frog

No judging here...just curious. Did you complete ACSC or have any negative indicators? Barring anything unusual, I really hope this is a fluke and you get picked up next year. It seems to be a case study that they should examine regarding what needs to be fixed.

The difference is that Army officers expect to move up through the battalion, brigade, and division levels. Many pilots want to stay at the “company” level or below and make O-5 and O-6. I don’t think it will ever work out that way. The split line category will get more aircrew promoted, but then they are going to do O-5 “stuff” that they don’t want to do in the first place. They need to make the aviator bonus scalable depending on rank so that if you get passed over for O-5, your bonus is increased to compensate for the additional pay. Who cares if you don’t make O-5 if you get to stay in the squadron, fly, and make O-5 pay plus the regular bonus? You get paid like a Lt Col to do major’s work.

There is nothing wrong about a heritage video for support guys as long as it recognizes that they are in support of a larger mission. In many cases, bad support is a result of a lack of connection to the mission. I don’t think a heritage video will fix that, but it wouldn’t hurt either. - Support Guy

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but promotions to Major and above must be confirmed by Congress. That means CSAF, SECAF, SECDEF, must approve all of them. I don’t envision these people going through the list one name a time, but there is certainly room for politicization over hot button issues. I’ve heard of the list being held up for leverage over budgets, controversial people (i.e accused sexual assault), etc. Even with zero issues, it takes time for the bureaucracy to grind it up and spit it out. Most of the time is probably spent either sitting on someone’s desk or in some analysts’ hands trying to figure out what issue Congress is going to play “gotcha” on. We give our our senior leaders and AF a lot of grief sometimes, often with good cause. But, sometimes I think they are just as frustrated as us because the tendency to make easy things difficult starts at the highest levels of our government.

Unsat. Del Rio or Sheppard? They aren’t rocket science...you just need a good CE dude and a decent contracting officer who isn’t going to spend hours researching why it can’t be done.

So you are basing your conclusion on the entirety of general aviation, commercial or otherwise, based on your experience at a single civilian school? Copy.

That is a pretty broad brush that you are painting with.

It’s hard to help online. Go to a meeting at your local EAA chapter. Pitch in on chapter events, and people will get to know you. Solid mil and civ folks will pour out of the woodworks to help you. That doesn’t mean you get free training, but local people that know you on a personal level will be able to help, and you might stumble into a sweet deal.

They auctioned them off when they shut down the club at Wright-Patt. They had some pretty nice airplanes. There was a pretty large membership in the club. My first meeting was the one where the wing leadership sent a letter to be read at the meeting that closed the club. People were pissed, including some retired GOs. I was really glad I didn’t sell my plane prior to the meeting.

Is this not inevitable? The boss chooses his best qualified to be the exec from his perspective. Great commanders choose great execs. Bad commanders choose people just like themselves with the same bad leadership characteristics. Then, that person becomes a commander and gets promoted early...wash, rinse, repeat. Exec duty isn’t a terrible thing (in hindsight). You learn a lot when you work for a good commander. The problem is that bad leaders find a way to propagate their flaws.

This. I know that doesn’t make the wait any easier, but I’d bet a beer you get picked up.

I got picked up three weeks from school start at a joint school. It was a great experience, and I landed an embassy job after school. It hurt to leave the squadron on such short notice, but things have worked out. I lucked out...I would probably not be a happy camper if I went to the Pentagon after school...leaving the squadron just wouldn’t be worth it. Standard disclaimer: I’m a CE guy, so I’m not getting pulled out of a cockpit to go to school.

Task managing a contractor and leading federal civilians are two different animals. You may give the contractor a task, but his corporate management is responsible for his care and feeding. Regarding the civilian workforce, there are a few of those stereotypical civilians that contribute absolutely nothing to the cause. There is also a majority who love their association with the military and are literally begging for someone to fully utilize their talent and develop them into the employees that we need. I will never forget the sight of a 65 year old wage grade civilian with a high school diploma (maybe) on his back in the frozen mud at 0300 trying to get a snowplow back online with a smile on his face. He didn’t have to do that...how can we inspire the civilian workforce to be more like that guy, or hire 10 more of him? Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

CE guy here. Support officers don’t want to run the show. We just want competent senior leadership. Much of the aircrew senior leadership that I have seen has been LESS mission focused than my CE leadership. I can’t count how many times I have pulled Airmen off of the airfield to make the base look better, trim the General’s hedges, etc. Regarding pilots knowing how to talk to people in order to get what you want, “especially civilians”...you probably know the least about how the civilian system works or how to get long-term production from civilians. Check your ego at the door.

BPZ DP allocation rates are much lower than IPZ DP allocation rates. Your situation is pretty common.

Because the AF has invested money in a mil to mil spouse, and they want to retain him/her. We all know it is tough for non mil spouses in the workforce, but the AF isn’t losing a training investment forever if he/she decides to take a couple of years off. - Non mil to mil guy

This. And this is very much a war to the other side. You can't consider it "not a war" just because the enemy doesn't play to your strengths. They are most definitely using violence to achieve political objectives.

Sorry about the way the cards fell. Pilots fared better than everyone else the way I looked at the stats...what did I miss?

I think there is value in PME, but the AF should give you time to knock it out. This business of going home after 12 hours of work to tuck the kids in and start ACSC needs to end.

I understand the dislike for AFPAK Hands, but I don't get the saltiness towards the AF on this one. It's a DOD problem, and they don't have any good solutions so this is being forced on all of the services. Really, it's a national problem related to the attempt to federalize a tribal society. If you want to be salty, be salty about that.

They were all RIF'd 6-9 years ago. True story...our section commander gave the AF the middle finger and became an armor officer in the Army...it worked out pretty well for him.

They held our orders hostage, and we lost the battle at the group level. They Q coded them beforehand the discussion was even over. I'm pretty pissed. We have a follow up with the off-base doctor this week to see if he really thinks all of this is necessary. Unless there is some serious medical complication that we aren't aware of, I'm hoping he can write some magic words so that we can disenroll them. More bureaucracy that has run amuck. The real lesson for me is to tell my Airmen to NEVER sign EFMP paperwork against their will without talking to the First Sergeant. It's a shame that a program with good intent can be executed so ineptly.

Thread revival! I was just picked up for school as an alternate and only have a few weeks to report. I filled out the special needs screener with all negative responses. Apparently they reviewed the med files for my kids and decided they should be enrolled in EFMP because they "require" an annual ophthalmology appointment. In reality, they saw the ophthalmologist who said that everything looks normal, they just need glasses and a new prescription each year. My options appear to be to enter them into the program or engage in a lengthy fight through the chain of command that will put my assignment at risk. My kids are active and healthy, and I wouldn't hesitate to enroll them in the program if they actually needed specialty care. Any wisdom to share on how to quickly defeat this buffoonery?

Its a survival mechanism. Many MSG functions fall under J4. No AF officer other than loggies are going to compete well in J4...its a loggie's world. So, the up and comers go to HAF, were at least a handful can stay "on the path". I suspect it actually works out well for the joint staffs...they get the A-/B+ team that is going to work hard and expect nothing in return.

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