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I read this situation a lot like taking yourself off the flying schedule if you're not good to fly. If she wasn't in the right headspace to launch herself through the air I'd much rather have her step back so she doesn't hurt the team scores and more importantly herself. Especially when it's some kind of special-d type issue as the media is reporting. She also did so with enough notice for the team to sub in another gymnast for the final and they still ended up getting silver. Not ideal but she's definitely not a shitbag. But all the talk about her being a hero is silly too. There's nothing heroic about taking yourself off the schedule. It's just a conservative, safe decision.

I'm not certain how flippantly or seriously I'm taking my analogies, but I do know that with each passing month, this COVID thing makes my head explode, especially now that we're re-masking on base. I don't know how anyone can be contemptuous or condescending to non-vaxxers. Considering the survival rate of the actual virus for healthy people under the age of 70, and considering the track record of the science/government/media conglomeration of "experts", everyone should think long and hard about electing to get vaccinated. We can all compose a laundry list of examples in which something went very wrong with scientific "expertise", whether it be the imminent ice age of the 1970s, thalidomide, or the pitiful track record on COVID. ("Masks won't help! It's not an airborne virus! COVID won't be a big deal! The flu will be worse! There's no way it came from a lab! Yes it did! No it didn't! You should wear two masks! If you get vaccinated, you won't ever need a mask! Yes you will!" ) On and on it goes. And yes, I have been vaccinated, as has my family (and that second shot was not fun). I especially cannot understand the mindset of those who demand more lockdowns, mandatory vaccinations, and masks for elementary school kids. Everything in life is a risk/cost/benefit trade-off, and the world has gone so far off the deep end with this COVID thing that it's incomprehensible. Why not ban air travel? People die! Reduce the highway speed limit to 45! Ban swimming pools! And alcohol! And make sure your kindergartner is wearing two masks on the playground! No, wait! Ban playgrounds! Utter madness.

Meh. Add him to the long list of sell outs. And it’s not a Trump thing for me. It’s that he’s the latest in modern politics to do what’s best for him. Modern politics 101. These people don’t work for us. They work for themselves. He’s been tactful in the way he got the spotlight and he’s found a way to stay in it. Tears and all.

Depends. Is this person not getting the vaccine still wearing a mask, socially distancing, avoiding large crowds of people...? Or is this person loudly proclaiming that everything should be open, you can't ask about their vaccination status, refusing to wear a mask even in places where there's a 100% mask policy, and eagerly booking tickets for the next big event? Because from what I've seen, the people who aren't getting vaccinated also scoff every other countermeasure taken against the pandemic. If you've gotten advice from your doctor that you shouldn't get the vaccine, I don't fault you. If you're taking marching orders from some political operative that told you Biden and Fauci are out to get you...no, I don't respect that decision.

Thanks for the mind read, I guess? When I say principle, I am referring to a fundamental truth. Did you think I was talking about the guy your mom banged to keep you in regular school?

I’m less concerned about her actions and more worried and disgusted with the sudden attention to Kerri Strug and the famous “this is your moment and the world is watching to see what you’re gonna do” vault like she was a victim for doing what 99.9% of a million people faced with that choice would never have the fortitude to do, and do it in front of cameras. People have decided to project their own past failures or decisions they felt pressured into and turn it on her scenario like they know what was really going on, and it’s now a narrative of toxic coercion. Suddenly it’s ok to quit and in fact it’s “the right choice.” It’s not nuanced or a matter of last resort, just acceptable. F that… champions don’t think that way. Warriors don’t think that way. The real world outside peoples coddled suburban perspective life will absolutely crush a society that believes that kind of nonsense. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ll start by saying the COVID vaccines work, and they are clearly effective. But there is also something else going on. My sister received the J&J vaccine over 100 days ago. Within minutes, she started having a reaction. The vaccine site brushed it off. She went to the ER (more than once). They brushed it off. Over the next few days, things continued to get much, much worse. My sister, a PhD, a researcher, a published author, and an active member on international speaking circuit, now has great difficulty even walking. She’s spent months trying to get help from the medical community. All diagnostic tests have come back that she hasn’t any underlying medical conditions that would explain this. She’s mostly told “we don’t know what’s wrong with you, go away.” As soon as the medical community hears this all started happening minutes after a COVID vaccine, they don’t want to touch her with a 20 foot pole. She’s even been told “we don’t want to highlight anything that might negatively reflect on the COVID vaccine effort.” Yes, doctors actually tell her that. She’s also been told by the people giving the medical tests that she’s not the only one they have seen with problems like hers post-vaccine. Her insurance recently told her they aren’t going to cover her tests or physical therapy anymore because they think this is permanent. That was thankfully reversed, at least temporarily, after she reached out to her state insurance commissioner, with lots of data. The “in the trenches” medical community say it’s not their job to report this stuff, so she will have to do it on her own if she wants to report. Here’s the problem. She’s tried to contact the CDC to provide updates and request a medical investigation (that’s a thing they can provide for unexplainable post-vaccine reactions). The CDC has been “shady” to say the least. She’s contacted J&J to submit reports. They took her data and gave her a case number. She called back later to update. J&J said they had no record of her ever contacting them and had no case with that number. She submitted again and received a second case number. She later called back, just to see how they would respond. This time… they still had no record of her calling or no record of either case number. She did this five times and all five times, J&J said they had no record of her. She has initiated a formal investigation against J&J through the FDA. The FDA requires drug companies to self report incidents and reactions. That’s in large part how the FDA determines drug safety. It’s much like how the FAA trusts aircraft manufacturers to provide accurate data for aircraft test and development programs. How odd that J&J has conveniently “lost” 5 attempts at submitting adverse reactions. If they don’t have a report in their system, there is nothing for them to report to the FDA. If the FDA doesn’t have the data, how are they going to be able to determine drug safety? I mean it’s not like a company would ever hide data or critical information to pull a fast one over on the federal regulators. cough*Boeing*cough I’d have thought that the people on c19vaxreactions were a bunch of anti-vaxxer conspiracy nuts, except I came across that website months after my sister was dealing with the same EXACT things as the women on that site (yes, almost all the people on that site are women and I think that is noteworthy) and having the same EXACT reactions by the medical community when they try and get help. There is evidently a problem significantly greater than being reported. Unfortunately, it also seems to be actively repressed by some circles in order to not hurt COVID vaccination efforts. EDIT: while the individuals on the website highlight some valid neurological side-effects that don’t seem to be understood yet, some of the data shared on the site is a bit more suspect… such as taking VARES at face value, or relaying “I know of someone” stories rather than the first person accounts. I don’t blame the FDA here, they operate based off the data they receive so they can include proper warnings of side effects. The FDA were the ones that threw on the warning about J&J blood clotting in women a couple months back, or the recent addition of GBS for men. In both cases, J&J was adamant there was no connection, and there was lots of national pushback against the FDA that adding the warnings would hurt vaccination efforts. People were even calling the FDA irresponsible. I wish our country was in a spot where we can both encourage vaccinations, but also fully acknowledge and support those people who are struggling after having the vaccines. Instead, it’s turned into another front on the culture wars. It’s also a concerning problem when medically relevant data isn’t actually making it to the federal regulators. That’s my biggest concern here and it makes me lose faith in the process. Not in the federal regulators, but rather the process the federal regulators use to make their decisions. The FAA found out the extent of the problem after two 737 crashes, but the FAA didn’t have to deal with the same cultural turmoil that is swirling around COVID.

Agree with Pawnman: it depends. For a small number of people, vaccination doesn’t make sense for a variety of medical or other reasons. For the vast majority of us though, that’s like asking if someone’s decision to forgo looking both ways before crossing the street should be respected. Is it a personal decision? Well, I suppose it is, but if you’re hit by a car and killed you’re going to cause all kinds of problems beyond your own unnecessary death. Traffic will be snarled for hours. You have damaged someone’s vehicle and potentially injured them, etc. So I really, REALLY want you to look both ways before crossing the street & have a hard time “respecting” your personal decision not to. Some data to ponder: Roughly 35M people have contracted COVID-19 in the US so far. About 612K have died as a result of COVID-19 infection. About 340M doses of vaccine have been administered to 187M people in our country. VAERS data indicates roughly 6200 died after receiving the vaccine, however that doesn’t mean they necessarily died as a direct result of vaccination. The latest data I can find indicates that three people have died directly as a result of blood clot issues caused by the J&J vaccine. To recap: 612K dead out of 35M who contracted COVID. Three dead out of 187M vaccinated. You may dispute those numbers on the margins but that does not change the calculus here. Refusing to get the vaccine is akin to refusing to look both ways before crossing a busy street. It’s a stupid and disruptive decision.

Yes, it's a single flight with a drop in. I think it is roughly a 9 hour sortie. Night show was Rolex'd to tonight because of WX, but the SOS Tent and Acee Deucey ended up being a lot of fun. You can't go long without running into someone you know. The Oshkosh locals are great hosts.

Also…are you guys sure you’re pilots? You are a serious bunch of fu*king nerds. It’s awesome, really. We’ll at least the 6 or so of you, ~Bendy Sent from my iPad using Baseops Network mobile app

The worst part about this is she took a spot from someone who would have killed to have been in the Olympics. Going over there only to quit, especially in the team competition, is poor form.

Actually, what he said (from the article you linked) was: "Every federal government employee will be asked to attest to their vaccination status. Anyone who does not attest or is not vaccinated will be required to mask no matter where they work, test one or two times a week to see if they've acquired Covid, socially distance, and generally will not be allowed to travel for work," So the vaccine is NOT mandatory, but if you don’t get vaccinated you will still have to mask and be tested regularly, along with no work travel/TDYs. Which is already how some bases were operating before this statement was made.

Some of you guys take analogies way too literally. Regardless, lets go with your example. Lets say it's not a busy street. Lets say it's an extremely desolate street with one vehicle going by every hour. You're still going to look both ways before crossing because it's an easy and prudent thing to do.

The VAERS data regarding post vaccine deaths isn't what's concerning people. It's the lack of data on COVID vaccine long term side effects. There are A LOT of people complaining about neural and menstrual side effects. It's even less clear if the vaccine will create more insidious effects like increasing risk factors to heart disease or cancer. If I you from COVID (because it wouldn't kill me) but I lose 2 years off my life because I died slightly earlier than expected from heart disease, than it wasn't worth getting the vaccine. Now for the record, I have the vaccine, but that is definitely the case A LOT of people are making and I totally understand it. Also for the record, my wife is one of the few thousand women reporting extreme and intense menstrual changes post vaccination. To the point that it literally incapacitates her one day a month. That's a hell of a burden to live with until menopause because you were nice enough to save someone else's life by taking an unnecessary risk in your own. Hope those people thank her for her service.

To you and Prawnman, Would you guys respect someone’s decision if they evaluated the threat to themselves, and others, and decided it was not worth the risk of getting a vaccine?

Brash? On the internets? Say it ain’t so! I don’t necessarily disagree with you man. I just think that we can just as easily get into China’s head on this one. If they think there’s even a chance that we might intervene it might be enough to deter them from acting. Enjoy your dinner…..just finished mine and am currently tipping back a couple. Cheers! 🍻

You’re just selfish…or something.

Enter FTU-Next! That’s been the poster for all of this…not just a cockpit poster anymore! Can’t find the money for a decent F-16 or C-17 model, but still…also keep using crappy Lockheed VR sims, but whatever. Progress today is better than success tomorrow. ~Bendy Sent from my iPad using Baseops Network mobile app

I'm intentionally being mildly derisive. I honestly don't really care that she took a knee, as it at least appears to be justified. What I'd rather point at is how such an act would be viewed by the PTB if Michael Jordan did it in game 6 after a poor quarter. Or if Pat Mahomes had done it after throwing an interception in the first quarter of the super bowl. Does anyone honestly think there would be a mass movement coalescing around those individual's decision to "take care of themselves" and throw in the towel? Of course not. Neither of those athletes (and most others at their level) would be given that benefit of the doubt. The would be blasted on ESPN the next day, perhaps rightfully, for not staying on the field of battle. Sports is certainly physical, but playing at any level requires a certain level of mental fortitude - overcoming that is what makes someone great - not quitting. So I just view it as one more example of coddling that is going on. We should be instilling fortitude and an attitude of "never quit." Yeah, this.

So she ORM Canx'd to take care of herself... Nobody died as a result, no mission failure with any real impact. [emoji2369]

I tell my kids all the time quitting is not an option in life…you always see through what you start, no matter how difficult, tiring, boring, whatever. But I also tell them never be afraid to ask for help. My initial reaction is she quit and that’s not acceptable, but on the other hand, maybe she had a gun in her mouth the night prior and almost pulled the trigger. I don’t know, so I should probably give her some benefit of the doubt, and hope she gets whatever help she needs, for whatever is going on in her life.

She wasn't just pre-determined she is/was. She has the most medals in international competition for any gymnast ever (male or female) on the beam, she has two floor skills named after her, and she is the first woman to win five individual all-around world championships and has not lost an individual all-around in competition in eight years.

What do you mean “US as the only additional player”? We wouldn’t militarily intervene, and wouldn’t do too much other than some minor sanctions. We’re not about ready to go to war/fire on a country in which our economy is so closely tied.

Duck, sent you a PM

Last night on TV I heard some former gymnast commentators mentioning this "twisties" thing, and it sounded to me a lot like vertigo/leans or one of the other somatogravic/somatogyral illusions. Things that to us feel very real and can be highly disorienting (even to the point of physical sickness) when we experience them. Obviously in the aviation community we take that stuff very seriously....that gave me a little different take on her decision to step down. That being said, the *real* problem is that she is being deified in the media for quitting, and that's just another indicator that culturally we are disincentivizing merit and promoting victimhood.

No, you weren’t wondering that. But, you were using the word “principle” in the wrong context. Cheers. I’ve defended Congressman as much as I’ve critiqued him. But this... Can you imagine an aircraft commander crying in the midst of performing their primary duties? During a briefing? WTF. You can’t make rational decisions when you can’t contain your emotions.

LOL, I was wondering how long it would take for The Congressman to go from hero to goat on here. I guess the only principle that matters is how covered in orange dust you can get yourself.

Now she’s pulled out of the individual competition so her olympics (and probably career) is over. To focus on her mental health. I’ve got absolutely no problem with people focusing on their mental health. I think that’s great. I’ve got a problem quitting in the middle of the biggest competition in your sport and costing your teammates. And ViperMan, she’s probably the most popular athlete on the planet during the most popular sport during the olympics. So a lot of people care. I know it’s not Trump or covid restrictions, but I appreciate your always valuable input.

The media predetermined she was the greatest gymnast of all time (GOAT). Turns out the media was wrong. Again. Just another day in the entertainment news cycle.

Yep. What this study really says is this: "Hey Air Force, if you adjust the relative weights of the selection criteria you're already using, you could do about 9% better in choosing your pilot candidates. That's a decent improvement." One thing I noticed, though, is that the model was not published, nor was the data. Both would be very interesting to play with and see. They talk a lot about how they used a decision-tree model (which tend to be more explicable). This makes it easier for the Bob's to know what's going on inside the black box.

He earned them all

Copy, what people report and what they do are very different, thanks for the anecdote. Go here if you want an individual breakdown by ethnicity and age but since you asked for a specific comparison: Black voter: 90 percent likely to have voted for Biden, 10 percent likely to have gotten the vaccine. White voter: 55 percent chance to have voted for Trump, 60 percent chance to have gotten the vaccine 18-24yo: 8 percent chance to have gotten the vaccine, 60 percent chance to have voted for biden Again, the whole point I’m trying to make here is just that claiming conservatives are vaccine deniers sure does seem odd unless now conservatives suddenly make up most of the under 30 population https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-demographic

Alright I keep seeing statements like this claiming that the left is all vax’d up and good to go while the right is just refusing. A 30 second look at vaccine demographics shows that the young and minorities have much lower vax take rates across the country, and quite frankly it doesn’t take a political scientist to know which political leaning those demographics have. So unless I’m missing something based on demographics alone the argument that support of Biden or liberal policies correlates to getting a vaccine is flawed at best based on data alone. Standing by for remediation

Their f-16 pilots are pretty good and focus on fairly complex air-to-air tactics. The line guys, at least, will have their fangs out. Don’t know about the politicians …. (taught in their f-16 weapons school at luke for a bit)

Just because Biden is a bad public speaker doesn't make Trump a good one. Two things can be true at the same time. Pooter's right...the GOP will have much better luck with a more sane candidate who is less divisive.

You read the article? I couldn't get past the picture.

Masks for all my friends in my area… this is getting ridiculous.