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Tyking, don’t take the sport bitching on this thread as an absolute measure of what being an Air Force pilot is like. It really is the best damned job in the world, we’re just all pissed because a handful of doucher bureaucrats continuously do their damndest to ruin it. That constant fight wears people down, the airlines look like a relief with all the money for nothing angle, so every indiscretion seems like the world is ending. “No morale patches! Fucking hell, the good old days are gone!” “Wait, now the CSAF is doing mustache March? That’s it, I’m shaving it off and heading to Delta!” Which they have the option to do of course, because they’re an Air Force pilot. Guard, Reserves, AD; you can’t really fuck this up. As long as you fly well, work hard, and be a bro, you’ll be fine. Just don’t join the Navy.

USMC has 457 fixed wing aircraft of all types. That’s how many KC-135s we have. They’re not in the same game we are.

Calling an O-4/5 line IP an Average Joe is why the enlisted hate us, just saying.

“Why do we have to train this way? This isn’t how we do things in the desert!”

Do Air Force doctors get bigger bonuses when they become real doctors?

That’s the right answer, and that’s how a lot of young enlisted kids in the Air Force actually think. They look up, see a jet in a low closed, look at accession opportunities and get there. They’re not the problem. It’s the old people. Old GSs. Chiefs. Old acquiescent staff officers. They’re still living in the 1990s. $25,000 is a lot of money. Only doctors and lawyers are rich.

You got me there; you’re looking at things from a wholistic perspective. Change the above to “more manned jets, smarter AAMs, and big pilot bonuses.”

Democrats roll-in on their poll-leading centrist candidate. Five years after the incident. https://dailycaller.com/2019/03/31/lucy-flores-biden-cnn-kiss/

Hey I’m with you there. “Smart Chaff” is a good idea which you guys demo’d years ago. What I take exception to is “autonomous wingmen” that will need more sensor awareness than their manned F-35 flight leads. Sounds expensive and redundant. More manned jets, bigger/smarter AAMs.

Why? We have dogfighting, disposable, supersonic UASs right now called AMRAAMs. You want separate, subsonic UASs to launch them? Why not just more F-35s? We’ve already designed those, and they can “autonomously” execute an entire mission

Yes. This study cited by the Wikipedia links above says 375. Maybe it’s wrong, maybe our definitions of “several” vary. It also says only 2100 helos were shot down in Vietnam, so who the fuck knows. Either way, my original point stands. Pilot losses aren’t as damaging to the Army as they are to the Air Force. https://vtol.org/files/dmfile/rotorcraftSafetyPaper1.pdf

What has your research on the subject turned up so far?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aviation_shootdowns_and_accidents_during_the_Iraq_War https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aviation_accidents_and_incidents_in_the_war_in_Afghanistan

No, I personally don’t think you’re disposable. I respect the hell out of helo guys. My guess above is that the Army historically views helo drivers as more disposable than the Air Force does. Several hundred helicopters lost in Afghanistan; 5600 in Vietnam. The AF saw similar Vietnam losses (2200) and started a lot of work (to include the Weapons School) to Fix the problem. My perception is that the Army didn’t do as much because aviation isn’t what their leadership cares the most about. They can accept obscene helicopter losses more than the AF can accept obscene fighter losses. Thus they care even less about retaining their pilots and don’t want to pay them more.

This is really the root cause. Helicopters are a “nice to have” for the Army; their leadership comes from infantry and would never admit they need aviation to win a force-on-force conflict. Raptor pilots, on the other hand, are no shit required for America to win a war vs a peer enemy. Obscene helicopter losses are sustainable; fighter jet losses aren’t. Air Force leadership knows that, but for whatever reason doesn’t have the political clout or will to articulate this in a Joint environment or publicly in front of Congress.

The Army thinks that pilots are more expendable than the Air Force does, right or wrong.

No.

He’s got a DFC. Story behind it?

Why don’t we start with not requiring military members to pay federal and state income tax? That’s an easy pay increase across the board with no perceptible reduction in tax revenue.

Hey Sewer Rat...aw, fuck it.

Ah shit, didn’t read that it was RT before clicking. Sorry to give them a page view.

Best description: after spending 2 years flying T-38s in Northern California he gets to decide whether he’d like to pursue a U-2 assignment or some other path in life. CTP-only guys have a lot of street cred amongst the U-2 bros and are fully supported in whatever they want to do afterwards, especially if they want to try out for the U-2. They still have to complete the traditional interview process, but they’re all great pilots and already have the community’s respect. Maybe Huggy knows of a CTP a guy that didn’t get hired from a U-2 interview; if it’s ever happened it would’ve been many moons ago.

https://youtu.be/0cn58iVuzBY

Protip: view in YouTube app/website so you can use the subtitle function. That dude’s Bay Area standard-issue voice is hard to listen to. The subtitles are spot on though, so it’s easy to see where YouTube’s algorithm learns its words.

No one thinks that. No lock is unpickable, but you sure as hell want one on your door.