Leaderboard

tell that to the Vance OG/cc

My mentor will always be the crusty passed over (maybe) major/LTC still in the squadron, those types have provided me more mentorship then any "career" guy. PSA: real mentorship in a flying squadron happens in the squadron bar (not heritage room) on Fridays with the beer light on.

I have a very important question: what happens to the fake internet points, because I had like 3 on a post that got deleted...

Why the love of the Scorpion........for reals?

I treat everyone the same until they show they want to be treated differently. Most of the women I've flown with were part of the team...only a small percentage of them required special treatment.

Lets just get the Wright flyer again. I mean if we think we are going to fight the same war for the next 30 years, lets just go all the way back.

Fighters

Looks like he choose both!

"Duties at"...I get it brother, do the work but don't get the full credit. However, you are kind of arguing against yourself here. Rated Staff entitlements are almost always WELL below 100% so "duties at" is used to get help on the staff by going around the rated allocations and matches AND to get some credit (OPR push and strat), for development. Having worked at a few staffs I understand the rated officer disdain but when the majority of this board constantly bitches about the shoes being in charge and the "idiotic" decisions that are made, keep in mind that is the byproduct of non-rated folks shaping things. You mentioned AFSOC/A5, in the ideal world you would have one person from each crew position on the staff to represent the needs of that community, never seen it happen. In fact I've traditionally seen one AC-130 crew member cover every crew position on three different models of the gunship. I hear what you are saying, I really honestly get it, but there is a balance somewhere in the middle where sharp rated folks get to influence the long-term decisions (while getting appropriate staff credit for development). By the way, how can you swerve your car into oncoming traffic on highway 98 when it is at a complete standstill?...just sayin'!

Yeah, I think some people on this board are friends with and/or invested in the company. I've looked at its thrust/weight and cargo carry capacity, it isn't that great. We got rid of AT-37's a long time ago.

Astan777 touched on a good point. Afghanistan provides basing options in area of the world that we used to have limited access to. Being next door to Kashmir, China, Iran and a load of former Soviet republics has some strategic advantages. Maybe not worth the blood and treasure it consumes, however. I remember the report about 5 years ago saying there was ~$1 T in minerals worth mining in country. Why haven't we tried investing in mining and the requisite infrastructure (roads, electricity, railroads, etc)? It seems like the US could've provided a hell of an economic incentive to build, educate, and provide a more legitimate basis for the economy. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

...unless you work fort the NSA. Then you can "go to the vault, dude."

it was a classified pissing contest and you don't have the need to know...

I will kindly reinstate the three points you lost back to your total, plus ten more for your trouble!

The wave is just hitting MQT, so IPs and flight leads are getting as much time as normal.

THIS THIS THIS!!! should be the basis of EO. Done right, it's not about mission or performance degrading eyewash, it's about creating a welcoming environment. Done wrong, it quickly devolves into tokens, quotas, and politically expedient circus sideshows that destroy trust and military effectiveness. I'm about as far from a flaming liberal as you can get, but even my dinosaur brain gets this.

In the article, Gen Spencer says, "Every one of them told me the same thing: ‘I don’t like telling you this, and it’s not right,’ but they felt like they had to work harder than their peers to get to the same point,” Shit.... I've felt that my whole career. I'm willing to bet that most people think they're working harder than average. You see your own hard work, but you rarely see everyone else's. Just a thought... Maybe the noticeable lack of diversity in the higher ranks creates a self-perpetuating perception that there are barriers to entry. Because they think those barriers are there, they are less apt to even try to advance. Why play a game you know you aren't going to win? The U.S. has a history of repressing the black population, so it's not a big logical leap to assume that the military will also harbor racial biases. There is no reliable way to determine whether that bias actually exists to a level significant enough to affect promotion, so we're left to assume there is an actual effect.

Are F-16 guys still flying a lot with the mass influx of UPT grads?

Gris, Here are my thoughts after a few years focusing on the region, I'll try to keep them brief and use them as a platform for forum discussion. The only politically palatable reason we're still in Afghanistan is terrorism. It's the only issue that resonates with American voters, many whom believe Afghanistan is a hostile nation. This is why every American politician from McCain to Nicholson (4 stars are politicians) hammers this issue in their public statements. The unspoken reasons we're still in Afghanistan are resource competition, national prestige, alliance concerns, and using the country as a beachhead in a rising South Asia. All these factors are political nonstarters - try telling your constituents PFC Snuffy got shot in the face training Afghans because we really want leverage in the region twenty years from now. We will not abandon the National Unity Government. It is a textbook proxy/puppet. Ghani was an American citizen. His wife is American. His daughter is a Brooklyn-based hipster artist. If we hang him out to dry, we risk losing the ability to replicate the proxy model in the future. I've mentioned this in past posts, but we are fully joined at the hip with the NUG. Our BSA and long term strategic relationship with Afghanistan cemented this policy. I agree with all your comments about tribalism as being the natural fit. Our approach makes no sense, but we committed $1T to the effort, and no one wants to admit we're crazy. I have no problem killing extremist groups in Afghanistan ad infinium, we just don't have the technology to do it effectively yet. The platform needs to be based outside Afghanistan, some sort of persistent surveillance/strike platform with a month-long sortie duration that doesn't need to be landed in Pakistan, Afghanistan, any of the Russian satellites, etc. If I were king, I'd advocate for the Biden CT model. My contrarian perspective is that Kabul can survive on funding alone. Draw down US forces to 2K CT soldiers at BAF, then just throw cash at Kabul to keep them semifunctioning. In many ways, this is already the plan. US taxpayers pay the salaries of the entire Afghan National Army, and they won't be Afghan sustainable at anytime in the next two decades. We do this with Egypt, Pakistan, etc. Everyone will say "the Taliban will take Kabul", but I point towards the fact that Najibullah lasted three years after the Soviet troop withdrawal. It was only after the Soviets stopped the cash flow that his government collapsed and he lost power (as in, hung from a light pole and having his nuts cut off).

Usually you can set a time out window (ex. 30 days) until you need to verify again.

True true true, very fine line. I'm personally butt hurt due to my "staff" time not counting for jack and shit. SO post school I get told it didn't count and get sent to, what I can only equate to an insane asylum. I know what the right person on a staff can do for a community but at the same time, can ID when there's a grosse oversight. Again fine balance...but my current predicament is leaning to the side of lunacy! cooter

Not saying racism doesn't happen, but as a minority I've found the military to be the most accepting sect of society. I've known many minority pilots in the AF and they are treated no different then non minorities. Women? Different story but I won't open that can of worms.

Maybe it's hard to be competitive for a pilot slot without flight hours to boost your PCSM score. Maybe socioeconomic factors make it less likely a minority candidate has a private pilot's license.

Just let the CIA put an authoritarian leader in charge, they don't need a damn "democracy" this political bullshit has cost to many lives and driven up or national debt for no reason. This is the only way to have stability.

Censorship!!! Commie bastards. My popcorn GIF was epic.

People that know real things know they cannot brag about it, you under estimate most of us.

Just buy one already AF.

Yeah, that 37 month average sure ain't happening at Afcannonstan . . .

I doubt you'd get a waiver for an incentive flight, but the medical process for an incentive is nowhere near as in depth as a Class 1. A Flight Doc would have to say for sure, but everything is good now, I wouldn't think it would be an issue. Ejection seat aircraft do incentive rides all the time.

light attack would persuade me to stick around at the end of my commitment and i think others would do the same

I get it, but as an AFSOC pilot wasting my time on a useless staff I hate hearing this. We have plenty of pilots, we just aren't employing them correctly which ironically is driving more of them to leave, thus worsening the "pilot manning pinch" which is entirely self-inflicted. If the USAF said "we need pilots who can and want to fly light attack airplanes; volunteers who meet xxxx criteria will be released from less important jobs" they'd have plenty of volunteers, and my guess is the machine would keep humming along just fine. That bloated staff manning is prioritized above a genuine combat need is further proof current leadership is incapable of fixing the retention problem.

Only gripe I have in the article is that, in a few places, the writer conflates race with gender. It's pretty clear that females have an overall promotion advantage in the AF, at least within the officer corps. I sure hope Big Blue doesn't use efforts to account for racial disparities to further exacerbate the feminization of the Air Force. TT

I'm not sure what "valuable information" you're referring to. You should reread his comment history. Seriously.