Dear Air Force,

I just want to fly. I am willing to work hard to do so. I don't want to be chief of staff or even a squadron commander. I want to fly the most fun aircraft that you will let me, but at the end of the day a glider at USAFA or even a few months in the McDozen beats the hell out my DELL OPTIPLEX with three monitors.

I have wings on my chest, please let me use them!

I'm sick of worrying about getting shoe horned into a UAV. I don't want to wastefully spend TA and my time on some useless online degree from a for profit school just to check a box. I don't want my job performance to be based on how much I volunteer at the special Olympics.

If you own an NFL team, do you compare your #1/40 hot dog seller with your #1/40 cheerleader with your #1/40 football player? That's EXACTLY what the Air Force is doing. Hey sorry Joe, I know you're a hard worker during practice but we're going to have to let you go because Timmy over here not only makes a mean Nacho and Cheese but he also helps special needs kids at the youth center while you're at summer camp training.

Being fair and politically correct will ALWAYS come at the expense of combat capability.

I remember thinking the day after UPT all those millions of pushups, long nights studying and marching BS where worth it - ten year commitment?! Scoff - I'll be doing something I LOVE. I've met more than one brand new Lt from USAFA who was PQ but did not fly because of the ten year commitment and what he saw is happening to pilots. WE ARE FAILING! How long with the Air Force make short sighted decisions with it's manning completely oblivious to second and third order long term effects.

Why am I being rated on my abilities as an action officer verse my check rides and tactical proficiency?!

You have to dedicate the better part of a DECADE to become a proficient tactical aviator, whether you fly a raptor or a C-17. It costs millions in training, with the current budget how in the hell are we wasting this time and money with pilots out of the cockpit or cross training to UAV hell?

I didn't see it at the time, but the very fact that we have a ten year UPT commitment is nothing more than the symptom of some very serious underlying issues. If it was so great, why would anyone want to leave? I certainly had no intention of anything other than staying twenty plus years as long as I got to fly. United may not have A-10's but they don't have predators or random 365's to the desert either.

Please Air Force, let us do what we signed up for, what we've trained for, and what we've worked our asses off for - it will increase our combat capability, retention and morale.

 

Some have served in the military in *completely* non flying roles because we thought we ought to serve our country.

 

HEAR HEAR!

This sentiment is felt throughout the U. S. Military. I've seen this issue in the USCG and dealt with it while flying for the USN. My friends who were U. S. Army commissioned officer aviators (O-1 and above) barely flew at all.

This isn't the case overseas. I flew with a commonwealth air force and can tell you that flying ability went a long way towards retention and promotion. Staff tours were still mandatory, but mainly for those who sought the career officer leadership track. There were several pilots who took the "Spec Aircrew" track and stayed in the cockpit for their entire career.

I had three FIC (aka PIT or FITU) instructors who were over 50 and still active duty military. The best pilots I have flown with.

Aircraft handling skills were important, and the I got to teach these to 18 yo high school grads (a university degree isn't a requirement for commissioning).

Spec Aircrew track is cheaper for the military in the long run. It's done in the U. S. military reserves. No clue why it's not part of AD military officer career track. The USN experimented with this a few years back with a flying WO career path. It was the dream track that all USN aviators have wanted.

I'm sure you'll get lots of replies. Vote with your feet and join the reserves or transfer to the USCG via its DCA program. You have to take a demotion to O-2 (for 2.5 years, not 2 years like all other services) if you become a DCA, but it's a way to guarantee 20 years of AD military flying.

 

If you really feel this way, then you ought to get out at your earliest opportunity. In fact, you probably should not have joined in the first place, because you are only going to suffer disappointment in the end.

We can discuss all day how other nation's militaries do it, etc .... all irrelevant. The bottom line is, the US Air Force does not need a Lieutenant Colonel who only flies jets. Nor does it need a Major who does only those things. So if that's what you want to do, great! Get promoted to Captain (ie, show up every day and don't get caught with a live boy or a dead girl) and then get out and go Reserves/Guard or just go to the airlines.

The US military needs a certain number of people to be 4 star generals. Those people need to have had a wide variance of experience prior to getting into those positions, and ideally the AF would have 2-3times (or more) viable candidates for each position when the time comes. In order to have that, they need a pool of 3-stars with a good breadth of experience, both operational and otherwise. To get that pool, they need a pool of 2-stars ... and 1-stars ... and Colonels. You get the point.

The military will continue to shrink, so the opportunity for someone to "just fly" is going to be reduced even more.

I am not saying it is right or wrong ... I'm saying it is what it is. You will not change it. The sooner you accept that fact and start making plans for your post-active-duty career, the happier you will be. :-) And, don't worry ... someone else who understands and accepts the "up-or-out" philosophy of the US military will be there to fly your old jet for you -- and when he lands, he will clear out his in box and take the paperwork home, because that is the job he signed up to do.

 

Nobody went through UPT with the acknowledgement that they'd be pulling staff tours for a decade. It is true that such is the reality, but it is pretty disingenuous to suggest people line up for a UPT slot for the promise of silver oak leaves and joint tours.

That said, this job has a shelf life of 10 years, sometimes less. This job is best served part-time, where you can fly without it being viewed in the pejorative light it is viewed in the Active Duty. I think Marvin overshot the mark by suggesting those who only want to fly should have not applied in the first place. Straight from the senior leadership playbook, only lifers and careerists are worthy of the distinction of serving as pilots. gimme a break.

The problem with being so shoulder shruggin about the reality that only people inclined to being desk jockeys are adept to a military career is that it absolutely and positively does not retain tactical experience, only lifer coasters or yes men with questionable stick and rudder skills. I've seen first hand what an up or out system and the utilization of aircraft seat quals viewed primarily as promotion fodder does to the mission. It's sickening. so there is something of value to be held by lifer flyers. But as has been highlighted already, the chair force dismissed that track long ago. It is indeed a pre-announced war. Most are best served doing 10 and pulling chocks. Being able to live with my choices in life is much more valuable than a check to me. Which is why i went Reserves. And if and when that too becomes too active duty like to be worth the effort, i'll do something else. Life's too short. Good luck.

 

This attitude is the fundamental root of the issue IMHO.

I had several Commanding Officers, who were arguably some of the best tacticians ever to grace the F-18. It was maddening trying to fly with them sometimes (or fight them) because they were just that good. Keeping up as a new guy was sometimes the only thing you could accomplish. The standards they set and the force they fostered in our squadron was nothing short of eye watering, and they did it with a quiet professionalism that we may or may not have carried on in our off hours. That experience for them came from uninterrupted careers in the jet. Weapons School grads, instructors, training officers... they had spent their entire careers becoming lethal masters of their art. Both I would follow back into combat at the drop of a hat.

Compare that to others that had done the joint/post grad/staff tour, color all the boxes green that came back to the jet as a squadron CO and couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag. Sure they knew how to run a squadron, but they couldn't lead lead a horse to water and it showed.

Guess which crop went on to post command tours?

Before the Goldwater-Nichols act, we some how managed to foster a lethal fighting force, with GO and Flag ranks that had grown up in their weapons systems. They made mistakes, they crashed airplanes, they ran whole fleets aground. They also understood their war fighters needs, and some even gun decked their own careers to go back (Robin Olds anyone?).

For evidence of this today, one need look no further than Army Warrants. Guys that can spend an entire career in their steed, and have proven in combat time and time again that experience counts for so much more than any bean counter can ever quantify with his slide rule and pocket protector.

Dreamers take heed the above posts. An entire generation of combat experienced warriors are so disenfranchised, and have been so demoralized that the ideals that got them there in the first place have been completely begrudged by the absolute desire to jump ship at the first chance they get.

My .02, YMMV.

 

Many are! Our squadron is like a revolving door of active duty guys looking for a job.

Numbers have been showing that the AD is going to be 1,000 pilots short soon! Couple that with the possible airline hiring soon (if you believe that)...it could get worse, quick!

That's a bit much...

Ugh...this is a problem! Show up early and then that's not early enough. Stay late, then that becomes the new standard...then someones needs to look better so they stay even later! Now you're are working 14 hours a day doing nothing the last 2-3 hours...gotta keep up that face time.

This!

Unfortunately, a great majority of the good ones get sick of the crap and get out before they reach that level. It seems most of the good ones get their careers cut short because they are not willing to be a Yes man.


Both True statements!

 

I wanted to fly as much as possible too - but in the end - you were commissioned as an officer in the USAF; not *just* a pilot. If all you wanted to do was fly - you should have gone the route of Army WO imo. I knew what I was signing up for, and I did my best on my out of cockpit tours, but I always looked for a way back into the cockpit again too; but you make it sound like the USAF lied to you or something when you joined.

So you signed up thinking that the ONLY thing you would ever do was fly?

The Australians have that Spec. Aircrew track that propfails2FX mentioned. I think it is a great thing and something that I probably would have pursued if it had been an option. Props - you mention the USN experimented with the flying track idea. They were allowing WOs to fly again in the P-3 community I thought I remembered. Did this go away so soon? I agree btw that MANY pilots I knew would have preferred this track to the more traditional career oriented track, but this was no secret.

Grumble - I've all those same things in Commanding Officers and even just lowly Department Heads and MANY of them had staff tours, or tours with the GRUNTS , and are just as good a tactician or instructor as those FEW who are lucky enough to never have a tour out of the cockpit. You can strive for that - but it is in the VAST minority. You know the boxes that have to be checked to attain command and the Navy is even easier than other services to always spend time in the cockpit because you can be-bop around Oceana or Lemoore on those dreaded staff tours and STILL fly.

USMCFLYR

 

What he said.

I NEVER wanted to do anything other than operate, but on the back side of twenty I don't have a choice (other than retire) so I've gotten some exposure to staff. It's been enlightening, in some ways good, some bad.

It's not that we don't need O-5's (or really old O-4's) flying airplanes, rather it's that we need their slots to attract young talent.

This doesn't just apply to aviation, but other "cool" jobs as well.

If you think officers should allowed to do nothing but fly, then you may as well just let the enlisted do it. And the idiots who think we should do THAT to save a few bucks REALLY don't get it. We need top people at O-6 and above, and that means we have to recruit them at age 18-25. Most kids in that demographic are not interested in or attracted to staff work, so the opportunity to fly airplanes (or jump out of them, or dive, or whatever) is a key recruiting and retention tool. By the time they hit 20 in service some have mellowed and have the patience for grownup work (not me). Letting enlisted fly should only be a last resort if you simply can't recruit enough college grads for whatever reason. It works for the army because they don't need or want pilots as senior officers...their fast-trackers are all in infantry, armor, arty, SF anyway.

Now I'm OK with the idea of letting a VERY few guys fly forever, based on pure skill so they can teach others. These would be the true living legends and would rotate between squadrons, weapons school, aggressors (capped at O-5). This would probably be more competetive than making O-7 of course...

All that said, I don't necessarily think that the services are doing the right things with their career tracks (sounds like AF is really FUBAR). PC BS and fake degrees should not replace real leadership experience and education.

 

Probably been posted on here but its worth a reread.

Why Our Best Officers Are Leaving - Magazine - The Atlantic

Here is a more satirical look at what is happening, but more true to what is happening now.

OPR review - YouTube