Bottom Line...
I just want to fly... I don't understand how the C-17 dudes are getting burned out from their ops tempo and I'm in this nonflying tour wishing I was back in the cons. It's only marginally better where I'm at than the UAV world. The study called raising the UPT commitment from 6 years to 8 then 10 (I've got 4+ left) an "extraordinary measure" to fix the issue and one that can't be taken regularily. The new Lt in my unit didn't fly because he didn't want to get stuck for that long doing something he doesn't want.
To quote a friend in the MQ-9 world (prior A-10). "They own us dude, for TEN years, you think that they care what we think? We can't leave."
My buddies in the 22 have gotten around 30 hours this last year btw and my gut says the 35 will be no different.
What kills me is that where this shortage is going to take us. It will take the better part of a decade and billions in training and flying hours to fix. All because we took our fighter experience and made them UAV operators, UPT IP's and ALO's instead of getting good at their primary job.