Bigred

Been flying for 20 years and one thing I’ve learned is there’s no substitute for actual stick time in the plane. That becomes even more apparent when someone leaves the cockpit and then comes back, dudes with more time pick it back up faster. Sims help but they aren’t a replacement.

Happening in other communities too. USAFE is in full swing with implementation.

I gotta ask, if you are being separated due to being bipolar, what is the likelihood that you’ll be cleared for continual TS/SCI access?

The 35k cap is written into law, it was passed as part of title 37 section 334. As to why the AF doesn’t have a program out yet, who knows. A quick Google shows that the Marines already have a program out and the Navy’s is about to be released.

Some film from my last squadron in the Navy. Made is as a sort of ‘cruise video’ and memento to almost a decade in the same squadron.

Good point and I guess it’s not surprising when I think about it. If any foreign forces are gonna fight in Ukraine those are probably the best ones to do it.

Reports of former US SOF on the ground in the Ukraine. No way of verifying if true but the pictures I saw, they ‘looked’ the part in terms of gear and weaponry and are reported to have inflicted serious damage to Russian formations. Of course, it could be the Ukrainians that were trained/equipped by US SOF. It does beg the question, what happens if a US dude gets rolled up by the Russians?

I’ve got a pretty good grasp of ground combat (not nearly as good as Lawman). This isn’t tank on tank warfare so what has really surprised me are the videos of zero infantry support for the armor. Combined arms utilization during movement through and via a somewhat limited selection of LOCs is what would get the tanks to the front line. The Ukrainians are having a field day picking off the heavy equipment.

Yes, the tankers are quite busy.

The Russians didn’t modernize their logistics train in the past 20 years. C4I, combat systems, etc, sure, but they are using old trucks and old equipment to move said combat systems. It’s a recipe for disaster. Logistics is what makes war. Without it, the Russians have hamstrung themselves. In my layman’s view, they only have enough beans and bullets for a few weeks. If the numbers coming out from the Ukrainian side are accurate, the Russians may be in for a helluva lot more of a fight, and sustaining said fight, than they may have bargained for.

KA-50 or 52. Only production helos with an ejection seat. I always wondered how it'd work in real life, and the idea of flying around with explosive bolts attached to the rotor head is wild.

But did the cable get fixed?

Why are Vipers considered bottom tier selection?

What I find interesting is that the squawking about Ukraine from outside of Ukraine is significantly higher than that from inside of Ukraine. If you have access to an 14F in your area, they can do some of their IO stuff on open source data to show you what I mean.

If you work up to the day you get out, you get BAS + BAH + Base Pay + any special pays and THEN get paid for 60 days of base pay when you get out. If you take it as terminal you get out without that 60 days of buyback. Each situation is unique, especially if you have a follow on job, but for a 12 year O-4 that doesn't sell any leave back, that's approximately $16,000 extra you get when you get out,

What's the over/under that things get busy on 16 Feb? https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/krise-in-osteuropa-cia-rechnet-mit-russischem-angriff-kommende-woche-a-2e10a45f-b6eb-4b1a-b692-2edc64c04adf

It’s incredible that thing just slid down the LA and off the front of the angle without touching anything. Holy shit that deck was full and it could have been an absolute disaster.

If you are past the 18 year mark, even if that’s at the second fail to select + 7 months, you are inside sanctuary and are guaranteed to get 20. It’s your total time at the date of separation that matters.

If I’m doing the math right, wouldn’t you be over 18 years service by the time you’d have to get out after the second look? Aka, wouldn’t you be protected by sanctuary?

My understanding is that if you are selected but decline promotion you stay in. The only way you get the NLT 7 month out option is if you fail to select twice.

‘Restricted to airmen within 365 days of UFT expiration’. I read that as +/- 365 from UFT expiration, but that also reads as leaving out contract expired/no-contract post UFT ADSC folks.

Interesting hearing your pre-Covid experiences with guard units as mine was completely opposite. I was rushing tanker units and they were basically giving slots to any previously qualified military pilot with a pulse. I was offered a job at two different units. The irony though, for similar reasons I ended up going the same route as you on the active duty side of things.

Static dates for OPRs in the Navy has been a thing for a long time. While there are some differences in ranking, etc, the questions you raise are very much an issue when writing paper on folks. It created quite the challenge to give a solid dude good evals if his PCS timing was wonky. Things like moving PCS dates, sending a guy TDY, etc, were all utilized to try and help make the reports look as good (and as long) as possible. Length of the report was also a huge deal. For example, a guy who had a 1 of 10 with 12 months on his report carried a helluva lot more weight at boards as a guy who was 1 of 10 with only 5 months. In other words, will a CRO report help/hurt/no difference on a guy, since he’ll still also have to do a report at the static date. I suspect this will be an ongoing problem as we switch to static close outs.

Took a quick search through the 2022 NDAA and I found something to the effect of ‘extending special pay/bonuses’. So, it doesn’t look like the max will change. Now it’s up to the AF to decide how they want to spend it.