Very cool, and congrats on tech. And yes, I'd be in a downward spiral too if they made me fly a desk...the disadvantages of rank I suppose.

The J model is an okay bird, still a lot of kinks in it...but that's normal with any new bird. Definitely nice overall. I wont mention which unit, but when the issue of my height came up...they weren't willing to push for a height waiver. So they had sent me to all this training, only for someone to catch that I was 1/2 inch too short for military aircrew. They were going to send me to being a crew chief, as I crewed F-16/A-10's prior to going aircrew...so I started contacting units around the area that had openings...and some were hurting for people so bad and had zero problems putting me in for a height waiver. Took 4 weeks, and another unit gained me as a LM.