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I've heard several dudes rave about the "opportunities" at Yokota.

We seem to have extras...any takers? http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/australia-looks-overseas-for-defence-staff-20111227-1par2.html The Australian Defence Force is trying to recruit laid-off soldiers, sailors and air crew from Britain, the US and other western countries in order to fill recruitment quotas. Australia is reportedly looking for defence specialists, such as fighter pilots, submarine crews and officers and are offering fast-tracked citizenship as an incentive, The Australian reported on Tuesday. According to the newspaper the Royal Australian Navy has sent a delegation to Britain to discover how many retrenched sailors, particularly engineers, were available.

Why do we paint our refueling trucks green? Shouldn't they be painted to match the concrete so they are less vulnerable to air attack in say, Korea, and also keep the fuel a little cooler? I mean, do we really go driving these things out in the woods that much? Is painting them green gonna save them from a terrorist or SOF attack? The Korean AF paints theirs grey-maybe they're on to something...

Interesting. Any A-10 drivers out there up for this? "The U.S. military’s veteran A-10 Thunderbolt II is built for battle: a titanium-armored cockpit protects its pilot from explosive projectile hits, and it can carry weapons like a 30-mm nose-mounted cannon to take out enemy tanks. Now the National Science Foundation (NSF) plans to arm a retired Thunderbolt not with bombs, but with scientific instruments, and use it to study the inside of violent thunderstorms—where winds, hail, and lightning would take down lesser planes. The NSF recently awarded a $10.9 million grant to the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., a to refurbish a retired Thunderbolt for use as a storm-penetrating research plane, the journal Science reported this week. Stripped of weapons....." Read more: Weather-Studying Warthog: A Fixed-Up A-10 Will Fly Into Thunderstorms - A-10 Thunderbolt II - Popular Mechanics

The sad part is we'll still have to keep Ellsworth and Dyess open (the Dyess C-130s could probably fit somewhere else). I'd bet a month's salary that the B-1 will be axed within 3-4 years.

RIP.

If the government can arbitrarily decide to change the retirement on us mid-stream, then why the hell should anyone of us have to obey the contracts we signed? A one-star admiral from the Joint Staff came down to speak to us today (Joint Forces Staff College) and he said pretty much the same thing as AF Times was saying. I can't believe those Defense Business Board clowns think nobody should get grandfathered into the current system. That's total BS!!! Cut welfare first-those bums haven't earned it! Damn, I have 17.5 years in and I certainly wouldn't have put up with all the BS I've had to endure if I would have known this was gonna happen. I would have left after my initial commitment was up 13.5 years ago. Guess we'll have to do a class action lawsuit and hope for the best. I realize none of these proposals are approved and will certainly face a firestorm of opposition, but I fear the worst with the current regime in power and the budget situation.

Next thing will be to add a reg in there to prohibit tucking the back of the flight cap (combat tuck/Mach tuck). Or maybe it's already in there. I never bothered to read 36-2903 as it would just piss me off. Luckily I'm in a unit where the only AF people who outrank me are aviators and the rest of the other service O-6s and above are ignorant of/don't give a rat's ass about AF uniform regs. So I'm gonna keep wearing my morale patches.... PBAR

I'd be perfectly willing to take a pay cut, loose some benefits, etc. if and only if Congress takes a chainsaw to the rest of the federal budget and eliminates stuff that we have no business paying for such as National Endowment for the Arts, PBS, Amtrak, farm subsidies, etc. and did a serious crackdown on Medicare and Social Security Disability fraud. Unfortunately, we servicemen and women will take it in the shorts while the taxpayers continue to be soaked for billions in Medicare fraud and wasteful stuff. I can stomach the sacrifice in my pay and benefits to reduce the deficit for the good of the country. Afterall, I'm ready to sacrifice my life if need be. What I can't stomach is having to make that sacrifice on top of all the hassles of military service while Congress continues to waste vast, vast sums of our tax money to ensure they get re-elected.

Two. Let's get rid of PA. Too damned reactive and focuses too much on "A1C Snuffy pumped 124K of fuel this week" stories. What really bothers me is counterpropaganda is doctrinally their mission/responsibility but they refuse to do it. So the Taliban eats our lunch with their propaganda about us bombing wedding parties, etc. and PA does little to effectively counter it. Yet when the IO folks step in to do it properly, PA throws a hissy fit about it not being in IO's lane...

I notice he didn't mention writing a check to Uncle Sam to return all of his undeserved combat pay, which Uncle Sam would gladly accept...

This really scares me because it seems like the UK has been a preview for the last few decades for what will happen to the US...

Looks like the AF just added a new tie-breaker to the promotion process...foreign language ability. "by Daniel P. Elkins Air Force Personnel, Services and Manpower Public Affairs 1/5/2011 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- In an effort to better highlight candidates who possess the skills necessary for officer promotion in today's expeditionary Air Force, senior Air Force officials approved changes to the officer selection brief. The modified officer selection brief will be used beginning with boards in June and include a more detailed professional military education section, the addition of a foreign language proficiency section and an acquisition qualifications section. "The modifications to the officer selection brief better highlight important competencies for global Air Force operations and allow officers with these attributes to be more easily identified by promotion boards," said Brig. Gen. Sharon Dunbar, the force management policy director, deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel. The Force Management and Development Council, which makes strategic-level recommendations to the secretary of the Air Force and chief of staff of the Air Force on force management and development issues based on input from leaders across the Air Force, recommended the modifications as a means to identify Air Force officers with key skills in today's force. For example, the enhanced PME section reflects the Air Force's emphasis on officer development. The section will include an at-a-glance summary of the school attended, method of completion and date of completion. Previously, the section just included the level of schooling and date of completion. The council also found that officers who have foreign language skills and cultural experience relevant to world operations play a key role in supporting joint combatant commanders. Therefore, they recommended the addition of a foreign language section to help identify these in-demand officers to promotion boards. This new section will capture the language, listening and reading proficiency level and a certification date."Officers who possess such language skills and cultural understanding underscore the service's efforts in developing regional expertise and building partnerships across the globe," said Mike Nolta, the deputy chief of the international Airmen division for the Secretary of the Air Force International Affairs office. Finally, the addition of the acquisition certification section helps identify those contracting professionals who have the necessary skills and training to ensure acquisition excellence--one of the Air Force's top priorities. The brief identifies majors who have met all acquisition corps eligibility requirements with the exception of rank as "eligible" for admission into the Air Force Acquisition Corps. Personnel officials said identifying these Airmen also keeps the Air Force in compliance with U.S. code that ensures active-component officers selected for the acquisition corps are promoted at the rate of line officers. This code does not apply to the Reserve component. Promotion boards are conducted and administered at the Air Force Personnel Center and Air Reserve Personnel Center. For more information and links to resources, visit the Officer Promotions page at the Air Force Personnel Center personnel services website or call the Total Force Service Center at 800-525-0102."

I worry more about the Fed borrowing/printing so much money that inflation skyrockets and our retirement checks become worthless...

Perhaps he is talking about the future when the deployments die down and the flying hour program suffers due to the impending cuts. At any rate, I think we ought to press ahead with the OA-X. Using F-15Es, B-1s, F-16s, etc. in Afghanistan is like using a Superbowl team to play high school ball. They are overcapable for what's required, still age just the same, and cost way too much for what's needed and then when the Superbowl rolls around (i.e. Taiwan Straits), they aren't available 'cuz we wore them out. But I guess we can't do the OA-X because that would counter our message of being "all in"...

http://www.airpower.au.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj10/fal10/2010_3_04_pietrucha.pdf Good article on the OA-X in Air & Space Power Journal

For those interested in the RAS program, the language testing requirements are changing next year. They are dropping the listening portion of the DLPT for RAS officers and in place of that, the RAS officers will have to do an Oral Proficiency Interview. Apparently, they are trying to motivate RAS officers to improve their speaking skills. If you get a 2+ or better on the speaking, there will be a "bonus", though the message I saw didn't specificy what that was. Getting a 2+ on the OPI will probably be very difficult for most. I know it will be for me. As an aside, I was told that for my next assignment I only have two choices- go back to fly or go to a RAS position. PBAR

There was a retired MX NCO who decided to live in a trailer park right off the north of the Dyess runway and then called constantly to complain about the noise. He actually made enough threats that the FBI paid him a visit. WTF was he thinking? Living a mile off the end of a B-1/C-130 runway in a trailer home wasn't gonna be loud!?!

Schwartz Shoots Down COIN Plane By Greg Grant Thursday, May 6th, 2010 2:48 pm Posted in Air, International, Policy The Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, shot down his own idea of a light attack aircraft for irregular wars today, saying existing aircraft can perform any and all close air support missions that a new, light strike fighter could. On top of that, he averred there is no need for a smaller cargo lifter either, he said. “There is a not a need, in my view, for large numbers of light strike or light lift aircraft in our Air Force to do general purpose force missions,” Schwartz said, speaking at a Center for National Policy sponsored event in Washington, D.C. “With the platforms that we already have in our force structure, and our capabilities, we can service any close air support requirement. It’s as simple as that.” He could not envision replacing existing F-15, F-16 and A-10 aircraft with a light strike aircraft. Schwartz did identify an existing capability gap: an aircraft that can be used to train nascent foreign air arms. It should be something in the U.S. Air Force inventory, so that foreign pilots become familiar with it and then foreign nations are encouraged to buy the same aircraft in some quantities. To that end, in 2012, the Air Force will hold a competition to buy 15 light strike and surveillance aircraft, probably propeller driven, he said. But these aircraft would be used as trainers, to build “partner capacity” with foreign air forces, specifically those in Iraq and Afghanistan. “The idea is a modest cost platform, one that can perform the light strike mission or surveillance, as the case may be, and do so that can be readily assimilated and operated within the means of our army air corps counterparts.” Last summer, the Air Force requested aircraft manufacturers provide designs for a Light Attack Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) aircraft. Many had speculated this meant the Air Force would be adding a LAAR air wing. Schwartz made clear that is not the case. The LAAR aircraft will be used as trainers, owned and operated by the Air Force, to train foreign pilots in low end missions. In March, Joint Forces Command’s Gen. James Mattis, told the Senate Armed Services Committee, that the military needs a light fighter for irregular warfare. “Today’s approach of loitering multi-million dollar aircraft and using a system of systems procedure for the approval and employment of airpower is not the most effective use of aviation fires in this irregular fight,” he said. A recent RAND report, titled “Courses of Action for Enhancing U.S. Air Force Irregular Warfare Capabilities,” said the service should stand up a dedicated COIN air wing equipped with about 100 of the currently undefined “OA-X” light attack aircraft. Such an aircraft would greatly facilitate partnering with Iraqi and Afghan aviators, while lowering the costs and reducing excessive flying hour demands for high-performance aircraft such as the F-16. Additionally, as “partners are more likely to want aircraft that U.S. forces are flying to great effect,” building and operating a COIN aircraft would simultaneously boost support for ground troops while “whetting the appetite of partners who are prematurely looking to acquire high-performance jet aircraft such as the F-16.” The U.S. Navy’s new Irregular Warfare office, under its “Imminent Fury” project, has been eyeing the Brazilian Super Tucano turboprop to provide close air support to special operations forces Read more: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/05/06/schwartz-shoots-down-light-fighter/#ixzz0nFAzkqYM

I thought this sort of thing was more the Navy's style... But seriously, what...were...they...thinking?

Found this at Osan. Little hard to read but it says "Patch of Invincibility +1". PBAR

Interesting blurb from the Air Force Association daily report... Big change in policy for CSOs... "USAF wants combat systems officers—lieutenants through majors—to fly remotely piloted vehicles. Those airmen who qualify have until Nov. 20 to volunteer. Those who are selected will be notified in December and begin training in January. Once trained, they "will possess the 18X Air Force specialty code and become permanent [unmanned aircraft system] assets," said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Kwoka, UAS career field manager. The Air Force leadership announced the creation of the 18X specialty code in September. CSOs without a commercial instrument rating are eligible to apply, but those with such a rating have only until Dec. 31 to apply and be able to go directly to a formal training unit, bypassing the full UAS pilot training course, said Maj. Gregory Nita, chief of UAS and intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance assignments, noting a policy change."

We're back to the six month wait again? At least that's better than my year group ('93) faced- I had to wait 12 months with no pay to enter active duty after grad and some of the guys I know had to wait 18 months.

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/09/airforce_csar_091109w/ Study shows that the AF needs 171 rescue helos...

The dirty little secret is that the South Koreans don't want reunification and therefore oppose any attempts on our part to run a propaganda/psyops/information ops campaign against nK. They don't even want Christian groups releasing ballons from South Korean territory. They don't want to pay to fix nK. As an aside, I read about some of the leaflets the South Korean Christian groups send over and it's pretty clever what they do. The nKs were telling their people not to pick up the leaflets because they are radioactive. So the Christian groups made one side of the leaflet look like nK money and then the other side would have the propaganda. The cool thing is that the side with the propaganda would also have a picture of Kim Chong Il. In nK it's illegal to be in possession of those leaflets but it's also a crime to throw away a picture of Kim Chong Il or crumple/fold/deface it, etc. Puts the people who pick up the "money" in quite a quandry... PBAR