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Really the best practice here is to get into a public emotional shouting match with said MSgt. Ask the bystanders for real time feedback on who’s winning.

I just had an "amazing" experience in line with these comments... very discouraging. A 3-star briefing 2-stars down to O-4s, almost entirely an Army crowd (99%). Disparaged the other services throughout his time at the podium, was really proud of his PhD on 15th century Germanic tribes (or something like that), and his "way forward" was entirely Army-centric. Many laughs from the crowd in his favor, at our expense. He acted as if the Army owned MDO, space, and cyber. The way he railed against the Navy and the Air Force made me think he'd never deployed a day in his life... and yet he is a key decision-maker and strategic planner. I can't say more due to OPSEC, but if this is how you spell joint, then we're screwed.

It was outstanding being in Iraq when we stood back up with all the “that’s not how it used to be” issues we created ourselves. Logistics... oh just put those parts on the rotator.... What do you mean there is no rotator? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don’t know man, but I turned the corner at the local shoe store and saw a nice pair just hanging out, baby wasn’t attached or nothing. Lol Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

No, having a full-time designated room that is solely used for that purpose is not "legit and reasonable" when the infrastructure we have is already inadequate for the day-to-day work the military does. Do we put one in Base Ops? How about each of the aircraft hangars? What about the fuels building that is about 400 sq ft in size and sits on a pretty remote section of the base? What would be "legit and reasonable" in this hypothetical situation: my wife comes to the squadron for something, brings along my infant child, and needs to breast feed. I find a solution. Briefing room, squadron bar, whatever. I don't know what "amenities" are now required, but women that are breastfeeding generally carry what they need. And if I couldn't find a private space that would work, I'd go ask someone with a private office like my DO or CC. You know what their response would have been? "You bet, Huggy. She can use my office." In my 28 years of working on the flight line, I do not remember one time where a women came in and needed to breast feed. I'm sure it happens. But not with the regularity that requires that we give up valuable space. Space we need. Space that the US govt has been unable to provide us through MILCON dollars. Here's a possible alternative: How about letting us find a solution to this "problem" on our own? A solution that isn't mandated though more regulation, govt mandates, or social justice warrior programs. Instead, I would rely on my mostly-male squadron mates to the be gentlemen that they are and to help out a nursing mother in need. In the end, we would do what we always did, and take good care of those that visited our squadron.

What?

One of the toughest concepts for the average joe to wrap their brain around is that inflation isn't just something that happens naturally, as we've been conditioned to believe, and at the end of the day, it is really a back-door tax.

Going to say without a doubt NO. Never is it ok for any enlisted to TELL an officer to take out the trash. It could be the chief master sergeant of the AF telling the newest butter bar and it wouldn’t be okay. That dude has served one day and the CMSgt of the AF likely over 30 years. And the butter bar still out ranks him. Doesn’t matter if the commander told the MSgt to deliver a message to the captain. That’s the commanders fault for involving the MSgt. Enlisted don’t speak with authority from officers to officers. Superintendents are some of the worst offenders of abuse of perceived power over officers or throwing officers under the bus to fellow enlisted. Needs to be shut down in a hurry Is it okay to ask? Mentor? Advise? Resounding yes. This is a symptom of organizational break down and poor leadership. A simple one on one correction could be made with said enlisted. Don’t make it a public event of criticism. May sound like a rough position but we ain’t the civil air patrol or the scouts. There is rank for a reason. Please provide context.

This is a very good point. However, the food industry has been living in a sheltered economy for a long time, with illegal immigrants working as insanely cheap labor, and farm act subsidies keeping the market costs for certain crops over-competitive internationally. Corn in particular, ever since GWB’s wonderful ethanol idea, has been the definition of a boondoggle. That ear of corn in Walmart should be at least triple the price, but due to insane subsidies and cheap labor it remains that low. Not to even get started on how the blended fuels are worse for engines... Ted Cruz, even with his dad having assassinated JFK, was right when he stood in Iowa and told the corn farmers to their faces that those subsidies need to end.

Except a lot of farmers. Many of them are directly feeling the ramifications of our current trade policies. But then the government bails them out of a problem they created with billions of dollars they don't have and expect to be thanked. All the way, the government is ignoring the fact that some of the markets farmers have lost will not be coming back. At least the auto industry repaid their bailout, most with interest. The emergency farm subsidies are money that shouldn't have been necessary to begin with.

Yeah, lowering taxes and interest rates along with the current actions being taken by the fed should not happen during a period of economic growth. They should be saved to provide a boost to the economy when we go into a recession. It has also made it difficult to judge the true health of the economy. Yes, it is growing. But we basically provided a small stimulus package to a healthy economy, so it has covered up any obvious warning signs or consequences that could have been created by the trade war/tariffs/anything else. I worry that we are going to be in trouble when the next recession hits and those moves are off the table.

You can tell me whatever TF you want, but it doesn't mean I'm going to listen

The simple fact is too many of our doctrinal lessons have been lost on an entire generation who is now at the reigns of leadership. Brigade Commanders grew up in the era of TOC Porn, unending lines of support, bus schedule designed mobility, and conops instead of 5 para orders. Now those same captains/Majors are wearing Eagles or Stars calling out their sister services for “not supporting us” because the reality is in a non GWOT war, you won’t always get whatever you want and if you aren’t the main effort that’s exactly what is supposed to happen. In fairness though the don’t understand Army stuff like the fact that surge is a temporary situation that requires repayment on the back end. Hence dumb stuff like blanket extensions to duty day, priority target lists and NAIs that don’t function as they should, etc. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'd take those latter stories with a grain of salt. I haven't heard of anyone getting brought into an interview only to not get offered a job because they flew for a specific regional. However, I do know plenty of folks that never got invited to an interview. The most likely cause is that within the regional community, there's 10,000 dudes with the same exact resumé; it's difficult to make yourself stick out amongst that crowd. Yet, you'll hear guys say, "I haven't gotten a call from UAL because I work for XYZ." Nah, bro; you haven't gotten called because you're a copilot with 1,800 hours, no PIC time, and each airline still has 12,000 applications on file. Probably the most important factor for you is going to a company that won't force you to commute. Also, not all bonuses come with strings attached. For a long while, bonuses at SkyWest didn't require you to sign any contracts. Don't know if that's still the case. PM if you need help with the process.

The whole “my boss is ... so that gives me the authority to be directive to you BS just shows how weak some of these “superintendents” are.” But seriously, what would you say you do here? Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Just like the AF, decline the bonus and keep your options open ...

Ever try to get parts for a 1964 model year car versus a 2019 one? There's approximately 1400-1500 Hornets flying today, the USAF retired its last EF-111A twenty-one years ago.

I was about to move this to the 'WTF' thread...

Lol, ok that makes sense why the Weapons School turned a broom closet into.a breast feeding room.

I’ll ask some of my regional buddies, but I think the confusion may stem from any bonuses given. I.e., Skywest gives former helo dudes up to 25k for pilot training to ATP, and I highly doubt they’d be cool with you just leaving after 6 months if a major came calling (unlikely I know, but just an example). I would assume like anything, it depends on the contract. Contrast that with a former Navy O-5 I know. He spent his last three years in the Navy at a desk, so he went to the regionals. He was a F-18 driver so he spent about 7 months there, got current, and got hired on at a major.

Depends on how he says it. There’s a big difference between “Hey sir, it’s your turn to take out the garbage” and “Take out the garbage, Capt”

Context?

3M

No. I am not aware of this anywhere in the US.

Apparently they're going to do a remake with some "up and coming" rock band with KL doing some vocals on it.

Translation: Banks are in trouble, the economy is in trouble, and Trump wants to artificially prop up the economy long enough to get reelected. He's attempting to make it sound as if it's for exports, but it's really to save the financial system. He's concerned. If the Fed prints money to buy bad loans or other poor performing securities to rescue banks, it's called QE. If you or I print money to buy anything, it's called counterfeiting. The Fed is dumping a fuck-ton of money into the economy and with low/negative interest rates, it is forcing banks to lend it essentially free instead of parking it somewhere. Big money is currently hoarding cash/liquid assets because they currently think it's better to take a hit on inflation than loan defaults and/or big market losses coming down the pike. That could be why there is no money in the repo (repurchase agreement) market, but I'm no expert. It's akin to a bank walking into a pawn shop and saying they need $10,000 to give out in loans that they will repay tomorrow with interest, and using a brand new corvette as collateral. They pawn shop (lending bank) says, "That's a fantastic deal, but we have no money to give you." Things are in danger of coming to halt until the Fed shows up at the pawn shop and hands over a warm stack of freshly printed $100 bills just to keep all interested parties' businesses from tanking. This new money will take a minute to circulate through the financial system, and when it starts hitting the pockets of the average wage-earner, the price of everything will soar. The purchasing power of your nest egg in the bank falls dramatically. The average person will have less discretionary spending because they'll be spending earnings on the ballooning prices of milk, bread, utilities, healthcare, car payments, student loan payments, credit card payments, and mortgages. When money gets tight and cards are maxed, less consumer goods are purchased and loan payments slow. Borrowers default and it's 2007-8 again, but with multiple bubbles. Your savings and cash accounts are devalued, and your retirement/401K is crushed. Tax revenue shrinks while the Federal Government continues to spend $1 Trillion more (and growing) per year than it receives. The only question is: "How long?"

They did have it parked on the ramp outside the weapons lab which would have been entertaining had Russia chosen to do an Open Skies flight that particular day.

Wait...you're telling me that's not real? Prime comment from video - " That's the realest military mustache I've ever seen on film. "

The gayness continues...

combat radius of the F-111C was almost triple the F/A-18F

I can't quite put my finger on it, but it feels like we've seen this before... Goat fuckers are going to fuck goats...nothing we can do to change that.

I’ll somewhat reverse what I said earlier based off an experience I had today. Student cross-country. He shows up with a beautiful VFR plan. Amazingly marked VFR chart. Even wants to pick up an IFR for some instrument approaches after. He briefs me that at 1100L the weather will be SKC, 9999 RVR. The problem is it was 1050L and it was still misty and overcast less than a thousand. The epiphany I had is that if we teach the students based off 1s and 0s in a sim and cut out too much flying, all we’re going to get is really good canned environment pilots. I know correlation doesn’t equal causation, but I have started to notice a severe lack of common sense amongst my T-6 students, and part of that is probably because we are taking away their opportunities to see real world flying.

One evening in 1973, after being overly rowdy at our hooch bar, I got to spend a few hours in the cage with Buffy. It was all A-OK because the guys kept bringing us beers. Yes, Buffy could drink out of cans. The next day Buffy seemed to be worse for the wear than I was. Imagine, a bear with a hangover.

Just finished closing on our new construction home in Memphis, TN. I'm recently retired and used a VA loan. I searched around for a lot of rates and companies, but gave Marty at Trident a call last year to get his take on my situation. He put me in touch with Jon Kulak. In the meantime, I spoke with SEVERAL other companies. As other BO posters have stated, Jon and his team hit it out of the park. They constantly kept me and my builder on track, which is difficult to do with some builders who are inexperienced with the VA/FHA process. Jon, Bri, Lisa, and Taylor literally hand-carried my builder thru the process and we successfully closed last week. Other items Jon and his team did...re-negotiated my rate, extended my lock, "translated" the VA paperwork between my builder and the Atlanta regional office, and constantly kept me on glideslope with the details that would otherwise derail most new-home purchases. Bottom line...Jon gets it and will get YOUR situation. He's Air Force (MC-130s), SWA pilot, and most importantly a GREAT dude. I don't know how many times he either called or returned my call during his turns out of ATL, BWI, AUS, MDW, etc. He (and his team) will treat you like an all-star.

They can’t make TDART a required obligation. They did change the minimum hours for each GS grade back in Nov. Yes, start GS9 but now 300 hours required for GS11(which most guys/gals should have after UPT/FTU/Seasoning). GS12 at 750. Regardless, I wouldn’t worry about it.

GS-9? Probably get food stamps with that salary.