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Dude I understand this experience makes you jaded and bitter, but I have good friends who are Afghan officers, still fighting, and they will likely be executed in the next 2-3 months. Don't generalize them. Noone went to Afghanistan for 3-4 months and suddenly understands their culture and politics.

Yes but they werent waiting in the mountains. They were waiting in Pakistan. Pakistan was providing them haven, training, money and weapons for the last 20 years. We willingly allowed it because Pakistan was also providing us Intel on the where abouts of mid level Al Queda operatives (but not senior leadership). Look I'm not advocating we stay or go back. Far from it. But let's not pretend this is a fight Afghanistan can win right now. They are a fledgling state with few resources essentially up against a regional military power (Pakistan). Pakistan does not want the current government of Afghanistan in power. They do want the Taliban in power.

We will never beat the Taliban. This is a religious war to them. They don’t care or accept our American way of life, they will wait in the mountains until we decide it’s time to leave, then they will drive back into the cities and take over. We’ve lost time, individual lives, and Trillions of dollars, and we still don’t understand the enemy. Unless we plan on staying and fighting there forever, this is the reality of Afghanistan. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

No, at some point the population needs to take responsibility. A whole generation has been raised under our protection, 20 years to learn to fight and govern themselves. F-ck them. They’ll get used to Taliban rule….again.

Another case study about "breakthrough" infections of healthcare workers in Israel: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2109072?query=recirc_mostViewed_railB_article Lots of medical jargon, but you'll get the idea if you scroll down to the "Discussion". Sorry, I edited this a few times.... I'll admit, I am not a huge fan of the idea of getting a piece of metal shoved in my arm and having some "mystery" substance injected into my body. I've never been a fan of shots since I was a kid. I am not sure there are many people who actually enjoy the process. I was fishing with my kid earlier the day of my COVID shot and hooked myself right in the thumb. It was pretty deep... blood everywhere/lots of cursing involved. Pulled it out, applied pressure and kept fishing.... I honestly didn't even feel the COVID shot. I dodged the anthrax shot for as long as I could and managed to get into the AOR without it a few times (they did get me on the last rodeo, however), but I'm intelligent enough to recognize that the data is the data (which we didn't have and probably will never have for the anthrax series btw so I'm still skeptical on that one...) I know that vaccinations are essential for a healthy planet. No matter what your religious belief are, you should be able to recognize that medical research is one of the most invaluable things we have. There are actually people out there that live and breath this stuff in order to better the health of human-kind and probably have no interest in injecting some sort of locator chip into your body. Are there side effects to vaccines? Yes. There will always be. There are side effects to Advil and Tylenol (ulcers and liver failure... still want to take them for your headache?). Are the side effects rare? Yes. I'm on Day 2 since my first poke. Last night my arm felt about as sore as it would from a Tdap jab and I felt a little more tired than usual, but this morning I feel "normal". Was this vaccine made quickly? Under the circumstances, it was, but can we recognize that maybe vaccine technology has advanced to the point where it is possible to make a vaccine in less than a decade? Isn't that something we ultimately want to combat things like COVID? When will the next COVID be? This stuff seems to happen every 10-15 years. Why must the rate at which we create a vaccine turn into a government conspiracy? The propensity for anti-vax'ing isn't just associated with COVID. If you look at the flu vaccine maps, the same states that are low on COVID vaccines are notoriously low for the flu vaccine as well. I'd imagine it's the case with all vaccines. Why? Can anyone explain that one?

Here's a study done in Israel: "Initial report of decreased SARS-CoV-2 viral load after inoculation with the BNT162b2 vaccine" - The results show that infections occurring 12 d or longer after vaccination have significantly reduced viral loads at the time of testing, potentially affecting viral shedding and contagiousness as well as the severity of the disease13 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01316-7 If the vaccine does indeed reduce onward transmission 40-60%, that is significant and it's obviously a good assumption that as more people get vaccinated, the less cases we'll eventually see.

Because in their minds, Trump is worse than a terrorists. These are the types of people that are trying to steer our nation...

Change the narrative a little and it still fits what’s happening in today’s USAF.

Ehhhh, this is what happens when you make exceptions to rules. You get people who play games. Don't give one shit that his beliefs are "sincerely" held - as if it was up to a Chaplain to make that determination in the first place. Also, it's BS that M.E. countries don't have to shave to wear an O2 mask, but I do. But whatever, this is much ado about nothing. Just glad I'm not having to see this paperwork cross my desk. The military is full of arbitrary rules - those are the only ones that should be eligible for "exception." If it's safety, good order/discipline, combat, etc, you follow the rules. No exceptions. Don't like it? Go sit in Leavenworth for the rest of your commitment, your choice. Oh, and the section of the bible that deals with masking and non-masking is right underneath the one that exempts Weapons' officers from SOF...

Weird that his strongly held religious beliefs allow for wearing an oxygen mask while flying but not for a mask on the ground. Id love to see which bible passages he's using as guidance. Probably from the part of Leviticus that addresses aviation and ground duties. alternatively.. politics, not Christianity, is his religion and he's being a grandstanding asshole.

The afghanis deserve to live under the Taliban. 20 yrs of assistance from a superpower and they still can’t stand. F em

Our history dictates that we have very poor exit strategies. When another snake head pops up, here we go again. It is what it is.

I'll enjoy the schadenfreude. I'd feel a little sympathy if the AF had left the bonus at pre-COVID terms. But they didn't. They took the risk that COVID would affect the airlines longer, and offered a bonus with shit terms with less money/longer minimum commitments. They gambled and lost. So to hell with a big AF that makes it pretty clear they do not appreciate their rated force.

i would enjoy some serious schadenfreude at the AF's expense, but the national security implications are worrying.

How did he feel about going to Iraq for "WMDs"?

Sounds like he needs to wear a n-95 or a full blown respirator then.. there's plenty of data supporting the effectiveness of those masks. I wouldn't want him to have to take part in a lie about cloth masks and contradict his "sincerely held religious beliefs" by wearing a nominally effective mask type. alternatively.. again.. he's a grandstanding asshole

We only half assed it though. I don't think the Taliban can be defeated if we don't snuff the root which is the materiel support they're getting from Pakistan.

I got my first jab yesterday at my local Pharmacy. I wanted the Pfizer flavor so I shopped around for one who stocked that one. 16 hours later, I haven't grown an extra testicle yet, so I suppose it's "so-far-so-good". Slightly sore arm... no other side-effects thus far, but I hear it's the 2nd one that gets you. I found a good explanation about the COVID vaccines (cut and paste from an article): Del Rio noted that the vaccines were specifically designed to protect against severe disease and death, and that's what those big vaccine trials looked for. "Infection was never an end-point in these studies," he said. That the vaccines were later found to prevent infection, he said "was a little bit ... like the cherry on the cake." The phrasing also bothers immunologist and virologist Dr. Barney Graham, deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose lab played a key role in the development of the Moderna vaccine. Graham described it in a way that really made me visualize the vaccine's effect on your body. "The vaccines were always designed to focus against disease in the lower airways [the lungs] -- not in the upper airways [the nose and upper throat]," he explained. Think about that. According to Graham, a person becomes severely ill when the virus enters the lungs, and that is exactly where the vaccines offer up their most protective barrier. You see, the vaccines trigger the creation of immunoglobulins, which are proteins that function as antibodies. The main one generated by the vaccines is immunoglobulin G (IgG) which easily moves from the blood into the lower airways (the lungs) where it can block the virus. The level of IgG in blood needed to penetrate the tissues of the upper airways (the nose and throat) is much higher and that is why it is more difficult to block the virus from growing in the nose. "That's why we see such consistency in the efficacy against severe disease. It wasn't designed to protect the upper airways as much," he explained. It is also why Graham said scientists weren't expecting the vaccines to prevent infection as much. "We got very lucky that it did to some extent, against earlier strains," he added. And, while the Delta variant is more transmissible, meaning more infections will certainly occur overall in both the vaccinated and unvaccinated, there will be a bigger difference between the two groups when it comes to protection against severe disease compared to protection against mild or asymptomatic illness, Graham explained. That's clear from data that show the overwhelming majority of hospitalizations and deaths happen in the unvaccinated, not the vaccinated.

So Trump is too dangerous for Twitter, but a literal terrorist organization is good to go?

Those morons can't maintain a treadmill in the gym. As soon as that helo goes Code 3, it will be a static display.

Uhh...look at some of the other "news articles" on that site.

Job announcement is attached - please apply or spread the word! A21-091 Mobility Pilot_Wing Safety Officer_164AW.pdf