Disco_Nav963

TDY/Deployment. Been there, done that, although it took talking to an O-5 in their chain of command to get the A1Cs at JPPSO to realize that a deployment is a TDY (JFTR only uses the word "TDY") and grant the extension. I hear the AEF Center online has a list of 179s that require your particular skills.

12B bonus? About time. Two years ago I might have even taken it.

Is that what actually happened to said individual or what said individual was afraid would happen before they left? I have no first-hand knowledge of what the BUFF FTU has done with the B-1 Vista dudes... I just suspect that given our lack of depth at RN (WSO-E... whatever...) and the vast differences between the B-1 & B-52 defensive suites we would have put an experienced B-1 WSO in the offense compartment. If we didn't do that, whoever made the decision should be taken out to the UTTR and tied down somewhere on Kitty Cat. I could see the argument that you could make someone an instructor EWO faster than an instructor WSO (fewer hours required)... But damn. The B-1 OSO to B-52 WSO conversion is... "Here are the differences in Sniper mech. Forget what having a radar from the late 20th century was like. You know how to plan JASSM? Cool, here's how to plan MALD and shoot CALCM." The DSO to EWO conversion would be going from a fairly automated system where you're primarily doing ambiguity resolution and making sure it's running the right programs and running the EXCM (I assume) to one where you have a Frankenstein monster of multiple receivers and transmitters built different in different decades, some of which are fairly automated, but others of which require you to watch an oscilloscope and tune in Tokyo with your jammers manually. By the way we don't have an ILST mode on our radar and we don't have Link 16 yet, so AI defense is kind of sporty, and you also have to learn this whole "commit criteria" thought process for SAMs that doesn't exist in the B-1 (or so the EWO we went to the B-1 via Vista tells me).

You've got me there. Rapid City is a hidden gem.

My ART sister calls it the "Dirty Dozen."

Depends on how young you are when you make the switch... My instinct is that Striker Vista is most likely out, but WIC is a distinct possibility. I crossflowed from 12R to B-52s as a 1st year Captain and graduated the B-52 WIC as an O-4 select in the second-to-last class I could have applied for without a waiver for >10 years TAFCSD. Those waivers tend to be hard to get for WSOs but can be had for Pilots/EWOs because fewer tend to apply in the first place. (e.g. In 16A only 3 of the 4 pilot slots were filled; in 16B only 1 of the 2 EWO slots was.) I personally know a pilot who went as an O-4 on a waiver after an ALO tour. (I also know at least four B-52 patches that were FAIPs, including my current DO and a guy from my class.) You should probably finish MQT before you start worrying about USAFWS, but I will say it greatly helps your chances of avoiding an ALFA tour and staying in the community if your leadership considers you a WIC candidate. Pros: Drop bombs, kill bad guys, when not killing bad guys from the Deid spend time in the tropical paradise of Guam. Cons: Ops tempo... because AFGSC made a conscious decision to trade manning (crew ratio) for upgrades a few years ago, it feels like we chase our tails a lot (deployments, BAAD missions, mini-deployments, nuke exercises, WSEPs, etc) and we're always only one or two DNIF WSOs/EWOs away from mission failure. 6 month deployments are too long (see ops tempo above, 6 months of Deid ops is exhausting... and bad for proficiency at nuke, conventional standoff, for-realsies interdiction, and maritime; 6 months of Guam feels like "Why am I away from my family for 6 months to do training and BAAD-type missions I can do from home?"... and also bad for EWO proficiency due to shitty threat replication). It Depends: Basing (stronger community at Minot, but much more remote; units are less tight at KBAD, but very easy to get to Dallas, Little Rock, New Orleans, or Memphis on the weekend). Nuke mission (I love it and I'm proud to do it; other people are "F--- these exercises and f--- PRP"). Drawbacks: If you make the switch too late, always the chance that you won't be sufficiently "one of us" to your SR to have a shot at school or even a DP. (IMO you'd want to start the FTU NLT 2.69 years before your Major's board to have ~2 years in the ops squadron beforehand.) If you already have a good thing going in your current community, staying there is path of least resistance. I say go for it... This shit is too much fun not to.

Only a problem if you're a Technician...

Except in the Reserves :-)

Question about the AFRC/Guard BRS system... I saw somewhere new accessions after 1/1/18 will be automatically on the new system. Is that new accessions to the military or new accessions to AFRC? I'm currently active duty and planning to separate at the end of this year. I want to stay under the old system--will I have to ensure I am gained by AFRC on or before 12/31/17 for that to be the case?

Given the pace of DRAGON installation... Probably not for a while. I'm pretty sure the 40/45 mod (separate program, but further along than DRAGON) isn't even funded for the entire E-3 fleet yet. Guessing the E-3 nav has at least another 4-5 years of life.

Bear in mind... The OG out there is trying to work something out with AFGSC/8 AF for Det 4 guys, regardless of airframe of origin, to get the "senior leader" level qual on the other bomber to be able to still fly and accrue gate months. So there's a decent chance you could get the ghetto version of the Striker Vista experience with no long term commitment while you were out there (kind of like Guam is the ghetto version of Hawaii). The radar sucks ass and comparing CONECT to SB16 will make you want to alternatively cry/throat punch whoever on ACC staff wrote the requirement 15 years ago, but hey, at least there's a place on the jet you can stand up straight. I can put you in touch with a couple of current Det 4 guys if you want to get the skinny on current Guam life.

That being the case... Even in the most asinine of times, the AF has been worth it for the people you get to serve with. I'd still try to go Guard/Reserve if at all possible. I'm a CSO, came in knowing there would be a 6 year commitment, and have stayed for 11 (punching for the Reserves at end of the year). I would not sign up for a de facto 12 year commitment in the current environment. Even if President Trump made fixing the Air Force a top 10 priority and dumped a crap ton of money into the project, it would take many many years for the changes to materialize because of limited production capacity for new pilots. On AD you'll be entering a world that is chronically undermanned and can expect to spend 12 years chasing your own tail in terms of ops tempo. But if you have to choose between AD and no slot at all, by all means go AD.

I vote 90-120 days for flying units and 180 days for the CAOC (but better yet, move 90% of its functions to Shaw or Tampa and make it a PCS)... 180 days is way too long for multi-mission aircraft to focus on doing only one or two things. As a BUFF guy I can tell you everything except for CAS and Nuke has dropped from the crosscheck since April of last year, and we still need to be prepared to sprinkle a little MALD/JASSM/CALCM dust on other situations that may arise. I suspect that similar things happen in fighter world with OCA/DCA/SEAD, although probably less so now than when Afghanistan was the main show in town.

By enthroning an incompetent, clueless leader in the Oval Office? I do see your point in part. IF Trump's approach to the military is one of benign neglect, I think we can count on solid leadership from Secretary Mattis and 'mo money from Congress (for at least the next two years). If Trump tries to actually be substantively involved in defense policy (with the psychopath General Flynn whispering in his ear) I fear for our future. I don't know you, and I don't know how long you've been in, so please don't take this as patronizing: I've seen a lot of young guys in the squadron the last few years that, because they commissioned midway through the Obama years, believe all the incompetence and all the PC bullshit in the Air Force stems from the Obama administration and Obama appointees. Not true. I came in when Rumsfeld was SecDef and "Buzz" Moseley was CSAF. Guess when Masters degrees came back, CSSs went away, Finance got centralized at Ellsworth, and E-9s were already rampaging? The latter part of the Bush years. It was probably happening earlier. Hell, it was probably happening from the days of He Who Shall Not Be Named on. In my adult life I've cast my four presidential votes for Bush 43, McCain, Romney, and, well, not the new guy. By far the lowest my morale has ever been in my career was the first 6 months of it when Rumsfeld was SecDef and the professional military advice of the generals—that our strategy in Iraq was clearly not working—was considered seditious. I say all of that to say, (a) PC bullshit/E-9s gone wild is an AF cultural problem we brought on ourselves, not one imposed by the political branches of government (**caveat that holy shit Debbie James encouraged it, thank God she's gone**, and (b) with the political people, it's not Republican vs. Democrat you have to worry about, it's "People who understand and respect the professional culture and political independence of the military" vs. "Those who don't." Among the former in my time we've had Gates (Republican... although holy shit he hated the Air Force... who pissed in his Cheerios during his two years as an Lt at Whiteman in the 60s?), Panetta, and Ash Carter; among the latter we've had Rumsfeld and Obama/Biden themselves, all of whom treated the generals and admirals as a suspect Fifth Column loyal to their partisan opponents, who would try to steamroll the president's agenda by... offering their professional military advice, and who had to be beaten in the bureaucratic war. So I am one the one hand buoyed by everything about Mattis, and most recently the letter you alluded to. On the other hand, I am deeply concerned by the new POTUS's CIA HQ visit, because it suggests the president falls into the latter camp, viewing us in partisan rather than professional terms. I'm not saying that partisan differences on military issues don't matter; clearly they do. I like 3% pay raises better than 1.69% pay raises. But I care more that we avoid situations such as '02-'03 when the Chief of Staff of the Army got canned for questioning the wisdom of invading Iraq with >50% fewer people than the OPLAN called for, or 2009-10 when the office of the Vice President leaked like crazy to the press to attack Gen McChrystal for essentially saying "These are the forces required to achieve the objectives the White House set in its own Spring '09 Afghan policy review." What we've seen so far does not have me optimistic at all. It has me very worried. But I do see Mattis and the esteem the public has for him as a potential BS filter, and for that I am grateful.

This one did (after voting for Bush 43, McCain, and Romney in turn)... But I sold the F-250 some years back so maybe doesn't count.

Wait a tick... Dudes that are twice passed-over and given still continuation still have to do PRFs? I had no idea. Glad they're not going into the shredder for these dudes.

More like the Bush 43 administration effectively ended production of the Raptor. It was clearly dead in 2008 at a 183 jet fleet (thanks Bob Gates) and the House Republicans got $50M allocated to buy 4 more literally for the PR purpose of tagging Obama with the decision. Not that he gets any credit for falling for it, but the POTUS was not going to invest in a program his (Republican) secretary of defense opposed.

Hasn't been my experience in AFGSC... Then again, I've spent 5 years at Minot. Skipped the dark times at KBAD. YMMV.

He was my OG during Nav Skool. Huge fan. Always wondered what happened to him.

We've been getting B-2/B-1 drivers with zero BUFF experience as commanders in the BUFF for a long time... The world hasn't ended yet, bitches/gripes/complaints aside.

Pile on... I've done Guam twice (in 180 and 90 day doses respectively), brought the wife out for two weeks the first time (timed to coincide with beginning of a normal 2 day weekend, followed by scheduled 4 day weekend w/ PACAF Family Day and a federal holiday, and a 2 day weekend on the back end)... Stayed at the Hyatt in Tumon during the weekends and in lodging on a Space A basis during the week (also carefully scheduled to avoid major exercises like Cope North that bring in a lot of outsiders and fill up lodging). No issues, already had a Guam bomb, had a lot of fun. My perception WRT what 08Dawg and Learjetter said is that most of that fun-burglaring happened during a particularly bad period of toxic B-52 leadership that (perception again) was especially concentrated in the Barksdale squadrons. During my second Guam trip (different commander), about a dozen spouses visited near the midpoint of the deployment; no issues then either. That commander even approved leave for people to go commercial on diving trips to Palau during the 4th of July holiday. BL: Plan smartly and it shouldn't be an issue. If you're worried about your boss being dickish about it, don't tell him she's coming (she's a free American, right?) I will respectfully differ with my friend Pawnman on one thing... CBP is not a training deployment. You will do training out there, but your job is OPLAN support. IMO the problem with CBP isn't the trip to Guam, it's that the trip to Guam lasts 6 months. The threat emitter on the island sucks ass, so by the end of your tour you've probably become better at some niche things (like aerial mining) and worse at some important things (like defending the jet and IDing threats). I heard Gen Rand give a decent little rant at an All Call on why going back to 4 month deployments is important for bombers especially, so I am really curious why everything I hear WOM sounds like 6 month tours UFN seems to be the plan for the BONE and the BUFF at the moment. My personal opinion is 3 months would be "about right" for that theater.

Sounds like the attempt a few years ago to create an "Advanced Integrated Warfare" WIC that would focus on operational level planning/integration... Died in the womb thanks to sequester (thanks Congress).

Seriously?

Just going to put this here...

Which is weird because I (06 year group) got the e-mail today saying to fill out a 3849 for DE consideration... And I only found out I'm a Major-select like two weeks ago. Doesn't feel quite right (I thought you didn't get looked at until you pinned on, which isn't for a while).