Leaderboard

Very little the USAF is doing these days is about keeping America "safe". I was drinking beers the other night with some civilian peers...they barely know about ISIS, think we are done with Iraq and forgot about Afghanistan. Call me to deploy and make sacrifices when we have some strategic objectives for the country and you need my help to solve it. Otherwise, I'll bow out if given the choice. You want a ppt monkey at the CAOC, GFY. Want me to train afghanis to fly...GFY. If you wAnt me to sacrifice my life/family happiness, it better be for more than tax-free and to keep doing the failed strategy we have been going on 15+ years. Otherwise it's just a paycheck, no guilt.

It's a decommissioned East German IL-62 airliner named Lady Agnes which landed at Gollenberg, Germany in 1989 to be put on exhibit there... (More info) Gollenberg is considered the "oldest airfield in the world" as Otto Lilienthal, a German aviation pioneer, was the first person to make well-documented, repeated and successful glider flights there in the late 1800s... Cheers! M2

We stayed up late that night, and watched a gazillion F-111's taxi and takeoff in waves from Taif. What a sight. I had to launch a few hours later, but there was no way I could sleep. I was keyed up as I was 6 weeks into my first U-2 deployment. That was quite a memorable flight.

I made a decision early on after seeing too many pissed off senior leaders with multiple ex wives that I was not going to sacrifice my family for career. Don't get me wrong, I'm good at what I do and I fight for my guys every day. I'm just not going to be the doormat that volunteers for every shit sandwich because I realize how broken the system is. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Twenty-five years ago today, I found myself in the Saudi Arabian desert near the Iraqi border with NVG's on watching a steady stream of traffic headed northbound and downtown. It was a very impressive sight. I mentioned this in the office today and guys were amazed that it was 25 years ago. Of course some said they were in grade school then so I gave them a quick history lesson.

Air Force Magazine posted this cool photo album from Desert Storm. The Official Air Force Page on Flickr also had a larger Desert Storm album...but I can't seem to find it at the moment. https://www.airforcemag.com/Features/Pages/2016/January%202016/Desert-Storm-in-25-Photos.aspx

Navs...

So can the tanker crews move into the BPC rooms that are going to be empty? Yea...didn't think so.

I assume you're referring to my MC-12 time (were you there when I was? ). I loved what we did there. The direct support to the ground pounders, be it convoy overwatch or more direct support during hostilities, was amazingly rewarding. Way more of a "I'm part of the fight" feel than my time as a FAIP or tanker pilot. But while the individual experience of the MC-12 was very rewarding, I can't say it did much for my (and others') opinion of the overall military effort. I think (purely speculative) that's what we're seeing today. People still believe in the mission of their unit or the MWS, but not in what it is being used for. Maslow's higher needs can't be fulfilled this way, making it harder to have a high-functioning organization. The U.S. chose to have an all volunteer force. That means it has to run it (in many ways) like other voluntary operations. Telling people their opinions and feelings are misguided (or selfish!) is a failure of empathy, and thus a failure of leadership. Say what you will about the conflict between empathy and the "killing people and breaking their stuff" military badass mindset, it matters. Especially when fewer people think their integrity, service, excellence, and lives are being spent on worthwhile endeavors, the bond between leader and follower is even more critical.

I joined to serve my Country and protect my family, but my priority has been and always will be Faith, Family, Country and the the Air Force, in that order. The problem is that the Air Force is constantly pitting Air Force members in a position where they are forced to choose between their family and Active Duty, and too many times it is due to deployed kingdom building or pointless tasking that some O-6 or higher refuses to get rid of. In those cases I see people become disillusioned with AD and choose to take their talents elsewhere, mostly to the Guard or Reserves where they feel they can better shield their family from AD careerism and the bloody trail it leaves behind.

Absolutely the wrong answer.

Some of this info should be looked at on the high side.