Infamous

First off, Congrats!! This is honestly great advice for anyone limiting themselves to only fighters or bust. Get an idea of the lifestyle/mission/flight hours/etc from as many different units and squadrons as you can. Go and meet people in the unit by visiting to see what the place is like. After the new shiny toy effect wears off, now you’re stuck living that life for 10+ years and you want to make sure these are the people you want to hang out with (they want to make sure the same thing when it comes to you). If it’s a good fit, then more power to you and that’s awesome. Remember that even raging around in an F-22 eventually becomes just your “job” and I’ve got many friends I know that are sick of that and ready to punch. I know an Air Force Demo team fighter pilot who can’t wait to jump to the airlines and currently has no plans to even go to the Reserves/Guard. And his job is pretty freaking cool from an outsider looking in at what he has done and is currently doing. The biggest thing I caution anyone reading this is that you’re only getting older and that 10 year commitment isn’t getting any shorter. I am an OTS guy and I’m watching guys younger than me all punching out for the airlines and it makes me wish I had joined sooner and I was 25 when I commissioned. If you have goals of being an airline pilot, don’t forget to consider that some airplanes build your hours more quickly than others. Figure out how much the units you’re looking to fly for actually fly. I have friends that haven’t flown much because their reserve unit is short on money for flight hours. Things I never would have thought about before joining because I just didn’t know. Best of luck to you all regardless, I think you’ll find that no matter what you fly you’ll be pretty happy to put on a flight suit and go hang out with the bros in the squadron if you pick the right unit for you.

Started on time. Took 7 months. The new syllabus, mx, and wx really messed things up for them. I think we were almost 40 training days behind the day we showed up.

It’s still flying. Hope you’re not too upset still.

Get min requirements, apply. It’s a shame. The U-2 definitely wants to bring fighter dudes in, AFPC just isn’t having it...

Just wanted to re-emphasize this for the OP... I've been TDY about 1.5 yrs out of the 3 years I've been stationed at my current base. Make sure your wife/gf is independent bc it will not end well otherwise... I've seen ~5-10 divorces I think since I've been in the squadron.

So what are my chances of PC for a 2010 year group with a UPT grad date of Feb 12'... I'm an 11M.

FIFY

"lauded" is truly one of my favorites. *important person walks through squadron on a tour looking at stuff. *notice they're not saying much... *uh oh. My OPR bullet is fading quick!! Say something!!!! *Joking* "So our squadron is the best you've seen isn't it?" *important person* "Haha! For sure. You guys are doing great. Keep up the great work!" -Outstanding ldrshp--4-star lauded "best squadron in AF"

A bunch of us have already done this and are flying F-35's. It's really pretty easy. 1.) Don't suck. 2.) Finish #1 in your pilot training class 3.) Call AFPC or the Navy equivalent and make sure that they put an F-35 or F-18 Super Hornet in your assignment drop. 4.) Fly around with afterburners lit everywhere and make GoPro videos to dubstep music to upload on Facebook/Youtube/Vimeo to impress all of your closest internet friends. 5.) Marry a supermodel. 6.) Profit. It's really pretty easy and it's obvious you've done your research on here. Whatever you do though, don't join the real Air Force and find yourself stuck doing queep all the time jumping through hoops for whatever next assignment/promotion you're hoping for. Good luck!

I'm not a VSP candidate but I invest heavily. Check out the Vanguard Admiral shares accounts. The fees are incredibly low and I've done well with the Total Stock Market index fund and the S&P 500 fund. Personally though I've beat both of those investing individually in companies I've picked... Those two index funds are just my conservative picks that I contribute to on the side after I max out the yearly 17.5k and 5500 ROTH IRA.

Just curious. With the huge amount of people getting out combined with the VSP what do you think it'll be like hiring at the airlines? I imagine there will be a decent amount of legacy guys applying too? This job market could be interesting and I'm sure will make the hiring departments of all walks of civilian aviation happy

Sitting on a hot ejection seat going x-country without being strapped to the parachute (no shoulder harness on in the T-6). Figured it out about halfway into the flight when I went to reach for a map and I realized there was no resistance leaning forward. It was a night sortie so the IP couldn't really see me so I asked him if he could take the plane for a moment while I looked at the map.. Strapped into the seat without him noticing and I never made that mistake again... Scared the crap out of me imagining what the ride down would have been like had we punched.

Nah. It's going around the thunderstorm and not through it.

Admiral shares?? I'm in the same thing at Vanguard. Took all of my money out of USAA... I'm also in their total stock market exchange admiral shares. Maxing out the ROTH TSP contributions each year and also maxing out a separate ROTH IRA as well. For fun I'm picking individual stocks on the side. I'm probably up around 40%+ average on my personal picks compared to the boring index funds that are about 10% right now. That being said, the majority of my money is with the boring... Gotta keep up with the E's expectations that we're really looking at our stocks in Baseops and not actually preparing for the flight.... Plus it's kind of fun when you do your research and your stock goes up 100% in a span of 3-4 days. Also... http://money.msn.com/home-loans/rent-or-buy-calculator.aspx http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html It's not ALWAYS the best to buy, although many will tell you that it is. Also if you're interested, I recommend this book. It was recommended several times on investing sites I frequent to get ideas on new companies and stock picks. http://www.amazon.com/Neatest-Little-Guide-Market-Investing/dp/0452298628 Read it earlier this year during a deployment when I decided I wanted to learn more about investing and how I could do more with my money. The market is doing well right now, so I can't say that I'm some genius, I'm definitely going to have some losses sooner or later, but I'm outpacing the S&P500 right now so I can't complain. Good luck!

LOL. This is easily the most butthurt comment I've read on baseops. Go cry some more, get it all out then come back and tell us how you really feel It's truly disturbing that someone "hates" another aircraft community so much that they take "pleasure" seeing our Air Force lose even more aircraft and capabilities than they have already. You need help bro, maybe you should go talk to the chaplain/SARC/IG and tell them about your problem with the KC-10 and how their aircrew members hurt you emotionally.

I've been waiting for years to drop my flight suit if I ever get sock checked...

This pretty much sums it all up... But new guy, I wouldn't get too excited. You just joined an airframe that apparently is going the way of the Dodo Bird... http://www.arizonadailyindependent.com/2013/08/16/flake-drops-a-10-bomb-on-constituents

Congrats! 6th or 9th? What you'll see is that a lot of ppl started as single LTs living in Vacaville/Fairfield. Then the next year they live in Davis/Walnut Creek. Then last year they'll live in Sacramento/San Francisco... Theres a reason you see that... If you want to live close to work and have to drive a good distance to do anything, by all means live close to the base... But you're giving up a huge opportunity as a young single dude to go have a really good time in what will probably be the best location you'll have in your career... You have your whole life to live in a family friendly suburb. Your days of being a no responsibility LT and single are numbered... If you're into girls, they aren't in Vacaville/Fairfield... And the convenience of walking/$5 cab to go out bc you live where you play is worth it. Definitely agree with the roommate thing. You'll be deployed or gone a lot and it makes sense to split the costs with someone and put more of that BAH in your pocket. Have you even been to San Francisco? If you haven't, you really don't understand how awesome it would be to be a young single Air Force pilot there... It's easily one of the coolest cities in the country. Tons of hot chicks there and from what I've seen when I've been out there, it really is as easy as they say.. Disclaimer: I want to move to the Bay Area but am currently in Davis. The current drive has definitely been worth it. ;) Better nightlife than Sac? I'd disagree after living in Davis for a year. But the drive is certainly better.

When I went through pilot training, there were 2 Ferraris, 2 Aston Martins (Norwegians) and one Dutch guy had a new ZR1. They said they'd drive down to Dallas, valet at the clubs. The chicks outside the clubs loved the Ferrari driving dudes with European accents...

The 10 is a great airplane. Travis is awesome. Gotta say though, I wish I were home more to enjoy California... Deployments will be quite frequent and trips aren't happening like the stories you hear from the old crusty aircrew members around the squadron... We actually joke that we are TDY to Travis/McGuire and home station is where we deploy, but there is some truth to that. You F-17 guys are funny On a more serious note to the thread, take note that both 17 and 10 guys are saying that while the locations may be good, quotes like "(of course those things require you to actually be home to enjoy)" Should hopefully make you realize that you will be gone a lot. Choose a plane and mission you want to fly, because that's what you'll be doing with the deployment/TDY ops tempos in both of these airframes.

Back in my day, we had to wear parachutes and the final turn would kill you...

Couldn't have happened to a better dude. to a good friend from OTS and Sheppard.

http://www.newschann...ews-unconfirmed http://www.timesreco...ner=yahoo_feeds Glad they got out alright.

Just saw this on youtube. Figured this would be an appropriate thread to share the video... Looks like it works as advertised.

Just got the watch in! Love how the box it comes in is covered in space suit material haha. Definitely worth the wait. Tunes you're the man!