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Jesus Tapdancing Christ. How about someone just says, "Hey how were we doing SOS three years ago? Ok, blow the dust off and let's do that again." The USAF: making shit more difficult than it needs to be since 1947.

1. Why not? I am paying 3.25% interest on that 20% downpayment on my $220K house. Historical inflation is roughly 3% meaning that the actual cost in real dollars at the end of my mortgage is .25%. You would have to be crazy to turn down a loan that costs you a .25% above inflation. The VA loan buys me the ability to put that 20% in the market and get a roughly 6.75% inflation adjusted return. Following his advice would cost me a 6.75% return on that $44K down payment, which equates to a difference of $260K at the end of my mortgage in today's dollars. If I followed his advice, it would cost me more than the value of my house. Sounds like great advice to lose money. 2. I'm happy to pay a few thousand now for the opportunity for the above math. 3. 100% false. VA or FHA interest rates are multiple points lower conventional rates.

https://www.economist.com/news/business/21589866-firms-keep-grading-their-staff-ruthlessly-may-not-get-best-them-ranked-and-yanked This sounds familiar: "Ranking and yanking is more logical in investment banks, law and accountancy firms and big consultancies: their business model is, in a sense, built on recruiting large numbers of junior staff and motivating them with the prospect of becoming a partner, even though in practice only a few of them can ever make it." And even more familiar: "If a large proportion of the workforce doubt the fairness of the grading system, and fear being among an arbitrarily imposed quota of underperformers, many may try to jump before they are pushed: staff turnover may thus be higher than is desirable. Worse, employees may look for ways to game the system, as happened at Enron, where workers conspired to inflate their results to secure their bonuses or escape the axe."

I think you have quite a bit in common with your fellow senior officers, just as I do with CGO's/FGO's who are actually into hacking the mission, mentoring young officers and enlisted, and willing to do what is necessary for legitimate reasons. You want me to go deploy tomorrow to hack the mission?...let me know, and I'll be packed up and ready to go, no BS there. I'm personally tired of the hypocrisy in the Air Force...maybe that's just my personality, but it's something that was instilled in me a long time ago--to not just 'go along to get along'. I have seen the hypocrisy from my first years as a qualified dude in the squadron, to right now at my current staff job. I have also seem some great leaders...mostly when I've been deployed, but at home as well. I have seen a commander go out to dinner with a couple of his 'favorite' young Captains who him and his wife were friends with (literally caught them by randomly showing up with a date to the same restaurant)...funny, those couple Captains were always the ones getting picked for upgrade first, highest strats (I was the Exec, so I saw this with my own eyes), getting pushed harder for the assignments they wanted, etc. Their leadership and flying skills were average to above average, but again, they were the ones typically picked for awards, etc. Yeah, I'm sure an IG complaint would have done wonders...that commander would have had an excuse for every one of his actions. Again, unless it's blatant, then it's a 'he said vs she said'...oh, and this commander has friends out there who could be my next commander, so... I have seen guys get called out for doing something 'wrong' when flying, only to bring the AFI's to the DO/CC to show them that they in fact didn't do anything in wrong...and then subsequently had that the DO/CC say 'well...maybe it was legal, but...'. I personally did this on two occasions, and fortunately I was correct both times. I have seen commanders utterly surprised when not one of the evaluators (both pilots and the E's) recommend their shining star for the next upgrade to evaluator. Think they might have just been a little 'out of touch'? Funny, the commander still pushed that person for the upgrade, the next job outside the squadron to get pushed, etc. I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. You can only pee on my leg and tell me it's raining so often before I smell the piss and realize what's really going on. When a sharp dude gets the highest strat, gets picked up for school on his O-4 board, etc then I'm not at all jealous, actually, I'm happy that the 'system' is at least somewhat working the way it should be. And for the record, I could give 2 shits about saying 'so to speak' (that's a stupid fighter thing anyway), saying 69 all the time, etc. But I do hate the witch hunt and the hypocrisy...you know, that same hypocrisy you show when saying Wilkerson assaulted someone. The same hypocrisy of saying that a picture of a dude's wife in a vacation bikini pic is unprofessional/sexual, etc but then don't have a problem with the AF PA on af.mil sites showing girls in body building pics wearing bikini's. I've said it before and I'll say it again--this is the way the system is and I get it. It's hard to prove that a commander or O-6 did what he did (ie lower strats, not picked for an upgrade, etc) because you challenged them a policy--why?...because this business is subjective as hell. If you're not one of the 20% chosen ones (you know, the guys you love who will agree with anything you say) then you're better off to just doing your best and not rocking the boat. You may call that cowardice...but I call that reality. I'll fall on my sword when I just can't take it anymore or when I'm near the end and I don't feel they can fck with me much anymore. But I refuse to drink the koolaid and be a cheerleader for the nonsense. I have had young Lt's ask me about certain rules, policies that I though was utter nonsense and I tell them is to make sure they understand such rule and policy and that this is what we're to do and follow. I won't though start cheering about how great of a policy or rule I think it is and how it's making us a better force, blah blah blah. BL: I'll keep on doing what I know is right and taking care of my own guys as much as I can--I'm not 'chasing' rank. Sorry for the TLDR type post. Rant Off.

Liquid, I warned you a long time ago about attempting to “re-blue” folks on this forum. While I don’t speak for anyone but myself, I hope that most on here are at least appreciative of the fact that you’ve taken a step that most of your cohorts won’t – you listen to what people say. However, I have seen little-to-no attempt on your part to say “great point – I’m going to tell my boss about your comment.” Instead, you demonstrate your disconnection by repeating buzzwords and AF corporate-speak. I have my doubts about you being a “good dude.” Telling people they shouldn’t be allowed to talk about the airlines at work. Administering no-notice evals to your peers. The list goes on. Good dudes don’t do that. Do you tell your bosses to shut their pie holes when they’re discussing the next triathlon/marathon/half-marathon they’re training for? Doubt it. I see way too many people talking about that useless stuff and never once mentioning their training plan for their student. It used to be NASCAR, then it was biking, now it’s triathlons, marathons, etc. I can’t wait to see when the next 4-star decides that they like (fill-in-the-blank) – just watch, you’ll see all their cronies rushing out to buy expensive gear, subscribing to magazines (with no women on the cover of course), and wasting hours at work discussing it. Don’t worry, it won’t actually be a sport, just some form of conditioning that was originally intended to better prepare you for something truly athletic. But we don’t want to do that because someone might sprain an ankle. I have news for you – it IS about the money. You and your fellow “leaders” have dangled the carrot of an active duty retirement in front of your people since day one. There are tens of millions of Americans, most of them less intelligent, less skilIed, less educated, and less motivated than most folks in the AF. Somehow, they manage to feed their families, educate their children, take vacations, enjoy life, and save for retirement. If they can figure it out, so can we. Making service members feel as if they’ll be lost and destitute unless they do 20 years and ensure a paycheck and health care for the rest of their life is almost criminal. Telling them that they shouldn’t discuss future plans is criminal as well. Nice job shaking their hand as they walk out the door at 42-years of age with no job lined up. That WILL leave them lost and destitute. You want to know why people get out? Because they’re not like you and they don’t like you. They want real friends, not temporary friends that the AF pays them to associate with for two years during their command tour, and then move on to a new set of “friends.” They don’t want to be judged against their peers, they want to be appreciated for the skills they bring to the fight. They’re tired of seeing good people lose their careers/upward-mobility over petty incidents while seeing people get promoted 2-below to O-5 for flying nukes across the country (you still haven’t addressed this BTW). You’re responsible for that. Your job is tell your boss that he’s full of shit so your people can execute the mission. If your boss can’t handle that, then he’s a piece of shit and needs to move out of the way. Stop defending the corporation and your boss. Sit down, grab a drink, open your ears, and open your mind. You, the “leadership” keeps telling the “minions” that you’re tired of hearing excuses. Did you ever think that all of your buzzwords and AF corporate-speak are excuses? They are. They are very poor, lame excuses for a lack of courage and leadership. Have you ever seen what happens when a Captain “mentors” an A1C outside of their organization? Several people chimed in to tell you that that Captain is ALWAYS called on the carpet in front of his/her Sq/CC for not playing nice. That’s YOUR fault. You’ve usurped your young officer’s authority and empowered the inexperienced and ignorant. Have you ever “mentored” a Sq/CC for doing this? Have you ever called in that A1C’s Commander? Of course not, you’re too busy writing Taliban-esqe rules for what type of memorabilia, media, and photos are appropriate for the “workplace.”

Liquid, your remarks are truly representative of the AF at-large. I say that because I find myself casually nodding in agreement at some of the things you say, only to read some of your true gems and find myself wanting to smash my screen because of your absolute disconnection with reality... much like a number of policies/talking points I see coming from upper management. The only thing that will keep me from punching is more good bosses like the one I have now. That's it. Other than that, this organization has become just like any other "job" out there--the fun has largely been sucked out of it. I'm not even buying the "working with good dudes" part anymore. I'll make other buddies elsewhere. You characterize it that way yourself by repeatedly calling it "work". It used to be called a "squadron". Now its a "workplace". I would actually take a pay cut if that means I have the ability to control my own future. And no, I'm not necessarily one of the "disgruntled employees" that you and your peers would write off. I've actually done/am doing pretty well so far, but hearing the Big Blue spin of guys are getting out because they are "bored" boggles my mind. How about "our organization has trampled these guys for 12+ years with ops tempo and stupid ass rules... Hard work has been rewarded with more hard (and mindless, queepy) work. ...now they are seeing the light." Yeah, much more realistic. Your all-volunteer force has been getting worked over and getting kicked in the junk in the name of service to God and country for too long now. People just aren't buying it anymore. Good luck trying to make it more attractive to new accessions in the future and trying to sway those guys on the fence as those ADSCs run out.

True. One can't follow Ramsey blindly - he is for the masses and for those who are weak minded, bad at math,and in that 50% of the crowd that are of below average intelligence. If you look at the past posts on the investment thread, I was one of the main guys bashing him because of his bad math. But then I actually listened to a few of his podcasts. I do cringe when he tells folks to pay off that 1% car loan or that 3% student loan instead of investing the extra cash at market rates, I have found that his overall point is to live beneath your means. He also repeatedly admits that his math is not optimal, but "studies have shown" that when you don't have debt, or focus on lowering your standard of living, you psychologically do better financially and have a higher standard of living. In other words, I would like to think I have more discipline than the average Joe and took out my 30 year loan with the lower payment so I could invest the rest, versus taking out a 15-year loan like he prescribes. The math is in my favor, but human nature and psychology is in his favor. He doesn't harp on the numbers too much, but in all of his conversations he reverts back to living beneath your means to get a net positive worth - drive an older car, don't eat out or go on vacation until the student loans are paid off, etc. But he does actually cut a lot of slack with regards to home loans, because he knows they are generally speaking an investment that will go up in value. Along those lines - 1) You are right about borrowing at 3.5% and putting it in the market to make historically more - around 6-8%. That's where I disagree with Ramsey, but I will say that the money that I am saving from my smaller mortgage payment that is supposed to be invested tends to go toward "emergencies," which Ramsey addresses as things that can make your dream of home ownership turn into a nightmare. Again, you are right with this math, but just think about the average idiot who measures affordability by the size of the monthly payment instead of the actual cost of borrowing and paying interest over the lifetime of that loan. Don't forget to take into account the other costs of home ownership too. 2) You have to take into account how much money it is going to cost you to save that much money and then make more in the stock market. There is a breakeven point, and as long as you calculated it, the funding fees versus the spread between market returns and the cost of your loan should make you money in the end. Again, not for the faint of heart, for those bad at math, or for those of us who have lived through multiple "once in a century" crises where home prices don't rise and the stock market does not give you 6-8% in the long run. 3. The two mortgages I did, the VA was higher. It's lower than conventional now, but that is not really enough data points to come to a firm conclusion. One more thing, by having 100% debt in the house, your margin for error is small in the case that the home value drops at all. If that happens, then you have to cough up cash in order to get out of the house when you sell. If you really want to have a good discussion, look into why Ramsey thinks car loans are bad - because cars are consumable, will always go down in value, and are never an "investment." He changed the way I look at car loans.

Unfortunately, such an outlook doesn't seem to be shared by a good number of GO-level leadership. Perhaps your perspective can be shared with them, in an effort to help them lose their reactionary, knee jerk reactions to sensational stories that are later proved to be incorrect or false once the actual facts come out. Unfortunately, there are also other aspects to this that figure in to someone accepting an Art 15 vs going to a CM, not the least of which is that many times for officers they are charged with wonderful murky things like "dereliction" or "conduct unbecoming" which have very different standards of proof than the very specific charges made in a civilian criminal court. Also remember that the risk of losing in a CM is a federal conviction that someone will carry with them long after they leave the military, whereas an Art 15 does not. It is NOT a clear case that someone actually did what they were charged with when they choose to accept an Art 15 rather than take it to a CM. There is a much larger risk management decision to make. Every Wing Commander who has let their SARC or SJA use his mug shot and story at every sexual assault training for the last year without having them also give a follow-up comment that he was not found guilty of any of the charges initially laid against him.

Flipping a switch while the AC is moving is not exactly cosmic, just have some SA about it... True many MCs have valuable previous MWS experience and that definitely counts for a lot but some of those LTs have a deployment under their belt and 700+ hours in the MC-12 airframe and mission and that counts for something too, especially when you're sitting next to a brand new MC who's only been through MQT and a few in-country indoc rides.

Guy walks into a bar and the sign says “Military, Active, Guard, Reserve, current, retired, Vets … all drinks a nickel, all the time”. Guy asks the bartender how he can afford to do this. The bartender/owner explains that he is a retired Chief and that he won the lottery. He always wanted to open a bar for military folks and that he used his wealth from his lottery winnings to run the bar. He explained that all drinks are always a nickel and every evening at five it’s two for one. The guy noticed that everyone seemed to be drinking and having a good time except for these three guys sitting at the end of the bar. The guy asks the owner why those guys are just sitting there. The owner said, “Ahhh, they’re just some retired Colonels waiting for happy hour to start.”

They also used Helos in case the C-130's missed. The NRO just released a bunch on GAMBIT and HEXAGON as well. The Trieste II rescue of the third HEXAGON capsule was, at the time, the deepest undersea salvage operation.

I think I see Blue, he looks glorious!

Dave Ramsey had a short piece on VA loans not that long ago. He rates them as #3 out of the three types - conventional, FHA, and then VA, in that order. His logic was (and I actually agree with him here) is that: 1. They are setting you up to do something you should not do - putting down no down payment and thus taking on 20% more debt than you would if you had a conventional on a home that was 20% less expensive. More debt is bad, according to Dave. And in this case, I sort of agree with him, because you will be paying interest on that extra 20% of debt for 30 years. 2. They charge very high origination fees and closing costs - by far the highest of the three major types of loan. 3. They don't offer better rates. Although I have criticized him on here in the past, I think his main point in his anti-debt rants are that we should strive to live beneath our means. He hates the VA loan because it enables us to live at, or slightly beyond our means with regards to the amount of home that we can afford to consume. I am not casting stones - I took out a loan with 100% equity on my first home (traditional, with a higher rate to compensate for the lack of 20% down), but when I refinanced, I pulled a ton of money out of savings to get my 20% equity and thus avoid PMI, higher rates, VA origination fees, or whatever other ways they want to hide the penalty fees of not having 20% down. Remember - don't judge a home loan by the monthly payment or by whether or not the bank is doing you a "favor" by rolling the closing costs into the loan for you. Those are still real costs - thousands of dollars more, in the case of the VA loan origination fees - that you have to pay back, dollar for dollar (plus interest). So it is actually a great disservice to roll the extra fees and closing costs into the loan/monthly payment, because you wind up paying even more at the end. My strategy was to get the 20% down and then shop hard for the lowest closing costs. Monthly payment was low on my list of priorities because I know it is just a manipulation tool for them to try and get you to live beyond your means and buy more house than you can afford.

So it's different if your next job is on Active Duty? When I was the OG Exec, my boss spent who knows how many hours on the phone with the Wing/CC and NAF/CC and others working his next assignment. Every other O-6+ I have ever been around has done the same thing. Hell, basically everyone I know works their own assignment. Somehow these people working active duty assignments are better than the guys working jobs outside the Air Force? Seems sort of stupid to me. Either you are 100% focused on your current job 100% of the time, or you aren't. Why does it matter what the next job is? I don't think people staying on Active Duty should be able to work assignments if the people getting out are not allowed to do the same. The message that sends is "people that separate suck."

Seriously? You must have been loved by your bros back in the day. That is the saddest thing I've heard this week. Nobody here believes for a minute that you're all business during the duty day. You either are disliked by everyone behind your back, or you simply don't have any friends with an attitude like that. People are going to talk about what's important to them when at work, while working... Impossible to avoid, and you're crazy for demanding it. Maybe you're just not being clear. Maybe you meant that significant time should not be devoted to it while during duty hours? Maybe you were just referring to a two hour whining session? If that's what you were saying, then I think most reasonable people here would agree with you. If not, you need to really take a look at your expectations, and ask yourself, "am I really that d bag that I used to hate because he 'didn't get it'?" I like a lot of what you have to say, but you occasionally lose sight of reality! That is what is driving people out. Leaders that talk the good talk a lot, but then wipe out everything they've previously said with one new policy, asinine comment about what they're allowed to talk about at work, etc. you guys really don't get it. I seriously wonder how a guy like me is going to survive in this AF? I'm going to school, I'll probably end up running a sqdn in a few years, and I'm going to quickly be fired for not toeing the party line because that line is ridiculous. I'll lay it out for my guys, as to what people like you expect from them, and then I'll let them know what is important to me. Nobody is going to get special treatment for the crap that gets people strats right now. I'm going to have to fight my boss and his boss to justify why my number one guy is the best tactical guy in the sqdn, who is well rounded. Well rounded to me doesn't include some BS degree or CFC volunteer, but a solid leader who mentors young pilots, makes sure the sqdn is running smoothly, and has his personal life in order. That probably means I'll never go further than SQ/CC if I even survive that without getting fired. Sorry, I'm rambling, but you really make people think about what they want to get out of this AF. I guess that's a good thing... Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

When you were a Captain, you'd give no-notice ground evals to your fellow Captains? Are you fucking kidding me? I'm sure you didn't do that Majors and Lt Cols. And who cares about LTs. That leaves fellow Captains...your fucking peer group. I would have laughed at you. I actually laugh at you now. The Air Force is fucked. Glad it got rid of me!

Reprisal for IG complaints is protected by law. Don't be afraid of that. Keep doing what you are doing. Give AD leadership the honest and direct feedback their subordinates are not willing to give. Keep mentoring the young officers and enlisted. Trust me, nothing derails a shitty commander better than IG complaints. Use the system as it is designed to be used. Report the assholes and stop their progression. If you are the asshole, bitching about a good commander you disagree with won't derail him/her because the investigation will determine the facts. Most IG complaints are not substantiated because they are brought by disgruntled people who have no real grounds for formal grievance. If you see real misconduct, abuse of authority or incompetence, report it again and again. Anyone who reprises against you using protected communications and complaints (IG and Congress) will be fired. Believe me on that. The shoe explanation makes sense, thanks. I agree with everything you say here. Not bad for a nav.

Nobody cares what you talk about on your airline job. You should not be paid to work on your next job while at work on active duty. Do that on your own time. Yeah, yeah, we have transition programs. Do it then too. It is incredible how many people bitch about how hard it is to find the time to knock out AAD/PME/DTS/CBTs/fill in the blank additional duties and how much is distracts from their -1 studies, warfighting focus and professional development, but think it is perfectly fine to surf the net, network and bullshit about their ATP and interview. Make up your ing minds. But make sure you do the job the taxpayer expects you to do first. When I was a Captain and encountered pilots chatting about their airline prep in the pilot office, I would give them a no-notice ground eval to check their systems knowledge and combat readiness. It was amazing how fast that reduced the around time and set the standard that we actually focused on at work. Remember, while you are planning your next career, there are plenty of other people in the squadron that will be there for a long time and could actually benefit from your experience more than hearing the details of how and why you are separating.