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That would be a dick move, especially since after a 29B gets filled out it normally gets filed in the "Who gives a fuck folder". The average MPF loses 69 tons of paperwork a year.

I just left from Pensacola and we had to take leave (sometimes) and get permission to leave a 300 mile radius. My assumptions are all based on my experiences as I haven't made some type of special tour to visit all AETC bases. I have only been to a few AETC bases. I didn't say that all AETC bases have this rule, only that it is surprising that Goodfellow isn't not more strict considering they are strict with everything else. I have been to some operational bases that wouldn't let you leave a local area without taking leave. In Hawaii, we were not allowed to leave the island without taking leave with exception of going to the Big Island or Maui on four day weekends. I am talking about the differences between Pensacola, Goodfellow, and my technical training when I was enlisted. You are more than welcome to disagree but it is interesting how you seem to be able to tell me how I am wrong about my own personal experiences as an enlisted airman going through training. Please, tell me more about how airmen get treated at all AETC training units. It is very different from base to base and unit to unit. ETA: To qualify my statement, I only have a very narrow and negative view of AETC. I hated AETC as a student, instructor, and officer student. Almost all of my experience is based off 16 months in Pensacola and 24 months at Goodfellow. AETC might be awesome outside of my small world.

The one thing they do here that is a surprisingly positive rule, we are allowed to go anywhere as long as we fill out a turn by turn 29B for the weekend. I can go to Miami for a four day weekend as long as I am back by 2200 the night before training. That is a rare plus for AETC. All the other bases I have been to have a 300 mile radius or less.

Absolutely. I completely agree with the difference between permanent party enlisted and the tech schoolers. The problem is they don't consider officers in training as permanent party and they lump us all in with the enlisted tech schoolers just because it is easier. It is much better to be an SrA at Goodfellow if you are permanent party than a 2d Lt in training. We can't make medical appointments, we are not allowed to make dental appointments, most of our out-processing and in-processing is lumped in with the enlisted tech schoolers so if you need any type of customer service at MPF/TMO/Legal you can't just walk in. It is hard to compare things like UPT to intel training because UPT training squadrons don't also train new airmen. I think if we had a separate squadron just training intel officers things would be very different. After the holiday, they pissed test every student on base. We stood in lines for 4 hours to piss in a cup. People almost pissed themselves in line. I am not saying that we are better than the enlisted students but just by the fact that we PCS for training, it would be nice to at very least be treated separately. The weird part is, our CC and DO seem like legit people that come from solid backgrounds. I think they got here with these rules in place and just went with the status quo.

It is common for AETC enlisted training. Some training squadrons have control over 700 enlisted students and 100 officer students. The officer students get lumped in with the enlisted students. The prior service NCOs also get lumped into the mix and it sucks even worse for them because they are in the same classes as the Airmen. Some of these rules actually make sense for the new Airmen because they are just leaving BMT and the logic is, it is better for the Airmen to give them back their independence slowly. When I was at Pensacola doing CSO training it was a much better experience but AETC still sucked. It was different because everyone was an officer instead of officers being a minority. I heard similar stories from friends going through training at Keesler and Lackland.

I never looked at this as an intel thing. It is an AETC thing. This type of stuff is standard for airmen going through enlisted training for four months but when they start treating the Lts and Capts the same way as the trainees, something is wrong. We are often here for over a year and the constant bullshit is exhausting. I am glad someone can corroborate how shitty it is. Most of the guys I went through rating training don't believe how things are on this side of training. I feel like since the training isn't as difficult as rated training they add on extra bullshit for no reason. I truly believe that intel is the best non-rated job you can get but I can't imagine how painful it would be to get non-voled as an instructor here.

The rule that makes the least sense is we technically have to fill out a 29B every time we leave San Angelo. They made this rule after there was a sexual assault in Christoval. As if the Airmen filled out a 29B they would have thought twice about sexual assaulting someone. Christoval is literally a 20 minute drive and people live in Christoval or farther and commute to Goodfellow each day. This means that according to the rules, people who live outside of San Angelo have to fill out 29Bs just to go home. No one does but if for some reason you get a ticket in Christoval or get in trouble outside of San Angelo without a 29B, they will not hesitate to throw the book at you. There is so much of this crap but I will just leave it at that. You wouldn't believe how hard they throw the book at Lts here. Just out of the small group of people that I know here, I have a friend that got a LOC, a friend that got a LOR, and a guy I know that got an Article. The three of them got these for things so minor it would blow your mind.

The dark period? It was worse? I am past my two year mark in AETC. I am on the verge of feeling obligated to getting a tear drop tattoo for every year I have been an AETC prisoner. FGOs have to fill out 29Bs to go to Abilene. It is obviously not as bad for the Lts as the Airmen but the kool-aid is pretty strong here.

When they told me to walk around the troop walk looking infractions, I thought it was code to go back to lodging and take a nap. I know. Common sense right? Very good observation.

At our non-rated training base, Lts on casual status walk around looking for people that don't have a fold in their watch cap. They are also sent to walk around to find enlisted airmen that don't salute them on the troop walk. To top it off, they have Lts on casual walk around the parking lot looking for other Lts that are using their phones. We have a stupid rule that we are not allowed to use our cell phones during the duty day so some people go check their phones in their car during breaks. This rule includes the Captains that are cross training. Then they have a recall during the duty day and get upset for us not answering the phones we are not allowed to answer. The casual Lts are actually told to walk around just looking for this shit.

I have read other Woodward books but not Obama's Wars. I have it on my kindle. I will give it a read after I finish "Duty". It is interesting to get two different perspectives on the same events. If you ever read Jimmy Carter's memoir and then The Reagan Diaries, it is funny to read about what they thought of each other after their encounters during the transition. Their perspectives were so different that it was humorous.

I definitely do not doubt that he could write a good book himself. He may have written every word, but I still feel that a lot that was written was not genuine. I read "From the Shadows" right before I started reading "Duty" and I got a different sense of the writer from both books. "From the Shadows" was much more academic and "Duty" seems more like a political tell all that is much more carefully crafted. "From the Shadows" also had behind the scenes anecdotes, but not in the same manner as "Duty".

It is a very well written book. Many biographies are hard to get through and I will skip around to the interesting parts. This has been a good read throughout. I would be very surprised if this book wasn't completely written by someone else. I know that many public figures have ghost writers and heavy editing done to their memoirs but it is much more authentic when you can tell that the book actually comes directly from the "writer". That is why The Reagan Diaries is my favorite memoir. The Reagan Diaries was very authentic and that is something that Duty is lacking.

They will want it to heal before finishing your paperwork. Since I had broken bones in my hand, they had me open and close my hand and tested my grip strength before they approved my FC1.

Did you read the report? http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/world/maj-gen-stephen-d-schmidt-report-of-investigation/775/ It pretty much sounded like an asshole boss taking out frustration on his aides by yelling. He sounds like a shitty boss but the IG complaint can be summed up with, " General Schmidt hurt my feelings". One of the IG complaints was that he didn't give him an initial feedback. I completely agree with you. I have never had a two star yell at me on a daily basis but I really have a hard time believing that I would file an IG complaint against them for hurting my feelings. Don't you normally volunteer to be an aide? From the investigation, it sounded like he always did this behind closed doors. He used his aides as a punching bag. It isn't right but I am not exactly shocked.

While our country is at war, we shit all over a 2 star because he yells at his aides, doesn't have official "feedback" sessions, takes leave without using leave web, and takes an AOA indicator from a military aircraft headed to the boneyard. Isn't getting yelled at on a daily basis a form of feedback? How soft is our military getting?

The MSC matrix isn't out but someone told me that the overage for 0-4s is higher than the 100+ 0-4s that are eligible. The numbers are not that much better for the 0-3s. That should really help the wait times at the clinic.

The 14N career field is going to get hit hard. I am not sure why, but I am not able to attach PDFs. Can only moderators attach files? You have to download the image to see the table.

There might be more than one research report but here is the one I know of.... http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR300/RR332/RAND_RR332.pdf

It is amazing that the careers of 90 officers can be summed up in one table. http://www.flyingsquadron.com/img_gallery/gallery/album_81/gallery_38278_81_102372.jpg

People have corrected various uniform infractions of mine in the past, they were always pretty much spot on. They were also almost always NCO/SNCOs. That being said, the three biggest douche bags that corrected me were all captains. One captain corrected me because I was wearing a black ankle brace in my PT uniform because I was coming off a bad ankle sprain. He told me I had to go and try to find a white one to wear instead. The other captain told me my Air Force issued sunglasses were not in regs. I took off the sunglasses and showed him the Air Force symbol on it and he still didn't care. This isn't a uniform correction, but once again a captain, drove up from behind me as I was walking. He got out of his Air Force van and told me that I had to salute the van because it had the two star placard on it. I said that I didn't see him because he came from behind me but I would look more carefully next time. The van was empty by the way. He said to tell my friends because there was going to be a DV on base next week. He was driving around looking for people that didn't salute the van. This is definitely not something associated with only SNCOs.

On base there is Hickam Elementary and Mokulele. Hickam is the best school and it mostly has children living in the officer housing or CMSgt housing. Mokulele isn't that bad but it doesn't have a lot of the same programs as Hickam. Makalapa is a decent elementary school but the district is pretty small in Honolulu so you would be limited where to live. It is really hard to give advice on which school is the best because you can live right outside of a great district and have to send your kid to a crappy school. I lived two blocks away from being able to send my kid to Hickam. Hawaii public education really sucks. Some of the schools are really bad and the private schools are very expensive and in some cases, competitive to get into. It takes planning and time to get your kids into the better private schools. The base housing is really nice depending on what neighborhood you live in. Hickam Elementary is considered one of the best public schools on the island and that is a big plus in itself. I would at least look into unless you are dead set on not living on base.