Bigred
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Posts posted by Bigred
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59 minutes ago, uscmas412 said:
LAF-A O-6 statistics paint a more rosy picture. IPZ, SDE complete, advanced degree, with a P = 85% select rate. Take out SDE and it's still a 31% select rate.
Sq/cc factor in to that?
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On 5/6/2023 at 7:11 PM, Boomer6 said:
I know an AF promise for DO etc. is commensurate with the three standard lies, but I heard this from a dude in that sq. Which is why I said it was a rumor.
Three standard lies? Enlighten me, I’ve not heard this before.
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So many incredible stories of time spent in SE Asia, but some things are better left for drinks at the bar. 🤫😎
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2 hours ago, Biff_T said:
Dont start crushing dreams so soon my man lol.
You are right to feel that way. Dont believe it until you're flying one.
It would have been cool if the AF picked up those 47s we almost got. The AF flying Chinooks would have been sick. Oh well.
Chinooks flying as Pave Low would’ve been friggin cool.
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3 hours ago, StoleIt said:
Yes...and the current one is a legit bad ass:
https://www.jcs.mil/Leadership/Article-View/Article/2039792/seac-ramn-cz-coln-lpez/
Reddit hated on him hard a few weeks/months ago because he labeled beards ‘faddish’ during a q&a with the CMSAF.
Shoot a thousand haji but tell one airman no beard and you’re no longer a badass.
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7 hours ago, Lawman said:
That isn’t exactly true… there is a process to it but it’s ridiculously weird and complex.
Oh also we routinely see months long gaps in getting paid for our RLOs that revert to Warrant. One in my office was literally getting 0.00 LESs for 6 months before the issue was resolved.
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkYou are right. I actually looked at crossing over to WO prior to switching to the AF, I would’ve gone from O-4 to W-1, accelerated promote to W-2. It is possible but like you said it’s a complex process.
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23 hours ago, hindsight2020 said:
slight tangent, how do Army aviation commissioned Os not know theirs is a route devoid of flying? Even in an AF centric forum like this, it's readily known you go warrant if your interest is in gaining civilian-career advancing and steady rotor time. WO is a paycut for sure, but even these days it's no hindrance of consequence even for rotor guys to eventually make it to 121 or 91k.
You can’t go WO after graduating from ROTC or West Point. The guys that track aviation out of those sources know their days flying are numbered from the get go.
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2 hours ago, Swizzle said:
How...? BoP? Or the mathematics of inflation?
Compare these two sources and stories and what they say, which are from the USAF:
https://m.facebook.com/AirForcePersonnelCenter/photos/a.399299226864/10155160716116865/?type=3
2017 - Volunteer! ...then a mere 3 or 4 years later...cannot provide what we promoted - terminate midstream!!
...ultimately, what makes this round of BoP promises, with AvB, different? And if the assignment isn't to a base with your MWS did you just volunteer not to fly?
This was my thought. What happens when everyone that takes the bonus early puts NAS Pensacola (perhaps with the hope to fly T-6s)? If the numbers are skewed, Big AF will change the rules and send those volunteers to Laughlin, et al.
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I personally like having a SCOD. It was how we timed FITREPs in the Navy and it makes planning/anticipating the completion much easier, even with large groups of junior officers. Moreso, with large groups of O-3, etc, it’ll eliminate anyone getting forgotten about or overlooked when it’s time for an OPR.
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1 hour ago, Best-22 said:
What other flying gigs would you recommend? Airlines seem boring compared to what I do now.
I have friends flying for CalFire and also firefighting in the northwest. Police ISR, medevac, or have flown contracting for state and fed government. Long line work, overseas support (both mil and civ stuff). There’s more out there.
Using firefighting as an example, depending on region you might only fly from April-October so the rest of the year is yours. I have a buddy who lives on a diveboat in Palau during the off-season.
Lots of options out there. The caveat is I don’t know of any that pay what you’d make after a few years in the airlines, but you can live pretty comfortably.
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3 hours ago, brabus said:
@Bigred Valid, but I think that group is also significantly in the minority.
My opinion is they will have to pay at the top end of the spectrum they’re offering to get and keep a guy for more than a couple years (but they probably won’t and will start a guy at sub $200k). I acknowledge I also despise CA and you couldn’t pay me a ten million dollar salary to live there. To each their own as you said, but like 4 fans, I am all about presenting valid info regarding airlines any chance I get because I too was led astray for years by mil pilots who had no fucking clue what they were talking about.
Is it a minority? Perhaps. It just irks me that the common subtext on this board is that flying for the airlines post-military is the only viable, worthwhile option. The truth is a really good, comfortable living can be made in flying positions outside of airline/cargo flying.
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5 hours ago, FourFans130 said:
Frankly: No
I was actively blinded by either arrogant or ignorant air force leadership while I was on active duty about how 'not so awesome' airline life is. I will actively share all the benefits and drawbacks as honestly as I ever can, especially with those still in active service to ensure they can make a decision with full knowledge, as I was not able to for so long.
Hence me asking: what are the additional benefits of this U-2 job. Flying the U-2 is great, if you're single, still 25, have no kids to plan for, or don't mind leaving your family in a relatively unappetizing location to live while you continue to hang onto the dream of being the next Chuck Yeager.
Make no mistake: We need those men. Those men are the reason the US keeps such an amazing technological edge. But those men also also deserve to understand the opportunity costs they are incurring. Retirement comes for us all. The QOL and retirement benefits of the 121 world are amazing. Is test pilot world really worth it to be 55, thrice divorced, no longer able to hold an FAA medical because of a body that's been broken by hard service, and hardly any pension or retirement to speak of? I'm curious what the contractor world of text pilots offers in return for a life spent so close to the high desert airfields and not much else.
I know guys who flew airlines or cargo and hated it, even though they made a shit ton of money. They are now flying in other careers and are happier than ever.
To each their own.
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The Navy H-60s can fly the 500-ish miles to shore, the difference between them and the USCG helos is that the Coasties can go practically that far and then fly back. Less than 100 feet isn’t a problem with the helo’s altitude hold.
The altitude is interesting though. Ward has a tendency to “elaborate” on what he knows so I’m not sure how accurate that is.
The guidance given to me from the corpsmen was to keep head injuries low; my understanding being because the lower pressure with increase in altitude could exacerbate hemorrhaging for head wounds. That said, I can’t imagine the slight pressure difference from 50 to 150-200 feet would be that significant. I’d really love to hear from a flight doc on this one.
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5 hours ago, hindsight2020 said:
...and my exwife told me she loved me too. 😄
Explains a lot, she told me that too 😂
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Spent two months there moving people and supplies back and forth after the 2010 earthquake. It’s not a pretty place. Considering the massive amount of money and infrastructure support pumped into it after the earthquake, and it’s still not any better, I can’t imagine we’d make much difference now.
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31 minutes ago, cooterscout said:
Say there's a C-146 at drop night. What should one expect from that life? Is it under-discussed because of how cool and secret the missions are, or because it's not exciting enough to talk about? I've had a friend tell me it's the ugly step child of AFSOC.
From the outside looking in it seemed like a sweet gig. 1LT and Capts flying all over the world, collecting per diem, and doing some pretty cool, also some boring, stuff. Can’t speak to long term prospects within AFSOC but I think it would be a fun assignment.
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2 minutes ago, filthy_liar said:
I'll take a swag and say you have no clue how to run a maintenance squadron.
Never said squadron, and never said it was in the Air Force. I’ve been in the military over 20 years.
My point about good SNCOs still stands.
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3 hours ago, filthy_liar said:
My opinion, which is going to be surprise surprise highly unpopular - is that we should not have E-9s or E-8s in the Air Force. In the AF officers do the fighting. Sure, there are some exceptions but by and large the officers (aircrew) are what the exord is providing to meet the wartime requirement.
So we need support to meet the demands of the aircrew, just like infantry needs support. But the difference is, in the AF, the infantry is all officers (exceptions noted). So unlike the Army, we don't need high ranking enlisted to support the requirement (aircrew). In the Army and Marines, you have a boatload of enlisted in the fight. Actually fighting. So it makes sense that you have high ranking enlisted guiding those troops. Not so in the AF. I flew in combat and called in a few airstrikes on the ground in the AF while supporting Armies, and I never once, in any of those situations, needed an E-8/9 who had not only not done what I did and the Armies were doing, but didn't even understand it.
I think this is why we have the Leadership in the Deid thread. AF officers just accept that we are just like every other branch and need some senior Es to look like the other services. In my experience that has gone horribly wrong. On the ground side if you ever wanted to ID someone who was not in the fight and therefore more concerned about reflective belts and other nonsense, you just pointed to an E8/9. Same was true in garrison. My anecdotal experience. I've had an awful lot of non aircrew officers disagree with me on this and maintain that MSgt/CMSgts are gold.
I’m taking a swag and will assume you’ve been in ops squadrons most of your career?
In my whopping 3.5 years in the Air Force, I’ve gathered that ops squadrons tend to have minimal to virtually zero enlisted. There’s not much need for an E-8/9 when there may only be 4-5 E’s running around.
Contrast that with mx, force support, SF, and you have a ton of enlisted to few officers. The E-8/9 needs to be there
Having run a maintenance department where I had ~200 enlisted working for me, a good SNCO was a godsend. E-8/9s definitely have a place.
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48 minutes ago, Biff_T said:
If not, you could go to your favorite SE Asian country, Eastern Europe, Colombia and etc..to raw dog some chicks a few times a year.
Not only do you get a new kid, but an exciting new STD! It’s a win-win?
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6 hours ago, Muscle2002 said:
The Marines allow members to substitute their PFT run with a rowing machine above age 45.
Navy allows the member to choose run, bike, or swim, regardless of age.
That said, I always found it easier to get a high score with the run. The bike and swim are crazy easy to pass but difficult to get a good enough score to only do the PRT once a year.
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2 hours ago, ItnStln said:
Do the IDE and SDE Masters count towards this requirement or not?
Beats me, I just found something that said AAD are required for O-6.
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1 hour ago, ItnStln said:
Is the Welsh era Masters requirement for Colonel still a thing? If so, to the IDE and SDE degrees count?
AFPC still shows it as required on their site.
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1 hour ago, Sua Sponte said:
Never, ever, take advice on life after the military from someone still wearing a uniform that's on active duty. They don't know anything about it other than the standard "Well, a friend of mine told me..." response. Yes, plenty of commanders I had would scare people into staying in because they took it personally someone wanted to leave to do other things with their life. The felt those types of people were "quitting."
One of the worst Group/CCs I ever had (-130 guy) at Little Rock retired a one-star and would routinely do this to people. A few months after being hired by my company the president sent out the standard fired email for this guy who was a VP..."So-and-So is no longer with this company, we wish him well in his future endeavors." The people who act this way usually severely struggle on the outside because they can't negatively influence people's careers anymore.
I should be surprised by these stories but unfortunately I’m not. It’s sad folks like that get into command positions.
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8 hours ago, brabus said:
The mil lies to you and attempts to make you feel as if there’s nothing out there for you on the other side, so you better keep clinging to the gov safety blanket.
Genuinely curious, do some commanders tell their folks there’s nothing good on the outside? I was on the fence a few times in my career and it wasn’t ever a conversation of not having opportunities on the outside, it was just a discussion of various options and the pluses/minuses of each.
For me, I’ve stayed in because the flying is awesome. Surprisingly they keep promoting me but I’m still in the cockpit almost 20 years later!
Active duty switch from from heavy to fighter
in General Discussion
Posted
To the OP, to tag on to what Huggy said, flying heavies is great for your body. I have about 3000 hours in helicopters and I have multiple degenerative discs and arthritis in my lower spine that are directly from the vibrations. I'm 41 and I can feel it now, I'm not looking forward to when I'm older.
Enjoy flying heavies and having a body not break down on you.