RTB

An old squadron bro of mine did his 20, half AD and half AGR in the reserves, and got his MBA along the way. Through networking with his MBA class (he went in residence) he got hired as a management consultant at Bain & Company when he retired and was making VERY good money. Through his contacts in that job, he was subsequently poached to a higher paying job and then poached again to his current job. Dude travels a hell of a lot (way more than me as an airline guy) but is making ridiculous money now. Seems to like it. Going in as a defense contractor has it's immediate perks and is a good skills fit but, depending on the job, can also have it's downsides a few years later. Business Development is a common job guys jump into after AD. I know a few guys who went down that path only to discover that their time of usefulness to the company was directly proportional to their still-relevant contacts on AD. Heavywanabe has more direct knowledge as he's apparently living it, but I've seen several dudes get disillusioned by their jobs after a few years of stagnation. The farther they got from active duty, current tactics and missions, etc, the less valuable they were for business development . Upward mobility into higher level management was harder to do than expected. Those jobs tended to go to folks with the civilian education and experience pedigree. Of course there are tons of defense contractor paths besides just business development. Initially I didn't want to go airlines and was targeting the defense industry. What ultimately turned me away from that path was when I called to talk to a friend of mine who was living that life. He called me back on a Sunday on his way back to work. Turns out he was working his 7th straight day of 10+ hour days getting ready for a big presentation or something. He was going back to the office on a Sunday cranking away with the rest of his team. He thrived on that kind of work and pressure but it made me shudder as I was trying to get away from that kind of schedule!

It should be obvious but I'll spell it out for you. The national museum that is supposed to highlight African American History and Culture chose to highlight a poorly conceived protest by a rich, marginally effective NFL quarterback, but not a black Supreme Court Justice who worked his way from nothing to the highest court in the land.

An exhibit about Kaepernick?? That museum just killed their credibility.

62nd is a lucky squadron, Juice is one of the good guys.

Yeah, it wasn't too long after I went that the fun police at AU stomped out that practice. We never asked, just did it but they eventually put out a formal complaint and policy forbidding it. Never mind that we kept landing currency and actually logged a couple RAP counters. That's just mission shit... A good deal, both for pilots and the AF was detected and therefore crushed.

So you basically need a new Class 1. Hopefully I'm wrong and there is another way but I think your only options are: Option 1: Find an on base doc who is also an FAA Class 1 AME - unlikely but there may be one Option 2: Wait until you get home - January is plenty early with an October separation date. Absolute last resort (if even allowed) and terrible Option IMO: Use one of the 3 Local AMEs the FAA says can do Class 1s.

Back in the Good Ole Days, we were allowed to fly on the weekends during SOS. My squadron sent two jets to Maxwell for one of the middle weekends and I got 2 BFM sorties each on Saturday and Sunday, with the RON at Eglin to hit the Destin beaches Saturday night. It made SOS much more palatable.

If that description is true, that Squadron Commander displayed total and complete incompetence. That kind of decision clearly displays a lack of qualification for the job. Big picture people, it's not hard...

Exactly. What a ridiculous report. Apparently according to the authors, because there won't be many of them, the costs, when compared to the total force, will be small, so therefore inconsequential. Except they don't really mention how it will impact the units where they're assigned but barely work due to all the shenanigans required to appease their confusion about reality. I also love the recommendation that the military should create transgender SMEs and "Gender Advisors" for commanders. Gender Advisors. Because apparently Gender is so complex and variable that we need specially trained advisors. GMAFB. What a joke and complete waste of time.

First off, it's not "my" study. That was just the first study I came across. There are plenty of other sources if you care to look. That study compiled results from 42 other studies over 19 years. So lots of data. You seem to be going out of your way to try to prove trannies don't have issues and should be able to serve. Why? They have serious mental issues, and the condition has a name in Psychiatry, Gender Dysphoria. Those issues and confusion lead to higher cases of suicide attempts. So yeah, they're more prone to suicide.

Google: 55% have thought about trying and are 14 times more likely to do so than the general population 29% have tried and are 22 times more likely to do so thats WAY higher than the rest of the population https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2017/05/04/Study-shows-rising-rates-of-suicidal-acts-in-transgender-adults/4561493909781/

May not be an issue anymore Trump announces ban on transgender individuals serving in military http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/07/26/trump-announces-ban-on-transgender-individuals-serving-in-military.html

This sounds promising for those of you still toiling away at Human Trafficking and Sexual Harrassment CBTs... "Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wants to overhaul military education and training to “regain” the art of warfighting following complaints by thousands of servicemembers that their time is being wasted by hours of mandatory training...The training that is the subject of complaints covers everything from alcohol use to active shooters to sexual harassment to stress management." http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/07/25/mattis-moves-to-refocus-military-training-on-warfighting-after-complaints-on-senseless-exercises.html

I'm sure that story won't follow him EVERYWHERE he goes.

Your Commander is a fucking douche. And yes, I make that sweeping statement based on this one fact, because that one passive aggressive act pretty much spells out his poorly developed leadership philosophy. The EASY button reaction is to chuckle, say "yeah, tell me about it! But thanks for taking care of your folks."

You get retired pay once per month at the end of the month. So your first retired paycheck will be 31 July. I retired 30 April 2015. My paychecks were on 4/15/15 for the normal mid month amount, another on 5/20/15 for the remainder of my April paycheck plus the little bit of leave I sold back, and then my first retired paycheck was on 5/29/15. Monthly from that point on...

Exactly. The message this sends is just baffling in this current fighter pilot "crisis". The net gain argument is also ridiculous and doesn't make sense. Send them to an F-15 or F-16 and you still have a "net gain".

To pile on the comments so far, there are lots of things to bitch about and lots of stuff that drove me nuts before I retired. And you will have days that will suck for sure. But, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat! The flying and the bros were what made it awesome. Loved flying AF jets and miss that kind of flying and mission focus every day. It's something very few will ever get the chance to do. Perhaps even better, I worked with some great Americans who are life-long friends now and that's something that can't be overstated. That said, if you're going AD, you have to accept the fact that there will be some QoL pain involved. And that pain will vary greatly depending on what corner of the AF you end up in. But regardless of where you end up and what you end up flying, the good stuff (flying jets, drinking with the bros, doing the mission serving 'Merica!) will, in my opinion, far outweigh the bad.

Nope. And they find out surprisingly fast.

Agree completely.

Big Blue would be smart to kill all non-vol 365s and offer targeted bonuses for 365 volunteers. Kind of like the airlines do for oversold flights. Who wants a Baghdad 365 for $15k? No takers? How about $20k? $30? And so on. Take the non vol 365 heinosity off the table, increase flight pay significantly for all flyers while also reducing home station queep and they might have a chance to keep a few folks. Someone who wants the cash will eventually bite on the 365 as the dollar amount goes up. FAR cheaper than dumping cash at dudes serving concurrent ADSCs.

+ a few months can make all the difference...

So an elderly gentleman saw you in uniform and was trying to talk to you about your service but you blew him off? And HE was the rude one?

They also use LDO's a lot for support jobs. LDO's are former enlisted who were good at their support specific job, got promoted, maybe even without a degree, and lead support functions up to the O-4 ish level. No future of command but fill a niche in areas that a full-up O, or especially a pilot, might not be ideal for.

How on God's green earth does a GO and their staff screw that up?? That's a pretty glaring mistake that I'm sure caused a few days of serious angst for those dudes. UFB.