What's wrong with the Air Force?

[Fuzz]

I've seen the same thing repeated elsewhere on several pilot social media pages or by friends. Homestar copy shot with the maintainers but that bring us right back to the issue we all hear about with wearing ABUs to "fit in" with the rest of the AF. When the highest ranking pilot in AMC won't put on a flight suit to address his pilots, what does that convey to those who are fed up with an institution that doesn't value their skills and training?

[RTB]

20 hours ago, Fuzz said:

Appealing to pilots while wearing ABUs, sounds petty but when you're facing a national crisis every piece of the message matters.

I was thinking the exact same thing.  Strange choice.  

[Homestar]

Southwest calls AMC's bluff just weeks before the big meeting?

1,000 hours PIC *preferrered*

[matmacwc]

We have a pilot shortage?  At least morale is good.

[gonefishin]

We have a pilot shortage?  At least morale is good.

Pretty darn good

[Goblin]

MPF was closed all day today (0800-1600) at MacDill due to an on base carnival.

So that's my reason.

[BFM this]

After a couple of weeks in the limelight, I wonder if the curly quotation marks commander has had any feedback from his boss and/or had some self reflection?

...probably not is my guess.

[Goblin]

I know what would have happened on the jet if someone hit my beloved across the face with a stroller while holding my rugrat. Eye witnesses accounts would say everything went black for a minute and the whole crew was stacked over each other on the beverage cart when the dust settled.
Are the pilots at the airlines not taught how to deescalate a situation? That pilot wasn't prior Air Force.
 

[fire4effect]

On ‎4‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 1:59 PM, Homestar said:

Southwest calls AMC's bluff just weeks before the big meeting?

1,000 hours PIC *preferrered*

Only one data point but I know at least one SWA pilot with more I hear about second hand bail for other airlines due to better upward mobility. Stagnation in the seniority list at SWA has caused some to re-think career progression.

[Snooter]

 

Well the wife and I have talked and when my commitment is up I'm going to become a homemaker and support her career.  My wife's job is super important and she works long hours with others so I'm going to start a club for the other husbands to have get togethers and build up the spouses network.  Granted she teleworks so all of our meetings (and kids play dates) will have to be over Skype but with all the things going on in the world I think there should be a better support network for her coworkers dependents.  Her job keeps her so busy and now that we have kids someone has to sacrifice their career,  she may be going overseas next year for six months or so as well to manage stocking toilet paper in the Doha office even though she works in the medical field.  Maybe if we're lucky while she's gone, I can volunteer to help set her up for success and get her more face time with her boss and maybe help her get her next promotion.  I think she's going to volunteer to coordinate the company gift exchange this year so my plate is going to be FULL over the coming months in preparation.  I also heard there is a program to be a prime spouse (it requires a week of mandatory training and being on call one week a month), I may try that as well.  What do you all think?

 

Now imagine if I were being serious you would think I was crazy.  Why do we do this to ourselves?

 

 

[dream big]

Chang, don't know if you are reading this, nor who you are.  But let it be known that almost every one of my peers plus 3-4 peer groups below me are talking about the airlines and at least going guard/reserves.  LTs are already talking about it.  You guys are in deep deep trouble and let it be known that you guys did this to yourselves.  

A few years ago, when people asked about these issues and the pilot shortage at large we were laughed at, told to stop complaining, etc.  Now look where we are: 4 star generals going to the airlines with their tails between their legs while the airlines laugh at us.

Fortunately for the sake of the country, many of my peers will continue to serve in the guard and reserves; do the same effing job as active duty minus a lot of the PC crap that has tainted our armed forces.  Were Rainman here on these forums today he would disagree, but at the end of the day, those in the guard and reserves provide the same product to national security.  Active duty is not any mightier or worthier.

We love this country and love putting on the bag to go "hack the mish," just not on active duty's terms because senior "leadership" has decimated the patriotism, drive and morale of those bright eyed kids wanting to fly fight and win.

[Guest]

Active duty is not any mightier or worthier.

I'll be the first to agree that AD is not any worthier or mightier. That said, I imagine in most flying communities AD provides better cost effectiveness for Big Blue. AD and ARC have similar training costs to keep a pilot current and qualified. AD gets 365-days of utilization for this bill (or 180 if they send you on a bullshit deployment where you see how incompetent the Army actually is...I digress). On the ARC side, they may not get much in the way of actual mission execution (unless the ARC mobilizers) in exchange for keeping members current and qualified.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cantfly]

9 Things Bosses Do to Make Good Employees Quit 

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-people-quit-their-jobs-2017-4?amp

How many of these things can be applied directly to the AF?

[Fuzz]

18 hours ago, dream big said:

but at the end of the day, those in the guard and reserves provide the same product to national security.

I'm sure it varies by community but the guard and reserves from my experience provide an MWS qualified pilot sure but that doesn't usually mean a combat ready or capable pilot.

[Sprkt69]

3 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

I'm sure it varies by community but the guard and reserves from my experience provide an MWS qualified pilot sure but that doesn't usually mean a combat ready or capable pilot.

So just like AD then?

[Fuzz]

29 minutes ago, Sprkt69 said:

So just like AD then?

I find the ratio of pilots that are capable combat aviators higher in the AD side, that doesn't mean we don't have shitty pilots. Most AFRC and guard I've come across haven't cracked the 3-3 or 3-1 in years. That doesn't mean there aren't phenomenal pilots in the reserves or guard and with the flood of people moving from AD to the other side the mindsets are changing for the better.

[VMFA187]

5 hours ago, Fuzz said:

I find the ratio of pilots that are capable combat aviators higher in the AD side

Capable of combat or combat proficient?

If it is the latter, is that not warranted? If it's the former, why were they there in the first place?

[SocialD]

10 hours ago, Fuzz said:

I find the ratio of pilots that are capable combat aviators higher in the AD side, that doesn't mean we don't have shitty pilots. Most AFRC and guard I've come across haven't cracked the 3-3 or 3-1 in years. That doesn't mean there aren't phenomenal pilots in the reserves or guard and with the flood of people moving from AD to the other side the mindsets are changing for the better.

Ha, what do you mean by mindsets are changing for the better?  Making the Guard more like AD?  That's working out well for AD...  

Wrt 3-3/3-1... Maybe in your community. 

[JeremiahWeed]

12 hours ago, Fuzz said:

I'm sure it varies by community but the guard and reserves from my experience provide an MWS qualified pilot sure but that doesn't usually mean a combat ready or capable pilot.

Yeah, I'm with VFMA-187 on this. Big difference between combat ready and capable.

Can't speak to heavy units, but from a fighter perspective, I think you're off base.  Before I retired from the guard, with the exception of three guard babies, low time guy in my squadron had 2000+ hours.  I don't know if every guy "cracked 3-1 or 3-3" buy they could all fly the shit out of the jet.  Unless I chose to go light in a month, I usually flew as much if not more as a traditional than I did on AD.  

But, the thing to remember is the guard isn't supposed to provide a combat ready pilot tomorrow.  It's a pool of mostly high time guys who have the experience base to be away from the jet for a few weeks or fly limited sorties.  It's never been expected that an ANG unit would be the equivalent of a AD unit for day to day ops.  If they're needed for combat ops, they're going to spin up quickly and be both combat ready and capable.

[Flaco]

6 hours ago, JeremiahWeed said:

But, the thing to remember is the guard isn't supposed to provide a combat ready pilot tomorrow.  It's a pool of mostly high time guys who have the experience base to be away from the jet for a few weeks or fly limited sorties.  It's never been expected that an ANG unit would be the equivalent of a AD unit for day to day ops.  If they're needed for combat ops, they're going to spin up quickly and be both combat ready and capable.

That is rapidly changing. After 10+ years of NGB and NGAUS leadership yelling from the rooftops, "We're just like active duty! Give us money! Give us equipment!", the guard has truly become the "operational reserve" that our senior leaders begged for. Of course they never considered the consequences.

Most Guard babies that are airline eligible will be out of the Guard in the next 5 years, leaving only recently separated active duty and a few deployment-avoiding lifers who crave the opportunity created by the vacuum to make General at NGB or state staff. The culture will continue to shift toward an active duty-lite mindset - "90 day TSPs are nothing compared to the 180's I did on active duty!"

The younger guard babies will be sorely disappointed by the few stories they remember hearing of how good the Guard used to be, and they too will punch at their earliest opportunity for the airlines.

Federalization complete, the Guard will no longer be a proud collection of state militias comprised of local citizen soldiers, but rather a stopping point for those separating active duty, who have little knowledge of unit history or interaction with the local community.

The active duty's culture and retention problems have already become the Guard's culture and retention problems, merely lagging by a few years.

[BashiChuni]

what a mess our senior management (that's for you hacker) has created the last 15+ years...what an absolute mess

[FlyinGrunt]

Cantfly, that Business Insider article is so on-point with the Air Force it's breathtaking.  I'd say all 9 apply.

[cantfly]

What if the AF permitted officers to homestead for a certain period of time? Granted it would cost you say an extra year commitment wise for each year over 4 years. Or you receive two opportunities to homestead during a career... something along those lines.

Wouldn't this reduce the costs for the AF during peak PCS season over the summer months? More people would probably get their HHG on time.

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, cantfly said:

What if the AF permitted officers to homestead for a certain period of time? Granted it would cost you say an extra year commitment wise for each year over 4 years. Or you receive two opportunities to homestead during a career... something along those lines.

Wouldn't this reduce the costs for the AF during peak PCS season over the summer months? More people would probably get their HHG on time.

Homesteading = good idea

Charging me extra ADSC for QOL issue like that = bad idea as folks continue to leave

 

AF upper management fooked up royally, it is time to pay the piper. Homesteading without incurring additional ADSC  is one of the many easy fixes

Edited May 1, 2017 by Guest

[cantfly]

20 minutes ago, 1111 said:

Homesteading = good idea

Charging me extra ADSC for QOL issue like that = bad idea as folks continue to leave

 

AF upper management fooked up royally, it is time to pay the piper. Homesteading without incurring additional ADSC  is one of the many easy fixes

I'm brainstorming because we all know the only way to fix our issues is through honest feedback and actually implementing what we want.

I thought of the extra year added on after every 4 years because I can't have a select few homesteading and clogging up the pipeline at great locations where others may want to PCS. Or we could cap homesteading at 5-6 years max.