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I can tell you about Biloxi, only three hours of driving away. Great place for gambling if you’re into that. Doing a quick google map search in Montgomery my food choices would be D’Road Cafe which seems to be Venezuelan and Island Delight at Dexter which looks to be Jamaican. Maybe give Dreamland BBQ a shot
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Jan 2, 2024 19:50
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Hotel Kpro posted:I can tell you about Biloxi, only three hours of driving away. Great place for gambling if you’re into that. Mojo Nixon vouches for Dreamland too! They were pretty legit when i was there like 20 years ago.
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Jan 3, 2024 00:19
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Nick Soapdish posted:Hey AF goons, I'm a DAF civilian now and going to be at Maxwell AFB for training at the end of the month. Any good food recommendations or places to see while in Birmingham? Check out Volcano Hot Pot & Korean BBQ https://yelp.to/N0mlQgI6DJ Best place we ate by a mile djfooboo fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Jan 3, 2024 |
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Jan 3, 2024 00:22
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There was a place called Blue Burrito that was good, but it might be because we'd been eating chow hall for 3 months. That was also 19 years ago, almost to the day.
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Jan 3, 2024 22:36
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Godholio posted:There was a place called Blue Burrito that was good, but it might be because we'd been eating chow hall for 3 months. That was also 19 years ago, almost to the day. You were a few classes after me as I recall. (I commissioned in August. Maxwell in the summer is.. not fun.). 19 years ago right now I was back in Germany for a few weeks after attending ASBC (in Nov/Dec) and then turning right around to go to comm officer training at Keesler in Jan/Feb. We used to go to this place called El Rey Burrito Lounge, it was sort of a dive but was very chill.
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Jan 4, 2024 02:19
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Biloxi in the summer is also not fun. As I would learn later, there were places like Qatar that were even less fun in the summer. Did get to eat some cow brain in Doha, couldn't tell you where we were though
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Jan 4, 2024 03:20
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hannibal posted:You were a few classes after me as I recall. (I commissioned in August. Maxwell in the summer is.. not fun.). 19 years ago right now I was back in Germany for a few weeks after attending ASBC (in Nov/Dec) and then turning right around to go to comm officer training at Keesler in Jan/Feb. I got there in September, so that checks. It was still about 85* when they shut down the air conditioning based on the calendar rather than the forecast. It was brutal, and they eventually realized they'd hosed up. But before they did, one of the other squadrons' class commanders was walking past our dorm building and spotted a pair of trainees without their PT shirts in their room doing normal poo poo like laundry or studying or whatever. It was a saturday, so no classes. He storms inside and down the hall, and we all just heard him bitch them out loudy for not being properly dressed.  Fast forward a couple months and most of us were back in town for ASBC and went out to dinner with our class commander, Capt Jack, who gave us his perspective. Whenever he got to his desk next, he saw the 341s the other guy pulled. The only information on the infraction was "naked OTs." He said he just facepalmed and said "What the gently caress," before going and finding out the whole story. 
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Jan 5, 2024 18:21
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Nick Soapdish posted:Hey AF goons, I'm a DAF civilian now and going to be at Maxwell AFB for training at the end of the month. Any good food recommendations or places to see while in Birmingham?  Delaware buddy, let me know if you need any pot. Security clearances are for suckers anyhow
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Jan 10, 2024 15:22
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I tried an edible a few weeks ago and I just wasn't a fan. All this hype about how great weed is and it just isn't for me.
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Jan 11, 2024 03:21
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Hotel Kpro posted:I tried an edible a few weeks ago and I just wasn't a fan. All this hype about how great weed is and it just isn't for me. When I first tried it I got so paranoid that I had no fun. I had to sit on the couch for three hours worrying about everything wrong in my life and I remember thinking "I thought I took this for my anxiety, and I feel worse!" Turns out I was just too high, I had to develop a tolerance and then I was fine. Indica strains tended to be my go-to as well, since the body high tended to give me less paranoia. Now I'm smoking big fat bongloads and growing my own mushrooms like a filthy hippy degenerate, and you can too!
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Jan 11, 2024 20:00
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So proud of you men
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Jan 11, 2024 21:56
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I didn't feel paranoid, I felt more like my mind was trying to make sense of things using old memories. The same thing happened when I smoked spice in tech school. In this instance I was watching Howl's Moving Castle with the girlfriend and all I could think was how weird this Disney movie was or where was Jake and Finn cause this was clearly an episode of Adventure Time.
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Jan 12, 2024 04:52
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I hate to do it, but I’ve got to give fighter pilots some credit, that’s an insane job. I had an incentive flight in a Viper today, and holy poo poo I cannot imagine doing that day in and day out.
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Jan 18, 2024 23:37
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Smoking weed seems so awesome, I'm jelly. I kinda wish I didn't focus so much on developing my AFSC job skills so hard in my career, thus pigeonholing myself into the govvie or contractor clearance world for life since this is all I know. I should've focused on getting a degree instead so that I can get a job that doesn't give a poo poo about weed use when I retire out, oh well. Don't be like me, stay in school kids!
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Jan 19, 2024 02:52
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Jimmy Smuts posted:Smoking weed seems so awesome, I'm jelly. I kinda wish I didn't focus so much on developing my AFSC job skills so hard in my career, thus pigeonholing myself into the govvie or contractor clearance world for life since this is all I know. I should've focused on getting a degree instead so that I can get a job that doesn't give a poo poo about weed use when I retire out, oh well. Don't be like me, stay in school kids! You’re not really missing out on anything. I’d rather have a clearance than wake and bake, but I say that after having a decade of heavy marijuana use after retiring. Sooner than you’d think it’ll be legal and hassle free. You’re on the right path, trust me man. It’s fun but not more interesting or fruitful than what you’re doing.
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Jan 19, 2024 03:02
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LtCol J. Krusinski posted:You’re not really missing out on anything.
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Jan 19, 2024 03:23
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Of course it’s better than booze, that’s just poison.
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Jan 19, 2024 03:47
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Hotel Kpro posted:Of course it’s better than booze, that’s just poison. This. Alcohol isn’t a mild intoxicant, it’s an addictive poison. As with ANYTHING, moderation and self control is key.
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Jan 19, 2024 04:33
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pkells posted:I hate to do it, but I’ve got to give fighter pilots some credit, that’s an insane job. I had an incentive flight in a Viper today, and holy poo poo I cannot imagine doing that day in and day out. The actual tactical poo poo is mostly math, too.
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Feb 2, 2024 00:27
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So, after decades of inquiries to leadership about getting the Warrant ranks back being responded with "lol, get back to work", well apparently we're getting WOs now. Also, the AF is trying to bring back retirees on a voluntary basis. Just lol.
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Feb 8, 2024 03:15
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I escaped to full time guard just in time, huh.
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Feb 9, 2024 01:11
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The retiree thing happens about every 5 years. I'll believe WOs when I see them, but if the AF is smart they'll pick a handful of career fields to split with WOs: a couple of cyber/comm AFSCs, ABMs, CSOs, aaaand...probably something else. Which means they'll use them in the dumbest loving places.
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Feb 9, 2024 02:30
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Yeah I doubt they'll do WO. All I saw was an AU plan about it, which doesn't mean anything. Even if it did, it'd probably be as successful as the enlisted rpa pilot thing they did a few years ago, then abandoned.
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Feb 9, 2024 18:55
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If it came from AU it was probably a student paper lol
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Feb 10, 2024 18:30
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This WO move seems to be serious going off unofficial sources, latest I've read is about some AF leadership visiting the Army's WO course, but I'm not seeing anything via official sources. That being said, I get actual and factual USAF news far quicker off unofficial sources (eg. Reddit, the ops floor, etc.) compared to big blue's outlets. Just lol that staffing in some AFSCs is so hosed that big blue is finally considering bringing back warrants; something that's a sign that hell has frozen over and pigs have discovered how to fly. Jimmy Smuts fucked around with this message at 05:32 on Feb 11, 2024 |
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Feb 11, 2024 05:29
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Jimmy Smuts posted:This WO move seems to be serious going off unofficial sources, latest I've read is about some AF leadership visiting the Army's WO course, but I'm not seeing anything via official sources. That being said, I get actual and factual USAF news far quicker off unofficial sources (eg. Reddit, the ops floor, etc.) compared to big blue's outlets. WO won't solve any staffing issues when they have to cannibalize from the officer corps to do so. There's maybe a handful of careers that would even actually benefit from WO, but I haven't even seen any good arguement for them beyond vague "we need experts." Like Army WOs actually serve a purpose on a commanders G/S staff, which is not how the AF operates. So I basically just see the AF mismanaging them anyway.
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Feb 11, 2024 05:59
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There's a way to do it smart, but we won't see that. If anything, the AF will try to half-copy the Army's model and it won't work, much like the Army's WO program. Their retention sucks, too. The AF needs to identify specific technical career fields that take longer than 2 years to build proficiency and require long-term investment to maintain it, then throw a fuckton of money at the people they want to sit in those lousy jobs. Eliminate virtually all career broadening poo poo, most PME, and have a hard limit on staff billets that's well below the number of people. You can probably fill a decent chunk of those billets with volunteers who need a break from Tinker or Ellsworth or whatever lovely base they're anchored to. A staff tour at any point gets you extra points towards CWO4 or 5 or something, but is not required, and you won't be tasked for a second. What we're going to get is WOs who are treated like SSgts, paid like 2Lts, and end up doing 95% the same bullshit as captains and majors.
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Feb 11, 2024 14:05
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just got off the AFA symposium all call. Allvin is saying WOs are only for cyber and that they will be very hesitant to expand the program to other career fields. Which reads to me as: "we need to attract SPERGY NERDS to program AI for advanced targeting and battlefield management and migration to cloud services.... and we know our best pilots would never commission again if they could go Warrant"
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Feb 13, 2024 01:37
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Knives Amilli posted:just got off the AFA symposium all call. Allvin is saying WOs are only for cyber and that they will be very hesitant to expand the program to other career fields. I haven't seen any details yet but this makes sense to me; it helps with several things bad about cyber - people get out early so they're understaffed, they can stay in a lot longer doing basically the same kind of work, I'm guessing the WO pay scale is a little higher so they can at least pay people more and they can keep them in specialized units (e.g. CPTs) vs having to spread them out to the rest of the force. Maybe if it's successful they'll expand it to other technical fields e.g. aircraft mx.
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Feb 13, 2024 02:01
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Yeah the problem remains that doing cyber in the USAF just doesn't compare to the private sector income you can get doing the same.
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Feb 13, 2024 02:26
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Having finally read some news, well, lots of big changes afoot. https://www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-warrant-officer-cyber-it/ - no surprsie there. https://www.airandspaceforces.com/big-changes-air-force-space-force/ whoah all sorts of renaming/new commands/what have you. I guess we didn't have enough 3-star generals.
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Feb 13, 2024 05:32
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Still not convinced we needed a space force, especially not before a cyber force. But a cyber command is a good step I guess. A lot of the rest of that reads like peace time air force with more annoying wing ORIs.
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Feb 13, 2024 23:16
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question: one of my commanders and I were talking about the possible changes with cyber, and we talked about whether the stan/eval program will stay or go. My initial thought was if Air Force cyber will report directly to USCC, then what do we need Stan/Eval for as it is a ACC directed program. He replied that stan/eval is a necessary evil in order to have a designated weapon system and receive Air Force program funding. Is this true? Also how does Stan eval work for platforms that don’t fall under ACC? Does say AMC have to direct Stan/eval for hercs?
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Feb 16, 2024 05:05
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Knives Amilli posted:question: one of my commanders and I were talking about the possible changes with cyber, and we talked about whether the stan/eval program will stay or go. My initial thought was if Air Force cyber will report directly to USCC, then what do we need Stan/Eval for as it is a ACC directed program. Stan/Eval is not an ACC program, it is an AF wide flying operations program. Why non flying units would have stan/eval is beyond me. More info at AFI 11-200 Flying Operations and AFMAN 11-202v2 Aircrew Standardization & Evaluation Program. Every MAJCOM probably has a supp as well.
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Feb 16, 2024 08:24
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AFStealth posted:Stan/Eval is not an ACC program, it is an AF wide flying operations program. Why non flying units would have stan/eval is beyond me. Because it's a CYBER WEAPON SYSTEM, duh. Just like an F-16, there's no difference really. That's why we give our computers tail numbers. And why, when we push out a targeted patch to outdated operating systems, we call it a cyber sortie and plan out the patching using PBED and pretend as if we can't step back and undo a change, because you can't move back to an earlier stage of an aerial refueling mission and this is the US Air Force god drat it, we are flying cyber planes in the cyber defense of our cyber infrastructure. Absolutely none of that was a joke and what I just described is factually true USAF cyber operation doctrine, even though in a sane world it absolutely should be a joke, and indeed is a joke to anyone with half a brain forced to play along until they qualify for the GI Bill. Edit: It's not science fiction. It's what we do every day. Arc Light fucked around with this message at 09:40 on Feb 16, 2024 |
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Feb 16, 2024 09:36
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Science fucktion am I right?
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Feb 16, 2024 09:59
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We had stan/eval in comm squadrons back in the day, because we followed a lot of the MX processes and had packages that we kept ready to go out the door (mind you, I was in a combat comm squadron so this made a lot more sense). I think you need something that says "we need a list of tasks you are trained to do, and then we need to check and make sure you know how to do those tasks" - doesn't seem like an aircrew only thing to me. Now, whether the current cyber training plans are good or not, is a different question. (I'm going to say probably not because as Arc Light points out it's hard to fit cyber into a sortie/generation based paradigm) I also don't think there's enough support for a separate DoD cyber force and I think the DoD currently agrees with me because even though a lot of cyber folks are pushing for it, they've only funded a study so far. There is already a cyber force of the style people want, it's called CNMF. Just like there was a "space force" in all but name before, it was called AF Space Command. In my opinion splitting off cyber makes it harder to do what is really needed, which is integrate it with mission systems and other types of warfighting, not pull it further away.
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Feb 16, 2024 15:53
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I’m giving my lovely DHA laptop a tail number now.
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Feb 16, 2024 17:38
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Arc Light posted:Because it's a CYBER WEAPON SYSTEM, duh. Just like an F-16, there's no difference really. That's why we give our computers tail numbers. And why, when we push out a targeted patch to outdated operating systems, we call it a cyber sortie and plan out the patching using PBED and pretend as if we can't step back and undo a change, because you can't move back to an earlier stage of an aerial refueling mission and this is the US Air Force god drat it, we are flying cyber planes in the cyber defense of our cyber infrastructure. This made me chuckle because I absolutely believe it. AF constantly trying to emulate flying ops & culture in every unit is some of the most ridiculous thing ever. Don't get me started on every space operator telling me they "fly a satellite" as I roll my eyes. I think this stunts the natural culture of other non-flying communities. hannibal posted:We had stan/eval in comm squadrons back in the day, because we followed a lot of the MX processes and had packages that we kept ready to go out the door (mind you, I was in a combat comm squadron so this made a lot more sense). I think you need something that says "we need a list of tasks you are trained to do, and then we need to check and make sure you know how to do those tasks" - doesn't seem like an aircrew only thing to me. The concept is definitely not I suppose, but Stan/Eval is a very rigid and formal program to evaluate primarily the safe operation of aircraft. The whole checkrides, form 8s, qualifications, potential loss of qualifications etc. are all centered around this. I guess it just seems like overkill for non flying units. My brief stint as an ALO, we didn't have this at all unless you were JTAC qualed. Everyone else just relied on a training program & certifications.
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Feb 16, 2024 20:16
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It's worth mentioning that just because something gets announced at one of these shindigs doesn't mean it's gonna happen. It's basically a list of CSAF hopes and dreams that the air staff couldn't poke enough holes through in a month to kill them. Remember how we were gonna plus up by like 80 squadrons a few years back? How's that going?
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Feb 17, 2024 00:43
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