Polar Bear
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Posts posted by Polar Bear
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23 hours ago, DeskDriver2023 said:
AD gets trashed on this board constantly as if it's a raw deal
True. The Navy/Marine peeps on Airwarriors are so much happier for whatever reason.
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On 4/15/2024 at 9:43 PM, DeskDriver2023 said:
Good scores (all 90s AFOQT, 99 PCSM), older duder (mid-late 20s), well liked by people, been trying to go guard with no luck and AD route is looking more appealing. Don't really give a shit what I fly at this point. PPL, anything is more exciting than a clapped out 172.
Need some honest feedback. What if I don't care about queep as that's all I've known in my career working for alphabet soup agencies in the USG? What if I don't care about getting deployed? Asshole managers/supervisors have been the norm for me. Looking for some earnest pros and cons. I'd do just about anything at this point for time away from full time desk flying land under fluorescent lights til my skin is wrinky and my dick doesn't work.
-DD
What’s wrong with AD?
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On 4/10/2024 at 12:14 PM, blueingreen said:
In case anyone was unaware, the 194th Fighter Squadron (F-15EX's) in Fresno, CA is currently holding accepting UPT applications. The deadline is April 30th, 2024. Get those applications in while you can!
Might want to Fresno before sending an application in.
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On 3/31/2024 at 1:46 PM, nsplayr said:
I’m gonna go out on a limb again and say this is not right. There is absolutely no way anyone should “guarantee” getting every client to 100% VA disability - it is not the case that every veteran has conditions that warrant that rating.
I’m all for claiming what you have and getting paid every dollar you deserve, hell, go ahead and hire professionals to help you out even. But don’t commit fraud and don’t give money to people who are promising things that amount to fraud.
That’s the issue.
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There is a lawyer in Texas that will get you a 100% VA rating guaranteed. I’m not saying that is the best route but know if 2 Army buds who thought their percentage should be higher and called him. Under $5k for his service and worth it.
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Wonder if DC will try and pick up the pilots.
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17 minutes ago, brabus said:
Very subjective as no two careers look the same. I probably had around 1500 hrs fighter time at my 10 yr point (~1800 TT including UPT/a year of BIT). That was all AD. My rough guess is a full time guard guy in fighters gets around 169 hrs per year if not deployed; add some more hours for a deployment year.
Do guard pilots fly more than AD?
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On 11/14/2017 at 7:24 PM, JeremiahWeed said:
Ok, you asked.
Fedex 777. Mission is to make the company billions and for me grab some of the crumbs to the tune of $250K a year as a co-pilot(First Officer). Typically work 12-14 days per month either all at once with the rest of the month off or week-on, week-off. Much of that work time is soft time (i.e. not actual flying hours). Typically, I'm paid for 80-90 flight hours each month, but it's rare for me to actually have air under my ass for more than 50 hours each month. Since I'm an FO, many trip are as a relief pilot which involves deadheading around the planet in business or first class to various locations where I will meet up with the crew and act as the "free agent" third or fourth pilot on a long haul flight and then part ways. For the last 10 years straight, I've made the highest level in American Airline's frequent flyer program annually and have 1.5 million miles to use for family leisure travel. I can choose how I orchestrate my passenger deadhead flights using the company money available and any extra $$ is available for various travel expenses incurred in conjunction with any trip.
Next month, I will be picked up at my house by a limo (paid for by Fedex) and driven to O'hare to begin my journey to Tokyo. My trip is due to start on a Thursday but since I'm not going to follow the deadhead schedule, I will stay home on day one getting paid. Friday, I will fly from O'hare to Tokyo in a lay flat business class seat sipping single malt and maybe catch a movie. From there, I'll take the bullet train to Osaka and have about 48 hours off before I have to work. My only flight on this trip is a 4-hour leg from Osaka to Guangzhou, China. Once I arrive in China, I'm done. I have a quick 12-hour layover and then I'm scheduled for 3 day deadhead sequence to get back to Memphis. Since I don't want to go to Memphis, I'm going to stick with the original plan of a private car driving me to Hong Kong which will get me to my first flight out. Thanks to my frequent flyer status, American has upgraded me from business to first class on my HKG to DFW flight. Once at DFW, I'll hang in the lounge until my flight back to O'hare. Once back to Chicago, another limo will take me home, dropping me off on Wednesday, 5 days after I was picked up. Since I shaved some time off my trip home by deviating, I'll be on the clock for almost 24 hours after I get home. For my trouble, I'll have about 30K more frequent flyer miles and my paycheck will be about $10K fatter (before taxes).
Now the rest of the story........ About the time I'm landing in China after the 4.0 from Osaka, my family will be doing the Christmas morning routine. Being an almost empty nester, that's okay and gives someone with little ones a shot at being home. Hardly as noble as it sounds. I'm just a lazy MFer. Getting paid 10-grand to deadhead in style back and forth from Asia so that I can fly a single 4 hour flight is a fair trade off. That trip plus another for the first 6 days of Dec make up my month.
So, that's one snap-shot of the Fedex 777 thing. Believe it or not, I've had better months, but this will definitely be a good one. The bad ones can be tough but with a little seniority, the good far outweighs the bad. Our bad doesn't hold a candle to the long days those of you still doing the job for big blue deal with. So, when you decide to bail, come on over - the water's fine. I usually get a paid commute via private car and first class international deadhead every month. There's lots of "Q" in the QOL and I definitely recommend it.
Also, WTF is a "stewardess"?
What is life like at FedEx like now?
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28 minutes ago, brabus said:
The AF doesn’t give a shit about degree type or pedigree, just that you check the box to commission.
Tell that to the recruiters who won’t speak to you if you don’t.
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On 2/28/2024 at 3:12 PM, brabus said:
I don't get why you would go to the Army if you wanted FW. You have two other options that have far more FW and have far less bad deals.
Even with a degree the Navy and AF want stem degrees. Army just wants bodies.
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On 11/1/2023 at 7:38 AM, twoTangoKilo said:
Timeline update!
Applied: Feb 22
Interview/Notified of selection: Nov 22
FC1: Feb 23
Package routed to NGB: June 23
Routed back down due to NGB not seeing my graduation date in transcripts (wtf?): Sept 23
Package approved/received unofficial dates: Oct 23
OTS: 30 Jan - 29 Mar
UPT: 13 May (Columbus)
No IFS?
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How’s bumming in the herc nowadays. Still busy or have things slowed.
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On 7/25/2023 at 4:47 AM, Lord Ratner said:
This. Everytime I had an O-6 or above asking why my generation didn't want to stay in longer, I had to explain that I simply didn't have the same memories they had from their CGO years. It takes a lot of emotional attachment to the military to want to deal with the life of an FGO and above, and frankly, we didn't have that, especially in the heavy world.
Instead, we had the all-men-are-rapists campaign, the great cleansing of 2012, RIFs from my second year at USAFA until the sudden reversal in 2015, 0-0-1-3 and literal article 15s for shenanigans that were tame compared to the stories the O-6 writing the Art15 would tell in private, blah blah blah. Never mind the two-months-on two-months-off deployments to the Died that guys would do for years because the AF decided that tricking the 90 day flying hours restrictions was more important than any sort of balanced family life, or the camaraderie built from deploying as a squadron.
Ironically, after I was court martialed (not guilty all charges) it *improved* my Air Force experience. I was immediately relieved of all the non-flying nonsense that they make you do to chase down the next promotion. I would have done anything to get "back on the path," but they were done with me, and boy when you start producing the quality of work that you would expect from someone who has been guaranteed to be passed over, they stop giving you work to do.
If the AF wants to improve retention they need to accept that young people who want to kill people for their country have a lot of energy to burn in unsavory ways. Fail to provide that and they will not serve for another 10-20 years off the inertia of great memories and personal connections. Those people will in turn help recruiting.
This doesn’t happen anymore?
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On 6/17/2023 at 7:55 AM, brabus said:
Shack on above. But I’d say as a general statement in the fighter world at least, you’re flying way more in the guard as a Maj/Lt Col than your peers on AD. Probably a wash at the Lt/Capt level. Once you hit O-4 on AD, Fly less and plan more parties/be an exec/go to school/wing king’s butt boy for some bullshit personal project…OR go to the guard at the end of your UPT ADSC. Tough choice.
How many flights are AD peeps getting a month roughly?
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Do full time pilots in the guard/reserve fly more than AD? I was talking to an Apache pilot in the Army Guard and was blown away at how much he flew a week.
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On 5/10/2023 at 7:14 AM, VMFA187 said:
Pawnman, Pooter, Polarbear, Negatory - Go read The Real Anthony Fauci. It'll be good for you. I read White Fragility and realized it was complete and utter bullshit. Maybe you'll feel the same about the former, but I bet you won't. Or you can just keep reading reports that agree with your viewpoints that have been fed to you by big pharma and keep deepening your foxhole.
RFK is not a valid source.
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On 5/3/2023 at 9:53 PM, BashiChuni said:
oh no you don't...we KNEW pretty early on that covid was statistically a non event for young, healthy people. and turns out Fauci and his buddies at Pfizer KNEW it didn't prevent the spread...we were told straight up lies and coerced into taking a shot that provides zero protection and is very harmful...latest numbers i heard were 1 in 800 have side effects. that is a very high number and this shot should NEVER have been MANDATED.
so don't give me this 20/20 bullshit....the warnings were being issued very early on but ING CENSORED
Can you please provide your source on this?
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On 3/18/2023 at 7:17 AM, slc said:
Ding Ding....to each their own but when you hit a certain age (as I have), you begin to realize that QOL is way more important that the almighty dollar. My colleagues look at me aghast when I tell them I'm happy working 2-4 days for the airlines per month. But what about all that money you're giving away?? My answer, don't need it, not gonna take it with me, don't have 3 ex wives, no loans/mortgages, no boats/airplanes, nest egg is built, etc etc. This is where I differ from the "norm" IMO. In that I mean my time spent w/ friends/family and doing hobbies that I may not be able to do when I'm 55-65 are the priority.
Why even work for the airlines?
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Haha, I figured this type of job would pay well and you would be home every night. Something the airlines don’t offer, usually.
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How did a job posting turn into an airline debate.
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14 minutes ago, FourFans130 said:
UPS Pilots:
![Monkey looking away template [HD] | Monkey Puppet | Know ...](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/001/471/227/dd0.png)
UPS year 2-3 FO pay is $199.
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8 hours ago, brabus said:
Live in/near Palmdale and max out at 2nd-3rd year airline pay...hmmm, sounds like a great deal (/s). Though I'm sure the actual job could be cool.
$300k is not 2-3 year airline pay. Tehachapi isn’t bad. Not everyone wants to work at the airlines.
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https://www.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=8f7cfa2e343bd9f3&from=serp
Job opportunity for current U-2 pilots.
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On 2/28/2023 at 11:39 AM, gear3green said:
Asking for a friend because I am not experienced with the heavy side of the house.
Trying to get a feel for how much time are units asking out there.
"My current unit (heavy) wants 8 days a month. I have seen other units as little as 2 days. I am losing a ton of money with the airlines at this point (CA at a legacy) but still have a service commitment. "
Thoughts?
Sounds like a dream for the bums. Is that such a thing anymore.
Track Selects and Assignment Nights
in General Discussion
Posted
How do you deploy if you don’t do the carrier?