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Get every patch your squadron sells. They tell your story unto themselves. Take a photo every time you get to fly with a friend. Every time. (This photo is right after my favorite flight in a military airplane, and it was in an orange and white clown jet. I got to fly with one of my best...

The last A model student in Texas was winging as I got to Kville in 2010. They didn't have many on the line left. IPs might fly them, but students were all C's by then.

Guard unit? Title 32 vs Title 10...

Both are excellent!!! Shogun must be watched with subtitles and not dubbing. It's very powerful that way. Fallout is everything that I (a fallout game fanatic) wanted it to be. It was a new story that is absolutely true to the source material. It's fun, it's quirky, it's honest to the world...

Flight school is going to be very stressful for you, and for your spouse. Adding a baby into the mix is not advisable.

A question for all of the ladies who have gone through MEPS- Is there any semblance of privacy? Do they require the ladies to do the naked duck walk, and the cheek spread eye of Sauron inspection like the guys do? IE- are you showing your butthole (or vagina) to a random doctor right next to...

An extra 800 bucks a month, pretax, to live in Lemoore. "But we get an extra 10k per year to live there" just isn't enough. 50k? How much does your spouse make now? It has to be at least that much to make the money even part of the conversation.

Wear it to the winging party!

For reasons. Some of them you might guess. Others you might not. Either way, it might be a goal to get there once you earn your wings and get through your first tour. Or not.

Answer 1: That's the most Air Force answer I've ever heard on this forum. Hiding amogst the regs to defend yourself... oof... Shame on you. Answer 2: Ah yes. Go ahead and tell the CFACC that a SOF unit can't call their traditional air support a certain callsign because of the JANAP.

Also owned by a couple of mighty MQ-9 lines in an AOR not CONUS! So... In other words... Pretty unoriginal...

I think that if he pulls his weight and doesn't let his past give him a chip on his shoulder, and can assimilate into his new life he'll be fine. I think the DIs are going to test that. As they probably should.

What do they use when they call the ball?

If he wants to be an infantry officer he missed the boat. Perhaps this was his best and only shot. However, we all have some regrets in life, and have a bit of a mid career crisis. Why didn't he just do the normal officer thing and get really into bourbon and smoking meats, and just enjoying...

I'm left with only one .45, the squadron got custom Kimber 1911s with our patches and all on them. It's a nice piece, largely ceremonial. I just wish it were cheaper to shoot. Feels wrong to own a gun that just sits in the closet with a lock on it forever and never gets used. Perhaps I'll...

Has anyone seen any decent prices on target practice .45 acp lately? Everything locally is either out of stock or ridiculously priced (more than a dollar a round....). Definitely going online ammo shopping for the first time here.

So you were diagnosed with a mood disorder. That's not nothing. That's step 1 in the mental health chain. Also, just because one med didn't work doesn't mean the diagnosis was wrong. Another med could have worked. Some people take years to find the pharmacological cocktail that stabilizes...

Two things- 1- therapy doesn't cause any issues. 2- you're not qualified to refute a medical diagnosis. You'll need a doctor for that.

https://apnews.com/article/japan-helicopters-down-pacific-73f8ec2a05bf7ee4b77d08f778dd086e Not American, but still, Naval Aviation of a partner force. There is a reason most countries won't do night ops like we do. Japan has been in the naval aviation business for a while. Didn't know they...

Holy shit. I was around for bladegate 1.0, and maintenance malpractice 1.0. that was 14 years ago. You'd think they'd have this shit figured out by now. Edit: Weird to see that the boat is already being waived. Also, mid stage FLCPs was the best flying I think one could do. You're solo...

Can we sticky this and make it mando reading for every Marine? Are they still making 2nd Lts buy their own sword? Dress blues in the Air Force cost about $500 for everything, (yeah, we look like bus drivers, but still). Mess dress is like $800. A Dress Blue USMC coat costs $800. Don't waste...

Just realize that they have to go through flight school over again. The AF doesn't let non-pilots skip any part of any pilot syllabus. Not a bad thing, but not how the Navy and Marine Corps do business.

I recommend doing well at TBS and having fun with your bros there. You don't need to study early. Focus on the now.

Oh, they went to IOC. And yeah, it was during the big surge. I know one dude who checked into MATSG and went to IOC TAD. Why? He was single. Lucky him. Btw. This kind of falls in line with what is happening to @Hard Clutch . Would Hardy rather go to IOC and be a platoon commander in...

Keep drinking, I'll forgive you for one night of self pity. But tomorrow morning you're still a Marine, you're still living the dream as an SNA, a dream that a thousand people would gladly trade places with you for. You're still going to have to work your ass off to earn your keep, to earn...

There were some dudes who were sent to IOC and did a pump as a platoon commander in a reserve battalion during that T-34 redstripe. But that was also 2009, and we were conducting major combat ops. Those guys were hard chargers, but were all glad to be in aviation.

I waited a year to start primary during the T-34 redstripe of 2009/2010. I got paid as an officer to do nothing. It was a good deal that I wouldn't ever advise anyone to pass up. Some guys were bartending, some took grad school classes. Almost everyone bought a boat. I worked as a pro hockey...

Same for me in the 90s in Syracuse. It started in 6th and 7th grade. Shop was called "tech" but it taught us how to use hand and power tools, how do basic things like measure twice and cut once. But we also had to design and build balsa wood bridges that would hold x amount of weight, how to...

I think firearms safety and handling should be taught in our schools seeing as the right to bears arms is granted by the constitution. They should adapt and evolve as kids get older. We teach drivers education in schools and safety around streets and roads, but driving isn't a right.

Truth. There are waivers, but we only get so many UPT slots per year, and we have to manage our own recruiting and retention. We don't want to send someone to pilot training and then have them retire in a couple years. It's also getting tougher to bring higher ranks into the Guard. O-3 is the...

AGR is one way to do it (and the program I'm on). But we also have a lot of 365 MPA too. Bottom line, long term AD orders are available if you're willing to leave the airplane and fly the robot from a GCS. It's much easier to transition as an O-3 though.

The Ohio squadron is a good one. We regularly cover each other's line for some down days.

If you have any aspirations in the USAF/ANG, you want to be a pilot.

I don't think we have CSOs in Michigan. 110 Wing in Battle Creek is 172 ATKS flying MQ-9s. (My squadron). 127 Wing over at Selfridge has the 171 ARS (flying KC-135s but are transitioning to the KC-46) and the 107 FS flying the A-10, but their flying mission is pretty much going away when the...

Those guys are going to be deployed a lot. The Guard flying club is quickly becoming AD of another flavor.

I think this is a decent watch on the subject.

There is a difference between 20 years worth of AD points, and 20 years worth of reserve points. RDUs, AFTPs, and any inactive duty orders don't count towards that 20 years (that is, until you get 20 years of AD points, then they all count... which is weird). I suppose it's so much easier these...

Eh. If you get 20 years worth of AD points you get an AD retirement that you start collecting right away. Plenty of folks retiring here off of not just AGR, but MPA, ADOS, STAT, and Temp AGR orders and they're collecting retirement pay and benefits right away. Now if you want to double dip and...

Ah, so they're not reservists?

Yeah, I've had this discussion here before and still can't believe it. The ANG will work with folks to get them their AD retirement if they're close. In fact, it's encouraged by all levels of leadership. It's a win/win. Billets get filled by folks who volunteer and the volunteers get their...

So TAR is "Temporarily Activated Reservist" correct? If so, how do they change your orders to be able to deploy you on an IA? You can deny any set of orders as long as they aren't an involuntary mobilization without any negative action. And you have to accept any modifications to orders. This...

So he gets an out of cockpit and away from family IA nut punch that turns his 3 year FRS IP gig into a 2 year one (and that nut punch will leave him behind his peers in instructor quals and therefore ranked lower) , but he'll also still have to suck up a shitty boat tour that he probably doesn't...

@Empire16 Take note of this: @Meyerkord is your buddy going to stay in Naval Aviation after that tour?

I've always wondered why these didn't go out as guard/reserve mobilization orders. Plenty of folks were/are always looking for a set of AD orders to plus up their reserve retirement or even get them over the 20 year equivalent in points mark for an AD retirement. Even just a chance for 6 months...

We agree on this 100% That's not what I'm saying and you know it. Did we though? I don't think so. What got us in at 22 or 24 doesn't keep us in at 32 or 34. We spend a shit ton of money on recruitment, but not a whole lot on retention. How much did it cost the government for you to tell...

Sometimes for the AD military but it's most times for the civilian world now. Now that I've been out of the AD military and live in a non military town I see how many married couples both have careers, and kids, and aren't having to choose which is more important than the other. They may have to...

You're looking at this from the wrong angle. A company wouldn't hire my wife as an account manager in North Carolina because "you're great and we think you'd fit in well, but it's obvious from your resume that you're a military spouse so you'll quit in 2 years. We chose someone else." The...

There is a lot of momentum driving combat capabilities to develop and move in that direction- especially within the ISR communities.

Did you really just say "choose your rate, choose your fate." in regard to spousal employment around Navy installations?