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"Citibank KC-46 brought to you by Doritos." Funding issues solved.

My money is on the AFMC/CC to win. https://www.af.mil/AboutUs/Biographies/Display/tabid/225/Article/107934/general-janet-c-wolfenbarger.aspx

That's Ok. Whatever they lack in integrity and excellence, you can make up for in service.

Mandatory Mustache March for all MAJCOM commanders - From the Air Force Association Facebook page:

A year or two ago they swept through BAF with fairly thorough checks and forced everyone to take down the combat wallpaper. The huts look so sad and lonely by themselves. It's like seeing an aircraft stripped of all its paint. Now all the walls are a borderline safety hazard now with millions of exposed staples sticking out from every surface. When things have got to a point where we have time and motivation to do things like this, it's time to pack everything up and go home.

If only we as an Air Force could attain the same level of clarity and transparency for force shaping as we've achieved for cuff links.

I'll take that one. Ready? Here goes... You have got to be fucking shitting me. There are so many dissimilarities between what this idiot did and what I wrote that it's ridiculous. I'd be glad to spell them all out for you if you care to PM me, but the most important is that I told a cadet directly what everybody else was thinking and bitching about, and my email went "viral" before "viral" even existed. This idiot posted multiple "joking" images to social media accounts that directly contradicted the core function of her duties to properly respect and honor fallen military members. If you think those two are even remotely in the same ball park, you need some calibration.

Strato ExtenZe?

Latest update from AFPC

If I had more down-votes left today I would apply them to every single one of your post on this topic. You've folded flags at a funeral in -20 weather. That sucks, but I think the family of the veteran in the casket would trade you any day of the week. If that soldier can't buck-up, and perform under temporary personal discomfort, she needs to move into another line of work. Voluntary or otherwise. My opinion of your posts is that you handled mostly veterans from WWII, Korea, etc. Nothing from the OEF/OIF. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I'll second Fuzz's experience (or any AMC aircrew). Standing in formation at the ramp of a C-17 watching a 4yo son cry for his Dad, not understanding why he can't see his father, and being consoled by his grandparents because his mom is sobbing, being physically held up by another family member...its gut wrenching. Then having to do it ll over 5min later for the second casket, only this time it's his mother. She has her arms outstretched, calling her son's name and his is being restrained by family to keep her from running into the flight line. Those memories are three years old, and some of my last in AMC. To this day it makes want to do two things; 1) hug my kids and never let them go and 2) deliver instant, explosive justice on terrorist shitheads. I'm generally all about arguing both sides, but you've picked the wrong horse to back and need to let it go.

I believe this would be the one? From: Sondecker George R IV C3C USAFA To: XXXXXXXX xxx FS/Casual Subject: Cadet Request for F-15 ride Lt. XXXXXXXXXXXXX, I am a cadet at the Air Force Academy trying to arrange a flight with the xxxrd Fighter Wing between 21 December and 5 January. I have my Secret Clearance and Physiological Training Card and can coordinate any AOC approval or necessary medical clearance (Form 1042). My presence does not impose any limitations on the mission; Im just along for the ride. Any further guidance or authorization you can provide on this matter is much appreciated. Email is the best way to contact me, but my cell phone number is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Thank you for your time and consideration. Very Respectfully, C3C George R. Sondecker IV CS-20 Tough Twenty Trolls United States Air Force Academy From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 2dLt xxx FS/Casual Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 5:01 PM To: XXXXXXXXX Maj xxx FS/ADO; Subject: RE: Cadet request for F-15 ride Heres the guy who keeps calling up and bugging the scheduling shop about getting a flight. From: XXXXXXXXX Maj Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 6:09 PM To: Sondecker George R IV C3C USAFA Subject: RE: Cadet request for F-15 ride Youve got some brass balls on you, cadet fourth class George Sondecker HIV (seriouslyis that your real name, lose that IV crap, it just sounds stupid). Let's break down your message and maybe we can educate you on a thing or two. Im a cadet at the Air Force Academy. This message should be over right here. Period dot. Cadets dont troll for rides, they EARN them through the proper channels just like everybody else. Weve got a long list of maintainers who have earned awards through this wing to get incentive rides. These guys bust their asses in the freezing cold and blistering heat and only the lucky few get the privilege of having a ride. Name me three things you think youve done to earn a Strike Eagle ride. Seriously. And by the way, Ive read about all the hard work here - https://www.gdsalumni.blogspot.com/. And I quote The learning curve was very steep this past year as I learned about military culture and doctrine in a pretty stressful environment. Brother, you have no idea what a stressful environment is. trying to arrange a flight with the xxxrd Fighter Wing Sweet mother of pearl, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. We are the xxxrd Fighter Squadron, and we are a division of the xxth Fighter Wing. If you want to snivel a ride from us, you ought to at least get your facts straight. This is the foreshadowing of your ignorance, lets continue. I have my Secret Clearance Your secret clearance doesnt mean f*** all to us. You think were going to take you up on a tactical sortie? You think were going to let you sit in on classified briefings? You think were going to hang out and talk tactics with you? YGBFSM. and Physiological Training Card Your physiological training card doesnt mean f*** all to us. Remember all those hard working maintainers I mentioned earlier? Not one of them has a physiological training card - dont try to impress us with that crap. and can coordinate any AOC approval Last time I checked, the AOC didnt run the flying schedule of the 4th FW or coordination of our incentive flights. Apparently youre not familiar with chain of command and proper channels. Let me tell you what this does NOT consist of; it does NOT consist of going VFR direct to the 333rd Fighter Squadron scheduling shop and bothering our hard working schedulers. This consists of you talking to your commander, your commander talking to our commander, somebody in between giving the approval, and then in the middle of your pipe dream you will be denied your flight. My presence does not impose any limitations on the mission; Im just along for the ride. You couldnt be more wrong. What exactly is it you think we do here? Do you know anything about the F-15E? Do you know anything about xxxxxxxxxx? Do you know anything about the xxxrd? Since it would seem the answer to all of the above is a blatant No, Ill clue you in. In the F-15E, while we do have two seats, the second seat is not an empty seat that only gets occupied when goobs like yourself call up looking for a ride. Its a seat for qualified aircrew we call them Weapon System Officers. He is an essential part of our mission and we dont give him the boot for guys who are looking to bum a ride. Also, the xxxrd is a Formal Training Unit. That means that we train young pilots and WSOs, so to give you a ride, we would either have to boot a student WSO in aforementioned formal course, or an instructor WSO trying to teach said student WSO. Get the picture? Any further guidance or authorization you can provide on this matter is much appreciated. and Im spent - Hopefully this will serve as all the guidance you need. Gents, if there is something I have left out of this mentoring session with young cadet third class citizen Sondecker the HIV, please feel free to chime in. Maj XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Chief of Stan/Eval, xxxrd FS

It was a reference to the Friday shirt authorization.

No problem, man, I know that feeling, but thanks for the response and info. I pulled the trigger and bought one, even though the new Fenix2 was just announced yesterday. The Fenix will have quite a few more capabilities than the Tactix, but they're pretty much all geared at Triathletes and Open Water swimming stuff, which I have pretty much zero use for... Then there's the fact that the new Fenix doesn't come out until March at the earliest, the backlight is not safe for NVG's like the Tactix's is (plus it's red, which I hate), and it doesn't have the skydiving feature. Last, but not least, if you give HeartRateWatchCompany a call, they'll give you a code for a 10% off Military Discount... that applies to all their products, not just the Tactix. I actually spoke to the owner, Rusty; he's a great guy, and hooked me up with Free 2-Day shipping and some other free add-ons as well, so I ended-up saving about $60 altogether. They have several other watch brands and products, so figured I'd throw that out there if anyone else is interested. The number is (866)586-7129.... Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

From Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2014/02/20/u-2-vs-global-hawk-why-drones-arent-the-answer-to-every-military-need/

Should've been named the Phoenix to accurately capture its acquisition history...

You asshole! Well played, well played indeed.

Single source income. Just hit the 14-yr mark. I am a pilot and currently on the bonus (annual gross approx $155k), but we've been investing 30% +/- of my gross for a few years now. I think one year the investments got as high as 40% gross. We realized that was a bit extreme and backed off a little. No debt of any type. Being financially secure is a great feeling! Really appreciate all of the great financial advice and perspective everyone brings to this site.

"The Gas Mutilator" sponsored by Brawndo...It's got what planes crave.

KC-46 Goatse

First or second solo to the area in the Tweet and I want to know what zero G really feels like. For some unfathomable reason I decide I have to be inverted to truely experience weightlessness. After a few seconds of thinking "this is fricking awesome", I look down and see the altimeter rapidly unwinding. As I bust through the bottom of the area at about the speed of Jesus, I roll wings level and pull with all my might, nearly blacking out. I think I was about 1,000' AGL or so. Scared shitless, I climb back up into the area and perform 20 minutes of MOA patrol before RTB'ing. Nobody ever said a word and I went and changed my drawers.

What else could he do? He knew how to read, do math and who his parents really were.

Let's not give AFPC too much credit here. Fraudulence would imply some level of competence on their part.

I don't mean to interrupt the lynching party, but... Has anyone here ever made a macabre joke? I've folded flags at funerals in -20 weather: it's not easy, and yeah, they weren't as pretty or crisp as those folded in 60 and sunshine. I'm sure we joked about it amongst ourselves, but thankfully we never had a global audience for our conversations like this young woman has... Social media is dangerous shit. Especially for someone too young and inexperienced to know when to hold back the thoughts they might share with close friends. As anyone watching GWB's old speeches will notice, it's easy to find flaws when everything a person says is recorded, and the context is easily missed. Was it stupid for her to write what she did? Yeah. But you were children once, too. That's what kids do. It's called "growing up."

Brother, I will not argue that your view depends on where you sit and I know your community has been rode hard and put away wet, but the bitterness will not matter to anyone but you. We all face disappointment, trust me, I recently faced a big Air Force disappointment of my own and there was a simple choice, mope around or shake it off and lean into it. The Air Force is not fair...period dot...sometimes shitty people succeed, but the same can be said in the civilian sector. The Air Force is facing challenges, our shit is tired and broke, but there are still good people fighting to make a difference and we still bring an advantage to the fight that trumps anyone else on the planet. You have to control what is within your reach and if that takes you to a point where you want to get out, then I thank you for your service, you've done more than 99% of the American public and I am humbled that people like you step forward to serve. Let me offer some simple advice, do your best, accomplish the mission to the best of your ability, fight tooth and nail to take care of your people, and leave with your head held high. This chapter is almost complete for me and I want to look in the mirror when it is over with my family, my honor and dignity intact, and knowing I did my absolute best...I truly wish the same for you. PM me if you want to talk again.

Fair?

People make mistakes: it's called life. What's with the sweeping judgments? If only there was someone on BODN who has also sent an "email heard 'round the world."... A moderator, perhaps... Who flies (flew?) Strike Eagles... If only...