2026 ACTIVE DUTY UFT BOARD

[LawnmowerofDoom]

Hopefully we continue to see high numbers of crossflow selects. By the time anyone from this board attends UPT I think itll be 100% IPT prior. To my understanding, IPT is being used to reduce the training load on limited aircraft and instructors at UPT thereby producing more pilots each year since there is no t-1 track after the shortened 6 syllabus. Hopefully this translates into a higher take rate to backfill billets. The board being moved up a month and a half could also be to coincide with the larger number of pilots expected to be produced, allowing for class dates earlier in 26, but that's me being optimistic.

[Nukefanatic]

Does anyone know how heavy the senior rater stratifications weigh? I felt pretty confident in my package until our Wg/CC strated all of us that applied. I was ranked pretty low and after talking with some of the other guys, I noticed he didn’t really change any of the comments we drafted for him so I felt maybe he didn’t look over our packages thoroughly.

Thinking of asking for feedback on how to earn a higher strat if I don’t get picked up this board, since I’m not sure what his ranking criteria is.

Not sure if my scores, LOR, or accomplishments will help offset a low strat but I’m hoping it’s a whole person concept and this one data point won’t have too much effect.

[LawnmowerofDoom]

51 minutes ago, Nukefanatic said:

Does anyone know how heavy the senior rater stratifications weigh? I felt pretty confident in my package until our Wg/CC strated all of us that applied. I was ranked pretty low and after talking with some of the other guys, I noticed he didn’t really change any of the comments we drafted for him so I felt maybe he didn’t look over our packages thoroughly.

Thinking of asking for feedback on how to earn a higher strat if I don’t get picked up this board, since I’m not sure what his ranking criteria is.

Not sure if my scores, LOR, or accomplishments will help offset a low strat but I’m hoping it’s a whole person concept and this one data point won’t have 

My wg didn't even tell us our strats or whose packages they submitted. Only way I think i got submitted is my buddy in my sq got push back on his etp after the deadline by afpc which then trickled down the chain. A couple years ago we had the 1 at the wg and in my sq picked up for upt and my same buddy be #11 at the wg yet get an alternate slot. There's a chance the execs do most of the stratting based on cc guidance which may not align with the board's rack and stack. There were a handful of people in between in my wg that didn't even make the alternate list. I imagine strats could be used as a tie breaker but tough to assign a value when some wgs push 1 and others 15+. 

[Justwanttofly]

1 hour ago, Nukefanatic said:

Does anyone know how heavy the senior rater stratifications weigh? I felt pretty confident in my package until our Wg/CC strated all of us that applied. I was ranked pretty low and after talking with some of the other guys, I noticed he didn’t really change any of the comments we drafted for him so I felt maybe he didn’t look over our packages thoroughly.

Thinking of asking for feedback on how to earn a higher strat if I don’t get picked up this board, since I’m not sure what his ranking criteria is.

Not sure if my scores, LOR, or accomplishments will help offset a low strat but I’m hoping it’s a whole person concept and this one data point won’t have too much effect.

If you don’t mind what wing are you at or base

[Justwanttofly]

9 minutes ago, LawnmowerofDoom said:

My wg didn't even tell us our strats or whose packages they submitted. Only way I think i got submitted is my buddy in my sq got push back on his etp after the deadline by afpc which then trickled down the chain. A couple years ago we had the 1 at the wg and in my sq picked up for upt and my same buddy be #11 at the wg yet get an alternate slot. There's a chance the execs do most of the stratting based on cc guidance which may not align with the board's rack and stack. There were a handful of people in between in my wg that didn't even make the alternate list. I imagine strats could be used as a tie breaker but tough to assign a value when some wgs push 1 and others 15+. 

What wing are you at?

[Nukefanatic]

33 minutes ago, LawnmowerofDoom said:

My wg didn't even tell us our strats or whose packages they submitted. Only way I think i got submitted is my buddy in my sq got push back on his etp after the deadline by afpc which then trickled down the chain. A couple years ago we had the 1 at the wg and in my sq picked up for upt and my same buddy be #11 at the wg yet get an alternate slot. There's a chance the execs do most of the stratting based on cc guidance which may not align with the board's rack and stack. There were a handful of people in between in my wg that didn't even make the alternate list. I imagine strats could be used as a tie breaker but tough to assign a value when some wgs push 1 and others 15+. 

That’s crazy they didn’t tell y’all your strats or if you even made it out of the wing.

And yeah, my thoughts exactly. Esp since the higher numbers are already rated folks going for pilot. I imagine those rated squadrons will have a more similar rack and stack compared to the board than non-rated.

[Nukefanatic]

32 minutes ago, Justwanttofly said:

If you don’t mind what wing are you at or base

Fe warren, missile wing

[LawnmowerofDoom]

1 hour ago, Justwanttofly said:

What wing are you at?

Out at Creech so 90% of officers are rated and probably 99% of applicants are RPA pilots. I reached out to guys who applied in other sq with no luck. Only guess I have is that if you didn't get the push you were told. The bar in my sq was so high the hope is everyone made it all the way and hope you stratted well against everyone else.

[Justwanttofly]

1 hour ago, LawnmowerofDoom said:

Out at Creech so 90% of officers are rated and probably 99% of applicants are RPA pilots. I reached out to guys who applied in other sq with no luck. Only guess I have is that if you didn't get the push you were told. The bar in my sq was so high the hope is everyone made it all the way and hope you stratted well against everyone else.

what was the bar? and what sq?

[LawnmowerofDoom]

1 hour ago, Justwanttofly said:

what was the bar? and what sq?

Ill say for my sq we were/are the last lr squadron until we stand down and remission in 6 months. As for the bar, we had 6-7 push a package and 4 made it through. Myself and two other Lts with a deployment each and pilot/pcsm 99/99, 99/99, 99/98 then a seasoned captain: great scores, prior exec, shop chief, evaluator. At my sq it's tough to be shit hot whole Airman concept when every officer in the sq is an RPA Pilot and you arent making instructor as an Lt so you had to fire wall the numbers on the 215. 

[kp24]

6 hours ago, Nukefanatic said:

Does anyone know how heavy the senior rater stratifications weigh? I felt pretty confident in my package until our Wg/CC strated all of us that applied. I was ranked pretty low and after talking with some of the other guys, I noticed he didn’t really change any of the comments we drafted for him so I felt maybe he didn’t look over our packages thoroughly.

Thinking of asking for feedback on how to earn a higher strat if I don’t get picked up this board, since I’m not sure what his ranking criteria is.

Not sure if my scores, LOR, or accomplishments will help offset a low strat but I’m hoping it’s a whole person concept and this one data point won’t have too much effect.

I’ve been wondering the same thing. I was 2/2 at my Wing. The other applicant is/was(?) the Wing Exec, so there wasn’t much of a chance for anyone else to get that 1/2 strat. I think my SR rewrote his comments as best he could to portray that I’m also a competitive applicant, but it’s still a bummer. I’m currently deployed so even getting the package completed and submitted was a feat in and of itself seeing as I didn’t start until May and then had my AFOQT, TBAS, and IFC1 rescheduled multiple times thanks to Iran’s shenanigans. I did the best I could this time around without the ability to get more flight hours or enough time to retake the TBAS before the suspense. I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish and if I don’t get picked up I know where I can improve next year. 

[Justwanttofly]

4 hours ago, LawnmowerofDoom said:

Ill say for my sq we were/are the last lr squadron until we stand down and remission in 6 months. As for the bar, we had 6-7 push a package and 4 made it through. Myself and two other Lts with a deployment each and pilot/pcsm 99/99, 99/99, 99/98 then a seasoned captain: great scores, prior exec, shop chief, evaluator. At my sq it's tough to be shit hot whole Airman concept when every officer in the sq is an RPA Pilot and you arent making instructor as an Lt so you had to fire wall the numbers on the 215. 

I’m not sure why my reply didn’t post but I’m typing it again. In my sq, we have instructor Lt’s so that’s weird your sq doesn’t have that. But, in my squadron there were about 5 that I believe submitted and I think all 5 made it to the wing. I did get confirmation that my package made it to the board so I’m hoping others did as well. As for the wing strat, I’d love to know how I did and I hate that this year it was changed to where the wing had to submit packages because it felt like once the package left the sq, it just went to a black hole. But at this phase I do believe that knowing how you did at the wing may be a moot point. If we’re meant to be picked up this year then we will, regardless of wing strats. 

After asking around I know how I did at the group, my sq cc told us, and I am assuming the rankings at the group could be similar to how we did at the wing since the group strat doesn’t go on the 215. Regardless, being rated already makes things super competitive and you gotta figure out how to make yourself stand out and FAA ratings beyond ppl can help because it seems like everyone has a ppl now a days. Anyways good luck to you and your peeps in your sq. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Justwanttofly
Grammar

[Nukefanatic]

3 hours ago, kp24 said:

I’ve been wondering the same thing. I was 2/2 at my Wing. The other applicant is/was(?) the Wing Exec, so there wasn’t much of a chance for anyone else to get that 1/2 strat. I think my SR rewrote his comments as best he could to portray that I’m also a competitive applicant, but it’s still a bummer. I’m currently deployed so even getting the package completed and submitted was a feat in and of itself seeing as I didn’t start until May and then had my AFOQT, TBAS, and IFC1 rescheduled multiple times thanks to Iran’s shenanigans. I did the best I could this time around without the ability to get more flight hours or enough time to retake the TBAS before the suspense. I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish and if I don’t get picked up I know where I can improve next year. 

Think the PSDM mentioned something about getting an extension to update flight hours if you’re deployed? Or something like that.

In terms of strats, 2/2 is significantly different from getting 18/18 for example so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I got a buddy who was 3/3 out of his wing and all 3 of them got a rated slot. Nice that you got your foot in the door at least!