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Reading that news coverage of the CDI makes me incredibly glad I am off that sinking ship. Warrior monks everywhere, pandering to the feelings of the lowest common emotional denominator.

Once again why anyone would strive to become a commander in this environment baffles me

I like Mattis. Good American. But anyone who wants us to stay in Syria has to go. Full stop. Best case scenario, Assad reasserts control over the entirety of Syria and it goes back to a country that stays quiet and causes few problems. It boils down to a fundamental difference in philosophy. Mattis is on the W Bush, Max Boot, Neocon view that America needs to intervene in however many countries it takes to convert the world to globalist democracy. The only problem with this philosophy is that it hasn't worked since WWII. Trump does not have the intellectual nuance to elucidate this point, but he seems to understand it somewhat instinctually. Mattis is ten times the man Trump wishes he could be, but he's wrong, and if he can't change his views on our foreign strategy, he needed to go. We need to get out of Syria before it loses the one centralized figure capable of maintaining control (Assad). That is, unless you think Iraq and Libya are models to be recreated elsewhere...

A great example of the “single storyism” that wins the influencing battle in modern culture. One airman says “pilots act like frat boys”. One person is offended by a name that didn’t stick. An IP feels like he is pressured to drink. Each story is only one of a possible 4,300 human experiences at Laughlin (0.02% of the total base population), but that single story will rule the narrative if a report writer can spread it to the masses. The tyranny is that, if one hundred people are interviewed, any conclusion can be cherry picked from the pile of words. It’s not scientific, and it’s not democratic. It’s reminiscent of Pravda or China Daily, where the approved messages are sitting on shelves waiting for the right anecdotes to flesh them out. ”Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person.”

Agreed, not really close and it was just too obvious to present a coherent front to the world, Allies and Enemies alike. The Globalist Establishment (leftist and neocon alike) just doesn't want to admit it but the effort to force Western forms of government, values and economic systems into areas where there are established and VERY different cultures, customs, norms and attitudes is a failure. These people will work it out based on a multitude of factors and unless we have a direct compelling interest like keeping the flow of commerce in the global commons, defending a strategic ally, directly forestalling / reacting to a humanitarian disaster that will impact us, etc... the bar for long-term engagement with restrictive ROE should be very high. On Syria, end direct action, shift to assist/advise/supply while negotiating the best end state for the Kurds possible with Assad and the Turks. Just being realistic, we are not going to keep X thousands of troops and equipment in "Kurdistan" indefinitely, too much money, political and spiritual cost to the American body politic. On Yemen, stop providing direct support slowly and expand humanitarian aid. Turn a blind eye to the KSA led war as it stymies an ally of Iran. Don't like seeing the people of Yemen caught in the middle but that is the least bad option that we have. On Afghanistan, slowly privatize the war and withdraw uniformed forces then slowly pull the contractors out. Three year process but there is nothing to be gained, won or realized and that should be obvious. Whatever 4 star is in charge over there at the time will tell you the same thing and have been for 15+ years: we're making progress, be patient, just a few more years and we will turn the corner... Arm the hell out of the traditionally non-Taliban tribes in the North, expand airpower to a ridiculous extent over the Afghan AOR to whack a mole even more to forestall a precipitous collapse as we withdraw uniformed forces and leave concentrations of private armies to keep portions of Afghanistan "free" and then declare our military operations complete, fund the remaining factions we like as required to re-establish the pre-911 / pre-invasion Northern Alliance / Taliban split in the country. Best possible outcome. Draw down the Died, build up the 5th fleet and use that as our deterrence presence. Establish new bases in the Southern Med / Eastern Europe (Greece, Romania, Bulgaria) to react quickly to an aggression. Also, deters Russia but could antagonize, difficult needle to thread there. We have things to get ready for on this side of the world, Europe and in the Pacific (Venezuelan collapse, Chinese challenges to FON in the sea lanes, Russian hybrid warfare, etc..) - it is time to disengage greatly from the ME.

Some may argue that the move is unilateral, but bear in mind that this President’s courage to put American interests first, even ahead of those of our “allies,” is why he got elected and is doing so well. It is utterly entertaining to see the “peace loving” left sit here and try to criticize the President’s decision on Syria. What do you guys want, to go melt in another s$:7 hole for another 18 years with no exit strategy? The blind hatred for Trump cannot be more obvious over the events of the last few days. I will always respect Mattis, but I think it was finally time for the two to part ways. Some people, especially those in the military, are being way too dramatic about this. The average tenure of a SECDEF is 2-3 years, Mattis’s was no different. The sky isn’t falling.

Oh, are we still pretending Wright Pat is a Air Force Base, and not a civilian run self-licking ice cream cone?

WE HAVE A FEW THAT WAY, BUT WE ALSO HAVE A FEW WHO WERE JUST LEGITIMATELY SCREWED OVER, LIKE THE GUY PASSED OVER ON HIS O-5 BOARD WITH A DP.

She is most certainly not who the PC leadership is pandering to. They are more likely pandering to some non-existent politically correct standard monster that leadership is afraid is going to come gobble them up and get them fired. Asking a bunch of enlisted folks who are entirely unrelated to the events being discussed, about how they feel about actions that don't pertain to them in any way and which they didn't experience, is a nice touch and a great way to evaluate behavior, though.

That's probably fair. But students can hardly fly themselves out of a paper bag sometimes and often don't deserve to be off formal release, let alone throwing keggers in the squadron bar.

Almost as good as the article shitting on a piano burning, because God forbid anyone be memorialized in a traditional fashion...

A few other gems from the article to consider. AETC seems to be working hard to keep the retention crisis going. Interesting that the investigators did these focus discussion groups with people that did not have first-hand knowledge. It makes me question what they were trying to prove. Out of? This statement is completely meaningless without a denominator. And this one made me laugh... Especially after this post on TPN a few days ago

Toeing. Not towing.

Passing through the wickets to be signed by the general

Trying to get it in front of the GO to sign.. I’d imagine there are eyes that need to look over it before he dives in and signs it. Can’t just walk into his office and ask him to sign it..

Unilaterally withdrawing from Syria may not be the best short term move but it may be the best long term move, not for the fight against ISIS, Al Nusra, Iran / Russia action in the ME, etc... but in the fight against the Swamp, Deep State, Globablists, etc... that the worm has turned and a sizable portion of America thru their elected representation be it in the Legislative or Executive branch is not going resource with blood and treasure endless conflicts that have no readily achievable goals or relevant goals for America, no matter if there are laudable side effects to a Pax America enforced order. Like it or not we have hit the end of our ability to protect X number of others, to deter for X number of others, to fight for X number of others, not really for a lack of material resources but spiritual resources to be willing to do so. Explain in a clear way to the forgotten people of the Rust Belt, Bible Belt, Urban Jungles... that denying victory / deterring Russia, Iran and their proxy Alawite pawn in Syria which has no natural resources we purchase, no strategic role in trade, defense or significant cultural position to America is a reason we should spend 15+ billion a year bombing random jihadis half-way around the world when we have 8,000+ fighting age males massing on our border and demanding entrance or else... explain how this time, this operation will resolve something, will lead to a situation that is marginally better for them or for us, explain how just another 15 billion over there versus spent over here on anything is better... Indeterminate involvement may have some positive effects for others, some are probably worth defending but America's resources are finite. Even though the material cost for this particular operation is / was not onerous per year in the grand scheme of things, the fact that it would be never-ending has caused the American Nationalist movement thru its somewhat brash and inarticulate standard bearer to say no more. No matter if you believe we should be militarily engaged in many places around the world, the fact that 67+ million Americans said no more, should give you pause.

Academically I understand that Mattis is probably right re: ISIS, and withdrawal from Syria and Afghanistan. But I believe the only way we get out of constant war in the Middle East is to simply withdraw. I'm sure Trump will somehow manage to completely mangle this, but I think in the long run it's the right thing to do. It may ultimately fail and we'll find ourselves back in that hole again eventually. But we need a reset with what we think we can use our standing armies to accomplish overseas.

Most APZ pilots tend to have flown their entire career and are very good at it. They've given the Heisman to queep, and paid the price in promotion rates. They do most of the flying, teaching, and mentoring of our next generation of pilots. In the MAF world, the guys who are BTZ got that way by doing everything but aircraft related duties, and typically have little credibility flying. Most I've known want to fly more, but the AF won't let them do it often enough to stay good.

FYSA - Pops is opening up a shop upstairs in the KMCC at Ramstein sometime Jan-Feb.

For the conversion fees. I’d include what citi charged you for them. Not what Oanda uses. While it’s a nice site for daily rates I’d go off what citi actually charged you. Kind of hard to argue with what the card charges. As for the rest good luck. I know you used to be able to claim atm fees along with cash advance fees, but knowing the penny pinchers in the gov they stopped that little niceity to save a few bucks

I lol’ed

You're going to get crickets because it shows the Republican released memo was a fabrication. The central point of the memo was that the FBI didn't tell the FISA court about Steele's political motives, when in fact the footnote disclosing Steele’s possible bias takes up more than a full page in the applications, so there is literally no way the FISA Court could have missed it. When Rubio backs the FISA warrant, then it's abundantly clear Nunez is full of shit and was just trying to disrupt the investigation.

Meaning there was 411 other pages of evidence justifying the need for a FISA warrant.

And his failure to get reelected will be as direct response to him.

Just because you don't remember it, old man, doesn't mean it didn't matter to me. 😉

“Doing so well” Ha!