Fuzz

I'm going to say this WG/CC is good and "gets it". He regularly polls the line flyers when he does wing certifications for new crew quals and has actually fixed problems when told about them. For instance DTS worked on about 6.9% of our computers and was making filing vouchers a pain in the ass. He found out about it and put the comm squadron to work fixing it. They identified the problem and while it still happens becuase their weekly patches override the fixes but at least now it's just a quick call to fix it. Anecdotal I know but also our med group is pretty undermanned so this may be thier "somethings gotta give".

On that note the Russians or whoever did the hack, didn't hack a government agency, voting machines etc to influence this election. They hacked a private organization involved with the election and now we are retaliating against Russia for their supposed involvement in this. I'm a little concerned we that we are using the government to retaliate against another government on behalf of a private organization for a criminal action. Also on the case Wikileaks, of course they are going to deny any assistance from Russia becuase that would destroy their entire narrative of what they stand for if people found out they were a front for the Russian IC.

I read that as begin the planning to be at single payer by 2018. I hope I'm misreading that but also considering how slow bureaucracy works I'll be surprised if that actually happens if that is the deadline. Also I'd probably hoard a couple pay checks next year because finance will find some way to fuck this up.

I've driven through just about every state minus the Great Lakes region and California is still the only state where I've gone through an inspection checkpoint to enter the state.

http://www.aetc.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/5115/Article/1038676/fy-17-ndaa-impact-on-airmen.asp "For personnel compensation and benefits, effective Jan.1, the monthly basic pay will increase by 2.1 percent, and while there will not be any changes made to the administration of the housing allowance the NDAA directs the defense department to begin planning for a transition to a single-salary pay system no later than Jan. 1, 2018. The goal is to create a system that better aligns the payment with the DOD’s use of the housing allotment as compensation rather than as an allowance."

For you guys looking to escape RPAs, I'm back at Altus & I've seen at least 3 pilots here going back through requal (C-17 side).

I got a letter, because according to their system I never graduated college but was a 2Lt. Turns out my Detachment never send my transcripts in.

Oh this is gonna be good...

Looks like the TRS/CC banned it in the NPS dorms, but this major included all dorms under the TRS's supervision. Which may be irrelevant if the only people in the TRS dorms are NPS, however, if the dorms have non-NPS studs than I can see the issue.

Agreed, to be clear I want the best leaders in those position regardless of if they are a patch. I have seen it go both ways with WOs as well. But I do want to see those that are WOs and good leaders not get leveled off in career progression because AMC likes guys that are an inch deep and a mile wide in expertise (Phoenix Horizon).

Any takers on how bad they'll screw this up given the shit show that was/is the enlisted overhaul? http://federalnewsradio.com/air-force/2016/10/new-evaluation-system-air-force-officers-year-away/

I'm noticing that conversations in the squadron bar and from leadership are turning more to expertise and that while it was always expected its now starting to take priority. Also glad to hear from another source that the issues of A2AD and risk aversion are being taken seriously. Forgot about the 509th and wiki has the 29th as activated in '03. Unsat for SA & google skills is acknowledged. Also good see another WO GO from the MAF, I've never heard of him but Smokey is obvious because he's in AMC. I will say there's a noticeable shift in training focus and top cover/enabling of the squadron WOs with the current leadership at McChord. Its also a bonus when your leadership is Airdrop Qual'd and can actively participate in large package exercises. Also agreed on the Pheonix programs from the HQ AMC perspective, although I'm not seeing very many people interested in those programs and a lot fewer Phoenix Reach guys coming into our squadron (obviously anecdotal evidence).

Chuck would you say it's due to the need to be broad (Phoenix programs etc) or the fact that the WOs have been low density due to the fact that the MAF WIC has only been around a little over a decade? Right now 3 of 4 squadrons at McChord, several squadrons at Charleston, Hickman and I believe Elmo and Altus all have WOs as commanders. Talking to my buddies in the Herc world several of their SQ/CCs are also WOs (or were at least as of a couple months ago). It seems that the program has started to reach a maturity level that "should" start producing more WO GOs than just Smokey. Also Mcchord has an Ops Leader of the Quarter award but it doesn't go above the Group Level and seems to rank below JCGO/CGO/FGO (all which require volunteer/self improvement).

Know a guy who jumped to the officer (non-rated) side at about the same point. He's now 28 years in and just got picked up for O-5. He's never been a school select or a squadron commander so he'll probably top out there but he's doing just fine.

If they really wanted to up the game they should use "pretty darn good".

Altus has a weeklong classroom course for the new C-17 instructors.

Looks like they found the answer to pilot retention, which if this is their idea for incentiving people to stay I'd be running for the door also. https://www.jqpublicblog.com/puzzle-palace-chronicles-air-staff-attacks-fighter-pilot-shortage-offering-meaningless-awards/

I've heard this from a couple bros at single squadron bases, some have mentioned being bored out of thier mind due to having few missions yet we were scraping by to fill all of ours.

You've heard wrong, at least at McChord. We have people 30 day timing out and copilots who have racked up 700 hours in 6 months. Between the TACC taskings and the huge up tick in JA/ATTS & Exercises coupled with the huge slash in manning we are running at max capacity to surge levels consistently. They are also supposedly upping our deployments from 75 to 90 days. Some of the older guys say it's worse now that the 2008 surge.

That sucks those were the best rides in the T-1 syllabus.

3 AD friends just got picked up for the airlines in the last week (2 X Delta, 1 X FedEx), all already have PC approved or ADSC expiring. Came to the realization that I literally can not keep track of the amount of people I know getting offers from the airlines and leaving the AF. Furthermore none of them are people I'm happy to see go. I seriously hope Fingers can do something to slow the flood but at this point the damage it done.

If the new Raider squadron doesn't find a way to work "Bomby McBomerface" into a Friday patch or something they have failed from the start.

Given AMCs general risk aversion and head in the sand mentality when it comes to radar threats they'd probably never allow it close to any WEZ. ETA: why are we looking to build a LO tanker isn't the point of a LO long range strike bomber to have an aircraft with legs to hit those targets in an A2AD scenario that the F-35 can't reach?

ACC's Twitter account just confirmed both pilots ejected safely and were awaiting recovery as of 30 minutes ago.

Same at my base