Does anyone have any info on what life is like flying the C-17 active duty stationed at Elmendorf, AK? I am very interested in choosing that plane and location for my drop sheet. I’ve heard that C-17 pilots are extremely busy and gone upwards of 280 days a year at times (I know deployment cycles change all the time though). But I’ve also heard that the ops tempo at Elmendorf is lower than other bases because they do airdrop and are in PACAF. 
Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated. I would like to be home more for my first assignment until my 2 kids grow up and are a little easier to parent 😁

Does anyone have any info on what life is like flying the C-17 active duty stationed at Elmendorf, AK? I am very interested in choosing that plane and location for my drop sheet. I’ve heard that C-17 pilots are extremely busy and gone upwards of 280 days a year at times (I know deployment cycles change all the time though). But I’ve also heard that the ops tempo at Elmendorf is lower than other bases because they do airdrop and are in PACAF. 
Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated. I would like to be home more for my first assignment until my 2 kids grow up and are a little easier to parent [emoji16]

Where did you hear this? FAIPs? I never came anywhere near 280 days/year.


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3 hours ago, douglasjones said:

Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated. I would like to be home more for my first assignment until my 2 kids grow up and are a little easier to parent 😁

This shit really pisses me off.  It’s called service and it’s called sacrifice.  It’s what the rest of us have dealt with and managed for years and years.  I can’t count the holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and everything else I’ve missed in my 21 years.  

Your kids will take 20 years to “grow up”.

Find a way to stay in AETC and get out. 

The rest of us will continue to handle the tough part.  

Edited July 15, 20232 yr by lloyd christmas
Because

Take it from a father of 4…your kids and wife will be fine if you have a solid relationship and are clear on expectations. It sucks being gone but if you make the time you have count, it’ll be fine. If you can’t square that corner and want to be a stay at home dad, just SIE now, finish your career as a finance OIC, and move on to something else.

Spoiler alert: Whatever you end up flying, you’ll be gone a lot. Even FAIP’ing you’ll be working your ass off 12 hours a day for years. 

Assuming your kids are young. So you could FAIP and be home more, but then when your kids are older and actually can process the difference between 6 days and 6 months, you’ll be gone a lot more in your non-AETC assignment (vs. doing it in the opposite order). If you’re not prepared to miss cumulative years of your kids’ lives, don’t fly for the AF. 

Oh it’s not THAT bad …. 

10 hours ago, CaptainMorgan said:

Where did you hear this? FAIPs? I never came anywhere near 280 days/year.


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Heard it from instructors whose previous assignments was C-17s that most of them were burned out from the minimum turn time between flying TDYs with TACC and said they were gone 280-300 days in the last few years 

Heard it from instructors whose previous assignments was C-17s that most of them were burned out from the minimum turn time between flying TDYs with TACC and said they were gone 280-300 days in the last few years 

Those sound like 2011 numbers.

Heard it from instructors whose previous assignments was C-17s that most of them were burned out from the minimum turn time between flying TDYs with TACC and said they were gone 280-300 days in the last few years 

Ask them to print out their TDY history. They are exaggerating greatly. Or the scheduler was banging their wife.


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17 minutes ago, CaptainMorgan said:

Ask them to print out their TDY history.

Yeah, let us all know how this great idea works out. 
 

OP, my bros in C-17s are TDY a lot more than I am in the CAF. We average on the road 3 months (3 TDYs a year) for my sq going back the last 6ish years. The C-17 guys I know were at least twice that, but none of them were Elmo guys.

You should checkout the How do you feel about your airframe and mission? thread if you haven’t already. I know there are C-17 dudes that have posted there. It might not be Elmo specific but you’ll get the idea of how much they’re gone.

What I know for sure is that PACAF is 5 gallons of shit being stuffed into a 1/2 gallon sock. Be prepared to fight every TDY to get paid IAW the reg. and before your GTC gets sent to collections.

Just looked at mine. In 8+ years of flying C-17s, the most I was gone was 220 (deployment with COVID quarantine on the front). One year was 188 (non-flying deployment). Two years around 150 (120 day deployment). One year at 110 (90 day deployment). The other three years were <90. Not an Airdropper, SOLL II, or PNAF and my friends that were flew less. The only guy I knew who had more than 280 took a CAOC tour then a EAS deployment to chase his short tour credit (his choice).


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1 hour ago, Boomer6 said:

OP, my bros in C-17s are TDY a lot more than I am in the CAF. We average on the road 3 months (3 TDYs a year) for my sq going back the last 6ish years. The C-17 guys I know were at least twice that, but none of them were Elmo guys.

180 days is a far cry less from 280-300.   Captain Morgan seems to have legit numbers.

 

16 hours ago, douglasjones said:

I would like to be home more for my first assignment until my 2 kids grow up and are a little easier to parent 😁

Don’t tell my wife, but I actually liked being gone when my kids were super young. They didn’t wake me up at night on the road.  Lol.