Leaderboard

You want Intel? - in the continuing quest to do more with less, the Air Force cuts manpower from all the wrong places (orderly room, MPF, finance, comm, etc.) We flyers realize that we have less support on base from support agencies, we get it. We can go without being paid, without our computers working, without our orders being correct or without our records being updated prior to promotion boards. We can go without our family separation pay, combat pay, flight pay, you name it. We can spend an extra hour or two after landing waiting for a bus or waiting for billeting arrangements to end an 18hr day. We are doing more with less...less service from our supporting agencies. And we are doing more... We get the job done and support the troops on the ground no matter what - proud to serve. What do you do?

I know Vegas has it's perks but Whiteman has a few as well as far as UAS's goes. No commute and probably a chance for a tighter community (sts). I can only imagine that schools are better and you still have KS City 45 mins (only about 15 mins more than McCarran in Vegas) away for a major airport. It's Ops rather than training and it's not NM. I'm not saying it's "the place to be" but a few things to consider. Ego

This is amazingly short-sighted and Marine-oriented. 1a. The AF jets are OLDER than the USMC jets (on average). No one on the AF side is using that as an excuse for accident rates. 1b. Older jets DO break more often no matter how good maintenance is because the parts are older and more prone to breakage. 2. We've lost more personnel in the Air Force jet than Marine Corps jets 3. The F-22 (the "A" was dropped about a year ago, genius) indeed has a mission. Just because it doesn't directly support the troops on the ground in one country doesn't mean it doesn't have a role. I suppose the NAOC plane is useless as is AF1, Cobra Ball, and a slew of others that aren't in Iraq right now. 4. I challenge this "reporter" to reveal who said "The Air Force and Navy can dominate their battle space. Why can't the Army and Marines?" because I don't know a single person in the AF who doesn't understand the basic problems with ground combat. Sure, the AF and Navy are kings of their domain and it is reasonable to ask what can be done to help the Army/Marines attain a better combat readiness/effectiveness, but politics are largely the problem, not what the Marines/Army has done. 5. Air Dominance is merely a term, but the F-22 was the first a/c designed with this in mind. Other fighters were designed to be superior. This one was designed to fly with impunity. 6. We do NOT fill "imaginary combat roles", but real ones. B-52s were on-call CAS during Tora Bora and were the only ones with the legs to maintain on-station for their full duration (Marine a/c dropped all their weapons on one or two passes and went home!...to be fair, so did most AF aircraft). RC-135s provide critical intel. B-2s can get into/out of HIGHLY contested airspaces. Just because we've beaten the insurgents back in Iraq to the point where we can fly and sail with impunity doesn't mean the next war will be the same. 7. "Still, I wanted to be fair." BS 8. "...Air Force and Navy combat challenges are engineering problems, matters of physics and geometry. Our Army and Marines, by contrast, face brutally human, knife-fight conflicts that require human solutions." Guess what, AF problems ALSO require human solutions just as Army/USMC problems require engineering and geometry. Indeed, the AF does do not have knife fights, but that isn't a problem of "institutional greed". 9. "But the Air Force doesn't have any solutions. Just institutional greed." The Air Force has plenty of problems and plenty of solutions to ITS problems. It isn't our responsibility to fix the problems on the ground (though we fill enough Army posts in Iraq to make you think otherwise...my brother is AF Civil Engineering and is deployed with the Army because they fill their own CE ranks. They've had this problem for 15+ years and are happy to rely on the AF to fix their problems. I contend that this is THEIR problem and they are content to not fix it. 10. "Their strategy? Lie about capabilities and costs. Belittle the genuine dangers facing our country, while creating imaginary threats." I see no evidence of lies, only accusations. No one is belittling ANYTHING that you've shown at ALL! In short, it is a poorly "researched", biased, half-assed political piece for the ground pounders. It doesn't reflect reality.

Ralph Peters is a f*cking idiot and I simply refuse to read the BS he puts out on a daily basis.

wtfo. . .Sad times.

I can not remember the last time I went to the O' Club unless it was for a mandatory fun activity. If I want a drink I usually belly up to the bar in the squadron and pour one. First, its free...or mostly free. Secondly, and more importantly, I can get as drunk as I want and say pretty much whatever I want without any fear of any real repurcussions. Lastly, there is usually always someone to take you home and if not there are about 100 couches in the squadron to crash on. I know some people on base would be applaed that we have a bar in the squadron and say how unprofessional that it is. I think if you look at the DUI stats, they speak for themselves. Sadly, there will be a day that the squadron bar will go away. Some idiot will get a DUI or God forbid hurt someone after tying one on in the bar. That will bring a shit storm down on us so strong that we will have to turn the bar into something a litte more PC. PS> If I hear anyone call it a "heritage room" I will piss in your coffe mug. It has beer..it has whiskey...it has popcorn....its a ######ing BAR!

Intel 3 yrs old is still pretty good, seems the guys in the onesies bitch about the same thing.....repeatedly. It's actually entertaining.