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Yeah, not up on the baseops as often these days, but just to hit a few points: If I have to live here, then you can bet I'll focus on the positives - as inconsequential as they may be. A few things I appreciate about the place: no traffic in the morning getting to work; everything is close by and easy to get to; spend way more time partying and hanging out at friends' houses than in my previous assignment (at D-M); I've got a nice house in a good neighborhood (although I still want to destroy everyone involved with inflating the market before the big influx) and very good neighbors (not just military); most people hate being told this, but it's an easy drive to awesome skiing, hiking, camping, etc. and other pretty cool shit; great places for breakfast burritos and several decent restaurants in the area once you get past the idea of "all we have is Chili's and Applebees"; the Days Inn Bar (you're damn right I just threw that on here); there is more than enough (for me) in the way of retail stores and such to sustain an entertaining daily life. Of course, these are subjective and your mileage may vary. My wife does not love it by any means, but again with a good house and nice neighbors/neighborhood, good friends in the squadron, the prospect that it's not forever, and the ability to get out of town as required on a weekend, she's good with it for now. Believe me: I wouldn't stay here a minute longer than my job required me to, and it boggles my mind that some people choose freely to retire and stay here. But go figure, they must have their individual reasons and opinions. 'Merica. I don't know - I haven't spent any time in Kabul, but I imagine it's not like there at all. I didn't compare Clovis to any type of town to begin with, I contrasted it with a big city in generalities. I've been here two and a half years. You get real and stop being such a diva. I would not put a light quite that wholesome on Clovis - close in some cases - but you're on the right track of what I see as some of the positives here. Despite the simple math, which I agree with, families don't simply fall apart because they end up in what feels like the middle of nowhere and kids can learn a lot from living somewhere less than ideal. That's really it. I'm definitely not trying to defend the godforsaken City of Clovis in any way. I'm just saying there is a bright side to being stationed here (as thin and faint as it may seem sometimes), and personally, I don't mind it. That's called an "opinion."

Case in point.

How bout eat a dick for quoting regs, I WILL hold my wife's hand in public. Sue me.

Great memorial service today at 145th AW. RIP brothers.

Well, after being dicked over by someone on a local gun forum on a milled Russian AK parts kit, karma decided to reward me for my suffering at the hands of a fool... I stopped by an Academy sports store on my way home from work to pick up some more ammo for the Marlin I bought and shot this past weekend, and guess what was sitting in the display case? You got it, a XDs! As you may know, I have been looking for one for months now, and even at this past weekend's gun show all the vendors I talked with said they were near impossible to get. But it's always better to be lucky than good, and today I was really lucky! Although I knew it was pretty much certain I would buy it, I asked to handle it first at which point it was certain I would buy it! The thing fits perfectly in my hand, it's probably the smallest possible .45 ACP weapon that still feels like a real pistol! I can easily get a solid 2½ fingers on the grip and it is near perfectly balanced. It is slim (1" wide) and I have no problems getting a strong grip on it. Honestly, it is everything Springfield claimed it to be and more! Price was $529.99 + tax, and of course I had to buy some SD ammo because I wasn't going to carry this baby home unloaded! I most likely will take it out to the range on Saturday and see how it feels to my XD-45 Service, which has been my favorite 'go-to' pistol for years but which may now have some strong competition from its little brother! I will take some pics of it next to the XD and post them up for comparison's sake, but I am happy (and redemption has occurred) as this is the one firearm I wanted to purchase in 2012! Cheers! M2

Talk louder. Use your man voice.

Ok, great; not every rater feels this way and even if they talk the talk sometimes they don't walk the walk and dudes who are average in the jet are at the top of the heap on the rack & stack. May want to revise this sentence chief. But I know what you mean, and what you mean is in direct conflict with your above statement. If "your going in argument as a CGO is that you are tactically sound," they how do you discriminate based on downrange performance if you expect that everyone is "tactically sound?" That's the rub...as an institution we assume everyone that's "qualified" is "proficient" or even "excellent" at their primary job and this is simply not true. IMHO a boss that truly does discriminate first and foremost based on primary job duties (as informed by his own observations and those of his instructor/evaluator corps) is doing it right. So shut up and color, am I reading your advice correctly? There are actual requirements and then there is unnecessary BS or undue ass-pain. Dude, if you're aircrew and you can't appreciate some good ole' fashion bitchin' you would not fit in with the guys I know and work with. Since I'm forced by an ADSC to bend over and take whatever Big Blue has in store for me, I figured the very least I'm gonna do is request some lube. Saying "yes sir, how many buckets full sir?" will put you on the fast track to leadership but it does no good for the organization in the long-term. Is everyone meeting this baseline? I've found that it's relatively easy to rack & stack based on primary duty performance alone because frankly everyone is not Captain America of our tactical mission, it's just the facts of life. Other stuff (i.e. additional duties, etc. etc.) comes into play in rack & stack when it's something that actually made a large, positive impact on unit ops or when two people truly have very similar performance in their primary duties and are of the same experience level (i.e. you always expect better performance to follow more experience). So there's my thoughts and I think your assumptions of across-the-board tactical prowess are where you go wrong along with your overly compliant attitude toward the Man's unnecessary shenanigans.

Learned this from my first operational WO six years ago. "Carry a sheet with you that has your 'people' stratified based on YOUR assessment of their PRIMARY DUTY performance and that assessment better be backed up with personal observation; when the Boss asks show him and be ready to answer 'why.'" He later went on to say "that 'why' better not include Masters, Shoe flag completion, etc... that's his (CC) job to worry about."

This is ridiculous. If the intent is to merge ASBC and SOS, then wait at least 4 years until todays butterbars are at the very least, at the beginning of their eligibility for SOS in res so troops don't have to re-learn info, causing inefficiencies. The worst part is, the AU guys are hailed as budgetary gods because they are saving 12 Million a year....what about the $69M you cost the taxpayers over the last 5-6 years since you started ASBC? Self licking ice cream cone.

Shak....Shack!