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Covid hysteria is a useful tool for big government democrats (and republicans). It got Trump out of office, it increased dependency on government programs (why work when your Covid check is > your paycheck?), it continues to serve as a distraction from the mass importation of future voters from the Southern Border and mask the negligence behind the Afg pullout. If you were a big government corrupt politician I would never want the Covid hysteria to end!

Nice 2nd post. Go home. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Which was my question 18 months ago when we decided to pause life for longer than the "two weeks to stop the spread." So we're waiting for a vaccine? What if they never make one? And if they do, what if it doesn't work? And if it does, what if the virus mutates? Seemed like shakey ground to nuke the economy on. But here we are, about to run out of government schemes to hide the effects of the past 18 months...

Holy shit dude, read the Israeli study, listen to professionals from places like John Hopkins, etc.

My boss was vax’d and got COVID few weeks ago and he definitely knew he had it. Beat him up for two days then he was good.

Whatch'er seein' there - that's something called "Humility," I'm sure of it. Or, he's filling his pants (sts).

While inflation might eat away at retirement benefits somewhat (i.e. I wouldn't be shocked if in times of crisis you see COLAs set a point lower than inflation to save money), Congress has shown itself to be incredibly responsive to groups like military retirees, social security pensioners, etc. Because these groups live in every single district and have a huge financial incentive to lobby their reps, the reps have a huge incentive to keep them happy. No Congressman wants to see his opponent next election with an ad that says he made retirees live on the street.

A career Cyberspace Operator, Colonel…but is best known for programming the vMPF ribbons display used daily by over 500,000 total force personnel. I’ll have what you are drinking! Cheers, thanks for sharing.

True. I did the math for myself it’s not exact because I don’t have.m a disability rating yet but I figure I’ll net $150 a day after they deduct my pay. But I’d do it for free so it’s not an issue.

#1: You're still in the goldilocks zone IMO. Similar to you, I started this process and took all my tests at 25, and got picked up for fighters of the street at age 26. Age is very unit dependent, some prefer young guys out of college, while others see value in someone with more life/professional experience. Through this process I've seen several people get picked up for fighters at 28, 29, and 30. Furthermore, this may vary by year as units decide to hire young one year and balance it out with an older hire the next. Overall, If you are competitive in every other way, I do not see age as something that will negatively impact you until maybe 28. That gives you a solid 2-3 years to apply/rush as hard as you can. Come interview time, you may very well be asked why you didn't start earlier or pursue an AD commission. Have a real and honest answer ready and it should be a non-issue. On that note though, why wait until spring to do your tests? Definitely give yourself 2-3 months to study, but you should want to get them done ASAP, as the last thing you want to be doing is trying to harass a recruiter to schedule you in time for the spring "batch" of boards. I made this mistake peak-COVID and wished I had started it earlier. #2: Echoing above, but this is again very unit dependent. IMO, the general rule of thumb is that local ties can always help you but the lack thereof won't necessarily hurt you. I've been at several rush events and interviews where it felt like there was only one or two guys from the opposite coast, but they were still invited out the same as the local guys. If the unit really likes you, they're not going to care where you live, as long as you can convince them that you're willing to drop everything and move there when that time comes. Sometimes though, with all other things even, they will go with a local guy as a tiebreaker. You can't control the board's selection process and there's really no way around that except to be yourself and show why you'd be the best fit for the squadron, both on paper and in person. I can only speak from my own experiences, but this is what I've found through the process thus far. Long story short, I think just about everybody in the "circuit" has had these same concerns at some point, it's only natural. Though I wouldn't let either of them prevent you from pursuing this with your full effort, and given your current situation I certainly don't think either would preclude you from getting a slot. Good luck!

That you're either an ass clown, or you listen to ass clowns.

Let’s go Brandon! T-shirts available on Amazon haha https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HSNR94V?fbclid=IwAR10FBioLI35MuligLwB83SUmVKMvQpiNeCWYg8wcGzd4RlhAKSM1sKvHog

Looks like they may filter out more peeps, but I grabbed a rental too in case I end up going. Not sure what the plan will be but I'd be down for food/drinks if you know any places.

Then why are vaccines being pushed over treatment

Delta made vaccines obsolete. Very disheartening.

I can provide some insight on the J carbon brake and AMAX data as I have been involved with both. I can also provide POCs at Lockheed for the test pilot roadshow if you want to PM me. RE: Carbon brakes. USAF completed their own testing without LM involvement, and their goals did not include assessing stopping performance differences. They were only looking at form/fit/function and mx perspective. Testing was on an E model and USAF cleared the carbon brake mod on all models. On the J, they discovered that cold brakes couldn't hold against TO power. Oops. I think a workaround has been created for that. A few other J operators completed their own testing, so I'm not sure if LM has sufficient data to update all TOLD. The primary benefit is extra brake energy capacity which would eliminate many of the brake energy limitations if implemented in in the performance manual. RE: AMAX climbout data. LM does have this data. I have been pushing to add it to our C-130J preTOLD app as a low-cost option and major benefit for operators. Unfortunately can't get into the details of those discussions, but I'm still pushing. LM owns all J aircraft data since it was originally a commercial development effort. RE: BUFF re-engining. Not involved with this, but my experience with engine upgrades (C-130J, C-5M, NP2000 props) tells me that more thrust should only be considered if current performance is thrust-limited over a large part of the envelope. More thrust drives a lot of other major changes - pylon structure, directional controls, stability margins, VMCs, etc. - and blows up the project scope. Primary benefits are fuel efficiency, digital controls, mx reduction, better access to parts/spares, etc.

That’s how the guard works - no promotion past O-5 until you’ve been selected for an O-6 job. It generally helps keep the wrong people from weaseling their way into a job simply because they “have to go somewhere for their O-6 job” like on AD.

Yeah but they (the PLAN) can give the appearance of one while the other Lines of Effort are worked. Simultaneously with my hypothetical rapidly deployed air/naval/info blockade would be coordinated actions with all the other bad kids in the classroom (NK, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Cuba, Turkey, TNCOs, VEOs, etc) and a massive Cyber / Financial attack. The strategy would be distraction in too many places to react militarily in a timely manner NK begins shelling SK islands and minor kinetic actions, fires a missile or two over Japan. Iran begins miming the Straits of Hormuz, harassing and seizing civilian vessels, gets the Houthis to launch new attacks against Yemen and KSA. Russia gets really aggressive in the Baltics and over the Baltic Sea. Venezuela and Cuba release enormous numbers of migrants with support to get them to the US borders, ditto x 10 for Turkey & Russian releasing / pushing ME & African migrants into Western Europe. TNCOs in Mexico and Central America do the same with migrants and destabilization of governments, might even get the ruling classes to abandon their countries, if we will tolerate the Taliban they might tolerate an almost overt narco-mafia state. Assist covertly VEOs for a high profile attack or two, etc.... I would also lean heavily on American businesses in China and sympathetic leftist woke politicians and entities in the US & Europe to argue for a diplomatic solution versus military action, they could also use the debt coercion they have established with their predatory lending in Belt/Road projects to quickly garner support for their position, debt forgiven for support during the crisis arguing for the position of the PRC, etc... Cyber and Disinformation Campaign, dump T-bills and give the stock market a shock, etc... All the Tom Clancy stuff is to just paralyze the OODA loop capabilities of the current regime, too much for them all at once.

Agreed. Our losses if we intervened would be staggering. There’s no appetite. If the Chinese invade, we’d sit and watch while wringing our hands, just like we did when Ukraine was invaded by Russia.

During my entire airline career I always bid Sept off and was easy to get no matter my seniority. I had no squids to consider. Best time to travel, no crowds, and cooler in Europe.

As someone who was similarly disqualified from an AF FC1 but who has held an FAA Class 1 since 2016, no, nobody in the AF cares. It makes no sense, it is frustrating as hell, but IMO the AF is looking for every reason to tell you no, whereas the FAA seems to only care if you meet the standard or not. My buddy was also permanently DQ’d by Wright Patt for a condition that they contradicted themselves on in the paperwork (no joke, they said it is not a rapid onset condition but we’re worried about sudden loss of eyesight), while a civilian ophthalmologist said he would absolutely not suffer a sudden loss of sight and should be qualified. Welcome to dealing with AF medical… I’m honestly a bit jaded, if that’s not obvious, but it’s the Air Force’s loss. They created this mess and keep turning away otherwise highly qualified people who would gladly give them another decade of service on the cockpit. I’m going to take my talents (and my FAA Class 1) and fly for somebody else. If I were in your shoes, I’d look at doing the same. The regionals are throwing six figure bonuses at people…the regionals! It’s a pilot’s market out there right now. Go find your opportunity!

USAA has been "just another insurance company" for quite a while now.

Well, for starters, the first line is nonsense. If we want to arrest the pandemic, we need to reduce the spread. Which means getting fewer people infected, so that they in turn infect fewer people. From a "spreading Covid" standpoint, it's almost better if they end up in the hospital, because then they aren't out in grocery stores, at football games, in bars and restaurants... I have no idea why the CDC is revoking PCR testing...but I do know that the same testing methodology was used before the study as during the study, so you're getting an apples-to-apples comparison. If they had used a different test, Glockenspiel would have had a long rant about how the different test methods were what threw off the results. I mean...if natural immunity is THAT good, surely there's a study somewhere that shows it?