dream big

Standard ops for a certain airlift squadron Far East that frequents the beaches of Pattaya, minus the drugs. At least they weren't lady boys and no one got killed.....

Just say thank you, my pleasure? That's what I do. Some people genuinely mean it, and I don't try to dissect a basic compliment into the deeper meanings, that's what liberals do.

Absolutely: Technical v. Leadership track. The schism won't happen till your major's board much like one is selected for school. Up until then, primary duty as a rated officer is progression in the jet. Those selected for the leadership track can be "groomed" as necessary. Technical track doesn't need to just fly, they can be the ADOs, DOs, WICans, the crusty experienced instructors. They'll perhaps top out at Lt Col. There will inevitably be some issues with this..for instance I can say with certainty much less than 15-20% of us probable "selects" would even want to be on a leadership track. But is it much different than how we do things now in terms of "leadership"? Formalizing a technical track would mitigate some of the retention issues and keep the experience in the squadrons so we aren't sending young and inexperienced guys out on night one...IMHO

Dude don't even get me started. If I ever have to deal with comm and falcon view on the same day again I may jump out the window

C-130s: They are shoved in a hole at wing staff or HHQ staff, their experience and knowledge going to waste, while the only IPs/EPs in the squadron are also Flight Commanders, mission commanders and tasked so heavily with non flying related queep that they maybe actually instruct once or twice a month.

But was he/she a wing exec!? UFB

Oh holy hell. Little Rock AFB's morale is still recovering from this piece of work. He is everything that was toxic in the AF. I remember IPs were terrified of air dropping because a bad bomb board would be preceded with a trip to ole Rhat

Ah but I'm sure his records were pristine, that's apparently what matters. I wonder why they don't incorporate a boarded interview for promotions (at least Lt Col and above.). Not saying the toxic wouldn't slip through the cracks but maybe then you could get a "whole" person view of the officer?

Apparently this was a blood path for rated eligibles in many bases...wtf. Is this some big conspiracy to force people out who might have stayed thus fluffing their arguement for stop loss?!

I hope you are wrong, my stomach cringed with anger every time a mishap happened during the period of sharply increased mishaps during 2013/sequestration.

You can be my wingperson any day

Funny enough they look at OPRs for interviews...although I'm pretty sure it's to make sure there are no negative indicators

Doubt it, most based I've been to are run by shoe clerks. The shoe clerks chirp and the wing/cc listens. Ops is secondary. We are just a bunch of whiny zipper suited sun gods. That's what's wrong with the Air Force. Although I just PCSd to an unnamed heavily tasked base in Mid-America and I'm surprised at how mission focused they are.

The only strats/awards I've gotten are pilot/IP. Those mean more to me than any CGO strat/award fruitified by volunteering at the CGOC bullets.

Any reason we only strat the top 15% on OPRs? Is the #16/100 CGOs in a pool really unworthy of being a senior leader in the AF?

Last two wing commanders at a previous AMC base had about as much hours as a low time Capt IP. They were both basic mission qual'd (did not maintain mission/tac qual)

I think both types of leadership skills are necessary to be a senior leader in this organization. The problem is, leading that LFE package and supervising 200 jokers are both full time jobs. Focus too much on one and the other takes the hit. This is why we get limited leadership opportunities as aviators.

I wish you could teach a lesson or two to a former SOS commander who was griping that bag wearers only care about tactics and don't really know how to lead. He's a 1-star now by the way

My old OSS/CC would have loved that...when he got the job (he's a flyer) he told me point blank that it was the JV SQ/CC position to the flying squadron commander; and that was pretty much his off ramp to "tier II" colonel billets, whatever that meant. Pretty sure he's trying to bail for the airlines now.

Exec, weapons school, Phoenix programs (AMC side,) auto stratifications in the top 5% regardless of job performance, new job every 4 months, very little actual flying to focus on career stuff.

Hahaha okay, this again.

"Single pilot, with a remote capability, with multiple redundancies, would be the minimum they would consider initially. In my opinion at least." Yepp, still seeing zero cost savings here. You still have to pay for that pilot (potentially more because of Unions and the hardship of sitting on your ass by yourself for 14 hours from DFW to NRT), you still have to pay for that remote pilot on the ground, you still have to pay for the "redundancy" and not to mention the means to mitigate the retarded risk of single or remote piloted airlines. Not to mention, human error is still very much in the chain. Why are we still talking about this? I'm sure some socially awkward engineer type living in his parents' basement is having wet dreams about this, but let's be real here.

Nailed it. A lot of this boils down to having a SQ commander who has some balls to tell the shoe clerks running the base: "NO"... No, we aren't using a line flying pilot to watch a piss test. No, we aren't participating in your g-$ morale run. And no, we aren't going to have half the squadron sit through LRS's worthless mobility line all day when we have lines to fly.

If an Uber showed up to my house without a driver, I wouldn't get into it for free. You honestly think passengers would get into a pilot-less airline? Okay even single pilot, what happens when one of those crash with 300 souls on board? Why on earth would airlines accept that capital risk? I didn't say it will never happen, just that it's not happening in our lifetime.

Not happening anytime soon. Where is the cost savings? You aren't getting rid of the pilot, they are just no longer in the cockpit. Single pilot, for airlines? Way too much liability, maybe for cargo. Look at what the airlines are investing in for the next 10-20 years, none of it is remote technology.