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A little squadron souvenir earned while protecting a TF-160 MH-47 one dark night many years ago. 40MM HE impact right on the RPG launcher (and shoulder/neck area of the bad guy).

Oh you’re cooperative…. Well take all the time you need to find this stuff you were never supposed to have in a location it isn’t legal to be in that seems to keep appearing from god damned nowhere. It’s cool guys… the dudes Lawyer told me he’s good to go. It’s like they aren’t even trying to hide the blatant hypocrisy. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The top 5% of us tax payers pay almost 60% of the total taxes collected. Tax the rich is super misguided and foolish. Money gained from easy handouts departs as easy. Would rather teach people how to become rich. Generation wealth is a red herring also. “Figures from Gobankingrates show that 70% of wealthy families lose their wealth by the next generation, with 90% losing it the generation after that.” https://fortune.com/recommends/article/generational-wealth-explained/# Quit wasting time complaining about people who have figured it out and go try and learn yourself.

We don’t have to tell them to stop but we don’t have to supply and support them if we determine it’s not in our interest. Just as I think we should be concerned about the longer term of Ukraine we need to be concerned about what Russia will be after the conflict is ended. That’s not because I love the current brutal authoritarian regime of Russia but because it could get worse. If it gets to be an internal power struggle, civil war, instability… the successor to Putin could be this dude: https://news.yahoo.com/owner-wagner-mercenary-group-could-195500949.html Methinks a weakened but not delirious and crazily dangerous Russia should be our goal. I think the lesson of Iraq should give us pause about gleefully toppling and radically destabilizing authoritarian regimes, particularly ones with 7000 nukes plus a 6900 other WMD / advanced military capabilities. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bidens been lying about his accomplishments since he was a jr senator and way before Santos was a twinkle in his dads eye. Bidens been scum for 40 plus years and a great example how to lie constantly and get away with it

Hawaii and Alaska??? Hell no. California, Oregon, and Washington.... Can I get back to you on that?

Really wish we could thumbs down in this app.

Yup, the last 2 posts pretty much sum up the feelings (at least the vocal minority online) of some of the so-called deadzoners who lost their pensions and are firing up a storm against this TA. I think the other 60% of the company who was hired in the past 9 years is going to be OK with the agreement, along with a decent portion of the older guys, so it will pass overwhelmingly. I, personally, am a no voter for the sole reason that they deleted hundreds of "his/him" references in the contract and replaced them with "they/their." That's hundreds of concessions if you ask me, LOL. Kidding.

We knew that COVID targeted fat old people from what, January 2020? We knew it didn't affect kids either by the time we went into lockdown in March. We knew it spreads almost entirely indoors by April, because I remember the Florida beach controversy. Nearly everything we "learned" about COVID after the summer of 2020 involved an "expert" prediction that proved inaccurate.

Yeah, and I'm not going to say its all the same players at all the same times. Like, on that call we had Fox and CNN there and it was clear both agreed on some things and disagreed on others. But generally they were looking for the things they were in concurrence about to get emphasis and then each outlet would put their own little damper on things they disagreed about. Its strange to think of all the press against Biden in that event but remember target #2 for Taliban after Terps/ANSOF/Pilots was Journalist. Many of those journalist had VERY close relationships with these networks and those networks relied on them to get inside stories and information that would have been culturally inaccessible to them before. US Media was funding HUGE money to get female journalist OUT in anyway possible.

So to be clear.... media does collude. I know this for a fact. I was on a conference call with execs from CNN, MSNBC, FOX, WaPo, NYT, and a few others during the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021 when they shared how they were going to spin the story and what type of pressures they wanted to put on the American population and the Biden admin. In other words, about a dozen journalist were making a unilateral determination about how they felt the American public should view the event. How I got on that call.... I'm still not really sure.... I was volunteering for an NGO at the time and that's how I got the invite. It certainly wasn't my military job. If people on the call knew I was military I would have probably been instantly booted. But man.... it was the most eye opening thing for me.

Come on man! Every suspected criminal in America gets a chance to have their lawyers comb through the crime scene before the cops do (lol). Besides, even if Joey B did take a few little TS items home, he's used to doing a little jail time for all of the times he stood up for African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. He was also locked up in Africa during a visit to see Nelson Mandela. He's a tough dude. First Biden in a 1,000 years to attend college. He's from coal mining blood. He's one tough SOB. Oh yeah, and he's a compulsive liar with a crack head son, who's clearly a person kept propped up by using the Biden last name to do business deals. I wonder how much crack was smoked in the vault (Biden's garage)? Come on man, it's just a few secrets.

So, this is where you start losing people. “Cooked in a Chinese military bio weapons lab”? Uhhh, while I certainly agree that there is a good amount of evidence pointing to the man made/enhanced theory, exactly where are you getting information that this was a military bio-weapons project? Far, far more likely that lax Chinese controls & procedures allowed this to escape from a run of the mill virus/disease research facility (research which virtually every developed country in the world does btw). “Partially funded by Fauci”; You mean the CDC? Or did the evil Dr Fauci put his own money into the project in the hopes of drastically reducing the world’s population and, in the ensuing pandemonium, taking his seat alongside Soros, Xi, and Bill Gates to rule the world from a volcano island somewhere in the Indian Ocean? If you mean the CDC, honest question: do you think it’s good or bad that the CDC has a presence in other countries, especially ones where outbreaks of novel viruses have been known to occur? While there may be some valid arguments regarding whether the risk/reward matrix was in our favor for the type of research being done (MAY be: the arguments have been so twisted by all sides at this point, it’s hard to know what was actually happening), I’d argue that it’s better the CDC (and WHO, for all its faults) had some eyes on the ground in the PRC than not. Look, there’s a lot of good discussion about what was done right & wrong by various actors during this pandemic. Did vaccines work as well as we hoped? No. Were they completely worthless in combating spread and symptoms? Also no. Have the vaccines themselves injured millions as is the current speculation from the nutjobs? Certainly not. Did we royally fuck up our kids by closing schools for a couple years? Boy, I hope not, but time will tell. It certainly wasn’t good for most of them. The list of things that could’ve gone better is long and distinguished & hopefully we’ve learned something for the next one. And yes, politicians did what they tend to do and capitalized on some aspects of the response to further their own ends. Is that evidence of some overarching cabal that can be bent to fit whichever narrative you’d like it to? Fuck no. It means humans did human shit. Some of it was good. Some of it was bad. Simple as that. BL: lots of valid arguments here, but when you start in with the stupid conspiracy shit, you (rightfully) get thrown into the nut job pile & people stop listening to you.

Getting back to COVID.... Yes, we knew those things...because those are the things that viruses do, and we've known it for a very long time. Viruses are higher risk to those with pre-existing conditions...like being fat, old, or having respiratory or cardiac issues. Viruses attack children with less virulence because they have hormonal help from a developing and raging immune system. Viruses spread very fast indoors because of personal proximity and a more 'survivable' environment for the virus vs outdoors. This is nothing new. COVID acted like a VIRUS because it's a VIRUS...regardless of the fact that it was almost certainly a lab developed one: https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/report_an_analysis_of_the_origins_of_covid-19_102722.pdf That report is 26 pages long. Read it. WE as a country, and damn near as a species, acted like complete morons by letting politicians, unelected bureaucrats, and ignorant big-tech influencers...all with political agendas...to dictate the response to the virus. Yes it was man-made. Yes it was a nasty virus. But where was the call for healthy living? Where was the call to lower obesity? Where was the call to increase simple things (vitamins C, D/exercise/sunshine) that boost immune systems? Those things don't make money, and don't consolidate power. Lockdowns, mandates, 'emergency new...*insert miscellaneous vaccines/masks/ventilators/etc)' do. What started as a 'public health response' turned into a play for power at multiple levels within weeks. Hell, in China, it's still going on. It's in the playbook: "Never let a crisis go to waste." And politicians and bureaucrats certainly didn't. You think Fauci, or any other "I defeated covid" warriors will every have to worry about money or influence again? They'll be on the book/interview circuit indefinitely. Hopefully some of those interviews include congressional hearings. COVID is a virus. We should have treated it like virus. The panic surrounding it was completely unnecessary. Perhaps this is really a failure of public education. Apparently we all forgot basics like: live healthy and you get sick less. We could have treated it like any other virus, done the distancing, PROPERLY develop a vaccine, keep the economy open, protect the seriously at risk, properly address and punish those that introduced it to the world through unfiltered arrogance, and carry on. Instead we killed untold numbers with depression/suicide, and induced an entire generation to still to-be-discovered mental health issues. Again: https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/report_an_analysis_of_the_origins_of_covid-19_102722.pdf Read it. Those with common sense coupled to critical thinking knew most of this right out the gate. Unfortunately our leadership apparently doesn't possess those traits.

COVID is an actual thing, cooked in a Chinese military bio weapons lab (partially funded by Fauci), released on the world (maybe by accident), which then killed tons of people. I do not think it originated as a way for rich people to get richer, nor do I think anyone is saying that. However, it is undeniable that one of many side effects has been some rich people exploiting the situation to make themselves richer (Bill Gates). And the government also turned this into a power grab (they’re still fighting in the courts for the right to forcibly mask you on airplanes). Additionally, there was a massive conspiracy to suppress information and free speech in order to perpetuate this power grab; evidence of government collusion is now overwhelming. You are a victim of this effort, and I wish you the best as you struggle to regain autonomy from truly evil people who have lied to you and turned you on your fellow countrymen to increase their profit margins and political power. The moment dudes like you & Nsplayr & Negatory realize you were hit with a deliberate psyop to benefit people/corporations that hate you and would rather your children be physically poisoned than lose their grasp on your mind… I will celebrate 🥃

I got Pilot, and here are my scores, if it helps anyone. My recommendation letter was written by an old CC I had, who is an O-5 at the Air War College now

Well that’s changing the discussion a lot and wasn’t at hand. Also it is a hypothetical made to trap. I believe when someone in a relationship is asked a question by their significant other such as the one above, it could be referred to as a $hit test. I never said it was a conspiracy to make the rich richer even though it did have partially that effect on some. But I think in general taking more than what is fair from those who build up aspects of society, give opportunities, and help propel our society to heights never experience in this world is wrong and nearly pure evil. Even most of the poorest people in this country are better off than the large majority of the rest of the world.

Isn't that how all opinions work here? I guess I'm new to the internet. I don't think we have a single woman here who has opined on abortion. Definitely no Ukrainians or Russians. Not a single climate scientist or immunologist to be seen. If I was unclear that I am not a Delta pilot, my bad. If your point is that only a Delta pilot could have a beyond "noted" opinion, then I am excited to hear how the Delta pilots managed to exist in a different macroeconomic environment than the rest of us at American, United, Southwest, etc. I will reiterate. Your pilot group (are you Delta?) are fools if they pass on this TA in this macro environment. Especially in light of what the mediator said before Bastian & co. walked into the room. And since I work with a pilot group full of fools, I can have an opinion on that too 🤣😂

The problem with taxing the rich is that wealth isn't redistributed back to my pocket, lol. It just goes to into some needless government project designed to enrich some other asshole running some contractor gig.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/17/netflix-will-pay-its-next-flight-attendant-as-much-as-385000.html Holy crap what does the flight crew make?!?! Edit: nevermind just went back and read it and the posting is listed with a salary range of 60k-385k meaning they fully intend to pay a PhD in aviation safety with 20 years of experience as the chief flight attendant at a major airline about $61k.

You have nothing but insults to dispute what I’m saying. THIS is the power grab I’m talking about.

Totally agree. When I was a captain the idea of flying airlines for $$ while my bros remained in the fight was unpalatable. Getting out in 2012 was the logical financial choice, but was not what I valued. So I stayed, got to overload on war stuff, etc. Right call for me. Now war’s over and there’s not a single O6 job remotely appealing, but I’m very excited about the airline world! It’s been eye-opening to see all the other aviation paths out there as I meet folks with radically different backgrounds. It has validated my decision to stay AF when I did: I’d have been miserable watching the team collect scalps while I fretted about 401k options. But now door A is closed so I’m moving on. All that to say: military pilots are a special breed and I salute each of you. Do AGR if that works (wouldn’t have for my niche world) or get out at initial ADSC if that’s your jam, or stay if you still love it despite the warts. Regardless of the path you choose, I recommend enough self-reflection to have no regrets. My only regret is taking the bonus. The money seems appealing but it’s insignificant in the grand scheme of life; when you are ready to go you want the ability to go immediately.

It’s financially non-sensical by a long shot to stay in and bypass years of seniority. You have to value certain intrinsic/non-monetary things far more. Nothing wrong with that, just stay in with eyes wide open and understand the long lasting ramifications of your decision as a young O-4. Spoiler: You can hit all those things in the guard, so really there actually is only one logical choice! I kid…sort of.

Always loved watching the ACs lay waste, very satisfying.

An older group nearing retirement wants/wanted a lump sum to make up for their terminated pension because they feel like they lack time to make up the difference with the “new” 401k system.

A “follow the greens” system would probably be simpler & cheaper. JFK‘s taxiways are a mess, especially if you aren’t a regular. The Alpha/Bravo making a loop around the terminals & then becoming separate parallel taxiways is retarded. A cheap & easy immediate fix would be to simply rename them to something logical. Another would be to instill a little patience into the controllers. There are plenty of crews who only see that place once in a while & if you ain’t a local, it gets convoluted real quick there.

Mid-summer 2020 is a good line for enough data available to call with near 100% accurately everything that has happened and is “just now” coming up. Prior to that I’ll give anyone a pass, after that people were simply lacking critical thinking skills, too lazy to research beyond media headlines and “expert” talking points, prioritized emotions over logic, politically polarized to the point they’ll happily walk off the cliff if that’s what the party says to do, etc. For those who woke up late and acknowledged it, good for them. I hope they have the maturity to do a self-debrief and identify how they fucked up and what they can do next time to avoid the same mistake. Because there absolutely will be a next time.

One thing in that type of situation I don’t understand SOP-wise is how the FO can “never” say the word “abort.” It’s “say what you see.” Which I completely get 99% of the time. But in the event of an incursion and possibly killing hundreds of people, I feel like I would say abort and we can talk about it later. Takes too much time to say “AA is on our runway” and too much risk of getting a “huh?” from the CA. In such a time critical scenario, why would I ever be descriptive before directive. Curious what guys say who have done crewed flying longer than me.

Id want to keep Washington as well. Seattle is, well, its seen better days. But the Peugot Sound and northern cascades are still legendary outdoor wonders.

No. No. No. No. No. And no. We knew all those things and more. And moreover, the historical record in this very thread is still available for those who care to go back and read it. People here knew the mortality rates were getting blown out of all proportion. How did they know? It wasn't because they were conspiracy nuts. It was because they looked at and compared diverse data sets, examined how certain groups were behaving and listened to what they were saying, and taking in the totality of all that, made a more accurate deduction. Plenty of others were willing to just take the properly-credentialed authorities' opinions and run with them, sans critical thinking. I'm glad you've revised your view "now" that "more" data is in - and respect that you have the balls to publicly admit at least that much. If you dare look back further, however, you'll notice that the data to make that same determination was present then, as well. History is not confirming for you that other people "guessed" right. We more thoroughly analyzed the data available and made a more correct assessment.

IMHO supporting Ukraine has been and continues to be a wise decision. As of the end of November the U.S. has given $50B to Ukraine, with half of that being military aid. Our annual defense budget is currently at $725B. For just under 7% of a single year of defense budget we have helped humble a superpower, all without losing American soldiers, that my friends is a bargain! For at least the next 10 years Russia has been removed from the world stage as a conventional military threat and I believe it has given China something to think about, all without losing American lives. In many respects I would argue this has been our most effective proxy war. Russia may or may not ultimately win this war but the implications of it will shape Russia for a generation. The Russian military has lost significant amounts of equipment (and I guarantee there is a flood of captured equipment flowing to the U.S. for exploitation that will pay dividends for years.) The Oryx website reports 8,000 pieces of equipment destroyed, damaged, abandoned, or captured, including some 1,500 tanks, 700 armored fighting vehicles, and 1,700 infantry fighting vehicles. Bottomline, it will take years and huge amounts of $ to rebuild their military. The bigger impact is in casualties, the numbers are staggering. I obviously don't believe the published numbers from either Ukraine or Russia as they are always misstated. DoD and several think tanks have done independent assessments that seem to settle on 100,000 Russian Casualties with between 40,000-50,000 deaths. The demographics of those losses is staggering and touches every part of Russian society. A few data points to put it into perspective: 1. In 20 years of combat in Afghanistan there were 2.456 United States military deaths. 1,932 of these deaths were the result of hostile action. 20,752 American service members were also wounded in action during the war. 2. In 20 years of combat in Vietnam there were 58,148 were United States military deaths. 300,000 American service members were also wounded in action during the war. 3. In 20 years of combat in Iraq there were 4,431 were United States military deaths. 31,994 American service members were also wounded in action during the war. In a single year the Russians have suffered almost as many deaths as the U.S. did in 20 years of war in Vietnam. Additionally, Russia's population is less than half (143 Million versus 332 Million), this war has touch a large majority of families in Russia. Putin's ability to survive demonstrates his grip on power, but without success I don't think he will survive. War is terrible and this is no exception. But when you step back and look at the situation from the perspective of the Great Power game, this has been a huge win for us.

Too many things are passed off as coincidence; I don’t believe in coincidence much anymore. But I sure as fuck believe in widespread and constant incompetence!

I do live my life differently because of the realities of the world. First and foremost, I pay attention to what's happening in the world, and I vote for people whom I believe will respond to those issues responsibly with the best interest of our country in mind. Unfortunately, my candidates did not win recently, and it appears that we have a large section of the country who doesn't very much like our country, but that's a different topic. I also try to live a sustainable life, so if the lights go off because of an EMP, or a simply a network/grid shutdown, my family and I will survive. My kids may group up in suburbia, but they will not be dependent on suburbia. Moreover, I am raising my kids to be adults who are aware of the world around them, and to understand how to filter out the ignorant opinions that media, politicians, Karens, and internet forums will spew at them. My kids great up overseas for some time. They understand why the US is truly amazing and unique in it's liberties and freedoms. Understanding the real threats in the world is definitely impacting how I raise my kids, and I value my parenting task as possibly the most important and world changing thing I might do in my life. If my kids impact a single life because of wisdom they learned in childhood, it'll have been worth it. Beyond that, I study facts and history. The American way of international relations since WWII has been to make sure other country's problems stay in other countries. You call Ukraine a quagmire for Russia. It wouldn't be a quagmire without US involvement. If you don't understand that, go read about Chinese involvement in Vietnam, or US involvement in 1980's Afghanistan, or the French Foreign Legion, or how Rome ran it's empire. History is littered with precedent. The reason America is what it is today is because we (typically) refuse to wait until the fight comes to us. If you don't think Russia would love to kneecap the US, think again. It wouldn't occur in the ways many imagine with conventional forces and red dawn, but rather with infiltration, espionage, and subterfuge. Read about Gorbachev's or China's plans and actions with infiltration agents in the US. Bottom line is that Americans cannot stick their head in the sand and pretend like all these world problems can't hurt us. Will it largely impact how I cook my eggs in the morning, probably not...unless this whole gas stove stupidity changes that. But hey, I am intentionally not buying an EV because I've read and personally seen with my own eyes how corrupt and horrid that supply chain is for the earth and our own economy. So, yeah, there are decisions I make routinely that are impacted by the international environment. However, just because you don't see a difference in your own personal day to day doesn't mean that there's nothing happening, or that personal decisions don't make a different. We ALL have blind spots. Some we choose, others we simply have for any number of reasons. Do not conflate your chosen personal blind spot with the reality of the world.

Thanks, but I found out I got alternate. Still confused why I wasn't selected but I'll just reapply next year. Congrats on getting selected! Follow up question for the group: anybody have any data on alternate selections? Like how many traditionally get picked up ultimately?

I think there's a legitimate Arsenal of Democracy case to me made on top of the realpolitik aspect. It just feels damned nice, for once in the past seventy years or so, to be on the side of a no shit more or less democratic and free people who are more than willing to put their own asses in the firing line on behalf of their country. We've spent trillions and tens of thousands of American lives in defense of people who couldn't find the will to fight for their country with two hands and a map. What a cruel joke it would be if we gave the Afghans our support for twenty years but couldn't be bothered to help Ukraine.

Reportedly about 600 Russians met Señor HIMARS just after midnight, during a Putin speech. That probably would tip the scales here, but I doubt it moves the needle much in Russia.

Where were all these people complaining about Ukrainian aid when we spent 20+ years of blood and treasure fighting the boogey man with no strategy or will to "win"? We're now destroying what we thought was a peer enemy without any commitment of American blood....yet.

JAG friend. "Her take." Volumes right there. I'm not an INDOPACOM expert, sounds like you actually are, but the second you mentioned a JAG, I turned the volume down. I found that if you are in a shooting match, which we are not with INDOPACOM, but if you find yourself in one of those, the JAG is the furthermost concern from your mind. Honest question, when has a JAG ever produced any kind of execute value info? If one of your troops are in trouble all a JAG can do is offer you a laundry list of horseshit info that is highly invaluable. They can't tell you to do anything, all they can do is offer their advice. Which is a laundry list of horseshit info that your wing commander is going to tell you, no we're not going to do that. And the ADC pads their resume. JAGs love to get into ROE discussions. Because they are not accountable for people's lives. JAGs are some of the most useless creatures I've seen in the AF. Besides Navs and WSOs of course.