Leaderboard

There are some pretty good covid memes out there right now. And I would tell you a Covid joke right now, but I’m 99.9% sure you won’t get it.

Here's the thing I'm struggling with. I got COVID really early on in the pandemic. I think I even posted about it on here at the time. Knocked me on my ass for a few days, but I rebounded quickly, and had no lasting effects. Perks of being young (relatively) and without co-morbidities I suppose. I have natural immunity to the virus as a result. I haven't gone and taken the vaccine yet, because the data on re-infection is pretty clearly showing it doesn't happen very often, and I don't seem to be a good carrier of the virus, even with the Delta variant. However, I'm constantly being pressured to get this vaccine, because it's "better than natural immunity," even though it (admittedly rarely) has side effects, and hasn't been shown to do anything else for me other than make my antibodies last for a few months longer. Woohoo. I'm not seeing the cost/benefit as being worth it right now. That easily could change, and if the DoD says I have to... then that's fine. However, I'm being treated by the state and national rhetoric outlets as some kinds of a backwards idiot, because I'm one of the "unvaccinated." I promise I'm reading more medical journals and info than some dipshit who thinks Bill Gates is microchipping folks. I bet I'm also doing more research than the people who are chastising folks for not having the shot, because they actually believe "the science." Bottom line, the rhetoric on this stuff is fucked.

I'm just a pilot like most of the people here commenting. We all deal with risk mitigation every day, as well as policies and rules that are smart and those that are dumb and those that are political. It's nothing new. I am not a doctor but know enough about math to be statistically literate. I do like Nassim Talebs ideas on risk mitigation. Specifically "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." The vaccine might be almost 100% safe. It might have major long term side effects. There is no long term data on mRNA vaccines. There will be in the future because so many people are being vaccinated right now. A huge sampling pool will lead to some very accurate future analysis. I just have no interest in being part of that pool. As a relatively young healthy dude who has probably already had COVID I can see no real upside to getting a vaccine and a lot of downsides. The way I see it, it's little different than investing in options in the market that have a probable gain but might bankrupt you. I did the mortality math a year ago and flying a single fighter training sortie had the same mortality for me as COVID. Why is the government and the media pushing for this so hard? THAT to me is creepy as hell. edit - spelling

4 months ago if you had the shot and didn’t wear your mask then you were labeled a grandma killer, you know, because science…then a short time later, you were told you didn’t need to wear a mask because you did your duty and got the shot (because you didn’t want to kill grandma). Now if you’ve had the shot and you don’t wear your mask then you want to kill grandma…you know, because science. Keep in mind that John Kerry literally used the words “settled science” wrt global warming. And if you say “pregnant mother” (see link below) then you’re a horrible person because somehow men can now have babies. If you still think this stuff isn’t political then you’ll never see it… https://www.dailywire.com/news/university-of-california-medical-prof-apologizes-for-saying-pregnant-women

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.

I might have more respect for the decision if she hasn't gone out of her way to brand herself the GOAT just a few weeks prior to the Olympics. A little humility goes a long way.

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.

Same boat. Vaccine is not panacea and may not be for everyone, yet seems to be treated like a one size fits all operation. Truth is there is insufficient data to support that the vaccine will benefit previously infected individuals. Don’t believe me, read all of the decision memorandums written by the FDA on the Johnson vaccine, on the Modena vaccine, and Pfizer vaccine: but pipe down and follow the sCiEnceee….

Any of you guys buddies with the Tinker OG by chance…? My understanding is she either had vertigo or a mental break, either of which is debilitating. I get that despite all the “awareness” in recent years, people continue to distill mental illness down to a lack of willpower, but if she suffered that then she didn’t quit any more than Theismann when his leg snapped. If there’s any group of people able to make that distinction it probably ought to be us in the military, but maybe there’s a reason why our suicide awareness training keeps getting expanded every year. Also, I don’t get all this heartburn with the GOAT stuff. I’ll go out on a limb and say it was cooked up in the marketing department at Nike or wherever. Could she have shot it down? I guess. But according to my Google search from 14 seconds ago, she’s won the most medals in international competition in the history of the sport…so objectively and literally she is the GOAT. I mean Tom Brady could throw a hissy fit and walk out of a game this season, but that doesn’t take away what he’s already accomplished. And he probably will too. F’ing Tom Brady…

Except, when you’re a celebrity/athlete competing at the highest levels, on television…. You have rhinestones in the shape of a GOAT to self-ID as the greatest…. we do. Same as people with no kids judging parenting techniques of those with kids, or women judging the merits of circumcision when they have no penis, or men having thoughts on abortion even though they don’t carry the baby. I can go on and on. People do get to judge, criticize, and critique athletes. Or anyone, for that matter. Bottom line: is she a villain or should her mental health be minimized? No. But is she a hero, brave, and all these other things the media is praising her for - without a hint of criticism for quitting when she couldn’t perform at her peak - no. Two things can be true at once.

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

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.

No need to celebrate it… but should that guy be ostracized and labelled a quitter? I bet you have 6-9 peers, friends, associates that have quit something like a marathon, triathlon, etc. do you hold them to the same standard and call them out? The difference being the level of competition and the perceived entertainment value they provide… you’re gonna be done with this conversation in a week, they have to live with it the rest of their lives. there is reason to believe, that the fallout of failure/quitting and it’s media (including social) representation of it are leading to not a cult/cultural of “losers” but to a culture of “never gonna try it” because everyone has to live with that response if/when they get to the point of quitting… which is probably worse for our society in the long run.

While I’m sure a lot of that article is written intentionally to be provocative for the purpose of sharing and therefor add revenue… His points on the “cult of the Loser” and its toxic effect on society and culture are spot on. What next, we gonna have a book deal and movie for the guy that rang the bell 3 days into Hell Week at BUDS? Nothing worth having comes easy. We put champions on a podium for a reason, to stand above those and be awed by those who lack the skill drive and determination to be greater than the herd. That’s not something to be ashamed of, and the people suddenly pushing that narrative were probably picked last at Dodgeball and now feel like thanks to the magic of the Internet they can make that because society is toxic and not because they were the fattest slowest kid in 4th grade no matter how much gram gram told them they were special. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

None of us are Olympic level, multi-gold medal winning gymnasts with the pressure to win it all again hanging over our head, and flipping ourselves over 10, 20, 30 ft in the air, and thus can't compare this to #23 in game 6. So we don't get to judge her decisions because there's no way we can fully comprehend what the fuck she's going through. None of us are in this situation, so we don't get to say she cowarded out or had courage to withdraw. You think she did this so that medias would make her a god? Or a villain? Does anyone seriously think those were the motives?? JFC, this planet is full of a bunch of dumbasses. Out

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

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.

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.

Not remotely what I said. Side effects are very real. They are also very rare. There are actors that want you to be hesitant to get a vaccine because it furthers their goals, not yours, and certainly not ours collectively as a nation.

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.

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.

Yeah but people only understand what's 3 feet in front of their face. Biden is the president now. People are so narrative driven and stupid that I'm sure if trump won in 2020, the situation would be entirely reversed. Vaccination rates on the right would be through the roof and the left would be talking about how the process was rushed and we need to be careful putting all of our trust in these big for-profit pharmaceutical companies.

F all that… “Yeah guys perform air strikes for a foreign military with no competent representation on the ground to actually dictate the targeting cycle or call in/off air appropriate to the scenarios… Sure everything will be fine.” Do we get to just pick our own targets now? Or do we get to use the “dude had a 3rd grade education and barely spoke English, how was I supposed to know that was a school I was shooting” at a future war crimes investigation? We crushed people’s souls for doing the right thing and having stuff go bad when it was Top tier guys calling it in. No way should bubbas be flying strike lines for them without some seriously predetermined immunity for this. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No, def not toxic. I’ve been in shoes similar to you in a deployed environment. At a certain point we are appointed with executing the mission. I’d look at any of my ACs sideways if they cancelled due to WX being 300-3/4 when mins are 200-1/2. Just go out there and get er done dude. However, like you, I was sensitive about having my AC’s backs if they did make the tough call even if I disagreed with said decision. Tinker, different story. Crews were not safe to fly and got their butts chewed for ORM. Not to mention it was a training environment. That’s a huge foul on part of said OG. Let’s cultivate a climate where ACs are empowered but at the same time are willing to lean forward and get the mission done in the grey zone.

In the immediate, things will reset. The forces will start to flow back home and elsewhere. Training will uptick, missions will downtick - initially. Then the shit hits the fan. No Afghanistan means GREATLY reduced TWCF missions, and with it flying hours, seasoning, and funding dollars. AMC is in a bad spot. Commercial augmentation will also reduce, and airlift will start flying channel missions again, but not enough make good on the loss of FHP. Commercial cargo airlines will start beating Congress because USTC cuts commercial cargo flow to save the crew force (follow the money), and crews will start starving for ANY flying in about 8-12 months. And then the fun part - the FY23 budget is going to be a cut to the bone. Force reductions are coming because we can’t afford modernization, recapitalization, and people all at once. They’ll pay pilots to get out. Some wings are going to shutter. Some jets are going to the boneyard. And it’ll last for a couple years. And then the “new new new normal” will be set. Start looking at the mid-to-late 90s as the benchmark for what AMC flying will look like - just not as heavy (Balkans, ONW/OSW replaced by routine trips/deployments to Saudi/Kuwait/etc). Make your plans wisely. Unless there’s a pop up conflict, that’s what’s on the horizon. Chuck

Except this isn’t just some extra screening to ensure that the military remains apolitical or has bad actors screened out. This is a program being headed up by a partisan political appointee. THAT is the real problem with it and why it’s such a huge departure from what has been done in the past. I’m all for an apolitical military. But installing political officers that are aligned with a specific set of views and/or party to then police what they define as “extremism” is a very dangerous slope to go down.

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?