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I don't post here a lot, so I'll say this and go back into hiding. We literally fought a war about states rights...to own slaves. Right side won. Slaves are freed. Lincoln had a lot to do with that...he was assassinated. Now black folks have to pull themselves up by their boot straps. No education, no skills, don't own any of our inventions, nothing. Cool. We pulled ourselves up, and started to thrive. We had our own schools, churches, hospitals, banks, etc. Those that hate us, couldn't handle it. So comes the Tulsa massacre in 1921. Burned down schools, churches, hospitals, banks, killed the men, and raped the women in front of the children. This happened in other parts of the country as well. But pull yourself up by your bootstraps. We did it again. Those that hate us didn't like it. Lynchings and burnings came along, also Jim Crow. While blacks were in WWI and WWII when they returned home, they were not given those same freedoms they went to a foreign land to fight for. Returned home to racism and segregation. Most weren't recognized until they died. JFK comes along and tries to help, does some good work...assassinated. Desegregation comes along. But then the country is redlined so we can only live in certain pockets of the country. Well now we can vote and make things better in our community, but the voting lines are redrawn to lesson the black vote. Now the funding for schools, banks, etc go to the "other neighborhoods" Well this isn't right. Lets peacefully protest. Those that hate us didn't like that. My parents and grandparents were in the street when Bull Connor unleashed the dogs and fire hoses on peaceful protesters in Birmingham. We had a voice, MLK...assassinated. Malcolm X comes along and tries it a different way...assassinated. Then comes the crack epidemic, and guns flooding black neighborhoods. We didn't own anything. We didn't own planes or boats to get any of this stuff in, or even leave the neighborhood to go buy such things. But it showed up. How did it get there? Now we have rich drug dealers and poor addicts. Violence ensues over these things. War on drugs happens. Dads/Uncles (dealers) are sent to prison. Addicts are still in the street. Who takes care of the children? No one, they raise themselves...in that environment. That's all they know. No one was coming into these communities to shed light on other options in life or a way to make it out. You gonna go to school, or sell a dime bag so you can eat tonight? We are still recovering from that. Moving into the 21st century, it's no longer cool to be racist out in the open. Those people didn't change their views they just went into hiding. I say this not to blame folks, but to shed light on a few of the things the black community has faced. Yet, we still overcome and thrive. BUT if you think racism no longer exist, you're sadly mistaken. If you think racist haven't infiltrated our Sqs, Grps, Wgs, etc you're sadly mistaken. They are still out there, my black bro's and I see it often. We're not playing victim, and we aren't weak, but they still try us. Example, at my last Sq there was almost 20 flights and shops. 3 black flight ccs and a black shop chief. Some one had gotten enough complaints from others and had enough balls to complain to the CC that there were "too many" of us in leadership. Thats just one example. If you want more examples of racism me and the bros have seen on AD, we can take it to the PMs. I'm not saying you guys are wrong, I value your input and opinion. My issue is when we bring this stuff up, it gets dismissed and or downplayed. Having someone tell me my experiences didn't happen or "thats not what they meant" is ridiculous. If you can't see that black people have been oppressed and that those that oppressed us are still alive and or have passed those teachings down to their children, there's not a lot I can say. We just want a fair shake. I/We shouldn't be treated differently because of our skin color, that's it. I see a lot of you thinking of this as political, I don't see it that way. It's human rights. Conservatives/Leftist/libtards or whatever doesn't matter right now. I went a bit long. I'll go back into hiding now. If I ever see you dudes in the real world, first one is on me.

This! I don't have cable, and have essentially blocked everyone on SM and the only thing on my feeds is stuff I'm interested in (mostly Aviation groups). Last Saturday someone posted on our Squadron group chat to avoid X part of town due to protests. I had zero idea what people were protesting about and had to look it up, which is when I heard about this incident. Today was spent tinkering on an N3N and a Stearman, then helped a guy who is building a Starduster, flew with a kid I'm teaching instruments, did a few pre-sunset grass landings in the Cub, then beers at my buddies hangar as we watched an amazing sunset. The world need less 24 hours news (err entertainment) channels and more sunset hangar beers!

Even though no one really asked, Air Force leadership took it upon themselves to make their statements. They could have seized this opportunity to emphasize the fact that the US Military has a long track record of being one of the most inclusive institutions in the country. They could have highlighted how the military will take people of all races, mix them in a unit together, and make them work together to accomplish a goal. They could have emphasized how the military demolishes any perceived barriers based on race. Instead, Air Force leadership chose to just jump on the victim bandwagon. They'll be all kinds of thrash, PR, and probably a CBT or two. And then it will all dissolve as soon as the next crisis pops up.

Has anyone heard one solution proposed on how to end this “systematic racism”? I have not. Which leads me to believe the reason no solutions are being proposed is because the problem is being mislabeled. Racism is an easy out. We see it used as a broad cover for a multitude complex cases when the root cause is generally something different. Floyd, Browm, Trayvon, etc, the only thing they had in common that it politically feasible to the left is their race. Addressing what caused them to have violent run ins with others is not addressed because it’s an uncomfortable fact to admit that blacks are high risk in many areas. Health, poverty, crime, dropping out of school. Why? I think when we start solving tour problems, we’ll see that correlation of skin color to problems does not mean it’s the causal factor. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Been on the forum for years, just don't ever post. I think the environment I spoke of builds our attitudes and how we show emotion and stress. Growing up in a rough area is no doubt hard. Here's why. Kids are being exposed to things adults that didn't grow up there could never imagine. Shootings, drugs, murders, dead bodies, all at a young age. That does something to an individual. Could even be some sort of PTSD. I've been shot at, robbed, stabbed, etc. It changes you. So when we show up, we sometimes get labeled as nonchalant and not caring. But we've seen so much shit at a young age that what's happening on flights, in MP, etc may be super stressful but to us, it beats a day in the hood. Most of my friends from childhood are dead or in jail. I'm numb to those phone calls now, because I've pushed that pain deep down. My first deployment I controlled 120 plus planes in OIR for 4 hours by myself, didn't break a sweat. But my upbringing wouldn't allow me to show that I wanted to pop the lock and jump out. But I came across as not caring. So when you see something like that, alert the bros that some individuals operate that way. We get that label often. It's hard to see racism. We don't usually know until an ally alerts us. When you hear things about black airman, don't dismiss it. Try and understand the situation and what could have brought that about. When you see it, stomp it out. Had a black airman that had a flat top hair cut come to me and say the shirt said my hair is out of regs, I need to cut it. I do Flap Top February ever year, so he knew I would know. I told him, looks fine to me. Found a white airman, who's hair was actually out of regs rocking a flat top and went to the shirt. "Shirt, you said airman xyz had to cut his hair?" Yeah Capt, out of regs. "Cool, so what about this airman's hair cut? Same one, but actually out of regs" No, he's good to go. That's when I close the door and have a discussion with the shirt. When you see and hear stuff like that, speak up. Happens every day. To have equality, I think we need to understand that everyone has different upbringings and backgrounds. By that I mean understand who that person is, and why they approach things the way they do. What have they seen that has shaped their perception of reality. What you can learn from them and what they can learn from you. Like Dream Big said, we can learn from each other. We've made legit strides on this. We know it wouldn't be possible without you dudes helping along the way. We can continue to grow and get better.

Lol, have you seen her?

My problem started with the CMSAF’s post. His statements don’t support the data. He said his greatest fear is that a black airman will be killed by a white police officer. Someone posted an article earlier that showed a study from 2015 that shows a white police officer has the same chance of shooting a black man as a Hispanic or black officer. So why make this about race ? Can we improve poverty for the black community ? Absolutely. Are they in poverty because of racism ? A thought that your race is superior to another’s. I don’t think so. Jordan Peterson has a good talk about this and it being majority privilege. Is it something that should be addressed ? I think so. But most people are good and want to make the world a better place. But by blaming other people or races or professions with no real solutions isn’t a solution to me.

woke culture, cancel culture, safe spaces, PC culture, "speak up against racism", "no we dont like your opinion stfu about racism", "kneel before me" very confusing times. i had a great conversation with a coworker who typically posts provocative things on FB with the left leaning slant. it was amazing during our conversation how pleasant it was, even though we have different view points. i took some great points away from their perspective and i bet they would say the same. i think part of the solution is to put the toxic social media down, turn off the news, and go talk to people Americans. imagine that.

If there was injustice or systematic racism, show me and I will stand by those to fight it. The chief did nothing but stoke bad attitudes, victims, and political correctness. His statements were in extremely poor form. And there was a much better message to be sent. They missed the boat.

Let a hundred flowers bloom.

The population statement isn't false and votes are still redistributed based on census populations every 10 years. The total number is capped at 435 but states can and do lose votes as populations change. It's still based on population counts in each state. For example my home state of TN has seen a high of 12 electoral votes and a low of 10 electoral votes and right now we are at 11. We are a republic, and hopefully will remain so and not transition into a direct democracy. Also, repeal the 17th amendment! Another example: CA has grown from 13 EV in 1928 to 55 currently

Bite your tongue. The green bag will be around when intergalactic travel is commonplace.

So... Can I get them issued? Every uniform is more comfortable when it's free.

Great post. Don’t go into hiding, this is an insightful discussion. Not to mention, we can all rally around telling the shirt to fuck off with petty reg enforcement.

Its the typical reaction we see with bureaucracies, someone shits the bed, everyone wears diapers. A couple of states allowed shenanigans to happen so we decided to edit sound procedure (intended to give states power in the Senate (to appoint and to immediately recall if they failed in their duty) and the general population the power in the House). I'm surprised it got through the rigorous process to become an amendment but from 1913-1919 they ratified 3 poorly thought through amendments (XVI - income taxes, VXII - senators, and XVIII - booze). Also: someone needs to break trumps thumbs so he can't tweet

You missed the point. Why couldn’t the statement say “I’m afraid an airman will be shot by a police officer”. Why did he have to throw white vs black into the argument ? Why doesn’t he want to say the cops are 18 times more likely to be killed ? Why aren’t the real issues addressed ? Agreed with previous poster that race is easier to say versus talking about the real issues on what caused a divide. Lastly no one is sticking up for Chauvin. I think we all agree he deserves to face a trial. I think the disagreement is that Floyd was some great law abiding citizen making the world a better place Because he definitely wasn’t. Did he deserve what happened ? Absolutely not.

Zero hate here. I’m for equal opportunity. It makes us better as a military. I serve next to and with a diverse group. And we are awesome. And if anyone can show me where systematic racism or injustice lies, I will stand by them and fight it. This ain’t it.

Nsplayr can you honestly say that having this opinion and coming out publicly to speak about the racist nature of the chiefs statements won’t be met with punishment? I doubt it. Like I said, I’m afraid of loosing everything because of their desire to push the victim mentality and guilty before proven innocent mentality. It’s guilty by accusation in this politically correct culture. I’d be open to actually hearing how you think I could make these statements. No one is going to get the top 2 in trouble. What’s a random airman to do. There are no safe spaces in the fight against PC culture and victim mentality. I’m sure somehow I will get in trouble for these comments.

But the question is why does it affect people today? By and large the US isn’t a racist country. Why do people have to be their past? Why can’t they just move past it. The people who are hung up on it haven’t ever been through or are able to identify with slaves from Africa. To assert so is not intellectual honesty. Those are the discussions people are afraid to have. Why do you feel oppressed when you’re not? Why are their riots and why did they start prior to protests? Why are people so quick to make this a black vs white issue prior to everything coming out instead of a humanity issue? Nsplayr, every airman is in a leadership position. And for the chief to identify himself and his family with criminals is just flat wrong. I know no one will hold them accountable. Maybe we should be asking why not? Does it make any sense why we are going so fast down the racism path and riot path when none of that has come up? Not the opposition if he was on heavy drugs and had a heart attack? Not saying that cops in his back didn’t somehow aggravate or cause it. But who knows? Not me. Because the evidence hasn’t been presented. But that doesn’t seem to stop leadership at all levels from making poor and political statements in public. What good does it do to identify yourself with criminals just because the color of your skin. Can you at least explain that?

@Guardian, as a fellow Guard guy now I sincerely hope you're not in a leadership position in your unit given your comments on this issue. I'm not sure why this particular conversation that Gen. Goldfein and Chief Wright are having has riled you up so much, but no one is going to investigate them, no one is going to punish them, no one is going to reprimand them. They are not ashamed to be leaders and have hard, uncomfortable conversations with the men and women they lead. I'm a white guy, and talking about race and racism is an uncomfortable conversation, I get it! But my friends who are black also say the same thing. Everyone I know would rather be talking about fast cars and cold beer and flying planes and killing bad guys. That being said, we're Americans and we don't back down from a challenge, and right now our country is being challenged by our long history re: race and how that history impacts people today. The people who are speaking out against racism and about starting a conversation about race in American and in our Air Force are signing their names and showing their faces. If you truly believe our leaders have a "sick mentality" and are doing a grave disservice to the Service, I honestly think you should speak out, sign your name and show your face in the same way. The kind of John Q. Public, anonymous leaking, etc. is just not my style and I don't think any of that helps nearly as much as speaking up frankly and standing behind what you believe in.

For another POV check out this podcast episode with author Jesse Wegman discussing his book Let The People Pick The President. The quirkiness & hackishness of the Electoral College didn't used to be a partisan issue, and I'm disappointed the discussion on reforms to our system has reached the places where it's at today. Other than the obvious electoral outcome (I'm a big-D Democrat as well as a small-d democrat), I was sincerely hoping that Kerry would have eeked out Ohio in 2004 over GWB and thus become President while losing the popular vote. Had that happened, the Electoral College would have been eliminated in short order, having affected each party once for two elections in a row, 2000 and 2004. FWIW I'm a big fan of automatic voter registration, ranked choice voting, expanding the size of the House of Representative (we can build a bigger room people!) to bring the Reps. closer to the people they represent, and eliminating the Electoral College. All small-d democratic reforms that bring more power to individual citizens.

I’m super late, but I’ve been pretty happy with my Stag Arms AR-15. I gave the fixed mag a go, and the MeanLoader (https://www.meanarms.com/products/detail/ma-loader-for-ar15) hasn’t been terrible for it. Plus, I can have all of the furniture I’d like: https://www.stagarms.com/stag-15/stag-15-firearms/stag-15-rifles/stag-15-tactical-rifle-16-in/ It’s also an easy fix for a gunsmith whenever I live in another gun-friendly state to make it a full, normal AR.

Too far on the crazy axis in the hot/crazy graph.

Want to talk about institutional racism? Institutional racism is what the commanders are pushing right now. It’s sick. And Goldfein and the Chief should be held accountable and they should feel ashamed for what they are doing. They are tearing down the Air Force and instituting victim culture with a touch or racism of the reverse kind. You can just see how uneasy Goldfein is in talking about it because he perceives he has white privilege (my assumption based on observation). What keeps any one group or minority down? Pander to them, convince them they are victims, give them anything they demand under the guise of equality, diversity, and any other buzz word. That’s how any minority is kept down. And that’s what the chief is saying by identifying himself and his sons with criminals and people who were in the wrong. It’s a very liberal idea. (Not talking politics). Again. Not saying that George Floyd should have died. In fact everyone (regardless of color) should be upset with his death from a humanity perspective. Tearing the culture apart and creating divides isn’t the way to bring people together. Shame to any AF leader who says or furthers the junk that identifies minorities with criminals and aggravations and rioters. Aren’t we in the military supposed to be better than that? What happens when the first airman does something and claims racism when caught? “Chief told me that I was the target.” This is pure crazy talk. This is what starts our country down the path of self destruction. Fighting this sick mentality that leadership is pushing means likely turning yourself into a Billy Mitchell where you are taken down by the system and everything you value is taken from you and only later after death did they realize Billy Mitchell was right. So they can talk about the things they believe and hold personally but I bet if anyone stood up and challenged them they would be publicly ostracized. Another reason Goldfein is one of the worst commanders in our history and yes, I would take back the Schwartz of yesteryear in a heart beat. Has anyone publicly spoken up about how wrong this mentality is? Or is everyone to afraid of retribution? I’ll admit it. I am. Is John Q Public still a thing?

And now every commander at every level is jumping on the collective guilt, collective punishment via mandatory re-education train.

@FLEA if you hate the flight suit so much, just wear the 2-piece. The rest of us don’t have the same problems you’re experiencing.

He didn't win the majority of votes?

Space Force....damn good.

Welp, guess I'll keep my 11 month streak of not checking my guard e-mail going.

Email this afternoon from NGB today, blatantly political. Threw the current Floyd issue in with Trayvon Martin (jury found the man that killed him not guilty in case people forgot). Not only blatantly political but also threw out the standards of justice in America by assuming that all the victims he listed were actual victims. Floyd jury hasn't even been called yet, but, reading between the lines, 'the cops are obviously guilty of racism driven murder'. There is a difference between sympathy to an alleged victim's families and community and ignoring the world's best justice system in the name of .... justice.

That’s correct. The points summary reflect our completed drill weekends and annual training.

I had the same question about a point credit summary. I am AD Air Force and have never heard of it before. I talked to someone in the guard and they said I don't have one, so I think it is for Guard/Reserve folks only

Unsure. I know he worked closely with Branson at the outset but SC is such a large organization I’m guessing there were other super smart engineers that did the brunt work. His designs are legendary and I’ve heard great things about the LongEZ. Only seen one in real life and was told they all fly slightly differently due to builder differences.

I didn't know you were a cyber guy.

I hate Guard and Reserve guys. All of them. Even my friends. I hate them. Day 1 of UPT, we were in the Laughlin auditorium, sitting there to get our foot prints taken in our Blues, and each of us asking the other what we wanted to fly. "I want to fly the F-15"... I want to fly the KC-10"... ... ... ... The one Reservist in our class: "I'm going to fly the F-4". Us: "What do you mean you're 'going to fly the F-4' "? Him: "I'm a Reservist". Us: "So? What does that mean?" (note: this was before the internet, where you could find out all about the Reserves without lifting a finger) Him: My unit is at Wright-Patt. We have F-4's there, and that's what I'll fly." Us: "Wait... what?... Hey!! You KNOW what you're going to fly already?? Maj XX, can I transfer to this Reserve thing, sir??!!!!" You guys all suck... and we hate you.

Nothing to do with toughen up. America needs to do away with systemic racism. Period. Dot. Things about MLK not rioting are missing the point. Rioters are stupid, but the majority of people are peacefully protesting. White people love to dismiss the actions of racist bigots as not representative of the majority, but are quick to accuse an entire race of being guilty of something when it fits their narrative. I’m a white guy. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That SCR with a rifle length wood handguard would be pretty. I'm envisioning a free float handguard that goes all the way out to the muzzle of a 16 inch barrel, kind of like a manlicher fore end. You'd probably have to glue the wood to a fiberglass inner tube.

Not a movie, but “The Last Dance” documentary about Michael Jordan and the 90’s Bulls was great.

Everyone here is freaking out about shit you can’t control! Yes shit will be delay, you won’t graduate on time and you will miss that deadline you had to make it to xyz airline. One thing I know for sure now that I am in is that the needs of the Air Force wont change. We still need pilots. We still need manning! I see it every day where I am at. Both fighters and heavies. So relax and work on those packages. Interviews will happen maybe not right away but they will happen. I just finished interviewing a guy via Skype! So relax! Shit will be rolling! Trust me we need you!

I'm a former EF-111A EWO, I can easily envision a digital jamming system being carried by an unmanned air vehicle. In the Raven, which used something like an intel 8080 processor for most of its life, we could program the jammers to work automatically. If nothing broke all I had to do is turn on the master radiate switch, hold a banana in front of my chauffeur with one hand, while keeping an eye on the ALQ-99, an eye on the generators, an eye on the nav system, an eye on our paper chart, and an eye out the window. 😁 A jamming drone large enough to accommodate VHF/UHF jamming antennas would seem a logical idea in the modern age.

Hence I included the link. But thanks for pointing out your perception of wrongness in my statement. The link was a direct link to his statement hence I wasn’t mis representing him. And the more and more I read it, the more I think he doesn’t realize his own racist attitude, fear mongering, and over all manipulation of facts to cause even more divide and strife. All I have to go on for this man is these statements and that he has reached the position he has which don’t equal each other. For someone in so high of a position, his statements are unforgivable. To identify with criminals and people he gives an assumption of wrongly shot and then place it on the high office he has achieved and rationalize it is flat out wrong and Un-American. I hope the CSAF does the right thing and retracts his statement and takes a hard look at non judicial punishment for him. His statement is flat out wrong and causes further issues. In fact it is Sick to think that this man has sway over the susceptible young minds in the Air Force. Is this really what our service is coming to? It’s embarrassing.