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Dude, I’m sorry, but your whole post is evidence that your entire justification for the silencing of legitimate discussion of COVID origins is based on your own personal views on Trump. You couldn’t even help yourself. Sadly the entire media, tech, and to some extent Democrat complex felt the same way. Not a single person in here was complaining that Trump wasn’t taken seriously, or even defending him. The problem is that rational discussion was silenced due to a hatred of Trump; so much so that not even common sense minded, middle of the road individuals could mention the possibility of a lab leak without risking being canceled, banned, called a racist, etc… Just re-read your post man. You even included “Xenaphobic” like you’re still reading from sort of April 2020 playbook.

I’ve been retired almost 3 months and I received a text, a phone call, and an email telling me it was a holiday. Time for them to get me off the notification lists. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

The point is that CNN/NBC/ABC/CBS/NYT/WaPo and their pundits are all taken as "legitimate" news sources; no one is confused or doubts that Tucker Carlson provides "news with perspective" or that he happens to have the #1 rated show. Juxtapose this with the fact that most people take Jim Acosta, Jeffery Toobin, Don Lemon, Briana Keilar, George Stephanopolous, Yamiche Alcindor, Brian Stelter, and the rest of the bunch as un-biased, and what's more, they wear the equivalent of "blue check marks" in the news business - they are considered un-opinionated and non-political. How do I know this? No one openly scoffs them. People do openly scoff Tucker. It is the sum total of the above phalanx that has a far, far greater effect on what the nation is aware of and thus who gets to determine the framing of issues in the country than does the Tucker gadfly (and hence the fact that he as an individual happens to have a larger audience is irrelevant).

Been a year since we lost Kage. I didn't chime in last June due to being directly involved in the search operations and felt it wasn't right to talk about it then. That said, it was a long day for all involved with some really terrible weather down low. My aircrew and STS PJs performed admirably and we had some great support from some UK standby support vessels from the oil industry. Unlike the AIB mentioned, American aircrews found him, not the Royal Navy (they were not even there, so not a dig on them). I am glad we were able to help give closure to his wife, family, and squadron mates. To Kage, Nickle on the grass.

I’m pretty sure it’s mostly the patches. The wing king didn’t ban faip flags. Just made them a Friday thing instead of every day. Idk why it’s a big deal, back in my UPT stud days at DLF nobody could wear pen tabs and faips could only wear faip mafia patches on Friday. Why or when it turned into an every day thing I’m not sure. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you reject continuation your existing ADSCs don't matter anymore though there may be consequences for GI bill transfer and others potentially. If you accept continuation then you are still on the hook for any ADSCs up to the expiration of your continuation. Once you run out of ADSCs then continuation doesn't force you to stay in

'Member those times when Trump's son was found to be a crack addict? Denied fathering a child from a one night stand with a stripper? Cheated on his wife with his brother's wife? Popped positive on DAY ONE of his US Navy career? Sure am glad he didn't use racist language regarding blacks and Asians in leaked e-mails that barely have gotten any coverage. His multi-millions came from...somewhere. His ties to the CCP can be discussed later, I guess.

don't forget points-only Cat-E for the real min run warrior.

Thanks 14N. I’m prior-E and over 20 years. I never played the game and ready to accept my fate

I agree that it is head scratching to not get selected after an MLR has already boarded your records. Last year (at least for my board), every single DP was selected for promotion. I do wish we would get a better explanation of the thought process behind scoring records than, “Well, sometimes it happens.”

I mis-typed in my frustration - "IPZ" should read "APZ".

Me as well. WTF is the point of the board being directed, "You shall not consider # of APZ looks or Year Group....and here's a DP, Airman - congrats" then a big "GFY' from the board. Seriously?! Also looking fwd to forgetting about this downward spiral of a career choice.

June 19th 1865 only relates to Galveston and Texas specifically. Most slaves were freed as the Union Army advanced at various dates. In fact the last slaves weren't officially free until December of 1865 since the Union states of Kentucky and Delaware did not outlaw it during the war. I think I agree with Congressman Roy. "Juneteenth should be commemorated as the expression of the realization of the end of slavery in the United States - and I commend those who worked for its passage," Roy said. "I could not vote for this bill, however, because the holiday should not be called 'Juneteenth National Independence Day' but rather, ‘Juneteenth National Emancipation [or Freedom or otherwise] Day.’"

Well, you missed my point. The point is not that what the President says doesn't matter. Remember, GWB had numerous detractors (including me when I was less than a 2nd Lt); Clinton was impeached for lies about BJs; Obama lost a democratic majority extremely rapidly. So you're right, all those issues (and the lies told around them) matter, and in each of those cases there was vigorous and spirited debate that took place around them. What is novel about the lab-leak theory, and what makes it stand apart from those you listed, is the concerted, direct, and coordinated effort by the media establishment to dismiss the theory outright - without evidence - because it was supported by Trump. There was no debate. That's the point.

Exactly. We have the first amendment because the first thing authoritarians do with discourse they don't like is deem it "misinformation." Yet even now as the same players who fought *hard* to silence anyone who voiced the lab-leak theory admit there is something valid there, they are curiously silent on the idea that silencing voices you believe to be incorrect was a bad idea. I can't wait for the same awkward shuffling and changing of subject over global warming. An entire industry of "experts" addicted to government grants told us the world would be literally doomed if we didn't follow their edicts within a few years, and for decades their models and predictions failed while the theory adapted to the very data that disproved it. You should trust experts for an explanation of what something *is* But there is no such thing as an expert on what you (we) should *do*

The silencing of discourse is what hurts productive discourse.

Your fallacy here is that Trump was the original suppositor of the lab leak theory. He was not. If your measure for believing something is your political opposition to someone who repeats it, your filter is broken. Grown ups in media, politics, and science should be able to think about something even though someone they despise said it. And I'm tired of people (you, sure, but lots and lots of people) saying that the problem with Trump is that he lied all the time. No. The problem is that he was a bitter narcissist. He treated people around him poorly. He was ill informed on things he should have known. Trump did not lie more than the rest of the politicians. To say so is to demonstrate an almost unfathomable ignorance or bias... Or both. You probably can't even come up with a Trump lie that was unique to him as a president. Lying is not their job, it's just how they get it.

That is of course, after "they" tell him what progress he wants. We're getting a good preview of the idiocy that will be.

Are you F’ing kidding. The media claims to be the arbitration element of governance but has basically given itself a pass on what they were doing a year ago. This is there “we don’t have to apologize even though it was deliberate” message https://apple.news/AQ28_k7_pR46x8Kzjf89QOw They didn’t care what or where this thing came from, just in preventing Trump from shifting the focus of all the negative out of it. It had nothing to do with the validity of intelligence (which hadn’t changed since some of us started reading the lab theory stuff all over SIPR around April of last year). The media had more than just Trump to look at and confirm of this theory had legs. All those anonymous sources for every other story apparently didn’t exist on this one subject. It’s absolute proof they were in the bag for a particular side and came out and exercised every form of censorship and de-platforming anybody that didn’t tow the line. Meanwhile now it’s such a possibility Jon Stewart is free to joke about it on late night TV and it’s a god damned comedy trope. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

In the last few days under the Biden/Harris Administration and a Democrat-controlled legislative branch: - a federal judge ruled Biden's cash for only farmers of color is unconstitutional. Something about any race being singled out for special treatment or something... - another federal judge struck down the Biden EO stopping the development of already sold gas/oil leases on federal lands. Something about contracts being honored or something... - President Biden was corrected, publicly, several times by the Prime Minister of the UK over names of various G7 guests and topics. Guess the picture of the First Lady "prepping for the G7" should've been taken seriously and had her answer instead of Jello Pudding Pop guy... - President Biden said "Libya" instead of "Syria" three separate times, despite being, gently corrected after the first gaffe, in discussions about Syria at the G7 summit. - President Biden nodded directly and affirmatively when asked by a reporter if he trusted Putin prior to the on-going US/Russia meeting. The White House Press Office issued a correction, "The POTUS wasn't answering that or any other specific question when he nodded." - Inflation is equaling that of the late 1970s. Good and hard. I hope those that voted for this current debacle get it thusly.

These problems are complex without perfect solutions right now. I'm glad smart people are working on them. Hopefully what everyone at all levels (to include Congressional) starts to realize is that there isn't enough capacity in any fleet. We are ready to start strapping fires capability on to airlift platforms, who knows, maybe we can sling some under the wings of tankers and big wing ISR after that. Because this will help solve the capacity problem inherent in the CAF world. But then we run in to the loss of airlift capacity available to the Joint force which has a follow on effect of affecting logistics capacity to enable Joint fires. Some of us who are weary about the idea of dedicating airlift (especially strat airlift like a C-17) to fires missions is because we've sat in too many discussions where when operating at 100% efficiency, we are still only able to present 50% (+/- 10%) of required airlift to the JFACC. And so lots of things are already cut and delayed which would enable maneuvers and fires. In theater level exercises this is always hand-waived with magic fairy dust, "Well, white cell has allowed us to move those pieces where we need them to be so we can move towards the next objective." Sometimes I fear that our leaders who grew up in that world have actually learned that there is indeed infinite airlift and air refueling capacity. It would be nice to return to a world where we have 550 C-130s, 200 C-5s, 400 C-17s, and the CRAF available. The ever increasing march towards efficiency and minimizing excess peacetime capacity has left us all hoping to rob Peter to pay Paul. But then we walk in to the room with the Army and they object because it doesn't work with their scheme of maneuver. Luckily this is all exercise and design problems right now.

No, they just can’t wear faip flags every day like a bunch of dorks.

I mean, they added a loadmaster check in the C-17 before landing checklist that is literally there to ensure the pilots put the gear down, so he's also busy making sure we don't land with the gear up. Again...

Ok I’m on board now. JASSM shooters that can launch pre-planned salvos from a 3k’ dirt runway.

Different IMA billets have different “minimums”. Some have higher minimum IDT amounts (48 vs 24 is typical). Two IDTs would make up an 8 hour day so it sort of works out to 24 vs 12 “days” of IDTs. You can very much work only half days, or work an afternoon on day 1 of a string of IDTs and a morning on day X to allow for a commute in and out. There’s officially zero travel pay for IDTs, but there’s also an annual critical AFSCs list that allows for some travel pay with your IDTs. Otherwise you’re on your own. Getting paid, for either the travel pay or the IDT itself, is typical AF incompetence. Archaic, non-functioning systems supported by lazy, brain-dead civilians/enlisted folks. Yet I’m supposed to believe we’re gonna actually go to war with the near-peer bogeyman… but I digress. The 14 days of Annual Tour is sort of set up to be: commute out day 1, work days 2-13, commute home day 14. There are ways to split up the AT, and/or combine it with IDTs. AT is 1/30th AD pay/benefits/etc more or less. Travel is always paid for AT. Doesn’t mean the archaic systems are gonna get you paid on time, though. I’d rather telecommute and never step foot on a mil installation again. A lot of this stuff is unit dependent as to what they expect and how flexible they are. There are certainly MPA opportunities if you want to exceed your AT/IDTs. Some people volunteer for those Korea AOC exercises or COCOM duty officer shift work things in addition to their IMA gig… I have no idea if those are good deals or not. Probably not during this COVID insanity. Did I mention the best part of being an IMA- never deploying again?

One of the main barriers I see when people debate airlift fires is everyone hears a few snippets of narrative and fills in all the rest with their preconceived notions of how it’s going to work (or not work). Understandably, most of those preconceived notions are based on their individual backgrounds, but “traditional” isn’t how this is supposed to play out. If C-17s were going to employ JASSMs for targets sets the way a B-1 or Strike Eagle does it, sure, that’s not going to work great. This is not a one-for-one swap for CAF assets or to go after target sets the CAF will always be best suited for. There’s no intent for replacement here. For the CAF dudes who don’t understand what’s involved in airdrop execution, airdrop really isn’t all that different from going to a LAR. Yes, MAF guys know how to make a ToT and release on parameters for a given thing. When MAF airdrop guys are saying there isn’t a lot of extra training involved, that’s what they mean. And in this regard, they are right. This system is designed for them to operate like they are dropping a normal heavy equipment platform. For the front-end crew purposes, it should be fairly transparent. The platform then does the extra work once released. Yes, pre-mission planning JASSM and supporting JASSM systems in-flight are separate topics with separate solution sets. That’s not what people are talking about when they say there isn’t a lot of extra training. I’d prefer to say away from that discussion in this forum. This isn’t also just about JASSM itself. If this works for JASSM, this will probably work for other things that we have now, or we are getting in the future. Many of those are compelling when you can employ en masse. Also, not everything goes boom. Finally, what we have today isn’t the same stuff we’re stuck with 10-15 years from now. You needed a fabric covered plane with a bullet deflector on the prop before you could get interrupter gear to fire between the prop, then on to all-metal .50 cal firing beasts. The first deployed capability doesn’t mean that’s where development ends. But you’ve got to start somewhere. There’s some interesting second and third order effects: Red knows where we are going to operate our fighters and bombers. Now, look at the potential operating locations of austere capable airlift. CAF dudes, do you want all of Red’s hate directed at you, or would you rather Red having to trying and figure out who else is going to give them problems? How many of our Allies and Partners have a robust bomber force, able to operate at range without AR and with significant payload capacity? Zero. Ok, now how many of them have airdrop capable airlift? Probably dozens. Again, this isn’t just about JASSM. If you can throw a JASSM, you can throw something else. That something might not have to be US designed/built either. Our friends aren’t going to buying bombers or rapidly expanding their fighter force any time soon. Do you want access to effects or do you not? It’s a lot cheaper/faster to build a new type of munition than a new platform. New munitions unlock capabilities that weren’t previously available to a given platform. For some munitions out there, does it REALLY matter what platform you use if you’re going after a bridge or building? I know, people will come back with “it depends…” Point being, not every target requires the systems in a CAF asset to kill/degrade that thing. I’d argue if you’re sending the CAF after those, you’re squandering valuable assets when you have other options. We’re not able to have the billons needed to buy and sustain a temporary surge fleet of traditional munitions slingers. Even if we did, I’m sure Red wants us to keep on doing what we’re good at today. They have been spending the last few decades learning how we operate and I think they would prefer us doing “more of the same.”

I never said Trump admin doesn't get credit for vaccine rollout, Afghan policy, and stimulus bill. I don't see what's wrong with saying it's a plus the current admin is continuing to accomplish these and also get credit for what they've done so far. Why? I wasn't and can elaborate if you want to actually discuss without insulting and going off on a tangent about the media. Definitely not. When did I say that? Not sure why many of you here are jittery to attack an argument I'm not making because I'm not in your ideological tribe. Probably easier to admit Presidents don't have the power to affect the economy that much (and shouldn't), but sure if you want to make that argument and be consistent.

Put me down for 4 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It was a grainy photo from a powerpoint briefing. I didn't see a date, but the data was readable. Appreciate you confirming, even though the person providing it was solid. I also heard not a single 11R took the "bonus"... go figure. It will show in 6 months. Note: The etymology of the word "Bonus" comes from ancient Greek. The verb is "Boner" and means "to bone". The "us" ending (as in "Bonus") is the third person plural of the verb "Boner". Ergo, "Bonus" means "to bone us" or "we get boned", in the American vernacular. (now that I ponder it, I think it is Aramaic, not Greek).

You're missing the point. I would venture to guess that most of us are well aware of the 2/10 meme. I don't think anyone was implying that she was unattractive. We get the joke. When the posts were made of a woman holding a phallic object (ref the "gummy" comments) and "would not bang", the conversation turned from making fun of our Strike Pig driver bro to hyper-sexualizing his soon-to-be wife. Not all women are "asking" to be ogled and treated like a piece of meat. I hope that we would make the assumption that, until proven otherwise, every woman - especially a bro's fiancé - is deserving of being treated like a lady.

Found out I was not selected. DP from the MLR as a 4x APZ. Board went against a BG(s) recommendation. It is a relief to know that I only have 24 months left in service. I am looking forward to finding an employer that actually wants me as part of the team and putting all my Air Force stuff in a box and forgetting about it. Best of luck to those still waiting to hear!

Got the call today - no go as a X APZ bubba. Not shocked (last year also not picked up even with clean record and a 2-Star DP...!). I was never shown this year's PRF - honestly didn't care at the time because it's not like there'd be a chance in hell after the non-select with that DP. BUT.... just looked at it off PRDA and guess what....ANOTHER DP from a CCMD J3. W. T. F. is going on here

Hmm we’d better have a backup plan for when the E’s go DNIF or call crew rest.

It's almost like the president of the United States, who has the highest access to intelligence reports of any human being on earth, could have....... set the story straight. but instead we got: "it's not a big deal it'll go away soon OH WAIT actually it's a huge deal and probably a Chinese bioweapon OH WAIT take this hydroxychloroquine drug and shine a flashlight up your ass OH WAIT masking is a fundamental violation of your rights." Again, for the one millionth time, of course the media is biased. Of course they hated trump. And of course they wanted to do everything in their power to trash him. But at a certain point even they are limited by the bounds of reality. If trump came out and made responsible, cogent, fact-based points based on quality intelligence he had pertaining to the origins of the virus, that would be very difficult to discount. Instead he spewed xenophobic, scientifically illiterate mixed messaging like the absolute clown that he is. He is not a serious person, so stop complaining that he wasn't taken seriously.