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All because of some ridiculous internet outcry...what a fucking joke! A great case of, if you can't do something valuable, do some things visible. Dude will look back on this and realize he is far better off not being a part of this toxic, bullshit laden sinking ship. Retirement can't get here fast enough.

Lots of planning goes into getting what you want at the right price, but it's awesome when you're living in your dream house. Def start with plans and specs then bid with 3 builders. See what they've done in the past and what their previous clients had to say about them. Every builder has a different overhead that they put on everything from a small nail through all the big stuff. The markup can get pretty crazy depending on how much the builder thinks he can make off you. They even markup labor costs...i.e. if they have someone working for them that they pay $15/hr they'll charge you $30/hr. Getting quotes from multiple builders can keep them in check especially if the home is very custom. Also check on their timeliness to complete past projects...last thing you want is to get the house 6 months after you needed it. I'd also try to buy as much of the materials as you can...the builder has no incentive to finding deals/sales. You could go to lowes and save 10% automatically plus any sales you find. You'll save a ton of money if you can do the purchasing. I've worked a deal in the past where I buy materials and the builder just charges me a 10% install fee. He was a prior AF officer who had his general contractor license so he hooked me up. There are also a lot of financing options from buying the lot then doing a construction loan which turns into a VA at completion to doing a builder financed which just closes like a normal VA. There is a ton more to talk about on this subject so feel free to call or email me anytime. Marty

It's idiotic, over-the-top thinking like this that leads to someone getting fired for making a video for their kids. The audience it reaches should have ZERO bearing on the punishment.

A colleague who is F22 pilot for the Virginia ANG had honor of flying a Phantom at Eglin. He flew the aircraft we had at the reunion. Here is the F-22 pilot’s thoughts on flying the F-4: I flew your jet a couple days ago (see attached). I had a little trouble getting the engines started, so I climbed out and shoveled some more coal in the back; after that she fired right up. Ground ops were uneventful, although I couldn’t figure out why the cockpit smelled like body odor, Jack Daniels and cigars…and that was BEFORE I got in it! By the way, what’s with the no slip crap on top of the intakes, it’s like you have permanent icing conditions due to that spray on rhino truck bed liner on top of the aircraft. It’s no wonder you needed so much coal (I mean thrust) to get airborne. Take off scared the sh*t out of me. I lit the burners at brick one and 2 miles and 45 minutes later we were ready to rotate. After barely clearing the tree tops, the gear came up and I climbed away at a VERY impressive 2 degrees nose high. In case you don’t remember, “Trim” is your friend in the F-4 (pretty sure it’s also a good friend on the ground too). Once I got her up to speed and a moderate altitude, we were ready for the G-Ex. Two G-turn’s later and I’m sinking like a rock…the F-4’s energy seems to bleed like Holyfield’s ear in the Tyson fight! After the G-Ex it was time to do a little Advanced Handling Characteristics (AHC) and by “advanced handling” I mean the same crap the Wright Brothers were doing back in 1903…just trying to keep it airborne. The jet flies much like my old man’s station wagon used to drive…You turn the wheel (push the stick) a few inches and nothing happens, then all of a sudden the steering kicks in, inertia takes over, and all HELL breaks loose! You’re pretty much along for the ride at that point and only gravity has a real say in your lift vector placement. “Checking 6” was really quite easy…. because you CAN’T! Scratch that off the list of “Sh*t I need to do to keep myself alive in combat today”. Breathing, however, was surprisingly easy in the F-4 when compared to that of the F-22 (thank you Lockheed)…LOX works, who knew! I think I may have burned my legs a bit from the steam pouring out from behind the gauges. Where are my 6 mini-flat screen TV’s, I’m lost without my HD jet displays (editors note: actually, I’m an analog guy stuck in a digital world too…I really do like the “steam driven” gauges). After the AHC, I decided to take her up high and do a supersonic MACH run, and by “high” I mean “where never lark nor even eagle flew”; but not much higher, a foot or two maybe. I mean, we weren’t up there high-fiving Jesus like we do in the Raptor, but it was respectable. It only took me the width of the Gulf of Mexico to get the thing turned around while above the Mach. After the Mach run we dropped to the deck and did 600 kts at 500’; a ratllin’ and shakin’ we will go…. I though all the rivets were going to pop out. Reference previous station wagon analogy! Very quickly we were out of gas and headed home. As I brought the jet up initial, I couldn’t help but think that the boys who took this thing into combat had to have some pretty big brass you know whats! My first F-4 landing was a little rough; sub-standard really by Air Force measure… but apparently “best seen to date” according to the Navy guys. Did you know that there’s no such thing as an aerobrake in the F-4? As soon as the main gear touches down, the nose comes slamming down to the runway with all the force of a meteor hitting the earth….I guess the F-4 aerobrake technique is to dissipate energy via denting the runway. Despite an apparently “decent” landing, stopping was a whole different problem. I reached down and pulled the handle to deploy the drogue chute…at which point a large solid mass of canvas, 550 cord, metal weights and cables fell out and began bouncing down the runway; chasing me like a lost puppy and FOD’ing out the whole runway. Perfect. I mashed down on the breaks and I’m pretty sure at this point the jet just started laughing at me. Why didn’t you warn me that I needed a shuttle landing strip to get this damn thing stopped? All kidding aside, VERY COOL jet! Must have been a kick to fly back when you were in Vietnam! Just kidding!

Another good one from Enlisted Jesus is the removal of practice bleeding via Course 14/15 for our NCO/SCNOs. Don't know if you zipper-suited-sun-gods care that much, but over on the support side it's a big deal. I had good folks get screwed because of the stupidity this caused when implemented. CMSAF Wright has almost wiped out anything close to a legacy the idiot before him put in place. Hope it burns.

what a bummer for the (Lt) Col. What I find most aggravating is despite his 28 years, multiple deployments, thousands of flight hours etc, three minutes of (minor) misjudgments forces his retirement. I will caveat with my own personal experience - I faced a similar situation where I could have had the book thrown at me but a cooler head (sts, a three star general in this case) prevailed and instead of an Art 15 I was given a stern talking to about the finer points of the foreign clearance guide and how it spells out applicable curfews to airmen travelling to foreign countries. I don't believe reactionary leadership is systemic in the Airforce, but it sucks that the new retired Lt Col befell its wrath.

Really, you are going with that? Unconfirmed in the appointment by the Senate as opposed to KIA despite the repeated and denied requests for further, reliable security in a rapidly deteriorating situation like Libya was (albeit too close to the 2012 election to risk repudiating the "everything is fine" doctrine) sure seems like a better result. Results do seem to matter to the current guy to the dismay of the entrenched of both political parties. Not empty, hollow words like the last one. Not counting, of course, "I'll have more room, heh heh, to maneuver after the next elections." Those seemed to have had results as well.

I was stationed out there for 4 years with the Navy. You get BAH on base but the housing contractor takes it all back. What you do get is your left over utility allowance if you’re under at the end of month (usually doesn’t happen if you like to have air conditioning). Look at the cost of living allowance calculator as well that’s your extra take home. When I was there as an O3 I was living out in town collecting $3600 a month in BAH and another $1200 in COLA. Both have gone down considerably since.

Like Jesus said, “Let he who has not engaged in a hot ménage with 2 enlisted babes cast the first stone.”

In this scenario, the fraternization, not the publicity of the video would be the punishable offense. It's the Guard. From what I've seen, nothing in the Guard is considered "fraternization".

Seconded... for science.

I was appalled at first as well, and this MSgt definitely showed lack of judgement for posting this on her FB page. If she wanted her kids to see it, it didn’t need to be up on social media. However, I think effectively terminating her service and not allowing her to re-enlist and serve to retirement is not the right decision. Was everyone at Dover involved in the tasteless picture taken with the transfer case fired from the service? She made a mistake and should be punished, but senior leaders have raped people and received less. She and her kids should not suffer because of one stupid mistake.

Colonel in 'Dino Puppet' Video Speaks: 'I Was Given a Death Sentence'; https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/04/25/colonel-dino-puppet-video-speaks-i-was-given-death-sentence.html

I wasn’t expecting the PAP Smear.

Let's not forget that the pilot crisis (according to the AF) started when fighter guys started quitting after being away from home at rates barely approaching what MAF guys were at a decade ago. And many of them are quitting during the most trigger happy period in the last 15 years. To go to the airlines. If a patriotic group of guys and gals are looking to go be FAIPs or regular UPT IPs to strengthen airline resumes, that's a critique on our foreign policy and military leadership, not on their devotion to service.

Holy hell, maybe it’s the 4.5 hours I just spent in an ejection seat and only spent 15 seconds upside down but F-ck me!!!! Us old salty sport b-tching bastards have complained so much we have UPT bound cadets worried. Alright Bird12, listen up, because you are wrong. If anything the ship is righting itself from what I see, but Us old dudes were on board when it was sinking so different view People on here have generally been/there, done that, diverse backgrounds/experiences. I get tired of my buddies b-tching about the same things I’m bitching about in the sq bar over the same brand of scotch so I read this forum. I want to hear how lousy the poor bastard flying the other jet has it so I can feel better -or- how good he has it so I can complain that community x gets all the good deals and wtf was I thinking taking the bonus because xx is at delta making $xx and here the f-ck I am getting $3.50 per day not allowed to drink beer on St Paddy’s day. Sport bitching is in fact a sport among pilots. (Hence the name) Very few of us really hate our jobs or the USAF. Perspective. I had a brand new straight out of MQT Lt on my wing in the AO, we flew a 4.5 hr mission full of in my opinion, sh-tty taskings, sh-tty scenery, sh-tty tankers, ATC, well you name it, to me it was all sh-t minus the 2 x barrel rolls in the descent. When we got out of the jet I wanted to apologize for his first sortie in the AO being so sh-tty. He was smiling ear to ear. My sh-tty 200th AAR was his first on that type of tanker. My sh-tty 200th time over the desert was his first. He loved it See my point. So you f-cking should be excited bird12, you got a chance at the coolest job in the world. Keep some perspective and know who you are listening to on this forum. If I were in your shoes I’d pay good money for the flight I did today however at my age/experience I’d just assume send someone else so I could sit in ops, drink coffee and complain about how f-cking stupid the USAF leadership is, how I’m not getting paid enough, how cool the Cold War days were, how great the airlines are according to my friends etc. Out

This was my thought as well, my PCSM was a 91 and my AFOQT were fairly high as well. The officer recruiter initially told me I wasn’t competitive because I didn’t have 200+ hours and all of my civilian ratings. I always felt lucky to be selected during a competitive time, but damn that seems like dropping the bar pretty far.

https://www.af.mil/mobile/News/Article/1443863/air-force-vice-chief-of-staff-to-congress-help-us-win-any-fight-at-any-time/ Humans are more important than hardware. This SOF truth applies to the masses too. Just buying more planes and acquiring more flying hours to enable the AF's grow-out-of-this problem isn't going to work (as WE all know). How far, how big, will this retention problem get before they accept this SOF truth? What do y'all think? I wonder, what was the tipping point that significantly increased bonuses in the past? 38% take-rates? What will it be now? Will the 1-2 year bonus takers be the tipping point? Hundreds took short bonuses/commitments, will they be persuaded to stay by the AF's recent "fixes"?

Some scary shit in the slides and briefs above.

Its not just the loads making fun of you... That said I am sure the KC-10/135 crews make fun of us for falling off the boom at 200KCAS while we are at or near max continuous and they have their flaps hanging. (HC-130J guy)

Or helos. Limited power, wobbly probe, and knowing that the loadmasters are making fun of your misses.

Nothing was more amusing than a Blk 42 F16 dude complaining about being thrust limited to a Hawg driver.

"Oh I had to tap min burner."..boo hoo. Brother try a gunpig in AFG during the summer, hookup at 10K AGL and Toboggan down to 2K to get your gas.