SocialD

The posts above are probably the better way to handle this situation...probably best to bring your chain into the loop. As I near my 20, I lean more towards the scorched earth policy. I've just seen way too many great dudes/dudettes get fucked over to care about tact anymore. My fucks to give are dwindling at an astonishing rate. Bergmans method is fairly effective, just be willing to deal with any blowback. Had to employ this method to get a secret CD burnt at a major base in the PACOM AOR. I shit you not, there was only one (1) person on base who had secret burn rights at the time and they didn't want to do shit to help us out. They were not amused, when asked for my classified courier letter, I just pointed at my wings and told them I carry classified every fucking day. They apparently weren't happy with my antics, but thankfully my leadership are some grade A MOFOs, and I never heard anything from it.

Word...

IG Complaint then Don't write, Call your congressman...better yet walk into their office with all the data.

Yes I use uber. No, I would not use an Uber without a driver in the car. You're right, we need to ensure all our contracts say that all planes will be piloted by 2 human pilots (or 3/4 depending on length of flight). If they want us to fly single pilot, our pay would have to more than doubled and our hours worked per day would need to be slashed significantly. I can't see this even starting to happen for a few decades. Have you guys every worked with the FAA? Fuck, we've been trying to get a new arrival into our Guard base, for like 4 or 5 years and we still have no end in sight.

Ha, what do you mean by mindsets are changing for the better? Making the Guard more like AD? That's working out well for AD... Wrt 3-3/3-1... Maybe in your community.

This. You need 1,000 hours of 121 time to be a Captain. I've been at DAL for 2.5 years and still haven't hit 1,000 hours, but I also had an 8 month mil leave in there...and I try to avoid work. nsplayr -- The 11,500 guy was probably a mil/civ guy. VMFA -- DAL no longer does a multiplier on airlineapps, I'm not sure about the others. When I first applied they did something like a .2/sortie multiplier and it actually showed you the updated numbers, that has since been removed. You're right though, it's going to take a bit for the tacair guys to get to that 1,500 hours. I went the to regionals, however I didn't get all that much time...I think just checking the 121 container was enough to propel me into the interview pile (hired ~1,800TT...~850 of that was civilian time). Otherwise, I was just a standard 4-ship flight lead with a mediocre GPA in Aviation... The pay sucks, but you'll most likely not spend much time there. Lots of guys spent < 6 months at a regional.

Congrats on making the switch and getting out of the AD. So is that 7 days a month? WAY too much if you're a true part timer. Depends on the time of year. In the winter months, I can easily get 18-19 days/month off...so I'll just work on off days. Summers in the airline are much busier so I tend to pre-post mil leave. For reference, I live in base for both gigs. They only give us enough pay cards (AFTP/UTA) to do 4 days a month. My AT days are used on one of the many TDYs (WAY too many) we do in the year. If they want more than that, they need to cough up more pay cards. If drill has a no fly day, I generally don't show up...if I do, it's become exponentially harder to get my 6 sorties in the remaining 3 days. Some months I get my sorties, some months I don't...it's a fine line but it's worked so far. I'm just sick of them adding more and more bullshit requirements and expecting us to get it all done in the same amount of time. The 10 pound sock only holds 10 pounds of shit, no matter how hard you try... I'm starting to understand what the old timers meant when they said, you'll know when it's time to get out... Safe to say, your base is not the norm for Guard flying squadrons.

Pension here, GI Bill there... Hell, we used to be able to claim laundry while TDY...now I have to fight to get paid for an UBER.

Case in point...McEntire ANGB. The fact that they're not co-located with Shaw or vice versa, lets you know that politics will make consolidation a hopeless dream. Many states could easily consolidate their ANG squadrons to one location without too much of an impact on operations (like Huggy mentions). Unfortunately, consolidation means losing out on many of the things that make a stand alone ANG wing so great.

Does your squadron use PEX to process your form 8s? You know, open it up, click sign, it's fired off to the next person for signature, and eventually works it's way back to OGV...AUTOMATICALLY! Works great and is done within a day most times. Well some overworked pilot in OGV at an unnamed base in PACAF, had (I hope it changed) to pull all the data, rebuild the form 8 in PDF. Attach and e-mail it to the first signer. Of course they had to download it, sign it, save it and attach it to another email to send back to OGV. Then the process started over again for the next signer, until all the signature blocks were done. He then would email it up to PACAF. Here is the best part, this was because someone up at the PACAF staff (a civilian if I remember correctly) didn't like the way the PEX form 8, formatted the squadron identifier (ie...669FS vs 669 FS)! I wish I was making that up.

FIFY.

Oh boy, you want to talk about killing the ARC force. Many of our guys are just barely hanging on as it is. Before we start talking mobilization of the ARC, lets talk about cutting bullshit deployments. Many of the Guard fighter squadrons are being "deployed" to locations to sit and do NOTHING. Our guys are more than willing to go to the AOR and do the jobs we're trained to do, but keep sending us to bs TSPs, and you'll see guys start bailing...it's already started. I know quite a few that have moved onto UAVs, non-flying gig or just gotten out over this. Dudes are quickly losing their will to go sit in some "deployed" location and fly CT lines, all the while taking a GIANT pay cut from their civilian jobs. They're starting to ask themselves WTF are we doing here and why am I away from my family for this shit?

Not sure if it's a community thing, maybe a squadron thing. I can count on one hand, how many squadron mates that DON'T fly with their phones.

Didn't they have a metric fuckton of dudes 7-day opt the AK aggressors when they were trying to stand that squadron up? Might be off on this, just 2nd hand info from a few AD guys we hired around the time they were standing up that squadron. Not surprised. You have WAY too many squadrons and too much AD blood.

For us Guard guys, what is DS? How I feel when any staff weenie speaks (A3X this and A8F that)...like we know what the hell they're talking about!

Yikes! Goodluck getting the unions onboard with any changes to seniority. Then again, maybe APA could fuck over the TWA guys just one more time. Oh...I thought by "update my spreadsheet," you really meant update airlineapps.

On of my biggest pet peeves with military leadership.

Not enough Christmas party planning?

Search her name on here...you'll find the reason for the post by CH.

I wonder how many DUIs would have happened if the SPs/Cops let them go (ie...have someone get them) or drive them home...like happened back when this Colonel was a LT? Not that I'm condoning drinking and driving. Been a part of more than a few mass punishments. All it did was make the rest of us resent, and lose faith in leadership. Why the fuck am I being punished when I wasn't there, or had no knowledge of said incidents? It permanently damaged their ability to effectively lead us, and did nothing to solve the issue. There are more than a few states that ban alcohol on Guard bases. Ours was imposed by our state leadership (Army General) after a rash of ARMY guard incidents...in a different city! Until "creative measures" were taken, it SEVERLY impacted the debrief. We're on year 10ish of this alcohol ban.

TREE FLT 1010, ok taxi onto rwy 13, right on romeo, continue on bravo, right on charlie yankee, hold short of rwy 4, you're number.........42 in sequence. Let me know if you'll need to head back to the deice pad.

I believe it. We are in the process of going completely paperless in the cockpit. As a contingency we're trying to get approval to use any FAA approved tablet in case ours shit's the bed and we can get a replacement. So when my shitty ass surface 3 dies, I can pull an iPad (since other carriers have it approved) out of my luggage and finish the day/trip with that. The fact that it's not just a paperwork issue is beyond me. I understand the safety side of things, but much like the military, red tape and bureaucracy gets in the way of advancement. Have they researched adding a sleeve for an iPad on our G-suits? Something to allow an iPad to be secured into a sleeve with and open face to allow for use. In an ejection it shouldn't be an issue. Something our local AFE shop could add to the suit. I'm sure, much like above it, would take years of research and lawsuits to get it approved. Meanwhile the warfighter goes with inferior products while the bureaucrats sort it out.

This...all of this! The passengers have better access to updated weather than we do. It's just too dangerous for us to have the moving map and streaming weather on our tablet... Wifi in the cabin, OK. Wifi in in the cockpit...FAA loses their minds. Now you want to change from the surface 2 to the surface 3...Whoa boys, just slow the fuck down!

Funny, I actually enjoy the flying because it's so much more chill than flying at the Guard. Nice to kick back, drink my coffee, BS about everything under the sun and watch the states go by. But I totally get what you're saying. I don't particularly relish the idea of teaching TP stalls the rest of my career, but it would make life as a part-timer so much easier. For all the reasons you stated, it seems like it would be a logical fit for a part time force. Well that's their problem right there...6-7 days is right out! 4 maybe 5 days MAX. Yes, once you hit 2nd or 3rd year pay it's a significant pay cut to go out to the guard...even as a narrow body guy. I stick around the Guard because I still enjoy the flying and I love the camaraderie. However, every year we add more shit the Viper that makes it harder and harder to be a part timer. Ya, that would be killer for many bases. Although it would mostly be a problem for T-6s. A lot of bases have close enough and big enough airspace for T-1s and T-38s. Given that each base would only have a small number of classes/students, you wouldn't need alot of airspace. Distance would be killer though.