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Wow, apparently the real-world inspiration for Randy Marsh is also a pilot...

Finally have my timeline complete! 11 Jan 19 - Interview 18 Jan 19 - Hired 29 Jan 19 - Submitted Prescreening for MEPS/FC1 22 Feb 19 - MEPS 3 May 19 - scheduled for FC1 17 Jun 19 - FC1 8 Jul 19 - Sworn in to unit and Appointment Package completed 31 Jul 19 - FC1 completed and signed 5 Nov 19 - Appointment Package submitted to NGB 23 Dec 19 - Approved by NGB -- Training dates requested 28 Jan 20 - OTS dates assigned 31 Mar 20 - OTS 23 Jun 20 - UPT Dates assigned 30 Sept 20 - UPT Start Date Sent from my SM-N975U using Baseops Network mobile app

Appreciate the discussion on the Nordic model but my intent wasn’t to derail the thread. Rather, I wanted to present an example of how flawed the debate process is in our society as of late. Media, whether “liberal” or “conservative” tends to present extreme examples of the other side as representative of what that side is advocating. The BLM protests are a great example. Liberal media seems to focus on and present long standing deficiencies in police departments as representative of all police, all the time. Conservative media seems to want to present all protesters as a highly organized ANTIFA mob bent on systemically burning down the suburbs now that they’ve gutted downtown Seattle and Minneapolis. Of course, neither narrative is true. Media is shaping the debate based on its own interest: increasing viewership through sensationalism. We are all being played here and in the process we are losing the ability to have an effective debate and worse, losing the ability to be civil and treat each other with respect. I may lean to the liberal side of the spectrum, but I don’t see my conservative friends as the enemy. Just like me, they want this country to be In a better place. We just happen to disagree at times on how to get there.

An important aspect of the "Nordic model" that I don't often hear about, which is germane to the discussion about the U.S. healthcare system, is the massive disparity in medical technology and advancements. The U.S. accounts for 91% of the entire world's medical advances measured by patented devices, therapies, and procedures, as well as peer-reviewed research. That's the power of the profit-motive, for better or worse. For example, the average cost of bringing to market a generic drug (i.e.,Tylenol knockoff) is $500 million. The average cost of a brand new drug is $2 billion. These accounts for research, development, compliance, FDA protocols, and trials. The prices could be lowered, but there's a deleterious effect on safety in doing so. I'm not arguing one way or the other, just pointing out that with a single-payer, Nordic style system, profit motive is diminished if not removed since that system necessitates price controls. Now we could certainly move to that system, but we have to accept a lower level of progress in medical research breakthroughs. This is an area I research and I haven't seen a way around that trade-off. Maybe we're at a point where that's an acceptable policy; after all, medicine has come a long way and universal coverage could arguably be worth it. On the other hand, the medical breakthrough that enables us to repair a damaged spinal cord and reverse a patient's paralysis, which is maybe 10 years away, will now be about 40-50 years away. That's the trade-off, and it's kind of a crappy one to consider no matter which side you take. Medical research is a little expensive, doing it safely is REALLY expensive. Without a profit motive, those breakthroughs will slow; they just will.

Are you seriously comparing the military to socialism? Are you implying that military members can’t criticize the deranged narrative of Marxism because the military is socialist? You’re obviously a shoeclerk who sits at a desk all day because no one who understand the sacrifice that military members make, along with their families, would spout such new age BS. “Never had their views confronted,” you don’t know what you’re talking about. Many of us are college or masters educated individuals, you might be too who knows. To say our views aren’t confronted displays your ignorance in full force. If you are so fond of the failed experiment of socialism, I highly suggest you move to a country that espouses it, no one will stop you, I promise. Take your buddies on the street whining about capitalism and tax cuts with you. Otherwise get off your high horse and see the forest for the trees for once.

A masterpiece.

Lol