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UDEL09

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Everything posted by UDEL09

  1. A lot of 10-12 hour days, last minute weather Evacs, last minute cross country’s to get Stan to graduate on time, and sq leadership that oftentimes caved to OG level pressure to continue to produce more at the expense of IP quality of life.
  2. So I received the application requirements, Guard Majors with less than 16 years of service are eligible. I know it is not for everyone but posted for SA purposes. Cheers!
  3. Yeah the game plan is to pick up some full time orders while being close to the family and then hopefully if luck and timing work out catching a PCS to an AGR position. Definitely not for everyone but it would work out well for my situation.
  4. New 09’ Guard guy- would I have the option to attend ACSC in residence even though I was not picked up on my three looks while on Active Duty? Thanks for the replies!
  5. Osprey doing Osprey things. Thankfully not as bad as Fleet Week in 2010. https://www.military.com/video/aircraft/marine-corps-aircraft/osprey-incident-in-staten-island-ny-1/664023920001
  6. Just confirmed with AvB Program office- no bonus options for 11R’s due to manning. The new fact sheets and documents are also on Mypers.
  7. I picked up a Class-A RV and that is the retirement plan for my wife and I when the kids are out of the house. We have had vacations at Virginia Beach, Coronado Island, Pensacola, Corpus Christi, etc all at $30-$35 a night. If you can deal with the smaller space, it may be a good alternative to a dedicated summer home or Air BnB. Cheers!
  8. I think this really depends on the location of the FTU. Co-located FTU’s requiring a PCA are usually pretty desirable because they come with a T-Code for your AFSC and a BMC status that can shield you from some of the unwanted deployments. I’ve never been to Altus, but I can imagine for some of the MAF MWS’s it can be an entirely different experience and a bit less desirable.
  9. Agreed- I have flown with outstanding enlisted guys with Commercial/ATP backgrounds and never did they feel the need (or want) to wear Pilot wings or “instruct” my students on how to fly. To the op, I would bring this up on your EOC critique if this is an enlisted FTU instructor or talk to your Chief Pilot about it if you don’t feel like you can approach the member directly. Sharing his experience in and out of the Air Force is fine for debrief but this guy sounds like a possible CRM nightmare for an inexperienced/young AC.
  10. My Dad went the UPT-H route in the early 80’s. Him and a few of his buddies ended up eventually going back through Vance for a Fixed Wing Qual program. It probably isn’t as bad now, but promotion rates were pretty abysmal in the rotary world and if you wanted to make it to O-4/5, going fixed wing was the better guarantee. Though I miss some of Rainman’s advice, I think he realized he needed to take a step away from baseops. I believe M2 or Clearedhot may have addressed it a few years ago in another thread. Cheers!
  11. The practice was written into our OG/Sup to the v2. The intent was to minimize workload for the evaluator being able to send a single email that would “brief” sq leadership and assist with the Go/No-Go process. We routinely jumped between two Ops squadrons and an FTU so sometimes it was a scheduling snafu trying to find 1522’s or a temp Form 8 located at the other squadrons before the final was signed. This email helped alleviate that.
  12. Based off those locations tracking T-38’s and getting into ACC/AFGSC might be your best bet. Friday MWS briefs are a pretty common occurrence so stay on the lookout for those. If you are at CBM you can send me a DM and I can put you in contact with someone from any of these communities.
  13. Depends on the community. In my old unit after a checkride, a temporary Form 8 would be sent out by the evaluator to all the leadership/evaluators in the group. Guys and Gals receiving commendables and EQ’s would generally be considered for upgrades sooner during the training review boards than those who received downgrades or Q-2/3’s. You can also tie it in to a flying bullet on your OPR as a Result. “Cmd’d XX sorties; completed xx Trng events—earned Q-1 w/commendables”
  14. Quick shoutout for Trident Home Loans. I recently worked with Jon, Bri, and Lisa and they did a great job getting us a low rate and expediting our contract closing ten days ahead of schedule. All of our inquiries were answered in a timely manner and I would definitely use them again!
  15. Could be. My information is based on what the functional said to me over the phone and experiences of some of my squadron members.
  16. PM Sent- what was relayed to me from the AETC functional; CONUS PIT TDY’s can expect out-and-backs for the foreseeable future due to the possible start date changes. My class and a friends class start date rolled two months from the original RIP date.
  17. G550 has been greenlighted with two airplanes already ordered to replace the EC. The plan is to continue acquiring one airframe per year as we slowly replace and retire the EC-130H. The timeline is still fluid but there is no longer a hold on the contract.
  18. See post on Page 2, information is relatively the same. Feel free to send me a PM if you have additional questions.
  19. Does anybody have any SA on the base housing wait list for 4 bedroom CGO/FGO permanent party? Housing Office won’t give us any information without orders in hand. Thanks for the replies!
  20. So our functional just sent this as an option for our Summer white jet bill. This is the first one I have seen drop to our community in the six years I have been on station. I have heard of IP’s going there in the past but am having a hell of a time finding someone that has been stationed there in the last three years.
  21. Thread Revival: Any recent quality of life gouge for the T-6 IP gig at Whiting as an Air Force guy? Thanks for the replies!
  22. I am local at KDMA and word from our RA is that Mardon is under investigation by the IRS. We were advised to pick up any uniform items we have with them and use other establishments UFN.
  23. EC-130H Compass Call 1. Ops Tempo / Deployment As a newly checked out copilot, you can expect to fly or sim twice a week. You will rarely be the only copilot on the sortie but scheduling does a good job balancing out who flies what (mission, proficiency or aerial refueling sorties). When you fly, you can expect a 10 hour day from showtime to debrief. On your non-flying days, you will be stuck in the office doing your day job. TDY’s are pretty rare but you will generally fly a tailswap and one large force exercise (Red Flag / WIC Spt) within your first year. We currently deploy to two overseas locations in support of both OIR and OFS. Deployments have drastically slowed down for copilots and you can expect one four month deployment for every 12-16 months. 2. Lifestyle / Family Stability Overall the community is pretty stable. The 55th ECG is the only unit that operates the EC-130H so it is not unheard of for guys to stay at DM for 7 years bouncing between squadrons. The Group is good about taking care of its own but will take out the trash if you make a name for yourself. Tucson is a nice area if you enjoy the outdoor lifestyle and is very gun friendly. The deployment and TDY schedule allow for a generous amount of family time when compared to other airframes. 3. Community Morale Community morale has been pretty good for the last 4 ½ years. The biggest gripe I hear from new copilots is the waitlist to get on the deployment schedule. Flying the Herk is relatively easy, but flying it well can be difficult at times. Unlike our slick brethren, we only complete the non-tactical portions of the syllabus at Little Rock so we are not qualified on low-levels, airdrop, airland, or NVG operations. After completing initial training at the Rock, you will get spun-up on mission and aerial refueling procedures when you arrive at Davis-Monthan. Though the flying can be monotonous at times, the downrange mission is very rewarding and you do get the opportunity fly some interesting exercises. 4. Advancements and Future The future of the community is looking relatively secure. There were rumors of losing half the fleet (seven aircraft) but it never came to fruition. We are continually upgrading our mission system to keep us relevant against new emerging threats. Half of the fleet is also receiving an avionics upgrade that is essentially replacing our legacy instruments with glass displays. Though we have not identified a formal replacement, there has been talk of a possible G550 (EC-37) as a likely contender. As stated previously, the community does a pretty good-job taking care of its own if you do not negatively self-identify. For pilots, it is generally difficult to receive a follow-on MWS assignment. Evaluator/Instructor types leaving the squadron after 6-7 years will generally get white jets to P-Cola, C-Springs or the UPT bases. Occasionally we will see RC-135’s but this usually comes with the caveat of a remote to Korea or Wg Exec time. The remainder of our follow-ons are RPA’s with a spattering of green-door/U-2 exceptions. 5. Preferred PCS Only location is Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ
  24. Corpus Drop MC-130 Mildenhall MC-130 Hurlburt PC-12 Cannon C-130J Ramstein C-130 Peterson C-130 Dyess C-130 LR C-130 Pope Awesome drop
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