SocialD

Oh good, another down day, that will make a difference... I guess we'll just throw this in the "do something visible," column.

If you're not on instagram, do yourself a favor and set up an account and follow bob_thoughts_69. Dude is on a meme rampage against a B2 idiot who loves making tittok videos of himself. It's down right hilarious. I honestly joined last year just to follow a few mil pilot meme streams as these guys are funny! They're all on a rampage against the Chief as well. Another upside to the gram is that there are hot chicks everywhere who love nothing more than to show you how hot they are.

Awesome writeup Clearedhot! Quick question, did the Columbia (300/350/400) come up in your search? If so, do you glean any insight for/against it? Thanks!

His "chance to talk," was a random, unannounced FB post. None of this impacts me, I'm just calling like I've seen it go down so many times over my career. His post reads like he knows (or thinks) it's not going to be well received and is trying to get ahead of it. Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised. Patton would be fired 10x over in todays overly PC military, likely after he told his bosses we're fighting this war like a bunch of idiots. If we're paying our generals to win wars, we should probably take some of that money back.

Meh, 10 years ago SocialD might have agreed with you. After your initial commitment, it can all be boiled down to compensation, either the money they're paying is worth putting up with the BS, or it's not. He would have been better off just saying, the bonus is coming out soon, whether you decide to stay or leave, thank you for your service...the end. No need for the Dad talk.

"You're probably not going to like the new bonus, so do it for god and country...because gosh darn it, we care for you..."

You're not missing much, standard people there. Ones that want nothing to change because "that's the way it's always been." Those that are genuinely trying to convey what's going on (if you read these, it actually seems like it has potential). Then the ones that buckle and turn all their posts into a sir sandwich when a General posts on the thread.

Sooooo....the rumors are true then?

Please do. I was hoping you'd be around to give your two cents. I'm so checked out from news/SM I didn't know about this until this afternoon.

That's not a known right now and I'd expect to see a few of them hiring next year, possibly later this year, though I'm skeptical on that. Either way, here's hoping they keep the shorter bonuses for the ARC, as many can not commit 5+ year bonuses.

But seriously, glad things word themselves out Duck!

This is my shocked face. Either play to win or GTFO!

I have almost zero faith that we'll see any hiring this year at DAL, but words from our crew resources dude, "it's not off the table." We just posted a small bid that brings back 400 of our unassigned pilots that they hope to have up and flying for summer. If (big IF) the current growth continues, they plan to post a bigger bid in May/Jun to staff for summer 2022. For that bid, they said they'll need 100 WB Captains due to all the early outs we have. That should generate some movement and bring back quite a few more of our unassigned pilots. Of course this depends on the world not losing their minds, the effectiveness of the vaccine and the policies of world leaders as we move forward. I've been out on MLOA for 6-7 months for a deployment and I'm again reminded why I love part time...I can only "MIL" full time for so long.

Remember when news stations used sound off at the end of the night with a waving American flag and the National Anthem? We need more of that and less 24 hours entertainment "news."

Depends big time on your ATAG. Right now, ours doesn't require it, but you'll go to ROPMA (2 year delay). I'm a prior-e that would have had to stay to 23 or 24 years if I had waited for ROPMA...something I really didn't want to do. I bit the bullet and finished ACSC while deployed or otherwise in a pay status. Weird enough, some states/units REQUIRE you to ROPMA to O-4! Not sure why you'd purposely do that to your people but I know of at least 2 states that do it. Sounds like they have a problem of letting senior O-5s stick around too long, or their unit is low on control grades. Admittedly, we're on the high side of control grades right now, which means we currently have a ridiculous amount of O-5s. I reached the same conclusion as you Brabus. It earned me an extra ~$15k this year, however his was a deployment year for me so this isn't the norm.. As a true DSG, if I do all my AFTPs/UTAs/AT, it's only a difference of ~$6k/yr. So if I retire, right at the 3 years TIG, it will have made me an extra $27k. Not bad considering I knocked ACSC out while being paid. Ya man, be happy to be in the Guard on that one...AFRC is a totally different animal. If you're looking for O-5, you're likely better off in the ANG. I pinned on O-5 well before many of my 2nd assignment B-Course IPs who later moved to AFRC.

Those days went away when they stopped letting a pilot run the PT program. They don't call them the good ole days for nothing. The old saying "this isn't your daddies ANG," doesn't even apply anymore...it's not even close to the ANG I joined 20 years ago. That's back when "mandatory fun" was genuinely fun and everyone WANTED to participate! Back when a trip to Alpena meant some awesome shenanigans when the entire wing would end up at the River Club. If those walls could talk... 😳 He's at the best base there is....retired! But the things of which he speaks used to be at pretty much every base. Then cell phones/cameras happened...

That's for AGRs. Add this to very long, but distinguished, list of reasons to be a DSG (Drill-Status Guardsman for you AD folk). Seriously, don't be full time!

It does have it's upsides. Having a bar off base makes for much more fun times than one on base. This!

Certain Guard bases. It has to do with our facilities being state grounds and alcohol not being permitted on state property. I don't believe it's every state, but I've been Guest help in two other states that have the same rules. It seems to highly depend on who TAG is at the time. If TAG is Army, then it tends to be a higher priority to enforce...

This is my shocked face. Still going strong at Base X.

Yet another reason being a part-timer is such a great gig. On another note...if you're looking for a way to burn some of that GI BILL, check out this place.  They have a VA approved, 141 program for your Seaplane rating.

Ha, you assume that I care that the right has all the power. That said, I don't believe either party has any credibility to actually lose, so that helps keep me flippant. The far ends of both parties are complete clown acts right now.

Just woke up on the other side of the world and heard "some people did something..." The internets are still cooking, so the lights must still be on. Are riots and protests a bad thing now?

Idiotic fuckery has gone from linear to accelerating exponentially. I'm inside of 100 days to retirement eligibility. Planning on staying another year or so, but damn, retirement looks better and better every day! This was my first thought as well. The last one was filled with plenty of bullshit like you and pawnman reference. I nominate this thread as the place to post all the bullshit we'll likely be seeing in the next 6-9 months. Lol, that's kind of a running joke on our base. Illegal to have alcohol on base, but it's perfectly fine for the shopette to sell it.

You and I both brother! Are what ifs open? What if we had experience with getting involved in a decade+ long quagmire, that could provide us some lessons learned... What if there was this other super power who had gone into Afghanistan and had some lessons that could have been learned... What if war wasn't such a racket...