Anon1

Primarily software. A few small hardware changes. The transition course from 6 to 8 is 2 weeks. Nobody ever considered the need for a reverese snd it's screwing the FP community hard. Those dual qual'ed are flying their ass off while those that are block 8 only are flying 1 tac line a week and averaging 10-15 hours/month. I know one in our sq who got to 0 on their 30 day without taking leave. During their 6 month initial seasoning. In a year or so you'll have block 8 only pilots who can't PCS to some of the AD herk units because they don't have any block 8 tails. To all the others, without revealing too much this isn't my first rodeo. I know what a well functioning community/squadron looks like and this sadly isn't it. FP development out of the jet is lacking and in the jet is hit or miss. I'd say FGO leadership is largely absent (ROAD) and the below is the stark reality of the current Herk mission: The cgo patches are trying but you can only bandaid so much. Personally I'm burnt out from busting my ass on the ground and bending over backwards to get a hint stick time. And at the end of the day job satisfaction is nil vs. my previous. Having been on another side of the AF, I can't rec the herk to dudes currently. It's decently fun flying and it's got another year or two to grow on me, but otherwise I'll be headed back to my bros with lessons learned or onto another community that feels it has purpose.

Personally I dislike having landed in the community. It is currently overmanned at the FP level resulting in flying 10-15 hrs/month. They also managed the block 6 to block 8 transition extremely poorly. Way behind timeline in terms of tail conversion but most FPs are block 8 only out of the school house. It's been an issue that you could see coming over the past 1-1.5 years yet there have been no moves to make a reverse 8 to 6 transition course or dual-qual out of the school house. As a result you've got tons of co-pilots that can only fly half the planes on station. Top that off with planning 12 hrs to brief for 2 and fly a 2-3.0 tac flagpole line. If you get airborne. If you want to hack the mission, the herk isn't it. At least not any more. As an FP I have flow 5 actual missions this year and spent less than 20 days on the road. If you want to pretend to be to be tactical despite the reality of the modern fight then go for it. If you want to pretend to be an airland bubba and take 2 days and 12 hrs to fly someplace it takes a c-17 1 day and 6 hours to get after it. Perhaps my timing for entry into this community was bad, but it's left me uninspired. If you want to actually fly your ass off, see the world, and do something other than drop training bundles or army dudes once in a blue moon then I can't recommend.