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So now you’re just re-quoting anonymous people on an internet answer site to support socialist ideas? What do you think happens to money in a rich person’s portfolio? Does it just get locked away in a vault somewhere to gather dust? No, it is invested in companies through stock purchases or maybe as venture capital, hell even if it is just sitting in a bank account it is loaned out to support other economic activities. Just because someone has a large portfolio doesn’t mean that wealth is not utilized somewhere else in the economy. The general state of the economy and financial institutions’ outlook has a lot more to do with the availability of capital than rich people ‘hoarding wealth.’ Wealth is not finite either. If it was, we would all be trading beads still. So your argument of the $20 is moot, because the poor six who have nothing would go work somewhere there is money and they would be paid for it. Geeeez man, where did you go to school? Universal income is not the solution, people don’t need to be disincentivized from working. Free college is not the answer either, as a large portion of college degrees don’t apply in the real world which is why you see psych majors working retail and people with liberal arts degrees working as baristas. Welfare with job training in a needed skilled labor area is what works. If we want to give any sort of schooling away for free/reduced cost then it needs to be in the area of the trades. Kids today are taught as long as you get a college degree you will be successful, however when everyone has a BS/BA because government guaranteed loans make them easy to get, it has now become the new high school diploma. People focus on 4 year degrees and ignore well paying trade jobs like electricians, plumbers, auto mechanics, etc. I forgot to address estate and property taxes. Estate taxes are a bad idea because how fair is it to pay taxes on income twice? If I’m ‘rich’ I’ve already paid upwards of 30%+ on any income I’ve made or capital gains taxes if it is investment income. So because I’m smart with my money and I actually have a nest egg to give to my children or grand children, the government now wants to take another piece of my pie? No thanks. Also the other issue raised with that is large farms that are passed down to future generations but because of the value of the land they fall under the estate tax, now junior has to take out a loan or sell part of the property to cover the taxes after Paw dies. It’s un American. Property taxes I have an issue with because many public school districts piss away the money and give a poor product in return. If we had vouchers where my money that I PAY in property taxes was portable to private education, guess what, it decreases class sizes in the public school and gives my kid the kind of education I choose (since it is my money after all), instead of being indoctrinated with left wing views like kindergarteners learning about a transgender teddy bear. F that noise.

It’s cause AFSOC/acc/Air Force doesn’t really want it. AFSOC blows their load on gunships. ACC is fighter mafia. And the Air Force is incompetent. Look at the history and and origin of the U-28. It wasn’t any Air Force types pushing that rope. And look how AFSOC/Air Force treat that platform. There’s your answer for light attack. Itll continue to be the red-headed step child

You have a fundamental misunderstanding of how wealth works. And I've already addressed it. Wealth is not finite. There is not just $20 to spread around. The guy with $17 CREATES hundreds more through the invention of new demand. And one of the hardest truths is that the poor do not create much at all. There's a reason economies are rated based on GDP growth. Growth. It is the creation of wealth that makes a country strong. And our "poor" people are a hell of a lot better off than the poor people in socialist nations. And in more progressive capitalist nations. And guess what? When you create new wealth, it makes you fantastically rich. I believe that you think the things you wrote. I'm not calling you disingenuous or otherwise questioning your character. And I think you believe those things out of a genuine desire for a better world. But you're just wrong. Do you think it's a coincidence that the greatest advancements in the elimination of poverty and improvements in the standard of living worldwide has been entirely driven by capitalist nations? Entirely.

No, it's totally valid. Yes, you need to get back in the books. What you shouldn't do is push. You're welcome.

The 40 hour work week has nothing to do with socialism. Zero. No one here is talking about work hours and child labor when they refer to socialism. Socialism is easily summed up by the old Soviet mantra, from each according his abilities; to each according to his needs. Another simple socialist concept is an equality of outcome (not to be confused with equality of opportunity). They are not fatal due to the evil intent of their promotors. They are fatal due to their irreconcilable conflicts with human nature. Remember, there are no flawed political philosophies, only flawed human characteristics. The success of a political philosophy is measured by how well it mitigates and minimizes the effects of those human flaws. Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

He accepts offer and completes a PCS to DC to work for CSAF. Six months later AFPC drops a 365 to Afghanistan on him...PCS ADSC won't let him turn it down and he finds himself sitting in Kabul guarding TCNs in the chow hall.

Or two or three decades....

The government's job is to ensure fair free enterprise. That's the difference. If you think there is free enterprise in Mexico then you're even less informed than I thought. Incredible levels of private and government corruption are the enemies of a free capitalist society. Regulation is not socialism. It is a necessary function of government to ensure a fair system. But it must be conservatively applied, and every new regulation scrutinized to ensure it is not picking winners rather than preventing cheaters. But these are details. The bottom line is that your philosophy ignores human nature, and you yourself are proof. People will always take care of themselves first. Always. You saving masses of wealth, contributing to the very problem you cite, is all we need to know about the possible success of your desired system. You have to be literally forced by the government to do something that you claim to believe in, how on Earth will that work for people like me who don't believe in your cause? And when I say no, then what? I suppose we should just be forced harder, maybe imprisoned? Killed? Don't scoff, no one in the USSR thought the grand plan would kill 60 million. But it did. Liberals never look past today. Oh, and it's not even theory. Go ahead, show me all the ways redistributive systems have helped the world. Your plans, so loosely applied in the United States over the past century, have improved the lives of millions in America by the most generous estimates (aside from creating an entire class of dependant humans). Capitalist enterprise has improved the lives of billions across the globe with all the incredible invention you seem to think would just happen no matter what. You say we need the Elon Musks if the world, but don't you think it's odd they never pop up in socialist, redistributive nations? Must be a coincidence. I've said it before. I'm not for capitalism because I have no sympathy for the poor of today. I'm for capitalism because I don't want YOUR grandkids to know what a poor person is.

Option A. Quit before they kick you out. Drink beer and chase women. Graduate. Join the guard. Profit Option B. Quit before they kick you out. Drink beer and chase women. Graduate. Get required qualifications and get hired by a airline. Profit. Option C. Combine A and B.

If the hot topic in the "What is right with the AF" thread is the GTC and DTS, we are proper fucked.

Tank I disagree. The gunship guys running afsoc do not like or want light attack. Ac-130J with lasers is the savior.

While the T-38 is older than you want, don't try to make this an issue. AETC pushed the C-model. Lots of "new shit" on the jet. The got what they asked for. The millions of $$$ spent on the PMP and the MB seat (how many millions???) would have been useful elsewhere. A-models with 21,000 hours are doing pretty well from a safety viewpoint. Yes, the fleet needs to be replaced. No argument there. No: Paul's jet having dual airframe-mounted gearbox failures is more a function of shitty maintenance than anything else. As a retiree, I'm not "in the know" as much as I'd like to be on his death. Yet. But I'd gladly jump in ANY Beale T-38 and go fly it. Because Beale has some quality guys working those jets. And I'll continue to fly the civilian T-38 without any qualms. It's well maintained, and the seat is solid, in the unlikely event I need it. T-38 crashes should have no bearing on T-X timeline. It should be based on the fact we need an upgraded trainer for our future F-22 and F-35 pilots.

Also, isn't this tired at this point? Bill Gates Steve Jobs Mark Zuckerberg Steve Wozniak Fred Smith Jeff Bezos Larry Page Sergey Brin Sheldon Adelson George Soros Steve balmer Almost every airline pilot Countless doctors and attorneys The entire silicon valley Exactly where is this nation of aristocrats you speak of?

So only topics you want discussed, can be? Another benefit to socialism, it would seem. It's a very good gig to be the one who decides on what exactly the "to each according to his abilities" are, as well as, particularly, the one who decides "to each according to his needs" actually means. If you aren't the one, or affiliated with the one, who decides, this doesn't seem like all that good a deal. Except, of course, if I have my work e-mails on a private server including the odd dozen or two of TS/SCI. Then having friends in those places is golden. As to Trump, there's a lot of "implicated," lots of "reportedly," lots of "supposedly," and too many instances of "this is Watergate on steroids" to count. GDP is up significantly. Same for stock market. Taxes went down. Same for number of illegals both trying to enter and being able to do so. "Woulda/coulda/shoulda" vs. actual things happening. You may get a scalp (although with Trump's 'do, I'm not sure how it would be counted) with something not related to the election results of 2016, but then expect escalating return political fire. Which all to often turns into ugly things in real life. Bernie 2020!!

I get that's a common sentiment in order to show gratitude to the departed, but that's not at all how it went down in reality. It's also not the first time I've buried a co-worker where the folk tale gets pressed that there was a heroic suicide for the sake of the people on the ground, later to reveal a more simple and less flamboyant answer (spatial D and mental unwillingness to get out, as was the case with my UPT SRO and his Hornet crash). You don't have to rub it in the surviving's faces at the funeral. But for us who still remain and do the job tomorrow, damn right we owe the departed some roasting, if we are to honor the legacy of his sacrifice, and learn a god damn thing or two instead of repeating it. The conversation about collateral damage in the jet was to me, simply ancillary to a suspension of disbelief that stemmed from the fact they (and I am also not above reproach in that fallibility) did not immediately internalize the absolute nature of loss of control once dual hydraulic failure ensues. The common urban legend is that you can steer with windmilling hydro when the engine fails but windmills. First of all, not true enough to warrant consideration. BUT, this is worse than merely windmilling hydraulics, because the gearboxes were severed and thus there would have been actual zero input to the pumps. That means no shit, other than the engines effecting pitching moments of little consequence as they throttle jockeyed, the aircraft was immediately ballistic. The decision to delay ejection was neither the correct one nor one that saved lives on the ground. It may have actually killed the deceased, if one is to conjecture that he would have had extra time to gather enough presence of mind to get his sh*t together, un-f*ck his own seat from the way he left it on takeoff, and punch. But this is conjecture since we will never know if he failed to punch himself out due to incapacitation (due to the incorrect sequence selected, and the FCP seat blasting him with the rocket) or inappropriate reaction to stress (aka frozen by panicking). As to the latter, the SIB had some insights into that question which now the AIB sort of refutes, and paints the survivor in a not so positive light. I'm a little bit disappointed by this reversal in findings, but that's for the survivor to live with. Never miss an opportunity to STFU when it comes to USAF interviews is all I got to say about that one. I also don't trust the safety process enough to open my trap, but that's my bias. Exactly. And you're being kinder than I. Generally the checklist now allows for anywhere before takeoff. Most people either stow them in the hammerhead, or all the way back before pulling chocks. I do the latter, but sometimes I break order and do it in the hammerhead. And I'll challenge anybody here who flies these things come and assert they've never forgotten to arm their seat until they get to the MOA and go "..oooh shit...*muffled cllllllick* ". I only say that so people don't misinterpret my criticism for the complacent CRM in the conduct of a requal sortie that was conducted with a CT atmosphere (they all are) as some sort of gratuitous aspersion, when in reality we have all been guilty of it at one point or another. The lesson learned for me is exactly that: treat CT rides with respect. And treat requal guys like idiot UPT students. Sure, don't verbalize that to them, but treat them with the same skepticism. The fact is, we don't as a collective. I also don't agree with the shortened "feed the fight" figther-centric thing we got going on at the schoolhouse, with shortening the callouts. Not so much because it's somehow blasphemy, but rather because the UPT bases, Red Bulls in particular, are actually going the opposite direction, precisely because of this accident. But I'm preaching to the choir here. Stay safe out there.

Sure Ned, you are safe...when has the USAF ever lied?

Well you guys kinda own that left over taste for F’ing away what was going to be a 99% SOCOM asset with Spartan. The Army Sherpa/intra theatre transport replacement was going to spend most of its life moving stuff and people for SOCOM. Nobody has forgotten that bad deal on the green side. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Knowing a deficiency exists does not equal wanting to fix it. Big blue has already fucked it up. We should have had this a decade ago.

Deny, deny, counter-accuse, deny. This works in any situation whether it be your ROTC CC asking about booze in your room, or your wife asking why you have glitter on your face and smell like vanilla.

AFSOC is rife with tribalism and hidden agendas. Bashi is right- the AC mafia has crushed light attack inside AFSOC. They hate small airplanes and they hate competition for collecting scalps.

So, you are in favor of larger corporations getting ever larger stakes in their industries, while small business owners are unable to pass their business to the next generation? Remind me again which one has more wealth, a small business owner or a corporation like Monsanto or Google. A corporation that, BTW, will never pay an estate tax because it will never die.

This. I have disagreed with @Vertigo over other topics but the man (assuming) is honest, borrowing a shit ton of money to boost GDP, is a Polish Blanket trick, no offense to Poles...

You say hoard, I say being smart. Would I rather have $20 million in the bank or blow it all like some stupid NFL Star and be broke? As for taxes, anyone that chooses to live in a state with an income tax is just giving away money. Thankfully Texas doesn’t have one. How is sales tax paying twice? How is property tax paying twice? How is a tariff paying twice? Two of those are based on consumption, the other is based on the value of real estate I choose to own. I’ve already explained how I think local governments can be wasteful with property taxes, but luckily that is the level of government that we can mostly impact because the elections are decided by a relatively small number of votes. We’ll see how you feel about family farms when 1 or 2 corporations are producing 90% of our food supply. Oh wait, you would then nationalize them “for the good of society.” I, for one do not think it’s ok to take a portion of someone’s inheritance to pay for the mistakes of our politicians in managing their tax revenue. Infrastructure? Where did the $900 billion in stimulus for those ‘shovel ready jobs’ under Obama go? Oh yeah, to Solyndra and a bunch of other waste and slush funds. As for the schools, I bite the bullet and pay for private schools so my kids don’t end up like you. Without a f*cking clue. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

"I'll show myself the door" is sulking. And yes, I have. Yes, it's a good idea. Wealth is not hoarded, it is not finite, it is created, it grows. Rich families are not depriving the poor of money, any more than you are depriving your neighbors of food if you raise a garden in your backyard and don't share. The estate tax implies that you don't get to determine where your wealth goes. Obviously this is not a novel concept for progressives. Nor is it surprising that fiscal conservatives would oppose it. The only difference here is the application of death as some way to make the penalty for success more palatable. I am against all progressive taxation, so the estate tax is no different.

It didn’t “repeal” the estate tax. It moved the number which hasn’t changed in decades to reflect the inflated dollar amount of a given value of fortune. It’s also not permanent and expires in 2025 moving back to the old Obama and previous era rate. You can stop acting like this law only effects the Rockefeller’s/Gates/Bezos types of the country whose children will simply live in perpetuity of a fortune like the aristocracy of Versailles. A few million dollars (where the exemption ends) is not a fortune to a lot of independent entrepreneurs. They shouldn’t have their family punished for being successful after taking the risk to make the gains in the first place. But hey “they didn’t build that or anything” or pay taxes on it the whole damn time they made that fortune. F me is there anything some people hate more than success and fortune borne independently of the government. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’d love to see a medium category turboprop like the Dash 7 expound into this role. It could cover a whole lot of gaps between UAS/Gunship/Fixed wing manned in a single package that would be cheap enough to buy more than some low 2 digit number (like Gunships) and be limited by sustainable tails forward. Plus it does something else similar to the C-146 Wolfhounds, not brightly advertise what it is and what it’s doing there. Let’s face it, a small tandem seat turboprop with a pod and F’ing shark teeth isn’t fooling anybody when we aren’t trying to advertise our presence for whatever reason. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

F#$k what Republicans say. There are Democrats who happily use "socialist" to describe themselves. They are the enemy of the Free world. Also, Dude, stay away from cable news and the MSM. The world of podcasts has the discussions you seek.

God bless Texas! (And Nebraska, Indiana, Wisconsin, Louisiania, and Kansas) https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/ag-paxton-wins-multistate-obamacare-tax-lawsuit-recoups-over-839-million-in Texas stands to be repaid $304,730,608. The court’s decision also means that five other states stand to be repaid Obamacare fees by the IRS: Indiana ($94,801,483), Kansas ($142,121,776), Louisiana ($172,493,095), Wisconsin ($88,938,850) and Nebraska ($36,238,918). Nearly a billion dollars in unconstitutional taxes taken from these states to be returned. A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking some serious socialist money...

It's not news to me. Manafort was a crook, who's indiscretions had nothing to do with Trump. And obviously Trump ordered the payments to the porn star he cheated on his wife with. That was baked into the equation when he ran for president. Get him to commit perjury, and I'll support the same punishment as Bill Clinton: impeachment with no further action.

Some bombers can do 540 knots at 200 AGL, close enough. Thought about 100' but that gets sporty with a wingspan > 100'

Let's remember that the T-38 was designed as the first supersonic trainer back when the century series fighters were out. Not everything about designing aircraft for trans-sonic and high-Q flight was well understood, but one of those issues was flutter of flight control surfaces. The common answer was to only have surfaces actuated (and thus held rigidly in position during flight) by hydraulics. We didn't have the electronics technology that we do today to have self-isolated hydraulic servos to move flight controls that can be actuated hydraulically, electrically, or mechanically.

None. As mentioned, the only direct connection you have is to the throttle. If you have no shit zero hydraulic pressure on both sides, you are simply along for the ride and can only control how fast you get to the crash site. Of note, there is little to no pitching moment with throttle changes from idle to full ab. Systems knowledge will set you free

CAFB 18-14 Drop T-1: KC-10 McGuire C-5 Dover C-12 Elmendorf KC-135 Fairchild U-28 Hurlburt C-17 Travis C-17 Charleston C-17 McChord T-1 FAIP CBM 2x C-17 PA AFRC C-130J MS AFRC T-38: 3x F-16 TBD 2x F-15E Seymour F-15C Kingsley A-10 DM T-38 FAIP CBM T-6 FAIP END 2x B-1 Dyess B-52 Barksdale

IMHO the best way to get a unit to push an age waiver package is for them to pick you in the first place. And for that to happen, they really need to know you. Not just a random package arriving in the mail. You really have to invest time and money hanging out with the squadron and getting to know them and them to know you for a unit wanting to stick their neck out for the waiver. They have to consciously decide that a 30 yr old is a better option than the 22 yr old. And if you guys look the same on paper, the unit will absolutely choose the younger option. Just my guess.

The SIB had a pretty good discussion on the decision to delay ejection.

Every day in college you could find no shortages of idiots advocating Marxist principles handing out some flyer in the student union of my campus... You could not find KKK or Skin heads or any other far extremist idiots doing the same at any point in time. There is an acceptance by the left and academia of what they label “post modernists” which are nothing more than wolves in sheeps clothing advocating for the same stupidity that killed hundreds of millions of people across the 20th century and across swaths of geographic/religious/racial boundaries. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know it’s tragic, but it should be emphasized that these guys delayed ejection specifically to protect those innocents on the ground from having a flaming ball of wreckage dropped on their houses. Heroic. Just wish they both could have made it out... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Damn, that was probably the toughest read since Shell 77.

Really humble dude. He would study with us in the flight room after he got back from his deployment while we were still fairly new in 38s. I had a really good one-on-one convo with him during our naming ceremony that still sticks with me today. I saw him the day before at his spot in fam camp. Tough read I was putting off. To stuck 🍺

Keys visited Shaw as the ACC/CC when I was there, briefing for him was given in our mass brief room. I printed out 10 copies of his letter and was going to post them in the bathroom, I got told to shut up and color.

I got you, PM sent.

I GOT PICKED UP! I've been hesitant to post up here because there are still a couple hurdles to overcome and I didn't want to jinx myself, but I got picked up last month. I'm beyond stoked, excited and uncertain about the next steps, and wanted to hopefully give some confidence to the other old geezers out there that aren't sure it's possible if you're over 30. If I can do it, so can you! I pushed really hard to get my packet squared away, to get the right PoCs and follow up, and try to do as much of the preliminary work as I could on my own. A good line I heard from a friend was, "If you have a problem, be sure to present them with the solution to that problem." I tried to do this by handling as much of the paperwork myself so I was ready to go and not leaving it on anyone else to have to deal with. An even bigger help was making a ton of connections on and off this forum that were immensely helpful along the way. I am sure I annoyed the hell out of a lot of people and, for that, I apologize. But, all that said, all those people provided excellent advice and helped me get this far! To those hopefuls out there: utilize this asset! I actually got very lucky and went 2 for 2 on my interviews, getting offers from both the AFRC and ANG heavy squadrons I interviewed with. Both were great, but the AFRC squadron hit it out of the park with how awesome they were and I was immediately sold on being there. Also, the AFRC timeline to UPT seems to be a lot quicker than ANG, which is a big plus to me with my age, and everything I had done up until that point was with the AFRC side of things (recruiter paperwork, MEPS, FC1, etc.), so more delays would have occurred having things pushed over to ANG. I'm definitely putting the cart a little before the horse right now, since I haven't sworn in, my ETP is still working up the chain, and don't have dates yet. But, all of my paperwork is completed with the recruiter/squadron, my FC1 is certified, and I'm just waiting on the ETP signatures and my OTS board. If anyone has any input on the process from here or how to ensure all goes smoothly, I'd greatly appreciate it! Lastly, I just wanted to say thanks again to everyone here that helped me get this far; I couldn't have done it without you! This forum has been an invaluable resource with this process and the people I've met through it helped solidify that this is an amazing community that I'd be honored to be a part of. Crossing my fingers for no speed bumps as the last few things get taken care of! I'll update when it's fully official and I've got dates. Looking forward to being part of the pilot community and hopefully meeting/buying beers for some of you someday soon!

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