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This is what made me view Michelle Obama's hashtag activism with distaste. Taking to the internet en mass is a way for the people to force those in power to do something or pay attention to an issue...Michelle, on the other hand, has very close access to someone with a LOT of power. Yet she's on the internet holding a sign, as if she doesn't interact with POTUS basically every day. If Michelle wants something done, she knows who to talk to. Did President Obama shoot her down, and force her to take to Twitter to make her point? I doubt it. To me, it would be like the Waltons holding a sign protesting for better wages for Wal-Mart employees, or Tim Cook holding a sign protesting working conditions at the Foxconn facility where iPhones are made.

As a still flying, combat capable 55 year old airplane that has participated in every war since the current model's production in 1960 (along with the KC-135), I think the BUFF has earned the privilege of telling a few "war" and "there I was" stories. Also, if you knew your Air Force history, you would remember that the "mach tuck" you speak of was originally called a "bomber crush", which was a crease from the headsets that the WWII bomber crews wore over their flight cap during their combat missions. Other than those two minor critiques, you shacked the rest of your post. -9-

Time to defrost him

As a retired MSgt who got out when I saw my Sq infested with E-8's and E-9's who never did their time in the desert this hits very close to home. Cut and Paste from a JQP blog. I always wondered about myself if I was part of the problem when I decided to bail out when I had my fill of these block fillers. I’m a Master Sergeant. My job is not to be part of the fucking Top 3, or preen and lick my coat so that Colonels and CMSgts like me, or to carefully consider how to earn a “5”. My job is to take care of my airman, and motivate + inspire my Staff and Tech Sergeants to do the same. They aren’t as wise as me yet, because they haven’t seen as much, but if I do myjob I will expose them to situations where they will begin to acquire that wisdom. My job is to protect my people and let them truly understand what ‘taking owningship in an organization means’ while at the same time holding them accountable to the high standards I set, exemplify, and enforce. I shouldn’t have a perfect career history or life, because that gives me no clue how to talk to a junior enlisted who is having troubles. If I’ve never gotten in trouble, what the hell am I supposed to say to Airman Smith who is getting an Article 15 or a Letter of Reprimand? “Sorry man. You should have been more like me.” No. Fuck that. “Sorry man. I’ve been there. I did something stupid too. But I didn’t let it stop me. I picked myself up and dusted myself off.” That is the real danger of the one-mistake Air Force. We are robbing our organization of the most powerful force in human history: the ability to learn from our mistakes. Instead we staff it with a bunch of crumb lapping lap-dogs whose only concern is some stupid stratification or some worthless certification they are supposed to have because “someone told me I’m supposed to have it”. What about people? If you spend so much time buried up your own ass, you forget why you are here in the first place. Your purpose is not as an ego-masturbatory exercise, but as a leader of men and women and a manager of teams who’s goal is to foster an organization that doesn’t trudge along to a broken and sick drum, but hums along with a precision and fury that somehow exceeds the sum of its parts. These days we don’t even know how to create such an organization. We sometimes marvel at one when we see it, but more often than not it came about through dumb luck because we have forgotten how to be leaders. Inevitably, the next egotistical maniac will take the helm of such an organization and run. it. into. the. ground. Why do I know this? Because I have seen it. I have lived it. I have made my mistakes and learned from them, even when they weren’t my mistakes. I have reflected on years of a career spent trying to do the right thing, even when it cost me personally and professionally. You know why? Because I’m not just a fucking E-7. I’m a Senior NCO. And my job is bigger than just me now. People don’t work for me any longer. That’s not how this works. I work for them. They aren’t there to stroke my ego or provide me with career and EPR fodder. They aren’t there as punching bags to absorb my own shame, guilt, and frustrations. They aren’t there to do the one thousand menial tasks I invent because I am an uncreative prick. I am there for them, to shepard them towards better careers, to encourage them to pursue personal improvement, to inspire them to do outstanding jobs (even at great personal cost), and to slowly shape them into the SNCOs that I know they will one day be. Because that’s a family. That’s an organization. That’s taking care of each other. And that’s what the US Air Force was supposed to be, and is about. And if you’re not onboard, and you care more about your own EPR than the SrA who’s wife is leaving him, get the fuck out. If you care more about the next Top 3 Meeting than your SSgt who’s work productivity suddenly plummetted for no discernable reason, get the fuck out. If you care more about impressing the wing commander than what your Staff Sergeants and airmen are saying amongst themselves, get the fuck out. We don’t need you. We need SNCOs.

^^ NICE Dr Hoppe's 9, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ignore all these years. It's just that CLP was all sexy in her does everything sort of way. It turns out she just doesn't work much, you're such a better cleaner. I mean sure you give me a headache at times, but we can work through that, please take me back. busdriver

Because that's what "equality" actually means...change the standard to achieve an equal result Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'll start getting nervous when the tankers move outta AMC

Oh good. More one-off, cherry-picked, anecdotal examples purported to be representative of one, and only one, ideological belief system (nevermind the fact that these people are again, barely classifiable as politicians, and certainly not leaders of the country). You do understand that politicians of all ideological convictions make a living off of saying things that they don't have to follow through on, no? Every presidential campaign depends on it. On principle I refuse to post any of the readily accessible pictures of conservatives holding up retarded hashtags for causes they brain-dumped two seconds after their press secretary snapped the photo. You're apparently blind to them, so why waste my time. As I said earlier, I don't have enough days left on Earth to gather a representative sample. The fact that you only actually internalize politicians promising the world and then not delivering for one very specific belief system while absolving those who do the same thing but are more like-minded with you is sad. It's as sad as meaningless gestures taking the place of necessary actions.