Bergman

Perhaps because the Air Force just showed a bunch of rated folks the door and now they're worried about people shining their asses on fini flights or doing dumb stuff in airplanes between now and their BOHICA date.

Yes.

It's a TDY. If your only motivation for going was paydays, I don't think you'd last long.

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123277847

Damned Murphy's Law!!! Wouldn't you know it...the ONE TIME you're hanging curtains in the nude and fall off the ladder, and what is there waiting for you? A potato! And it was somehow perfectly aligned to make it up the dude's ass rather than being smashed. "The Golden Potato"?

Ugh. Sounds to me like the bro's need to get together on this one. If everyone is grounded, then no Red Flag, right? Someone please tell the Emperor up there that he isn't wearing any clothes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor's_New_Clothes

Indeed! At least Iran will be a shorter drive the the Deid...

At least he was awake!

Ref my earlier statement concerning MPA funding being cut. Words from AMC lead me to believe that other platforms were the worst offenders (i.e. guys at home station on continuous MPA orders for, literally, years). The tanker guys who were actually deploying on MPA got caught in the cross fire. I don't have the official numbers, but IMHO there will be a shitload (eventually ~18 jets and 30 crews) of ANG folks rolling in there beginning in October. I'll be there with two crews and one jet FWIW. Beers on me at the Fox bar. Time will tell how this all works out, but for now I am predicting the mother of all Charlie Foxtrots as the AD moves out of the Deid and into the OUP location. I just left OUP and the AD hadn't even started to plan for the transition (they will be taking over 1 Oct supposedly). Many of us were asking what the plan was and responses such as, "We'll just extend the guard guys til 1 Nov" were common. Good luck with that! It blows my mind that AD wing and squadron leadership don't have the smallest clue how the guard/reserve work. Guess what bubbas, you can't just wave a magic want and force us to stay! We're taking our toys and headin' to the house. $69 says the AD will have that place totally fucked up by the end of the year. Rode with the Wg/CV over there last week and he mentioned that, "O-6s at USAFE are already asking me why we don't restrict everyone to base and make them wear PTs". NSTFS. YGBSM. For those of you wondering, the switch has been brought about primarily because the ANG/Reserve commanders do not have mobilization authority for OUP and were thus having trouble filling lines for much of the summer. Why, I have no idea. So looks like the Deid is it...some units doing "voluntold 30 days" and some doing "activation for 60 days". There was also some talk of better benefits when ARC folks go to CENTCOM, which is quite true, but I find it hard to believe that trying to hook a few guard bums up is the reason we are leaving the other location.

That is not entirely true. The AD never "stopped us from volunteering to deploy", they simply withdrew the (basically unlimited) MPA day funding that the AD units had been using to send us in lieu of their own personnel. Secondly, the ANG was not getting deployment credit for those of us who were "augmenting" the AD, and that became a sticking point. The AD would point to the ANG and say, "You aren't doing your part!" but would neglect to mention that almost 20% of their deployed crews were ANG volunteers who were showing up as AD peeps. So NGB pulled the plug on that. All of this happened on/about 1 Oct 10 when the current FY budget started. So now we can volunteer as much as we want, and the ANG will get the kudos. It's just too bad we coughed up Spain to start sending more crews to the Deid. Only a matter of time before AD screws up the current good deal in Spain.

Indeed. Shack.

Very glad to see at least a little common sense return! I think these small changes will be great...taking away some key components of the shoe clerks' arsenal of harassment. Next target: Right Start empire. That's not ideal. The whole process is particularly irritating for those of us who never land anywhere other than scenic Al Udeid. At least our crew is only 3 people so the process moves quickly, even at Qatari speeds. to the RJ/JSTARS crews for having to deal with this.

I'm no expert on 35-10, but isn't there a line in there that says, roughly, "Don't ride a fucking camel in uniform"??

Never talk to the media. Technique only.

Shack! Out of a 27 year career, he has spent roughly 20 years in AETC. In fact, he has never had a CONUS assignment that wasn't AETC. WTFO?? Totally out of touch.

Hmmm...I wonder if they noticed that they were all 11X and 12X AFSCs?! The clue bird is tapping these guys on the shoulder right now, but they aren't seeing it. We'll be 1500 officers short within 2 years...and the talking heads will act surprised and claim, "we had no idea that so many aircrew were going to leave!"

Oh, I think CH will survive.

Sweet Baby Jesus. My heart breaks for the USAF every time I hear or read something like this. This dude is the COMMAND CHIEF and this is what he spends his time worrying about? In a deployed location? I just don't get it. I suspect no amount of conversation with this guy could get him to see why he's out of touch. The punctuation and grammar make me think this was written by a 9 year old, not an E-9 (and certainly not a Chief!) I am sorry for you guys who have to serve under this type of management.

I know I am cynical, but 15 years? Really? Wasn't the U-2 designed in 120 days or something? The mighty KC-135 went from proposal to test flight in 2 years. Our acquisition process is jacked up. Glad to see they're keeping at least one good-location base open for business at least.

Thanks for the update. I was going to order an antenna and had heard they banned them. This clears it up. Any advice on which antennas work best (with Windows)?

Well I guess that means you are talking to me. Or are you talking to yourself: You're arguing with me tooth-and-nail about getting a MA done as quickly as possible, then you say this? Good grief. Holy shit. That's what I said 4 pages ago. That is a shitty deal, bro. Sorry to hear about it. Thanks for posting at least, as this highlights the exact situation I was trying to help some of these guys avoid by telling them to get their MA done ASAP. IMHO we have reached the circular discussion point. Skip the masters at your own peril. Wait until your 8 year point to start it at your own peril. Get it done early and hopefully promote high enough to help stop the madness. Out.

Well played. Couldn't be further from the truth. But well played nonetheless. True. My going-in assumption was career longevity is the ultimate goal here. I personally want to continue to fly USAF jets for as long as possible. If having to get a masters is a requirement for that, then so be it. I hated every minute of it and absolutely no other desire to get the degree than to satisfy the BS Air Force requirement. If you weren't planning on staying in, then there is no way in hell I would get a masters unless you wanted it for future opporunities. I call bullshit. 3+ years for training? NFW. 6 months casual, 12 months UPT, 12 months FTU (longest FTU?), 6 months MQT. That is three years and is worst-case. KC-135 initial qual, for example, is only 5 months. If it's taking longer than that, then there were obviously significant delays during training or a year+ in casual, which was likely spent smoking and joking in the squadron and obviously not working on a masters. Look, my point here is not to argue semantics of who took this long to do what. My point is that if you are planning on staying in and hoping to make rank, get your masters done ASAP. Your life and career will become more busy the longer you wait.. You don't want to be the guy who waits until the year before the major's board to start the program and then gets shafted on his PRF because an unexpected TDY or PCS derailed your masters plan. Get it done early and you will have one less thing to worry about for the rest of your career. Don't worry, I'm not taking it personally. I stand by my statement that if you don't play the game the way it is TODAY, you won't be around TOMORROW to help fix it. I can't speak to the douchebags who are responsible for this crap continuing but I can assure you that if I personally am ever in a position to fix it, I will. Don't get your hopes up; that doesn't seem likely any time soon. I agree 100%. It's box checking and it is bullshit. But I would hate for good dudes/operators to get passed over for promotion simply because they didn't just suck it up and get it done. That is the whole reason I pitched into this argument in the first place. SHACK! Maybe they'll actually listen when you say it. You mean they didn't sit around whining about the requirement, not complete it, then 10 years later shake their heads when they are passed over for promotion? Say it ain't so.

You would be setting yourself up for some sort of backlash if you turn it down, whether it be a shitty follow-on assignment, 180/365 tour, etc. What if SOS turned out to be one of the best TDYs ever? Consider that. I had a similar attitude to yours (I was awaiting UPT dates when my SOS in-residence slot became available) and went anyway. We finished almost dead last but had a hell of a lot of fun. A lot of that was luck of the draw...good people in my flight and a good instructor. Your results may vary.

I agree with you. The Air Force should use the masters/AAD programs to provide additional capability. They would be better served by sending bright young officers to an in-residence masters program at an accredited univeristy for 1-2 years than some BS PME at Maxwell (and then calling it a "masters"). The sad fact is that the AF doesn't do it that way. That doesn't make it right, that just makes it the way it is. Everyone knows the game, so just fucking play it! Check the damned box and move on. Sometimes you can't fight city hall. Huh? You start out by saying that my timeline isn't achievable, then finish by saying that you followed my timeline exactly. WTF? I said, "...by the time you've been a Captain for a year". You're pinning on Captain and finishing it, right? Check. FWIW I had been a Captain for 14 months when I finished mine. So yeah, maybe I am just trying to pay it forward and help the new guys out on here by learning from my mistakes. The problem is that if you don't play the game and check the box now, you'll never promote high enough to help make these changes. Now THAT is a defeatist attitude.