RTB
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Posts posted by RTB
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1 hour ago, LumberjackAxe said:
Perhaps we can have this pilotless discussion when they have driverless trucks cruising down the highway. Let's start with that before we move on to Airliners.
Perhaps this is my juvenile mind at work, but can you imagine how many people would be out intentionally screwing with those driverless trucks just for entertainment purposes?
"Hey Bubba, watch this..."
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2 hours ago, Rhade said:
So my second question is how far into the process can I go with my current unit before I'm committed? Is it once I attend OTS? or until I attend UPT?
No idea, will tap out here and let someone with more specific experience chime in...
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1 hour ago, Rhade said:
But they aren't meeting until September and I turn 30 in march of next year. So here is another great question. How hard is it to get an age waiver, or given the fact that I have alot of things already done could I get my dates in under the wire if they like me?
I will refer you back to my "bird in the hand" comment. No idea how easy age waivers are these days. But taking a sure thing and turning it into a "maybe, waiver required" situation is probably not a wise move.
19 minutes ago, Marco said:For every one of you there are whom can't make up your mind about what you want to fly or if you even do; there are 100 others behind you willing to cut off a nut or give up a kidney to be in your position in order to fly ANYTHING. Don't cut off your nose to spite your face. Take the slot you've been given, be humble & grateful, kick ass at UPT, be an asset to the defense of our Nation.
Yes, so true.
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1 hour ago, Rhade said:
The open unit is a fighter unit though. I'd love the opportunity to "go fast" if it was available. I mean if I go C-130s that door is closed to me right?
Well that does change things a bit and presents an interesting situation. Will your current unit let you defer OTS and UPT? It sounds like the other unit doesn't even know who you are so would you just be throwing your name in the hat as an off the street hire? Are they both Guard? Both Reserve? Same state? There's a good chance that having been hired already by one unit would give you a big leg up with the other unit since you've already been vetted to some degree.
If you can apply to the fighter unit without jeopardizing your C-130 slot, I'd definitely do it. Go to the unit and talk to their hiring guy and lay out your situation and see what they say. But again, it would suck to lose your current slot chasing a fighter slot and be left with nothing.
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48 minutes ago, Rhade said:
Lol wow thanks in varying degrees to everyone for the answers. Here is another question, I noticed another opening for a position with another unit that I would rather fly for. Is it too late for me to apply to the other unit? I have not yet gone to OTS or UPT or anything.
Take the bird in the hand now! You can always transfer units after you get your wings. Starting over and re-applying could be a very tough road.
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31 minutes ago, Rhade said:
Hello all,
I have been waiting in the wings this past year waiting for my TS to go through before my unit wanted to set me up with OTS and UPT dates. It sounds like it went through and they want to start setting up my dates. I'm a little nervous as this is potentially a major turning point in my life. I know the next 1.5-2 years of training will be hard, but my question is what will life be like once I get back? I am an engineer in my civilian life and I want to keep doing that. There are lots of boards talking about airline pilot lifestyle in the guard, but how about a more traditional civilian job? What kind of flying commitments will I have every month? Does your military commitment adversly affect your personal career? How do you manage two jobs and a family?
Info on me, I'm going to be flying C-130s and I live about 3 hours from my unit. I want to make sure this is the right call. I'm taking a major pay cut and I'm going to be spending alot of time away from my family. I'm getting cold feet and just wanted to know how other guys have been swinging it, and get your input.
Becoming a military pilot is a serious commitment of time and energy for sure but it can be incredibly rewarding. It's not a job to go into casually though. If you're getting cold feet, you really need to assess if this is something you're driven to do. And your family needs to be on board too or you'll have a very tough time.
I wouldn't trade my time flying in the Air Force for anything, it was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, but that's not to say everything was sunshine and rainbows. It will undoubtedly be better as a Guard or Reserve part timer than an Active Duty guy, but there will still be things that suck at times. Can't speak to the ops tempo of your chosen unit, but as a part timer, you should have a fair amount of control of that eventually. As to the flying requirements, someone with part time C-130 experience will need to chime in.
As for the balancing of your current career and part time AF flying, literally thousands of guys before you have been able to manage both their traditional civilian job and their part time flying commitment. Not everyone goes into the airlines and they make it work just fine. That said, as I'm sure you're aware, you will be on full time orders for a while as you get through OTS, UPT, FTU and then some seasoning so you'll be away from your current job for a couple years potentially. Your civilian company is required to keep you on, but that doesn't mean they'll be happy about it so only you can know what those tea leaves are telling you. Some companies have been fantastic to their military employees, others have been horrible and many are somewhere in between.
Bottom line is, you've been given an incredible opportunity to become a military pilot in a part time capacity. That's about as good as it gets in my opinion, but only if you're motivated to do it.
Good luck with the decision!
(Full disclosure: I was full time AD my whole career, but spent many years working alongside part timers with varying civilian careers so while i didn't live the part time life, I worked with and knew many who did.)
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4 hours ago, MooseAg03 said:
1508 hours, I'd love to be that guy.
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkPretty sure I know that guy but there could be quite a few. Guy I know is an F-22 dude whose apps were in the system and updated regularly pre-1500 hours. Got the interview invite right after updating to 1500. Hired shortly thereafter. Still a reservist and living the dream by all accounts...
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4 hours ago, General Chang said:
Are you kidding me Brick? The only chance we have in this forsaken state of affairs is to put Operators in key positions of influence throughout the "1" community. All levels, Lt Col through Lt Gen. I know many rated Cols, 1* & 2* who would enact real change through radical personnel policy changes, given the chance.
Once rated officers take back these key positions of influence on staffs, particularly in the "1," we may have a fighting chance.
The thought that pilots in key staff positions is a waste of training and money is extremely short-sighted.
We promote way too many non-rated officers to O-6 and above as it is.
I'm very confused...what is happening here?
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7 minutes ago, matmacwc said:
AGR reservist switched to active duty during voluntary recall.
Damn, he got screwed.
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3 hours ago, ClearedHot said:
The absolute root cause of so many of the current problems.
"Picking" an officer as a captain long before there leadership is truly proven and pushing them uphill regardless of their flaws creates caustic entitled assholes. When we end up with folks who destroy the morale of units, commit sins that are white washed away (right after they hammer a subordinate for the same sin), and show questionable leadership while flying only to have the superiors say "we can't afford for him/her to fail, we have invested too much and we need another GO." This is why the institution is failing and this is why the concerns of the masses do not resonate with most of the current leadership.
This is so spot on
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41 minutes ago, matmacwc said:
And I saw 1 go straight to a non flying 365.
One of the return to active duty pilots? Was he a volunteer? I knew a voluntary return pilot, a passed over major that came back as soon as the program was offered several years ago. He flew in our squadron and worked an ACC flying staff billet. This was during the height of the random deployment frenzy to Iraq and AFG but his contract did not allow involuntary deployments so he never deployed. Oh, and he got promoted to Lt Col and got his 20 year AD retirement. Worked out well for him.
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3 hours ago, VMFA187 said:
""After briefings and discussions with our aircrew, their training wing leadership, the engineers, and aeromedical experts, we have identified a way forward to resume flight operations safely by limiting the maximum cabin altitude to below 10,000 feet in order be able to operate without using the OBOGS system," Shoemaker explained."
If I read the article right, the modified mask doesn't tie into OBOGS? How does that work? And is the T-45 cockpit unpressurized?
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20 hours ago, Fuzz said:
Appealing to pilots while wearing ABUs, sounds petty but when you're facing a national crisis every piece of the message matters.
I was thinking the exact same thing. Strange choice.
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2 hours ago, ThreeHoler said:
My money is on a pilot trolling everyone.I'll second that. Gotta be a pilot since he knows exactly how to push everyone's buttons.
To whoever is giving voice to Chang, well played sir, well played.
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4 hours ago, General Chang said:
Sockpuppet. Nice. I guess when someone posts a positive thought on these boards, they become trolls & sockpuppets.
I do not advocate for stop loss. I merely remind it is always on the table, and despite what Gina said, we are closer now than we have been in many years. If it comes, just jump in with two feet, stay positive, and we will end it as soon as able.
For those on AD, I take it you saw the AFPAK Hands solicitation we sent out today. I hope you give strong consideration to volunteering. We are ramping that program back to full capacity. ISIS is altering the battlefield and we must have many, many more air power experts on the ground with long-term continuity. Many carrots to participating: attend NIU for IDE, work at the Pentagon with some of our greatest minds, free language training, and likely early promotions to Lt Col & Col. We will see many of our future Sq/CCs come out of this program, because they will be the most relevant/qualified in the current state of affairs. This is a big deal; don't miss your opportunity.
If you really don't want to participate in this program, please encourage your friends who are on the fence. We have a very small vol window and many slots to fill; it will not be long before Wing Commanders will be racking their senior Capts, Maj(s), and Majors (esp post bonus) for these opportunities.
Fellas, this dude is clearly just fucking with everyone. Not worth even a second of your time - it's all bullshit.
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56 minutes ago, LookieRookie said:
I'm convinced Chang is a line flying Major that just loves to rile everyone up while sipping some 18 year single malt.
2!
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5 minutes ago, F16Deuce said:
They've also got a .45 shield w/o thumb safety for $274.99 after mail in rebate.
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20 minutes ago, VMFA187 said:
And that is why I really bring my iPhone.
We were issued "burner phones" by our Flight Equipment Marines on every sortie we launched on for this purpose.
That is awesome
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2 minutes ago, No2bonus said:
If you were aware of that then you should have not referenced a NY times article. The last time I checked, the NY times isn't factual intelligence. If you want to suck your thumb and call people jackasses over WMD then you can debate yourself. You flew over the area and read an article so you're the expert.
Huh? Suck my thumb? Don't post an article? Never contradict anything you post? OK Hot Shot!
Never claimed to be an expert. And it's pretty presumptuous of you to say something like "I don't think you realize" when you have no fucking idea what I do or don't have background in. NYT was one of several open sources I could have cited that simply showed that WMD were found in unexpected places, although NOT part of the claimed ongoing weapons program that actually didn't exist. As I stated in my first post, "I'll probably take some grief for this..." because to state there were "no WMDs" is technically false. There were. Just not the ones we thought would be there.
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Just now, No2bonus said:
I don't think you realize that UN inspectors went in and blew up, destroyed, or buried a lot of that stuff during the inspection program in the Bill Clinton era. Of course there is going to be remants there because they couldn't fly the stuff out of Iraq. Why would they, its WMD?
Before CNN lost its credibility, they showed what the UN inspectors were doing inside Iraq. One of the inspectors was actually CIA. Their video footage showed where stuff was buried and how things were dismantled or blow up.
You don't think I realize? What a jackass statement to make. Well aware of what was going on between 1993-2003...since I was flying over it all the time, we tended to keep up with current events over there.
Many of the areas 'discovered' post 2003 were apparently not documented from previous inspection programs. They had been lost by Saddam's regime or hidden from inspectors years before.
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5 minutes ago, No2bonus said:
The premise for the attack was under an active WMD program. "The United States had gone to war declaring it must destroy an active weapons of mass destruction program. Instead, American troops gradually found and ultimately suffered from the remnants of long-abandoned programs, built in close collaboration with the West."
I realize that. But to say there were no WMDs is wholly inaccurate. Not arguing that the premise for the invasion, an active weapons program, was inaccurate (despite the collective opinions of most of the world's intel communities). Just pointing out that anyone claiming there were NO WMDs is wrong.
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48 minutes ago, No2bonus said:
He was 100% right about there not being WMD in Iraq.
I'll probably take some grief for this, but technically, there were thousands of WMD shells found in Iraq after the 2003 Gulf War, at least according to the NY Times. Now, these weren't part of an active program to produce new weapons, but they were there...
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41 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:
it is clear Rice went way beyond the norm in unmasking numerous folks on the Trump team, then sharing that with other senior officials. Essentially turning the government intelligence apparatus into a political tool to spy on the Trump folks. We still don't know a great many things and it will be interesting to see what happens if Rice is called to testify.
It's crazy that this isn't a HUGE story.
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17 minutes ago, SocialD said:
For us Guard guys, what is DS?
How I feel when any staff weenie speaks (A3X this and A8F that)...like we know what the hell they're talking about!
Basically it is a bullshit position created solely for the purpose of managing the extraordinary mountains of queep that are now required to be generated on a daily basis.
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What's wrong with the Air Force?
in General Discussion
Posted
In the Army, a 22 year old 1 or 2Lt is a platoon leader in command of 30-50 people. As a 26 year old Capt he/she is a Company Commander leading 100-200 people. Then later, after lots of experience already leading, they get Battalion Command as an O-5. So when an Air Force officer gets their first true command experience as an O-4/5, an Army or Marine counterpart has had multiple command tours by that time. They get experience as commanders at a very early age dealing with all the associated issues but in gradually increasing levels of responsibility.