guineapigfury

Nice first post. RPA's work nights, that's a given. The RPA mission isn't even stood up there yet, so how would you know how they are going to get treated? In conclusion, I concur with 10%truth:

Nice, I'm saving that one for later.

No, just required by the Tongue and Quill.

FTFY.

Fail as in stupid. Who needs who more, the base or the locals?

Pics?

Fail.

The wrong mammals look embarrassed in that photo.

Craniumshot.

Pretty sure they get the Jihadi equivalent of USAA. You get a generous family discount on your camel policy, but hut owner's insurance doesn't cover suicide vest-related mishaps. Also, excellent customer service, so you never have to say Derka-Derka to a machine.

This happened to me multiple times at the back gate at Holloman, except there was no car behind me. Random Anti-terrorism Measure or some such nonsense. I asked how long I would be waiting there and was told "until the next car". Fucking retards.

Well played.

Probably because Marines need to get their haircut weekly to stay within their regs, whereas we AF people can get away with twice a month. Or you can just go with the advanced technique: male pattern baldness.

So there I was; taxiing a KC-135 at Osan. A solitary white pick-up blocks our path. I taxi closer and the pick-up remains. We come to a stop, well clear and begin flashing the landing light. Still nothing. Suddenly, another white pickup zooms into view and a SF dude sprints out toward the stopped vehicle. He opens the door, at which point the clearly bewildered occupant starts flailing wildly as his dreams of sugar plums, soju and juicy girls have been cruelly interrupted. Moral of the story: the taxiway is not for naptimes.

The rule is you have to be current, not passing. What your wing would choose to do, I do not know. I've seen people sent anyways, and deployments turned off at the last minute leaving the guy already downrange involuntarily extended.

Maybe I'm just a nostalgic Army brat, but does anyone else like the Robin Hood sub shops? I'd like to see that in my local on-base food court. Right now it seems like all the onbase food options are fairly unhealthy (BK, cheesesteaks, and pizza). I tend to default to commissary sushi (actually quite good here at Ellsworth).

Call me when they're selling it in a can. I'll stock up next time I'm at the commissary. Presumably it'll be next to the tuna.

So much this.

Concur, we have an awesome CSAF undermined by piss poor followership at the levels between him and the squadrons. Guidance needs to take the form of AFI changes at this point, since "conspicuous compliance" seems to be all those people understand.

There is nothing to say the CSAF won't fire some high-ranking AFPC goobers after this shit-show reaches its conclusion. The appropriate punishment may be to make the current AFPC managment clean up their own mess, then show them the door.

It's almost like there is a rule that says "timing is everything".

The document this was in on the portal was a good read overall. However, they elided the single most relevant point regarding the future or RPAs: who is going to fly the damn things? The assumption that the USAF will continue to draw pilot talent to perform any job other than flying real airplanes is comical. Once we leave Afghanistan (hopefully sooner rather than later), we won't even have the satisfaction of knowing we're supporting the dudes on the ground. The only thing that keeps me going at work is the knowing that I might get the chance to shoot tonight. If that goes away, I expect already low morale and job satisfaction to crater in fairly short order unless we see a drastic reduction in ops tempo.

I will say the BX is useful OCONUS. Good luck finding size 13 shoes in Japan anywhere else. Good point on the walkability being a secret bonus for the younger dudes and dudettes who live on base without a car.

But is it constantly eating cake?

This is already happening. I've met more than a handful of guys in RPA's who opted for this route to take advantage of the shorter ADSC (6 years vs 10). Still time to upgrade to instructor, get a couple thousand hours and be in a good position to take advantage of free agency if RPA opportunities are available on the outside. Or they can separate and use the GI Bill to get a real Master's Degree before they're 30 years old. Well planned FENCE Out, I think.