Leaderboard

Nothing...but that’s not why we do what we do (which of course I know you know that and aren’t implying otherwise). Of course the irony is not lost on me when some chief who hasn’t fought a second in his life gets a bronze star on his way out of CENTCOM. I had to argue directly to the one star wg/cc at BAF why the JTAC I wrote a MSM for deserves it...official recognition is broke and that was the day that cemented my decision to go Guard (certainly not the only reason, just the 1069th reason).

Honestly I don’t even know why you guys take the time to discuss this. We’re not any closer to fielding a new airframe than we were 10 years and 1400 posts ago. The Air Force will never make the intelligent move to acquire a light attack platform.

And this is a main reason my last sim partner (fellow FO) left the Navy even though he was on the fast track to command. I guess making more than an admiral (before adding his pension) to work 12 days or less a month in the right seat of a WB isn't a bad tradeoff.

Yes it is a complete lack of understanding, but that’s not a free pass. It is an indictment. The vast majority of comments that I read, and in full disclosure did not read them all, were of people condemning this egregious act of fraud and/or political partisanship on the part of the Aircrew and calling for harsh discipline. We support the troops! (Oh and by the way, make sure you confirm to our Snow White recruiting poster image of what an American fighting man is in our eyes. No squadron bars, no drinking in uniform, no bad language, don’t you dare go cross country and have any fun at all and don’t really tell us any stories about the bad things that happen because we really don’t want to know. Oh and no morale patches either.) Now, I’ll just place this little yellow ribbon magnet here on my car....that will make me feel better... oh and “Thank you for your service!” It will never change, I know that. I just want them to leave us alone. Let us do our job. EDIT - The angry Vets make me laugh as well. “I was on the USS Goatrope from ‘68-72 and this would never fly! Disgraceful!” Oh really? Back when you had full beards and the Philippines were a thing? Please...tell me more.

Slow Clap... https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-service-members-seen-with-maga-patches-on-jumpsuits-at-trump-speech/ Standing, hats off, slow clap... Well done, gents.

I laughed

Penny Benjamin?

Solid aerial footage here

The media is tracking this,they could make a whole lot of hay out of it if they want to. Thankfully they didn’t see the negative Obama patches I’ve seen floating around. The libs starting kicking out ROTC programs from universities in the 90’s due to don’t ask don’t tell, of course the more liberal colleges obliged (I got caught in the middle of it, college I wanted to go to kicked ROTC out). All that was left was ROTC detachments a conservative schools, 25 years later you get a lot of more conservative officers running your Air Force. I’m not complaining, im in that group, but the “chickens” have definitely come home to roost.

I especially liked how they were "supporting fascism" by displaying a picture of the commander in chief. I wonder what those people would think if they found out there was a picture of him in almost every building on every military base?

The twitter comments are actually frightening. Beyond the politics, there are people angry that taxpayer dollars were used for the patches and that the USS WASP Stands for White Anglo Saxon Protestant and that’s why Trump visited that ship. It’s on the internets, it has to be true! These people need the book thrown at them!!! They must be held accountable!!! For shame! The sheer ignorance, stupidity and self righteousness of the general public at large has me at a complete loss for words.

Googled “Phoenix penis”. That’s enough internet for today.

What if they don’t? Do you want that on your conscience?

We had the “Make Africa Great Again” shirts, same base as the 318th. Got away with them for almost 2 years before they got banned.

Ejection over bearing sea, 2012 (japan to Alaska coronet). Handed off OSC to the 135 once we had done everything useful we could. They stayed overhead and did a handoff with another 135 that came from AK. Between the two crews they maintained OSC and coordinated with various assets to get our bro picked up. Weather was shit, so finding him was difficult...no doubt their efforts helped make a positive end to the story.

So on Memorial Day weekend, CBS decides to honor American war dead by focusing on a tragic accident, and using it as a soapbox to turn military personnel, veterans, and the public against one another. Couldn't find any MOH or Silver Star types to hold up as examples of sacrifice and patriotism? Couldn't talk about the kids who made the valiant choice to take the fight to the enemy in OIF/OEF instead of crying in a closet on campus? Couldn't talk about the brass balls it took to fly into downtown Schweinfurt, Route Pack 6, Belgrade, or Baghdad? Couldn't just honor the sacrifices made on behalf of the American public? I guess that would have been too hard. You stay classy CBS.

Damn, it’s almost as if CAS is the detailed integration of Ground and Air forces to avoid fratricide when forces get “close” and are fighting requiring a specialized skill set and weaponry. Shocking that a low level supersonic nuclear bombing platform asked to do the job had issues. Now some will say these are dickhead comments but I’ve tried CAS in a crewed B-1 type environment and it was tough. Need a hillside leveled in the Stan or some BOC, B-1 is great. Have a complex deconfliction problem requiring CAS and CAS weapons, you probably want a CAS aircraft with good vis, those weapons etc. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

I'm an old retired fart, but I had a great Air Force Experience a couple of weeks ago. A client of my wife found out that this couple had a kid who was all ate up about flying, flew flight sims for hours, but had never been in the cockpit of a real airplane. So I volunteered to give the kid an incentive ride in my might Piper Warrior. It turned out he was a junior in college, majoring in mechanical engineering. He wanted to know all about the Air Force and wanted to hear my war stories. Of course I cleverly managed to never get shot at, but I shared some 'peace stories' with him while we stopped for a hundred dollar hamburger. Anyway, my Warrior is based at Austin Bergstrom (KAUS), and we get a lot of military transient airplanes. As we were putting the Warrior back in the hanger a black T-38 showed up in the pattern and flew a couple of overheads and then landed. As we started to walk back to the Signature terminal the Black 'BB' coded T-38 was parking right in front of us. My pax asked me if he could take a picture of this T-38. Of course I knew that nobody would care if someone took a picture of a T-38, but I said 'Why don't we ask the pilots'? So I walked over as they were climbing out of the cockpit, introduced us as 'once and future Air Force guys' and asked if we could take a picture of their jet. It was a looker I'll say that. To make a long story short, the crew were two U-2 pilots. Of course they let us take all the pictures we wanted, but more important they asked my young friend what he wanted to do in the Air Force, and he told them he wanted to be a pilot. They spent about 15 minutes telling him about pilot training, suggesting the best paths to a commission for him, and in general talking up the fun of being in the Air Force. I'm sure the guys were probably a bit tired, and in a hurry to get to Sixth Street, but to this young person they were heroes bordering on Living Gods. I really appreciated the time they took and their enthusiasm for my young friends dreams. It reminded me how cool it is that the Air Force sometimes would give you the keys to a jet plane and a gas card, and tell you bring back in one piece next Monday!

When I call guys to offer the job I give them a window to make a commitment. (usually 30 days or so) I expect people are interviewing at other places. Once someone commits you can bet your bottom dollar that if they have a change of heart I'll be calling their new commander to inform him of that persons lack of moral fiber (and I've had calls about people the other way as well). Just be honest, if you are good enough to get the job it won't matter. Knowing that we weren't someone's first choice wouldn't stop me from offering them a job if they were the best candidate.

I'll caveat the follow with the fact that this is my personal opinion and not necessarily how others will view it, so take it for what it's worth... I've sat on numerous ANG UPT interview boards and been in the military long enough to know that you are the only one looking out for you. Interview at both and see what happens. If you get both, then you'll have a decision to make and I would go with the one that fits you best. We completely understand that we may not always be the first choice of everyone, but I will still pick the best possible candidate. Personally, I respect the honesty if a candidate is upfront about their desires, but I also understand if they hold their cards close. Either way, that's why we pick an alternate. Best of luck!

Most of the higher levels of AF leadership come from the CAF. It is my oppinion that building partner relationships is one of the weaker competencies of the CAF community. I say that having worked on two combined staffs as a CAF background myself. CAF leaders simply dont get the international exposure early in their career and by the time they hit the operational levels they are programmed to believe the USAF can go it alone. I can't count the number of times I've done a combined RED FLAG and listened to bemoaning that our PN Air Forces were going to hold us back, limit our TTPs, or otherwise detract from the exercise. There is no excitement to build those relationships. Simply put, I'm not sure this priority will change in the near future. (Disclaimer: I'm not saying this is everyone in the CAF, there are exceptions. This is just my perception of a generalization as a whole.)