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Well they certainly do joke about us at least - “The Marines’ sense of toughness permeates the Corps’ lore as well as its reality. “To recall an illustrative story, a soldier is trudging through the muck in the midst of a downpour with a 60-pound rucksack on his back. ‘This is tough,’ he thinks to himself. “Just ahead of him trudges an Army Ranger with an 80-pound pack on his back: ‘This is really tough,’ he thinks. “And ahead of him is a Marine with a 90-pound pack on. And he thinks to himself, ‘I love how tough this is!’ “Then, of course, 30,000 feet above them, an Air Force pilot flips aside his ponytail — I’m sorry, I don’t know how that got in there, they haven’t had ponytails in a year or two — and looks down at them through his cockpit as he flies over. ‘Boy,’ he radios his wingman, ‘It must be tough down there.’ ” - David Patraeus My point wasn’t that CAFTT has been the worst deployment ever, or that you can’t complain about it. My point was I wouldn’t want to be in a bar with a bunch of grunts and hear an AF guy say “I’ll go if they give me a car and an apartment.” Plus I think HueyPilot had it right when he said the Iraqis “really liked the idea of having iron on the ramp so they could shake their fist in the air and spew a lot of bravado and talk smack”. In the original article posted, you can see the Iraqis are hell bent on getting fighter jets from someone, even if it isn’t Vipers. I don’t think the IqAF leadership would be interested in basing them in the Kurdish part of their country, which might not even be part of Iraq if the locals get their way. They will want them closer to the old Mig guys in Baghdad, so they can get rides and brag more easily.

How does someone set themselves to get picked up for AFIT to get a masters degree? I have read the AFIT webiste and the information on the process itself etc, but I am looking for a no BS answer from guys that have been around squadrons and seen guys who got picked up for it. Mainly I want to know if I am currently working on finishing up my MAS from embry riddle before I make Captain did I just screw myself, because I already have a masters and therefore don't need another one? Is AFIT one of those things you need to make known you want and if you do well when you apply your higher ups will try and hook you up if they think you are worth the effort, etc. Also, on what kind of a time frame do they look to send guys to that program. Sr. Captain with SOS knocked out? After you make Major, but before you go to ACSC? Any information would be very useful.

Is it just me or does this post speak to grunts complaining about how soft the Air Force is? I've seen where HeloDude and HueyPilot had to spend their CAFTT tours...shared rooms, shared cars or lots of walking in the heat/with gear, no access to alcohol, a trip to the nearest USAF base considered a treat and a riskier threat environment for their aircraft. I bet they both volunteered too.