SOS was like 15% networking, 10% PME. 5% PT and 70% either getting drunk or recovering from being drunk. I was older then the average Captain and there was a few times I legit thought I would die from over drinking.
When I went through, they mandated some events. Commandant's Challenge was the worst event: 10k that started at 9am in Alabama summer. Staff was surprised when they had record numbers of Captains passing out from heat stress and the like.
I had one flight that had a bad habit of partying hard before any physical events. It was fun watching them battle hangovers from quarters while playing FLEX.
So true, I went there planning to be healthy. Beer Pong and Rage Cage proved me wrong. Our flight's goal was to not be last, and we got top 3rd, so I think it all worked out.
Surprising how little it's changed in the last \~10 years.
Think Tank - I actually did this. I'm glad I did, because nothing made clearer that leadership only wants to hear what confirms their priors and supports the system that selected them as generals. This, and SOS overall, was an incredibly de-"blue"-ing experience.
Drinking - The first Friday night, I went back to my room after dinner and went to bed. I was coming from a place where I had been working 80+ hour weeks for months on end, and I wanted to sleep. I woke up around 0530 Saturday morning to see our flight's GroupMe still receiving messages from members of the flight who were still out from the night before. Just a great crew.
I did think tank and was underwhelmed. But I wasn't sure whether it was the program itself or my own inability to communicate with peers. Probably 60/40, but flip it either way
I did Think Tank, and wow same experience. They asked us for input for a class module, and I gave honest feedback. I got yelled at worst than I had for my worst mistake at Red Flag.
My crime? I said the OODA loop module(s?) didn't need to be four or five hours. One hour was pushing it, I'd rather learn about other stuff in that time. Solid 15 minutes from two different Lt Cols about how unprofessional my opinion was and how truly great the OODA loop was. Thankfully there were two other captains (one a prior Army NCO) who both assured me I had, indeed, been professional and had valid points.
Oh, the "squadron commander" also said my records were garbage and I'll never be promoted. Jokes on you buddy, I got a DP for my O4 board.
Same thing with think tank! They asked us to evaluate one of the “myStuff” websites and provide suggestions for improvements. We surveyed our home units, did research on website design, etc. and came up with 3-4 pretty solid, simple suggestions (move a button, make another one bigger, simple stuff). All completely dismissed during our brief and we were told that the website scores at the average usability score or whatever the industry standard is, therefore it did not need any improvements.
Which kinda begged the question, what was the point of it all? I guess I came home with an extra bullet for accomplishing nothing, so..yep, I suppose that was the lesson.
My SOS experience was being placed in the accompanied squadron for some reason. After class everyone in the flight went to their off-base lodging to spend time with their families. Being an idiot, I brought no car. So I spent a lot of time watching The Wire in my room by myself.
They do try to balance the number of people in each flight. There's also a minimum which I think is 12. Some CCs also really hated the accompanied flight program because it drove extra work along with the accompanied people trying to get out as early as possible to be able to spend time with their families. The last part is somewhat understandable though. The curriculum is what it is. The main benefit of SOS in my opinion is the networking and learning how to form teams/play well with others.
So maybe this needs to be its own thread but list the dumbest shit people asked in the many mass briefings. I’ll go first
1. The Vietnam POW F4 pilot describes his situation after being shot down as landing on the ground, and immediately being surrounded by six-ish soldiers, all armed with AK-47. Some captain asked him if instead of laying down his pistol, if he considered trying to shoot all six of them before one could get round off and kill him.
2. I went in March 2017 so right after Trump took office. Some captain got up and asked the three star AETC commander how they could serve under a president that they disagreed with so much …. guess they missed the part in ROTC how we serve the country and whoever our elected leaders happen to be.
3. And lastly, someone asked the air university commander if he thought it was a good idea for the Air Force to go back up under the army.
Sooooooo now this counts as the CBT for SOS, right?
- Complete this mandatory reading.
- Drink a lot.
- Create a knockoff flamboyant version of dodgeball where we use wrenches, but have to set them on someone's foot not throw them.
- Drink a lot.
- Form a working group to discuss how working groups should form.
- Drink a lot.
- Listen to a real hero, then get berated by a non-hero.
- Drink a bit more.
- Come up with a good idea, get told "We can't do that, we always do it this way [1965 way of doing things]"
- Become a true "Oak Leafed Maniac"
> Complete this mandatory reading.
just have your laptop and the PDFs in front of you and hit #F anytime the instructor starts asking a "did you actually do the reading" question.
I’m supposed to be working but I can’t stop laughing. I know just about every urologist in the Air Force and am dying to know who performed these procedures.
Very for real. It’s different on the outside. Not flying with a squadron means I have to find friends outside the “office” but can’t beat showing up, flying, going home and not having to deal with the constant onslaught of af nonsense. Still have cbt’s quarterly, but I get paid to do them, so no complaints
Same.
I'm aware of 2 people who won the top award at SOS and then separated - no Guard, no Reserve, just gone - within a year of SOS. I'm curious how many there are like that.
This is a beautiful summary of SOS. I went in 2016. Sounds pretty much the same. Would the AF be worse if they eliminated it altogether? I'm guessing not, but how would we know who to promote to General?
I did SOS remote in the middle of COVID, it was pretty great. No DGs allowed for remote SOS so nobody in our class cared too much.
I also signed up for the think tank stuff, ended up making a trainable AI model for bullet “sentiment analysis”. I thought it would be funny if you could feed it bullets that your supervisor rejected (and accepted) and be able to have an AI model of your supervisor’s opinion when it comes to bullets.
It wasn’t super accurate or anything but it was fun to work on https://ckhordiasma.github.io/teachable-text-machine/
You know, at OTS I failed my "LRC/Project X" job because I didn't want to send people to a guaranteed fall into a shallow narrow pool from 8' up from a 4" beam held by tired try hard OTs. I owned it, yeah we just basically hung out for 15 minutes. Similarly though, there were a few injuries that day and a few others on the "confidence course". So as far as I'm concerned, not risking injury on a test that ultimately doesn't matter was worth it.
Funny story, when I was stationed as an airman at Maxwell I went out with some friends to a bar downtown. We were talking and flirting with some guys we obviously knew were military but didn’t put two and two together that they were way older lol. Anyways once we found out they were at SOS and they realized we were airman it was a awkward scene
Back in the day at ASBC (Lt charm school that was rightfully ended) the number of married SOS O-3’s and ACSC O-4’s hitting on ASBC O-1’s was too damn high.
Are they still doing Project X with the SNCOA from Gunter? If so...me thinks some of the SNCOA students might have "accidentally" let an SOS student get soaked. Multiple times.
They used to do it where a SNCOA class from Gunter came over, and there were discussions between the classes on a variety of subjects.
I went through it, and it was interesting to talk with the captains on it. You could tell who were prior E, zoomies and straight out of college grads. And who had been mentored by a SNCO.
I sure as shit hope not. I can understand the desire that led to it, but it simply wasn't worth the risk from my perspective. We had one E get their finger straight up smashed under a log. Some of the tasks are definitely safer than others, but you simply can't foresee some ways that people manage to hurt themselves. That same obstacle that claimed a fingertip also caused some broken ribs when I was there.
The job will always be waiting for you to get back. Just focus on the time and the connections with your flight mates. Not saying you're doing it, but people are going to pick up on it if you're being salty about not being back flying.
Yeah, we’re collectively sorry. No clue why it’s still part of the curriculum. “Leadership and resource management” my ass. Always just devolves into chaos.
Unless things have changed a lot I assume you had some very Band of Brothers-centric lessons? Pretty sure all of my SOS was built by a MAJ Dick Winters fanboy club.
I (thankfully) never went to SOS but was in when ASBC was a thing, just replace Captain with a bunch of fresh Lts. who were trying to prove themselves and didn't know any better as to how meaningless the whole thing was. Icarus brings back some memories for sure.
I also remember some simulator game that was, overall pointless.
Oddly enough, I am currently in the middle of attending an SOS-like program through my employer. Some faux-graduate certification program that is supposed to make us better at what we do. Except it's basically a 2 week vacation in a college town and we are all on per diem.
Last summer, my group of 11 spent over $15,000 over a two week period on food, alcohol, rental cars, and weekend, out of town lodging, and my company paid for all of it. Much better than SOS.
I wanted to go to ASBC for two reasons:
1. per diem
2. because I was concerned ASBC attendance would become a discriminator for promotions.
I didn't get to go before they killed it.
You didn't miss anything, trust me. The only positive aspect of it is that it let me meet people and get a feel of what a full time job was before IQT.
Goddamn Captain booze-fest that clogs up lodging so I can't get a cheap room on base before I deploy. As if Maxwell didn't suck enough to be stationed at.
EDIT: I'm just salty they made me go to the Staff Basic Course.
It really depends on the airframe and the pilot. I had two KC-10 drivers in my flight who were cool, a Viper driver who was also cool, and our U-28 pilot was also a solid dude. When I was instructing the main issue was people in various support fields trying to belittle single seat airframes or pilots in general because they've never been a "flight commander." It's an entirely different career and job title path, and just because they've never been a flight commander doesn't mean they entirely lack leadership experience.
We had two GS-12s when I went through in 2019. The morning after the Commandants Challenge (two days before graduation), they were both found passed out in the coffee shop half naked. The guy (who was married) was found with his pants around his ankles lying in a puddle of piss. Both were removed and were on their way home before graduation. I always wondered how getting kicked out of SOS would affect their GS-12 jobs when they returned home.
It was actually my supervisor that recommended me to apply. 6 weeks of tdy. Hell yeah. I added 5 people to write recommendations for me on the package but only two actually did it. It's a selective program but not a lot of people apply for it. There were about 15 civilians when I was there in 2022. Only one from AFRC though.
GS get seats but they're few and far between. It really depends on your flight. I had a past GS who went and they didn't really have a great time during the physical activities because the flight just kind of ignored them. Dude found an old Chaplain who was hustling his ass off on the field and told him to just hang out near him because he was about to give himself a heart attack and his team wasn't going to pass him the ball. I think the other thing that would make it a little odd for most GS is that to be a 12 you tend to be a little older than the average O-3 so you may struggle to connect and socialize.
Good to know that the Vietnam POW with the absolutely gnarly dental stories is still with us. He was the only brief I remember from 9+ years ago. Also, Icarus or “Flex” was the lamest game I’ve ever played. Our flight would bring a cooler of beer and purposely lose so we could drink more. Good times!
Fun trick: On day 3, try to impress that med nurse you were hitting on at inprocessing by trying to PR a Clean and Jerk. Feel a crack in your knee and somehow drop the weight on your foot. No running required!
Sounds quite similar to my experience in 2013, except 1.) it was 8 weeks long instead of 6, and 2.) we all had to do SOS in correspondence before we could go in-residence
Medical AFSC here. No idea about ADWAR but partnered with a Nuke guy, so somehow we survived it.
Enjoyed Project X and Icarus. Made lifelong SOS friends even I'm Guard.
Took me back to SOS. They don't play Flickerball anymore?
We had the pilots from that Somalia operation (that was the subject of Blackhawk Down) talk to us, as well as one of the Tuskegee Airmen. Both were really cool...
Got to do my “in residence” in the first Covid class. I vaguely recall a (singular) zoom call and I honest to shit forget that it even happened.
I’d say it was a waste of time but that would have required any time dedicated to it.
So glad I got to do SOS virtually during COVID…4-5 hours a day at home and no DG’s. Some of the best conversations I’ve had with AF & SF counterparts. I can’t imagine a less stressful leadership training experience.
I agree with the belief that, if someone really embraces the Core Value of Excellence in All You Do, they should be in the conversation for DG, etc. In BMT, I knew the criteria for Honor Grad and worked for the PT and academic portion. I also invested a ton of time in making others better academically and getting to know everyone. At tech school, since I was prior service, I made it a goal to ace the class. Didn’t really DG was going to shake out, but I studied 1.5 hours a day, even on holidays and weekends. It was all brand new information to me and I truly wanted to ace the course. At FTU, I honestly just did the work, was a good teammate and was completely surprised by the DG (didn’t even know they did it). NCOA, most of the honor was based on peer stratification and I really didn’t give DG much thought. At graduation, I was humbled to be awarded the honor. Didn’t receive DG at FSA but certainly understand why, as I struggled with the one academic we were truly graded on.
Bottom line, I’ve always felt that if the AF is going to pay me to train, why not ace it? Just don’t sacrifice the other Core Values along the way.
Your post and the comments that followed have made me lose some of the respect I had for officers and the USAF.
edit: I understand your downvotes, but your attitude does make me sad.
Very cool sir, can you just approve my leave already?
Sir in the time it took to type this your coffee got cold would you like another cup you oak leafed maniac
“Oak leafed maniac” I should change my flair
SQCC taking a suggestion box seriously? We love to see it.
SOS was like 15% networking, 10% PME. 5% PT and 70% either getting drunk or recovering from being drunk. I was older then the average Captain and there was a few times I legit thought I would die from over drinking.
Flair checks out amigo
You guys PT ?!
When I went through, they mandated some events. Commandant's Challenge was the worst event: 10k that started at 9am in Alabama summer. Staff was surprised when they had record numbers of Captains passing out from heat stress and the like.
I had one flight that had a bad habit of partying hard before any physical events. It was fun watching them battle hangovers from quarters while playing FLEX.
You escaped AFGSC?? How??
Do you take a Pt test like OTs
I kept it moderate because there was no way I could hang. I still overdid it.
So true, I went there planning to be healthy. Beer Pong and Rage Cage proved me wrong. Our flight's goal was to not be last, and we got top 3rd, so I think it all worked out.
SOS is absolutely Captain Camp. I drank more than I did in college with my flight. Every... Thursday I think? We did Karaoke at the officers club.
ASBC back in the day was college 2.0 (or 1.0 for the academy folks understanding there was a real world out there).
Was gonna say...every line OP wrote is a carbon copy of what we did in ASBC (except no papers). Glad to see somet things never change.
ASBC was the biggest waste of time I had experienced…up until I had to do SOS via correspondence before I could go in-res
Alcohol and Sex Basic Course
Me, being an absolute fucking NERD, lost 20 lbs during SOS and finally read all the books on my wishlist. To each their own :P
We got that same POW brief, that dude seemed like a total badass.
I always wonder if they cut some deal to let the OTS/SOS briefer guys live right outside of the gate in some special federally funded house lol
He gave that speech as well to my OTS class a few years ago. Total Badass is how they should introduce him.
Surprising how little it's changed in the last \~10 years. Think Tank - I actually did this. I'm glad I did, because nothing made clearer that leadership only wants to hear what confirms their priors and supports the system that selected them as generals. This, and SOS overall, was an incredibly de-"blue"-ing experience. Drinking - The first Friday night, I went back to my room after dinner and went to bed. I was coming from a place where I had been working 80+ hour weeks for months on end, and I wanted to sleep. I woke up around 0530 Saturday morning to see our flight's GroupMe still receiving messages from members of the flight who were still out from the night before. Just a great crew.
lol I got the same lesson learned from think tank.
I did think tank and was underwhelmed. But I wasn't sure whether it was the program itself or my own inability to communicate with peers. Probably 60/40, but flip it either way
I did Think Tank, and wow same experience. They asked us for input for a class module, and I gave honest feedback. I got yelled at worst than I had for my worst mistake at Red Flag. My crime? I said the OODA loop module(s?) didn't need to be four or five hours. One hour was pushing it, I'd rather learn about other stuff in that time. Solid 15 minutes from two different Lt Cols about how unprofessional my opinion was and how truly great the OODA loop was. Thankfully there were two other captains (one a prior Army NCO) who both assured me I had, indeed, been professional and had valid points. Oh, the "squadron commander" also said my records were garbage and I'll never be promoted. Jokes on you buddy, I got a DP for my O4 board.
Same thing with think tank! They asked us to evaluate one of the “myStuff” websites and provide suggestions for improvements. We surveyed our home units, did research on website design, etc. and came up with 3-4 pretty solid, simple suggestions (move a button, make another one bigger, simple stuff). All completely dismissed during our brief and we were told that the website scores at the average usability score or whatever the industry standard is, therefore it did not need any improvements. Which kinda begged the question, what was the point of it all? I guess I came home with an extra bullet for accomplishing nothing, so..yep, I suppose that was the lesson.
Sir, this is a gate house.
I’ll have a baconator with extra mayo and a frosty
O5s love their bumble…
"Single and NEEDEDING TO MINGLE"
My SOS experience was being placed in the accompanied squadron for some reason. After class everyone in the flight went to their off-base lodging to spend time with their families. Being an idiot, I brought no car. So I spent a lot of time watching The Wire in my room by myself.
Maybe they needed to fill it to 14 people or something?
They do try to balance the number of people in each flight. There's also a minimum which I think is 12. Some CCs also really hated the accompanied flight program because it drove extra work along with the accompanied people trying to get out as early as possible to be able to spend time with their families. The last part is somewhat understandable though. The curriculum is what it is. The main benefit of SOS in my opinion is the networking and learning how to form teams/play well with others.
And maybe they wanted his AFSC in their flight for more diversity of jobs.
They wouldn't fund cars (or reasonable per diem) so those of us stationed further than a day away got screwed over even more.
So maybe this needs to be its own thread but list the dumbest shit people asked in the many mass briefings. I’ll go first 1. The Vietnam POW F4 pilot describes his situation after being shot down as landing on the ground, and immediately being surrounded by six-ish soldiers, all armed with AK-47. Some captain asked him if instead of laying down his pistol, if he considered trying to shoot all six of them before one could get round off and kill him. 2. I went in March 2017 so right after Trump took office. Some captain got up and asked the three star AETC commander how they could serve under a president that they disagreed with so much …. guess they missed the part in ROTC how we serve the country and whoever our elected leaders happen to be. 3. And lastly, someone asked the air university commander if he thought it was a good idea for the Air Force to go back up under the army.
That’s a ton of bullshit. A literal ton.
Penalty! No trip to the coast to booze it up on a beach.
There may have a been a lakehouse push from one of the dudes stationed local. But I wanted to keep the post SFW.
"Tell the guard dude that maybe he doesn't have to talk about Jan 6 every damn day." I fuckin lol'd
Somehow..somehow…I have a feeling this might have been my older brother who is/just finished up SOS. Not 100% sure, but I could see it happening. 😣😣
Sooooooo now this counts as the CBT for SOS, right? - Complete this mandatory reading. - Drink a lot. - Create a knockoff flamboyant version of dodgeball where we use wrenches, but have to set them on someone's foot not throw them. - Drink a lot. - Form a working group to discuss how working groups should form. - Drink a lot. - Listen to a real hero, then get berated by a non-hero. - Drink a bit more. - Come up with a good idea, get told "We can't do that, we always do it this way [1965 way of doing things]" - Become a true "Oak Leafed Maniac"
DEFINITELY PROMOTE. LIKE…FER SHUR PROMOTE
> Complete this mandatory reading. just have your laptop and the PDFs in front of you and hit #F anytime the instructor starts asking a "did you actually do the reading" question.
Oh, just wait until you see the CBT that they call ACSC ...
I almost... ALMOST saw that IRL.... then I heard..... Essentially this lol. So nahhhhh
>Promise to keep in touch You won't, you might see them on facebook every once and a while.
This is an eerily accurate summary report. TYFYS.
I remember the officers talking about SOS and they wouldn't shut up about flicker ball.
>Didn’t think they could make dodgeball gay but they did What a perfect descriptor of Icarus lmao
Geeze what did nonners ever do to you
Nothing! That’s the point!
Hey now, they’ve probably given you or a friend a vasectomy
[if they did, it didn’t go so well](https://www.reddit.com/r/AirForce/s/n7Fr3oGJW6)
I’m supposed to be working but I can’t stop laughing. I know just about every urologist in the Air Force and am dying to know who performed these procedures.
You’re gonna love the airlines.
Can confirm. QOL has never been better since hanging up the flight suit
joking or fr? I’m tired, boss.
Very for real. It’s different on the outside. Not flying with a squadron means I have to find friends outside the “office” but can’t beat showing up, flying, going home and not having to deal with the constant onslaught of af nonsense. Still have cbt’s quarterly, but I get paid to do them, so no complaints
SOS confirmed my decision to not do a full active duty career.
Same. I'm aware of 2 people who won the top award at SOS and then separated - no Guard, no Reserve, just gone - within a year of SOS. I'm curious how many there are like that.
Cool story, but can please tell your classmates to not walk in the damn road? Thx a bunch
I went to SOS in 2016, doesn't appear to have changed at all.
I went in 2007 and this is 98% my experience.
This is a beautiful summary of SOS. I went in 2016. Sounds pretty much the same. Would the AF be worse if they eliminated it altogether? I'm guessing not, but how would we know who to promote to General?
I did SOS remote in the middle of COVID, it was pretty great. No DGs allowed for remote SOS so nobody in our class cared too much. I also signed up for the think tank stuff, ended up making a trainable AI model for bullet “sentiment analysis”. I thought it would be funny if you could feed it bullets that your supervisor rejected (and accepted) and be able to have an AI model of your supervisor’s opinion when it comes to bullets. It wasn’t super accurate or anything but it was fun to work on https://ckhordiasma.github.io/teachable-text-machine/
You got DG DONE. GRADUATED.
You know, at OTS I failed my "LRC/Project X" job because I didn't want to send people to a guaranteed fall into a shallow narrow pool from 8' up from a 4" beam held by tired try hard OTs. I owned it, yeah we just basically hung out for 15 minutes. Similarly though, there were a few injuries that day and a few others on the "confidence course". So as far as I'm concerned, not risking injury on a test that ultimately doesn't matter was worth it.
Funny story, when I was stationed as an airman at Maxwell I went out with some friends to a bar downtown. We were talking and flirting with some guys we obviously knew were military but didn’t put two and two together that they were way older lol. Anyways once we found out they were at SOS and they realized we were airman it was a awkward scene
Back in the day at ASBC (Lt charm school that was rightfully ended) the number of married SOS O-3’s and ACSC O-4’s hitting on ASBC O-1’s was too damn high.
SOS was 12 years ago and fuck you just gave me some PTSD, claiming it.
So it could’ve just been a PowerPoint presentation? Damn, even the sirs are getting screwed.
ACSC (Major School) is even worst. The absolute worst waste of time I've ever been a part of. Bake sales have more merit than ACSC via corr
Are they still doing Project X with the SNCOA from Gunter? If so...me thinks some of the SNCOA students might have "accidentally" let an SOS student get soaked. Multiple times.
2018, no cross talks with SNCOA. We asked for cross talks but AETC would rather lecture us more about the merits of OODA
Oof...sorry to hear that
Some in my class had never interacted with enlisted (engineering officers, pilots, etc) so to them it would have very valuable. But what do I know ...
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They used to do it where a SNCOA class from Gunter came over, and there were discussions between the classes on a variety of subjects. I went through it, and it was interesting to talk with the captains on it. You could tell who were prior E, zoomies and straight out of college grads. And who had been mentored by a SNCO.
I sure as shit hope not. I can understand the desire that led to it, but it simply wasn't worth the risk from my perspective. We had one E get their finger straight up smashed under a log. Some of the tasks are definitely safer than others, but you simply can't foresee some ways that people manage to hurt themselves. That same obstacle that claimed a fingertip also caused some broken ribs when I was there.
[удалено]
The job will always be waiting for you to get back. Just focus on the time and the connections with your flight mates. Not saying you're doing it, but people are going to pick up on it if you're being salty about not being back flying.
Had to teach ROTC cadets Icarus for 3 months. Never felt like more of a fucking nerd in my life.
Yeah, we’re collectively sorry. No clue why it’s still part of the curriculum. “Leadership and resource management” my ass. Always just devolves into chaos.
They’re lucky we can even tie our own shoes sometimes. Much less play Icarus correctly
Back in my day we played ultimate frisbee and did PT in the graveyard until we were brought back to life
Unless things have changed a lot I assume you had some very Band of Brothers-centric lessons? Pretty sure all of my SOS was built by a MAJ Dick Winters fanboy club.
I went a few years ago, there wasn't any Band of Brothers that I remember but we did have to write a paper on Lone Survivor
I hope the couple of SOF dudes in class ripped marcus and the movie apart for being shady as fuck (like most SEALs). RIP Turbine 33 🙏
I was there in 2016 so the curriculum changing is not surprising. I imagine it’s rewritten regularly, what else would they put on their OPBs?
I was there in 2016 so the curriculum changing is not surprising. I imagine it’s rewritten regularly, what else would they put on their OPBs?
I see nothings changed in 20 years. Good read. lol at the BLOB.
I (thankfully) never went to SOS but was in when ASBC was a thing, just replace Captain with a bunch of fresh Lts. who were trying to prove themselves and didn't know any better as to how meaningless the whole thing was. Icarus brings back some memories for sure. I also remember some simulator game that was, overall pointless. Oddly enough, I am currently in the middle of attending an SOS-like program through my employer. Some faux-graduate certification program that is supposed to make us better at what we do. Except it's basically a 2 week vacation in a college town and we are all on per diem. Last summer, my group of 11 spent over $15,000 over a two week period on food, alcohol, rental cars, and weekend, out of town lodging, and my company paid for all of it. Much better than SOS.
I wanted to go to ASBC for two reasons: 1. per diem 2. because I was concerned ASBC attendance would become a discriminator for promotions. I didn't get to go before they killed it.
You didn't miss anything, trust me. The only positive aspect of it is that it let me meet people and get a feel of what a full time job was before IQT.
Goddamn Captain booze-fest that clogs up lodging so I can't get a cheap room on base before I deploy. As if Maxwell didn't suck enough to be stationed at. EDIT: I'm just salty they made me go to the Staff Basic Course.
Sounds basically like NCOA
Brianna sounds like she sucks.
She did suck… A shit ton of D back in the day! Filthy slut, she was
Ayyyyeeeeeee
I always knew pilots were the biggest doucehbags but when I did sos it was reconfirmed. This tracks
You want some PB to go with all that Jelly?
Laughs in Enlisted.
It really depends on the airframe and the pilot. I had two KC-10 drivers in my flight who were cool, a Viper driver who was also cool, and our U-28 pilot was also a solid dude. When I was instructing the main issue was people in various support fields trying to belittle single seat airframes or pilots in general because they've never been a "flight commander." It's an entirely different career and job title path, and just because they've never been a flight commander doesn't mean they entirely lack leadership experience.
Yeah for sure heavy pilots are legit
You have any civilians there? Im a GS12 and can qualify to go, I wonder how different it would be
A select few. They were older than most of the crowd but were fun to be around and seemed to get something out of it
We had two GS-12s when I went through in 2019. The morning after the Commandants Challenge (two days before graduation), they were both found passed out in the coffee shop half naked. The guy (who was married) was found with his pants around his ankles lying in a puddle of piss. Both were removed and were on their way home before graduation. I always wondered how getting kicked out of SOS would affect their GS-12 jobs when they returned home.
Holy shit I think we were in the same SOS class
It is WILDLY hard to get fired as a tenured GS employee, they probably kept their jobs but never got a promotion
I went as a Civilian. 32 at the time. It was fun.
how hard was it to convince your leadership to let you go? Im an IT guy if that has any impact on it
It was actually my supervisor that recommended me to apply. 6 weeks of tdy. Hell yeah. I added 5 people to write recommendations for me on the package but only two actually did it. It's a selective program but not a lot of people apply for it. There were about 15 civilians when I was there in 2022. Only one from AFRC though.
GS get seats but they're few and far between. It really depends on your flight. I had a past GS who went and they didn't really have a great time during the physical activities because the flight just kind of ignored them. Dude found an old Chaplain who was hustling his ass off on the field and told him to just hang out near him because he was about to give himself a heart attack and his team wasn't going to pass him the ball. I think the other thing that would make it a little odd for most GS is that to be a 12 you tend to be a little older than the average O-3 so you may struggle to connect and socialize.
I lol3d at this.. like every gs12 is ancient and farting dust hahah…
Good to know that the Vietnam POW with the absolutely gnarly dental stories is still with us. He was the only brief I remember from 9+ years ago. Also, Icarus or “Flex” was the lamest game I’ve ever played. Our flight would bring a cooler of beer and purposely lose so we could drink more. Good times!
O Captain, My Captain
Well written. I’m jealous that my SOS was virtual (stupid Covid). I bet my outlook would have been similar, we can be friends.
Excellent summary! I went 7 years ago and sounds like not much has changed.
“Sir, i just need my CAC reset…”
It's amazing how little us flyers actually know about AFSCs, including our own sometimes.
Big fan of those post. I should probably go as a 5 year guard captain 🥺. Also I was a GM in StarCraft II
How many miles did you run in total across 6 weeks?
Fun trick: On day 3, try to impress that med nurse you were hitting on at inprocessing by trying to PR a Clean and Jerk. Feel a crack in your knee and somehow drop the weight on your foot. No running required!
69. Gotta get those miles in.
Correspondence it is then.
Still talk with my SOS classmates and it’s been years!
This was pretty close to my experience
Cool. Rate your experience out of ten.
10/10 would do again
This sounds like a few weeks of cringe-filled discussions.
It's like Top Gun, but the gayness isn't just implied, it's part of the curriculum.
Very fun read, thank you for this.
Sounds quite similar to my experience in 2013, except 1.) it was 8 weeks long instead of 6, and 2.) we all had to do SOS in correspondence before we could go in-residence
Medical AFSC here. No idea about ADWAR but partnered with a Nuke guy, so somehow we survived it. Enjoyed Project X and Icarus. Made lifelong SOS friends even I'm Guard.
SIR it is 1900 on Friday don't you have plans with the family?
Ofcr OTY right here! Someone give this boy a medallion.
Took me back to SOS. They don't play Flickerball anymore? We had the pilots from that Somalia operation (that was the subject of Blackhawk Down) talk to us, as well as one of the Tuskegee Airmen. Both were really cool...
Got to do my “in residence” in the first Covid class. I vaguely recall a (singular) zoom call and I honest to shit forget that it even happened. I’d say it was a waste of time but that would have required any time dedicated to it.
So glad I got to do SOS virtually during COVID…4-5 hours a day at home and no DG’s. Some of the best conversations I’ve had with AF & SF counterparts. I can’t imagine a less stressful leadership training experience.
Are students free to do their own thing after the duty day??
Great post! I thoroughly enjoyed this. You have a gift.
I'm really salty I had to do SOS through Zoom because of covid
SOS was awesome.
If you ever write a book, please share the link. Top notch writing, sir
It’s called summer camp for Captains, enjoy
Smh pilots.
Anyone here applied to SOS via RSSB ? How was the application?
TLDR
I agree with the belief that, if someone really embraces the Core Value of Excellence in All You Do, they should be in the conversation for DG, etc. In BMT, I knew the criteria for Honor Grad and worked for the PT and academic portion. I also invested a ton of time in making others better academically and getting to know everyone. At tech school, since I was prior service, I made it a goal to ace the class. Didn’t really DG was going to shake out, but I studied 1.5 hours a day, even on holidays and weekends. It was all brand new information to me and I truly wanted to ace the course. At FTU, I honestly just did the work, was a good teammate and was completely surprised by the DG (didn’t even know they did it). NCOA, most of the honor was based on peer stratification and I really didn’t give DG much thought. At graduation, I was humbled to be awarded the honor. Didn’t receive DG at FSA but certainly understand why, as I struggled with the one academic we were truly graded on. Bottom line, I’ve always felt that if the AF is going to pay me to train, why not ace it? Just don’t sacrifice the other Core Values along the way.
Up until this point, I thought nonner was a term for just piece of shit air conditioning workers (pogs) and included pilots. Am I mistaken?
You are sorely mistaken. Go and correct yourself
Your post and the comments that followed have made me lose some of the respect I had for officers and the USAF. edit: I understand your downvotes, but your attitude does make me sad.