to fly out of Montgomery to house hunt for future Staff jobs.

I wonder how many of these box checking assclowns that are currently occupying what used to be Leadership positions would start having the "cannot compute" sparks exploding from their ears if someone actually sent forward a strat on an OPR that said "#1 Leader in my Squadron/Flight"? I'm guessing that would probably be a pretty bad strat to get these days though considering that is clearly not what they are looking for anymore!

I get what you're saying, but this wasn't exactly just "some op"... it was "THE OP"!!! Add this story to everything that was said about him just going to bed and not getting updates about Benghazi and it just looks terrible from a PR point of view. Bill Belichick doesn't pop his head in the locker room an hour before the Super Bowl and tell the team, "Hey you guys got this one... I'll see you sometime in the 4th Qtr" and then go play spades with his buddy Bon Jovi.

I was at Ramstein once when my crew shared a bus out to the jet with a Reserve C-5 front end crew where the AC had been arguing a delay code with AMCC saying they were 10 mins late to the window because the bus showed up over 30 mins late. The Maj AC and the AMCC Maj behind the window were getting into it pretty good ending with AMCC saying the crew was getting the delay code and that was how it was going down. When we pulled up to the C-5... it only had 3 engines on it!!! I shit you not!!! I've been alerted to a broken jet before, but it least it had the correct amount of engines on it when I showed up! I was so bummed out that I couldn't make the trip back inside to witness the conversation at the window, but I was literally still laughing 7 hrs later on final at Balad!

This is the exact reason we don't have Leaders in the AF anymore... and the only way guys like GC can get promoted. Everyone gets a trophy... we're all "Warriors", right Chang?!? My current O-6 Boss (non-rated) has logged more hours in Polifka being told he is a Leader and a Warrior than he has in the AOR... and that is not a joke. He also spent 20 minutes yesterday defending Finance E-3's getting Bronze Stars for their 179 to Al Udeid, soooooo...

Hmmm... is being DG at UPT the same as being DG of Finance, Com, LRS school? Is the #1 CGO strat of the MSG the same as the #1 strat of the OG of a flying Wing? Is the #1 CGO strat of the OG at Charleston where they have 4 flying Sqs the same as McGuire where they have 2 or maybe Andrews where they have 2 Sqs, but only a half dozen CGOs in the whole OG? When the AF sends Lt Snuffy to MIT to get his Aero Masters so he can work in a Research Lab at Hanscom is that the same as Lt Jenkins getting his Aviation Management masters from Embry Riddle Online while turning left for 8 hours a day in Sandcamp? Sorry... these things aren't even close to being comparable for all AFSCs unless all you are comparing is whether the box was checked or not. For some reason that part was left out of "The Big Picture" and Big Blue hasn't figured that out yet! I've talked to way too many O-6 types who think all of those are the same... a #1 strat is a #1 strat... a Masters is a Masters... a DG is a DG!

How about when they blame the delay or canx on the first party not to meet the SOE? Showed up at the window at Ramstein once 61 mins after alert, but when we showed up at the jet it wasn't loaded because ATOC only had one team and we were not fueled (#8 in line). I got to answer the call 10 mins prior to the descent into Bagdad from the Senior yelling at me about the 4 hour "crew delay" obviously due to us showing up at the window 1 minute past our SOE. Yeah... that makes perfect sense!

None of this will matter when Zombies take over the Earth anyway...

That's some funny shit right there... i don't care who you are!

I guess the true picture I'm talking about would be a snap shot in Oct or Nov. My buddy who was joking about taking the bonus last week (11M) was driving to his "school" assignment, but signed at his losing base so the stats may be skewed a bit. Hey, he was eligible and is going to be on AD for that whole 5 yrs so I'm glad he is getting the cash, but I'm seriously curious as to how many of those who sign had every intention of staying whether they were offered the bonus or not?

Define "senior leaders"... In the past year I have heard two 4 Stars and a 3 Star in three separate Q&A forums say they are seriously concerned with both pilot shortage and pilot retention issues with the immediate concern being 11F, but in reality it is with pilots in general. They were asked this question directly all 3 times (not by me). Are you saying these Generals were just paying lip service to the group of pilots they were talking to? I am not an A1 guy and I don't see the numbers that AFPC and the Puzzle Palace have, but what I have seen is experienced guys 7 day opting on a regular basis for the past 18 months or so... which I have never seen in my entire career. As it was alluded to earlier in this thread, this is now talked about openly in Squadrons where it never would have been just 2-3 years ago. What would be very telling, but something that would surely never be released is the number of takes for the ACP with their current duty station. I have several friends that have taken the bonus and all of them are in one form of school or another. So if the vast majority of those who signed the bonus were those who were planning on staying in (and won't even be actually flying for 4 of the 5 yrs of the bonus between school and Staff) is that considered a "victory" for these senior leaders? Serious question...

I'm guessing all of the info was "confirmed" by an NTSB summer Intern!!!

Glad the guys got out... I was buds with Gyro Funk who wasn't so lucky at Sheppard a few years ago. Luckily it just took out a few trees too...

I guess if you think about it the window for this as well as the number of folks it applies to wouldn't be significant enough to make much of a difference financially for the AF. The twice passed over to O-5 group looks to be only a few hundred each year and it would usually come at around their 15 yr point (when they are actually offered continuation that is). I've never heard of it happening (maybe some of the guys around during the 90's RIF may have examples), but I think technically even if you are offered continuation Big Blue can still decide to kick you out up until you hit sanctuary (18 years I think). Big Blue already got a huge black eye for non-continuing those 157 that they still haven't recovered from... imagine what would happen if they booted guys who were offered continuation and then booted them a year or two later with just separation pay. Crazier things have happened, but you'd have to be out of your mind or have some incredible deal waiting for you on the outside to walk away at the 18 year point since most early retirement plans discussed have given between a 3-4% reduction per year below 20. Hell, if you have some leave built up you can be on terminal 3-4 months before your actual retirement date anyway! I do know a few guys (3-4 yrs ago) who were continued guys that got hit with shitty 365s at 18 1/2 years which totally sucked. Maybe it just happens to be where I am, but since OIF officially shut down I haven't seen too many non-vol 365s; in fact the few that have been dropped had multiple BPZ wannabes who were volunteering because they didn't want to "miss their chance" to be on a deployed Staff (all you, Bro... you can have it!). I also know some folks who had volunteered for 365s and got sent home after 6-7 months. My point is that being a continued Maj is a pretty good deal... and if you can find a way to keep flying possibly the best deal in the AF. If Big Blue had any brains at all they would go back to what they used to do and put these guys back in the Sqs... You'd have some crusty crew dawgs who were not only happy as a pig in shit, but would bring back the very much needed experience to the Squadrons that whether A1 wants to admit or not are about to be depleted of a lot of talent to the Airlines in the next year or two. The two best pilots (and the ones I by far learned the most from as a young pilot) were the two passed over Majs who were flying the line!

From what I hear adding more pilots to the crew will be pretty easy since we have such a glut of 11Ms... especially in the C-17 community that is supposidly manned at something like 569%, right? Maybe we could use a boom in the cockpit though... then he can go back to tell his buddies how stupid they sound when they say, "Forward 1, Sir". And for the record... we do have multiple Guard C-17 units now, so their jets OBVIOUSLY have stripper poles installed already.

Lots of civilian contractors working on and flying our jets... mostly depot level, but those guys definitely want and need to know.

OK, so which is it... do we have a "glut" of guys or not? Instead of listing all of those who are ineligible for these programs they should just say who is eligible... "After months of debate, discussion, panning and thousands of man hours from our team, we are pleased to announce that the FY14 Voluntary Force Management Program will apply to both Bob and Stanley!" If they have too many guys in that 16-20 year group you would think they would come out with some sort of early retirement program that would save the DoD money in both the short and long term by offering a reduced percentage of base pay for retirement. These guys have either made O-5 or have been offered continuation already (although I don't know what happened to the twice passed over guys with the results out yesterday). Non-continuation was an absolute disaster a few years ago and they know it would crush retention if they tried it again (stranger things have happened though). These guys who are in this 16-20 year window are still going to work hard for you, but even at that the vast majority of them are coasting to 20. If there really is this "glut" of folks in the FGO range that guys like Chang was talking about and the AF really thinks it is a problem... well the same 75% selection rate to O-5 and these Voluntary Force Management Programs aren't doing anything to thin out the herd. If we have so many 11Ms then why would they be ineligible for all of these programs... hmmmmmm? We may be good on the end strength numbers right now, but this program doesn't seem to reflect what we have been hearing from A1 about our manning situation... just an observation.

So Rolling Stone Magazine decides to put the piece of shit Boston Marathon bomber on their cover... good luck ever selling another copy of that magazine anywhere near New England for a while. Way to glorify a murderer... WTF?!?

Bipolar

Oh shit... Did Chang and I just quasi agree on something?!? Hey, I know everyone on here wants things to get better... and there are lots of different opinions on how to make that happen; some good and some bad. I don't see any major changes that are going to make a difference for me before I start hopefully collecting a wake up check and starting career #2 in a few years, but there has to be a medium between the numbers game and the actual people making the mission happen day in and day out.

I'm glad you can speak for everyone on here. BTW... I have no idea what you are talking about when you say I wasn't granted "select" status on the 2009 board. I've never talked about me being a select or non-select for any board and wasn't involved with any board for anything in 2009. I am very well aware of the good I've done in my career and hopefully you'll be glad to hear that anyone who has ever known/worked/flown with me would be laughing their asses off if they heard you describe me as a bitter or angry person. There are lots of good things that we do in the AF, but there are lots of other things that are straight up FUBAR! Sometimes you just need to call the ugly baby ugly and tell the boss that despite the good intentions sometimes his great idea just isn't that great (obviously tactfully and never in public). I have no problem if someone tells me my idea sucks or my way of doing things doesn't work anymore... if anyone else has a better way of doing something then lets do it that way! I'm not worried about trying to get promoted or going to school or getting some made up strat on my OPR... I have no interest at all in becoming a General; I've worked directly for several (3 Generals and an SES 3 Star equiv) and I most definitely don't want their jobs. Maybe that is why I have had no problem being very blunt with them and also why they have all asked what I thought about things because they knew they weren't going to get a BS answer. I most certainly want this to be the best AF we can have and think we have outstanding people at every level. I agree that you need to come to your boss with solutions, I just think in certain areas everyone knows that what we are doing doesn't make sense, but they don't want to say anything because it was the boss' idea.

Or just save everyone a ton of time and money and accredit the UPT/UNT syllabus to a Masters Degree credit! OK... complete pipe dream, but UPT was a million times tougher than any diploma mill I've ever heard of so far! I'm sure there are lots of other programs on the same level (Intel, Space, etc).

Translation: Fix the mess made by shoe clerk ass hats who sit around and tell themselves they are Warriors all day. Chang you have obviously displayed such leadership qualities since you started trolling on here... you must have got your Masters as a 2 Lt!!!

I have never once been scared to be blunt with a commander on any level... especially behind closed doors, but I'd say I am most definitely the exception these days. I would do it on almost a weekly basis with my last OG/CC where at the end of the day when it was just the two of us left in the office I'd ask him if we could close the door and talk. After doing this 2-3 times he asked me why I kept telling him all of this negative shit and I said that I was telling him all the things he didn't want to hear (in private), but probably needed to hear. It wasn't anything about him, it was mostly telling him what I was hearing from the line guys. He said, "...and that is why I need you working for me!" The next day at the end of the OG Staff meeting he did the around the room thing but said, "OK guys... you just spent 45 mins telling me what I wanted to hear, now we're going to spend the next 15 mins where you tell me what I don't want to hear." He was a great Commander! i don't think anyone is confused about the fact that the "needs of the AF" come first. From everything that I've seen you post I'm guessing that you would be a guy that would be great to work for/with, but I'd say that lately the actions you said you have taken as a Commander would put you in the minority (same with Liquid). I don't need to tell you that just one comment of the Chang variety saying "if you don't like it then just leave because you are lucky to be here" will make almost everyone keep quiet for fear of rocking the boat (no strat, bad jobs, no push for XYZ opportunity). Unfortunately I've seen way more Changs than Herks in the past 10 yrs or so. The Bonus isn't going to convice most people to stay (many on here have said it was not a factor at all in their decision)... its just an added extra for those who decided for one reason or another to stay.