Fuzz

Yes you can, the question is why would you want such a shitty product? Also see Snooter's "hypothetical" situation, the entire mobile iron/areo construct is a prime example of government IT support (or non-support).

In all my years here I've never seen any of my squadron commanders come back so visibly stressed from a meeting with a GP/CC than they do now every time they come back from meeting with said GP/CC.

Wasn't this the NVG Training wind limits not the actual NVG or ALZ wind limits?

Agree with WheelsOff, I moved quickly through upgrade (more luck and timing) and went to PCO (AC upgrade) at just under 2 years on station (21 mo. CMR) and upgraded to AC at 2 years CMR, that included an additional trip back to Altus for copilot airdrop school. I think we are going to see that timeline compress due to the shortage of pilots in the community now. Going at 2 years was considered fast but now I think we are going to see that become the norm for two reasons: 1) we are undermanned and 2) with 2 squadrons closing and the remaining squadrons not getting any bigger, there's less competition for school slots (CPAD slots used to be very competitive, now we are sending guys with less than 200 hours back to Altus).

The definition of "flying fighters" is pretty relative. Maintaining BMC as a wingman being stuck somewhere in the wing and then shuttled off to staff vs staying in their airframe that they've already established themselves in. This also speaks nothing to the career aspect, coming in as a new (wingman) guy to the community they are probably not going to be picking up strats or pushes over the guys (patches, FLT leads etc) that have been in the community for a while.

Got the same email from my squadron commander, apparently they are looking for mid-level captains was a rumor I heard, so by the time they finish IFF, B-course, mission ready they'll be Major selects. Possibly sounds like they really just want 11F pilots to fill staff billets.

So you mean the mandate to stop practice bleeding stupidity isn't being followed in some parts of the AF? I'm shocked /sarc.

Altus seems to be full of guys just waiting on their Palace Chase to be approved. It's not better in any of the operational squadrons just about every LT all the way to most of the leadership has gotten their ATPS. Few of my peers are interested in staying in (with or without the airlines hiring), most conversations revolve around airlines or other jobs on the outside even though it's many years off. The mentality is not good and it's going to take more than money to overcome one that's developed over almost a decade. The biggest double edge sword of the 10 year commitment is the Air Force gets to keep people for 10 years but by the time that times up people have had a long time to figure out what they want.

I'm going to give Fingers credit for at least not staying NORDO on this issue unlike his predecessor. He's been hitting hitting these issues publicly for a couple weeks now, whether that translates into changes who knows. http://www.stripes.com/news/us/air-force-service-will-be-short-1-000-fighter-pilots-1.423366

The Navy has really taken on the CDO environment, the brought back Celestial Navigation classes back to the USNA this year. A lot of it was influenced by the book Ghost Fleet which is a pretty good read about a near future war with a Near Peer (China) and the US Mil's over-reliance on technology centralized C2.

Ive heard that the current president of AU is a different breed. Example: http://www.thestrategybridge.com/the-bridge/2016/7/10/monday-musings-lt-gen-steven-kwast What do you want your legacy to be? I would like to know that during a time of profound and often unrecognized change, I did my part to nurture and protect leaders who could overcome the tyranny of today’s inbox to build the right military for the future. I hope my legacy will honor the three groups who impacted me so significantly. I hope the tribesmen of my youth can see their wisdom and humility at work in my life; I hope my Kennedy school colleagues find that our enduring relationships have been like “iron sharpening iron” for one another; and I hope that I too have been a curator-leader, taking smart risks, setting conditions, removing obstacles, and allowing those around me to flourish.

Has anyone seen Gen Goldfein's letter about the squadron being the beating heart of the Air Force? I could be wrong but it looks like he plagiarized JQPs "fake speech". I'm still holding out but things might be looking up.

I'm do believe JQP is in the middle of a move after finishing Law School, at least from info from people who know him personally. So that mig explain the drop off in quality content over the last 2 months. However, I agree the content is pretty useless especially compared to his previous articles.

Agreed the SOF patches at the CAOC were top-notch and they spoke a common language across MWSs and communities. The MAF needs patches to be able to integrate hands down, I watched my boss opens doors with other communities because of his patch that I couldn't open or at least on the same level. The future is most definitely integrated and we need people who know how to work on that level. We in the MAF are bad at managing the patches, most of our squadrons go years without a patches leaving it to a handful of people to try to keep the tactical employment alive. I think we are just starting to turn the corner at least in the C-17 community. As for a WIC-lite course/local upgrade, where exactly do you expect to find time or money to put on such a course? To learn to integrate you need to actually integrate (not notional blue air in a local training sortie), that takes time in pre-coordination and money for available assets. Also commanders that allow people to be locally set aside for such a course. We have a hard enough time getting people through our local large package lead program without getting caught up by something "more important". I've seen my community with and without patches (including guys that tried their best to fill the gaps), the difference is night and day in a good way.

For us young guys anyone mind explaining the "boots on the ramp" policy, I've seen it mentioned over the years but never quite grasped what it entailed.

What is your source, because this is the first I've even heard of this and we just sent/are currently sending a ton of people to those squadrons. (A whole different AFPC debacle but still) *Was overmanned, we just PCS'd out a ton of people when we closed the 10th and 17th. While we are still "overmanned" (reality we didn't have enough bodies even before they cut us), what I'm hearing is they aren't planning on cutting anymore and the last 2 VMLs have supported this. We went from VMLs of 12-20 non-vols to 6ish (majority being back to Altus) with more Ops to Ops than I've seen in my almost 4 years a TCM. I actually enjoy the mission management portion of the mission, it does get exhausting when supporting agencies are acting like idiots. Also I picked up and stuck with airdrop because it makes me feel like a pilot, 8 hour legs at cruise makes me want to jump off the ramp without a parachute. We've had a decent run at TCM not always the best but definitely not one of those that makes the "what's wrong with the AF" thread. Right now we have a great set of squadron commanders across the board in the OG.

New security clearance questions: "Have you sent more than 8 emails with TS material using your Gmail account?" "No" "Congrats, here is your TS/SCI"

The problem is that there is a big fuss being made about, as you pointed out, 1/3 of 1% of people. This is barely a blip on the radar but you'd think we found the key to defeating ISIS with the amount of press coverage this is getting. Also in the current hypersensitive SAPR/PC environment all it would take is one honest mistake by some poor officer and they'd be raked over the coals. Chances are most of us will never have to deal with this but I'm thinking about that young officer or NCO in their first leadership position or hell a new squadron commander and you have to deal with this issue and the convoluted rules associated with it. People just want to do their damn job but it's getting hard to focus on that when there's so many new changes and policies that could end your career due to one screw up.

Yeah that was my point, even the A/A/A we see is done by SOF, but yet big Army is calling the shots. Also they are pretty bad about failing to listen to what the Iraqis value as important objectives and continually trying to force our way or doing things on them instead of enabling them towards their goals. Sure it's a little slower, but if it defeats ISIS in the end and keeps the GoI credible who cares?

"Lack of achievable goals by regular Army personnel", the SOF is doing most of the heavy lifting while the regular Army at CJTF-OIR and CJFLCC-I sit around in their meetings/DCOs/VTCs talking about how they are going to do stuff. Unfortunately the regular Army is in charge of CJTF-OIR which the SOF fall under. So its fun (an really damn annoying) to watch the in-fighting between people doing work and people talking about doing work.

I'd say that's more "paroled" than "allowed to leave". Several guys that I know in that bucket are worried they're going to be pulled back because they were IPs and already have the RPA stink on them.

Can confirm this from his time at Vance. That being said morale seemed to be pretty good (not sarcasm) while he was the wing King.

Damn, I can't tell if the spiraling is intentional or the aircraft departing controlled flight.

Hat's off to General Goldfein...

Chuck, I think you are correct. Which is why I said quantity versus quality. Let's look at the schooling a officer receives: ROTC: Little to no education on how the AF or the military as a whole works, but damn did I know how to perform a right column, some useless leadership quotes and AFI 36-2903. What I wished I had learned: What the career timeline looks like, not talking careerist stuff, but opportunities that are available at different points in a career. Also things like what the different levels of PME are, how school selections work, what types of schools are available at each level (NPS, NDU etc), about programs like SAASS and SAMS. ASBC: Now defunct and pretty much an extension of college, usually known for finally being able to afford to get shitfaced and not eat ramen for the rest of the month because you have a paycheck. (I never attended because it was closing down when I joined, but this was what friends told me). SOS: Have yet to hear anyone say they learned anything at the course, besides how out of touch many support O's are with actual operations. Also who can forget Icarus or Flickerball? IDE: Your words speak for themselves. ASG: So after 1 year and 3 months of schooling and 3 courses (plus a couple months for PCS's), you finally attended a worthwhile education program. War College: I've heard mixed reviews of these courses, and there certainly isn't any shortage of articles critical of the state of all the War Colleges. Why do we get killed at the Joint Level? Maybe because the Army's version of O-3 PME is 3 months long or their officers attend IDE/CGSC early than our officers (still Captains). We do a pretty shitty job of educating our officers on how the military works and then seem surprised when they don't perform at joint schools. Ideally a lot of this should happen via mentoring by leaders but we do need to provide better education earlier in our officer's careers. *For the record I haven't attended SOS yet, this is just something I'm interested in and have talked to a cross section of officers across multiple branches including up to the O-6 level.