Prozac

We had a similar issue wen I was flying the C-21. When I was first qual'd in the jet it was said that it was kind of a right of passage to roll it. The airplane was most definitely capable of accomplishing the maneuver. Did that make it smart? Not sure what the MC-12 T.O. says, but I'm pretty sure aerobatics were prohibited in the C-21. If you're fortunate enough to own your own airplane, go out and push the envelope all you want. Don't do it with a piece of government property and expect to come out unscathed though.

I thought a PCS from OCONUS to CONUS was a 1 yr ADSC. Has this changed recently?

Agree with what Rainman and others have said here. Take it as another opportunity to show what you've got and try not to suck. BUT...the point that was made about cost was a valid one. Not sure what your MDS is, but flying hours are not going up for anybody as far as I know. We don't have the full story so it's diffucult to make a judgement on what your leadership is thinking. If I was making the call, I'd be considering the fact that I'd be taking good training away from your peers to re-fly your check. Put some faith in your DO and assume he's thought it through. If he hasn't, chalk it up as a lesson in Sq leadership and press.

2. Isn't this the way it was not so long ago? Then the Air Force realized that, oh god say it ain't so, Army and Marine officers were promoting on a faster timeline than the AF. If we were only more like the Marines...a cool motto, high collared dress uniforms, and quicker promotions could only help our service right?

The difference is TDY vs. Deployment. Sending me TDY is a lot simpler than deploying me and requires significantly less support. If a guy is going to be gone 2-3 months, home for a few weeks, and out the door again, why go through all the ass-pain of a deployment. Downrange commanders should make allowances for this type of individual. My guys don't need PERSCO, Right Start, or a worthless finance office to get the mission done. Understand small airplanes do it differently so YMMV depending on what you fly, MAJCOM, etc. Yeah....sounded better last night after a few beers than it did this morning sober.

Absolutely. "Deployments" in the tanker world are a joke. Send us TDY with a DETCO and some MX support and we'll get the job done with a fraction of the footprint. Doesn't work for everybody, but you gotta admit there is a shit ton of tail for very few teeth in the AF. Completely agree on knowing your role though. Truth is unless your toting your M-16 through the mud, you're the support in this war. The difference between me and finance is that I'll be there on time, 365 days and nights a year, in any weather, every time. I don't close up shop so I can complete my ADLS CBTs. Wish the people supporting me took their jobs as seriously as I do mine.

My vote for quote of the day.

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And it's money well spent for Boeing. EADS would likely have been doing the same thing.

I think the fear is that by that point you'd be to old/non-promotable to be marketable to the ARC.

They should just issue us bedazzled flight suits and call it good. No reason you can't be safe AND fabulous at the same time! Plus it will show sensitivity to the recent repeal of DADT.

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, B, A, select, start.

Unless the wrong "tanker" happens to be a 777 with 300 pax on board at FL330. To be fair, only mudhen crews are susceptible to this kind of mistake as A-10 pilots tend to get nosebleeds above 180.

Ok, I'll concede a few have made some good points wrt CCs giving the finger to the RIF process, but goddamnit there has got to be a better way than creating thousands of unnecessary man hours. Why not let the decision be made at the Wing level? Give WG/CCs a % they must meet and let them run the program as they see fit. They're more likely to respond to the individual concerns and requirements of their commanders.

If you are a flying squadron commander, here is a chance to show some backbone. Refuse to waste your people's time here. We know now that flyers are not going to be RIF'd, so send a message to the Air Staff. Of course, I predict that there will be a total of zero instances of this happening as there aren't too many out there willing to fall on a sword. Still, do the next bets thing; instruct your officers and execs to spend no more than 15 minutes per package. We have better sh-t to do.

Any word of MAF assets getting spun up to move? Guessing there will be a lot of humanitarian airlift requirements in the very near future.

Reported that there is a 21 yr old Kosovar in custody.

CNN now reporting that the personnel aboard the bus were USAF normally stationed in the UK. 2 killed: One pax and the driver.

Decoy, where are you at in your career right now? Guessing ROTC or maybe awaiting UPT? Best attitude you can go in with is wanting to serve and being ready to accept anything out of UPT including a UAV. That said, I think your impressions may be a little off. Most DV airlift or OSA (operational support airlift) airframes are extremely sought after assignments. As far as OSA goes, C-21s or C-12s will be your only option out of pilot training and opportunities are extremely limited as there are not that many airframes around. C-9 assignments are long gone as far as I am aware (there may be a DV-9 or 2 left in the inventory but no UPT assignments to them). "Big OSA" i.e. C-40, C-20, C-37s don't typically take a guy until he's had at least 2 operational assignments and are highly competitive at that point. As far as the other "undesireables" such as E-3s, RC-135s, Tankers, etc, most guys coming out of UPT these days are happy to get to a cockpit and these airframes don't have nearly the stigma they had when I went through. Best advice: don't suck at UPT, don't screw your buddies, and take the best assignment you can when you graduate. If you wan't RJs or AWACS have at 'em. Not a bad lifestyle these days from what I hear. BTW, I took C-21s out of pilot training and it was the best assignment I'll ever have in the AF. Best of luck.

On a lighter note, just saw Tron Legacy in 3D and Imax this weekend. The movie wasn't bad at all, but the special effects/sound/etc. in 3D and on the huge Imax screen made it worth the $11 hands down. YMMV.

diecastairplane.com has a pretty good selection.

My inner 14 year old always laughs when told to "Contact Breast". Giggidy.

Went from $1320 for an O-4 w/ dep at Altus to $1254. There is NOTHING here to rent at that price that you'd want to live in. Thanks DOD!!!!

Bergman, I just left AMC for AETC, so forgive my ignorance, but are you saying that we will no longer see you guys volunteering for AOR rotations due to AMC's funding issues? I can say all in the AD tanker community appreciate that participation whether they know it or not. Even if all you can give us is 30 or 45 days, that's 30 or 45 less day some AD crew dog will have to be on the road (and frees him up to work 14 hour days getting ready for the next inspection/exercise/etc/etc, but that's another story).

Schwabbeau, how's WIC treating you brotha? Bergman, I haven't heard about 18AF/CC's new policy. Care to elaborate? FWIW, tanker reliability isn't getting any better any time soon, despite the best efforts of maintainers and crews. Recent white paper: "9 Secrets of the Tanker War" (http://www.irisresearch.com/9-secrets-of-the-tanker-war?a=1&c=1129)is a good read if you haven't seen it yet. The author theorizes that the 179 A/C KC-X contract may be the only buy due to our current budget issues.