Jaded

I never understood how getting sent home to the wife was such a bad punishment.

Nobody is saying that. Your argument is a straw man. If it's a single crew who made a poor decision, they should have handled it at a lower level. Apparently the Vice Chief of Staff believes that a lack of discipline is pervasive throughout the entire flying community. His evidence: a single event. Kind of stupid in my opinion.

WTF are you talking about? How many degrees nose high is "too high" on an unrestricted climb? 91?

Don't feed the troll.

Uh, it's an unbroken year *with* your family. That sounds awesome.

Or just do it the next time you're deployed. I had a ton of free time during my last 6 months in the desert. You can finish your AU masters in two 6 month deployments I think that people who are working on their masters while they are home have a poor sense of priorities. You aren't going to get that much time with your family. Enjoy the few months a year the Air Force allows you with your wife and kids.

I guess there goes any hope that our quality of life might improve to increase retention. Anybody have any recent info on how the take rates have been on the last VML or 2? Has retention been good?

Is it the new unit that did it? Or are you at a better base? I can't imagine moving from Creech to Cannon would have a significantly positive effect on morale.

Kikuchiyo, Thanks so much for posts like this. I wish I could get this type of information from AFPC or my commander. It's absolutely invaluable. With regards to the "pods", how soon do you see this happening? Will any of this stuff be implemented on the upcoming Summer VML?

Announced today during Red Flag Alaska: From now on, every morning a senior officer will be posted at the entrance to the Red Flag building. Any pilot seen entering the building in the morning without a reflective belt on will be grounded, and will not fly in Red Flag.

I think the weasels would have something to say about that.

I've heard this several times and don't understand it. How would shutting down ops improve the situation?

Overseas F-16s are gone greater than half the time. The whole 6 months on, 1 year off that they advertise is not true currently. I'm currently at 2 years TOS with 14 months TDY/deployed, and am deploying again next week for another 3 months. You're gone more than you're home. I've heard that stateside F-16s are worse, with all of the WIC support/Hammer/Archer/etc on the books.

I've seen a different spreadsheet that I think Hacker did that comes to some very different conclusions. Here is the three things he compared: SCENARIOS: 1. Stay in the AF, take the bonus, make O-4 and retire as an O-4 at 20, then hired at SWA (with AF retirement pay) 2. Stay in the AF, take the bonus, make O-4 and O-5 and retire as an O-5 at 20, then hired at SWA (with AF retirement pay) 3. Leave AF at 10, get hired by SWA TOTAL AGE 32 to 65 EARNINGS: Scenario 1: $5,728,034.00 Scenario 2: $5,861,405.84 Scenario 3: $5,535,504.00 http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/196328-post4.html The assumptions he uses are in that post. The numbers change a lot depending on what you're comparing. I was surprised to see that even with a 10 year commitment, missing out on AD retirement may only cost you 5% of your total income. Seniority at the airlines is that important. If the outside world is an increase in quality of life, is the extra 10 years of AD worth the 5%?

I'll believe it when I see it. Words are cheap.

Streisand effect?

"The move is expected to save $55 million over eight years and reflects the Air Force’s reduced need for fighter pilots, said David Smith, spokesman for Air Education and Training Command." So, do we suddenly have a reduced need for fighter pilots (David Smith) or a fighter pilot shortfall (Gen Welsh)? If you start with 3 locations, (Randolph, Moody, Sheppard), open up two unnecessary detachments, and then 4 years later close two detachments, somehow that *saves* $55 million? What kind of idiot logic are we working with here?

I think your MAJCOM determines specifics. Here's some stuff from PACAF's policy: FOR CONTINGENCY TDYS SUCH AS OPERATION NORTHERN WATCH OR ENDURING FREEDOM, CURRENT POLICY IS THAT COMMANDERS WILL PROVIDE DEPLOYED PERSONNEL WITH 1 DAY OFF FOR EVERY 6 DAYS DEPLOYED, UP TO A MAXIMUM OF 14 DAYS OFF. PACAF WILL MAKE AN ADDITIONAL PROVISION FOR CERTAIN PERSONNEL, APPROVED BY THE WING COMMANDER, WHO SPECIFICALLY AND EXCLUSIVELY SUPPORTED THE CONTINGENCY DEPLOYMENT FROM A NON-AOR BASE LOCATION. FOR EXAMPLE, TDY DUTY AS A DIRECT UTC BACKFILL. WING COMMANDERS ARE BEST SUITED TO DETERMINE WHICH INDIVIDUALS OR UNITS INCURRED SUCH SPECIFIC DUTY, AND THEY WILL APPLY THE SAME FORMULA AND POLICY ALLOTTED FOR DEPLOYED PERSONNEL IN DETERMINING TIME OFF UPON RETURN TO BASE. FOR ALL OTHER NON-CONTINGENCY UNACCOMPANIED TDYS EXCEEDING 30 OR MORE CONSECUTIVE DAYS, COMMANDERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO CONSIDER THE CURRENT PASS POLICY (IAW 36-3003, PARAS 8.3 AND 8.4) AS A WAY TO PROVIDE R&C, AS WELL AS A LIBERAL LEAVE OPPORTUNITY. HQ_PACAF_RECOVERY_TIME_POLICY.PDF

In the F-16, a single generator failure can result in 3 minutes of usable air prior to having to use the emergency oxygen bottle. Plus, the CRU on your harness is super uncomfortable.

I spoke with several headhunters when the VSP opportunity presented itself. 70k was an often quoted number for a young CGO. More with degrees, specific experience, or apathy about location.

Yep. No injuries reported as of yet. The tsunami hit Hachinohe 10 miles to the south, but did not hit Misawa. The base is without power or internet, but it sounds like everyone is ok so far. They're still trying to account for everyone, which is made more difficult by the lack of cell phone service.

Yes, but the choice isn't going to be iPad or MFD. It's going to be iPad or nothing. "Hey Lockheed, we'd like a moving map on our MFDs in the next F-16 tape." "No problem, give me 10 million dollars and expect a rollout around 2016." There's no way I'm looking at an iPad during a threat reaction. You're telling me, though, that tomorrow I can get a moving map display in every pubs bag for less than the cost of 1 DTC? Plus, the iPad is a semi-open platform. You have something that your airframe/wing/squadron specifically wants? Have 1 pilot in the squadron learn objective C, and he can create it.

If you're serving a 200 day TDY in the AOR, can your commander eliminate the short tour credit by sending you TDY outside of the AOR for a week? This would make the 181+ days non-consecutive. Notes I see are this: "2. AIRMEN REQUIRED TO DEPART THE TDY LOCATION FOR SHORT PERIODS DUE TO MISSION REQUIREMENTS SUCH AS AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE, WILL CONTINUE TO ACCUMULATE TDY CREDIT TOWARD THE 181 CONSECUTIVE DAY MINIMUM. HOWEVER, PERIODS SERVED OUT OF THE DESIGNATED LOCATION WILL NOT COUNT TOWARD THE 181 DAY REQUIREMENT. THE ACCUMULATION WILL RESUME UPON THE MEMBERS RETURN TO THE TDY LOCATION." - From AWARD OF PCS SHORT TOUR CREDIT FOR TDY (SUPERSEDES AL 8106 171955Z JUN 03 MESSAGE) How do you know if MPF will consider said TDY a "Mission requirement"?

2

Does anybody have any stats that show what percentage of rated individuals are flying at the 10 year point? It seems like that's prime territory for ALO, UAV, staff, PME, 365s, etc. At least in the F-16 community, the perception is that if you're not going to weapons school, you're probably not going to fly your MWS for more than one assignment (2-3 years).