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This kind of weak equivocal language is at the heart of the our nation's communication problem. That's like saying it's safe to assume a rapist could do more to respect the rights of the woman he's actively raping. Or that Russia could do more to recognize the sanctity of international borders and human rights. Rape is Rape. An invasion is an invasion. Stop cowardice and have the balls to call spade a spade: Our country are being invaded through our southern border by a list of nationals and organizations so long we don't even know who they are. The administration who's PRIMARY JOB and who TOOK OATHS to "support and defend..." is actively supporting and empowering the invasion. How is that anywhere close to "could do more"?

I own six homes, three are Airbnb's which gross a combined $15000 each month. I own them all outright so expenses are limited to taxes, insurance, utilities and Mx. Two of the remaining I rent long-term and combined they gross $4500 each month, they are also paid off. I do have a mortgage on my primary home but like you I am at 1.75%, I could pay it off quickly but have instead put spare cash into building a warchest of cash to purchase more properties which tend to be a solid investment when inflation is high. A quick segue, over the years our wealth manager was against me paying off properties, he obviously wanted more money in play in the market. I grew up poor and wanted to diversify, I finally had a heart to heart with him where I explained this is how I am going to do it and using my method I will always have a place to live. That strategy has obviously paid off. Currently I am holding on purchasing another property for the reasons you mentioned. I may actually go with a large piece of land (40-60 acres), this time. Listing prices are starting to fall and inventory is starting to sit, next year will likely be a good time to find some deals. The transition has been rapid. last year we made an offer on a house on the same street as one of our Airbnbs. We offered $25K over, all cash, close in 7 days with no inspection, they didn't even respond to our offer. Apparently they had 32 offers in 24 hours, one was $60K over. Oddly that house is back up for sale and has been sitting for almost two months now. I have a year's worth of cash in a money market (need to move it to short-term bonds), the Airbnbs and rentals are producing strong cash flow, as does my O-6 retirement sprinkled with some VA. I work full time and am paid way more than I am worth so my DTI is very very low. In all honesty I could simply retire right now, pay my primary residence off and live very comfortably. I continue to work because I enjoy what I do and have a connection to the programs and projects I work. As I am getting older and my mentality is slowly shifting. We ALWAYS lived below our means and invested heavily. I distinctly remember making making major and watching most of our friends buy much bigger homes. We stayed in ours and paid it off in 13 years. Now that we are secure our second goal was to make sure we were leaving a solid estate for our son. I HIGHLY suggest all do some estate planning and look at things like trusts. Many think a Will solves all your problems when in fact the typical estate with only a Will sees 30% of the estate consumed in probate. A trust is nearly automatic in transferring wealth. I have a family trust, a land trust for my primary resident (kind a newer approach in Florida), and my investment properties are in an LLC owned by the family trust. Back to the mentality shift, realizing our goals for my wife and I and our son were complete our finance guy had a heart to heart with us last year and convinced us to start enjoying some of our money (dying with a pile of money does not make you a winner.) It was absolutely mind blowing to me when I bought my wife a $100,000 BMW, but I adjusted and bought myself an even more expensive Range Rover this year. We have other cars, an RV and an airplane and still live well below our means. I plan to work another year or two then retire. My wife wants to travel, I want to sit at the airport fiddle with my airplane and bullshit with the fellas. If there was a large collapse I believe I am postured to endure. Using the 4% rule or my retirement I would be just fine, combined I am obviously better off than most. I think I let this turn into a financial flex when the intent was to say your are on course, pay cash when you can, don't carry debt and in times of high inflation, real assets are king. Without getting political inflation is going to impact the housing market and as cash dries up and rates increase real estate inventory will increase providing more opportunity to invest. Good luck devil dog.

At least Kamala says the border is secure… It blows my mind that anyone in this country could actually support this administration. What a cluster fuck every…single…day.

Damn...I want to know what your next big bets are so I can short them.

Forgive me...but really? You'd rather the thousands of fentanyl deaths, cartel human trafficking, displacement of human lives by the 10's of thousands...not to mention the collapsing economy and rising inflation that's felt by the poor FAR more than the rich. You'd prefer that over an event that happened almost 2 years ago, most of the violators being peaceful...and still being in jail now...with only one fatality of questionable circumstances...that's where your conscience draws a line? So what are your thoughts on other large crowds doing damage in public? Such as Portland? The CHAZ? George Floyd Square...with the following found on a .69 second google search: Is George Floyd Square still occupied? By August 14, 2022, seven people had been killed by gun violence at the square since Floyd's murder, and one person had died there as the result of a drug overdose. Those events, by the principle that Jan 6th is abhorrent to you...these should be exponentially worse, right? But you're more worried about Jan 6th? Am I hearing you correctly?

Unfortunately many of those dirty hands are carrying Fentanyl. Since our dear leader took over and opened the borders more illegals have flooded into the country than the population of Wyoming, Vermont, District of Columbia, Alaska and North Dakota...COMBINED! Additionally, Fentanyl deaths doubled to over 107,000 in 2021 and we are on pace to exceed that number this year. With record seizures not slowing the pace and rainbow colored Fentanyl pills aimed at our kids, it should be declared a war on our society. In 10,000 days of the Vietnam War we lost half what we lost in 2021 to Fentanyl. In 20 years of combine Iraq and Afghanistan Combat we lost 7,000 U.S. Military personnel, we are losing more than that each MONTH to Fentanyl. Our border is wide open and the sooner you and Biden stop wordsmithing, the sooner we address the danger it poses to our nation. How is the DNC no utterly embarrassed that Biden hasn't been to the border...absolutely disgraceful. I truly pray it doesn't impact your family.

I think we both know the problem. https://www.livescience.com/17780-mental-sharpness-declines-middle-age.html

$50K loss for me today.

She looked right at the camera and said the border is secure. 2 MILLION that we know of and an estimated 950,000 Getaways including 50 on the FBI terror watchlist... I guess our liberal friends on the forum simply don't care and default to Whataboutism.

With commuting likely in your future, I strongly suggest you consider FedEx. It's got one of the most commuter friendly systems in the industry. Some specifics: First, for trips that actually leave from your domicile, there are few if any "non-commutable trips". There's an AM launch and a PM launch and with very few exceptions, the inbound flights you would be jump seating on are timed to arrive for the sort to put the rubber dogshit on those outbound flights. If you're actually commuting to domicile on one of our own jump seats to an AM launch (for example) it doesn't matter where you're coming from. As long as your city is served by a FedEx flight, there will be a jump seat flight you can ride in that will match up with the outbound that's the first flight of your trip. By "match", I mean your arrival in domicile on the jump seat will be within 2-3 hours of your trip's scheduled show time. Jump seats are reservable up to 3-weeks in advance on a first come, first served basis. Once you have a reservation, it's yours. Unless you're trying to commute out of DEN, ORF or some other high density, high demand cities, getting a jump seat reserved is a non event. But, the nice thing is that a huge percentage of the trips start with a deadhead, so a jump seat reservation is unnecessary. The company buys you a ticket to city X for a certain price. If you already live in city X (best scenario) then you have no need for the ticket. You cancel the deadhead and show up for the revenue flight out of that city after getting paid all day to stay at home. If you don't want to leave your car at the airport all week, you can use some of the ticket money you didn't spend to get an uber or limo to take you to work from your house. Many trips also end with a deadhead which allows the pilot to do the same in reverse if he lives in city X. The more common scenario is that a pilot will use the deadhead money to buy a ticket from his home airport to the city from which the first revenue flight leaves. Possibly the same at the back end of the trip as well. It's very common that a pilot who can hold front and back deadhead trips (called "double deadheads") rarely sets foot in his actual domicile. This is not a unicorn scenario only for the very senior. I helped another Eagle bud get hired 18 months ago. He lives in Vegas and went to the 757 for QOL and seniority. After 6-months, he was able to avoid reserve and regularly get front deadhead trips to the west coast. Now when he goes to work, it's usually via a front-end deadhead to Vegas, Reno, Oakland or some other west coast city. He's in one of the spots in the crash pad I run in MEM and I don't think I've seen him there for more than one night in the last 9-months (aside from his recurrent month). Just like the front end, the back of trips that require you to arrive in domicile will almost always have an outbound flight back to your home city. Some of the rubber dogshit you (or someone else) brought in on the last flight of your trip has to go to your home city. After a couple hours or less of sort time, you jump on a jump seat back to your home town and call it a trip. With a little seniority, the number of commutes each month is usually a max of two. The gold standard for a domestic schedule is week-on, week-off. International flyers can reduce that commute frequency to once a month if they're willing to work a single 12-14 day trip. With the deadhead tickets and deviation options, most, if not all commutes are on a positive space ticket paid for by the company with full pay for your time spent getting to work. I realize the cargo dark side is not for everyone but make sure you're getting an accurate perspective on what it's really like and not what you assume or what someone in the pax biz has decided it is. I've done both types of flying and I can say without a doubt that the schedules at FedEx are easier and way more commuter friendly than anything I did at UAL. I'm an international junkie and I'm in a 5-star hotel in Singapore as I type this. My last duty day today was a one hour flight from Penang, Malyasia to Singapore. Tomorrow I will deviate and forgo the scheduled deadhead on UAL from here back to SFO (my current base). Instead I will take my airline of choice (AA) back to the US via Tokyo and Dallas. It's a long day but some decent food, premium booze and a lay flat bed in business class will make it tolerable. I went to work on 29 Aug on another commercial deadhead to Singapore and will be home on 13 Sep. In those 2-weeks, I flew 12 revenue flights for a total of 32.5 block hours. Aside from the deadhead duty from/to the US, my longest duty day was 8 hours. That's my month. I have the rest of the month off and if I choose to bid a schedule that starts mid-October will have more than a month off without any vacation. I have not broken through 50% in my current seat (767 Captain) and have spent most of my career at about 60% in my seats where I am now. It's not difficult to get these schedules, especially if you're willing to fly internationally and spend bigger chunks of time on the road. Or you can stay domestic and seek QOL in the junior equipment like my Vegas bud. There are pros and cons, but I'm flying with 30-year old new hires who will be 777 Captains before they hit 40 if they want. We have 5 year 767 Captains. There's something to be said for a pilot being able to spend the last 20-25 years of their career in the left seat of the top earning aircraft. Worth considering. If you want more info, let me know.

It's true that you appear to agree...that's the problem. But you're watering the severity of the problem down. If I accept your stance as 'agreement', I by default water down my own stance. I'm speaking for ONLY ME. Not "we". Not "us". Me. Myself. Specifically and exclusively. I see your statements as a bait to get me to water down my own opinions about the severity of our problems by acquiescing in order to find common ground and call it compromise. That's not how using morals and principles to find a compromise works. FIRST we need to agree on the problem, then we compromise on the solution. You're agreement compromises on the severity of the problem at it's core. Just as a doctor would be doing a patient a disservice to say "it's only cancer, don't worry about it" I refuse to accept "the administration could do more to secure our borders" as a correct identification of the problem. We can compromise on the solutions to the problem ONLY after both sides of the argument agree on what the problem is. In this case, one side is literally saying there is no problem, while in reality fentanyl is killing Americans, children are being trafficked, and lives are being destroyed. If you're wondering "so what do you want me to do about it?" To you personally I ask: Please, during the next election, do not vote for these people again. Current DNC politicians who accept and endorse extremist liberalism are clearly and directly responsible for virtually all of this. I don't think I've ever taken a party side, and I don't ever intend to, but it could not be more clear who is responsible for the absolute mess our country is in.

Sigh. You over-privileged, foolish fucking midwit. STFU with your Boomer nonsense.

While I applaud your efforts to be debt-free and/or buy additional property...have you considered refinancing the SC place to turn the equity into cash? The rates aren't as good as they were, but the flipside is that a new home loan, paid by your renters, isn't taxable income. Rental income is.

It sounds like you are well and wisely invested in real estate. Personally, I'd dig in hard to re-invest in and consolidate what you've got instead of pursuing new properties...but I'm no expert, and it sounds like you are.

This is all part of Putin's brilliant plan. We're just too stupid to understand it.

people need to go to jail. defense contracting industry is (and has been) out of control for a long time

Peter Zeihan suggested several days ago that the energy crunch in Europe is going to have substantial knock-on effects in German industry, leading to an economic contraction over the coming year(s) while they redo their grid. Added to @torqued 's citation, a possible outcome is that the Germans find themselves unprepared (unwilling?) to foot the bill for the next round of austerity.

They are Keynesians at best, modern monetary theorists at worst. Literally, they think the solution is more government spending. Never underestimate just how long stupid, prideful people will ignore the evidence of their failure. When in doubt, double down.

First the HUD now this, I think we need to put Huggy on probation.

Who’s defaulting to whataboutism? You’ve raised some no-shit valid concerns. The depletion of the SPR could be disastrous and I don’t think it’s a smart move for the country. It’s politically expedient though and that should come as a surprise to exactly nobody. As far as border security goes, I didn’t see the VP’s quote but it’s safe to assume the administration could do more to address illegal immigration & I wish they’d push for sweeping reform that included a legal path to citizenship for those already in the country as well as a legal work program for those who want to come here. We could use some more young, hearty folks who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. But I’m not arguing your more recent points here ‘cause you’re not wrong. There are a lot of things that disappoint me about Biden’s term so far. I hope he and Kamala get out of the way for better candidates in 2024 (or that the Republicans can muster somebody sane). At the same time, I’d rather be confronted with these issues vs. radicals storming the Capitol. YMMV.

I got a free motley fool account from Amex. So far the best performing recommendation I acted on has lost 17%, and it was the source of all toxic masculinity: Activision [emoji1787] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Strike while the hiring iron is hot NOW. Keep a foot in the door with a guard/reserve job as economic insurance. you’ve got the next 30 years to plan for and seniority is a huge QOL multiplier.

DC. Mask “required” for single stall bathroom.

Just one more shot.

I'm shocked!

I can't wait to see how the White House spins the latest inflation report. Last month Uncle Joe said there was "Zero Inflation in July" and "the economy is on track" Everyone knew the fundamentals showed a lag that manifest of course in August with inflation "higher than expected" at 8.3%. I predict they change the narrative to "gas prices are down .50"...FROM THEIR HIGH! The market was trying to build a new base with the interest rate hikes built in and there was even talk of lowering the next rate hike...unfortunately the "Inflation Reduction Act" and Student Loan forgiveness is DIRECTLY opposed to the Fed efforts to reduce money supply. It is almost as if they are doing this on purpose. Rocky times ahead for investors.

Archer, I believe that you only need 750 hours since you're Mil trained. Not 1500. If you and the family love the idea of where you will go for the next year or two, and the possibility of going to SAAS... and then staff and/or back to a leadership role at EDW or Pax, then you should think long and hard about staying on active duty. If you go airlines, one of the Big 6 will grab you very quickly. In any case, you need to do your homework. And talk to your buds. You don't live in a vacuum. You should know this by now: R-ATP Requirements (Military Experience): Be 21 years of age Must be either; A honorably discharged military pilot Or, provide a record showing the pilot is still currently serving in the military Or, a foreign airline transport pilot license with instrument privileges Received a rating qualifying them as a military pilot Have logged 750 hours of flight time Commuting: As someone who went to 4 high schools in 4 years, I don't have much understanding when someone says "but little Billy will be distraught if he has to change schools during 7th grade!". If little Billy drives the fight, then so be it. Enjoy your commute for the next 30 years.

Not to move away from the commander logging flight hours. Just my perspective on what’s wrong with the Air Force. Two things the mindset and expectations(or lack thereof) they build in ROTC, and the discrepancy between mistakes in MX/OPs versus Support. I’ve got people commissioning from ROTC, awaiting their EAD and almost missing their EAD/RNLTD because the NCOs at their detachment failed to update them on the EAD moving up. Only reason they made it was another one from their class went into Force Support, recognized the name and contacted the LT. No idea they were moved up by over a month. Same NCOs messed up their entire commissioning class certificates, wrong year, not full name and other issues. The NCOs both left getting decs. Cadets and newly minted LTs are continuously told to take it on the chin and “be flexible”. We’re actively teaching the next generation of leaders that it’s ok to do subpar work, in fact you’ll get rewarded for it. I don’t know if it’s a lack of motivation, a lack of seeing the bigger picture, or what. But I’ve had multiple LTs from ROTC tell me they actively recommend people NOT go to AFROTC because of the BS they’ve been put through. I was prior E when I went through ROTC, so it’s hard for me to have an unbiased opinion on what’s BS when 17 year olds were telling me about “in the real Air Force”. In my own experience I tried to go reserve pilot through AFROTC, and didn’t get put up to the board because my NCOs tried arguing I couldn’t go because of my type of scholarship. After emailing HQ, sitting on that email for two weeks, they informed me, a week after the deadline, that I could apply. When I went to the commander and Education Officer it was basically “tough shit, sorry it happened”. They proceeded to just not send applications for the next guy trying to do it. I was MX before, if I lost a screwdriver I got in exponentially more trouble than the NCOs who potentially costs two people their dream careers. I’ll never understand the discrepancy between support mistakes and subsequent admin actions versus MX mistakes and admin actions. I get the life or death scenarios involved with mistakes in MX, I’m not arguing we should be more lenient. I don’t understand how jacking someone’s pay, not out-processing, not doing your job doesn’t result in the same leve of “punishment”. Rant over Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

I’m not vouching for the accused, and I believe there is a special place in hell for child molesters…but what ever happened to innocent until proven guilty? This dude certainly looks guilty, but the allegations have yet to be substantiated.

If you are considering the airlines, and this is a serious question, then you need to lean on your squadron mates for some education / mentoring. Commuting is not an insignificant decision... and you need a lot more info than can be offered on this thread.

It's going to get a lot worse than the SPR. Just wait until the (neglected and pathetic) retirement accounts of the largest voting block start to implode under the weight of an impending recession. There is no limit to what politicians will spend to preserve their positions. And if you think that largest voting block, which leans conservative, is going to vote to cut their SS checks or their Medicare benefits, you are delusional. They will howl for the Fed to dump rates and fire up the printing press, because their government checks are inflation protected and their retirement accounts will capture the money printing.

Don’t know that I have an overall prediction at this point but the Ukrainians definitely seem to have the initiative/operational momentum. If you look at Oryx on Twitter the amount of equipment Russia has lost up north over just the last 3-4 days is pretty significant. Russia still has pretty large reserves but their manpower and morale problems, as well as logistical limitations, are starting to really show. Maybe the Russians might decide it’s time for a change in who’s in charge after this absolute abortion of a military operation. It’s going to get increasingly difficult to hide the scale of this disaster, even if the Russian military is able to stem the current Ukrainian advance. In any case I’m happy to continue to watch the Ukrainians kick the shit out of the Russian bear with the help of my tax dollars.

Or a merger where your position on the new seniority isn't what you would expect.

let me get this straight... you claim we're being taken in by the russian propaganda machine, then post a video of putin as your source?

If this is a war of economic attrition between Russia and the entirety of NATO...I feel freaking fantastic about winning that one! Fuck Putin...you can live relatively peacefully in your petrostate dictatorship for the rest of your days if you KIO with all the polonium and invading your neighbors. I sincerely wish better for the Russian people, but that's on them at the end of the day. But the minute he stepped across the border and started murdering innocent people, it becomes our business. It should have been our business in 2008 when Russia unjustly attacked Georgia and we failed on that one. As has been reiterated many times over, the relatively small amount of money being spent to help the Ukrainians defend their country and bleed out the Russian war machine has got to be the most efficient DoD money pound-for-pound spent since probably 1945.

The 122FS is expecting to have a UPT board in the spring of 2023, with squadron visits/rush events starting back up November drill 2022. These rush events involve visiting the squadron Friday/Saturday and a social event on the town Saturday afternoon. They are by invite and require a completed/qualifying application to attend. Invites will be sent out about a month out to allow time to plan travel. Requirements for a completed application are below. In addition to that please fill out the one page powerpoint document that is attached (this helps us put names to faces during visits). Submit this powerpoint as a separate document to your application. Your application should include the following items, in order, in a SINGLE PDF file: 1. Cover letter addressed to the 122FS Hiring Board stating the position you are interested in interviewing for and outlining your qualifications. 2. Printout of your AFOQT and PCSM Scores from the official website. 3. Resume to include civilian, military, and sports experience (Please make this as comprehensive as possible on a single page, it will be heavily weighted.) 4. Transcript Summary from an accredited 4-year or higher degree. 5. Minimum of 3 letters of recommendation. Address to: UPT Selection Board 6. If prior service, your last two EPR/OPRs. Redact any sensitive info like SSN. 7. A current photo and date of birth. Submit this information as well as any questions you may have to 122fspilothiring@gmail.com Good luck! Last,First,2023UPT.pptx

The last RQ-4 Global Hawk left Beale recently.

If you're referring to the Geographic Combatant Command(er), the proper acronym is GCC. COCOM references command authority, similar to TACON, ADCON, OPCON, etc... Get your shit straight.

1945 had a pretty good summation of our strategy in Ukraine and pretty much everywhere else too: Civilian leadership: Just do something, anything, I don't know just something and right now. Military: Ok What Is America's Goal for the Ukraine War? Answer: We Don't Have One - 19FortyFive The cost to the United States for all these failures has been profound – and now we’re creating a new mission without a clear objective and no identifiable end state. Where things are right now: Not to be dismissive of the Ukrainians rightful cause against aggression but our interests are involved too as we are their patron keeping them from being defeated, but it's time for this to end. Bleeding Russia to the last Ukranian is not a good idea in the long run and Europe hence a huge portion of the world's economy is getting unstable, food prices, energy prices and inflation, etc... besides I'm not convinced we are weakening Russia to the extent we think we are. No Russian presence west of the Dnieper River and cede the Donbas to the Russians. End hostilities with an armistice and an enduring US military mission in Ukraine. No formal peace, no further kinetic actions, another Korea. Best we can do.