Ditto... well said.

 

I have been looking into this as well. Have a great opportunity with an ANG unit but I'm tied down by my transfer ADSC. Turns out you definitely CAN transfer your additional commitment to the ANG or AFRC. But, and this is the tough part, you do it through Palace Chase. I currently have another 2.5 years on my transfer ADSC and will have to get Palace Chase approval. Pretty sure my 11F functional with non-concur so hoping it gets approved at the SAF level. If it's approved, the commitment simply transfers over to AFRC or ANG. Simple process. Tough part is getting big blue to let you go if you're an 11F or other undermanned career field...

 

Whatever. I built my own tent, too, then flew a 9 hour sortie in afghanistan that night. It was a minor inconvenience and par for the course in November 2001. Comparing that to having your life long dream crushed overnight is a stretch. I'm thinking if you got non vol'd to UAS you'd be singing a different tune. Btw, what exactly were you expecting that you didn't get? You make it sound like you expected a squad of E-4s to build your freaking tent for you. Talk about a sense of entitlement.

 

OMG!!!! You had to build your own tent! Dude...that does suck, glad you made it out ok.

There were a few that did SIE! Do I agree with that? No…but it was their right. I'm not going to look down on them for not wanting spend the next 10 years, not flying...which in all reality is what most of us signed up to do. I'm sure they were either let go or got some crappy deal, but at least they can get out in a few years, vice 10 years! When I was leaving IFF they were tossing around the idea of moving the assignment night to after graduation to keep this from happening (even the leadership knew this was a crappy deal)...I’m guessing that never happened. Probably, because these "entitled" kids actually moved on and did their duty. I never said they didn't shut up and color...still doesn't mean that the situation doesn't suck for them. But good job jumping on the entitlement bandwagon so quick.

But here is the real question....we're you actually flying? Some of these guys will, most likely, never get to fly (for the AF anyway). I have heard some have recently escaped but in very small numbers. But imagine how you'd feel if you were told that you would be operating UAVs for the next 10 years of your life!

A few in our government think that those benefits may not be an entitlement anymore. Let's take away that free health care for all those who are retired and see if any sense of entitlement pops out of our older generations...

Yes, you're right...no one from the previous generations has ever complained about anything. Where is that "Dear Boss" letter...

 

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on the bait-and-switch UAV drop with a ten-year commitment. Nobody signed up for ten years to fly UAV's...they should have had the obligation reduced to 4-5. That was a bone job.

 

I think that sums it up--there are no guarantees after signing the pilot training paperwork--and the AF has never claimed otherwise.

I agree with rick that a shorter ADSC or MWS follow-on for the guys who got blindsided into the UAV would have been a more equitable solution. It was surely workable if the AF wanted to do the right thing by those guys.

 

...and how did you perform on that 9-hour sortie?

I don't know about you, but my job was to show up mentally and physically prepared to fly so I could provide the best possible support for the guys on the ground taking fire or running the convoy.

Saddling us with ancillary tasks such as building a place to sleep prior to flying was a ridiculously mismanaged leadership snafu. There are guys trained and paid to set up a base in a fraction of the time it takes us to do it. That's why they're here--they are "support" troops. Just like I am trained to support the ground troops, there are guys trained to support me.

Thanks for the war story, but I rolled into the sack 4 hours before my 8 hour sortie on night 1 of OEF on 7 Oct. I consider it a complete leadership failure.

Short answer, yes, I did expect a "squad of E-4s to build my freaking tent for me." Or O-6s. I don't care. The AF ****ed up.

 

Then you expected too much. Sorry the war wasn't more like Red Flag for you.

 

Spoken like a tac airlifter! Love it!

 

Sorry your track select didn't work out for you.