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Keep your personal agenda out of this, Huggy.

Tasteless post removed.

That's my biggest problem with the whole "everyone is a wingman" concept. Even the greatest wingman in the world can't save the day if he's in the middle of a bad tactical plan. Wingmen go along with the plan and keep their mouths shut until they can't stand it and need to speak up for safety of flight. I'd say we need more flight leads, but the nuances of what that means to non-aviators would be lost.

You should have heard the response when someone suggested we talk less about bystanders preventing bad things happening to other people and more about not putting yourself is a compromising situation. There was some uproar at the very thought of someone being responsible for their own actions.

I agree that his sexual orientation or the sexual orientation of anyone serving is irrelevant. The problem I have is how we not only identify, but glorify a group of people based on any "sexual" orientation, yet we seem to have a problem with "sexuality" of the heterosexual kind in the workplace in DoD. So, homosexuals come to work identifying themselves as "homosexual," we call it diversity and tolerance. If I, a flaming male lesbian, were to come to work bragging about how much I love women, they call it sexual harassment or inappropriate talk in the workplace. With all the news in the media today about sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual assault, why is anyone's "sexuality" being celebrated as if it is ok to say "I love cock" in the workplace. Gay people are (mostly) only identifiable because they tell you they are gay. Why is that ok, but it is not ok for me to celebrate my love of boobies by telling people at work?? THAT double standard is what I have a problem with.... Edit: I have problems with the grammers...

They had us watch "The Invisible War", which is an independent documentary about some women filing suit against the DoD. It was actually very worthwile. They weren't the improper use of alcohol type situations we usually hear about. These were violent rapes which the documentary alleges are central to the problem. The video suggested that the problem is that we overemphasize victim advocacy rather than prosecuting the perpetrators. I would recommend you watch it in your free time, it's on Netflix. Of course, as soon as we finished watching the video we went into a briefing on being a good wingman and avoiding demon liqour, so I guess big-blue won the day in the end.

I moved to a new assignment in the Spring of 2007 to a Base that was remodeling it's base housing, so the wait list to live on Base was over a year. Because of that fact the rental market in the area was essentially non-existent (other than living in a double wide... not joking). There were about 25 of us who PCS'd in around the same time with the only option being buying a house or commuting over an hour each way to work. I would have loved to have been able to rent a house, but I wasn't about to put my family in a neighborhood full or crack houses and rotating meth labs. 2 or 3 guys did short sales since, but aside from that the rest of us are landlords paying about $500 a month out of pocket because none of us qualified for HAP, etc. I know scores and scores of guys in this exact same boat... not sure I'd be throwing stones at the new guy here!

I'd hardly call the position of homosexuals in our society "glorified." What you are speaking of is the fact that they are being praised for having the nerve to "come out" in a society where fear of reprisal is a very real threat. This is something you (I presume you are straight) and I have never had to worry about. So sure, publicly admitting who you are sexually and being honest with yourself and others about your orientation, when you know that it could affect just about every aspect of your personal and professional life, is something to be commended. Why is a gay man admitting he is gay equated to a straight man talking about how much he loves poon at work? They are two different scenarios. A gay man talking about his love of cock is the same a man talking about tits a work, they are probably both inappropriate conversations to have in a professional environment. The only double standard I see is the one where my friend can't marry his partner that he loves just as much as the next straight couple and is consequently denied hundreds of benefits that he would otherwise have if he were straight. That is a double standard. Yes, a man marrying another man is the same me marrying my dead 1st cousin while a wear a wedding gown doing so. You're right. Let's not get all Jerry Falwell.

Coming up on my 20th year in the AF, I have no real idea of WTF the SECAF actually does. The last one I heard speak was Roach, and all I could do was stand and marvel at the two largest desert flight suits ever made. That were ruthlessly torn apart and reconstructed into this massive tan thing covering Jabba the Hut as he tried to motivate we merry few occupying that small bit of Afghanistan. I was further distracted by the smaller folk getting closer and closer before I realized he was generating his own gravitational field, and starting throwing rescue ropes to help out. Seriously, civilian control, yadda yadda yadda, WTF does the SECAF do?

It's been quoted before, "Liberty for Me, but not for Thee". I have no doubt that transgenders will be allowed to serve in 20-30 years, if not sooner. All it takes is a President and a majority of politicians willing to push an agenda, and there you have it--and then it's here to stay. I don't have a problem with gay folks serving but at the same time then I just don't understand why dudes/chicks can't bunk together downrange and why I can't date the enlisted finance chick. Oh well.

The two best IP/EPs I've ever had were passed over Majs who are both still legends in my community... and two of the best leaders I've seen in my AF career. No doubt that those in this situation will still be good IP/EPs tomorrow, but before today I wouldn't let any negative experiences in my career influence the guys I have flown with. At this point I feel like I owe it to these guys to let them know the possible consequences are of staying one day past their ADSC vs pulling chalks and walking next door to the ANG or RES Squadron who will most certainly be welcoming them with open arms in the next few years. I'd love to be able to tell these young kids that if you work hard and are the best pilot you can be that things will work out, but Big Blue almost seems to be going out of its way to prove that they don't give a shit about those who actually want to be good at their job... its seriously depressing.

The Big Blue machine (ie the ones making the decisions on the bonus) doesn't care about me, you, or anybody else on this board. If they did, they wouldn't have given the boot to 150+ Majors in 2011. The hard truth is that we get paid to meet the standards, and don't get paid extra to exceed the standards. And those who exceed the standards are not always the ones getting promoted. What makes a good AC, IP, EP, CSO, officer, NCO, etc are not priorities of getting promoted, getting more money...it has to come from within, again, we get paid just to meet the standard. Some of my best MWS IP's when I was younger were the passed over Majors, not the go-getter Capt's or Maj's/Lt Col's on the staff. The passed over guys didn't care much about the BS, awards, trying to shine to get promoted, however, they did care about teaching the young guys and passing down their knowledge. They cared about the mission, the guys they flew with, and the young guys who were going to take their place--they cared about the young guy's ability to safety accomplish the mission. Like I said earlier man, it does suck to see you and other good dudes getting financially screwed over because of a technicality. I'd be pissed too. But I have a strong feeling that if you were a good IP/EP yesterday, then I'll bet you'll still be a good IP/EP tomorrow.

BA in religion from FSU? I think that's it's own punchline.

Wasn't able to catch any of the briefings. Can someone please confirm if sexual assault is still illegal or not? Just want to make sure I don't miss anything important.

Ill just reiterate one of my main points here. You mean to tell me that 5 years ago we told a bunch of 11fs to go fly toy planes, and now, not only are we undermanned in 11fs, we're having retention problems as well and decide to offer a bunch of extra cash to convince guys to stick around just two years after we paid a bunch of them to get out early!? Good lord, I can't even begin to imagine what goes thru the tiny minds of the folks at AFPC. Oh well, at least with the extra cash a few more dudes might stick around and I won't have to worry about getting stuck with a random 365 to asscrackistan. But, in the end, this is just a cheap bandaid and some voodoo magic...

Reposted from the WTF thread...more appropriate here: I agree that his sexual orientation or the sexual orientation of anyone serving is irrelevant. The problem I have is how we not only identify, but glorify a group of people based on any "sexual" orientation, yet we seem to have a problem with "sexuality" of the heterosexual kind in the workplace in DoD. So, homosexuals come to work identifying themselves as "homosexual," we call it diversity and tolerance. If I, a flaming male lesbian, were to come to work bragging about how much I love women, they call it sexual harassment or inappropriate talk in the workplace. With all the news in the media today about sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual assault, why is anyone's "sexuality" being celebrated as if it is ok to say "I love cock" in the workplace. Gay people are (mostly) only identifiable because they tell you they are gay. Why is that ok, but it is not ok for me to celebrate my love of boobies by telling people at work?? THAT double standard is what I have a problem with....

How was he breaking the rules? Did he ask or did he tell? No? No rule broken then.

Do you need help to your fainting couch?

Not bad for a constitutional lawyer and commander in chief. You'd think somebody might have briefed him on UCMJ. He has a track record of such 'politically popular' comment despite what it might do to the actual legal proceeding - Cambridge cops v. the professor (and the 'beer summit'), Treyvon Martin ("could've been my son" when the 1/2 white/1/2 hispanic Zimmerman could've been as well. But no lawyer would ever argue that, would he?). https://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/305745-report-judge-rules-obama-comments-on-sex-assault-unlawful-command-influence Funny how he can't comment on other on-going investigations that involve him or his administration.

Look dude, it's pretty clear you're way out of your lane. Hows about you just STFU and move on, mmmkay? We all bust each other's chops when shit goes sideways, but the fact is we aren't flying 180 pax +bags from MSP to DFW. No matter what we do or how much we prepare, sometimes our shit does, in fact, stink. It may surprise you to learn that there are a few platforms out there that are responsible for more than just an ILS 16 full stop when we zip up our pajamas. Maybe not. What I do know, is that this job isn't easy, and sometimes people fuck up. Sometimes with fatal consequences. There are far better pilots than I will ever be who now have an address in Arlington, VA. I've made my share of mistakes in this business and have come out clean, but I don't confuse my good luck with invincibility. I don't know what you do, FlyBoy, but it's pretty clear your experience in a tactical environment is limited to avoiding tipping the baggers at the commissary on a Tuesday afternoon. I am fucking tired of reading posts from whiny bitches passing judgement on their brothers without so much as a tenth of an hour in their shoes. Every single community has its challenges, and until you've been there, you just don't know what they are. Those B-1 guys didn't wake up thinking they were going to put their airplane on its belly in Diego Garcia. The guy flying the C-5 at Dover didn't didn't say, "Fuck it, I only need 2 motors for this landing." How many F-16 pilots do you think decided to roll & pull into terrain? As long as there are humans defying gravity with extreme prejudice, the lucky ones will ride out their golden years knowing they got away with one at some point in their careers. Some are not so fortunate. There is one thing that I can say with confidence: flying a tactical airplane in Afghanistan is not easy. Should these guys have been able to grease that airplane on with no problem? Sure, but I can think of dozens of times that I've landed on that very runway near the end of a max duty day on the backside of a trip turn out of OAIX. I dont care how many eyes you watered on your midphase check in UPT, that shit ain't easy. It's late, and God damn this Tullamore Dew is delicious, but how about a little perspective around here, eh? Fucking hell.