viper154
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Posts posted by viper154
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11 minutes ago, nsplayr said:
I’m surprised to hear that. I’m good friends with 2 of the 4 sitting ops squadron commanders and they are fantastic dudes. I guess YMMV and I’m not there anymore myself, so perhaps things change…
With some of the recent change of commands things are expected to and seem to be improving.
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On 10/26/2022 at 11:00 AM, ATIS said:
Early days of DRACO ('06-'07)...Type 2 for sure. Saw that start to switch over ~2008.
ATIS
Must have been nice. Draco has gone full opposite from that, and honestly most of AFSOC for that matter.
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There are 4 U-28 squadrons and the MC-12 at OKC, the initial plan was to transition those aircrew to the new airplane. I would say 60%-70% of those pilots are T-1 dudes. That info is dated though.
I’m not a smart man but from what I hear there aren’t a lot of excess 11Fs around to change airplanes and stand up 5 squadrons + school house.
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As someone that was informed today they are heading to teach T-6s this winter, what’s the current T-6 IP life like? I’ve heard rumors soul crushing trip turns etc. Also, with the new syllabus, are all IPs still flying/teaching form, or just 11F/T38 trained dudes?
Trying to set my expectations, I’ve made the last rank I will likely see, I could care less about OPR bullets or the rack and stack, hoping to add some more IP time to the resume before I GTFO, maybe even teach a thing or two to the youngins.
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On 5/28/2022 at 11:24 AM, DirkDiggler said:
Really? That kinda surprises me given that on a day-to-day basis that community is doing its primary mission, more so I’d argue than the AC/MC/CVs are (understanding that AFSOC’s day in the sun is over and there’s a bias in the command to all things STS and C-130). What do you think is the primary driver for the below average promotion rates?
I’ll be totally honest, I’m probably not the most qualified or knowledgeable to answer that, but all the people that have responded seem to hit the nail on the head.
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1 hour ago, BeefBears said:
I would assume, like most things AFSOC, it was about not getting taken care of career-wise. The command is good at grooming officers on their HPO list but not so much the middle majority that continuously deploys. I dont think U28s are alone in that matter.
Well aware, U28 community did not do well on this last major board, well below the rated average.
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22 hours ago, CaptainMorgan said:
No A-code time required for an ATP. SIC on an airplane that requires 2 pilots counts in the FAA’s eyes.
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkYa, you right.
On 5/26/2022 at 5:28 PM, Danger41 said:Out of curiosity, are you the guy that got U-28’s and went on a Facebook tirade about how shitty that community is?
Link or screen shot?
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On 5/24/2022 at 9:17 AM, pizzafrenchfries said:
New account, if it's inappropriate than mods please delete
Looking for some advice, as I got notified I was passed over as well.
Long story short:
- No negative information in OPRs
- Thin strats (kept my head down, did my job, and went home every day)
- 1500 total hours, 500 combat hours
- Still a right seater. This one takes a bit of context so here's my tale of woe.
Way back in the day, I graduated top 1/3 from UPT and got a super sweet platform OCONUS. Got screwed by EFMP and lost the slot in the middle of the schoolhouse, getting diverted to a platform stateside. This platform takes a long time to upgrade but was also shutting down. Spent about 3 years there and was promised AC upgrade if I transferred to another MDS at an undesirable base as there were no more school slots for my platform (schoolhouse shut down).
Got my orders and then the new unit commander called and said, "left seat upgrade en route? That was a verbal from old CC to your CC. We don't do that in my squadron." Old CC was like "sorry buddy, there's no turning off these orders". Basically was meat to the grinder.
PCS'ed a bitter man, worked my ass off and got qualified and then nominated for upgrade in an extremely short time. COVID hit and severely disrupted ops but I was still able to start upgrade. 2 weeks prior to my checkride we get the news that our son has a lifelong medical condition and we need to PCS because there's no facilities at this base. Also we're pregnant and it's gonna be high risk.
That really messed up my mojo. Flew a crap checkride and Q-3'd, first failed checkride ever. Totally own that, as it was bad flying. Really spiraled, had a bad time, did not finish remediation rides as I was in a pretty bad mental state and we were packing to move at the same time. My spouse was dealing with some severe medical issues stemming from the pregnancy. Basically made a shit sandwich that the air force wrapped in a turd. This was right before the PRF closeout, so no time to recover or fix my problem. Pretty much the worst timing ever. Went to therapy (not mental health!), learned to stop blaming myself for things completely outside my control, and got healthy again.
PCS'ed again to a new base and was reassigned a different platform (#4 if you're counting). About 6 months of being stashed at a non flying job while they figured out what to do with me. Honestly a godsend, if we didn't have the time to make our lives right I don't know if my family would still be together or not today.
Still a copilot. Did terrific in the schoolhouse as right seat (pretty good at it by now) and am now in a flying squadron that I love. We're expanding, not contracting, and the mission is amazing.
So here we are now, basically starting over again. Did OPD with my new commander after the notification and the only thing he could see that was stood out was the copilot AFSC. He promised me that I would upgrade by the time the next board rolls around.
All of which sounds good and I'm confident that he'll make it right.
HOWEVER, my experience so far makes me pessimistic that we'll get this sorted out in the next 5 months before the board meets again.
What should I do? I have three main fears...
I am afraid that I don't have enough time between the Q3 and a possibly forced separation to look competitive to the airlines (or guard).
I don't know what I can constructively do in my career in the next 5 months (aside from upgrading) that can increase my chances of getting picked up on the second look. I do good work, I am not a dirtbag, I work for my pay.
My kiddo's medical treatments are EXTREMELY expensive. We will be in the poorhouse if we lose insurance.
I would say f it (the promotion) Focus on flying, they aren’t kicking out passed over pilots anytime soon. Get the upgrade and continue crushing checkrides. Get all that A code time you can for your ATP mins. Do what you got to do to make yourself competitive for the airlines. Depending on the timing you might need to take a regional gig for a year or two. Start networking now for guard/reserve gigs. If you have trouble getting a flying gig you can easily get a non flying job or a staff gig that gets ya that tricare. My buddy got a staff gig, only goes in a couple times a year, only does it for the tricare.
If staying on AD is more your gig take the bonus when you are eligible.
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1 hour ago, illusive said:
Could they do that if we haven't met our gate months?
It’s still a “flying assignment” So yes, reference all the 11s that in the past were sent to drones. I did 3 years in drones, about 3 years ago when I made my escape back to manned flying the 18x community was trying to get rid of most the 11s and get them back in manned aircraft. I did see Randolph T-6s on our Wings white jet allocations to fill for the Winter 22 VML. Not sure if they were to teach PIT or at the RPA training squadron.
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4 hours ago, ClearedHot said:
Sadly this is not limited to AMC. A currently pinned on 3 star who is likely the next AFSOC/CC is said to have given 20 plus Commander directed Q-3s as punishment while a SQ/CC.
AFSOC over the last 5 years has slowly turned into AMC lite. Talking with my AMC bros I question if AFSOC is actually worse now, maybe not on the checkride front, but just about everything else
I’ve seen 4 Q3s the last couple years in my corner, 2 deserved clean kills, 2 were BS punishment. I have seen a couple bone headed things happen that weren’t deliberate negligence, in which the crew made good decisions after to get down safely, they fessed up immediacy and it went way of the public humiliation Friday brief (in my opinion as it should have) so that gives me hope.
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39 minutes ago, Lawman said:
Ok…
I think we need to restructure our OPFOR plan.
I can imagine a lot of situations where we’d be scraping together mixed units of national guard weekend warrior types trying to reconstitute stuff in a hurry….
In none of those scenarios do I foresee us breaking into armories full of WWII stocks of small arms and equipment.
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkI would trade the M9 for a 1911 all day every day.
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12 hours ago, Prosuper said:
I'm old enough to remember what happened to the puppet govt that the USSR left in charge in Afghanistan in 1989. Their guy lost in a civil war against the Taliban and got hung, our guy we left in charge read a history book, took the money and ran.
Winter on Fire on Netflix, been on my watch list for awhile, in depth look at the revolution that occurred in 2014 ousting the former puppet government. Pretty graphic, protesters marching and getting violently beaten by the puppet governments goons, eventually turned into goons sniping protesters. Some good insight into why these people are fighting so hard, and will most likely continue to do so as long as the Russians are in their boarders.
It’s also a great example of why the second amendment is so important.
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27 minutes ago, ecugringo said:
Heard that Russian KIA estimates are around 6k. The commentator said this was almost 50% of losses Russia had in Afghanistan in 10 years of war. Crazy to think in 2 weeks they are at the half way point and that war was partially claimed as responsible for the end of the USSR.
I would have to imagine if the Russians somehow pull this off the insurgency is going to be much more bloody than Afghanistan. The Ukrainian people have shown they want no part of Russia, and have the backing of pretty much all the Western world. Motivated goat farmers living in mud huts ousted two of the worlds superpowers with basic weapons, IEDs, a limited supply of stingers, and the will/patience to continue to resist. Ukraine people have higher levels of education, advanced weapons, and vast support from the west.
A puppet government would fall and I don’t see the police/military protecting a puppet government. My opinion, biased by our western media and the twitter videos coming out of Ukraine, the only way to get the people to comply and stop an insurgency would be mass imprisonment and most likely a genocide.
If Putin withdraws he’s done, if he continues it will only get more bloody, and everyone is walking a fine line trying to avoid WWIII, it’s a loose/loose/loose situation.
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1 hour ago, FLEA said:
No to......
The drones being used in Ukraine compared to something like the -9. I appeared to jump to gun a little bit and while quickly reading your post I think I miss understood your point. On paper a comparison to the -1 seems fair somewhat fair. Compared to the -9 it’s rather inferior.
Without going into to much detail, I would argue something like -9 wouldn’t be the tool for this job. Something smaller, less costly, and with a easier logistic foot print (much like what the Ukrainian military has) is much better suited.
In this war, you want to be mobile with a small foot print, not logistically challenging (fuel, parts, mx, etc) and simple infrastructure (runway requirements, data links, mobile command box)
As with any fixed wing asset, you are going to trade payload, range, and loiter abilities.
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2 hours ago, FLEA said:
Wonder if our own leadership is watching this before phasing out the MQ-9. The drones Ukraine is using are very comparable arent they? I think they are using the Turkey predator equivalent.
No.
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38 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:
I think his conventional forces are now stretched very thin. I've read reports of 200,000 troops dedicated to this effort. Any Putin attacks into Western Europe would open a front I am not sure he can defend at this point.
I remain dumbfounded at how poorly his forces and equipment have performed. Mostly I am SHOCKED at how he has failed to integrated his air and land forces, they are almost operating as two independent operations. As we all know very well, airpower used properly in close alignment with ground forces is a huge asymmetrical advantage. It is almost as if he assumed his maneuver elements would be fully support be rotary wing and the Stingers have humbled that advantage.
I think he miscalculated Ukraine's motivation of its people, and especially it’s president. I’m guessing he figured after a day or two of fighting the president would flee, government collapse, and everyone just give up.
Russia has lots of armor in storage to replace its losses. While their Air Force has decent numbers on paper their FMC status is questionable at best. (I have no behind the scenes knowledge, just open source I have seen in the past) They degraded the Ukraine Air Force in the opening rounds, and Russian aircraft continued to fall from the skies via SAMs and Stingers. With a partially conscript army it’s easier to replace a couple thousand bodies than several hundred aircraft. Might as well save the jets in case this escalates and he needs to defend the boarders, and go old school, sacrifice the bodies, use artillery and long range missiles.
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China has deep pockets in Hollywood, I believe something like 40% of all movie funding in Hollywood can be sourced back to China. They had a bunch of the patches changed/altered on Mavs jacket for Top Gun 2 if they ever release it.
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1 hour ago, Lord Ratner said:
Sure. In the list, each item number is for the corresponding month in 2021.
Some context:
Example: 1. 90 Hours / 8 nights / +2 Covid
First number is my hours of pay. The low end for a reserve pilot is 73. Normal for a line holder just flying their schedule is 78-90. For a normal line holder you would expect 16 days of work with 8-13 nights away from home to reach 90 hours, but it depends on trip composition. If you fly 15 turns (single day out-and-back) you can make 90+ hours with no nights away. That's usually for the senior pilots, or those who do what I do.
Second number is actual nights I was away from home
Third number is the modifier based on extenuating circumstances. For June and July we were given 48 hours post vaccination quarantine. Any trips that touched that 48 hours were dropped with pay. I positioned a 4-day trip to touch the beginning of the window and another 4-day to touch the end, per shot. So the third number represents a realistic number of nights away from home if I had flown to get those hours
- 95 Hours / 1 Night / +7 furlough return
- 78 Hours / 7 Nights /
- 87 Hours / 5 Nights / +3 10-day quarantine
- 96 Hours / 9 Nights /
- 178 Hours / 9 Nights /
- 133 Hours / 5 Nights / +3 vaccine drops
- 112 Hours / 1 Nights / +4 vaccine drops
- 103 Hours / 4 Nights /
- 91 Hours / 5 Nights / +1 vacation
- 89 Hours / 4 Nights / +2 vacation
- 136 Hours / 7 Nights /
- 101 Hours / 9 Nights /
On 1/21/2022 at 10:25 AM, Lord Ratner said:I quoted my last summary for comparison purposes. I was hired in March 2018.
Here's how 2021 went. I'm a line holder. The alternative would be reserve, which at AA means 18 days per month (in blocks of 3-7) where you are either on a 2-hourish callout (76 hours pay/month) or 12-hour callout (73 hours/month). I get a schedule every month from the bidding software. I then use the trading tools to drop my entire schedule, with some rare trips being "sold" to others (I pay them to take my trip). I then wait for what we call makeup flying, trips leaving today or tomorrow that he company needs to fill dues to sickness, weather events, fatigue calls, delays, etc.
I fly these trips because they usually have a high pay-to-flight-hours ratio, due to contract intricacies that aren't germane to the conversation. My entire goal is to maximize my efficiency. As an example, at AA these trips pay the same
- DFW-OKC-DFW vs DFW-ORD-DFW - Both pay 5:15 hours
- DFW-OKC, overnight, OKC-DFW vs DFW-OKC-DFW-JFK, overnight, JFK-DFW - Both pay 10:30 hours
Anyways, in 2021 I flew 295 hours in the cockpit. I spent another 150 or so riding in the cabin as a passenger (fully paid at the major airlines). Lets call it 450 hours of actual uniformed work.
I was paid 1310 hours (this includes vacation and training pay, which are done as work-hours) plus per diem, which worked out to $241k Gross earnings, plus $30.4k of company contributions to my 401k.
So $270k in my fourth year. Recently the junior captain bid went to someone below me on the seniority list, but I will stay where I am and accrue seniority-in-seat which will allow me to further enhance my pay-to-hours-flown ration by picking up even shorter trips that pay the same as longer trip, as in the examples above.
Please note though, I am an extreme case. You have to really work the contract and scheduling tools to do what I do, but anyone can if they can tolerate the uncertainty. I spend more days home than most, so when I say uncertainty I mean you don't know what you're doing until the day before at the earliest.
As a side note, $270k seems like a ridiculous amount of money to me, but I fly with people who make quite a bit more than me, yet still live paycheck to paycheck. Please get yourself financially savvy before you start making eye-watering money. My neighbor, a wide-body captain married to a specialty doctor (total of ~$750k/year), spent years wasting everything. They tell me that Dave Ramsey saved them, and I'm a fan of his work, though I've never needed it.
How much time per month are you spending in the scheduling software working the system, does it take some time to make this advantageous or is this a simple 20-30 minutes sipping a cold one or two?
apologies for the ignorance, I am just getting to the point it’s time to start exploring post AF options, and my scheduling back ground involves pucks/white boards and hoping pex won’t crash.
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4 hours ago, ClearedHot said:
He had no choice. I wonder which IG is doing the investigation, the statement made it sound like he directed the IG investigation which keeps it internal to AFSOC and thus his control.
Since the accusations surround a sitting three star this should go straight to the AF/IG.
Finally, not sure I would classify him as a 40 pound brain. Smart?...At times. Socially awkward...ALWAYS. A political chub gobbler...usually. But definitely not the Smartest guy in the room.
I once attended a pre deployment brief he put on for a squadron going out the door. Figured it was going to be the standard “go get ‘em, be safe, and the country thanks you for service” type deal. Boy was I wrong. Story was basically he swapped out another deployed SQ CC back in the early 2000s right before the holidays, GO1 was in effect. Line dogs asked him if he was going to fly in booze for Christmas like the previous CC did the year before. He said no, started a CDI, and got the previous CC who was his “buddy” a Art 15. (I think, I don’t 100% remember the punishment) He concludes the story with his buddy ended up getting out and has had a successful airline career after the incident.
it was the strangest pre deployment pep talk I’ve ever heard, and told me everything I need to know about my employment choices when my time is up.
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I don’t know the details but my unit got a couple of casual LTs from a UPT base to help out around squadron for 6-9 months while they wait to start UPT. It’s a long shot but if there is a Air Force base that’s somewhat close to your family (at least close enough to drive to them on the weekends) you might be able to sell a alternative duty location/or get into that casual Lt program.
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6 hours ago, Yeetaway6969 said:
Hey all, this seems like the appropriate place to ask this question.
I'm an active guy in an older tanker platform and I'm not enjoying it. I'd like to leave the tanker world at the conclusion of this assignment. I'll even go back to UPT for an assignment, but I'd rather still stay on the operational side. I do NOT want to go back to the tanker (or to the KC-46). Are there crossflow opportunities out there for tanker guys? Thanks!Couple tanker dudes have cross flowed to AFSOC the last couple of years if that’s your cup of tea. It’s a double edged sword though.
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2 hours ago, ClearedHot said:
RUMINT only at this point but the C-17 crew is not getting DFC's...instead they are getting investigated for the two civilian deaths that fell off the aircraft.
It will make for a hell of a story at a airline interview with job offer at the end.
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13 minutes ago, Johntsunami said:
17.7% wash out of T-6 2.5 syllabus. At KEND there have been a steady flow of CRs for months so I don’t doubt the number
Is this a result of the new syllabus or the change in IFS going from a screening program to a training program? Or both
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1 hour ago, skibum said:
So I think I'm finally done with USAA. Going to move insurance and banking and be done with the crappy service. Any good suggestions? I do not live in ALPHA state. I figure to will be a lot of work to make the move after decades of one company, but I'm paying for services I do not receive. Not sure how it's not just called stealing...
Anyhoo, before I drag myself into a solid 40+hours of investigating I thought I'd look for recent success stories.
I cut my car insurance in half with Gieco, they also gave me the best rate I could find for my boat. Home owners I had to go local, all big companies wanted almost double what local companies were quoting. (Hurricane prone area). I still use USAA for banking, although my wife uses Navy Federal for her business and personal account, no complaints this far.
Aviation Continuation Pay (ACP - The Bonus)
in General Discussion
Posted
There was a memo sent to commanders. Details are vague/no PDSM yet, but something about a demo program offering up to 50k a year for folks with a UFT ADSC expiring in 23/24/25. After FY 23 you don’t get the full amount if you decide later to sign a bonus. You also get an “assignment of preference” The memo did say a PDSM may be released as early as Jan 23.
No details on how long the bonus offerings will be, cutoff dates for when you need to sign to get the full amount, or the definition of “assignment of preference”