C17Driver
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Posts posted by C17Driver
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DFRESH,
If you completed phase 1 and are in that washback pool awaiting phase 2, you should be placed in the next class or 2 (depending on which T-6 squadron they want to place you in).
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Any word of MAF assets getting spun up to move? Guessing there will be a lot of humanitarian airlift requirements in the very near future.
Yes.
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/03/air-force-crews-join-japan-relief-efforts-031211w/
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This stuff has been banned in AMC for a year or two...
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Can anyone confirm that the AF will pay $39 per day for lodging if I decline on-base lodging at Randolph? It looks like that's the cost for VOQ.
EDIT: For clarity
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Seems things haven't changed since 2005. Either that or it's cyclical?
According to the brief, the retention rate in the Air Force has hit a 15 year high which is driving the current Force Shaping...anyone say Economy? While there are critically manned career fields currently, the AF is over it's end strength authorization. Some cross-training would be permitted, but they said it would be limited.
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I see I see. Just now it's a "Balls out" attitude and it's all or nothing. The senior leadership have been saying it's come to this just like the old days, so I was just wondering if anyone's heard the same thing. I know if you wash out usually you get reclassed into something else, but now, who knows! But you would think they would try and keep the pilot selects, you had at least SOMETHING going for you to get to UPT. Who knows.
I just sat through a brief last week by AMC/A1. The Air Force is currently over it's authorized end strength and it is expected to get worse over the next couple of years. They directly spoke to those that wash out of IST (Initial Skills Training)...basically, very limited opportunities to cross into a different AFSC. Most likely, the individual will be separated from the AF...needs of the Air Force.
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Interesting point, if you graduate college after Oct 99 (ROTC at least), and went to pilot training, you received a 10 year commitment. How did you do it Cage?
He may (should have based on those dates) have fell in the year groups that were offered VSP several years ago.
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Crew Report,
Going from -135s to C12s is not a cross flow. That is a 'white' jet tour. And I just agree to disagree with as far as couples getting hooked up...and I've been in long enough. Maybe you just have been lucky with right commander.
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Your mileage will vary for join-spouse (when both are pilots). In my experiences, if both fly the same aircraft, your odds increase drastically. However, even that is no guarantee. In the end, AFPC does not care about you or your spouse and whether or not you are stationed together. If you are fortunate enough to have a commander that goes to bat for you, awesome. So far, I have not seen any join-spouse members get the "hook-up" when it comes to using it to get the awesome assignments. If both are mobility pilots, don't expect to do a join-spouse in any white jets other than at a UPT base (ie; no C-21s for you).
Don't let anyone blow smoke up your a** about how join-spouse is a priority. In the end, it's needs of the Air Force. Sure, you'll get examples about how that one guy knew that one couple that got the sweet gig...well, they probably had a Commander that went to bat. I'd bet AFPC didn't come up with it on their own.
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Yeah I'm tired of the inconspicuous BOOB I have every time we have to carry on the jet. Some of our guys have the ankle holster but as previously said, it would take ages to actually draw it. Keep up the conversation, I'm looking for good solutions.
Good solution = Copilot arms up.
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900+ members
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Hickam C-17s have them. HH
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A bullet on your PRF is not normally just a "cut and paste" from an OPR. Normally each PRF line will have multiple "bullets" from different source documents as discussed. For example, if you have several strats, they would normally be listed on the same line grouped by level of command. Flt/CC Strats, Sq/CC Strats, OG/CC Strats...etc.
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What happens to someone who gets a cold, or develops cold like symptoms in UPT ?
They go see the Flight Doc and will probably be DNIF'd. You'll still go to work in most cases, you just won't fly. The Flt Doc will specify whether or not you can sim while DNIF.
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A few other things about the different bases:
McChord & Charleston - you are it...you are the show in town. The base is there for the C-17
Dover - compete with the C-5s
McQuire/Ft Dix/whatever else it's called - C-17s and KC-10s & WIC
Travis - 3 MWS base (KC-10, C-5, C-17) plus Navy TACAMO, Army, EMTF (and CRW), Large Med Group (David Grant)
Elemendorf - PACAF fighter base with a C-17 footprint and distance from the rest of the country
Hickam - PACAF...island...
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Ok, but is airdrop also part of the mission statement? I guess I don't get why airland only bases do low levels, yet don't do airdrop... and how useful low levels are in regards to airland vs. airdrop.
Each Squadron is expected to provide a certain capability to the fight. There are other benefits to training to fly low levels that is outside the scope of this thread--has nothing to do with the difference in C-17 Bases.
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Mission statements change. My copilot C-17 initial qual checkride (airland) was a 2-ship (1998)...
True. And SAC is dead. But the mission statement hasn't changed yet so we still practice them.
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I'm not a C-17 guy, so I admit I know little about what you all do... but what's the point of practicing low levels at an airland only place? Is there that big of a demand for low level infiltration to land on a dirt strip and offload? Couldn't they roll that into the airdrop mission? Not bashing, just curious.
As for the C-17 bases, you really can't go wrong at any (except Altus, of course). I think the people who bash on McGuire have some weird hatred for the northeast, don't like the weather, or don't like the base itself... and I'd bet a lot of those live on base (puke) or in dirty Jerz. If you're single and choose to live in suburbia over one of the biggest cities in the country, then I've got no sympathy for you. I can understand if you're married/ have kids I guess, and then the Jersey suburbia is basically the same as any other in the country with the exception of having a terribly designed road system. McGuire is one of the few AF places that allows you to live in a real city. The commute is well worth it, probably why tons of new people coming in are flocking to Philly. You can always do the suburb thing later in life.
It's part of the mission statement for C-17s. Why do we practice ICBM launches (I hope they practice) if it's probably never going to be needed? Same reason...
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Does the amount of time the average co pilot is gone vary that much from base to base for the C-17? Is this always changing or are there certain bases that normally have a slower ops tempo? Also if you could define "gone all the time" that would be appreciated.
"Gone all the time" is a relative term to when individuals started flying. Some of us remember spending 28 of 30 days gone per month for 3 or 4 months in a row. We would leave on a 14 day SRT. RTB on the 14th day, have 24 hours and then leave on another 14 day trip. Repeat for 2 years (not always non stop due to schools (Airdrop, PME) and guys would time out with flight hours, but it was pretty constant. Now co's are usually flying 1 10 to 14 day trip per month...maybe 1.5 trips per month. Of course this doesn't count when the squadron is deployed (for 120+) every 16ish months.
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Travis: Airland. 1 Squadron
But Travis is "America's First Choice". It says so on the sign when you drive onto the base.
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I would choose airlift, for the following reasons:
1. Tankers don't fly to Antarctica.
2. Tankers don't fly channel missions throughout the Pacific to places like Wake Island, Guam, etc.
3. Tankers normally fly to a theater and stay (i.e. Manas, the Deid). The strat airlift crews mostly fly into and
out of the theater (unless they're part of the AEF)
4. Airlift crews get to land in Afghanistan and Iraq (to me that's a plus). Tanker crews don't as far as I know.
5. Airlift crews (C-17, C-5, and Spec Ops C-130's) get qualified in air-air refueling (once again a plus). Most
tanker pilots are not air-air qualified (receiving end).
6. KC-135 bases are at RAF Mildenhall, Fairchild, McConnell, and MacDill. (Can't remember anymore).
C-17 units are in better locations like McChord, Travis, Charleston, Elmendorf, Hickam, etc.
I'm an ORF and haven't been to SW Asia in almost 5 years, so I may be out of touch with recent events or missions. I flew the C-130 and the C-17. I flew both to places that I know a tanker would never go. (Like dirt strips in the Canadian Arctic). I'm biased, but I think the C-17 has the best mission in the AF. These are my opinions and they are not written in stone. Good luck!
Red
1. True
2. Not true (tankers go to many of the islands)
3. Not true (tankers do this now)
4. Not true (tankers do this now)
5. KC-10s do this
6. Airlifters do have some great locations!
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Not entirely true. You must be "assigned" to the airspace, i.e. airdrop, AWACs, or refueling etc. Merely transiting the airspace does not qualify. DODFMR vol. 7A provides more details.
http://www.defenselink.mil/comptroller/fmr/07a/07a_44.pdf
440103.C.4
"...The fact that most members are in an official duty status when flying through a designated airspace should not be construed to mean they are assigned to the airspace to perform duty and therefore entitled to the exclusion."
Which is why passengers transiting often don't qualify, but aircrew often do. We are assigned to the airspace when over-flying.
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Maybe just my opinion, but it's not a bad thing to keep cost as a high priority, AS LONG AS you get a good product that meets specs. Remember, the F-16 idea was a basic day VFR fighter that would be "cheap" to build. Don't tell me the Viper isn't a very good fighter. That's just an example of how a project started with such a simple/low cost outlook and evolved into something much more. The same can be said for the F-35.
I completely agree that we should be buying both. In no way do I think we should stick to just 187 Raptors...it's retarded. I think we need both and I'm not here for a fighter x is better than fighter y. But it's dumb to think either aircraft is far superior to the other. They're both excellent fighters with mind-blowing technology that will allow us to keep a vast edge on our enemies from some similar standpoints, but also from very different standpoints. Just b/c they differ in some areas does not make one worse than the other. If I took your post the wrong way, my apologies.
And we recently found out what could happen if you depend completely on one airframe. Fortunately, when the -15C's got grounded for a while, there were other fighters in the inventory (as a stop gap if nothing more). Fast forward 15 years...what happens if a problem develops that causes the grounding of all 2,000+ F-35s across all branches of service?
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They have wireless on the base. Can't remember the price, but it wasn't bad. I used it for voice and video without too many problems. (This was as of last summer)
USAF Budget Cuts
in General Discussion
Posted
Scaredfuzz,
The exact reason is that DLF lost 80+ STEP hires of which a majority were MX (all airframes impacted) and MX can't support the number of lines they were before. This was briefed at the Commander's Call. It was explained in plain English with minimal ambiguity.