Lord Ratner

Not really. Law enforcement in America is still working. We are not on track for a massive degradation in police operations. Can the same be said for the Air Force? Just because your commander is a "good dude" who "gets it" doesn't mean he or she is qualified to run a massive organization. I get what you're saying, but the evidence is not on the pilots' side. Also, your analogy would be more accurate if you were saying the mayor of the city should be a cop, which in most cases is not true, or necessary for a city to have an effective police force.

Let's face it, the pilots can't hack it

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

Thanks for the info, it's good to have perspective shared

One counter point that I think might make it worth the gamble is the retirements for AA. If, big if, the union can get it together in the next 10 years, the opportunity for seniority movement crushes the other carriers. I will say, their hiring process was the friendliest experience I've ever had.

STOP! If we say it two more times he will be summoned...

Go on...

When I spoke with them in 2015, the Italian booms were not fond of the system

Yeah, but 89 of those days were spent arguing about the difference between an aileron roll and a barrel roll.

Being a commander is not a requirement. If you're not interested in performing all of the usual duties for all of your subordinates who are serving in lawful capacities, then just don't be a commander. It would be pandemonium amongst the ranks if the first gay commander only signed certs for gay spouses, and they would be rightly upset.

Dear God yes.

I have an interview with AA in a few weeks. Any areas to focus on other than the usual ECIC?

So an adult job... Like the airlines?

Any vindictive OG would recognize their words being put out online. This only seems to protect the commander, not the poster...

Phase one, voluntary recalls. Phase two, stop loss. Phase three, involuntary recalls. This move makes phase one look more thoroughly applied and paves the way for an inevitable phase two.

This would support my argument in two ways. First, there's nothing that says C-130s can't be like Fighters, where since skill is required to support the mission, there's a higher incidence of skilled pilots in Leadership positions. However, because of the existence of the Phoenix reach program and a general desire to swap commanders into different airframes, bad pilots from other heavies that have distinguished themselves through paperwork are still able to take over C-130 squadrons as commanders, bypassing the requirement to be good at flying C-130 missions. Last I heard there were more C-17 pilots taking over C-130 squadrons than the reverse, so even though C-130 pilots may require more skill to accomplish their mission, the net effect of the system, thanks to Phoenix reach, would be the same.

I could write an entire paper on how the mobility Air Forces delegitimize flying skill. But the bottom line is this: for the most part, you don't have to be good to accomplish our mission. Because you can be quite bad at the actual skill of flying and still get the mobility mission done, guys are able to focus their early careers on superfluous shit, while maintaining only a baseline competency in the jet. Since this strategy optimizes your chances for promotion, especially within Mobility, these people end up in positions of power. And since they weren't competent in the jet, they perpetuate the idea that skill in the jet is not as important as the skill of paperwork, and being an exec, and other non flying related tasks. Since the reality is that you can be bad in the jet and get the mobility mission done, this mindset is able survive. What commander who got where they are by being terrible in the aircraft is going to promote a squadron culture of being skilled in the aircraft? Because people are generally proponents of the way they got to their position in life, these weak pilots deemphasize skill, sometimes actively.

The first round of Metamucil is on me, old man.

Sweet, so all the guys who get hit on the river walk in San Antonio for public intoxication should be gone too. And yet again, all those lovely commanders running around with DUIs. How about loud music? Speeding? Ooh, I know, double parking! Lets kick them out too.

So far no one has explained how their actions are worse than our many, many, many DUI veterans. Or how abut people who use racial slurs? One and done? Stealing from the snack bar? I guess the one-mistake Air Force isn't going anywhere soon.

Who knows? You ever met a 19 year old who thinks they're a Satanist? Overwhelmingly awkward nerds looking for acceptance from other dorks who rebel against the status quo. Goths. Punk rockers. Similar strains. I suppose we should just dump anyone who stole from a grocery store too. Or put graffiti on an overpass? Or keyed a car? I sometimes think pilots are so incredibly spoiled with our limited interaction with enlisted troops, and then the ones we get, booms, loads, engineers, they are often the top of the heap. Then again, one of my previous sq superintendents was a gang banger and homeless in his youth. If I recall correctly, Ben Carson did some stupid shit as a teen. Too bad those fools in medical school didn't kick him out! Waste of resources! How about the commanders, or even better, the people on this very board who have DUIs? I suppose they are better than some kids with red paint, despite being so selfish they put the lives of innocent pedestrians and driver's at risk because a cab was too expensive. There's a beautiful irony in Christians treating the vandalism of a church as more severe than other non violent crimes. I'll ask again, what would Jesus have done if he caught the young airmen?

That's interesting. I'd rather clean a star with a circle off the wall than get covered in the collected shit of 300 people. I honestly don't know if my highschool was just some anomaly full of evil hellions who found the redemptive power of age, but I've noticed that people get really skilled at forgetting their own youthful transgressions, or worse, pretending like theirs were "completely different." I wonder how Jesus himself would treat teenagers who spray painted his house with the symbols of his enemy.

Probably, yes.

Kids, being kids. Some are dumber than others. I hope leadership fixes them, rather than destroys them

Well, you did a great job completely invalidating your arguments here. Go read Federalist Paper No. 78.