pawnman

Same. I've learned a ton about the wing in my OGV and IG jobs that I was never exposed to staying solely within the flying squadron.

I get what you're saying, but just know this is what the MSG officers are doing, and it's why their promotion rates are the same or higher, even with CSAF telling Congress about his pilot manning crisis.

Potentially, but definitely by their Major's board. "IDE, HAF, then SQ/CC!" But they do need to watch for push lines that don't go up the chain. A current flight commander shouldn't get a push to another flight commander or shop chief job, even if that is where they are going. They should have ADO, staff, school, and depending on year group, SQ/DO or SQ/CC.

The young captains are the ones that should be paying attention. All the PRF mentoring I got in the last two years was basically useless, because the OPR push lines I needed to say "school" and "SQ/CC" were 4-5 years ago. Hell, it was only in the past two years I learned that pairing the push line with your boss' gameplan is a recipe for disaster (i.e., the OPR says "perfect for chief of OGV" or "stellar choice for chief of safety" instead of a DO or SQ/CC push). Those young captains need that input now, before those push lines are finalized.

It's possible there will be a smaller pool, but in my neck of the woods at least, there are far more LtCols leaving than O-4s getting continuation. Also, watching the promotion webinar, AFPC said there's a hard cap of 10% on BPZ. They don't have to use all 10% on BPZ folks, but if they want to promote 1000 people (using your numbers), no more than 100 can be BPZ. I'm trying not to stress too much about it... It's pretty much out of my hands at this point. Either I get promoted, or I get continued... And with the bonus, I'll be paid like an O-5 even if I get passed over.

I'd love to not care, but I'm actually looking to get promoted. Turns out, airlines don't use navigators anymore.

It's a big "what-if?". I've not heard the 90% from anywhere else. I had a meeting with my WG/CV that was only tangentially related (more about where my next job will be), and he hadn't heard the 90% rumor. Neither had the guys running the AFPC webinar yesterday afternoon. What I do know is that AFGSC has 50 officers going to the MLR.

Just found out that my wing doesn't even have one DP to hand out...only 2 officers total in the '05 Year Group, and the AFI says you need at least three to get one DP. Pray for me going into the MLR, fellas. I need all the help I can get.

If this is now where the line is, then the pilot manning is about to get a lot worse. I don't think I know a single flyer in the B-1 who had not done something similar on deployment.

Shows how broken the process is when a top 20% guy who manages to get a school slot doesn't make the top 75% of promotion-eligible officers.

I'm not a gun owner, so I haven't had to deal with it...but my understanding is that you can carry on base, then you leave it in the vehicle once you get to your squadron. There's definitely not a line of people at the gates disarming themselves every morning.

My base lets you store a gun locked in your car, unloaded and out of sight (so, not carrying it around the base, but in a position to carry it immediately outside the gates as desired).

The latest Coen brothers movie is out on Netflix. Don't even need to leave the house.

Agreed. He had some interesting tidbits in the PRF conversation, but he's sure an idiot when it comes to employing aircraft.

Certainly there's no difference between an attack on a convoy in the open, with an easy way to tell friendlies and enemies apart, and an attack inside the wire of aFOB in close proximity to friendlies, friendly buildings, and friendly aircraft. Glad you made it out safely... But there's a huge difference in your situation and what happened at Bastion.

Smaller sample size, so every bonus taker increases the percentage by disproportionate amount. Time will tell if the rates stay that high in a "normal" year group.

The shiny pennies might be ID'd, but it's a smaller group than you'd think. Maybe one in a year group on a given wing, with some year groups having zero in the wing. You probably won't break into the top 10%, CSAF-grooming level on your own. But you can definitely break into the top 50%, DP to Lt Col on your own if you know what the rules of the game are.

I got my Maj, 2BPZ, and 1BZ directly from my WG/CC in the wing conference room, and he'd booked out the next 90 minutes to talk to the folks he'd just given PRFs to.

Because if you can get that feedback 2BPZ or 1BPZ, you still have time to affect the IPZ results. Debrief is where all the lessons are learned. Your career isn't any different. Even if all you get is DFPs you can pass on to younger guys, it's still worth the time and effort.

The one who gets irrationally angry when someone wants the standards upheld? No, I'd agree you're the commander and I'm the guy trying to be the voice of reason.

Voluntary something something.... It's the Air Force trying to lure guys who already retired or went reserve/ANG back into active duty for three years.

I did all I could. I took group and wing staff jobs when my functional wouldn't release me for even the AFPC mail robot jobs, and I did ACSC in correspondence. The rest is up to my WG/CC. I have a literal coin flip... There's only two 05 officers assigned to my wing, and we're both flyers.

Perhaps, but based on how many O-5s the Air Force needs, I don't know how choosy they can be. At least, that's what I tell myself when I work on my PRF with no school and no staff.

I suspect your right. Just got my DHQB, and it lists ACSC with no indicator of residence or correspondence. Of course, it's a false sense of security... The board will still have the training reports from people who went in residence, so it's not that difficult to tell if they are really looking for it.

Yes, but one with three thousand hours and five years of FTU experience. I get that many of us don't know what it's like to fly an F-16 or F-22... But it can't be as impossible as some guys are trying to make it sound when we do it every single day, usually without parking an aircraft on the fuselage. I also know my own commander would rather explain a gear overspeed than a tail scrape (easy to do in the B-1).