MD10PLT:

Agreed: You will never get promoted for being a good or even an excellent pilot. But you will not get promoted for being a bad one. It's just assumed that you will be a good pilot and then get promoted based on how many CFC, AFAF, squadron booster club functions, Special olympics, Airshow functions you volunteer for. I just had to write OPRs on 2 LTs that have only been in the Squadron for 4 months. And 2 of those onths were spent getting msn ready. Since there is no OPR from pilot training and their Altus school is too short they there is no OPR until their first squadron. At which point we have to fill their OPRs with crap just so they won't be behind other career fields. LTs have to learn early on that the only way to get ahead is to volunteer for stuff in the "community." But that is contradictory to their job of flying a jet around the world.