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Douche

Apparently his ego wrote a check his body couldn't cash.

No. In my years as an evaluator I've had guys commit some interesting errors like report initial at 500 feet, forget to reset an altimeter (WTF is an A-10 guy doing above FL180??), get lost and attempt to fly over KRDU, take me IFR in a pop, and a plethora of other weird stuff. Those all resulted in downgrades and were debriefed appropriately. The only Q-3 was a great dude on a Single engine approach that over finessed the approach and forgot the gear. Hard to overlook that one as a "momentary deviation but correcting" when I had to make a call to remind him on a 2 mile final.

If the Navy had adopted the AETC Form 29B, this wouldn't have happened.

1) 10 yrs ago I know the E-9 Chief Boom at Kadena was the senior Active Duty Boom in PACAF. Although he was stationed there vs Hickam they technically gave him the PACAF A3V Boom hat to wear... that may have changed since then, but on the books there was a MAJCOM A3V -135 Boom 2) AMC eating their own? Ummm yeah... I know back when they had lots of them still flying the #1 Q-3 item for Tanker Navs was for the pre-flight Oxygen check (not kidding in the slightest) and have seen pilots Q-3'd for reading something other than flight pubs crossing the pond. 3) Chiefing… Let’s not confuse someone reiterating the policy of the boss with gleefully usurping rank because they think a boss' policy or AFI gives them authority to do so. Maybe I'm a horrible officer/instructor/evaluator, but there have been lots of times where I was not the A Code (sometimes even just a pax with a crew from my base) and told the AC or one of the crew something along the lines of, "Hey, I agree that it seems stupid, but the OG/CC doesn't want us wearing ball caps (or insert stupid thing here) on the jet... if he sees you doing it you'll probably get hammered." I didn’t tell them they needed to comply; I just reminded them of the policy/view of the boss. Is it technically wrong to actually not enforce/direct it; yes... Do I care; no. BTW... I probably could have justifiably given out lots of Q-3's for checkride buffoonery over the years, but I have not given any (admittedly I’ve never had a cut and dry safety type issue though)... I have had plenty of very intense debriefs where they probably assumed they were getting hooked and learned just as much if not more as a result. My pointy nosed bros have said that is more in line with how they do it in the CAF which I think is more effective… I wish more AMC evaluators had that view.

Well anywhere from 30-70% of those millionares and billionaires are self-made (wide percentage accounts for how you define their starting point) so either get off your ass and do something like these people did or STF. I'm so sick and tired of people complaining about the rich, like they just woke up one morning and bam they were drowning in money. I've had the privilege of meeting some very wealthy people (no millionaires but I won't be surprised if they make it there) and these people pushed threw odds that most people would have thrown in the towel. If you read about many of the historic businessmen, they came from nothing and built empires, fact of the matter is the vast majority of America is too fucking lazy to have what it takes. To the liberals here stop before you even start with disadvantages ect ect. If George Washington Carver can teach himself to read at night after working in the Salt mines or Henry Ford can self teach himself from his rural farm home, or John D Rockefeller can come his single family home, any kid today can make it with the power of the fucking internet at his fingertips. /rant off

What caused you to read a magazine called "manlicker"?

It's tough to lose any of The Greatest Generation, but Joe Gomer was a proud Duluthian, and Duluth was proud to have him. He was Minnesota's last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, and was a very humble person. I recall the first time I met him, at a Cirrus company picnic sitting quietly in his wheelchair watching Tora Tora Tora perform their practice airshow for the upcoming Duluth Airshow. He was a genuine man, and held no bitterness towards America's past; "We’re all Americans. That’s why we chose to fight. I’m as American as anybody. My black ancestors were brought over against their will to help build America. My German ancestors came over to build a new life. And my Cherokee ancestors were here to greet all the boats."-Joe Gomer rather was ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for it. RIP Major Gomer. https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/280290/group/News/

Really? You've GBSM. Part of the reason healthcare is so god damned expensive in this country is precisely because of excessive consumption...and I'm tired of subsidizing a general public that can't deal with routine illnesses without 'medical care'. Is it really necessary to see a doctor so that they can tell you to get some rest and drink a lot of fluids? Infant child has a fever? Emergency room visit. You're a healthy 24yr old who doesn't feel so good because you have the common cold? Go to the doctor and demand antibiotics. Oh, antibiotics aren't effective with a viral infection? I don't care, I've heard good things and I want them...write the prescription. Getting a wisdom tooth pulled? I need to be unconscious for that, and I want a Vicodin prescription to kill the 'pain' afterwards too, because I can't deal with some minor discomfort unless I'm heavily medicated. I've got some lower back pain because I have horrible posture and sit in front of a computer all day. I need an MRI. MRI shows nothing abnormal? Thats odd. Well I guess you should just write me a prescription for a bunch of painkillers then. Rolled my ankle playing basketball and it's mildly painful. Need an D.O. to look at it, get x-rays, give me a pain killer prescription and an air cast to immobilize it. Oh yeah, I need time off of work so that it can heal, too. Yeah. You've got the be shitting me. I'm tired of subsidizing a general public that can't deal with being a human being.

I would argue that government trying to "equalize" the wealth curve is what is causing the polarization of American politics today, coalescing around a health care regime that intends to overcharge young, healthy people in order to cover old, sick people. Zuckerberg starts Facebook, makes billions, and creates thousands of jobs. The Waltons made billions and created hundreds of thousands of jobs. Gates made Windoze and earned billions, and created thousands of jobs and funds some pretty amazing philanthropic endeavors. One man's largesse does not in the least take away from my (or your) earning potential. This America, land of the free. Otherwise, the American dream is dead.

It's hard to argue that so much of a country's wealth being controlled by so few is a good thing. You could make a strong argument that the great democratic revolutions of the past 300 years or so have been about that very situation. If the rest of the country was getting richer as well, I'd be singing a different tune. A minute section of society continues to accumulate more wealth while the rest of us see our buying power reduced across the board. That's an untenable situation in the long term.

I don't think any reasonable person is arguing that. The problem is that there is a sizable chunk of folks who don't see inequality as a problem, don't see problems in the system that results in 1% of the population realizing an increasing percentage of the nation's wealth, etc. When the get a chance to see the real numbers al la the video, many realize that the results they think is fair and the results we have now aren't nearly as similar as they thought. We don't need some kind of radical socialist system where we're all working in the factory for an equal wage as the rest of our comrades, but what we do need is to take concrete steps to reduce inequality before it tears our country apart. Once people can at least agree that it's a problem, we can debate about the right solution (and there are lots of divergent ideas).

Say what you will, but the fact that a specific E is being talked about on this forum says enough about him and his actions.

As an evaluator, all of these sound like downgrades at most. I don't know that I would ever Q-3 someone for not charging an iPad, forgetting a ring, or not reading a checklist word-for-word as long as they did the checklist...but then, I'm not an AMC guy, or a giant douche.

Wow, you are what's wrong with the Air Force.

I fly on a jet older than E-Model Herks, that never had an FE, and it flies just fine. In fact the BUFF flies with all O's, lost the only E back in the early 90's, and still flies fine. I watched the AWACS crash at Nellis in 2009 when the Copilot landed nose gear first. Where was the FE then? Or the JSTARS crashed at the Deid. Where was the FE? The only people that miss FE's are FE's.

Just to clarify, I was never told to take off the hat. It was implied, but never stated. Weak leadership is the point... Grow some balls and pass the bad news.

Cool story. I'll still chose a firearm over 's' words.

A) Like I said, if Stan/Eval Dude was the A code he should have told Hat Guy, "Take off the hat" if he didn't think it was within regs. Not some kind of dickless "Well, the OG wouldn't like it blah blah blah." Here I'm arguing not for a sane uniform policy, but for leadership where the buck stops with you. B) Now I'll argue for a sane uniform policy...if you're fully inside an aircraft where you are a crew member, you can wear whatever the F you want so long as it doesn't interfere with safety or good order and discipline. That's what I'm used to in my community at least. C) You're own damn airplane has nothing to do with "owning it." It has to do with my view that reasonable accommodations for ball caps, morale shirts, patches, etc. can be made when out of the public eye in an airplane on which you are a crew member. See above.

Very interesting and somewhat disturbing. Disturbing because the curve will only get worse over time.

FTFY

Gun laws are a big one...but it's not just about gun laws or lack there of. The 2nd Amendment is only a symptom of the greater issue--Rights, Liberty, and Freedom. If I have no means to protect myself, my family, and my property, and I have to rely on the government to protect me, then I can easily lose everything I have (my life, my family, my property) because the government can't be everywhere, they don't have an obligation to protect me or you (at least here in the US in regards to the police/LE), and they can also turn on you if they see fit...internment camps for Japanese Americans quickly comes to mind. But it's not just about the 2nd Amendment, it's also about being able to live the way I see fit as long as it doesn't take away that same ability from somebody else. In Germany, it's illegal to homeschool your children, with very rare exceptions. I call this a barrier to liberty. In the UK, they don't have the same/equivalent '5th Amendment' type Rights that we do here in the US, and what they do have isn't nearly as protective. Taxes also have to do with freedom and liberty--the more you take from what someone has earned, the less opportunity they have to do with it as they chose (ie liberty), especially if that money is taken only to be redistributed to somebody else. (Here's a study that George Mason University does every so often on the 'freedoms in the 50 States' and details what States are best in terms of respecting Rights and Liberties. It's State comparison vs international, but it details what I'm describing pretty well ) I could go on and on, but I think you guys get the idea. So going back to Japan--no 2nd Amendment type Rights, their current constitution continually discusses 'public welfare' and states that human rights are subject to restriction when it interferes with the public welfare, it states that people are obligated to work, and have very strict rules on the education of children. Articles 25 states: "All people shall have the right to maintain the minimum standards of wholesome and cultured living. In all spheres of life, the State shall use its endeavors for the promotion and extension of social welfare and security, and of public health." I'll at least give it to the Japanese...they come out and directly say they are for entitlements in their constitution instead of how we do it here in the US...but either way, they require more taxes to fulfill this constitutional right, which leaves less money to the people to make their own decisions. Oh, and Article 26 states, "All people shall have the right to receive an equal education correspondent to their ability, as provided by law."...sounds to me the law has a lot to say in how people receive their education...not so much in our Constitution. Let's see, what else...the country does not recognize gay marriage, their marijuana laws/sentences are much more strict than in the US (and hell, it's legal here in some places), they also have stricter environmental laws, have higher personal taxes (especially when compared to States with low tax rates)...ok, I'll stop there. BL: Chida, I could care less where you live man. If you want to live in Japan, Australia, Nigeria, wherever...I'm all about people making their own personal decisions. But if you say something like 'the weather in Antarctica is better than in the lower 48 States', then I'm going to call you out and raise the bullshit flag. It's a tough argument to make that 'Japan is the same in the freedom dept'--so either clarify, or be called out. And like I said in an earlier post, I'm not a 'America--fvck yeah!' kind of a guy as I believe our country is going down the shitter. So I'm not picking on Japan or anywhere else, rather I'm just calling it like I see it. ETA: Forgot to answer your question, no, I have not been to Japan, though hopefully I'll get the opportunity some time to visit. Most of my time overseas has been spent in Europe and in our other glorious locations that we get sent to. Fortunately Japan's constitution was available via google as well as other articles describing things in their country. By all means, let me know if I missed something--if there's more Liberty in Japan than in the US, I may just have to join you there some day.

Hell, I feel like an expat already, working and living in Del Rio.....Can't wait for the chance to move back home to bona fide America.

If anyone has had to live in a place like Saudi, and I don't mean on PSAB or an isolated compound, you will likely understand that I did not take this job by choice. I will say that you stand a much higher chance of getting killed in a traffic accident in Riyadh than you do getting knocked off by a jihadi. They drive like lunatics, and I pass wrecked cars every day I go to work. I liked my job at USSTRATCOM, but last February, I could tell that public service would become too unstable for my family to survive, and I jumped ship. Unfortunately, my forecast has proven correct. In talking to others, expating in more favorable countries is a very positive experience. When my contract is up, I'm hoping that things back home will be better than they are now, but for the present, the horror stories are keeping me overseas. Maybe I can luck out with a job in Europe next time. I went to an embassy town hall a couple of weeks ago, and heard stories from a few young teachers about their contracts being violated by their local employers. That has not happened to me, but it is a glaring example of what happens when you take a job overseas and things are not what you thought they would be. The embassy staff could not do a damn thing to help them, and the State Department should get the word out that employment overseas can be a risky proposition. Sometimes, the higher pay is not worth it.

I stayed in the UK for 15 years because it met almost all of HeloDude's requirements (which were mine also), the beer is better, and the US doesn't have pubs. Everything's a trade-off. UK taxes are higher but then there are no healthcare costs so, all-in, I was actually better off. I came back because it was getting more expensive for everything and then the economy tanked, which hit the UK much worse than it did the US. Oh, yeah. And the climate. Not the weather; the climate. It never gets too hot or too cold. The downside is it'll drizzle on your sorry ass for a month at a time and some years summer doesn't show up at all, but 85 degrees was unusually hot and I only saw snow about 5 days in 15 years. edit: climatology.

It almost seems they are trying to make this place suck way more than it has to

Missed meals for all flightline folks!

Using jets to target people who don't sign up for the exchanges or pay the penalty?