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Flying clitoris. Useful on a number of levels...

Why? These are the current day threats (let alone near future capes). Just because they present a far more difficult problem doesn't justify us not doing it. Pretending SU-30s with C/D/Archer is a realistic baseline is laughable. That's like the Chinese training to an F-16 A-model in relative comparison. Time to solve the hard problem, not run away from it and solve the easy problem, then beat our chests about how great we are.

These guys made a decision, formulated a plan, and executed with high efficiency and precision (aside from the slightly lopsided balls). I’d say the CVR evidence supports the fact that these two officers are highly effective military aviators and the skydick episode should be taught to every UPT student as an example of what to aspire to (might need a trigger warning for the weak kneed though). A toast to these goddamned American heroes! 🍺🍺🍺🍺

Previous thread was from 2007 and lumped in with the HC, I'll try and keep this first post up to date. Command: AFSOC Crew: Pilot, CP, CSO, LMs Mission: Commando II flies clandestine, or low visibility, single or multiship, low-level air refueling missions for special operations helicopters and tiltrotor aircraft, and infiltration, exfiltration, and resupply of special operations forces (SOF) by airdrop or airland intruding politically sensitive or hostile territories. The MC-130J primarily flies missions at night to reduce probability of visual acquisition and intercept by airborne threats. Its secondary mission includes the airdrop of leaflets. Selection: AFPC. Out of UPT (T-38 or T-1)/UCT/LM Tech School and crossflow Schoolhouse: Kirtland, NM (415 SOS - AETC) Training: Qual and Mission at Kirtland. Timeline depends, but is a yearish (request updates from Kirtland only products) Operational Bases/Units: Cannon, NM (9 SOS); Kadena, Japan (17 SOS); Mildenhall, UK (67 SOS); Hulrburt, FL (Test, WIC, other) Assignments: CAO 5/19 you generally don't get a base assignment until you're at training (hence all the drop night "MC-130 to Kirtlands"). Lifestyle: Versus HC-130: Source: https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104510/mc-130j-commando-ii/ and baseops forums.

Proving once again that shoe-clerk is a state of mind, not an AFSC.

Looks more like an abyssinian ground hornbill to me, but Fat Abby isn’t a very tacticool name.

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/05/14/ned-stark-unveiled-colonel-who-wrote-viral-leadership-columns-has-a-challenge-for-the-air-force/?utm_source=clavis

I got to see Shaft's S-2 last year. Frickin' gorgeous. As clean as the day it left the factory. Here's a screen shot of Shaft doing shit that saves lives.

Hydrazine considerations? I know that stuff is nasty as hell but how would that affect CFR?

I appreciate that the Lockheed guys are calling it the Talon III

Space Force Cadet

Have you ever had anyone go outside the flying world and become a DO as an O-4? For example, I was handpicked for my DO position.

There's a thing in fiction called suspension of disbelief. Basically, tell us the rules of your world, and then follow them. In Game of Thrones, it's made clear early on that dragons and black magic exists. It was only recently made clear that the pirates had heat seeking scorpion bolts.

News: 16 May - Terrain following in operational test https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/28048/mc-130j-special-ops-transports-are-finally-getting-this-terrain-following-radar-they-badly-need

“If you have a contrail that lasts longer than 4 hours, seek meteorological attention.” (As seen on another site... excellent quote)

To help clear up some of the chaff above, I'm at URT right now and this info is CAO right meow: Sim only here at RND All active duty are PCS'd to RND except enlisted pilots, who are here TDY along with Guard/Reserve students The AF (hopefully) has a relatively "all-in" cost per flight hour for the MQ-9 that would allow comparison of flying that vs a different manned asset. I'm not sure what that is, but I'm assuming it's less than average even given the 6-9 miracles it takes for me to control the aircraft from the NV desert via space. My opinion is everything could be even cheaper by sending guys to an FAA puppy mill and spitting them out with a PPL and Instrument Rating in about a month. Close Doss and the RIQ portion of URT, and make the RFC portion maybe a week or 2 longer to add in some 202v3 and etc. "blueing" for the young LTs. Or have Doss be the "puppy mill," but actually spit guys out with a PPL and Instrument Rating. We spend an inordinate amount of time and employ a fairly large herd of ORFs (old retired farts) for the purpose of having studs hand-fly the T-6 sim, when that has extremely limited relevance to flying an RPA. The VR sims used in the URT-Next small group trial are also significantly cheaper than the more traditional sims here at Randolph, so great, do that instead of or in conjunction with the above if the training results are comparable, which they seem to be so far based on a small data set. The reason RIQ exists, IMHO, is so that A) we can appropriately haze new AF pilot trainees, and B) so the AF can tell the FAA "all of our pilots are instrument rated," even though we leave here with no actual instrument rating nor even an Form 8 checkride so 🤷‍♂️

Okay - just so we're clear........ In the story that includes 3 fire-breathing dragons, hatched inside a funeral pyre by a chick (inside the same fire) who rides said dragons, commands their actions, and also happens to be in love with a guy who was stabbed to death and brought back to life by another chick who births an assassin shadow to kill a rival king............. You're drawing the line at BS windage? 😉

The Air Boss (Navy 3-star Admiral) basically wagged his finger at them and said "shame, shame". Both guys recently promoted. For once, logic prevailed.

That isn’t normal?

So, instead of using the 1206s to judge award winners, you decided the winners then wrote the 1206. Isn't that exactly the kind of thing we complain about in the assignment and promotion system? I'm also curious... Who wrote the Flt/CC awards if no one wrote their own?

It is cost prohibitive to upgrade 2B jets, so they’re stuck at that s/w. We badly need 5th gen aggressors. This is actually a great 2-birds-with-one-stone play. No raptors were made perma-NMC by Michael. We need every raptor we can get doing the combat or training mission.

Seems like a story calculated to impress, but it's actually full of shit. "My WG/CC gave me a P, but then he had to shake my hand because I won an award. Then the MAJCOM/CC said I was one of his best officers and said my WG/CC was a doofus. Then everyone clapped"

Saw this on Imgur in a dump of random memes

Can I frame this and send it to you if Beto beats Cruz in November? 🍺 Speaking of MJ, don’t vote for her if you don’t like her policies, that’s fair enough. But good people can have a diverse array of political views. It shouldn’t be that she is “uneducated” or is a “rat” just because she is a Dem. If she’s legit a good person (and I don’t know, but seems that way), then she’s legit a good person, full stop, even if you disagree politically. I have several Republican friends who, if they ever ran, I would vote for over a hypothetical doucher entrenched Democratic incumbent who wasn’t doing the people’s work anymore. Not always an easy call when you differ substantially on policy, but leadership and character also matter in my book, and I will always give a good fair look to a fellow veteran regardless of party. Even my right-wing friends who I could not vote for are still good people, and I’d absolutely encourage them to get involved in leading the country. We need more good people in general and veterans in particular to step up and serve again. Food for thought.