hindsight2020
-
Posts
1,003 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
21
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Blogs
Downloads
Wiki
Posts posted by hindsight2020
-
-
Tried the training report, sent with a copy of the ACE recommendation. No dice. The university seems more than willing to award the credits with a transcript, but apparently Uncle Sam's signature on the training report is insufficient. Apparently the idea that a world exists outside of academia is incredibly frightening to these folks.
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.
-
1
-
-
Just thought I'd post this note.
I've been retired from the AF since 1993 and use TriCare as a suppliment to Medicare. The hospital in my community of 127,000 people, advised last month that as of April 1st 2013, they will no longer accept TriCare insurance.
Just another indicator of things to come.
Ltc. JW
Do they accept Medicare?
-
It is possible, but it is an administrative asspain severe to make it happen. I'm trying to gain two retirees right now and we've been working the process on one of them for well over a year...Probably close to two. One of the big holdups is that you need to take and pass an initial entry physical as if you are a 22 year old off the street and the AFRC medical machine turns veeerrry sloooowwwlly.
Ultimately it can be done but it is really painful.
Why are we doing this? Are there no qualified younger guys?
-
Cap,
On a related note, if one were to be hired but NOT full time, what's the maximum one could fly? Thanks.
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.
Well, think I found a loophole. My DD214 says resignation, so through the BCMR I will be able to have any record of being in the IRR removed as well as the two non-selects for promotion as well. With this obstacle gone, I can get back into the guard or reserve. So, if you get passed over and get out and don't have a guard or reserve job lined up, maybe better off to resign your commission instead of getting put in the IRR where you will get passed over twice and done for good.
Are you saying you got placed in the IRR by mistake? I don't think one could just make IRR pass-overs just disappear..
-
This is what I'm hoping for. Looking at the 2013 pay chart, you'd get $37,000 a year for life and never have to go to another job interview. That's more than enough to retire somewhere cheap and tropical in your early 40s if you're single.
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.
-
I'm going from memory here, and only the male standards:
Pullups: 7-21
Standing Long Jump: 6'ish - 8'
Situps: 95 max, i forget the min
Push-ups: 45ish-72
600m Sprint: 2:05 - 1:35
Min score gets you 25 points, max gets you 100. 250 points required to pass IIRC, and you could only fail one event.
EDIT: Apparently you cant fail any of the events anymore. Good. Thx, Muscle
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....
-
That's next up on the chopping block. Along with increasing TRICARE premiums and delaying pension payouts until age 60 for AD retirements.
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.
-
1st three emails in my inbox yesterday were the same three emails...original email sent out to the base distro list, the same email then forwarded to me from the shirt, and again from an ADO. It makes me want to punch a puppy.
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 pilot refusing to write up a hard landing when they blow out a pair of tires.
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..
-
#1 reason to become a USAF pilot is because these guys are honor bound to get you home if you become a pedestrian.
https://encrypted-tb...UPg2ZTSQZauz4Lr
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.
-
1
-
-
Yup, because 51% of Americas.. (actually it was 49% if you don't count all the people who voted between 6-9 times) voted Obama back into office, this is what we get!
LOL WTF
Yes, American did forgo bankruptcy and the employees gave up a lot (something like $10 billion since) to avoid a bankruptcy in 2003. That give back was squandered.
The corporate playbook seems to be declare bankruptcy, strip pay and benefits, outsource as much flying as possible, repaint the airplanes, declare success, and the management walks out the door with millions. Horton, soon to be ex-CEO, is going to walk with almost $20 million for a couple years work. Not a bad gig if you can get it.
The only decent job in 121 is management fo sho'
-
1
-
-
How do people feel about this? Just curious.
Im getting the popcorn this oughtta be good...
-
I guess it is good they would do it for no money. The promotion rates for Army WO AV types in 11 was: 58% for W3, 57% for W4 and 18% for W5. Adopt the WO system as it is and 4 out of ten would be out of a job before they would have normally have made CPT.
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?
-
2
-
-
Warrants will not help a perceived leadership issue. For one, they have a pyramid up or out selection also. Making W3 has become very difficult not to mention W4. We have more Generals than W5's. And it is still good bye to the two time non selects at each grade. Besides, the random W that gets put in charge of 2-3 aircraft and 10-15 people not included, warrants are not leaders. You will never see a warrant as a Battalion(Squadron) Commander or a Brigade (Wing) Commander. They are the Army efficiently utilizing skills available at a relatively cheap cost. I am sure I will take some shots for this but, don't like your leadership? Then stop saying I just want to fly and learn some leadership skills. The step up to the plate and take some of the non flying jobs that will eventually put you in charge so you can be a positive influence on your organization.
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.
-
2
-
-
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.
-
Witch hunts are a great way to divert attention away from the actual problem. I'm not a big Air Force times fan but this article throws out some interesting numbers.
http://www.airforcet...s-fired-012013/
We certainly have a problem in the military, but it doesn't stem from dirty songs and swimsuit calendars. I think I remember learning something in SOS about leadership setting the standard for behavior...
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.
-
3
-
-
This is where I don't get why HAF/A1 doesn't get it:
- If regionals aren't hiring/don't exist due to the train wreck which is the 1500 hour rule, then the pipeline for civilians to build enough hours to go on to the Majors is cut off . . . if the US civilian sector can't produce adequate numbers of ATPs, then military becomes the primary (but a very limited) source of qualified US pilots
- Even if no US military pilots don't wanna fly for overseas carriers (dubious assumption, especially given the amount of expected growth in the coming years), overseas demand will keep foreign pilots overseas . . . add very limited supply of foreign pilots able/willing to get US ATPs
It's a simple supply & demand problem--US mil pilots will comprise the bulk of a very limited supply of competent pilots who have the hours to get US ATPs. Demand will be huge (5k pilots required/yr in North America alone for next 20 yrs). I wasn't an econ major, but low supply/high demand tends to drive prices up. Airlines will be competing for every mil pilot that retires/separates, at the same time the Reserve Component needs bodies as well. What happens when large percentages of large year groups of MAF pilots get out at the end of their commitments--not only to experience in MAF squadrons, but on CAF staffs, in RPAs, MC-12s, etc.?
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.
-
Uhh, why is everyone in such a hurry to get married right after UPT?
Chicks dig planes.
Dependents screaming over benefits. That's about it. What.. you thought she's kosher with Airforceshitholetown and 6on/6off because she loves you? lol
-
1
-
Questions on TPS (Test Pilot School)
in General Discussion
Posted
Sound advice. I wonder though, why did you decide to go that route then? Honest question.