hindsight2020

Sound advice. I wonder though, why did you decide to go that route then? Honest question.

I hear ya but to suggest there's validity towards crediting things such as PME and flight training towards graduate work is an absolute joke to the same real world you allude to. You can't have it both ways.

Do they accept Medicare?

Why are we doing this? Are there no qualified younger guys?

You mean troughing? That depends on the money pot. The answer in our neck of the woods is: it depends. Would probably help to be local. These days the commuting-to-trough is not viewed in very good light. But someone tell the bosses that freedom ain't free, I'm tired of being the broken record...

We just had a dude in our unit get passed over, found out he's DNRed because without him knowing he had been passed over once in the IRR. It's a total outrage being we can't even keep people from coming to our unit in fokin Mars. The dude is a Captain type as well. I haven't researched the specifics about it but I sure hope we go to bat for the guy and/or find a way of rectifying that situation. I had no idea the IRR was such a PITA for young guys with breaks in service. Food for thought for sure. Are you saying you got placed in the IRR by mistake? I don't think one could just make IRR pass-overs just disappear..

There are certainly other ways to recoup your retirement, specifically civil service or via a Reserve retirement (where you would most probably be able to make major btw). But the point is noted, having a 37K check a year is a very nice way of leveraging one's civilian employment income expectations from AD departure until civilian retirement. I certainly wouldn't scoff it. All that said, for me it would come down to job satisfaction. You take me out of the flight line as a continued lifer O-3 then forget it, I'd punch.

nah, merely further proof that even NKoreans hate yuppies/hipsters.....

I dunno, I don't think anybody is saying go to 20 as a continued O-3. I do think it's a decent free agency short term, especially if a flying gig. If a shitty gig comes out, 7 day opt and see ya later. I agree, don't let the entitlement of feeling owed a 75K severance package deter you from making opportunities from shit sandwiches. Now, if you hate the airplane you're flying and the associated qweep duty of being an AF officer, then by all means punching is the best route. I think some of the posters on here just aren't quite in love with what they're doing (read: airplane assignment) in the AF and getting the rug pulled from under them, a.k.a. denied invol-sep-pay, is like pouring salt on the wound. To those guys, nothing will make up for not getting to do what they wanted to do in the AF when they joined. I don't blame them one bit. Sometimes the dream to fly what you wanted and/or for how long as you wanted, is not in the cards (ask me how I know). But, be reassured, there's life after Blue.

That's an anaerobic test in nature. The regular AF PT test is aerobic in nature. You would see a lot more failures if you implemented the USAFA approach to the regular AF. Blue decided a while ago they want Lance Armstrong as their physical archetype, generally shunning those who focus on anaerobic conditioning. That said, I would love that idea implemented. Fuck, that's the first good idea I've ever heard come out of USAFA. I would smoke that test. Most in the AF would fail miserably, especially the upper body strength components. I've always been underwhelmed by the emphasis on aerobic fitness the PT test places. Amn Snuffy can jog fast in those reflective catch-me-fvck-me's, but can't carry a 50lb bag to the end of the track or drag/carry his wounded buddy's body weight 100 yards double time. Fuckin warriors alright....

You mean the Reserves right? Cuz we've been there for quite a while. It is what it is. Vote with your feet is right.

Office Space antics. Eight bosses (trust me, they are all your boss, even the enlisted ones), eight TPS report reminders...

Only to be topped by a nav on a min ferry crew refusing to fly the jet because his repeater altimeter, the fourth one on the airplane mind you, is a RCH below 75' from field elevation.... ...or an E-dub doing oxygen checks on the cotton-pickin' flare during pattern work.... Goobers..

You can do that in the CG and Army WO. As a matter of fact, lot more opportunities to do stuff like that. Not knocking the CSAR, but I wouldn't put it in the #1 reason for USAF aspirants. It's about dwell time at home, facilities and greater preponderance of fixed wing slots. The best paid regional airline, in essence.

LOL WTF The only decent job in 121 is management fo sho'

Im getting the popcorn this oughtta be good...

You think the majority of AF pilots don't already privately consider (via a combination of their motivations and aggregate actions) the AF the best paid regional airline? How much do you think the going rate for civilian pylet is at a regional? The majority of people didn't join the AF pilot ranks to pursue non-flying employment the day after their initial commitment. It is what it is. This is at the heart of the tragedy of the common AF pilot. I'm not particularly interested in the particulars of the Army WO program, I just wanted to use it to illustrate that limiting AF pilots access to a technician track has done jack shit to help with the leadership deficit. As such, the 'up or out' is a fucking failure. In the ARC side of the house they have started with the business of "vectoring" people who check a box in vPC-GR saying "I want my career managed for senior leadership". I think that's great. Unfortunately the rest of the ARC is still expected to act AD-Lite and jump through the PME 9th grade intelligence-regressing content, but that could be changed. If the 'vectoring' implementation had more teeth to it, volunteering to be vectored would keep the vast majority of AF pilots concentrating on their SQ level progressions and leave the senior level stuff outside of the spectrum of "flying planes, fvckin and earning a check". As an added, the OPR system would almost instantly see a natural grade deflation that could now be better suited to have the kind of visible graduations required to stratify few people for few jobs as opposed to a whole bunch of OPR-clones for the same few jobs. The savings on PME/AAD/AT/school TDYs would be significant as well, if fiscal restraint is of consequence to you. But the system has too much inertia to let that happen. As such and as you see displayed in the attitudes of many on here, nobody will sidestep their personal motivations in order to attempt to change something for the benefit of their peers and at the cost of his/her job/vocational satisfaction. Look, keeping somebody at Major for the price of "we won't fuck with you" is an incredible motivator for the majority of these AF pylet types. I could be so brazen as to suggest O-3 caps and you'd still have takers, though the numbers would dwindle due to what I call "all AF wives are O-5 wives" syndrome, but that's for another thread. There really isn't any decent reason to write off the technician track so flippantly as the AF does. You'll never get quality out of somebody who doesn't want to be there. This is basic dynamics of rational motivators. Why pay through the nose for said deficit?

Nice fable, but that's not how humans work. You ever heard of a tragedy of the commons? Such are the motivations of the aggregate AF pilot pool. Most people join up cuz they want to be pylets. In the process of living their lives, complications to their life situation in the form of financial obligations and expanding list of dependents, their priorities naturally shift. That's hardly a reason to pursue leadership positions for the sake of a paycheck, but there you have it. The idea that people are gonna sack up in an honest way and change the way they are inherently motivated is pure fallacy. They all wait for someone else to take the grenade, leading to no one taking the hit, and all ending up worse off. Tragedy of the commons. Punking everyone to bid for 'up or out' has done jack to improve that dynamic of rational motivators, as can be illustrated by the almost criminal waste of tax payer dollars in the form of PME and AAD/TA. At least a warrant program would save the DOD money because sure as shit I guarantee you people would do AF pylet for W(n) money.

I heard a very good argument on XM radio today, where a male respondent argued to a female officer caller in support of the measure that if it is so true that females roll in seamlessly into the idiosyncrasies of frontline combat, then how come that is the same military currently riddled with so many accusations of sexual assault and violence against female military members? The female officer dismissed the claim that the military has a sexual assault problem, at which point the guest, a quasi-SARC lady feminazi type, went bezerk against the female officer. It was a very compelling argument indeed, watching these two women who were in support of the measure essentially whipsawed against each other.

Again, the warrior monk is a fallacy. It's about high time the military updates their view of fraternization to recognize the changing demographics. Too many women in uniform, period dot. It's gonna continue to happen.

Damn, and here I thought professional bitching was reserved for well-to-do pylets with an inflated self-assessment of labor market value. These docs make pylets look like selfless leper-cleaning nuns.....

The idea of a military dominated by warrior monks with absolute sexual self-restraint and a central preoccupation with the social and cultural idiosyncrasies of the female gender is a fuckin' pipedream . That concise enough for you, SARC lady? And that's talking about the ones who claim innocence as female members of the military. Let's not even get to the other politically incorrect assertion that the desert queens and squadron bicycles that are the preponderance of military females in deployable positions,do hold responsibility for the outcomes and risks of their sexual machinations when surrounded by a preponderance of sex starved and stressed males. You'll never hear that admission from the SARC lady either. After all we're all rapists and brutes with no conscience. Females are endemically sexually innocent....Fuck that post-feminist view of gender roles. The game is chess it ain't checkers.Caveat emptor.

Well here's a counter point to consider. I happen to agree with A1''s assessment to be frank. I know you folks feel strongly about this hiring wave but hear me out. Regional hiring is a non-player for military types IMO. You may think the sky will fall with the 1500 rule, I don't think it will. Getting an ATP isn't all that hard, it just takes the civilian track a year or two more. Did the ruling kill the 300hr wonder boy? Of course. That's what it was designed to do. But who cares! In 1992 commuter airline newhire competitive mins were de facto ATP mins and that didn't stop the hoardes of dreamers from applying to get paid in sunsets and flight time. So, neither will essentially going back to those hiring mins. The only dudes I know flying for regionals post-military are the rare retiree doing it for currency while he waits for the damn window to the so called hiring wave to open already. Regionals aren't magically going to turn into a $50/hr 1st year FO job, just because of the 1500 rule. Frankly, folks are putting too much stock into that ruling. You guys are about to get humbled by the sheer inelasticity of demand the pilot dreamer displays. Once again, it's not going to entice military types to go work for regionals. And make no mistake, there is a huge shadow inventory of regional CAs and FOs waiting to flood the application windows at mainline. Mil applicants with barely one SUPT commitment under their belt will not be all that competitive against these candidates, absent a bona fide military internal rec, and those vary depending on the hiring culture of the specific airline. Military types like to dismiss the resume strength of the civilian-only regional CA but in all reality they are very desirable to mainline and their vast 121 experience is a worthy contender. They will dilute much of the hubris of the optimism biased separating military guy, and in that respect A1 is right in calling the barking dog's bluff. I also agree with A1 in that amongst a labor pool of people bemoaning the large chunks of separation from family as a reason for separating, the prospect of expat work is not exactly a player that's going to decimate retention in the Air force. People bark a lot, but the majority don't find expat work all that palatable. I think A1 is not irrational in making that assumption. 1:1 replacement not materializing is another assumption I agree on, I think the capacity will continue to be tightened as airlines continue to finagle load factors http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2012/11/october-2011-traffic-capacity-load-factors.html/ See attached link. BL, unless another economic bubble inflates, travel will grow at lackluster pace, airlines will continue to reduce capacity, adjusted for population growth, and there's your less than 1:1. Again, A1 is reasonable in siding with that assumption. I know we all want to see AFPC get punched in the mouth,but I think they are sitting on the upper hand as most people overshoot their estimation of the "big one for military folks" by about 4 years too early. That's a lot of waiting, and most rather wait inside blue than outside, whether they wish to admit that or not. Im not saying things aren't gonna pick up, but it ain't gonna happen in a game changing way until at least 2016. That about kills any leverage a mil guy has in utilizing the airline hiring as construct with which to give blue the finger. Say it is because the member wishes to quit cold turkey or because he intends on pursuing non-airline work, but until at least 2016 most mil dudes aspiring for mainline work are kinda stuck. If I was hot in pursuit of the airline dream I'd line up my ducks for a 2016 time frame and make the decision of staying or going based off where that would put me relative to 20 years and what things I'm willing or not willing to do for Blue in order to get to mid 2015 early 2016. That is obviously something every person is going to have to figure out individually. Like I said, I don't find those assumptions egregious at all on the part of A1.

This country is so passive aggressive about sexuality it's retarded. We rather scold people for their inability of being happy in a monogamous construct (a construct you have to work monastically at, not endemic to human nature) than face the fact that there are other things more important than people's private behavior and the realization that such behavior *gasp* hardly ever speaks in an all-encompassing manner about the person's ability to do their job. I would think the military, the epitome of the social exercise we call "compartmentalizing", would be right at home with such paradoxes. I know we don't fire people because they're lousy absentee, borderline physically abusive, workaholic parents... so why would we because they like to buff more than one woman? ...and the c**t always gets away scot-free. Standard.

Dependents screaming over benefits. That's about it. What.. you thought she's kosher with Airforceshitholetown and 6on/6off because she loves you? lol