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Sooo, I got whisky and books. Guess my family has figured me out.

...But, you see, the problem is that GC & his cronies are trying to solve their WSO/CSO/Nav problems with UPT grads (at least indirectly), but they refuse to acknowledge that they are doing so. There were about 5,000 Navs (by this I mean Navs/CSOs/WSOs--whatever you wanna call them) in the AF in 2005. Now, we've got about 3,500. The OSS/staff/command/CAOC/deployed to Buttkrakistan to backfill Army guys/etc. workload didn't decrease by 30% over the last decade, so guess what? Pilot types have had to backfill billets that Navs might otherwise have filled. Ergo, we are trying to use UPT grads to solve the WSO problem . . . an expensive proposition that ticks people off and makes them all the more susceptible to the siren song of life outside of Big Blue. Tying this back to the ACP discussion, I find it odd that there's so much handwringing over an 11F shortage, when the pilot shortages are across all MDSs. Sticking to what I know/my parochial interests, the Nav community that's taken the biggest hit over the past decade is the 12Ms. Not surprising--with the advent GPS/better avionics, one doesn't need 'em. Problem is that 11Ms are filling billets that 12Ms would normally have filled, at the same time the civilian sector is drawing 11Ms away from active duty at substantial rates, while at the same time MAF folks are backfilling CAF & SOF billets . . . yet global airlift & tanker requirements ain't really subsided. The resulting experience loss across the board is substantial. In 2005, there were 3,500 Command Pilots in the AF. Today there are 2,100. In '05, there were 1,900 Master Navs; today, there are 600. That sure looks like a helluva brain drain--notably in the mobility community--and given the current civilian hiring picture, I don't see our ability to retain experienced aviators getting any better. While I fully understand that certain pilot communities are hurting worse than others, I can't escape the conclusion targeted bonuses for select pilot communities in FY17 ACP would be a galactically bad idea. Rant off. TT

Nice thread derail going on here. A 4-ship doing OCA works as a single unit with their radar assignments and what not. Same concept as a crew airplane, just spread to 4, single seat jets. And if you think you're some higher level thinker because you're a single seat guy, ride along in a family model Viper doing CAS or something. All that chatter going on the aux isn't discussing why Dez Bryant is a dumpster fire for a fantasy football team this year. It's the same conversation going on amongst a crew on an ICS about how to accomplish the mission. On that note, ask the original Weasels back in Vietnam if they would've rather unloaded the "noise maker" in favor of more gas. And those gibs literally mean Extra Weight Onboard (EWO).

Since you have a habit of talking about things you're not knowledgeable on, I'll do you the favor and correct you on this one as well. I see you're trying to justify the votes your girl got in this state, but I can tell you as a resident that no cowboy hat-wearing, truck-driving Texan placed a vote for her and I challenge you to back up that claim with facts. If you look at the popular vote in Texas, the only blue counties are mainly those along the Mexican border and can be attributed to the large illegal population that resides there. The rest was overwhelmingly Trump. Texas was a conservative Democratic stronghold for many years. For approximately 100 years from after Reconstruction until the 1990s, the Democrats dominated Texas politics. Now Republicans control all statewide Texas offices, to include the governor and both houses of the state legislature, and have a majority in the Texas congressional delegation. This makes Texas one of the most Republican states in the U.S. Urban areas like Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio are still largely Democrats; but suburbs of these cities remain heavily Republican. So your claim that "cowboy hat-wearing, truck-driving Texans" voted for Hillary are pure fantasy. It's the typical liberal and welfare-recipient votes that supported her in many other states.

Just want to bump this thread to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and all the best in 2017! As one who hung up the uniform over ten years ago (but still works within the DoD), I also want to extend my heartfelt thanks to all those serving. Your sacrifice is appreciated, and if by chance you are separated from friends an family today, may you stay safe and return home soon!

No place better to wish everyone a very merry Christmas than in the Squadron Bar! I hope everyone is able to spend the day with friends and family, and for those of you who cannot, please be safe wherever you are and know we appreciate your service and sacrifice! Cheers! M2

Does it come with a sweet Rebel Alliance flightsuit and helmet like the guy in the back is wearing?

This is a solution looking for a problem.

Not enough lift kit for Texas. Suspicious of actual location.

You mean like Iran's deadly Qaher 313? That thing is amazing.

As someone who lives 5 miles from west Texas I can promise you no cowboy hat wearing, truck driving, Texan voted for Hil dawg. Banner that's been hanging in the center of town since June and still proudly flying. Stereotypical truck included.

Bullshit. No born-and-bred proud Texan would ever vote for Hillary. All her votes came from those California rejects living in Austin, or illegals wanting free handouts. You're just quibbling.

People need to lay off the identity politics. You are not who you voted for, you are not a canned platform of unrelated "issues," you are not your f'ing party.

Merry Christmas to all the fuckers on my all time favorite electronic distraction.

BLUF: lots of text here. Feel free to skip. Merry Christmas. I'll check out of this thread for a while and let others have the floor...PM me if you want to discuss further. M2, First of all, I'm not sure where that graphic is from, but it is not an accurate representation of the county-by-county Presidential election results in 2016. Hillary won Dallas county, Harris and Fort Bend counties (Houston area), Bexar county (San Antonio) and Travis county (Austin) among others. I may not be the Texas expert you are, but those counties are not depicted as blue in your graphic. Jefferson and Newton counties are also depicted as blue despite the fact that Trump won those counties. Honest mistake I'm sure, but I encourage you to check your sources more carefully if you're gonna come off the top rope claiming to be some kind of expert on the state and calling me out. You said there were no born-and-bred and proud Texans that voted for Hillary and challenged me for some facts. My initial argument is that 3.8 million people voted for Hillary in Texas under full GOP control in terms of setting up and running the election...I assumed that was proof enough. But if you wanna go into the weeds even further, let's do it! Look at what's been called the most Republican county in the whole United States, King county, Texas. There were 159 votes cast in King county in the 2016 general election, and Donald Trump received 149 of them. A total ass-kicking indicative of the county being extremely conservative, no doubt. But Hillary received 5 votes in King county, not zero. Five votes in a county whose election process is almost certainly run by extremely conservative republicans who would not be inclined to allow for errant Hillary votes to be counted. The state also has a voter ID requirement. Are you telling me there were 5 people who cheated your Republican-run system in King county on election day? In a county where everyone almost certainly knows everyone? If you think that's the case, you should probably contact the election officials from that county. While you're making phone calls (or a road trip!), maybe it would be more productive to see if you can find any of those 5 Hillary voters in King county and talk to them, see where they're coming from. Are they illegal latinos on welfare looking for a handout like you implied? Maybe hold-out Johnson Democrats who've been voting blue for their whole lives? Or young people rebelling against their Republican parents? There's one way to find out for sure, and you're much closer than me. My entire argument is basically this - Trump voters in blue states are not all racists who wanna grab America by the pussy and punch Muslim refugees; Hillary voters in red states are not all welfare queen illegal transgendered people who want their own special snowflake bathroom. Try to understand the other side, work on a positive political message, build more coalitions and do less identity politics. I was hopeful that might be a more broadly agreeable message even in deep-red territory like BO.net. On Texas being one of the most conservative states in the U.S., in many ways that you pointed out, you're right. But in terms of Presidential electoral politics that simply wasn't the case in 2016. Texas was the 15th closest state in terms of the margin between the winner and the loser (Trump +9.0%). There were 20 other state more Republican than Texas in terms of Trump's margin. So yes, Texas is quite Republican and a 9-point victory is still a solid victory, but you guys should check your 6 down there the same way that Democrats should have checked ours in MI, WI, and MN and ME (all states in the top 8 closest that Hillary won [minus MI that she lost] yet are not normally thought of as "swing states"). Look, I'm trying to forward a message that the both parties need to do a better job of representing all of their voters and all Americans in general. I want the Democrats to pay more attention to the non-college educated white christian men from the south, midwest and rust belt who feel alienated by some of the liberal cultural war issues and left behind by the modern economy. Not a lot of those voters voted for Democrats in 2016, but some did and others maybe would have with a different message and candidate. Democrats need to stand up for and speak for those Americans. By the same token I want the Republicans to pay more attention to young voters, people of color and religious and ethnic minorities who feel alienated by some of the recent GOP rhetoric on immigration and civil rights in particular and who feel scared by the incoming administration. Not many voted Republican in 2016 (some did), but I would encourage the GOP to try to better represent those Americans too. if you made it this far and still give a damn.

We have a plan to backfill the bomber community with additional UPT grads to make up for any shortfall you may see over the next few years due to staff demands. It will be better for your communities as well, since new pilots have more longevity. All-around win-win. Hopefully the fighter and RPA guys get excited about the first bonus raise in a generation. Definitely a sweet pot of money on that rainbow: $35K/yr for 9 years! I am pleased that the issue of "raising the bonus" finally worked out. We had a lot of personnelists spend many hours to make sure our pilots are paid the correct amount via the bonus. Very exciting that it finally happened. Pilots, wherever you are at, please thank a personnelist. That small gesture will make a world of difference. Merry Christmas, all.

That is the attitude I'm talking about! The population of Austin is like 800K people and Hillary won 3.8 million votes in Texas. As much as it may rub up against conventional wisdom, there are lots and lots (i.e. hundreds of thousands to millions) of cowboy hat-wearing, truck-driving, Don't Mess With Texas Hillary voters in Texas. Just like there are lots and lots of latte-sipping Californians stuck on the 405 who voted for Trump. Not a majority of those people in either state voted that way obviously, but many more than you might think and we shouldn't discount those people's voices in our politics.

More people can handle a more complex mission and more complex systems, as long as they don't suck. All egotism and chest thumping aside, has anyone experienced otherwise?

Of course not. I get it dude, spent plenty of time working with 2-ships. Never thought they were as good as multi-sensor platforms, at least for my mission set. So I guess that's the question: what exactly do we expect the mission set of this thing to be?