Leaderboard

This reminds me of last time we deployed. We took a 777 contracted rotator out to the desert. All of us were waiting for hours of course in the pax terminal. There was this sadistic Lt Col who was the deployment office chief. She shrieked at us every 15 minutes about her arbitrary Nazi rules of when we could use the bathroom and get water, over the course of 3-4 hours. I’m not exaggerating when I say this lady’s yelling voice would make that Frau chick on Austin Powers cringe. Finally, it was time to board. She said she’d board us by rank. Lt Cols first, then Majors. Us Captains figured we were next so we got ready. Then a twist. Airmen next. Then NCOs. Then SNCOs. Ok, whatever lady, just let us on the damn plane so we can go to our desert paradise already. Nope. Lts next. Now it’s just the Captains. When it’s just us and her, she gives us her SJW speech. She says we are the group that typically comes first in the AF, so she boarded the plane to take care of the ranks that are typically not taken care of. She said we should be happy to board last and take the worst seats. After being locked in a warehouse for 4 hours needlessly, none of us were really in a mood for a lecture, but whatever. We finally board the buses to the plane. When we walk on the plane, the flight attendants point us towards first class. The contract airline has a policy of filling the plane back to front. So us entitied Captains all rode first class the whole way to the desert. Best case of instant justice I’ve seen. Though I’ve always regretted not taking a picture of all us Captains in first class and sending it to her with a thank you card.

"Buffs - What can't they do?" Let's see: Push on time Not die in every Red Flag vul Turn around in less than 5 miles Have SA on air threats Have SA.

That form of respect is from an era where members are drafted, disposable, and only in for a couple-few years. Senior leaders need to work harder for respect, and in an all-volunteer force where subordinates are making the same sacrifice (with far fewer perks) as the boss, parking spots are an easy way to demonstrate servant leadership. I remember a Marine officer in Moron commenting on how the leadership table at AF events gets served food first, while the Marines, who will annihilate an E-3 for so much as looking at an officer the wrong way, always had the leadership eat last. There are definitely structural and procedural mechanisms for reinforcing rank respect, but when those methods are also perks for the leaders receiving them, the effect is greatly diminished.

To continue with the thread derail... I guess I’m old school/a terrible leader because I think the parking spots for Wing CC and other leadership (not fucking GS-15 or CCE, my God) are good because it’s a respect thing. Is it the most efficient use of parking spaces? No. But I think there’s a huge lack of respect in the military/American culture now. The E-3 and below parking spot type thing annoys me because that kid earns a spot over the E-5 that is his supervisor? What about the E-7 first shirt in the AMU that deals with the unbelievable amount of stupidity that comes along with that? I’m not very clearly articulating my point, but I hope it makes some sense. Standing by for righteous indignation from the peanut gallery.

Buffs, without ailerons they spoil everything.

I’d recommend: 1. refusing to acknowledge Russia is a geopolitical foe 2. Slashing military forward presence with the removal of 2/3 of standing forces from Europe 3. Continued ignoring of major partners in Europe not meeting their NATO member spending obligations to include its largest economy being unable to field more than 2 battalions is Armored forces 4...... Wait this all seems oddly familiar to the actions of the previous administration. Long answer is while Russia “did something” it’s a red herring for a party that wants to focus on any excuse for losing what should have been their election. It’s just as big an overblown actual effect as the secret army of racist white guys that came out to vote in places like Montgomery County Ohio and then the box from blue to red for the first time in 30 years because “MAGA.” The people saying we “aren’t doing something” about Russia... chances are they haven’t seen the ATO or been in theatre where we seem to be pissing them off daily. And for what response they want to see for this IO campaign, keep in mind they are a permanent security council member with veto power whose cooperation we need on bigger issues (North Korea) and we didn’t go to war with them previously over invading a sovereign country whose protection we promised when they gave up their nukes in the 90s, or shot down an airliner in the 80s, or Armed our F’ing enemies with state of the art hardware in war after war. We aren’t gonna do more than sanctions and blustering over them running a social media campaign exposing largely the crappy activities the DNC was actually truthfully engaged in.

Different pots of money!

Easy to crank out. Tougher to do the stupid bullet checker in Excel, then edit, then re-edit, then edit the bullet-checker to match the edits to the PRF...

Says the Nav who supports even more stricter gun control laws--welcome to that big government that you love so much!

BFM quit your Root Cause analysis, the glare of truth data is far to bright for our eyes to handle and I rather just annoyingly point at something else that annoys me but has not bearing on any thing. Plus if my SQ/CC isn't constantly going from one useless meeting to another what exactly will he be doing? Communicating the issues to his squadron? Taking care of his people? Acting like a filter and buffer to all the bull$hit direct line of sight tasking from the Group level on up? Crazy talk.

Take a look at the USAF mishap rate this year. Cutting corners is expensive.

Ever heard of American Military University? And I can attest from firsthand experience that an online grad degree has been beneficial. In fact, my company actually paid for mine, despite already having one when I was hired.

I can see having a spot for the squadron CC, Group CC, Wing CC in front of their own buildings. Our CC is in and out constantly with the constant bullshit and queep meetings. It’s gets excessive when every damn building on base has a reserved spot for Cols, Chiefs blah blah blah. Your not that important you can’t park in the back and walk 100ft to get your greasy golf course burger.

I don't mind the CC spots, and even 1Sgt spots--doubly so in front of the buildings they work out. It's the rest of the spots (5 GO , 3 Col , 3 CMSgt, 3 GS-XX) that were in front of the commissary, BX, gym that annoy the crap outta me.

Expect spin alpha er’y time, that’ll help.

I think this has happened before...

Former Sq/CC wrote a good article on the topic. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leaders-eat-last-do-still-park-closest-christopher-lanier

He's already hired by a major and starts terminal leave next week.

Just to be clear, Duplex is not operational yet, correct? I love my pixel 2. I'll get the pixel 3 as soon as it's out (October). I upgrade every year, and the resale value on pixels is almost as good as iPhones on Swappa. Apple is falling way, way behind where it counts, AI. Self driving cars become a common reality next year, and Alphabet is the main game in town. Home automation is finally getting it's stride thanks to voice control, and though Amazon is ahead in market penetration, the Google Assistant is miles ahead of Alexa in capability and comprehension. Apple isn't even on the chart. Android lets you tie into it seamlessly, and having the pixel means you get the new stuff first. I'll probably get the Pixel watch as well, but I'm more skeptical of that. And the unlimited original quality photo storage is a huge bonus. The pixel cameras have been the best performers both years, and Google photos has become a very feature rich album service. Yes, I'm a fan boy. I have a Google home (or mini) in every room of the house (including bathrooms), Chromecast on both TVs, Android auto in the car, and I'm planning on grabbing some Nest cameras soon. Some are concerned about privacy, but these companies already have all this data on you for advertising purposes. I might as well get something out of it too. The only place that Apple wins IMO is the iPad. Google has never put out a solid tablet.

Call it an instructor paper since they usually write/rewrite 69% of them anyway.

God what a stupid system we toil in

Repeat it again.... if you are paying for it, it isn’t contract lodging.

Resistance to voter ID efforts are about enabling fraud and undermining our system. See, I can make dumb generalizations too! When you assume my intent and base your opposition to my concerns on this incorrectly assumed intent, discourse is impossible. Said another way, when the discussion starts by you telling me my concerns are not just invalid, but neferious, there can be no amicable resolution. Why don’t you try seeing the voter ID issue from my perspective? I see the potential disenfranchisement issue from yours, and I get it. As I said to NS, I don’t think it’s a serious issue but I could be wrong. How can we fix it? Basically, since we should agree that voting integrity is the foundational legitimacy of representative democracy, how can we compromise and ensure both our concerns are addressed? I’ll tell you how not to do it— starting the discussion by assuming my concerns are smokescreen for cheating my fellow citizens.

Another great post because it chrystalzes the differences between us. I just don’t believe the link you posted about 3.2 million eligible voters unable to obtain appropriate ID. I’ve never in my life met someone in the US without ID required to vote, and my wife and I have worked with old and economically disadvantaged folks while volunteering in some run down locations. on the other hand, I think voter fraud is far more common than you assume. So I understand your POV, but we disagree on the facts so we’ve drawn different conclusions. Which is a consistent theme for most of our political disagreements.

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.

I didn't understand it either until I tried to get a new driver's license in Texas after living overseas for several years. Showing up with all my forms filled out, all the ID requirements from the website (including my military ID), and getting turned away because my military ID doesn't have my SSN on it (Wtf). It ended up taking 3 half days off work to get a driver's license (first day at the DPS, next day at the social security administration, third day back at the DPS.) If I couldn't afford those lost wages or if I would lose my job for missing that much work, I just wouldn't have an eligible voter ID. Obviously you only accept sources that reinforce your world view, and I'm wasting my time providing a personal anecdotal counter example, but whatever. Here's a 17 minute podcast that goes through a methodology of voter fraud claims. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/630/things-i-mean-to-know They use math as their source though, so not sure it it's something you are going to believe.