Lord Ratner

Is that an average? Guys we talked to out there were getting 750 a day deployed, and half that back in the states if they had a job, 0 if they only did the deployed part.

Actually, that didn't help much at all. Other stuff has. But I have no intention of scaring away one of the best things to happen to BODN in a while by "outing" him. Suffice it to say he's the real deal. Either that, or its a very elaborate ruse by someone who researched his past and has way more troll skills than the rest of us will ever understand. Doubt it though.

Cake compared to the (new?) Risk Management Fundamentals. Took over an hour, and that was while max performing the left mouse button.

That "culture" already exists within certain bases/squadrons. It's tragic.

What aircraft? Not trying to identify her, just trying to get a better sense of which community this story relates to. Not all flying squadrons are even remotely alike.

Was anyone in AETC when the T-1 came online? Seems like a way for the AF to save money by lowering the standard for passing UPT and thus wasting less money on wash-outs. What was the party-line back then? Disclaimer: I went through T-1s.

Poorly, poor, bare bones, none, don't know. In the tanker, you have one app for looking at pubs, and one for looking at approach plates. The pubs app is tolerable (pretty sure its a commercial app), and the FLIP app is garbage (made specifically for the govt). Everything else is completely locked down. The iPad itself is terrible for FLIP in my opinion. Too big, too heavy, and too bright. A kindle with the integrated light (or any e-ink type display) would be cheaper, lighter, and easier to read on final.

As a FAIP who just moved into the AMC (really USAFE, but same difference) heavy world: go to and enjoy every single one of those squadron events. If you ever find yourself thinking about sitting one out, slap your self and tell the POC you'll be there. It does not exist in any way, shape or form out here, and like you, I got the same feedback from the MWS guys. If your UPT squadron was anything like mine (or is the same one), you aren't going to find that anywhere else. Enjoy the hell out of it.

Everything you said, which I mostly disagreed with but still respected as valid, was undone right here. When's the last time you were around a group of maintainers? I've heard more horribly inappropriate shit come from maintainers, some even female, than any other group in the AF (except perhaps EOD). Whatever metric is being used to measure the problem, it's ######ed if someone actually believes the OGs have a bigger (rather than more visible) problem with SA/SH. Here's the other side to the coin: Never in human history has the military operated this way. That doesn't mean it won't work, hell, I'd bet it will. But to me it's like the uniform battle. Every time an E-9 goes on a rant about pilots with their zippers down or maintainers with dirty boots or personnelists with jackets on indoors, they fall back on the "history" that the uniform represents and the "heritage" we are shitting on by wearing it "disrespectfully." Yet every picture I see of WWI and WWII looks like a competition for who can wear their hat funnier, or not at all. Vietnam vets could be seen wearing more than the required pieces of flair, if any uniform items at all. It's made up. They're using a fictional history to justify the new direction. Just like our current battle with SA/SH in the workplace. There's no historical precedent for a non-sexualized military, so instead of attacking how fighter pilots (or whoever) have been doing it wrong all this time and we just "finally have a senior leader with the balls to confront it," be honest about it. Times have changed, and we have to change with them. The Captains and Majors complaining about having to change aren't to blame any more than the Colonels and Generals (now the ones telling them how stupid and offensive they are) are for doing it when they were captains and majors. But if you think our culture is worse than others, I challenge you to spend some time with an army unit living next door in Bagram. It may calibrate your expectations. Sir.

Bitter? I loved every second of that job. I'd go back without hesitation. Save your crap FAIP generalizations. Why do you have such a hard time conceptualizing it? Or are you unable to see past the caricature of an angry FAIP you've built in your mind? Do you imagine it to be a non-stop parade of profanity? A 1.3 where I simply imitate a car alarm? I yelled at the students who needed to be yelled at. Students like me, and others not like me. Others I simply took the aircraft and redemo'd the maneuver. I didn't do it because it was fun (even though it was), I did it because the ones I yelled at told me the same thing I told my "bitter FAIP" after phase two: Thanks for getting me to pull my head out of my ass and be better. Believe it or not, pilot training attracts some rather over-confident assertive personalities that occasionally need to be taken down a notch. C4103 was my first of several come-to-jesus moments. Or maybe you're right, and all students are the same and just need to be gently reminded of their downgrades. As I said before, UPT needs all types of IPs. Un###### their heads? It's stand-up, not the trenches of WWI. Anyways, I'm done pissing all over this kid's thread. My advice stands. Learn those three things before the dollar ride, and you won't have to worry about your IP being concerned about your emotional growth opportunities. The horror.

I mean, we did literally survive.

Got it, you were weak in UPT, and the injustices of the world have made you a crusader for the new generation of students with no hands. Good. UPT needs instructors like you too. But don't assume that FAIPs just lack perspective. Experience with copilots in two MWS have only made me regret letting some of them slide when they should have gone to that third 89. Every student is different. Some, perhaps like you, didn't respond to yelling. In fact the worse the student, the less you can yell (generally). But it may surprise you to learn the better students often need a sharp kick in the ass to do better than just good enough. Airline pilots (50%ish), some prior-e flightcrew, and the ones who just lucked into being shit-hot fall into this category. They don't tremble like a leaf in the wind when you hook them for a bullshit checklist step (yes, we know its a bullshit hook), they hit the books harder and refocus on improvement. From your post, it seems like your only experience with UPT is from the perspective of a student, and even the nicest, they'll-fix-him-in-phase-3, E's-for-everyone Santa Claus will tell you a students perspective is worthless. T6 I flew great, T-1 i was so-so, MC-12 was a piece of cake, and in the tanker I'm survivable at best, but striving for mediocre.

...Continue to Challenge!...

False. 100 hours in a Cessna may as well be 100 hours knitting. I had airline pilots with 3000+ hours (many of those were teaching PPL flights) walk in and knock their dollar ride out of the park. But the second I started yelling it was like Michael J Fox trying to play Jenga in the front cockpit. Likewise, they knew the ILS like the back of their hand, but when I (intentionally) blocked any radio call they started with "and uh," we'd be on the missed approach before they could check in with tower. You're either good, or your not. If you're good, pilot training will be a breeze. Sure, you'll pretend like it's hard because you don't want to seem like a braggart, but the simple truth is the majority of the people at the top of the class aren't "working their ass off" compared to the people are aren't naturally talented at flying. If you're not good, you'll just have to spend every waking second of UPT building your skills until you are good. But you wont know until you start. To the future UPT stud: Study nothing now. If you absolutely must, memorize the Bold Face and Ops Limits, but no more. AFTER you start academics, aside from learning what they teach, memorize these three things, cold. 1. All standard radio calls, where to say them, what information to include, and know what they mean. There aren't many in Contact, but nothing destroys your ability to keep the jet where you want it like fumble ######ing around with a two word radio call. 2. All checklists on the consolidated checklist, in order. If a two word radio call can put you 300 feet off altitude, imagine what looking around the cockpit for the next step in the HEFOEP check will do. Learn them all cold, use your poster to make sure you actually know where the switches all are, and when you finally have the opportunity, spend lots of time in the UTD (screenless simulator) going over the checklists, beginning to end. Take a friend and time each other on the cockpit check. 90 seconds in the sim is slow, 3. Departure procedures. There will be 4 or 5 for contact. Know them cold. Altitudes, courses (most are GPS now anyways), points. Know them cold. Did I mention you should know them cold? If you know the above items perfectly on your first flight... you'll still ###### up royally. But 4 or 5 flights later your comrades will still be pulling their peckers out of their mouths to call Initial, and you'll have your shit in a sock, and will be able to focus on the real flying. And for god's sake, don't listen to other UPT students.

I know this surprises no one here, but that article has nothing in it that supports the so called good-old-boy club argument. It even has one of the good old boys arguing against a verdict reversal. I also found it interesting that Hicks "knew [breedlove] was “very much in Franklin’s camp.”"

Agreed, with one exception: Everything out here looks like a pub (especially from the outside), and compared to American restaurants, is a pub. There is a slow, but steady movement (at least where we are) of pubs bringing in real chefs and serving some pretty great food. Still rare, but one just popped up in Ely. The problem is that it still looks exactly like all the shitty-food pubs and there is no reliable review system like Yelp in the US. Compared to the US though, it's still dire.

My advice based on a few trips down there. Get an Oyster card (5gbp) and use the tube to the max extent. I wont go over the prices, but you'll save more time and money than you could possibly imagine. The card makes it easier if you plan on using the tube multiple times a day, which you should plan on. You can save the 5 quid and get a zone pass each day, but I like the card better. Avoid cabs. A single cab ride will cost you more than an all day pass on the tube. As stated by someone else, the Tower of London is for history nerds, as are many other attractions out there. The fact you'll be paying about 20 - 30 quid per location means you really have to like that kind of shit. Westminster Abbey, Buckingham, ToL, Kensington Palace, there are lots of wildly historic places there to see. We like that stuff, so we go, but others have been bored out of their mind. Double Decker Bus - The tours are hop-on hop-off, so a ticket lasts all day, but honestly it's a pretty terrible way to get around london. The tube is better. Instead, get tickets online for a night time double decker tour. They are generally about 1/2 the price, and instead of using it as a way to get around, just get on, ride the whole circuit (60-90 minutes) and you can check off seeing many of the more conventional tourist areas in one go. London Dungeon, Madam Toussaints, etc - Depends on your tastes. I thought the Dungeon was awesome. Kind of a mix of a haunted house, carnival rides, cheesy acting, and some very basic history. If you want to do it in conjuntion with the Eye ferris wheel, you can get a combo discount online. The lines are long in the mid afternoon, but die down around 630pm. Just watch out for closing times. Hotels are expensive. Find a hotel on the outskirts of london near a tube station, and use the saved money towards the food, which is expensive. Learn to love the salt shaker. London is better about good food, but many of the pubs will over promise and under deliver as far as food quality goes. I cant think of much else. If you have any specific questions, PM me or ask here.

The plot was B. But the production was A and the acting was a solid A-/B+. I get the sense that the science of making an action movie has gotten to the point where there are no B movies any more, just boring A movies and low budget C movies.

I hope not. DTS is one of our less talked about financial catastrophes in the world of acquisitions.

Shhhh. You're ruining the righteous fury of the we're-all-snowflakes crowd with your experience and perspective.

The real question is, if the Navy's primary mission these days is projection of Air Power all over the globe, why do we waste our time with a separate service (Navy) when we could just keep the support assets together. Or to put it in his words: Separating naval military assets from the air assets they organically support makes no more sense than the creation of separate arms for tanks and submarines.

Just because he's old doesn't mean he can't smell what the rock is cooking.

This. I always loved how low on SA the preds were in a stack. That's not to shit on the pilots, they knew their systems' limitations and worked diligently to mitigate, but sometimes it would get to be a bit much, and suddenly someone in the stack would call out moderate turbulence for no reason... But one day, those weaknesses will be overcome. Most likely once the Google's and Microsofts out there start playing. A few nerds can build a self driving car on their spare time, but a major defense contractor can't make a gradesheet program for UPT without 10 years of Beta testing? And we wonder why we're broke.

Walnut Creek. It may not be as glamorous as Sac, but trust me, you'll thank me when you see the opposite direction traffic during your commute on the 80 and 680. Plenty of things to do for a single dude(tte) there, and the train to SF is close.