I fly with 121 pilots who are still in their post-discharge IRR service obligation who say "they'll never recall me, I'm 30 pounds overweight and pre-diabetic". I keep reminding young'uns that if you still have an MSO, even if it's in the IRR, you will be recalled in the event of a war regardless of your weight. The meme of CPT Front-Butt and that morbidly obese Marine Captain are real life dudes who were recalled from the IRR during OIF/OEF. Your expanding waist will not save you from the suck, so never say never.

FWIW, if they ever do invade, it'll be over so fast I doubt we'll ever get to stop loss or retiree recalls. Putin has everything east of the Dnieper surrounded on three sides, and this terrain is Rommel's wet dream for an armored invasion because it's completely flat and frozen this time of year.

 

mid I got recalled to AD, they better not expect me to pass a PT test, I’ll tell you that much.

 

Those obese soldier/marine memes are real people. They don't care. If it gets to the point where they're this desperate like they were for some positions during OIF/OEF, they'll recall you even if you're morbidly obese and can't pass a PT test, and trust me, it will suck either way. I've seen it.

 

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 20 years watching this, with the operators telling leadership they're the problem. Leadership all looks at each other and says "they're wrong we can fix this." Lather rinse repeat.

For anyone out there reading this thread, don't think the USAF has 2000 cockpits sitting empty. It's staff wiener positions that are sitting empty, not jets. Get rid of half the GO's, and their bloated staffs and you can cut 75% of that pilot shortage. Stop cutting flight hours and let dudes actually stay in the jet and the problem is solved. Want to put on O-6, then play the game. Want to stay in the jet and fly your whole career, terminal O-3/4 at 20. Better yet let the AD guys follow a ANG/AFR construct and never PCS and have stable family lives.

 

Yes. No real question about preventing an invasion unless we first build up forces in UK.

Question is do we go in and dig him out? That's a pretty far bridge.

But at the very likely we'd at build up forces in and around Western Europe to look tough... sounds like ideal utilization for over-the-hill IRR and retirees.

 

https://youtu.be/bJaSIUCPZKc


‘Twas ever thus…’

 

 

Yeah, I don't disagree. As a reservist who will be a retiree in the next few years though, I'm hoping (and praying to Jobu) that this doesn't happen. Two forever-wars that have lasted almost my entire 20 year career have been enough for me. Yo, bartender, Jobu needs a refill...

 

It has occasionally crossed my mind if I could be called back. Due to injuries sustained in the line of duty I lost my flight status and was sent home. Hold a 90% rating (nothing that the FAA is worried about before anyone starts). I can still shoot a gun, carry a ruck and make a helicopter dance on the head of a pin (and am current). Think there is ever a snowballs chance in hell they would call me back short of armed militia guarding what is left of the country?

 

Are you PDRL or did you take a medical discharge without a DOD rating? If you are PDRL it's always possible you could get called back because your commission is still in effect, should have even said on your retirement orders "subject to recall by the secretary" or something like that. With that said, it would take some pretty serious escalation to recall people on the PDRL and you'd probably be after a draft is re-instituted. If you're not TDRL/PDRL and you're just a regular retiree under 65, the chances are much higher if you've got a skill in demand they need to backfill in the event there's an actual build up again. And if you're a medical discharge with just a VA rating and no DOD rating (as in, not in a retired military status at all), you technically resigned your commission when you took the discharge/separation so it's pretty unlikely. If you have any MH ratings (MDD, Bipolar, etc) it gets closer to a zero chance even if the Russkies are invading Colorado, but you could always join the Wolverines.