Toro
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Posts posted by Toro
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As Tweet FAIP pointed out, you need to get approval from the DO (yes, that means Director of Ops). The other thing that matters (primarily for the T-38) is that the place you're going has equipment (start carts) for the aircraft. This drops a lot of non-military airfields out of the equation.Originally posted by scoobs:I heard that instructors can use the planes to fly wherever they want on the weekends.
That's what Continuation Training is.I heard T-38 guys taking cross countries on the weekends without studs.
You're not going to get the jet for any longer than a weekend. While I'm sure everyone would want to do this, the main reason is that when the jet is cross country, that's one less jet on the home flying schedule that is available for student sorties. At best, you'd be able to leave before a four-day weekend.What if its overnight and why not over christmas? Is it because everyone will want to do this.A cross country is going to help your flying ability.A cross country will greatly help a students flying abilities, but that's not the reason that instructors go CT. They go to get out of town and have a fun weekend somewhere on the governments tab. You'll rarely see a T-37 or T-38 crew do more than one approach to a full stop at their final destination.
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Ditto what Rainman said about the follow on. I personally know 6-9 guys who took an ALO from an Ops assignment. They were guys who were very unlikely to get an Ops-to-Ops assignment, but after a year as an ALO they were back at another Ops unit.
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I was just watching an interesting documentary on the Military Channel about life on a deployed aircraft carrier but they didn't talk much about the origin of the personnel. Anybody know how the makeup of the carrier works in relation to an AF deployment? AF deployed bases are pretty much made of individual squadrons from different AFBs. It seemed like everybody on the carrier was from the same location, but they never really specified. And how is the carrier commander chosen (somebody who is already a commander)?
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Unless you go to AFIT, you'll have to work the Master's schedule around your flying schedule - mainly meaning you'll have to take night or online classes. For the most part, guys don't have a problem being taken off the schedule after 1700 if they're going to night classes.
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Concur with BaseOps, and you also need to consider the distance. It's like 900 miles between Vance and Wisconsin - not exactly a quick trip. It's going to be a 12 hour drive each way, or a half day of travelling by plane. At best you could pray for a lot of four day weekends so you could have just two days to see each other. Leave is given on a case-by-case basis and generally only for emergencies and special occassions. He's not likely to get it more than once or twice (if at all), and not for more than a couple days.
As far as rentals go, I can't answer that, but a thread just popped up in the General Discussion section about Renting in Enid. There's not much there just yet, but you may get some more info in the next couple days.
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A motorcycle can be shipped with your household goods (at least, it can overseas) and is therefore free as long it fits in your allotted weight.
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There was a T-38 FAIP with me at Columbus who started having serious back issues and when it came time for his assignment he had to go to 135s because of his back. He wasn't stoked at first, but he loves it now.
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No, Letters of Counseling get removed from your record when you get to a new assignment. There are also Letters of Admonishment (in between the two on the 'bad' scale), but I don't know how long those stick with you.Originally posted by AFUPTstud:Arent LOR's purged from your record after you move to a new assignment?
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The Strike Eagle can pull 9Gs, but we can't maintain it for any considerable amount of time. Depending on weight, altitude and engines, we can generally sustain around 5-ish Gs. It's not a whole lot, but I wouldn't try to do it with a messed a back.
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Fosterbeer,
Quite possible the most creative and funniest post I've seen here in a long time. Outstanding!
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At Seymour the 333rd and 334th don't share a building like the 335th and 336th, but we occassionally swap pilots like Hacker was talking about (I'm flying with the 334th today). For the most part, it's just interaction at the business level, then back over to our own squadron. We rarely walk over there just to BS with somebody because the squadron is down the street from us.
Lakenheath has a consolidated building for the two Strike Eagle squadrons, then a separate one for the C models. The two E model squadrons interacted a good deal, but we rarely did anything with the C models.
On Fridays you'll see everybody mingling together at the O'Club.
So I would say that if squadrons are physically located together, they seem to interact a lot more.
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BS.Originally posted by ledbyexample:I would argue that they didn't think they were cheating at all. What they have been saying is that they were given study materials that are very similar if not identical to materials that are widely available at UPT by an IP.
First off, stop bringing the IP into this. His actions and motives are unexcusable, but that's an entire case in and of itself. If you're involved with this case then you know what I'm talking about.
If the students didn't think they were cheating then why didn't every single UPT student at Columbus have that same test? If they didn't think they were cheating then why didn't every single member of their class at least have that test? By your own oddball definition of cheating, they were in the wrong-
Some had the tests, some didn't. That's an unfair advantage. That's cheating, you just said it yourself.thereby intending to gain an unfair advantageYou would think that if a cheating scandal happened every 18 months or so someone would take the time to define the cheating they don’t want to occur.I can't believe you honestly feel that somebody needed to define cheating for you. I guarantee you that they won't need another scandal to define it. During their inbriefs, guys starting UPT from here on out will probably get a crystal clear explanation of what's acceptable and what's not.
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They only way you could go into 38s with another class is if you washed back. Unless that was due to a medical condition, I wouldn't hold your breath for a T-38.
I've heard of commanders trading assignment drop aircraft between bases, but never Phase III aircraft.
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This should actually say, "If you would like to help out the studs at CBM who are getting removed from pilot training for cheating on EPQs." Not to dredge up the whole 'Gouge' thread again, but this issue isn't about gouge. It's about flat-out cheating on EPQs and involves other issues "unbecoming" of officers.
Back to the subject at hand...don't take this the wrong way, and I'm not trying to be overly cynical, but I don't think this is going to do you a whole lot of good. If you are directly involved with this case then you know that there is more involved than simply cheating. The people directly involved know that and the discipling authorities will, if they don't already, know that.
This is a good concept in theory - let the world know that the atmosphere of cheating is widespread throughout UPT and to some extent these guys are being penalized for something that has generally been overlooked in the past.
But what would you expect to happen from this?
Judge:What have you got there?
ADC:Sir, this is sworn testimony from rated pilots, all of whom swore that cheating occurred throughout their pilot training as well.
Judge:Wow. Well, if everybody else was doing it, then I guess it's okay. We've obviously jumped to quickly to our conclusion here, lets reinstate these students.
Not quite. Probably something more like this.
Judge:Wow. This shows a disturbing trend that needs to be dealt with. We're going to ensure it doesn't continue and we're going to start right now by making an example of these 11 officers.
Apply this rationale to what has happened at the Academy in recent years. What if the cadets had tried to use the "Well, everybody's doing it and it's been going on for a long time" defense to charges of sexual assault and drug use. No, I'm not saying cheating is anywhere as bad as those two charges, but it's the same irrational defense and it's not going to work.
Next question - why are responses being gathered to a hotmail account vice a representative with a .mil account? And what's an ADC and why aren't they soliciting these responses directly?
As I now step off the soapbox, I'll add that I will send a message...while it may get the UPT leadership to open their eyes, it's not going to save the 11 students who have been removed from the program. If the intent of this collaboration of UPT accounts was to change the atmosphere at UPT, then this might work. But the intent is to save these guys who are in trouble. Too little, too late.
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Agree with Thud Ridge - I just read that about a year ago. I always have to give a plug for "Strike Eagle" by William Smallwood about the debut of the Strike Eagle in the Gulf War.
Another good one, and a fairly quick read, is "Stranger to the Ground," by Richard Bach. It's a fictionalized account of his experience in an F-84 turned into a the story of a pilot (himself) sent an a single ship mission to ferry classified documents through a storm across Europe.
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Thou asks...State of the Union TranscriptOriginally posted by waxgoblin:cant i get the 10 minute long transcript?
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:confused:
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Strike Eagles in ACC (and I think throughout) don't have to wear the vest at all any more. A victory for us since the thing is useless in our pig of a jet.
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You fill out a dream sheet very similar to the one you filled out in UPT and submit it to your commander. Unlike UPT, this is 100% commanders ranking. While your daily flying performance may play into this, your UPT performance holds no weight.
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From the AFPC website,
Short Tour Criteria:
A. TDY Overseas(OS) starting on or after 11 Sep 2001
B. TDY a minimum of 181 consecutive days
C. TDY location is designated by DOD as a hostile fire or imminent danger pay area as outlined in the DOD Financial Management Regulation Volume 7a, Chapter 10, Figure 10-1, designated hostile fire or imminent danger pay area.
Sounds like you should be eligible. For any further clarification there are contact numbers at the AFPC link above.
EDIT: Are you asking whether you're eligible for short tour credit, or eligible for the ribbon? If you are eligible for a short tour (which it sounds like you are), then you should automatically be eligible for the short tour ribbon. Again, the AFPC dudes should know this.
[ 29. January 2005, 15:52: Message edited by: Toro ]
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Speaking as a former FAIP, I think a dude who finishes first or second in his class and gets FAIPed against his wishes loses out. Guys who finish top in their class have the most potential to go on to bigger and better things. When I got to my first Ops Squadron, I saw my former students getting upgraded to flight lead and instructor while I was a wingman. Guys who went through pilot training with me were leaving for weapons school. While being a FAIP and subsequently going to Weapons School or Test Pilot School is not impossible, it's tough to do with the how fast you need to upgrade. Most guys don't upgrade to instructor on their first tour, and it's not likely you'll get picked up for WIC as a major (which you'll be close to as a FAIP finishing his first Ops tour).
You can upgrade faster in the F-15C and E. The regs say that FAIPs can start 2-ship flight lead upgrade with 200 hours vice the 300 hours required for everybody else. Any subsequent upgrades depend on your performance.Originally posted by MrHarvester:When you finish a FAIP tour and you have a fighter/bomber follow-on, do you upgrade to a 2-ship flight or A/C faster than a dude with new wings? What effect does being a FAIP have on your career in the long term?
As far as your career, it hinders your potential to go to Weapons School like I talked about. Most flying squadron commanders and above are patch wearers, so it could affect your career if you want to be a leader.
Good deal. I would argue that FAIPs can potentially be a little better than Ops guys. All they've ever flown is trainers - they tend to know the regs and procedures better because they don't have any negative transfer from previous aircraftOriginally posted by Mike Murph:I don't think studs lose out with FAIPs. The quality of instruction in my flight was outstanding.
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This thread is going to be locked for a couple reasons.
Mainly, it has gotten seriously sidetracked and none of the comments relating to the original subject have come any new conclusions in the past 20-30 posts.
In addition, as has been alluded to by this and other posts, there are people throwing in their two cents who know nothing about the subject at hand. I am good friends with somebody who is directly involved with this and I have most of the story direct from the source. It seems that there are a couple people posting who have details on what happened, and their posts are fairly cryptic and non-informative...as they should be. Others are making assumptions based on a situation where they don't know the whole story.
I think the original discussion on 'gouge' and the UPT atmosphere that permits it was a great one, but it has stagnated and taken a nose dive.
If you want to talk about FAIPs, feel free to start another thread.
If you want to talk about who is in the wrong with this situation, wait until the investigation is complete and all the findings are brought forth, then start casting stones.
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Actually, I was turned off by the scarf because I was forced to wear it. Like AirGuardian mentioned, we have no practical purpose for wearing it anymore. In addition, I thought it was uncomfortable and a bit aggravating. When I was at Columbus, somebody in the higher ups mandated that everybody wear the scarf with their daily uniform. But, IAW the regs, it had to be removed before flying. So the message was that I had to wear something that served no practical purpose, then remove it before the point at which it initially served its purpose. Hmmm.Originally posted by Beaver:I say let's hang on to what we have left before we turn into a bunch of no fun, purpose driven robots.
Didn't mean to offend by saying fighter pilots don't wear them, but in the five years since I left Columbus I haven't seen one fighter pilot who wore a scarf.
I'll hang onto my RMO, colored T-shirt, silly songs, immature pilot lingo, and any other tradition with dear life. But the scarf is one I'm willing to let go.
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Excellent post, Nose Art Gal.
Guys are getting pretty wrapped around the axel with the term gouge. As only a couple people on this thread realize (blkafnav, Shermanator), this isn't about gouge. While there isn't much in that initial AFPN article, it tells you a good deal; 19 students accused, seven cleared of all wrong doing and one instructor was involved.
If only one instructor is facing charges for this, it would seem that he went beyond any normal methods of distributing 'gouge' to students. It also ought to tell you that while numerous students were thought to have been involved, quite a few kept their noses clean and were subsequently cleared.
There is more to this story. Just wait until the whole thing comes out and it hits the Air Force Times. I don't expect it will be long.
squadron size
in General Discussion
Posted
My former Ops Squadron had just under 100 people - about 15 of which were enlisted. Realize that this was an F-15E squadron, so you've got twice the number of aircrew (pilots and WSOs) for the same number of jets.
You'll see the commander just about every day. Unless you actually have business with him, you probably won't interact with him other than at aircrew meetings and in the bar.