Leaderboard

A couple months into my first tour my family asked what it was like..."it must be so exciting." I started to think about it and could not find the words to describe what a life drain it was. Walking into the building every morning, with every step closer you find yourself looking down, no one makes eye contact, no one says hello...you enter with the sole purpose of trying to survive and mark another calendar day off your sentence. In the beginning I was idealistic, maybe I can make a difference, then I saw how the sausage was made and the absolute selfishness, the dysfunction and the parochial decision making that defies logic and the good of the nation. It didn't take long to become jaded and salty. I watched the Navy lie and runs deal behind everyone's back to absolutely screw the Air Force AND the nation. During my second tour I watched a now sitting three star outright lie and manipulate the system to screw warfighters...AFSOC could have had all J models to replace the most deployed AC-130's and MC-130's YEARS ago AND they were already paid for, but this absolute scum bag argued AMC needed to homogenize the slick fleet at Yokota...which was doing one AEF rotation every 18 months at that point. I remember sitting across the table from him after a meeting with DEPSECDEF trying to appeal to his common sense..."these are by FAR the most deployed and used aircraft in the Air Force...63-64 year model MC-130Ps and 69 year model AC-130Hs that are flying three times the programmed hours every year and need to be replaced now...think of the young men and women we are sending out to fight in these machines. He just looked back at me with a blank stare...sickening. I have no idea how these people look themselves in the mirror. Speaking of mirrors, this was one of the best days in my career.

https://babylonbee.com/news/general-milley-is-releasing-a-revised-version-of-the-art-of-war----and-weve-got-exclusive-excerpts

Best post in this entire thread. For everyone who hasn’t done a tour in DC/Pentagon, who’s forgotten what it’s like, or who’s old and angry and wants somebodys butt, keep in mind: 1. DC is a cesspool. It is a terrible terrible unwholesome crazy 68 square miles surrounded by reality. What happens there is as much theater as truth. 2. Everything is deliberate. 3. Politics is about power. Power is about money. (In the end, everything is about money. Follow the dollars.) 4. You don’t know the full story, nor will you. 5. DC is a paradox. Not everything is newsworthy, or as bad/impactful as the news makes it. Unfortunately, when things unravel they unravel quickly, and you never know whats going to tip the scale, so pay attention to everything. My advice for anyone going there is to enjoy it as best you can, learn to swim with the sharks without chumming the water via your mistakes, then get the hell out of there as quick as you can. Because its fucking terrible. Chuck

It was a nice theory but it worked the wrong way. Our balance of trade with China was negative. Trade is at its core, the exchange of culture. The theory was if we traded enough with China would we subtly introduce free democratic values to their culture through movies, art, music, video games, etc... But China got the upper arm on trade and simultaneously became the worlds largest market and nearly the worlds largest producer. Because of this they are largely allowed to determine the quality of goods that are distributed across the globe. 30 years ago when the US held this position the quality was simply determined by supply and demand. Better goods for lower price would sell. However, as China has a controlled market, the government is allowed to alter the quality. What's extremely dangerous about this is that they have begun altering the quality to favor their own culture and are now using our own strategy against us. How many American children will grow up believing that China always had a historically documented claim to the 9 Dash line because they have an unconscious memory of it in the background of Disney's Mulan, displayed as a historic map? China seeks to slowly change the social memory of the world into one that favors Chinese superiority and hegemony. They are bitter and jaded of Chinese humiliation by westerners over the last 250 years. Its not going to be a good outcome for us.

I've shot a view VBIEDs myself. Usually the secondary is near instantaneous to the primary. Furthermore, the secondary leaves no doubt the vehicle was laden with explosives. An 8 pax van laden with explosive material makes an enormous plume compared to a tiny hellfire. I remember one clearly; we shot in a garage and when the IR camera readjusted we realized it had disintegrated half of the multistory building it was parked under. So I was skeptical from the beginning the way leadership described it. I'm also concerned for the crew. Even if the AF doesn't come after them, living with the knowledge you just murdered a good person and his 7 children would be hard to live with. Especially if it's a newer Lt and SrA.

I know a bit about this and I’ll just say that we need to stop taking target correlation for granted in the DoD. Even with all the technology in the world, there’s a reason you start the 12 step CAS process back over if you don’t pass step 8 (correlation).

The depot folks are leaving for other programs because they feel there isn’t job security in the A-10 enterprise. Industry doesn’t want to invest in programs with unpredictable longevity. My perspective is that current AF leadership is as or more supportive of the A-10 in their 4+1 construct as any in my AF career. The A-10 draws an emotional response, however, this is about the right mix of 4th, 4.5th, 5th, NGAD, etc. AF leadership has been very transparent about their future fighter construct and as far as I can tell they’re following through as advertised.

Watch them blame the crew...instead of the insane pressure to wag the dog and hit something to distract. I HIGHLY doubt this is crew error...more likely someone speeding in the PED chain because they were getting pressure form above.

I hope not. They did the best with what they had and the outcome isn’t their fault.

We’re getting to the crux of the problem: that Hog pilots would gladly accept a new CAS jet if it were superior to the Hog in every way, but acquisitions/industry is no longer able to build them one. Give them a manned jet, stealthy enough to operate around a contested FSCL, carries a GAU-8 and racks of weapons, and can take 37mm rounds on the chin and they’d hop right in it. In other words, make it an improvement in every way, which should be easily possible 40 years later. Instead, industry gave the Marines (ironically, given the author above) the F-35B, which doesn’t even have a gun. Same with why the KC-10 guys scoff at the 46. It’s a great 135 replacement, though with unnecessary fluff. But there are clear, glaring deficiencies over the KC-10 regarding fuel and cargo capacity. Had the AF bought a 777 or a A330 tanker, KC-10 guys would’ve gladly made the jump. U-2 vs RQ-4, F-15C vs EX, etc. No F-15A guy ever complained about going to the F-15C.

The question is: “where can we accept mission risk?” Can we accept a capability gap in supporting the Army in a contested tank-on-tank land battle? How likely is that scenario? What other capabilities do we sacrifice to sustain the A-10? What unique capability does the A-10 bring to the most likely scenarios that other platforms don’t? Is the A-10 so unique that only it can fight the COIN fight, considering AGR-20/GBU-49/GBU-54/Hellfire and the flying hour cost compared to, say, an A-29, which I presume can employ most “COIN weapons?” Will the defense industry support a logistics train for such a small (and becoming niche) fleet? At what cost? Does the A-10 have a role in the homeland defense mission? How does the A-10 fit into networked warfare such as JADC2? These questions are being asked about all fighters, Fourth and Fifth Gen. The exquisitely upgraded A-10 has been the world champ at fighting wars in accessible battle spaces for the past 30 years.

Whoa. I watched started watching after the timestamp you linked to. It should be mandatory watching for everyone. Even the pro-vaccine doctors are skeptical, and some seem angry about what they're discovering about the vaccine. I wish I had a transcript. The truth is finally finding a way out.

Another story. First assignment was Osan 1977, what a place for the Air Force to send a 19 year old. I wind up in this particular girls room and she puts this song on the turntable. Then proceeds to strip. Best $5 I ever spent.

If you don’t think there are bad things happening at higher levels of the DoD then we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

Chalk one up for the good guys! I post the following with a NSFW tag. Though, I have a feeling the ACTUAL lyrics were probably far more offensive. You've been warned...

I can only imagine how fast your marriage ends when you do what he did… “Honey I know you’ve put up with the moves, the single parent birthdays and holidays, packing the house alone because I needed to do the school enroute, the loss of money and self respect because you took your degree and flushed any hope of ever using it, and countless times of reminding our kids that Daddy wants to be here and they are the most important thing even if I can’t be…. And I just want you to know I pissed all that away and have no retirement plan because I wanted to make a bold public statement on social media. Love you sweetie…. What do you mean you’re leaving and never want to see me again? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Sadly that sounds like US policy too. we spend millions/maybe billion each year on cheap China crap so we can shop at the dollar store and Walmart at prices that seems too low to be true on many products. It ends up being cheaper to ship raw material to China and other asian countries for processing and assembly and then ship it back than for us to build it here?! No wonder we don't make jack shit anymore. I read recently that there is only one US facility that still makes nails. Even most of our ammo is made/assembled overseas now.

I agreed with some of the points in his first video...but he seems to be steaming full-speed into Crazytown with each new post.

When I was a Captain someone pointed out to me "the game" and I finally realized how it all works. That is, as mentioned above, money is power and everything is money. If you want to be a General in the AF, you need to be getting good at money. That's really all there is to it. Think back to EVERY single GO you've ever heard speak. They will all talk to you about how important and critical their mission is, how it is changing war fighting and guaranteeing 21st century security for the US. Almost EVERY SINGLE speech ends with "but to do this guys we need more money" or "more people" or "more resources." Their entire function is to lobby their service to gain more political power to spend. If you doubt me, think back to you FIRST week in your weapon system. At the FTU, generally a whole academic plan is built around the history and legacy of your platform. Then it goes into the 21st century warfighting strategy with it. At the base, we expect every CGO to be an advocate for their weapon system. This is what jaded me. It doesn't matter if the system is useful or not, to be a good officer you need to advocate it. Everything needs to be a priority because if its not a priority, it wont get money.

The Aussies like Japan, SK and anyone else there with the means and desire to not have a Chinese boot in your ass one day need to go ahead a nuke up. Yeah the first years will be scary but no more than now, we’re too comprised by short sighted interests who would and do turn a blind eye to their aggression and atrocities now, I don’t think it’s a sure bet we would come in a timely manner. Have your own gun and a good police department in your neighborhood, with both your own deterrent and a larger force to call on your chances of not being turned into a puppet state or being cowed increase dramatically. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would prefer you to get off this board and take a short walk off of a tall building.

Presidents allow for (and order) the bombing of random people all through history…civilians as well. Other than the number of people dying, what’s the difference? Is there a number of people dying where it changes from a lawful order to war crime? Have any of the bombings done by the US in our history been a war crime? Why even have nukes if using them would be a war crime?

The level of Chinese meddling in other societies and even UN processes, all for bolstering their Nationalism, should frighten everyone. Imagine you applying for a grant to the UN for a music scholarship, and then be turned down because you said "Taiwan." But changing that to Taiwan Province of China is okay, and you're magically approved. China looks at every little thing which comes before the UN, they seek every avenue to further their influence and stature. Conversely, every bit of US nationalism is assailed by the woke crowd. So tiring.

Damn, brother. So sorry to hear this. I don't have much humor for you. I was lacing my boots for an afternoon low-level formation airdrop as an Lt when my pregnant wife called me in to see the TV. I fought back tears after I saw the second plane hit and the towers fall. 20 years went by. Almost the entire middle of my life. Then, I watched the chaos at Kabul as we left. Not to make this about me, but I understand what your friend may have been feeling. It took a lot of mental and emotional effort to remain stoic in the midst of what I was experiencing. Depending on what his individual circumstances may have been, he may have had a more difficult time wrestling with the thoughts of "What was it all for?, Why did something I believed in so much in, seem to fail so badly? What about the people I knew that were wrecked by that place? Why is my country abandoning so many other things I thought I was fighting for? Was I wrong about everything?" How do we prevent someone from having to ask those sorts of questions? Maybe begin here at home. What can we do to fix this foundation, this society, so that none of our future military members ever have and doubts or second thoughts about what they're fighting for. The military needs civilians to fight just as hard back here. There is a different type of war still going on, and I don't think it's hopeless. Go make sure this country is the one you want it to be, not the one he thought it might be becoming. Again, very sorry for the loss of your friend.