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How many disenfranchised, oppressed, or impoverished people are there on the planet? 1 billion? 2 billion? How many do we take in? 50? 1 million? 100 Million? All of them? I'm just looking for a starting point in the debate. We need immigrants but not controlling who and how many will not benefit anyone in the long run. Regarding pies, the American taxpayer is currently paying $113 Billion a year to make pies for those that show up to the party without a pie.

Chiming in from the outside (I'm applying just like you), but with a lot of rhyming to your situation. First, I'm a geezer at 36 and still giving it my all to get hired at a heavy unit somewhere. If I've got a chance at 7+ years older than you, I'm sure you are fine to get a waiver if you prove worthy to the squadron; especially, as others have said, at a heavy unit. I actually got my Undergrad at FSU and moved to Austin after, then became a fireman there (although I do know a cop or two in the area) before moving up to NYC, so I'll give you a little personal advice on both of those options. FSU is a hell of a lot of fun, if you're down with living the college life, and a good school to go to. The bars are fun, the women are plentiful and friendly, and Saturdays in the fall are amazing. I didn't think Tally as a city was that bad, honestly. It's cheap, there are good food options, and it's not too far from the beach. There were some hills, there were some decent outdoor activities (Cherokee Sink, St. George Island, Apalachicola, etc.), and you could ride a motorcycle nearly all year round. I'd definitely do it all over again. I don't know about PPL schools, but Tallahassee Airport is small enough it's probably not expensive to get lessons there and wrap up your PPL while you're in school. Austin is also a great town. Live music everywhere, lots of young people so lots of young activities, great going out district downtown, and a metric shit-ton of outdoor stuff to do (hiking, SUP/kayaks downtown, biking, running trails, power boats on Lake Travis, etc.). That said, it's changed a lot from the decade+ ago that I lived there. I caught the tail end of it still being inexpensive and not ridiculously overcrowded, both of which are long gone now. It's gotten crazy expensive (places I looked at buying 12 years ago have quadrupled in price) and there are people everywhere. All of the cool little niche things that made Austin a lot of fun now have lines and you're going to sit in pretty terrible traffic to get there. Rents and housing prices have skyrocketed, so you're pushed further and further out (maybe you want that, though?) away from the nightlife and core activities. That also means driving to and from those activities and Texas cops don't mess around with DUIs. I know a TON of people there that got nicked (pre-Uber days; although that doesn't absolve the bad choice to drive) and that would likely put a serious dent in your aspirations; mil or civilian. I did a little research for a friend in Austin interested in getting a PPL and it actually kinda sucks there. There are only a couple schools and rates were high (high even by NYC standards, honestly) to rent the planes. The less expensive airports were a decent drive out of town, although I guess they may be closer, depending on where you live. If you're looking for PD, there are lots of departments in the area (and ranging from DPS, APD, and lots of school departments) and they pay pretty decent. If you have mil points, they'll give you an extra bump. Personally, if you're not locked into LE, I'd recommend giving a look to the FD side, but I'm more than a shade biased. Haha. I know little about Dallas, except it's flat, they get tornadoes and ice storms, and it's still hot as hell. But, I know a lot of people seem to like it, so maybe it's great. It's probably better to commute to your unit with DFW there than from AUS. So, not sure if that helped at all because both options aren't bad and I'd lean either way, but it was just striking a chord to read your options and taking this old man back in the old time machine. If it were me, honestly, I'd just start applying to units. It seems like timeframes can stretch beyond a year (maybe two) between applying and getting accepted. Maybe you could rack out your MS while you're waiting to ship out to UPT, then move to Austin/Dallas in 4-5 years after your MS and training. You'll go after those PD jobs armed with a few extra points having served, you'll have the flying still as a Traditional Reservist/Guardsman, and you'll have the MS. Why not try to knock all the pins down?

There’s “this is how it works” in theory and “this is what actually happens” in practice. The latter being what should be told to young Airmen and Cadets.

I wish there was a way to educate cadets about how the military justice system actually works. They have a right to know what they're getting themselves into.

The fact that you uncritically repeat the "once looking into the stall to watch a subordinate's wife urinate in a restroom" story tells me you don't know what you're talking about. Read the trial record and the clemency package, then come back and we'll talk.

2018 Airman of the Year because of volunteer bullets: https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2018/06/27/air-force-times-2018-airman-of-the-year-takes-community-volunteering-global/

Definitely a U2 crew chief

I'd say retake if your goal is ENJJPT and you are confident you can do better. If you do decide to retake, double down on your timed studying.

No one of consequence is actually controlling the borders. And these people of " No consequence", assuming senators, governors, and mayors are inconsequential, are saying we should do away with the federal agency that exercises what little control over the border we actually enforce. Which leads us back to open borders without actually having to say they want open borders. 'Abolish ICE' goes mainstream as Gillibrand, de Blasio back calls Alex Pappas3 hours ago New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio are joining the calls to gut the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. (AP) The idea was once relegated to the far-left. But the liberal push to abolish the federal agency that enforces federal immigration laws is going mainstream in the Democratic Party, with New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Mayor Bill de Blasio adding their support to the cause in the last 24 hours. "I believe that [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] has become a deportation force … and that's why I believe you should get rid of it, start over, reimagine it and build something that actually works," Gillibrand said in a CNN interview Thursday night. “We should abolish ICE,” de Blasio said Friday morning on WNYC radio. Gillibrand's endorsement is notable as she's the first sitting senator to back the 'abolish ICE' push -- and is considered a potential 2020 presidential contender. They join numerous other Democratic candidates, House members, liberal commentators and writers who have fought back against the Trump administration's immigration policies by calling to gut ICE -- which identifies, arrests and deports illegal immigrants inside the United States. Left-wing Democrats push to abolish ICE Democratic lawmakers and candidates are increasingly seeking the elimination of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Here's a look at some of the most prominent figures looking to dissolve the agency. The growing influence behind the push was underscored earlier this week with liberal primary challenger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's shocking victory over Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., a member of party leadership. Ocasio-Cortez emphasized her support for abolishing ICE during the campaign, and even protested outside an ICE center in Texas. DEMS DEMAND ELIMINATION OF ICE AMID IMMIGRATION FUROR “Its extra-judicial nature is baked into the structure of the agency and that is why they are able to get away with black sites at our border, with the separation of children,” the Democrat said in an interview this week. The focus on ICE comes in the wake of the controversy over the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, which called for all illegal border crossers to be prosecuted. This in turn led to the separation of families due to longstanding detention rules, until President Trump signed an executive order last week ordering families be detained together. With that controversy in the headlines, the abolition of ICE -- which has long been the purview of far-left sections of the Democratic Party base advocating for open borders and no deportations -- has moved from being a slogan on protest placards to an idea being mulled by rumored 2020 hopefuls. "Every country needs reasonable law enforcement on their borders. ICE is not reasonable law enforcement. ICE is broken, it’s divisive and it should be abolished," de Blasio tweeted Friday. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also has come under heavy pressure from the left to call for the elimination of ICE, particularly amid a far-left challenge from actress and activist Cynthia Nixon -- who called it a terrorist organization. And Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., who has been floated as a 2020 Democratic contender, said that the U.S. should consider “starting from scratch” for ICE -- though stopped short of calling to abolish it. In Oregon, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who voted against the agency’s creation in 2002, doubled down on his opposition in a recent Medium post in which he called for it to be shut down. “We should abolish ICE and start over, focusing on our priorities to protect our families and our borders in a humane and thoughtful fashion,” he said. In January, the idea was endorsed by Brian Fallon, a former top aide to 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, and Eric Holder, President Barack Obama’s attorney general. “ICE operates as an unaccountable deportation force,” Fallon tweeted. “Dems running in 2020 should campaign on ending the agency in its current form.” The idea isn’t limited to deep-blue Democratic enclaves. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., announced Monday that he will introduce a bill to abolish the agency, set up during President George W. Bush’s administration in the wake of 9/11. “I’m introducing legislation that would abolish ICE and crack down on the agency’s blanket directive to target and round up individuals and families,” Pocan said in a statement. “The heartless actions of this abused agency do not represent the values of our nation and the U.S. must develop a more humane immigration system, one that treats every person with dignity and respect.” The shift to the left on immigration has some Republicans and conservatives delighted, thinking that it may move Democrats into unelectable territory. "Based on the last week, Democrats apparently want to campaign on open borders, mass migration, & abolishing ICE," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said on Twitter. "Give them points for honesty. Let's vote." Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report. Alex Pappas is a politics reporter at FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlexPappas.

That’s an important point. The responsibility of the national government is to its citizens, not all of humanity. A purely open border ends up serving neither the citizens, nor even the global community, really.

Hey I’m just glad to see that the B-52 program is so squared away that this guy can spend all of his time on scraping pennies worth of care package garbage from the dark corners of Al Udeid to help out the USG’s underpaid indentured workers.

We all know what Protect Our Defenders is and what their agenda is. I take back what I said, you are familiar with the record... You are just following after Christensen in disingenuously misrepresenting what the "bathroom incident" was, just like he trotted out stories about a piano burn and fighter pilot songs to scare a panel full of MDG officers.

I got hired at 28 (almost 29) with similar numbers. I didn't start UPT until 30 due to complications/delays in acquiring a needed waiver. It can be done. If flying for the USAF is your goal, stay the course. Keep trying. Your question resonates with me as I asked myself the same question. I also started looking into the Army's WOFT program in the event I didn't picked up by the Air Force. (I have two friends who are Apache drivers, one current (a WO) and one former (was commissioned). They like/liked it, so I figured that was a viable alternative.) That said, if you end up going Army, I will echo others on this board: go WO. If you want to focus on flying, WOFT is where it's at.

I turned 28 at the start of May with scores that are very similar to yours with 11 hours and an engineering degree and I have an interview at a reserve heavy unit. If you are fighters or bust then I'd say apply and make them tell you no but from what I have seen on the forums age waivers for fighters are harder to come by because there is no shortage of young fighter pilot applicants. If you Google confessions of a KC-135 boom operator there is a good story about the KC-135 mission that kind of got me excited about heavies. Link

keep trying, don't go Army...speaking from experience -Army Officers fly a decent amount as LT's, but that drops off drastically once you hit CPT and go to staff. If you go Army, go Warrant Officer and find a guard unit that you like. Rush them like you would the AF or you could end up with a community that sucks bad. -Age waivers are a real thing. For fighters they are less common. -I wont speak to your scores, i'll let someone who has sat on a board comment on that. @FlyArmy would you like to chime in as well?

Look at heavy units. I got picked up at 28.

DNPs are not included in the RAW numbers.

Hopefully it will get zero use ever. But if I found my self in the chute over any of our current AOs, I'd be very happy to have the little extra firepower. In any modern conflict, good guys will be enroute fast, but so will every bad guy who sees or hears about it. I'd gladly trade most of that BS long term survival stuff in for bullets. Unless Korea kicks off, an isolated pilot is probably either dead, captured (and will be dead in a very painful manner), or already rescued before he could even think about being thirsty let alone hungry or sleepy. This is long overdue and should have been SERE's absolute #1 priority 15 years ago.

100% agree...this bullshit "Undocumented Workers"narrative is pure tripe, we are either a nation of laws or we are not. I have compassion and embrace LEGAL immigration, 99% of us are immigrants and the backbone of this country was built on the great melting pot. However, throwing a giant progressive hand wave at all the criminals who came here ILLEGALLY is a giant FU to those who stand in line and try to come here the right way. Progressives have decided they don't want to enforce immigration law, what laws do you ignore next? Very interesting video below about immigration and poverty.

The IRS assumes that a large number of tax filers using ITINs are undocumented immigrants, and in 2015 the IRS received 4.4 million federal income tax returns using ITINs rather than SSNs, and those tax filers paid $23.6 billion in income taxes, which includes FICA, federal, and state income taxes. Undocumented immigrants are specifically encouraged to file federal income taxes because it is a sign of "good moral character" that can be considered in the future if they become eligible to apply for permanent status. Here's my BL: nitpicking these numbers is kinda small-ball. If you're primarily concerned with money, like I said, let's bring all the undocumented workers out of the shadows, give them some kind of legal status for work, and then they will be subject to the exact same taxes as everyone else without having to play any paperwork funny games. They'd likely still being ineligible for many of the benefits that taxes enable, so overall it's a huge net plus for our social welfare programs. In fact we're already there when it comes to FICA taxes. Undocumented immigrants pay quite a bit of FICA taxes and receive zero benefits, which greatly helps the system. It goes without saying that having a steady stream of younger, healthier, working-age folks paying into our social welfare systems while extracting very few benefits from those systems is an actuary's dream. But I suspect that's not the solution you're looking for, so answering the money questions are not going to change a lot of minds IMHO. I'm happy to talk details if you're genuinely curious, but folks are mainly concerned with the impact of immigration on their cultural identity and seeing a place for people like themselves and their children in an American society they see as changing too fast or in ways they are uncomfortable with. Those concerns aren't unfounded, don't automatically make someone a racist (paging many on the left), deserve respect, and can't be addressed by numbers. Those cultural identity concerns need to be addressed by talking about shared values, how everyone has a bright future in our evolving and changing society, and by painting a hopefully, forward-looking message. My message on immigration is that in a nation of immigrants, build by immigrants, where The American Dream is that no one is bound by class or race or religion, immigration will continue to be a great source of strength and vitality, enabling the US to outlast and surpass any wanna-be competitors on the global stage. Every American and everyone around the world who aspires to be an American has a place in a truly democratic, just, and compassionate multicultural, multiracial and harmonious society. That dream has never been achieved in human history before, and it's a worthy goal for an ambitious, still-young nation and we have the best chance by far of anyone hoping to achieve it. Chris Hayes and Ezra Klein has a great podcast on this exact topic. //off soapbox // Like I said before, if you'd rather nitpick tax numbers and frame this challenge in the language of infestations, rapists, gangs, drugs and violence, I'm more than happy to let you keep pitching that message. Governor Gillespe in Virginia send his thanks to the super PACs for all those really effective MS-13 ads /sarcasm. (Ed Gillespe is a decent guy and generally moderate Republican, but he ran a very right-wing, immigration-heavy campaign for governor in my favorite commonwealth and he lost to the real-life governor, Democrat Ralph Northam). That fact that many Democratic Party leaders are dickless in their messaging and small-minded in their policy vision around immigration (among many other things) is not an indication of the lack of potential for progress on important issues going forward.

It used to be called being a gentleman, but you may call it what you want.