Bergman

The feedback I've gotten from the guys in my squadron who were there when we had F-16s is that things have gotten easier with the -135 since there are less requirements. At some point in time I will move closer to home. For now, I made a commitment to my unit and am honoring that. I fly if I can, but have driven quite a few times as well.

Ha ha! I ended up flying my checkride with him the same day he found out he was passed over for Major. Talk about a bad omen! The funny thing was talking with CG at the club when we first got there bantering on and on about wanting F-15Es or B-1s and hearing him say "Nah...you're all going to end up in RC-135s with me" Yeah, right! Glad I didn't bet him on that one...

Don't hate me because I had a choice on track select night (the first one at least)! You really are a PAB! I feel better. I did mention that KMART was for the JTF-SWA command post (CAOC) that had a 2 star in charge. I never claimed the 2 star's callsign was KMART. Although, I admit I'm just quibbling at this point. I'm really just a REMF who spent most of my time at EGUN and RODN. [ 19. April 2005, 22:03: Message edited by: Bergman ]

Tell your SRO to grow some balls and confront those clowns! Its YOUR classes money after all so the club ought to work with you. FWIW the O'club at XL was great to work with although a little pricey! $105/keg of Miller Lite is a bit steep if you ask me.

FWIW, I have AF issued prescription glasses for 20/25 distant vision in my right eye. I have never worn them while flying. The only place it's printed is on your 1042 (and usually left off mine for some reason) so as long as you don't make it an issue, none of the IPs are going to quiz you about it (at least in my experience).

KMART is/was the callsign of the JTF-SWA command post (2 star in charge) in Saudi Arabia during Operation Southern Watch. I'm sure the pointy-nosed guys on here will correct me if I'm wrong, but IIRC they typically would have to call KMART to get autorization to employ weapons.

Just remember that "more is less" when offering information to the AF on childhood medical conditions. Unless your daughter has a well-documented medical condition, I wouldn't volunteer any information as it can only hurt her chances. On a side note...give ROTC a chance as well. If she's competetive enough to get into USAFA she shouldn't have a problem getting a full-ride ROTC scholarship. All of the benefits plus a social life! (IMHO)

Concur 100%!! Since they've closed the bases to (female) civilians O'club crowds have tanked. With the shoe clerk persecution mentality these days plus no chicks, bands, or drink specials it just doesn't make sense to hang out at the O'club. Why go to the O'club on base and risk my career when I can go downtown to push it up with no repercussions? Another example of the higher-ups forgetting what it's like to be a CGO. I'm sure the Col's b1tched about this sort of thing when they were Capts, but now they are O-6's with careers to protect, so it's time to over compensate. On a side note...there are still a few good Cols out there. Ref Lt Col's Luken, Brown, and Mattison at XL a few years ago. They'd buy shots as long as we kept it to a dull roar! We need more like 'em!!

OH GREAT! Just what this forum needs is ANOTHER f*cking newbie...! :D

Sounds like you have a very good understanding of the issues we've been bantering back and forth about for the past several weeks! IMHO, I would take an AGR/ART job over an airline position for the reasons you mention. Salary is competive (since the airlines have ass-raped many of their pilots lately...ref the 34% pay cut at Delta this winter), you never have to move, you're home much more often, job security (after BRAC at least), good retirement, and more interesting flying. As with many things in the AF, the hard part is getting the slot! (sts) Timing is everything!

It is not easy.

Thanks for the link. Here's what it has: DOI : 10/07/2003 Certificate: COMMERCIAL PILOT Rating(s): COMMERCIAL PILOT - AIRPLANE MULTIENGINE LAND - INSTRUMENT AIRPLANE PRIVATE PRIVILEGES - AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND Type Ratings C/BE-400 C/MU-300 So based on that, what's the verdict? I would LOVE to see a regulation on this somewhere, but have been unable to find anything conclusive on my own. I've been asking opinions on this for over a year now, and the split seems to be 50/50 whether the instrument applies to both SEL and MEL or whether it doesn't. I will call the FSDO this week to see what they say. I'll post the results for anyone in the peanut gallery who might also be curious.

Pretty sweet. I grew up in Racine, WI and we used to go snowmobiling down there all the time. It's a state recreation area now. You can still find where the grating for the runways/taxiways was done and haul ass since it's straight and flat - if there's ever enough snow again (what with global warming and all. ha!)

So my next question is...why doesn't my license have "instrument airplane" listed under the "Single Engine Land" and "Multi Engine Land" sections on the back? The instrument rating is only listed under the AMEL section...which is why I asked the question. It seems logical to me that it should be listed under both, but perhaps it was just a typo or omossion when they printed my license.

Yes.

Glad to see at least someone actually reads what I post! Just to expound on a few of your comments... You're right: I have talked about 'the grass not always being greener on the ANG side of the fence'. I think you will find that, for the most part, I stop short of outright saying "The ANG sucks!" There are good and bad things about AD and the ANG, and I have tried to highlight both sides of the story, as I think many people on this board have a somewhat naive view that the ANG is all roses. You are also correct that in my one fit of rage on this board I complained loudly about not being promoted. The problem wasn't that I "couldn't get promoted", but that they forgot about the paperwork. When I finally confronted the folks about it, I was told "Oh sorry...our bad for forgetting it for all this time!" and I was promoted the next day. At the time I was very frustrated, as this wasn't the first instance of a poor work ethic affecting someone's life (in this case, mine). Another classic example: a UPT candidate's paperwork was at NGB for _A YEAR_ with no one checking on it. By the time they figured out it was lost, the guy ended up waiting for 5 more months for an age waiver since it had taken so long! For me, it has worked out. My AD buddies found out that they were promoted 10 months before I did. I pinned on 1 day after notificiation. They will pin on 24-30 MONTHS after notification. As I mentioned in my post previous to this, I wasn't talking about my unit when I mentioned the lack of comradarie, although I will agree that living 3-4 states away from a unit makes it difficult to truly be one of the bro's. Lastly, while I do b*tch about things on-line (good therapy) when I am at the squadron I feel that I am trying to be part of the solution - I do as good a job as anyone at getting folks together for dinner, drinks, or whatever. Having said that, there are definitely cliques of the full timers and folks who were raised in the local area vs. the part-timers and folks who didn't grow up around there. Being a part timer who isn't from the local area is 2 strikes against me and it took me a long while to realize that. In the end, they hired me to fly jets not run a social committee and that's what gets me by. It's just a different atmosphere from what I experienced on AD.

I wasn't talking about my squadron! I could go on a 3 page rant about the conversion process. You are right...I definitely have an axe to grind for a number of reasons, but in this case that is not what I am getting at. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I was simply relaying comments from friends in fighter units.

I think there's more to it than just getting beat down at BFM. I've talked to several buds and they are all like "WTF?" with regard to squadron life in the ANG vs. AD. While the AD itself is a little watered down from the days of old, I think many ANG units out there are full of old heads that just don't push it up any more, especially at home station. Not a lot of squadron comraderie going around these days. With regards to learning from the old guys, you're right - great experience. However, when it becomes less of a teaching situation and more of a "How stupid are you? However, look at what a great fighter pilot I am!" it starts to grate on you. Honestly, I haven't been to these units or in the debriefs, so I really don't know...just relaying the comments of a few 1Lt friends out in the system in an attempt to show that the grass isn't always greener on the ANG side of the fence. There's nothing worse than flying with a high-time instructor who has forgotten what it's like to be a student.

There is one error on that link. It has the T-1 down as having a centerline thrust restriction as well as the -38. That is incorrect. I don't know when, but the FAA has reclassified the T-1/B400 as non-centerline thrust. Thanks for the info, Chuck. Guess I will have to get back into the bug smasher training routine if I want to use my instrument ticket for civvie flying.

At XL the "class" was $125 and you did NOT have to have your wings to take it. My class took it about a week before graduation. You will need to get a letter from the Sq/CC with certain verbage on it about meeting the PIC requirement or whatever (the squadrons are familiar with this letter, so when your class leader asks for it they will know what he/she is talking about). You get to study the question bank for as long as you want, then go take the test. When we took it, no one had ever failed. Perhaps someone has since, but I doubt it. Once you get the paperwork from the test center you will take it to the local FSDO and they will give you a temporary license. Commerical, instrument, multi-engine (centerline thrust restricted for T-38 folks) plus the MU-300/BE-400 type ratings for T-1 grads. A guy in my unit spent about 5-6 hours in a Beech Baron getting his centerline thrust restriction removed, FWIW. Lastly, a question for the more astute FAA scholars out there. On my ticket it lists Commercial and Instrument ratings only under the 'Multi-Engine' section (I was a single-engine land pilot prior to UPT). My understanding is that I will need to take another checkride to get the commercial and instrument privelages added to my single-engine land rating. Is that correct??

Someone posted this page not too long ago. It is by far the best airline salary web site I've run across.

HOLY SH*T! Look at the FNG stepping on his crank! Dude, once you obtain your prized silk scarf, you might want to start looking for a thicker skin. You'll never hang during a UPT debrief if you can't take a little ribbing on an internet forum. Also, check out this link, as they too are highly sought after at ROTC detachments. Only slightly less sought after than the mighty "bag" and "scarf" however. For the record, scarves are IMHO. [ 13. April 2005, 21:40: Message edited by: Bergman ]

I would recommend staying with ROTC. I know things are changing right now with regard to ROTC retaining cadets, but assuming you stay in to commissioning, there is a very good probability of getting a scholarship of some sort. Also, you are guaranteed a job when you graduate (again, this may be changing due to current force structure refinement...but in 3 years who knows what it'll be like). Lastly, you can almost always switch from AD to the ANG after your commitment is up. Opinions will vary wildly on this subject, and ultimately it is up to what you want to do. Going ANG means finding another job (don't kid yourself into thinking you will get hired into a full time ANG job any time soon!) - so if being a civilian with a really cool part-time job sounds good, then go for that. If being full-time AF is what you want...then go AD.

Not the least of which is the ARMS portion...check your flying currency, training dates, and beans remaining from the comfort of your own home (which is great for us commuting ANG folks).

Dare I say: IMPOSSIBLE TO GET. Unless you are a C-17, MH-53, or U-2 IP! There is a list of AFSCs/aircraft they are allowing back on AD but it is a very short list and pretty much for IPs only. Stick around 4-5 years...that will change. 2 years ago, ANYONE could go back on AD. The pendulum will swing that way again in a few years. Just wait it out if that's what you really want.