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justifying positions based on cherry-picked religious positions...this is my surprised face.

Retire, give up the benefit. If you are asking how to retire and keep the benefit. You are S.O.L.

The blame lies with several misunderstandings. You cannot “regime change” for a population unless they already really want to or you plan on never leaving. If they’re dead set against it - or even just indifferent - plan to be there for 50+ years like Germany, Japan, and Korea. And maybe Iraq, who knows. If you don’t want to be somewhere for 50 years, or you don’t think that successive political administrations will have the stomach to stay, either don’t start a war or accomplish your objectives quickly with violence and let the locals decide what to do with their loser leader. “We need to get out because we’ve been there too long” isn’t correct whatsoever. That’s was poor leadership from our politicians, including Trump.

As humans we always want what we want (how profound, right?)…that being said, why are people always trying to get out of their commitments? No one was forced into accepting the terms that were offered. And this is from someone who very much is looking forward to becoming a mister.

I’ve never heard of anyone looking at aerobatic time as anything other than “oh that’s cool”. It might help you personally as a pilot and if two identical people with exactly the same personality (guard and reserve only) and one has aerobatic time then sure. Active duty only cares about hours up to 201. Anything else needs to show in certifications or community involvement then yes. But I’m general your best chance is through guard/reserve for people who would request a waiver for you after being hired. Active duty only cares once you have wings generally speaking.

Data point of 1: when I went to NAMI to do my initial flight physical with the Navy as an AF student pilot at Whiting Field, I was told by the flight doc "Unfortunately, your career as a naval aviator ends here because you don't meet Navy vision standards. Fortunately for you, you're in the AF and they already approved your vision waiver. Have fun flying." At the time navy standard was ~20/40 vision with no waivers, vs AF's ~20/70 with waivers available. Thanks for the data. And well that sucks lol. Any idea if flight experience plays a role in waiver being granted for the AF? I'm considering enlisting at a unit I really liked if they'll take me, if I cant fly i wanna do it anyways. However I got my CFI ticket complete (300 hours so far) and I got a line on a good CFI gig. Wondering if enlisting is worth the cost of me building even more experience/getting like 50 hours of aerobatic time, or if that additional experience isnt going to make any difference anyways, so just enlist now and get it over with

It was an ADSC for me and I signed up day 1 that the transfer benefit was offered. The deal then was if you had less that 4 years to 20, the ADSC was prorated to 20 yrs of active service. But it was all online, automated, and all laid out. OP, it's an ADSC. You signed, they give you a benefit. If you file for retirement, you may get to, but probably not with the benefit. PS, I used the transfer benefits for 3x dependants and all will walk away with 0, zero, no, college debt. That's priceless. When they live at home, the housing allowance easily covers tuition for another.

Yeah, you'll need a Facebook account to watch, but it's worth it! https://www.facebook.com/b17TexasRaiders/videos/4621187134603306 Here's a screen shot...

Did anybody ever really know what it was about? After several years of flying sorties over that place & seeing very little substantive change I came to the conclusion that the only reason I, or anyone else was there was for another OPR/EPR bullet. The failure of leadership in Afghanistan lays bare what happens when an organization allows itself to fall victim to blatant and unabashed careerism. The only “accomplishments” we can claim are XXX lbs offloaded, XXX TICs supported, XXX Enemy Combatants (we hope) KIA, etc. etc. NOBODY from the four stars down ever REALLY wanted to tackle the questions of what we were doing there or what the end game was. Just do your tour, write your bullets, get your promotions, retire and let somebody else deal with the hard questions. I have no dog in the fight anymore, but as Joe Bagadonuts taxpayer (and as someone with many friends continuing to serve……..Thank You. You have a much higher bullshit threshold than I), I truly hope there is a reckoning in the military over the next decade (a la post-Vietnam) & that our future leaders can internalize our failures and codify solutions that will ensure we think a lot harder about how we expend this nation’s treasure in future endeavors.

Kirby was smart, he put the mandate in place well before anybody had radicalized behind their position one way or the other. That left only 3% by the time the government stepped in and guaranteed compromise was dead. American is in a different boat. Something like 3, 000 are on vaccinated, and they've had months of telling everybody who will listen that they're not getting the vaccine. Pride is not so easily overcome, and 3,000 Pilots have a whole hell of a lot of more leverage than 300. I'm genuinely curious as to what's going to happen, because American Airlines couldn't afford even 500 Pilots quitting, and I've flown with multiple Pilots who claim to have already submitted their retirement paperwork. These guys are in their 50s. But our CEO played the same game last year during the furlough crisis. Hardball with the government up until the last minute, and even past it. Then throw his hands up and say he did everything he could but if the government doesn't change their position, all is lost. There's a 0% chance that this administration is going to tolerate this type of turmoil, especially one that will have an effect on the market, when their approval ratings are dipping below 44%. I'm vaccinated, so I don't really have skin in the game. But this mandate stuff is bullshit. The vaccine is no longer sufficient to stop the spread, and thus any justification for mandates, questionable as they were before, are now completely invalidated. And if you're stupid enough to think that it stops here, and won't involve a whole slew of medical decisions starting with mandating boosters, I've got a bridge to sell you.

Interesting to hear the perspective from Gates. He thinks he has the credibility to throw stones, and doesn’t realize what a loser he is.

My compliments to both of you! It's nice to see some civility on here!

I wasn't trying to mock what your wife has to deal with at work. I apologize if it came off that way. I was mocking the President.

Bro I'm going to trust an arch bishop who went to seminary school 8 years and rose to influential levels of the Catholic church on moral interpretations before I trust some joe off the internet. Trust the experts man.

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-08/pope-francis-appeal-covid-19-vaccines-act-of-love.html “Thanks to God’s grace and to the work of many, we now have vaccines to protect us from Covid-19,” he said in the video released on Wednesday. He added that vaccines “bring hope to end the pandemic, but only if they are available to all and if we collaborate with one another.” Weird...I don't see anything in here about trying to opt out of the vaccine.

Afghanistan, border disaster, inflation, massive supply chain issues, gas and oil at their highest in many years, IRS planning to spy on every American's bank account, underwhelming job numbers, and a new Presidential tradition of turning your back and walking away in silence every single time you speak.

Sounds pretty similar to the vatican’s position, not a lot of countermanding happening.

At one time slavery was the law. And internment of innocent Japanese. And prohibition. And obeying the British crown. And segregation. Etc. But people resisted unjust laws and eventually the laws changed. What’s interesting here is these aren’t even laws. These are edicts that never passed the legislature. And are clearly controversial. Yet you’re in absolute glee watching peoples livelihoods wrecked as they voice dissent. You’re usually a smart dude whose posts I enjoy; don’t always agree with but I know you’ve thought it through. So as a thinking person, watching the “science” change as efficacy shrinks to months, seeing the slow leak of info about the origins which contradicts the certainty of “expert” opinions, watching flip-flop-Fauci, seeing the hypocrisy of democratic leaders who say one thing but act totally different when folks aren’t watching…. I have to ask you: do you think these posts will age well? Do you think 3 years from now your smug condescension will still seem justified?

Well west of there but we headquarters out of Wengen. Discovered the Lauterbrunnen Valley area (below) when stationed in Germany. Has changed little in the last 40 yrs unlike the rest of the world. Airline job allowed us to retire <60 and visit it often. I plan to die there.

This shit has to be spelled out? Ok then: Defense contractor profiteering aka perennial war was always the feature, not the bug. This was another win for our Neoliberal trans-national corporate masters and their political appointees (aka our civilian bosses), in so far as they were able to keep the grift going this long. Not to fear, we're pivoting our aimless ordnance expenditure to Somalia, Syria and whatever other s-hole we can cajole our way into. I'm sure we'll come up with another empire adventure (mark of declining Empires btw) soon enough. I'm sorry some of you keep having to go through the indignity of losing your religion publicly about whatever adult bedtime stories your so-called combatant commanders served you, but in my entire service I've never had any illusions about what my indentured servitude is ultimately used for. The AVF can be Faustian that way (take it up with Congress if you don't like it). Everything from our contracting/capitalization processes, congressional district meddling,/pork-barreling, REMF deployment overhead costs (the Europeans aren't innocent either, as economic beneficiaries of that grift), to the reason for the garrison locations my family ate for the first 12 years of my contract in (tactical priorities my @ss). All of it has the MIC motive as the central feature. Too reductionist for your taste? Copy, keep believing in your adult bedtime stories then, makes no difference in the end. That's why it incenses me that when adventures go sideways it's always us "POS warmongering green suiters" taking the pot shots about being educated fools for partaking in the lie, while these f%cking civilian employees (most living stateside working for weapons manufactures and coming home to their upper middle class lives) who got fat for 2 decades from the safety of their manicured suburbs are never admonished for their part in this grift, while our cohort gets shot up all to hell (Capt Nylander, RIP brother). And before I get mistaken for some conscientious objector/pacifist, I'm extremely hawkish on the CCP. If the US does not intervene in an attempted military annexation of Taiwan, ding dong the witch is dead and so is the era of American Empire. Taiwan will be our Suez Canal moment (symbolic British Empire end by historical consensus). We got 99 problems as an Empire, but life under CCP as the global hegemon doesn't inspire me wrt my progeny's life and material conditions. Digressing on that for the sake of the topic at hand. Everybody stay safe and get home soon. ETA: That picture of the Chinook is very apropos. 100% fair representation. Vietnam touched my family as well, so the symbolism is not lost on me.

Well, well, well... if it isn't the consequences of his own actions.

Maybe this one will have fewer spelling errors.