Mitch Weaver

Ghetto indeed. My FIL offered me his TEC-9 over the Christmas break. I told him I'd wait the 6 months til I'm out of California to take if off his hands.

Shack. Page 11

Not a tanker guy so I can't speak to the mission there, but have traveled to Boeing Wichita more times than I'd like to admit and have stopped at the base on occasion. Overall impression of the base: nice gym/community center but the worst BX I've ever seen. The latter shouldn't concern you because the Wichita area has everything else that you'd need, and has been rated in the top 10 cities in the US for growth. Boeing, Spirit, Cessna, and a few others all share real estate on McConnell, so there appear to be plenty of job opportunities on the outside. There's a nice range of housing options off-base, and the airport is served by multiple carriers. BL: I wouldn't mind getting stationed there.

Already mentioned: - Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell - With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge - A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo - story of a Marine Lieutenant during the beginning of Vietnam. If Luttrell's anti-media tone resonates with you, then you'll appreciate the latter chapters of this book. - The Rise of the Fighter Generals by now retired MGen Worden. It's SAC's epitaph, and a freebie from AU press.

We'll be waiting.

Not when you read the second line of the post: "In simplest terms, the force-sizing exercise begins with the squadron, the basic unit of organization and building block of an AEF.. " AEF: implemented in January 2000- not a "Cold War theory". Here's a general ROT: STFU when you don't know what you're talking about. When you do, be able to back it up.

Taken from AFA Magazine April 2008 "Where does the figure 381 come from? Is it justifiable? In simplest terms, the force-sizing exercise begins with the squadron, the basic unit of organization and building block of an AEF. The Air Force has determined that each AEF requires at least one F-22 squadron for air superiority, interdiction in high threat areas, and so forth. The standard squadron contains 24 combat-coded fighters. The F-22’s Operational Requirements Document validated that metric. The ORD was signed by the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Do the math: 10 squadrons times 24 aircraft equals 240 fighters." "Does that mean that 240 F-22s are enough? No. Note that the requirement is for 240 combat-coded F-22s. In order to maintain that many fighters constantly in a combat-ready condition and able to deploy on a wartime mission, the Air Force needs more F-22s for other needs. The question is: How many? The Air Force has analytic formulas for determining the answer. Here they are: •For training, 25 percent of the combat-coded force, or 60 more fighters. •For test purposes, five percent of the total of combat-coded and training aircraft, or 15 more fighters. •For backup inventory, 10 percent of the combat-coded, training, and test aircraft, or 32 more fighters. •For attrition reserve, 10 percent of everything above, or 34 more fighters. Those four categories, taken together, generate an additional requirement for 141 F-22s. Add up those fighters and the combat-coded ones and you come to—voila—381 fighters."

Anyone else see an issue with this analysis? Of all the possible alternatives to present, he chose to present IMO the most cost prohibitive. I can't see this guy having many friends.

Source

There are students/graduates who had FAIP experience in addition to meeting the AC requirements for a MWS. There are guys who also left their MWS for a white jet tour and applied as a UPT or IFF IP. Other guys who didn't meet the AC hours requirements had to wait to finish up their white jet tour and reapply after requaling in their previous MWS. Yes, it's fairly common to have a few 1Lts per class. They are, however, non-rated engineers. I asked an attached reservist (w/prior Guard test experience) this question and yes, you'd have to accept an AD commission and serve your time on AD as a test pilot. If you want to know more, PM me and I'll pass you his info.

The plot thickens... Military Corruption

Hacker's dead on. Make no mistake- Hadji will f@ck your mom on Sunday morning if given the chance. Our job is to obliterate the enemy. I'd gladly club a baby seal from Creech if I had the opportunity.

Cypher- I'd get as much of a Master's done as possible before starting UPT. Casual time is free time that you'll never have again. If you don't finish before UPT, you should at least be more than halfway done if you make it your #1 priority as a casual Lt. That said, you'll be more likely to finish that program once you're at your first ops squadron. Air Force Education Center online has a search engine for distance learning and local courses. It'll save you from having to sift through phonebooks of degree programs at your education office. Also, some schools use the ACE guide to determine if your military training is worth graduate level credit. Probably not a factor for a casual with no formal training but it can save time down the road. Example: PIT and SOS in residence are two courses that offer grad credit that you can use to satisfy an elective or two.

Show me a hot chick and I'll show you a man tired of f!cking her. If that was the case with airplanes, there'd be no more warbirds still flying.

Our WIC grads in the BUFF are typically the knowledge base for JMEM calculations. It's really the only way to translate a desired Pd into a loadout. Our 3-3 has simplified JDAM/WCMD weaponeering matrices to be used in an CAS/INT/TST role. Also, applying a few fuzing rules of thumb makes dynamic targeting simpler with the GBU-31/FMU-152 (joint programmable fuze) combo.

The wait list for housing at Barksdale varies, but expect at least 1 year (at least that's what it was in '03). I've never heard of a student moving right into base housing, especially since you could always end up in Minot. If you did ok at JSUNT, then you'll do fine at the FTU. Talk to Lamerde and Visa at the 562d- good guys who'll tell you all you want to hear. Good luck.

99% of the people who bash Minot have never lived there.

Nah, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have anyone come in on a weekend. Stop trying to cash your "my shit smells worse than your shit" checks on this board.

You must not sleep well before your sorties...you know, with all those unlucky-lazy-non technical no-degree crew chiefs prepping your lawndart everyday.

How about two Roth IRAs (one for self, one for spouse) vs Roth IRA and a TSP account?

I agree with Bender- especially the comment about the 9 to 5 thing. Unless things have changed dramatically in the last 4 years, as a 62 you will essentially be a civilian wearing BDUs and PT grape-smugglers while putting up with all of the shoe clerkisms that run rampant at places like WPAFB. When you can't stand the BS of the recent Air Force, you can always relish in the fact that at least you're a flyer doing the mission. That perspective and gratification is extremely limited from within a lab/SPO/cubicle. Unless it's a medical thing, I'd reconsider your AFSC choice.

I heard the same thing from Air U. cc down at shoe flag a few months ago. No IOC though...

To answer an earlier question on initial N/RN training... Acording to an FTU instructor, The B-52 FTU is going to begin training initial pilots and navs to be qualified in both respective seats within a year or two. This wasn't feasible for navs with the OAS bomb/nav system, but apparently makes more sense with the AMI upgrade. I can see the utility after having flown AMI sorties (i.e. reduced Radar nav/nav workloads). As for the pilots, I assume the syllabus is going to be extended considerably to allow new pilots to become proficient in AR and landing.

When I was our sq's LSO, there were rumblings that Survival Equipment (a.k.a. Fab) where combining with Life support. Apparently it's now going to happen and the previous maintenance functions are going to be aligned under the OG. Not sure about ANG/AFRES, but that's how it's looking on AD- and it may be a moot point in about a year or two.