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tcf5566

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Posts posted by tcf5566

    The Next President is...

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, dream big said:

    Some may argue that the move is unilateral, but bear in mind that this President’s courage to put American interests first, even ahead of those of our “allies,” is why he got elected and is doing so well.  It is utterly entertaining to see the “peace loving” left sit here and try to criticize the President’s decision on Syria.  What do you guys want, to go melt in another s$:7 hole for another 18 years with no exit strategy?  The blind hatred for Trump cannot be more obvious over the events of the last few days. 

    I will always respect Mattis, but I think it was finally time for the two to part ways.  Some people, especially those in the military, are being way too dramatic about this.   The average tenure of a SECDEF is 2-3 years, Mattis’s was no different.  The sky isn’t falling. 

    “Doing so well”

    Ha! 

    • Downvote 2

    What's wrong with the Air Force?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 6/6/2017 at 3:16 PM, ThreeHoler said:

     


    Went to write a retirement medal for a guy. The CC told me not to waste my time since the Wg/CC would never approve it for the guy who failed his final PT test.

    I know another guy who failed a test once because he was dumb (follow up test a few days later >90). The Wg/CC wanted to deny his MSM for "not meeting standards during the period of the medal." Thankfully the Sq/CC won.

    Our focus is so ed.

     

    This is so messed up. The dude worked hard and sacrificed over 20 years, and somehow running 3 seconds too slow or doing one or two less push-ups cancels out all of that? This is why the AF deserves what is coming. I'll enjoy watching the disaster from my purple tailed jet. Good riddance.

    First Friday's

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    At both of my last bases we would alternate family friendly and adults (spouses were fine) every other month. We had some really good adults only ones. One of the best was a thrift shop prom that several of us smoked a whole hog and catered for and then had a "prom" where everybody wore their best thrift shop duds. We also did a Cinco De Mayo one that was pretty great. One of the better family friendly ones were a "tailgate" during fball season. The family friendly ones were lamer than the other ones typically, but they were fine.

    • Upvote 1

    Aviation Continuation Pay (ACP - The Bonus)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    RODN. I know only 2 people in the last 18 months who've gotten a follow-on tanker assignment. UAVs and UPT are running neck and neck for first place, MC-12s third and KC-135s a distant fourth. Anecdotally, my UPT peers who got 135s to other bases are all seeing the same thing. I suspect the pendulum will swing back in a couple of years when they realize they've emptied their tanker squadrons.

    There were 10 first assignment dudes in my VML last year in my SQ. I was the only guy to get follow on tankers. There were 5 UAVs, 3 UPT and one rando AMLO or something. Ridiculous.

    Shipping pets overseas - quarantine?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    We are PCSing back to the States in May from EGUN. American Airlines still let us book him as excess baggage. If we were going to try to ship him back with one of the Pet moving people, all the estimates were in the $3500-$4000 range. We're taking him back in April so he can hang out at my parents' farm for a month or so, so the cost ended up being about $800 for my wife's plane ticket and $150 for the dog. Still a decent sized chunk of money, but way better than the other options.

    Boss, I quit...

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by tcf5566

    I haven't been in all that long, I'm getting ready to start the 4th year of my first actual flying assignment, but I learned something pretty early on that I tell everyone. It's sort of become my motto: The Air Force was the absolute best that it ever will be on the day that you joined. I don't mean that as it's new and cool, I mean that in the fact that there will be dozens of changes, and none of them are good. I challenged a bunch of the guys in my squadron to come up with one good change that's happened to the Air Force since they joined, the only one anybody could come up with... now we can walk and talk on the phone at the same time. Seriously, think about it.

    • Upvote 1

    Current Ops Tempo Question

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I'm a first assignment Mildenhall guy. Some of what's been said about the assignment is true, but not all of it. In my own opinion, Mildenhall is one of the best assignments you can get out of T-1s. As far as Ops tempo, as the post started to be about, you won't deploy nearly as much as AMC dudes. However, they are not just for people who ask to go. As a new Co, you will deploy shortly after you get through MCT. No option. How soon just depends on how AFPC has assigned people recently. I first got there in May 08 and I deployed in Feb 09, because AFPC had overloaded it with guys fresh out of UPT. Now though, new Co's are deploying pretty quickly. Most guys deploy only once as a Co, a few had to deploy twice now. Mildenhall has committed 3 crews to CENTCOM, so there are always 3 down there, if you go once or twice as a co, it's all timing.

    As far as the comment about upgrade, I upgraded to AC exactly two years to the day from when I got there. Which isn’t too far off of most AMC guys. I was pretty early to upgrade at Mildenhall, but about average for the guys from my Altus class that I’ve kept in touch with. If you’re there for a three year tour, expect to deploy again as an AC. So, two deployments in a 3 year assignment isn’t bad at all.

    The reason we have so few people deploy, is because Ops tempo at home is pretty high. Operational sorties from EGUN are the norm. I went from September-February of this last winter without flying anything other than a priority 1 mission or a Coronet. I haven’t been on a “training” line since last summer. Those are mostly for checkrides, new MCT people, and occasional end of the semester bean killing.

    TDY’s are pretty good, I’ve been to Souda Bay Greece several times, Moron, Bulgaria, Iceland, Lajes lots, Sigonella, several trips to Germany, and I went to an airshow in the Czech Republic last fall, just to name a few off the top of my head.

    So overall, Mildenhall has a lot of benefits, including the fact that you’re living in England, and few of the same cons that AMC has. I’m not saying it’s perfect by any means, but you could definitely do a lot worse.

    Monitored Approaches

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I'm from the 135 community (Mildenhall actually so I know the guys in the video you watched). I'd say that monitored approaches as you describe them are pretty rare in our airplane. I've only done one in the jet in the year and a half that I've been here. It worked out really well, the AC flew the approach and I took over and landed when the runway was in sight. I think weather was about 300 & 1/2 to 3/4 or something, so not quite mins. However I'd say that a lot of the reason that they are rare in our airframe is because most people's only experience with them is in the sim and our sim isn't the best quality when it comes to the actual landing, so a lot of people take over when they have visual and just because of how the simulator reacts, the landings end up a little squirrely. In the actual jet, from my one time doing it, I think that it can work quite well.

    Favorite Beer

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    I grew up in the Midwest, so I was always a big Busch Light fan, or anything AB actually, but I can honestly say that I haven't had a single product of theirs since the buyout. I would have to say that my favorites are:

    Flying Dog Double Pale Ale, it's 10.5% and will F@#$ you up in a hurry.

    Anything made by Boulevard

    I also like Bartram's AH-64 Special, it is brewed by a guy just down the road from my village in the UK. He brewed it for the RAF Apache squadron for their return from OEF. It is great, but hard to find.

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