Ram

1. Quiet please, adults are talking. 2. I get *maybe* one fight-tank-fight every 6 to 9 months. It's something pilots look forward to. When it doesn't happen, that makes me a sad panda.

Disapproved. They were an hour late. My "fight tank fight" turned into a "fight and wonder where the hell the tanker is, then RTB min fuel." WTFO. Thanks for not letting ANYONE know you were going to be an hour late to the ARCT.

Well, looks like the aggressors are going to need a whole new set of patches.

Every generation of ze Germans just has to find a way to fuck with the Jews, eh?

I very clearly remember watching the Andy Griffith Show on my grandmother's old B&W TV as a very young rug rat. He always struck me as a man of principle.

Godspeed, brothers. I hate news like this.

I wouldn't be surprised. In fact, I've seen it coming for a year.

Oh...you're right. I forgot: It's the 401k contribution matching, stock options, and guaranteed pension that keeps my retention meter in the green when I'm off all over the world missing my kid's birthday / not being with my family for Christmas morning / missing my grandmother's funeral. You're smoking crack if you don't think that health care is earned.

2 weeks of in-place TDY + 8 weeks of SOS = NCMR upon return. Of course...CMR isn't nearly as important as your PowerPoint skills.

FIFY.

$5 for head seems pretty cheap. What exactly is the problem here?

"Open the canopy, Raptor!" "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that." Seriously...didn't a Raptor test pilot get stuck a few years back when HAL decided that opening the canopy wasn't a good idea? They had to cut him out, causing all kinds of FOD in the cockpit. I think he was there for a few hours before they decided that the saw was the only way for him to egress.

It really used to be a remote, so no...I didn't. But I'm nursing a Class A hangover right now...let me be miserable in peace.

Not true for the guys I know. 3 year CONUS tour...standard. I know several Viper buddies (O-4 / O-5 types) who did a year remote at Kunsan and then 3 years at Cannon. Doing the Cannon to Kunsan path is referred to as the "CanKun" tour in the Viper community to this day.

It's her husband's fault that she doesn't consider a ball in the face to be "ops normal." Gentlemen - make sure your wives are "acclimated."

I bet former members of the 522 FS, 523 FS, and 524 FS find this thread really funny.

Sad. One less easy target if this thing ever kicks off.

Semantics here, but remember: Promotion is not a "reward" for a job well done. Instead, it's a recognition of perceived aptitude for more rank/responsibility. Just "doing the J-O-B" is not, then, a reason to be promoted. A PRF should be written to demonstrate worthiness for the next rank, not just all the things you've done in your current rank. I think it's often difficult to tell the difference between the two. (Don't flame...I'm just quoting what the AFPC guys / leadership types have told me.)

So that makes her a blonde chick that would do anything for baht?

Because it feels better to say "hey man...the system is broken" than "well, I guess I didn't make the cut." NOTE: I am definitely NOT saying that the system isn't broken.

[begin debrief] You are a flaming homosexual faggot and I hope a terrorist rapes your face. [end debrief]

You're almost correct. Sure, new fighter pilot production is maxed-out, but if TX courses were the fix Big Blue would be all over that. The REAL limfac is the number of fighter cockpits we have. To get a guy "qualified" to do a NON-flying job that requires an 11F, he must first be experienced in his MWS. As we've cut the overall number of fighter cockpits available, AFPC is seeing the second and third order effects of those dwindling cockpits: A smaller pool of "experienced" fighter guys that they can send off to do "other" jobs. While ramping up TX courses would improve the number of current/qualified fighter pilots, there's no way to increase the number of cockpits. (Well, we COULD buy more fighters, but I have some coastal land in North Dakota I'd like to sell you if you believe THAT will happen soon...) Increasing TX course throughput just kicks the can down the road a few years anyway. Eventually, those older dudes will "age out" (think: Rainman) and be useless to AFPC. Without keeping the B course numbers high, AFPC would only fix the problem in the near term and create a much bigger problem a couple years down the road. (Ha...AFPC has NEVER done that before, RIGHT?)

And remember: This "fighter pilot shortage" is NOT about empty cockpits sitting on the ramp. It's about all the "other" jobs out there that require an 11F.

You're old. It was hilarious.

Recommend you call in Code 3 for your sarcasm generator/transmitter. How's that saying go about when 3 people call you an ass? STFU and put the harness on, I think? EDIT: Looks like Danny beat me to it.