WeMeantWell

First you need to narrow this topic down considerably. I would do this by choosing a command to start with, AMC is completly different than ACC, versus AFSOC, AFMC, etc. Each has completely different taskings and time frames. Within each command, things still vary considerably. Within AMC you have wide range of missions. Some with months of advanced planning: Ice, Nuclear, state department, Presidential, some with planning limited to hours: locals(training), alert, diverts. Of course how we train and how we fight are completely different from those processes (read any PME book to find out how). So I would choose one area within a command and focus on that. As Slacker said, the only people that know what is going on, are actually currently in that job; requirements/SOP/etc change daily, not to mention a whole new adminstration will shake things up a bit. If you want to check the box for your degree, choose something simple like deployments (years in advance) or state department moves. You asked for it, so here goes, amazingly simplified version: 1) Someone somewhere decides they need something. If they need something blowed up, they go to the CFACC (Combined Forces Air Component Commander) who then tasks a service to blow it up, or if that services equipment is CHOPed (Change of Operational Control) to the CFACC, then he just chooses that himself (has there ever been a female CFACC?). After hours of bickering and complaining (B&C) about who is getting credit and who is not getting used enough, The CFACC lackies publish an ATO (air tasking order) so those individual peeps know where to go and what to blow up. Luckly ACC usually runs this, so they got it down and usually works pretty good for the rest of us. Mostly classified/OPSEC stuff, forget it. If someone needs something Moved, they contact TRANSCOM, who decides what is worthy of movement by air, then train and truck, then boat. If it goes by Air, AMC gets a call, and so on. After the user finds out that his tank is going to take 3 months to get somewhere on a boat, there is plenty of B&C and days before the user is supposed to be in place, they now have a high enough need that they become priority and they launch alert birds from somewhere to pick their bitchin a$$es up. Or someone gets called off of leave to fly bottled water to kuwait. From there, AMC can choose who flies what, when the user finds out they are going on a C-5 theres plenty of B&C and some C-17 mission that was going to S America, diverts to Pope and flies to Qatar with $hitter trucks. Or some guy with a tube of caulk to put in a windsheild is flown from seattle to baghdad, by himself, with no other cargo. Once it is tasked to a wing, all the neat/fun/interesting trips are sucked up by the reserves who claim it is the only time their guys can fly. The next set of good deals go to FGOs that claim that trip happens to fall in their 'fly break', when the aforementioned mission to SA turns into a 3 week Afghan shuttle mission, their wife is suddenly in 'the window' and they have to stay home and make a kid. Finally the great line pilot that lives to fly and hasn't seen his family in 4 months, walks in the sqd after flying a 36 hr day and is told to go home and Crew rest for tomorrows mission, for he is "the only one". End result: a mission that was known about 3 months ago, is scheduled on a friday afternoon for a sat launch. 2) Luckily Training is completely different. However there is plenty of B&C to go around. Some civilian who has no idea what a rudder pedal is, is put in charge of scheduling training missions. This person has a kingdom more powerful than Titus himself. However, he has no concept that the sun sets later during a certain part of the year, so when you ask for some night AR, you end up wearing sunglasses. Every single base in the AF does this completely differently and their way is the correct way, the only common piece is a horse blanket; I have no idea what this is, but you sound important when you say it and somehow a tanker shows up when you need it. 3) Have you been paying attention? You have no idea... engineering management? This is Phd level work spread over a decade among dozens of Studs, and even then it will solve the problem of today, not for tomorrow. They have brought in experts from all over the world, nothing helps. Choose something simple, like how to air-refuel UAVs, how to safely move nukes, how to find bin laden.

Touche', understood...but someone somewhere had to make that policy and as soon as that person leaves (or their Exec, secretary) that policy is forgotten and you call the same office you have been calling for years and suddenly you get a"I don't know, let my find out" instead of a "hell no"; and you produce an obscure reg from somewhere, and that person knows "no better", and holy sh!t you somehow beat the system. "Big Blue', just like any corporation, is a promotion game; majority of the people running it are idiots, but damn good at playing the game, and they could care less if an MPF bubba got a raptor assignment as long as their OPR looks good. So yes, right now there is no way these assignments are going to happen, but there is not such thing as "non-existent" over any period of time in the military. Maybe they will decide that only IFF trained folks can fly UAVs, or be UPT IPs, suddenly they need someone to fly the bombers again.

Obsolete the moment you pressed "add reply"... we have all heard that line before. By all means, keep applying. So many times I have heard"It will never happen" "There is not way they will approve it", etc... in 2002 with stopless going on, I saw a guy get Palace chase approved, after everyone in his chained non-concured and told him it was 100% not possible. The same thing with VSP, "There is no way they are going to let you out" half the squadron later we are still wondering wtfo? I honestly believe you 100% and am sure there is not much we can do about it. If you are not happy with the weather in the AF wait about 5 minutes.

Had to remember my climbout stuff that day! (allright, I took off the other direction, but neat anyways) launch the fleet

Does such a world exist? I haven't see those days since UPT. 2 week trips where you get a few sets of 1+1+1 and 33 hrs of cruise, helps a lot on checkrides. Lucky to get a local every month. If AMC has there way, everything will be SIM SIM SIM!! I prefer "black-cherry shasta" before AR (no caffeine, makes me jittery), and mint-millano cookies during the brief, nonchalantly passing them to the EP (trust me, they love 'em). For Crew acft, do everything required before the EP asks for it, i.e. discuss overrun, PAR, etc... procedures in brief, then brief everything at ground speed 0, so during the checklist everything is brief complete. Over do everything so the EP can't think of any questions. And lest you all forget, the EPs favorite hobbies, no matter how stupid discussing "Cat Fancy" is on a flt deck.

Hey officer, that man over there just stole my weed man...

Just to answer this one, GRE is tough. If you have any technical background, the math section will not be hard, but the essay and verbal portion are tough. If you were english lit or something it might be the opposite for you. To prepare, I did 2 things, one I bought one of the GRE prep courses, with computer based tests included. The test is tough to finish in the time they alot, so the practice tests are well worth it, to get your pacing down and to understand the types of questions on them. The second thing is to buy a recent book of "hot" words for the GRE, a couple hundred of the most popular words on the test. I created flash cards and went through them over and over and over. You are guranteed to at least see a few of them on the test and will help you figure out what the other words are. There are also a few key concepts to understand in the GRE prep course that you will not have time to figure out when you take the test, well worth the $. Finally: the test itself is wierd, what the screen doesn't show you, is that you are being graded continously and future questions are based on previous correct/incorrect answers. If you answer a question right, your grade goes up and you get a harder question, the more you miss in a row, the further down your score goes, that you can not get back. I also think the earlier questions are weighted more, so spend extra time answering the first questions right. Finally a wrong answer is better than a blank answer, so if your time is coming up, answer all the rest before you can not. I was out of school 10 years and spent 3 weeks getting ready, study the words every day and take a practice test once a week and I did alright. good luck!

Nope, "Sweaties"

Definitely bring a cheaper pair of glasses, you will wear them all the time. In fact, at least a few sets. As APS, you will sweat, A LOT, all day long, every day, even when you are not working, the only time you won't sweat is when you dip your sheets in water and crank your AC all the way... Bring plenty of Under Armor, shave all your hair off, and get some of those sweat band things that richard simmons wears, you will fit right in... Unless you are overweight, then bring some trash bags to wear and you will sweat it away in a week.... good times!

"You ok to drive?" "yeah"

Thanks for the replies, I think I would be happy with any job there; career aspirations have taken a back seat to 2 little girls now in my life. I wish the AF would have an easily-searchable job availability list. I always hear about people getting great jobs to different places, but there does not seem to be a way to find out about them; unless you know of someone that went to do them. AMS is horribly inadequate.

How hard is it for a pilot/rated officer (with 96 gate months met and 2 masters degrees) to get an assignment to the Academy? is it easier as an academic instuctor? or flight instructor? is it possible to do both? Will volunteering for some bad assignment, allow me to get there afterwards? Thanks in advance.

Heavy to Bomber program existed, used to be able to cross flow to fighters as well. Most of them have ceased, the B-2 cross-flow stopped a few years back (03?), I think it was one bad apple ruined the program for everyone else. I think B-2s would take 1 per year from AMC... The main push might have been from the T-1 purchase, AF bought the T-1 for heavy and bomber pilot training, they have since taken bomber pilots from the T-38.

No such thing as true back-side flight versus front side flight. Flight controls will always do the same thing, just with differening amount of effects; common problem with students, who think there is this magical barrier that once passed completely change how the plane flies...that the thrust will only affect their aim point and not change their speed... Why do the controls have differing effects in the landing phase for the C-17? Because they put big freaking flaps in the exhaust of the engines, so the C-17 recieves vertical thrust as well as horizontal thrust from their engines (think Harrier on a very very small scale). Benies: significantly slower app speed, higher descent angles, preciscion aim point control which translates to bitchin' short field landings. Downside: higher VVI in landing phase with high by-pass engines, means you better not screw up late in the game with a heavy pig, cause you are going to land (err touch down) wether you want to or not...

Since when does the AF do "things" that make sense? Although the lights being on, might lend itself to the airforce, kind of like a disco belt for the sky...

My waiver request was just denied, or better, it was approved with the comment "member is restricted from flying ejection seat aircraft" So I guess I have to try the Exception to Policy route... they seem to make that a rather ambiguous path, so we will see what happens, I guess I need to gather up all my high ranking friends to make it happen.

Single-> Live down town Philly, rent, 40 minute commute, well worth it... Lots of pilots to commute with. Some pilots try to stay local at first, then realize what they are missing and move to philly...Plus with 4 month deployments every 2 years, you can pack everything up and bank BAH when you go. Trust me, there is nothing to do within 30 minutes of the base... occasionally you hear of someone living on the coast, which is about 45 minutes I would guess, and there are some nice areas out there...Do whatever you can to put the base in your rearview when you leave every day. Married-> Burlington is a good option (Township, not city!!!), best schools, decent housing market... about the closest commute with 'nice' neighborhoods, 20 minutes top, no interstate/traffic. Prices have dropped from their peak (obviously...) of about 4 years ago, but still pricey. Good time to buy there, some houses are very undervalued. I would rent somewhere well before I ever go back to base housing, it is crappy and they have done nothing to improve it, just keeps getting crappier everytime they tear something down and rebuild... decent homes for rent within 30 minutes... Although, I have heard some 'decent' words about Ft Dix housing, the Army does some good MWR and the like on their side (pool, go carts, putt putt, fireworks, etc..) puts the AF to shame; plus we are forbidden to fly over their housing, so noise is not as bad as the AF side. I aint gonna lie, the leadership at McGuire is about the worse I have seen! the folks in the squadron make it grand, lots of great AD and reservists that are a hoot on the road, just get ready for joint base NJ, lots of fly away mobexes, mx first/ops second attitude, and the 'cando' way of life! Bloom where you are planted! and you will enjoy it...

Make sure to fill out that "dropped object" form... $100,000 for some grease guns and towels, and we can't buy paper for out printers. I bet the actual cost is 10x that, once you figure the lost job it was too do, the fuel to get it into orbit, and then the cost to do it all again.

Frankfurt tower to C-17 on approach: "Reach 232, 350 knots at 10 miles, I love it..." -------------- Reach: Frankfurt Tower, Reach 232 request overhead Tower: Very funny Reachy -------------- Frankfurt Tower: Reachy 232 are you a globemaster, a hercules, or a galaxy -------------- Rumour story, maybe somebody can prove/disprove: C-141 landing on Christmas in close to white out conditions, still on rollout Frankfurt Tower: Reachy. what color are the lights in front of you... Reach: uhhhh... Blue Frankfurt Tower: Merrry Christmas Reachy --------------------- Jacksonville center:Cleared direct Fayette-Nam --------------------- McGuire App: Jinx 23, turn 090 (away from the airport), climb and maintain 3000 Jinx 23: 090, climb to 3000, cancel IFR, squawk VFR McGuire App: Uhhh its overcast 500 at WRI Jinx 23: yeah, I think we can make it --------------------- What about a good Rudishim story?

You're right, there are quite a few single seat C-17s out there... We get instead nurses, flight attendants, cheerleaders, and the like... btw, how many people does it take to fly that small little plane that can't get anywhere, logically you would think smaller plane, less people, instead smaller plane, less cargo, less altitude, less speed, 2x the man power, might as well put that shit on a train... If a C-130 picks up a C-17 crew from the bone yard it will be because they had to divert there for another engine loss or some other MX problem (or too much headwind).... and the C-17 will be forced to be dismantled there because of its awesomeness; Russia will demand it for some arms reduction treaty... "its not fair that the US can get cargo worldwide that fast, we must limit the US to slow USP type delivery with the C-130, better dismantle their semi trucks or trains too in case they try to move cargo that way" and one last fling... You can't really go wrong with either airframe, since every other "system" in the inventory has one, maybe 2 missions... (And tanker guys, don't tell me about fighter drags, coronets? and what not, and the end of the day you are hauling gas and that is it, the only reason you ever move cargo is for currency.... loiter loiter loiter, then land where I took off from)... we on the other hand have a great spread, that I need not repeat... If you are a tanker guy and you are tired of passing gas, guess what nothing for you, better cross flow... fighter pilot tired of studying in a safe and working 12 hours day, better go UAS. If you are an airland and want to try airdrop, sure, you want to try special ops? ok, want to land on the ice, got it too... even day to day, had enough AR, lets do some AD, lets stop and gets lobster, ok... Cross flow between the 2 airframes is great, crossflow from tanker to C-17 is lousy, the pilots I mean. Standard Warning: past performace does not predict future gains, what is great now and what is bad now could switch at any time... especially if a massive redeployment starts... we could all be in a world of hurt, my first local was 9-11, shit got ugly fast... Next topic: DFC awarding criteria ;-)

You are going to be better off than me, since you are lower down the back, check out the waiver guide for the specifics on the fusion. The FSO I spoke with basically laid it out to me like this: You have to be asymptomatic, if you have recurring problems/pain, wont even conside you for a waiver. I am not saying to "not seek help", but in the words of my neurosurgeon who recommended I not have surgery "If you can deal with the pain, deal with the pain"... and I believe that to a point, if you have lost feeling, it will recover but not after a long period of time >1 year...Then you have to wait for some recovery, and put on a good show for the FSO. I got my waiver at 3 months, and I am now at a year waiting to remove the non-ejection seat wording from the waiver. In your years of experience, you know better than to believe rumors ;-)

I will be the first to tell you, heal yourself first! That is the most imporant thing now and for always, no job, career, hobby, etc is worth sacrificing your health. Second, do not apply while you still have symptoms, that is an easy 'no' for the flight docs, and actually, you would not want to fly high performance aircraft with any sort of back symptoms, it hurts, and could make things worse. Find out what you actual condition is, there is a difference between a bulge and a herniation. read through the archives here: http://www.baseops.net/archive/archivemedical.html and it should help you figure it out, do not let the it perusade you against applying or flying if that is what you want to do... sometimes there are brick walls to see how bad you want it! For every sob story of the AF would not let me in, there are plenty of, I can't believe they let me in stories.

Waiver would be possible only for post-UPT. There are a lot of candidates that have DQ conditions that would allow them to fly non-ejection seat acft after UPT; however a waiver of that type, would typically not be possible before UPT (i.e. they have no $$ invested in you yet, not worth their risk). I am in a similar situation, however I am hoping having wings will help me through... unfortunately, a good portion of the decision for yours and mine will come down to #s, the AF revolves around #s; if they need pilots-> the waivers get approved, if they don't need pilots->requirements become more restrictive... There is an AF guide to waivers (just google for it) and Brooks used to post a website on historical data concerning waiver requests and approvals (broken down into categories, like "scoliosis") If anyone knows if this data still exists somewhere that would be very useful... Find a civilian doctor that understands the situation and might be able to word your condition correctly based on the waiver guide.

Hi there, I am an AF heavy driver, with an assignment to fly ejection seat acft in the near future. I am looking for some case studies to help out my local Flt Doc submit a waiver request: I had a ruptured cervical disk C5/6 (severe stenosis, with mild cord flattening Nov 07), that has since resorbed/granulated, albeit slightly touching the cord still. I have been Asymptomatic since 6 weeks after (late Dec 07) with no surgery, and absolutely no pain since then(woo hoo!). Every flt doc I speak with seems to have a different opinion on this. I just PCSed and the current one does not know a whole lot about the waiver process and said it would take 2-3 months to even submit. I currently have a Class IIB (non-ejection seat waiver, initially granted for 2 years) and requested a Class II in June, after a MRI showed resorbtion and no signal loss. AFMOA told me to wait until the 1 year point (which is about now). The fltdoc at my last base, said he saw some UPT instructors get this kind of waiver. So I guess I am looking to find if there are any case studies for a cervical disk herniation, with a class II waiver; even any advice on what to put on and not put on the waiver request... I checked out the Navy waiver guide and it seems a little less strigent with the cervical herniation. Maybe if there are some Navy pilot precedents. Lastly-is it possible to hire out a civialian doc or company to review my case, MRI(s), or in case of a waiver denial, make an appeal... and would that help? thanks for all the help in advance.