SocialD

Is the 340th hiring guys off the street to be T-6/T-1/T-38 IPs now? Have they always done this?

Eh, those are some small fries compared to what some guys are doing. I think even working both gigs can be legally done as long as you have permission from your CC and you don't violate the leave reg. We've had a guy fired (quit in lieu of...) because he was taking MLOA then working at his contractor side gig. That's real abuse and detrimental to the rest of us (vast majority) who use it as we should. Other shenanigans has led to Delta moving to a policy wrt to dropping trips with MLOA, especially around holidays. Say you attempt to drop a 4 day trip with 1 day of MLOA on day 1 of the trip. They may now just drop that first day of the trip then have fly the balance of the trip starting on day 2.

I logged UPT flights as total time and dual received or PIC (if solo).

Congressman...wild card bitches!

I honestly haven't looked into this but I believe it's actually NGB that pays for the training, as they are the ones who divvy out the UPT slots. If you haven't already had to get TAG approval as part of the VLPAD application process, you'll likely have get their sign-off if accepted. If they release you, you're good to go, but I'm guessing your ADSC will remain. We've had guys leave for non-flying gigs in other state and they technically still have their commitment. Then again, there have been guys leave the Guard before the ADSC is complete. I don't really understand VLPAD, so excuse my ignorance. Are you just rolling to AD for a single, specific assignment, or just planning on moving to the AD for the long term. We've had opportunities pop up here and there for random (some decent) assignments, but we'd still return to our squadron. It could have been part of this VLPAD, I'm not sure. I just wouldn't want to completely put myself at the whim of the AD, they've clearly proven they can't be trusted. Anyway, best of luck!

Plenty of skallywags there trying to feel better about themselves, but it's a better place than most.

That might be best left to a PM...

It’ll never happen, and this is why... Every student pilot starts off in an ejection seat aircraft, so every student pilot will continue to get regular flight suits and wear them at their first duty station. Plus, the fighter mafia runs the Air Force, so they will never let the one piece leave the normal rotation. It’s all about the supply chain. Ejection seat bubbas across the US military all need to wear one piece flight suits, which means they’ll always be in the supply system. They may become a little more difficult to procure at a helo or AFSOC base, but they’ll never ever go away. Mark my words, once they're authorized for ejection seat aircraft, we'll all be wearing them in due time. Scooter, I think they'll use your reasoning in reverse and say it's a cost savings issue and make bags go away. But it's just another move in the direction of everyone is the same.

I think most of them specifically tell you to NOT count other time.

This is one of my bigger complaints with DTS. Also why can't they pull back rejected vouchers? I had one rejected because the finance chick saw that my orders were from another squadron (I was on alert order with another squadron) and just assumed I uploaded the wrong orders. I just said I guess I'll resubmit it in a month when I finish airline training. I guess our base didn't get their kick back from citibank that month.

Starts around page 9. Scroll down and click on the hyperlinked "HERE." Quite a few complaints are certainly legit, especially about a certain individual named in the lawsuit. He definitely made the mil guys in our indoc class ask WTF?! He's since been removed from his position but he definitely put a bad taste in the mouth of the ARC guys. Sad part is that he was a retired AD/ARC pilot himself. I'm glad to see he no longer has his hands in the process.

I had to leave an airline to make it happen, but I live in base for both (~1 hour to my airline gig). This is my shocked face...

They've seriously hired ~half my squadron over the last 5 years, to include my SQ/CC late last year. Pretty much everyone in our squadron who has applied to Delta has been hired. If there is discrimination happening in the hiring process, it hasn't impacted us. Only a few of these hires were guys who were anywhere near retirement. From what I read, the lawsuit has nothing to do with hiring but rather stuff that happened to currently employed pilots that still serve in the ARC. I go on all our deployments, almost every squadron TDY and occasionally drop a trip for mloa, and I haven't felt at all targeted or discriminated against. Then again, I did not get hired and immediately drop multiple years of orders...I actually enjoy the hell out of this gig and being a true part-timer.

I get everyone has their own reasons, but I most certainly would have considered myself lazy had I not done it. If you want to talk colossal waste of time/money/resources...we can look at my last two "deployments" (which happens to be where I did a vast majority of my ACSC). 8 months worth of deployments to sit and fly training lines...with the 2nd deployment being in such a shitty weather location that we actually cancelled as much as we flew. At least the next time they send us on another bullshit deployment they'll be paying me extra cash for my efforts. Or I could have just skipped it and let them pay me a shit ton less over my remaining time in the military/retirement years...that would have showed them!

A friend from the B-Course, who is an airline pilot/F-16 pilot, just finished law school. We've had a few guys in my squadron complete MBAs from Booth and Kellogg while part-timers. Anything is possible with a little sacrifice and flexible leadership.

Ya, everyone has a different definition of "worth it." For me, I'll only have to stick around another year, which is fairly easy considering I live < 10 minutes from the Guard and within an hour of the airline. It also helps that my squadron is extremely flexible with scheduling. My gross difference will be closer to $600/month or about an extra $140k if I live 20 years past when I start receiving my retirement (57-58). I'll make an extra $7k on our next deployment and an extra $6k/yr to do the same job as a part-timer. It will also be nice to have as insurance in case anything goes wrong with the airlines. Seems kinda silly for me to pass up on that just because I was too lazy to take some quizzes and write a few papers...papers that I'm convinced only need to have the proper formatting to pass. I completed ACSC over about 4 years while on deployments/TDYs/drill days/airline layovers...so I was never not getting paid to work on it. Had my squadron not promoted us as soon as we were eligible or adopted the ridiculous policy of forcing their guys to ROPMA (even for O-4 in some squadrons), I would be in the same boat as you.

Say wha? Been doing the Guard flying thing for well over a decade and have spent exactly $0.00 of my own money on uniforms/boots. Either way, what other said below...you'll be issued boots when you show up UPT.

In my category, that's the most you'll wear it in months you bid a line.

For the ARC guys in the room...while a PITA, after running some numbers, I found doing ACSC (correspondence) worth it. Even though I won't be getting my part timer retirement until I'm 58ish, the payoff is fairly substantial. Couldn't care less if my ID/retirement paperwork says maj or lt col. I knocked most of it out over a deployment or while on airline trips. Of note, I'm a prior-e that is eligible for lt col at 18 YOS so I'll only need to extend a small time to hit my three years. Thankful for a unit that doesn't do bullshit like keep make their Majors and Lt Col ROPMA. In that case, there's no way I'd do ACSC...I'll refer back to Shazaams gif.

I've know of one squadron that does this, and frankly I'm surprised it's still in place. Our former OG looked into this and concluded that he couldn't legally institute such a policy. He felt that, in the end, he could just be exposing the Squadron/Guard/AF to IG/legal issues if someone wanted to pursue it. I agree that there are some valid reasons it, but don't think it should be a hard/fast rule. But whatever works for the local leadership at the time. Funny you use the alert tasking as a reason...you guys often calling in dudes for the ever present Mexican Air Force threat? 🤣 It was thanks to alert that we've had people actually live further away. Some sacrifices on their part, but it allowed them to keep momma happy and still be good participants.

We've had a full timer that lived 4.5 hours away and did great. We've have part-timers that lived 1.5-2 hours away that struggled. It's all up to the individual. In the scenario presented by Nunya, aside from being a perfect test on if you consider yourself a commuter, 2am is entirely to late to be at the base anyway! The lead needs to learn to be more efficient during night weeks. I would have left after the second computer didn't work...it's going to cost the .gov another pay card to log the paperwork when they unfuck their computer systems.

Losing the 3 for 1 on alert was the biggest killer in part-timer participation for alert. The shitty thing was when they took that away, they made it retroactive to a month or two prior. We had had a part-timer sit 7 days (paid 21 under the old system) in that period and this change retroactively made it 8 days of pay...and they came to collect that debt. I don't believe that dude ever sat another day alert after that fuck job (don't blame him). There were a few nuggets in there that where Sikora was spot on. Under the current system it's tough to entice them to sit alert. If only they could figure out a way to allow us to roll off alert then log two pay cards to fly CT that day, we'd get a lot more part time help as this would be a much better use of our part-timers time on base. Until then, the full timers will continue to carry the burden...for a while, then they'll go to the airlines. I'm the last to defend some of the things these guys were doing, but some of the above linked article is certainly out of context. Like them "getting paid at home," which was the day they could be called in to cover alert....though, if they're out of the area then that's a clean kill. Tanker guys "sit alert" at home for a few days at a time. Perfectly within the rules but they're still getting paid "at home." Also the crew rest thing, wrt alert, if a fucking joke. Some of the squadrons I've sat alert with had their dudes working their normal jobs (though not flying) all day long while on alert status. so how is that different than a guy working on the CT all day then rolling to alert?

Good early lesson to the LTs on trusting the AF only so far. Still going to fighters, so good deal either way.