Fighter Slot?

But one thing remains constant, and always will: this life (and I include ALL the military, not just us knuckle-dragging fighter pukes) is a Brotherhood, and we live this life and celebrate this life together. And the rest of the world we pity, for they will never know the level of comraderie and dedication to each member of our Brotherhood that we lived and celebrated together, everyday.

Let the traditions slowly fade away, or become watered-down shadows of their former selves; it matters not. We still have each other, and always will.
Thats deep...... in a way.
 
Stand by bullet..................................................... (2 minute break) ...................

I did the toast. And what better than with one of the few last traditions. "The Weed". Always keep a cold bottle handy. A toast to all. later... Mike....
 
How you drink that crap I will never understand! My body is doing the head shake/shoulder shivers as I even think about it. The only thing worse than that is Jagermeister!

TPG,

Our DS went to his first formal function that had a grog, and I told him I pitied him because he was a minor. He looked at me like I was crazy. The next day he told me he now understood why I took pity upon him. I asked what they had in his and he went through the litany of what he could tell was in there. I replied to him what no mayo or mustard? Yes for all you younguns, they do put crap like that in it and that is why you never drink from the non-alcoholic one. Typically they start with an ice tea, and then everybody throws in what they think is the nastiest thing that they could think of, you can pretty much be guaranteed that hot sauce and ketchup will be in it!
 
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Can you clarify?

I'm sure it's a bit of interservice rivalry there, but for the ultimate clarification, here ya go:

Some people have the misconception that all the air force does is fly aircraft. Well not quite. I don't have the exact percentages but there will be many more people in the Air Force who have ground jobs than fly. Most of those ground jobs usually include some amount of sitting in a "chair" behind a desk. And since "chair" works so well with "air" it ends up being the "chair force" in other words a little ribbing saying air force sits in chairs while the (insert service here) does all the work.
 
I'm sure it's a bit of interservice rivalry there, but for the ultimate clarification, here ya go:

Some people have the misconception that all the air force does is fly aircraft. Well not quite. I don't have the exact percentages but there will be many more people in the Air Force who have ground jobs than fly. Most of those ground jobs usually include some amount of sitting in a "chair" behind a desk. And since "chair" works so well with "air" it ends up being the "chair force" in other words a little ribbing saying air force sits in chairs while the (insert service here) does all the work.

The numbers are "generally" that 13% of the AF is involved in flying operations the other 87% keep those lucky few looking good because trust me, having spent some time with the FMS/OMS folks...

THEY do the hard work; simple flying isn't that tough.

But being a brilliant combat aviator...well, as Bullet will attest: that's entirely different! :thumb:

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
If you look at many operational bases, they have about 300-400 flyers, however the base will have 4000 people, that should tell you real quick that flyers are in the minority.

Flieger is correct if the support doesn't do its job the jet can't perform as well or at all. People forget that there is a weather shop, an intel shop, life support, etc.
 
If you look at many operational bases, they have about 300-400 flyers, however the base will have 4000 people, that should tell you real quick that flyers are in the minority.

Flieger is correct if the support doesn't do its job the jet can't perform as well or at all. People forget that there is a weather shop, an intel shop, life support, etc.

Or the dedicated maintainer that's out there at 0200 in the morning, it's -30F, and they're working; sometimes without a glove on because it gets in the way of their fingers making a tiny adjustment, to make certain that THEIR jet is FMC (fully mission capable) when I arrive at 0630 to "borrow" it.

My job is easy...

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
Ok. Well, since you're all starting to come back a bit, I have another question based on something I read somewhere else on this forum, I forget where. Lets say, I got selected for a fighter track program. Could I switch to, say, a tanker program or a bomber program later in my career? This is all hypothetical, of course, for now.... ;)
 
Yes. "If Accepted". The "NEEDS OF THE AIR FORCE" come first. So if the time comes and you want to switch from fighter to tanker; AND the air force WANTS you more in that; they may allow it. As with anything; you can ask. Sort of like when people say something like: "I prayed, but God didn't answer my prayers". Yes He Did!!! He said NO! Well, when the time comes, all you do is put in for it. They might say yes, and they might say no. There are no guarantees. later... mike....
 
You can certainly try, but besides the fact that you would need command support (which is not easy) I would love to be in the office, when you voluntarily ask to go from fighters to heavies... I can tell you that when Bullet volunteered to jump out of perfectly good airplanes with the 82nd, jaws were dropping all over the base.

Second, depending on where you are in your career it would kill you, because you will go right back to where the FNGs from UPT are, you lose your IP status, since you are not qual'd in that plane. You would be the same as a 1st lt entering, you will move faster, from actual flight experience, but you still have to climb up the ladder.

I do know of one other beside Flieger who had the ability to cross over from fighter to heavy, but it was a guy who injured his back in the 111, he was med dq from ejection seats, so they offered him to go to heavies. He was a major, and decided to not take them up on it, instead he went to the AFA and became an instructor, from there he was by name requested to become the OSS commander at Mt Home, where he pinned on 0-6 and retired. He never flew a heavy because it was more important to get the right job for promotions then flying any ac.
 
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