Leaderboard

Flipping the safety on after each shot is a poor technique that would get most people killed. The carbine courses have so many different techniques, and some sound totally crazy but happen to work for one guy one time. Great training all, but I think that particular technique would get the majority of people killed. Sky cops fall squarely in the average majority. Bottom line is this guys is a total idiot, whether or not this particular technique is valid and used by someone at Magpul. The conceptual idea that one absolutely must get the uniform standard right all the time or you simply aren't qualified to fight the war is fundamentally flawed. The true professional puts everything on a hierarchy of importance, a hierarchy that changes depending on many variables. As operators we're very comfortable living like this, and we usually call it SA. Sometimes your gas state is the most important thing, sometimes it's the weather, sometimes it's the mission then the icing on your wings, and when the critical part of the mission is over you RTB the area because now the icing is most important. The hierarchy is always changing, and a good flyer stays aware of what's at the top and the handful of items under it. This idea of juggling a group of variables which all slide up and down the priority list used to confuse the shit out of me in pilot training, resulting in my average performance. But with a few thousand hours it's natural to all of us. And I think this is why we all know his argument is bullshit, but an articulate response is hard because the concept is so simple. We think "of course my mission planning is more important than having my sleeves rolled down." Or "of course I put my sunglasses on my head, I'm doing shit with my hands." And that's the issue with this guy, and this entire school of thought with non-operators that if you can't get the uniform right how can you fly an airplane? They think "how can you possibly do the important things when you can't get this thing right?" And we think "how can you possibly worry about the unimportant things when there are so many others that matter?" Of course our perspective is right and theirs is wrong. We prove that by flying successful missions everyday wearing baseball hats with a dip in our mouth; and if they understood priorities they wouldn't correct an officer about a minor uniform violation by yelling at him in public-- a customs and courtesies breach that manifests their inability to differentiate importance levels between issues. The only possible fix to our plight (two incompatible schools of thought) is leadership. Leadership must set the standard and leadership must judge what is most important when. And of course, leadership is what we are mostly lacking. Approaching the end of my commitment, this is a pretty strong argument for me to stay and try to fix it.

So you're saying the Air Force was bullsh*t-free for 6 years. Highly dubious claim...

Oh the irony! While I agree with his assessment of the no-fun Air Force and the social and political rot it's causing with our ranks, an otherwise on-point article is ruined by a thick stench of butthurt whining. He would have a lot more credibility if it was a "I quit and here's why" article, but instead it sounds a whole lot like "I'm a victim and here's why". I agree that our service is overrun by shoes. I also agree that the no-fun, risk averse culture being forced on us is destroying morale and unit cohesion, but what I don't agree with is his apparent attitude that if you ain't a figher pilot you ain't shit. (flame suit on)Fighter pilots tend to be the whiniest support guys out there. Sorry dudes, even YOU aren't the tip of the spear (though closer to it than most). Fighters were initially conceived, and continue to support bombardment operations, but don't tell fighter pilots that. You can't whine about people not knowing their place, and then clearly demonstrate your lack of knowledge of your own. While our fighter pilots may be some of the most skilled, dedicated and well trained aviators in the world, they still have a specific place in the puzzle, and the puzzle is, believe it or not, NOT a picture of a fighter. Ok, that's my piece, I'm ready for the indignant criticism sure to come from the fighter pilots on this board.