B0neWs0

B-1B's have 2 WSOs......further broken down into OSO (offensive system officer) and DSO (defensive system officer). OSO's primary duty is weapons employment, sniper pod operation, navigation, and timing. The DSO's role is to defend the jet against enemy threats such as SAM's and AI's. However, B-1 WSO's are dual qualified and can fly in either seat.

Def sad day for the community but thankful that they got out alright......

^be careful what you wish for with Cannon

The other thing that you have to decide is if you want to stay at Dyess or come to Ellsworth, my two cents, come to Ellsworth. On-base, from what I have seen is really nice, but I do believe that it is difficult to get on-base housing. It was when I was there, but things may have changed. I rented a house in Hampton Hills right out the main gate and it wasn't too bad. Other apartments to rent are Quail Hallow, not bad places either and close to work, . My advice would be to stay south of the train tracks down by the mall area or over by the zoo type areas. DO NOT rent from Gerard Real Estate!!! Completely ripped me off of a security deposit for stupid BS but wasnt really worth fighting them over. The schoolhouse takes 6mo, give or take a couple of weeks or days, depending on maintenance and cnx'd sorties. Syllabus is 3mo academics and 3mo flying. PM me and I can give you more specifics on syllabus stuff

Almost fell out of my chair on this one

You are ranked based off of everyday events such as tests, simulator sessions (T-6 and T-1), and flights including T-25 sims (this being the big one esp. checkrides and/or end of block rides in the T-25), your flight commander ranking goes in there as well. When I went through I never really saw people "throwing people under the bus" but what I will say is that you can def. tell who in your class is struggling and who is not. Help out those who are. I remember sitting down with a couple of guys and helping them out when they hooked checkrides or even daily rides. Do it for the right reason though! Don't do it to hold it over their head like they owe you, do it because these are guys that you want to see graduate with you and not get rolled back.

When is the next drop night?

Going to their reunion next week in Ft Walton. Ill be sure to post some pictures!

P'cola uses them. Bones...not so much

I don't think that it matters to tell you the truth. There are 3 T-1 FAIPs and 2 T-6 FAIPs in my class. One T-38 guy fresh out of UPT.

12-08 was my class's drop and the EC's that dropped did not give a position. All in all everyone was pleased, most got their first or second choice.

Thanks for the help! My dad keeps trying to pressure me into going through a family friend, but I don't really know if I trust that. Family friends usually try to take advantage of that friendship and do stupid things with money from what I have seen and read. Just wanting to see what some people are using on AD. I started to look into Vanguard last night via their website and I like what I see. Thanks again for all the help!

Just a quick question..... I am a newly pinned 2Lt in flight school now. I have been saving for a bit, but I want to start making my money work for me in a better way since I don't have the time right now to monitor the stock market and trade myself. I can max out a Roth IRA this year if I want to and still have an emergency fund and enough to contribute some to a TSP. My main question is, what is a good financial institution to go through for a Roth IRA? I want to start this soon so that I can get the tax credit for 2011. Any suggestions?

No Koolaid brotha! I am not encouraging ppl with a rated positions to go RPA/UAV by any means. Like I said in previous posts, I think that if you go RPA from the start you will remain in RPAs with no chance of actually flying a plan. In my opinion, you are better off going UAV if you are non-rated out of ROTC/Academy/OTS. I would never pass up a rated slot for a UAV that is why I am sitting in a cockpit for now!

I am the type of person who thinks 20 years ahead of time. I just commissioned and I am starting flight school and I am already planning on what I am going to do after the military if I stay in 20 years. UAVs aren't going anywhere any time soon. I said it is great to start when the technology is new because it gives you an edge on people who get into the field when it is mature. You have seen where it started and how it grew to where it is in the present day. The opportunities that you will have in the civilian world will be great, and in my opinion you will be very marketable to any company dealing with the technology. You will pretty much be able to write your own ticket. With that being said, you may wonder why I did not chose this for myself. It's not that I don't want to do it, I have nothing against UAVs having worked with them for the past 4 years, I just want to experience a cockpit first. Eventually, I do see myself flying from a desk, just not from the get go. I think that this career field is great if you are in the group not selected for a rated slot. While you won't be 50k up in the air, you are still doing something that a small percentage of people do everyday, that in itself is cool to me.

Great Thanks! I am just trying to schedule my flights before they shoot through the roof.

I am going to be PCS'ing to Pensacola for CSO training next week. I am trying to figure out whether or not I will be able to come home for christmas since I will not have any leave. I am heard through the grapevine that I could take as many as 10 days advanced leave. Not saying I am going to need that much but is there any insight to this. I will be on casual status during this time as well.

This was offered to me right before I commissioned and I thought that it seemed like a good idea. I have been working with RPA's and SUAS's for some time now since I did all of my internships at WPAFB in AFRL. RPA's are the wave of the future, but when I started tossing the idea around in my head it didn't seem as good. I asked my COC what he thought and he said if you have hopes of having any air under your a$$ don't go this route. In his opinion, once you are in the RPA career field you will be locked in with little or no chance to fly in a cockpit. Therefore, I opted out of it since I have a rated slot. I think that it is a great career field and it is good to get in while the technology is new, I could see myself doing it in the future, but it just wasn't for me right off the start.

This may be a dumb question, or maybe not, but I have always wanted to go to TPS and I have an undergrad in Aerospace Eng. to qualify. Does that count as a Master's, I thought the reg was changed and it does but I could be wrong?!

This is true, however the way that they are operating this ordeal makes no sense. I was told that I will not know until the day that I show up as to whether or not they will be able house me on base. This is due to the binding contract that the gov't has with Balfour Beatty. The base housing office HAS TO refer you to them first and from there Balfour Beatty will release you to go into town! Therefore, I would not have anything lined up or know what to look for until I report in. That does not sit well with me, I like to know what is going on! This is why I say start the application early and talk to the folks at Balfour Beatty. I got in contact with a nice lady who said that she will keep me up to date with what their availablity is going to be by the time I get there. It just gives me a little bit of a security so I know whether or not I am going to have to look for a place! If anyone has questions about this PM me!

Just as a heads up to anyone who is single and starting CSO training soon, base housing is full! Call the housing office and talk to them to get your application started or you are going to be in a bind when you get there!

I have gotten a D in a class and nothing happened to me. They just simply asked if it was going to keep me from graduating on time and I said that it would not mess with anything. Which is true at my college mind you. I would just check with your academic advisor to make sure that it is not going to delay you in anything. If he/she says no, then i wouldn't worry too much about it.

this rumor has started around my detachment and now people are all excited. It doesn't make sense to me but it would be sweet if it was true. What is the latest word on this?