viper154

Do some research. Not sure how OTS applications work but all the ROTC guys now have to apply for all or none of the rated positions. Try to find something current but I'm fairly sure my class back in 2012 was the last that could pick and choose.

Retake the TBAS. I did mine in 2010 so the format was different but my PCSM went from a 9 to 80 from the retake. I didn't really understand a couple of the parts and bombed. After going home and thinking a kit and practicing some of the parts I did a lot better. If you got cash and time to burn get the PPL as well. Active duty is much more concerned with the numbers than where they came from.

I'm new the RPA community but my thoughts are no. No one cares if the patch says recon or attack. Far as the combat time, idk. Maybe some of you guys that have been around for awhile can get into the details about that, but again, my initial thoughts are eh. RPA QOL are only going to get better by having more man power, more/better locations, and perhaps a companion trainer program for the manned guys. Right now no one is going to give us money for a companion program. It seems they are trying to get some more locations open. The real deal breaker is manning and ACC is screwing the pooch. The 18x school house has gotten a blank check to expand their output. Great. The FTU is the real bottle neck/issue in the pipeline. I was at the school house for almost 7 months, out of those I spent 80-90 days doing absolutely nothing, that's just for IQT. MQT is another 2 months or so. The syllabus needs to be reworked and the instruction is all over the place. Scheduling is a nightmare. New students arriving were being told their scheduled 5.5 month course could take up to 9-10 months. The manning issue can't get better if they can't figure out a better way to get students through the FTU.

S&W M&P 9mm with 17 in my nightstand as well. My wife really enjoys shooting it. Well over 2000 rounds of cheap ammo though it, only had one or two jams/misfires. I keep the expensive self defense stuff in it for home defense. She has a Glock 42 that she (and I) both also enjoy shooting if your looking for something compact. Much less capacity though.

Depends on the weight. I think it's something like 50 cents a pound, but that's taxed at 27% or so. Plus your 52 cents a mile or whatever the going rate is now a days for mileage. Add in your per diem and DLA as applicable and you can make a good bit of cash if you own the trailer.

You need to talk to you unit as they provide the funding/waiver or whatever it is they do. We had several guys do this in my class. If you go this route you will be forced to live in the dorms.

The UPT directs are now getting the last 3 weeks of the 18x course at Randloph so we get some time in their RPA "SIM"s. I'm from one of the first classes that started getting RPAs from UPT again, and my number got called. You can see the difference between the UPT direct guys and the 18x guys. As said above, a lot of the 18x guys are good dudes but they lack a lot of the airmanship built from being in the air, flying form, working with ATC , having multiple radios, IFEs etc. Getting 40 hours at doss and 40 hours in bamboo bomber t-6 sim (most the buttons and switches are just pictures under plexi glass) Isn't the best to build flying skills. From what the 18x guys said most the sims were instrument sims, and for those of you who don't know the MQ-1 and 9 have absolutely 0 traditional instruments. The first UPT directs are just graduating the FTU, but myself and all my peers going Reapers have had few or no issues. Edited. I failed English.

Clovis is a debatable combat zone depending on where you live.

Do a court house wedding, don't tell anyone and bring her along. Unless your in such a bad financial situation she needs to keep her job, in which case how do you expect to pay for flights ? And if she is working full time I would expect she has good enough health to fly and see you as well. I think every weekend probably ain't going to happen. Maybe once a month, or on the long weekends holidays. UPT is stressful enough, dealing with airline bullshit, sleep, travel ect every week sounds like a recipie for a bad time, mmmmk

I think it's if you can get back in 12 hours for the RPA Squadrons at Holloman. We were told at some point Vegas is local area for the guys traveling back to see family on weekends or house hunt. Can't site pub though. Never read it or care to. Last AETC base was a couple hour drive. (6 is ringing a bell)

As a student at the MQ-9 FTU on 3 separate occasions I've gone 10+ plus days without having an event. Doesn't matter who you want to put in the seat if you can't get people trained in a timely manner to fill the seats. Graduations are 6-8 weeks after the scheduled date (which is 5 months to begin with) and only getting worse with the influx of students.

I don't. I had trouble finding one before I started. Best bet is to find someone who is going through UPT now and ask.

Bold Face/ops limits, do millions until your brain hurts. -1 if you feel like you are at level to understand it. If you have some IFR knowledge you can read some of the AF IFR pubs. Don't be a douche, everyone wants to be the next triple ace f-22 driver, not everyone and their mom needs to know it 5 times a day. Stay in the books, help your bros, don't suck. Profit.

Numbers look good for a RPA slot. Rumor mill is the guard/reserve is having some trouble recruiting. Far as the UPT vs URT it depends on the unit. I would expect URT but some units send dudes to UPT. (I know Syrucuse does UPT for most guys) And yes you could switch if your unit lets you go. If you go to UPT you could have the option down the road of going back to a manned asset.

Only looked at the first few pages but seems 90% relevant. Needs a slide about the "RPA manning ship" hitting the ice burg and the FTU using a bucket to try and bail the water out, while the weapons school wanna be (s) are too concerned with the color of your debrief marker. If I had dollar every time I was told only "only certain SQDs do this and you will probably never do it again" I would have a down payment on my house.

Citizen Eco drive night hawk. Love it. Wife got it for me as a gift. I think it's $300 bucks ish. I've had it a couple years, wore it all through UPT, No complaints. Also got in the Wingman Watch Company when it was a kick starter. I got it a couple months ago. I also really like it. It has a decent stop watch for a analog watch. It's a good product made by a small business company owned by fellow aviators. Stick with the leather band.

I knew a couple guys that marshaled the jets out of parking/made sure they catch fire starting up. Wouldn't call them crew chiefs. 90% of the jobs are bs.

Must have been the good ole days. Everyone gets a job now that's not going to start within a few weeks. I sat around 7 months waiting to start. It sucks, but hey, I got paid a great salary to fax some papers and browse the Internet. Some assholes played the system and got caught literally across the country when they were suppose to be manning their desk. One person shits, everyone gets a diaper.

We were free to burn as much leave as we pleased, cutoff was 10 days out from class start date, after that leave was a no go except for Christmas or family emergency type deals. 10 Days prior you start doing all your medical stuff and getting the admin bs done. Negative leave was only approved for emergencies or Christmas break if you just got on AD.

With your age I would say go for it. Solid scores.

Whats the price range on the wings?

Yes. We had someone do something very similar. Try and spend some time with your class on weekends as well though. Best part of UPT besides the flying is the friends and good times spent outside the squadron.

The projected numbers maybe. The schedule is god awfully slow. The course could easily be accomplished in 3 moths, currently scheduled for 5 months, actual graduation currently is taking 7-8 months. Unless there is some major behind the scenes changes that neither the instructors or students know about, the FTU isn't going to be able to meet half of the desired output. Ive asked numerous instructors how they plan on handling the increased numbers and the answers are typically shoulder shrugs and blank stares. Every pilot student I know here (all arrived before Jan 1) live off base. It looked like they were building some additional extended stay rooms. Hotel parking lots were always empty. Seems to me the base hotel was hurting for business and this is the answer to get bodies in beds.

Word on the street is all single dudes/dudetts that started after Jan 1 are required to stay in provided lodging as directed by the OG/CC. Rumor was the married folk can still decline lodging but I can't confirm that. I'll ask around tomorrow/later this week and try to get the details.