Fighter Seasoning
12-01-2013, 02:01 PM
#2
Get me outta here...
Joined APC: Oct 2008
Position: Boeing right seat
Posts: 1,541
Can you provide more detail in your question? Maybe it is just me, but I don't know what you are talking about.
What type of aircraft (yes, I see you are talking "fighter". More specifically?)
MQ phase?
How long you can expect to be full time?
How long you will be the Snacko?
What type of aircraft (yes, I see you are talking "fighter". More specifically?)
MQ phase?
How long you can expect to be full time?
How long you will be the Snacko?
12-01-2013, 02:35 PM
#3
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2012
Position: Babysitter
Posts: 975
Seasoning...hmm....as the young guy you'll be seasoning for some time....get a costco membership for the snacko......and why the heck are you even asking the question you should just be thank full to be where you are......
12-01-2013, 03:42 PM
#5
Moderate Moderator
Joined APC: Mar 2008
Position: Curator at Static Display
Posts: 5,681
If you're talking about full-time orders after UPT and RTU, typical would be 2-3 years. However, that is what I heard in pre-fiscal-calamity days. (Not me directly, but students of mine who were Guard or Reserve).
I still think they would want to get 3-400 hours on you, with the potential to make 2-ship FLUG (yes, I know different airframes go directly to 4-ship).
Otherwise, you will lose a lot of temporary knowledge you got at FTU/RTU, and be stuck as a wingman for a long time. Going from full-time to part-time would just make the brain-drain worse.
I still think they would want to get 3-400 hours on you, with the potential to make 2-ship FLUG (yes, I know different airframes go directly to 4-ship).
Otherwise, you will lose a lot of temporary knowledge you got at FTU/RTU, and be stuck as a wingman for a long time. Going from full-time to part-time would just make the brain-drain worse.
12-02-2013, 06:33 PM
#7
Moderator
Joined APC: Jul 2006
Posts: 5,857
In the ANG (Vipers), you get 2-254 day sets of orders, which is just under 1.5 years. You can work some magic by going on and off orders and burning AFTPs/UTAs (96 total pay periods or 48 "days") + 14-30 days of AT if they are available. Generally, you can stretch that out to 2+ years. How far they get you into upgrades varies from squadron to squadron. We don't do 2-FLUG, other units do. So for our guys, we try to get them through 4-FLUG and experienced (~500 hours, if able). Even then I don't feel you're ready to go part time, but sometimes you don't have any other choice.
12-03-2013, 09:36 PM
#9
Get me outta here...
Joined APC: Oct 2008
Position: Boeing right seat
Posts: 1,541
12-04-2013, 02:43 AM
#10
China Visa Applicant
Joined APC: Oct 2006
Position: Midfield downwind
Posts: 1,930
Ahhhh, eagerness to deploy: the sign of someone who hasn't been there yet.
Seems appropriate to post this poem that was written by "Heavy" Thompson, an old Vietnam vet Raven FAC (and F-4 pilot) who was one of my T-37 sim instructors at Columbus in the 90s. This was on the wall of his little briefing cubicle and I read it every time I simmed with him. I didn't understand how brilliant it was until I later went to war myself, then followed it up with a trip to AETC as a T-38 IP.
Jeffrey E. Thompson
Raven 28
Seems appropriate to post this poem that was written by "Heavy" Thompson, an old Vietnam vet Raven FAC (and F-4 pilot) who was one of my T-37 sim instructors at Columbus in the 90s. This was on the wall of his little briefing cubicle and I read it every time I simmed with him. I didn't understand how brilliant it was until I later went to war myself, then followed it up with a trip to AETC as a T-38 IP.
The Warrior
Young warriors pride themselves
on prowess with weapons,
their swiftness and accuracy,
hoping for combat to prove their skill.
Commanders, be watchful at first combat,
for when the young warrior pierces
the enemy's flesh for the first time
and the warm blood of life
turns cold in his hands,
he becomes an "Old Warrior"
-- no longer hoping for war
but praying for peace.
Jeffrey E. Thompson
Raven 28
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