Air Force Community - Air Force Times

The infamous flight suit

What benefit to the Air Force is it to have members walking around in flight suits at headquarters? About the only thing I can come up with is easy identification of flying personnel, but isn’t that what wings are for on the battle dress uniform or blues? It’s more likely this is a bone to throw to fliers who have been assigned desk duty so that they still feel like pilots at that desk.

— technomage1

As a pilot, it never ceases to amaze me how much other people care about my flight suit. Don’t worry so much about me and my flight suit. Anyone who complains about my flight suit either has too much time on his hands and not enough to worry about, or is quite simply jealous. If the latter is the truth, nothing is stopping you from trying to become an aircrew member. And, if you have al¬ready tried and failed, don’t blame for me making the decision early to become a flier. At the end of the day, I am drenched in sweat and, quite frankly, disgusting. It is a physical job, and asking me to change in and out of my flight suit would be like me asking you to change in and out of your airman battle uniform when you were not doing any sort of physical labor. Just move on with your life and I will move on with mine, and we will both live happily ever after.

— Gunjink

Which source produces best new lieutenants?

When comparing the quality of new Air Force lieutenants among the academy, ROTC and Officer Training School commissionees, one always comes to the conclusion that the USAFA graduates are generally bitter, cynical and conniving compared to their counter¬parts. Why? Because they see their friends having the times of their lives in civilian colleges (parties, drugs, women) and they feel cheated out of the fun they should be having, or had.

— smarg

I fly with officers every day. The difference really comes down to how they view enlisted. Zoomies look down on enlisted as second-class people. The OTS and ROTC guys have most likely been prior enlisted and know how the other half lives. On a crew airplane, it does not take long for them to wake up and pull their heads out. They all learn that if they treat their troops well, the troops will take care of them.

— Maxx

AIR FORCE AT ODDS WITH DoD

If Gen. Bruce Carlson felt that strongly about how wrong the de¬cision was to limit F-22s, it was his duty to speak up, even though it got him in hot water. We’ve held Billy Mitchell up as a hero (right¬fully so) for doing no less. Gen. Carlson is retiring, and though I don’t know him, I’m proud that he did the right thing at risk to his own comfort.

— Rev Mike Large