Sketch
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Posts posted by Sketch
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I'm kind of glad that the threat is real again, it will light a fire under entitled students who think all they need to do is show up, warm a seat, and they are entitled to wings. There was no real incentive to do well. You bomb UPT and you get an E-3 to Tinker.... oh no. Tell me how TERRIBLE that type rating in a four engine Boeing heavy is. Oklahoma city? That sounds horrible. I can't believe they would make you PCS to Alaska, Germany, or Japan after that! Now there's a real penalty for doing poorly in UPT. There is also talk of RPAs not being directly tied to MASS. What that means it the shitbag with the poor attitude but decent hands still isn't safe.
Obviously I'm ignorant of the UPT world, but I have to ask are there actually studs like this? Guys that show up and think they're entitled to a seat if they just scrape by? I would think the long, difficult process of getting into pilot training would weed out those types of people. I don't know, maybe I just can't fathom that type of thinking.
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FYSA,
Had an E in my Sq just get notified of his OTS/Pilot slot today.
Results are starting to move...for that board anyway
Cheers!
AD or Guard/Reserve?
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That's my understanding as well. Since that came out after the board, I would assume they're wanting to make sure the top packages want to do enjjpt since people don't have the option to not choose it.
So in other words it just got WAY more competitive to get selected for it now?
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There was a guy I was in ROTC with that got enjjpt with ~2.9 and a 70ish PCSM. That was back when commanders had 50% of the score's weight though. I had a buddy get picked up last year for it and he had a low 3.something GPA and mid-90s PCSM. I don't know what the exact cutoff is or if there even is one. I've always heard they fill up the total number of pilot slots available, then give the top packages enjjpt slots until they run out. I have no idea how true that is, but it sounds legit.
When I was new there were two guys in my det that got upt slots but said initially they weren't "qualified" for ENJJPT, then go out of nowhere got slots at the last minute before their EAD. I'm wondering how often this happens, but this was also before the sequestration cuts started.
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Just curious does anyone know what the ENJJPT cutoffs are? Last I heard it was GPA and the TBAS but that was a few years ago.
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I have one recommenedation: close BODN to the public. There's no reason BODN needs the anonymous and potentially dangerous viewing of AF Times, anthropologists, scoobs, BQZip's mom, Chinese and Russian spies, or anyone else not in the community. I know of other military forums that are not viewable without logging in. Getting a username requires proof of military affiliation (receiving an email at your .mil address for proof, proving that you know someone within the community, etc). It is not totally anonymous (and thus people might not feel as free to voice their thoughts), as some moderator will know your name, but as long as the moderators are trustowrthy, there is no room to worry. Besides, the NSA will be collecting on BODN no matter how secure the site becomes from the public.
As a hopeful USAF aviator I am strongly against this suggestion. BODN isn't just a great resource for current and former aviators, but for hopeful ones like myself as well. I can't begin to describe how helpful this site has been to me over the years and I'm sure there are plenty of others who can say the same (including some who started out where I am and are now aviators). I'm sure many people can attribute some of their success directly to the info and advice on this site. And its not just the gouge info on the main page but getting to interact with real aviators and get our questions answered is what helps make this site so awesome.
Perhaps close certain sections of the site, like say the squadron bar and general discussion, but leave the Road to Wings and the Guard/Reserve and spouses ones open so we can still have access to it. I really hope this terrible idea never comes to fruition.
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Some friends still in rotc said that the system has changed as far as automatically going active duty. They have some sort of new program where you can commission and just serve a couple years in the Inactive Ready Reserve or get hired by a guard/reserve unit. Might be worth looking into. Be careful though. They could change that in a heart beat and you could get stuck in a non rated career forced going AD. AF is real good at being indecisive as a 16 yr old girl getting dressed to go on a date.
This is true, but in addition if you're in the bottom of your senior class you may even get disenrolled just because they have to downsize. AFROTC offered a voluntary separation program for cadets in the Spring where those interested could opt out of their commission and owed the AF nothing. Unfortunately only a handful of cadets took the offer so they had to cut some people and I heard they will be doing it again next year.
Times are tough. The only way you can be safe is to fix the things under your control and hope for the best.
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Thanks for the replies. I'm weighing my options and it looks like right now guard/reserve is the best one, I would need to get some flight hours soon though to be competitive. Enlisting has its pros/cons but I'm not ready to make that determination right now.
However, since my ultimate goal is to go AD, (yes I know AD is worse), is it possible to start out in the guard/reserve as a pilot than transfer over? Can you go from one airframe in the guard to another on AD?
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So, long story short after 3 years ROTC didn't work out for me, so at this point my options are to enlist now or pursue a commission through OTS or the ANG/Reserves. I only have 2 years left before I finish my degree, which means I can start applying to OTS late next year. I realize its probably the most competitive route and currently there are no pilot slots for FY14/15. I'm 22 years old so I know time isn't an issue yet.
My question is, should I enlist and finish my degree on AD, or should I just finish my degree now and start applying to OTS? I'm not 100% excited about enlisting to be honest (I've spent the last 8 years pursuing officer programs) but I will do it wholeheartedly if it means increasing my chances of going to UPT someday. I do think that given the resources I have I will probably have a fairly strong package for OTS, but if there are no pilot slots should I still apply?
Any advice would be appreciated.
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Edit: Nevermind. I'm preaching to the choir. Thanks air force, I hope you know what you're doing when you cut people.
Great ads btw. Some of the best I've seen since the "no one comes close" ones from the early 2000s imo.
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This is why I tell my fellow cadets to look elsewhere both in ROTC and when they hit AD. Not worth the potential liability, especially with cases flaring up from years ago.
While this year it happened to be suicide awareness due to the timing (RW death and an airman at our local base all in the same week) the first thing normally brought up during ROTC commanders' calls is SAPR. Nuff said.
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It's still not too late! There's the forest service, wal mart, unemployment!
I could always go work for the DMV.. Oh wait
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If this is serious, and I'm not fully convinced that it is, I'm gonna go right out and say this is completely f*cking ridiculous. The AF already turns down hundreds of outstanding airman/cadets every year for incredibly minor medical issues that really wouldn't prevent them from serving well if the "world-wide deployable" rule wasn't in affect. So instead of allowing them to serve, who would otherwise not need any special accommodations, you're gonna let people with serious legitimate medical DQs cut the line and get all the accommodations they want? And how exactly are they going to help better the mission that those DQ'd cadets/airman couldn't do?
Sometimes I question why I'm even trying to join this service. UFB.
And of course this would come from CA..
/rant off
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So I'll be heading out to Cannon in a few weeks to visit a friend, any manned aircrew guys on here who would be willing to show a wet-behind-the-ears cadet around their sq for a bit? I have base access and complementary beer for any takers. PM me if interested, thanks!
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Not an expert, but the short answer is maybe. Most RPA missions are flown from GCSs in CONUS, but because of the 2 sec delay of the satellite feed from overseas pilots are needed in deployed locations to do the takeoffs/recoveries. Having flown the sim at HO, I would say good luck trying to land the real thing in a crosswind with a 2 sec delay on the controls!
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The math sections were what killed me on my first attempt. I highly recommend studying those areas and not winging it if you're a weak swimmer in math like I am. Its college level math ranging from Algebra 2 up to hints of Calculus. I wasn't prepared and I payed for it with a very low academic composite score (ironically i aced all the other pilot sections and if my math had been better my pilot could've been in the 90s), so for those planning to take it for the first time I recommend using both AFOQT specific study books and SAT prep material. I had an old SAT prep book from HS and I found it helpful especially for the english sections.
Oh, and this may have been mentioned before but DONT LEAVE ANY ANSWERS BLANK!! Get as far as you can then during the last 30 secs just guess on the remaining problems. You don't lose points for wrong answers so it would be a shame to lose a few extra points for leaving some blank.
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7 out of our 19 got cut and three are coming back to try again. The three that are coming back weren't 250s.
Sounds about right, our det lost 40% as well. Based on the numbers people were posting on facebook it seems like almost every det got around 60%. A few got lucky (sts) with more but the highest I saw was 70%. Hopefully the AF does what it typically does in these situations and goes the other way (sts) in 2015 when it realizes it cut too many this year.
FYI our commander is not a fan of AS500s, but he said because it was such a tough year he would let just about everyone who didn't get one come back for another try.
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So how does that work? Does that mean that 40% of the AS200's nationwide just got told to turn in their AFROTC stuff and don't bother showing up at the detachment anymore?
For some, yes. A small portion (mostly 250s who applied for the first time) will get to try again next year.
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Numbers are out, not good. 60% national selection rate. Best of luck to everyone who applied.
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Gotta love that Flanker silhouette on the open house button on DM's website.
And how come not even a single A-10 or tac demo is flying? Are we really that broke?
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Any news on the numbers? My guess is this year will be bloody.
Word on the street is the results will be released tomorrow, so expect notifications within the next few days..
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Also by him is a book about the F-15E in the Gulf War. Goes into some great detail like how the guys were dodging SAMs at low altitude
I have my eye on that one but I just ordered "Vipers in the Storm" which also been mentioned many times so I'll be reading that next.
the creative methods they used to counter the Iraqi gunships (who were firing on Iraqi civilians) at the end of the war when they were told not to engage them.
Uh.. tree top level supersonic pass directly over their heads?
Also, has anyone read Air Superiority Blue: The F-15 Story by Donn Byrnes? Saw this while browsing Amazon and after reading about the F-X debacle in Boyd I was hoping this might go more in-depth.
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Just finished Warthog: Flying the A-10 in the Gulf War by William Smallwood. Its been mentioned here before and for good reason; its well written and overall I really enjoyed it. Its not perfect but the author does a great job of explaining the A-10's role in the Gulf and how they were able to accomplish their missions despite some of the tremendous obstacles they faced on both sides (many coalition CC's didn't even want to use them at first). The level of detail is incredible and a good portion of the book is pilot accounts of their missions and even a few pages of horrendous POW stories. Overall great book that I highly recommend but for any Hawg pilots be careful the ending is very bittersweet...
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The supposed deadline for EAs is 22 Mar. Also, I thought these Max dates were old news.
Any news on the numbers? My guess is this year will be bloody.
Track Selects and Assignment Nights
in General Discussion
Posted
Wow, I'm fairly surprised to be honest. Like I said I figured almost all of those people wouldnt have made it that far with that attitude. When I was in ROTC just about all our pilot selects were gung ho and really wanted it. Obviously not everyone wants to go to ENJJPT and drop a raptor but damn. I guess its inevitable for a few to squeeze through the cracks. I'm assuming they usually end up at the bottom anyway due to peer/flight commander rankings right? How does these folks tend to fair in the ops world?