Leaderboard

Hella of a guy... 7. On the U.S. war with Iraq: “If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don’t care for human beings.” Via cbsnews.com 6. On Israel: “Israel should withdraw from all the areas which it won from the Arabs in 1967, and in particular Israel should withdraw completely from the Golan Heights, from south Lebanon and from the West Bank.” Via jweekly.com 5. On the U.S. war with Iraq: “All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil.” Via cbsnews.com 4. Mandela on Castro and the Cuban revolution: “From its earliest days, the Cuban Revolution has also been a source of inspiration to all freedom-loving people. We admire the sacrifices of the Cuban people in maintaining their independence and sovereignty in the face of the vicious imperialist-orquestrated campaign to destroy the impressive gain made in the Cuban Revolution. … Long live the Cuban Revolution. Long live comrade Fidel Castro.” Via lanic.utexas.edu 3. Mandela on Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, his longtime supporter: “It is our duty to give support to the brother leader … especially in regards to the sanctions which are not hitting just him, they are hitting the ordinary masses of the people … our African brothers and sisters.” Via finalcall.com 2. On the U.S. preparing to invade Iraq in a 2002 interview with Newsweek: “If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace.” Via newsweek.com 1. On a Palestinian state: “The UN took a strong stand against apartheid; and over the years, an international consensus was built, which helped to bring an end to this iniquitous system. But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” Via cbsnews.com

If you like your military retirement plan, you can keep your military retirement plan. Oh, wait....

I see your partial retard and raise you a bigger retard. https://eagnews.org/parents-are-stunned-that-the-teachers-union-is-seeking-a-10000-severance-for-the-teacher-who-molested-their-son/

Clouseau, better give your sarcasm detector the ole Lockheed fix.

I like that my hours are mostly my hours, not George's hours. I got into this pilot business because I really like controlling the plane with the hands and feet. Even when doing long-haul, I encourage everyone hand fly up to cruise and on the way back down. Out

...Unless it was a giant labia minora...that might be inappropriate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2gCFOtaZPo

Beale AFB chalk up a jet for the kids...

The duffel blog does it again: https://www.duffelblog.com/2013/12/obama-military-cuts-like-job-can-keep/

This is not the first time I've heard this sentiment, and I still struggle to internalize it. How is it that the "real stars making things happen for the good of the organization" don't look "good on paper"? There are many paths to success and there is no one right answer. Here is my humble viewpoint on this for the younger cats: 1) Find a few people they look up to that have made O-4 already and get their PRFs, 1a) You should look at these PRFs and go, "Holy Shit!", if you don't...find a different one. 1b) At some point along the way, you should find a few sharp O-5's (by most people's standards already a successful career) that are aiming at full bird and start doing this with theirs. 2) Starting with your very first OPR, start writing your own PRF, 2a) With each iteration, compare it to the completed PRFs you acquired from your mentors (identify the "white space" in yours that needs to be filled), 2b) With each OPR, replace weaker content with your stronger content (you are creating a super OPR that covers your career, get guidance on what PRFs look like...there are multiple versions that work). 3) Work very hard to ensure that every single OPR has something worthy of filling in that "white space"...a good OPR may have many things, 3a) By identifying the "white space" and looking at your examples, you should have an idea of what kinds of things you'll need to seek out to do 3b) Be your own person and steer towards what interests you, this will help keep your motivation and passion along the way (the military doesn't change that much though, innovation be damned). 4) Continue this until you have a PRF that's as good, if not better, than your mentor's to meet your board with. 4a) Many people think that doing a good job in what you're handed is enough. If you only do what is asked of you, you will be successful...but, you will NEVER fulfill your potential. This is why you don't want "endless potential" written on your shit. It says you could, but you don't. 5) If you are a "real star that is making things happen for the good of the organization", and you don't look good on paper...you may be a "real star", but you are also likely an idiot. At a minimum, people in the know have seriously let you down along the way. A lot of your peers found (likely sought out) people that did no such things. You must do well at the things that are tasked to you, you must go beyond the minimum, and you must seek out opportunity. If you do not, do not complain about being in a situation where no one gives two shits if your PRF for the next board has a narrative or not. If you do everything you can, and it still doesn't work out...shut up and enjoy your paycheck flying the line and teaching the young guys (there are plenty of guys who won't get continuation or get tossed to the curb just shy of the finish line). Bendy

Careful, Liquid will be around any minute now to give you a no-notice ground eval.

Surely there are many moving parts here, but I think we can all agree on two things: 1. If Congress wants to change military retirement, they need to lead from the FRONT and make SWEEPING changes to their OWN pay/retirement system first. 2. Number 1 will never happen.

Obama did not direct that the flags be flown at half staff for Thatcher. It was one of yet many poor decisions made by his administration. Great Britain has been one of our stauchest allies for all of the Twentieth Century, and we probably didn't have any greater relations with the Brits than what we experienced between Reagan and Thatcher. The fact that he failed to attend her funeral or honor her in any way has not gone unnoticed by many of my friends in the UK. How Mandela rates this distinction while Thatcher did not escapes me. It was a conscience decision on the part of the Obama Administration to recognize one and not the other, but for what reasons I cannot fathom...

The whole system doesn't make sense if you ask me. BPZ and APZ are less than 1%, so essentially you have one chance to get promoted. Each Wing CC gets one BPZ DP to give, they should do the same for APZ as well. Having worked in the front office at the Group, Wing and on GO's Staff, every single time I was there for a board there was an O-6 or GO scratching his head wondering how the hell at least one person didn't get selected. You know they aren't going to use a DP on an APZ guy (extremely rare) and statistically you have a 0% chance of making O-5 with a P APZ... so what is the incentive for a pilot passed over as a Major to do anything but breathe and log IP time for the next 6+ years? I don't mean to cross threads here, but if you look at the new pay scale for the US Air/AA merger in 2017 you can START at $93K as a first year FO! Is that check of the month club worth sticking around to lose 6+ yrs of seniority when you can switch patches and pin on O-5 within 2 yrs across the street at the Res or Guard Sq? I know several of the 157 from a few years ago... every one of them is now an O-5 and many of them just got the call from SWA or United (some from both) in the past month. The pendulum is swinging very quickly back in favor of the pilots... too bad the shoes and the box checking Yes Men have their faces too buried in the Power Point slides for "Pride Month" to figure it out. Talking to my old boss who is now a 1 Star and has sat on a few promotion boards; sending up a blank PRF and an APZ PRF with just a P is the same thing... they essentially go into a separate pile and are not even considered. For the past 10+ yrs Big Blue just assumed that they had these folks (pilots) until 20 either way (and they were right)... that may not be a good assumption anymore.

OK, time to add some levity to this thread...

Gurkhas are some crazy bastards

I thought I saw this posted on the forum a while ago, but I couldn't find the thread. Anyhow, a couple years ago a Gurkha single handedly engaged 12 to 15 (some reports say as high as 30) Taliban soldiers to protect his FOB and brothers-in-arms. He used 400 rounds of ammo, 17 grenades, a mine, and a tripod to lay waste to the attackers. Acting Sgt Pun was quoted as saying, "Before they kill me, I have to kill some of them." Link to the details. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8-LRxSl9aw

Wei Tu Wong

So a couple weeks ago the runway here was closed. The fighter squadron verified some clearances and gave about 69 support people incentive sims. They were UTDs -- cockpit replicators with a flat screen but all the switches and everything work. Some of the bros taught them how to takeoff and land, fly an ILS, whatever. I tried to show them how their job fit into killing North Koreans, and why pilots (in general) are so grumpy when we have to walk over to a building and are turned away for "Training Days" every Tuesday from 1200-1630. Then afterwards, I took them over to a map and said "Here's Kunsan. Here's Osan. Here's Seoul. Here's where the North Koreans have 1000s of pieces of artillery pointed at Seoul. Here's where we are going on night 1 of the war. Here's where the North Koreans have SAMs pointed at us." The look on their faces when I showed to them how to shoot an AMRAAM, then avoid the SAM rings to drop 2 JDAMS and then get themselves and 3 of their best friends home out of harm's way said it all. One of them even said "I had no idea how hard this is, I had no concept of what you guys do. This is amazing." She got it. "What" (nice self naming of yourself, by the way), you should go get some perspective from those pilots you're deploying more than. Go find out what they do every day and what they train to do. If you show genuine interest, I guarantee it any pilot over there will explain it to you. Please figure out how you can do your job better so that they have more time to train to kill the enemy and protect your ability to donate your time on the weekends. If everyone did that, if everyone figured out how their job fits into the machine, then we wouldn't bitch. The problem is when people lose that perspective, lose the idea that their job is not the most important one on base and the world doesn't revolve around you. I'm sure you feel like you work hard, and you probably work long hours, so do we. But it sounds like you need a serious adjustment in perspective. Or don't, and continue to be part of the problem. Caveat: One CAF punk's idea. Got it, no MAF stuff, maybe a MAF dude can offer his opinion too but I don't want to spew some made up bullshit about what the MAF does.

You had the stupid beer tonight. Obamacare doesn't really effect congress, why do you think retirement will be any different? Disclaimer: I know they might fall under O-Care, but they have a 70% something discount......F them.

So the American President can't be a normal person when at a celebration and out in public? I say bull-shit on that one... I think seeing the President like that makes him more human and genuine and I don't mind it at all....

Selfies are taken every time I fly.... That's not against the regs is it? Again though, Mandela's funeral wasn't a typical funeral in the sense we think of it but a celebration of his life and the South African people made it a celebration...