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I am officially a has-been. My fini flight was this morning, retirement ceremony this afternoon. Bittersweet to say the least. Getting out of that jet for the last time was a bigger deal than I was expecting. It's been a good ride - 21 years in and 18.5 of the last 19 flying the Mighty-Mighty (quick MC-12 stint in AFG back in '11). I haven't been posting much, but it's about to get a lot less. Thanks to all the warriors out there; keep fighting the good fight. Now I'm one of those guys that thank you for your service. I probably won't buy you lunch though - I'm still a cheap-ass airline pilot. Do your best to keep this place following it's roots - helping people in the fight (or trying to get there). Hasta-la-bye-bye. Evil

Would like my 1:30 of watching two men ramble and talk over each other back...

Pretty sure we've found a personnelist

This next week is going to be many peoples high, and many peoples low. If you happen to be one of the latter, don’t despair. Not getting promoted doesn’t define you as a person, it is a big kick to the junk. However, dust yourself off and try to focus on what’s good about your situation, versus what could’ve been. Good luck folks.

I think one of those spears with a taser on the end from Jurassic Park might be more entertaining.

Buddy of mine was flying the Navy helo that picked up the F-35 pilot. The dude walked to the helo from his parachute and was freaking out because he thought there was no way the C-130 could've kept flying. Incredible work by the aircrew to get this thing on the ground. *Edit* ATC audio as well. Around the 2:30 mark, the C-130 pilot sounds surprisingly calm for having just lost two of his four propellers. https://www.liveatc.net/recordings.php

I just feel bad for anyone who tuned in thinking they might learn something about either candidate’s views or policies. Wallace lost control early and Biden wasn’t exactly amazing but my nine year old is capable of interrupting less than, and having a more mature conversation than Donald Trump. Trevor Noah suggested we give the next moderator a spray bottle.

That’s a pretty incredible feat of airmanship, putting a -130 on the ground that well in an asymmetric thrust situation. Hopefully the Marines give that guy some serious recognition.

How anybody who knows a wing exec looks right now. Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

The one that died of brain cancer? Yeah, Trump didn't win that one either. For clarity: Beau Biden: Army National Guard, died of brain cancer. All around good guy from what I can tell. Hunter Biden: Navy Reserve, discharged due to positive drug test, dated his brother's widow, shady ties to Ukraine.

Impressive job.

While I agree with what has been said here, that there was no clear winner, I’m not sure how you get to your conclusion about Biden. I saw a man, incredibly frustrated at the childish interruptions of a man who really pointed at zero concrete policies all throughout the debate. If I were talking with a person who wouldn’t shut up, ever, I would have been just as frustrated. Biden did stoop to his level at times, but usually when provoked. I’m no Biden apologist, I think he sucks as a politician, but he sure as heck came across as more human last night. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

So the rule sets for power and presidency are changing and I honestly think the debates, which used to be hugely important, have diminished in meaning anymore. This isn't the first election that this is true though. I remember it as far back as Obama v Mitt, the headlines coming out of the debate were about who had the most sick one-liners and ultimate burns. Like, are we discussing intellectual politics here or is this an 8-mile rap battle because I can't tell at this point. Last night, I think was a great display that nothing articulate or of any importance comes from the debate.

Did we watch the same debate? Biden looked like he was about to have a stroke the whole night. My only wish is that Trump interrupted less which would’ve highlighted Joe Biden for how troubled he is. Biden also said some nasty things during the debate but no one is interested in that, just Orange man and the Charlottesville lie being perpetuated by Biden. I can understand people’s aversion to Trump, I prefer his policies and don’t really pay attention to his personality which at the end of the day is more or less harmless tough talk. But if anyone can honestly watch Biden and believe he is capable of leading on the world stage after pissing and moaning about Trump’s personality for 4 years, then that is the height of hypocrisy.

They both did terrible, there was no winner, only losers. I’m embarrassed for my country after that shit show. As far as voters, I don’t think last night moved any voters one way or the other...they both sucked so bad that no rational person would have watched that and thought, “yeah, I’m going to switch to B” or “well I was undecided, but now I’m voting for A.” If anybody thinks one side won, then you simply are experiencing your own confirmation bias towards who you were already going to vote for anyways. No minds changed.

Second this. I am at quite the off the beaten path assignment and doubt anyone in my current chain would notify me before the public release. I would appreciate any DMs and in return I’ll upvote your posts so good you will look like a damn admin on this site. 🙂

"Muh russian collusion"

Good discussion. I'm not trying to throw spears, or defend decisions, but usually there's a rationale that doesn't always make it back to the line. We (C-17s) didn't lose our chutes because they wanted us to stay with the jet (or else why would the B-2 have election seats...) but lost them for cost savings in return for a small increase in risk. Money was saved by removing them because it meant fewer parachute riggers required (helping manning), reduced supplies/time required to maintain the chutes, reduced aircrew training requirements, and "fuel savings." We still have a couple parachutes for army JMs for airdrop, but good luck beating that LM to the parachute if everything goes downhill. Agree on increased training risk-jury is still out, and hopefully we don't see an increase in mishaps, or worse, go to war missing proficiency in a needed skillset that was deemphasized. And also agree on low manning hurting the 11F community-what's important to you guys gets lost without someone to advocate for you on the staff. But that budget squeeze is real, and retention is nowhere where it needs to be, and it doesn't look like mission requirements will reduce in the foreseeable future...

SEF guy (not working this incident) and HC-130J guy here. I agree with this assessment. Left AR pod and #1 prop likey contacted the ground during the forced landing.

I think you're confused

Your profile says you're at Charleston. Do you have cables? Do you know why? The original issue presented was a base commander making decisions at a base level, which might've contradicted "big AF"'s wants. Unknown if they made the decision to ask around before getting rid of the requirement, or if it was just missed by scrutinizing eyes beyond that location. Center the map around Tulsa and rethink whether the likelihood of events which could drive a divert to needing a cable (not a net) is worth maintaining a 100K/yr vs losing a 33+million dollar jet and buying risk at executing the seat option. Parachutes shouldn't be plan A, B, or C. (redundant engines, fuel/time, suitable fields all are limited to the pointy nose guys)

I hope the next debate literally cuts the microphone of the other guy during the “2 minutes uninterrupted” portion.

Until Trump mentioned his other son and his purported military record. Trump may not have come off well (sts), but Joe didn't have any meat (sts) in the game.

This was Joe's most brilliant re-attack of the night. Who can't sympathize with a man with a son with a drug problem? Joe's response completely took the air out of the Russian angle of attack Trump was going for and just made Trump look like a doosh for bringing it up.

Biden did what he needed to, not seem sick or weak. His answers were ok, but he didn't say anything that I thought had a good punch. But it's hard to notably punch the guy that everyone else spends all day punching. Trump needed to back off, save the "classic Trump" stuff for later. Came out of the gate way too fast. But he has no crowd, and that's his happy place. It seems like his best line of attack was the Hunter Biden stuff, but he flubbed when Joe brought up his dead kid. Should have praised then pivot, instead he just pivoted. Not sure what his plan was for the taxes fight. Either just lie it all away, or what he meant to say was "I pay millions in taxes through my business, not personal income, that's just how it works." But he didn't get that across. His climate answers were good-not-great, but firmly good. Medical was all over, but Republicans have been dropping the ball on Obamacare replacement for years. Better answer: I'm not going to bankrupt the American economy on unproven technology and theories when we can spend the money meaningfully protecting our rivers, forests, and oceans from pollution. He did get Joe to fumble a bit with the green new deal. The pandemic stuff was weak. He could have slaughtered Joe by pointing out the sheer stupidity of blaming him for the number of deaths, and keep going back to January, but instead he just kept saying how couldn't handle it. Weak. The hunter biden stuff seems to shake Joe the most, so I bet there will be more of it. You can tell Trump doesn't do well in a dynamic debate. There were some softballs he missed completely because he's so stuck on what he expected to be asked. Two examples were condemning white supremacists and committing to an orderly transition. Those are "Yes, but..." questions, and he turned them into just "but..." questions. He could have scored home runs on both of those. I don't think the first debate moved the needle.

My favorite part of the whole debate. “Oh would you shut up man” - Biden speaking to the sitting President of the US.

I posted a similar question a few weeks ago. Seems like the consensus is that it was the end of the fiscal year and boards are just not advertising as much. However, I have had similar experiences to you. I’ve reached out to a few units I was interested in. The typical response follows the same lines of 1. We won’t have a board for awhile (without a specific timeline) 2. A lot of guys aren’t retiring so we don’t need to fill as many spots. Mind you this was in both the reserve and guard squadrons but the general theme is the same...a lot of uncertainty about the future boards

10 point swing in betting markets towards Biden, we'll see how the polls react.

Happy to see this then. I have a few friends who were floored last time around when they didn't make it. Surprised everyone when it happened so hopefully these numbers will right some of the past mistakes. Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

It is higher than usual. IIRC, APZ has historically been low single-digits.

This is absolutely true, but I am genuinely curious what the Trump camp thinks. I don’t think Biden was particularly amazing by any means, but he sure as heck showed more restraint than Trump. He didn’t tell the Proud Boys to “stand by” (I’m actually giving Trump the benefit of the doubt that he misspoke, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s actually what he meant), and in general, Biden absolutely did not look like an individual with dementia. Maybe it was his performance enhancing drugs... haha. So, lousy all around, but one of these individuals is the actual, POTUS... Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Congrats...enjoy the rest of it!

Thanks for your service! Obviously it would still be nice to keep you around so you can bicker at the SNAPs, tell them how shitty it was back in your day, and yell at people to get off your lawn. Regardless, as a service, we often forget how big of a deal it is to retire, especially now, that people from your generation on; have known nothing but GWOT ops the entire time they've been in! Serious Congrats! And best fortunes in your future endeavors!

Wow! Quite possibly single engine or just a pretty hard landing. No props on #3 or #4 and #1 is pretty mangled. Refueling pod ripped off the left side. Talk about an F’d up situation. Hell of a good job safely putting her down in a field and bringing everyone back alive!

@Royal, no personal experience but there are a lot of good options for veterans outside of using GO bill. Research what Syracuse University offers through Onward2Opportunity and also the VetTec program from the VA. And also recommend asking this same question on LinkedIn.

Well... yes. Needs of the Air Force, you know.

I was a civil engineer prior to UPT. I couldn’t stand being in a cubical... even though I was probably out on the field 30% of the time, it still sucked wondering if it would be the same thing over and over again for the next 40 years. Even as part time guard helo pilot... the future did not look very appealing to me. You’ll miss the simplicity of things... or more less how black and white things are. It will never be like that in the AF or military... period. Once your in, there will always be the next test, next checkride, the next upgrade, promotion, deployments... you name it. Like the bros above said, enjoy your time now to chill, be with the fam friends hobby or w e. UPT is a long year full of long days, Sunday Scaries, and being evaluated on everything you do. There’s never enough time... and you’ll never know it all. Again, the simplicity of things is about the only thing I sometimes miss about my old engineer job. Stay motivated and keep chasing the demon! Let the rejections and the TBNT e-mails fuel your passion of achieving your goals of getting hired and finding a military home. PS, if your so impatient about making the jump now, go join the Army. The need pilots too lol Cheers Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

There's a factual story I don't hear many on the left talking about. It's the story of how the top of the FBI literally conspired against an incoming president because they didn't like him. The stuff coming out of the Durham investigation is pretty appalling. I can't stand Donald Trump, but I'll support him 10 times out of ten if the opposition feels like using the might of the federal police to destroy someone against law, procedure, and the evidence is now an acceptable practice.

When the Democratic Vp nominee Harris proclaims that the riots should continue, then I think we have our answer on which party represents the rioters and looters best.