The46IsntThatBad

Hey man, I dm'd you. As a capt I worked directly for someone who previously sat on an O-4 board, and got some career mentoring on what they look for - the good, the bad, and the ugly. It's much more in depth than this but the big ones are: Things they like: +IP/EP in your MWS +Weapons Officer +Flight Commander/Shop Chief Doesn't look good but not a clean kill: = No jobs outside of the squadron =Jobs in the same function i.e. you stayed in safety or training for 4 years, etc. Any of the following will basically put you at the bottom and you better hope someone sucks more than you do: -Not SOS complete -Any sort of paperwork. No LORs, UIFs, no PT failures, etc -No strats, and dogshit push line. You could also consider yourself blessed based on your career goals. You got multi million dollar training for free, likely have an impeccable resume, and a guard/reserve unit will pick you up no problem as long as you're a good dude, so hopefully you haven't burned many bridges. There's a dude in my unit that purposely didn't try and make it for this exact reason. His PRF basically said he turns O2 to CO2 and once in awhile drives a jet. Don't let the air force's ridiculous, ever increasing careerist requirements define you. Your worth does not amount to a push line or a SURF.

I think the VML opens up in a couple weeks for assignment preferences (I think Apr 22nd?), and I don't think that the actual qual or rank of the crossflow matters. We've been getting copilots, ACs, and IPs from crossflow, LTs all the way up to Lt Cols. Copilots are now mostly coming from UPT, but we still get a couple copilots coming from communities like the AWACS where the upgrade timing is a lot longer than your typical MAF platform. Seymour and Pease are TFIs for AD, and they're usually very competitive to get. Much smaller footprint than the big 3. Think like 40-60 people vs hundreds at Travis/McGuire/McConnell.

On previous VMLs in Talent Marketplace there's specifically a "KC-46 Crossflow" billet to all the 46 bases, and in the description it will say "this is to crossflow to the KC-46, not for current KC-46 pilots, etc"... You may have to change your filters to find it. Easiest way would be to probably search "Crossflow" or filter it under 11M. Increase your chances by applying to the main active duty ones (Travis, McConnell, McGuire), but the higher QOL IMO lives at Pease and Seymour. Also, buyer beware that if the 46 is your first or second assignment, there's a strong chance you're going to Altus at some point in your career, and almost a guarantee if you're sticking around for 20. Interesting, I did not know that. My RUMINT was off then. I applied to this once and was not selected to interview but it sounds like a pretty cool opportunity if you're one of the few guys that gets the call.

If you're dealing with undermanned communities, it's going to be an uphill battle to get that functional release to go anywhere else. Not sure what MWS you're in, but we're desperate for guys in the KC-46 to the point of some other MWS folks being non-vol'd to our community. On this VML there will be multiple "crossflow" billets to 46 bases. Travis is your best bet as they're currently still standing up their 46 unit and they need people. If you are 46...well....you can always rush a guard/reserve unit once you're done. Also, be advised, once you're in the 46 you're going to be there for likely the rest of your career. AFPC is not releasing anyone to any of the sexy stuff like U-2, B-2, 89th, E-4, Phoenix Reach, etc, and even the non sexy stuff like UPT. I will say that just about everyone that comes from another MWS is happy with the jump, specifically the AWACS, E-8, and 135 bubbas we have. Also, there are some communities that can tell AFPC to get bent. Test Pilot School is one of them, and if you ever receive a vaguely worded email about meeting the criteria for a "selective assignment", they can also tell AFPC to pound sand. Facts

They did for the O-4 boards. It's unmasked, but we were assured over and over that it wouldn't affect the results. Most of the pilots I know don't have anything beyond a bachelor's, so I'm not sure how much it will affect the results of the board. However, I don't like seeing these Lts and young Captains scrambling to start a Master's degree when they should be focusing on being great copilots and officers.

Generally speaking, how picky is the hiring board on flying history? When I was a young copilot I had an overzealous EP that gave me a couple downgrades on an inst/qual check - my only checkride with bad marks, and zero Q2/Q3s (so far 🙂 ). I've had a handful of clean check rides since then. Is that a clean kill on an application?

I have the utmost faith in the bros and broettes next to me that are putting iron in the air and hacking the mish. I have extremely little faith in often extremely disconnected senior leaders and in our political officials. The later more often than not affects the former in getting anything meaningful done.

Unsatisfied herk drivers, Consider coming over to the KC-46. The flying is unique, as we do a lot of shit that tankers normally don't do that would scratch your tactical itch. Co-altitude formation, NVGs in LZs, and receiver AR are a hell of a lot of fun. We're also at 40% manning right now, and we're continuing to take on more and more operational missions. The getting is good. We fly a lot. Plus, if your goal is to go to the airlines, an IP in a 767 is going to look damn good. We have yet to have a guy that's separated that hasn't gotten hired on by a major airline. Also we have ground cooling, a full lavatory, and a functioning fridge/oven for you 135 bubbas. You'll find you have a lot in common with your 46 bros, in that we ALL hate the C-17. We've recently absorbed a lot of big ISR guys (E-3s, E-8s) that are very happy with the move.

It's not that bad, and it's only getting better.