What's wrong with the Air Force?

[FUSEPLUG]

I like to think of SOS as where I expertly honed my drinking problem. 

[Lord Ratner]

SOS, as it is constructed today, is a value added course. The material is good, but more importantly, since they changed the way the cadre are selected, the underlying tone for the program is greatly improved. Zero sarcasm.

Pilots love to think they are above learning leadership from books and workshops, but this thread has countless examples of how shitty pilots often are at leadership.

I hung out with a bunch of people my age, drank a lot, worked bankers' hours having conversations about the AF with people from different backgrounds, spent my weekends fishing in the morning and drinking on crab island till sundown, got to speak to academic power-houses in the field of leadership theory, and all while getting a break from the desk work and sims. I wish I could go every year.

If SOS is the problem, I'm no longer interested in y'alls solution.

[Buddy Spike]

3 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:

SOS, as it is constructed today, is a value added course. The material is good, but more importantly, since they changed the way the cadre are selected, the underlying tone for the program is greatly improved. Zero sarcasm.

Pilots love to think they are above learning leadership from books and workshops, but this thread has countless examples of how shitty pilots often are at leadership.

I hung out with a bunch of people my age, drank a lot, worked bankers' hours having conversations about the AF with people from different backgrounds, spent my weekends fishing in the morning and drinking on crab island till sundown, got to speak to academic power-houses in the field of leadership theory, and all while getting a break from the desk work and sims. I wish I could go every year.

If SOS is the problem, I'm no longer interested in y'alls solution.

 

Nerd.

[SocialD]

SOS is all about how much work you're willing to put into it.  That being said, my SOS comprised of flipping feverishly through quizlet cards for a few hours before taking each of the three tests, while I was deployed...worst few hours of my life!  

ACSC in-correspondence is making me take a better look at the numbers for O-4 vs O-5 retirement.  

 

[Guest]

SOS is all about how much work you're willing to put into it.  That being said, my SOS comprised of flipping feverishly through quizlet cards for a few hours before taking each of the three tests, while I was deployed...worst few hours of my life!  
ACSC in-correspondence is making me take a better look at the numbers for O-4 vs O-5 retirement.  
 

Yeah, it's really not as big a difference as you would assume.

[RTB]

Back in the Good Ole Days, we were allowed to fly on the weekends during SOS.  My squadron sent two jets to Maxwell for one of the middle weekends and I got 2 BFM sorties each on Saturday and Sunday, with the RON at Eglin to hit the Destin beaches Saturday night.  It made SOS much more palatable.

 

[Danger41]

34 minutes ago, RTB said:

Back in the Good Ole Days, we were allowed to fly on the weekends during SOS.  My squadron sent two jets to Maxwell for one of the middle weekends and I got 2 BFM sorties each on Saturday and Sunday, with the RON at Eglin to hit the Destin beaches Saturday night.  It made SOS much more palatable.

 

Holy hell, times have changed!

[ClearedHot]

I went to SOS (under protest), 60 days after I pinned on O-3...Being the most "junior" guy there I actually had to pull CQ duty one weekend to sign people in and out. 

If the A-10 pilot's Wing/CC has any sack he would elevate this until he was told to pound sand by SECAF.  I know someone on the board knows the SOS/CC, please tell him to pull the bottom of his ears as hard as possible until he hears a loud popping sound.

[Guest]

The most "junior" Capt in my SOS flight was our instructor. It was a f*cking joke.

[bronxbomber252]

The most "junior" Capt in my SOS flight was our instructor. It was a f*cking joke.

When did you go. I went about a year ago and there was a Capt in my flight who had just pinned on a few months prior and was going to be an instructor as soon as he finished.

[Guest]

2013.

[BEEPBEEPIMINAJEEP]

3 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

Being the most "junior" guy there I actually had to pull CQ duty one weekend to sing people in and out. 

 

[17D_guy]

We're in the new, longer version now.  Guess I'll provide a review once complete.  I will say that I'd much rather be here than the job I was working (Staff), so I'm going to be biased.

If nothing else, I'm enjoying the time speaking with different pilots and other officers.  I've been able to hang with some Hog, Viper, AFSOC, and C17 dudes and it's been very informative.  I'm getting asked a ton of questions about Cyber.  Everything else (re: class) is background noise to learning from my peers.  We've been given a lot of social time so far.

From some of your anecdotes it seems to have changed quite a bit in just 3~4 years.

P.S. Thanks to this board, and RAINMAN, I can follow about 50% of the A10 conversations.

[flyusaf83]

6 hours ago, RTB said:

Back in the Good Ole Days, we were allowed to fly on the weekends during SOS.  My squadron sent two jets to Maxwell for one of the middle weekends and I got 2 BFM sorties each on Saturday and Sunday, with the RON at Eglin to hit the Destin beaches Saturday night.  It made SOS much more palatable.

 

My commander tried to do this for our guys. Schedule a T-6 CT XC to Maxwell when we had guys there.  Allow them to do some Saturday flying, at least once during their time there.

It got shot down by SOS leadership. Apparently, that "wasn't fair" for everyone else, along with the risk they could divert and he could miss class Monday.

[HU&W]

5 hours ago, bronxbomber252 said:

I went about a year ago and there was a Capt in my flight who had just pinned on a few months prior and was going to be an instructor as soon as he finished.

 

 

Like a FAIP, but for PME?

1 hour ago, flyusaf83 said:

Apparently, that "wasn't fair" for everyone else, along with the risk they could divert and he could miss class Monday.

Wouldn't want to interfere with the AF's primary mission.

[RTB]

1 hour ago, flyusaf83 said:

My commander tried to do this for our guys. Schedule a T-6 CT XC to Maxwell when we had guys there.  Allow them to do some Saturday flying, at least once during their time there.

It got shot down by SOS leadership. Apparently, that "wasn't fair" for everyone else, along with the risk they could divert and he could miss class Monday.

Yeah, it wasn't too long after I went that the fun police at AU stomped out that practice.  We never asked, just did it but they eventually put out a formal complaint and policy forbidding it.  Never mind that we kept landing currency and actually logged a couple RAP counters.  That's just mission shit...

A good deal, both for pilots and the AF was detected and therefore crushed.

[Guest nsplayr]

7 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

I went to SOS (under protest), 60 days after I pinned on O-3...Being the most "junior" guy there I actually had to pull CQ duty one weekend to sign people in and out. 

To be fair, this was during the Korean war and those overnight patrols were necessary to keep the base secure from a possible sneak-attack Chinese invasion 

[HossHarris]

50 minutes ago, RTB said:

Yeah, it wasn't too long after I went that the fun police at AU stomped out that practice.  We never asked, just did it but they eventually put out a formal complaint and policy forbidding it.  Never mind that we kept landing currency and actually logged a couple RAP counters.  That's just mission shit...

A good deal, both for pilots and the AF was detected and therefore crushed.

Shit, they pulled our aviation orders so we weren't legal to log time/sorties with the HARM office...just in case a jet "happened" to show up on the weekend. 

 

Dicks

[pawnman]

3 hours ago, flyusaf83 said:

My commander tried to do this for our guys. Schedule a T-6 CT XC to Maxwell when we had guys there.  Allow them to do some Saturday flying, at least once during their time there.

It got shot down by SOS leadership. Apparently, that "wasn't fair" for everyone else, along with the risk they could divert and he could miss class Monday.

The good 'ol Fair Force strikes again.  

[HU&W]

2 hours ago, RTB said:

Yeah, it wasn't too long after I went that the fun police at AU stomped out that practice.  We never asked, just did it but they eventually put out a formal complaint and policy forbidding it.  Never mind that we kept landing currency and actually logged a couple RAP counters.  That's just mission shit...

A good deal, both for pilots and the AF was detected and therefore crushed.

Totally unfair.  It's not like they prevented the support guys from keeping up currency on their normal jobs (sitting in a room talking to other people, making powerpoints, and checking email).

[ClearedHot]

10 hours ago, nsplayr said:

To be fair, this was during the Korean war and those overnight patrols were necessary to keep the base secure from a possible sneak-attack Chinese invasion 

You wouldn't laugh if you'd stood patrol with a million Chicoms poised to cross the Yalu...

[Toasty]

I went in-residence in 2015 a year before my Maj board (no correspondence), and it was very low threat.  Classes were discussion based, there were no tests, the only writing assignment was to create your AF bio, and the final project was the war game.  I think we had 2 PT days, also low threat.

The course does have value as a CGO course, but the execution always needs work.

[Truman08]

2 hours ago, Toasty said:

I went in-residence in 2015 a year before my Maj board (no correspondence), and it was very low threat.  Classes were discussion based, there were no tests, the only writing assignment was to create your AF bio, and the final project was the war game.  I think we had 2 PT days, also low threat.

The course does have value as a CGO course, but the execution always needs work.

I thought there was value added for a CGO, stepping out of the flying aspect of the AF and learning how the rest of the AF operates, and learning certain aspects of the FRLM in order to handle different personalities you may encounter during your time in a leadership role. That said, having to watch video clips and being tested on how well you can pick up on different leadership traits WRT the FRLM was little/no value added. They ram that stuff down your throats the entire time you're there. 

[Guest]

I thought there was value added for a CGO, stepping out of the flying aspect of the AF and learning how the rest of the AF operates, and learning certain aspects of the FRLM in order to handle different personalities you may encounter during your time in a leadership role. That said, having to watch video clips and being tested on how well you can pick up on different leadership traits WRT the FRLM was little/no value added. They ram that stuff down your throats the entire time you're there. 

All FRLM taught me is that the AF is nearly as inept at transactional leadership as it is at transformational.

[BashiChuni]

I had a great time at SOS. 

7 hour days, booze, golf...it was awesome. 

Then again I didn't volunteer for the commanders think tank