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Quantum computing.

I’m taking a swag and will assume you’ve been in ops squadrons most of your career? In my whopping 3.5 years in the Air Force, I’ve gathered that ops squadrons tend to have minimal to virtually zero enlisted. There’s not much need for an E-8/9 when there may only be 4-5 E’s running around. Contrast that with mx, force support, SF, and you have a ton of enlisted to few officers. The E-8/9 needs to be there Having run a maintenance department where I had ~200 enlisted working for me, a good SNCO was a godsend. E-8/9s definitely have a place.

I bet every time he speaks on live TV, his Chief of Staff/Staffers hold their breath with their fingers crossed.

I thought fighters pulled 5g on the turn to base ha The link to the book I posted above is legit gunship history. It's got the details, we damn near lost two gunships that night. I've known the author since 79, we pretty much started flying together. He did 100s of interviews and had access to official records. Took years to write it. It's a good read. I'll try to do the cliffs. 02 was launched on by manpads and an 8 while engaging a target. Pods and chaff didn't break lock. Pilot performed last second break. Took some shrapnel from the 8. Evading the 8 is when the over g happened. They were tracked by a 6 after that. Headed south at low altitude. On 03, while flying north, we were tracked and locked onto by a 6 behind us. So they let us fly over them before they engaged.driving us north. Pods, chaff and threat breaks broke lock. A few seconds later an 8 was tracking us, we evaded that which drove us into a barrage of AAA. By then we had run out of altitude so the EWO vectored us around threats as best he could. We headed south below 100ft with the throttles pushed all the way up. Our tactics back then were to be completely blacked out and all emitters off so no radar altimeter. The sand dunes looked like clouds, kinda eerie. I had a pair of PVS-5s and the IR was looking forward as best he could, the IR sensor was placed at the forward left wheel well back then. Continuous chatter between Pilot, me and the IR about terrain. Even after that the guys running the war were still sending gunships up into Iraq on SCUD hunts. Funny you mention that. After take off, on the way to the FCF, Bill pointed out that the plane took half the trim to fly straight than it did before. We joked that the plane must have been bent before and PL almost bent it back straight.

Nothing from MPF or FSS yet. Last day to decline with AFPC was 24 Jan, so it's probably just going to take some time for RIPs to flow through AFPC and MPF. I'd be very surprised if they had an artificial limit capping number of selects per squadron. Also, that's odd that the member showed up as their old Sq. I PCS'd about the same time as the board and showed up under my new unit.

I don’t think they notify us. My interpretation was that if we’re accepting the slot we don’t have to do anything and we’ll just have to wait for our MFS/IFT/PCS stuff. Also don’t think there’s a limit per squadron. Looking at the PSDM there’s some people from the same that got picked up. Hopefully assignments come out soon!

I mean...I was against all those things. And we spent a fair amount in Afghanistan to fight the Russians for the same reasons we're now sending weapons to Ukraine. If anything, I'm disappointed it took this long to mount a response. We should have done sanctions and sent weapons when Russia took Crimea. And invaded Georgia.

I thought I was fairly clear in my last response but I’ll remind you that the breakup of the Soviet Union happened over three decades ago. Ukraine did not secede from Russia. They became a sovereign nation thirty years ago. The better analogy would be the United States granting Puerto Rico independence in 1991, and then ruthlessly invading it in the spring of 2022, deliberately targeting the civilian populace, and unleashing our hardest criminals to rape, pillage, and do god knows whatever else to the people there. Ask yourself if you could see that scenario unfolding for the United States anytime soon? There is no comparison. Get outta here with your secession assclownery.

I'll bet every time he speaks on live TV, that sign language chick thinks it'll be her last day, and just GOES for it.

Not all ops squadrons. AWACS squadrons for instance will be nearly half enlisted. MQ-9s are just shy of half. The big difference though is quality. Enlisted aircrew FOUGHT hard to get there because they disliked working on a flight line in 120 degree heat and love telling ladies at the local club that they're practically like pilots when they show their flight suit photos. So they usually work hard to not fuck it up although you still get your occasional special cases. This was something I needed a non flying officer to mentor me on when I went to an org and had a handful of non-flyers. Gave them way too much leash and often regretted it. To clarify my earlier remarks, telling ROTC cadets to not trust their SNCOs, ended the discussion by telling them to not blindly trust their SNCOs. Definitely get their advice and inputs but you know who else is charged with mentoring CGOs in official guidance? The squadron commander. When things don't pass the smell test, flight commanders shouldn't feel a pressure to not approach the squadron commander for inputs because they should "ask their SNCOs." Definitely ask them first, but as we say in aircrew, "trust but verify."

Huh? You're a bot, right? Not even General Chang was this good 😂🤣

I'm confused was Prosuper your wife or your chief?

Don't like agreeing with Pooter because of you know, covid. He's not incorrect here. I don't like him, but he's not incorrect. I'm confident that he's making life changing decisions right now based on the fact that a rando on the internet does not agree with his covid stuff. But he ain't incorrect here.

I don't think this post is going to age well. Based on how the war is going so far (for Ukraine), do you seriously think no one in our government has thought of this???

To clarify for the internets, I don't care about any of that because I think I understand it. I think I understand what effects are being felt in Russia. Its my job. The cheerleading everytime a youtube video comes out of a Ukranian farmer taking out a Russian MiG are incorrect. I understand what a good Samaritan is. The more I read your reply, the more I doubt you have any clue about what I'm talking about. Internets, right? Go back and read my original post.

100%! Get connected with your VFW, legion or any other organization that is veteran related and appeals to you. For me it was SVA because I decided to do more schooling after the military. But ANYONE in the veteran space will know this stuff and will share it with their community regularly.

How do we build an Army of simps? Answer: https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/57878/1/the-era-of-military-funded-e-girl-warfare-army-influencers-tiktok

Close, except for under this scenario. Mexico/La Raza would be Russia annexing California, and the immoral party. I agree though, it is a much better analogy. Here we completely agree, though the situation is still quite complicated. This is the only argument I've seen so far that justifies Russia's actions. Informed debaters like you and flea have made it, but it is not a mainstream argument. You also get to the question of whether or not the world going back on a promise of territorial alignment can justify the widespread slaughter of civilians. I suspect that it cannot. But it at least adds an element of justification. Let's also not forget that Ukraine did not join NATO. Maybe it would have, but that was a long way out. You can't preemptively respond to a violation of an agreement. It seems much more likely to me that this was merely used as a pretext for something Vladimir Putin had wanted and planned for a long time. This started in 2014, not 2022. Yup, this is pretty classical post-modernist. And wrong. First, while we have most certainly interfered in the conflicts and politics of other nations, we have not sought to expand our physical empire. That makes us rare amongst modern powers. Seizing the land of another nation is quite clearly different than meddling. And slaughtering civilians by the tens of thousands in pursuit of military, political, or economic goals is also clearly different. To compare the two morally implies no sense of morality at all. And even if we have the same moral past as Russia, that still doesn't affect the moral implications of today's conflict. You cite examples of both countries being immoral then imply that somehow obviates the possibility of judging this conflict. But how can you judge the previous conflicts (by both Russia and the US) as immoral, then be unable to judge present conflicts? So more to the point: Let's ignore the hypotheticals, because we don't need them. We have a very clearly defined situation now that you are clearly educated on. Is Russia acting morally or immorally? Do they have the right to do what they are doing, or not? Does Russia have a legitimate claim to Ukraine (they tried taking Kiev), and is a military attack justified in pursuing that claim? That doesn't even touch the war crimes. Just the military decision to take Ukraine and (try to) destroy the Ukrainian military in doing so. The historical perspective is useful for judging the present situation, because experience and comparison are important. But stopping short of making the actual judgment negates the entire exercise. I suspect the reason so many of the don't-interfere-in-this-conflict crowd are unwilling to finish the analysis is they don't want to, either consciously or unconsciously, say that an evil is happening but they are willing to let it happen. It's a bad look, even if/when it's the correct call. But it also makes the debate difficult to the point of satire. Because when the question of morality inevitably comes up and is danced around, instead of talking about the prudence of acting or not acting against evil, we end up talking about whether or not the situation is evil at all, when it is clearly so.

Nerds!!!!!!

You know for a fact that only one of those hole punchers works properly. The fun is trying to guess which one works each time you need to punch a few holes. It is an Air Force standard to keep all hole punchers on alert, regardless of their mx status.

You are absolutely "gaming the system" if you're claiming things you don't have just because the VA can't prove otherwise. That's what I was talking about. "Dude, you have ringing in your ears right?, right?". No. "Well they can't prove otherwise, get what you've earned brother".....and so on and so on. "Just claim ED, they can't prove otherwise". 100% go claim what is broken with you or what you might possibly even think is an issue and don't hold back. Let the VA sort it out. But the great majority think it's a game to get as much as you can and blatantly lying about it. Those same fucktards will be the first to moan about welfare and people not earning their paychecks. Rant over.

Unless it's changed, you usually you go to Randolph for 5-7 days, 2-4 weeks before you start OTS for an admin spin up. Then 2-4 weeks later you'll start the whole 2.5+ year CONTINUOUS pipeline of orders with OTS.

A lawyer is not required, however trying to do it yourself is not recommended either. If you do it yourself, good luck with that. If this poster used a VSO then he needs to find another more qualified one. It’s complicated (by design), but well worth the effort to learn the puzzle pieces and “the math”….and don’t assume you understand “the math” ex: hysterectomy 50% + sleep apnea 50% does NOT = VA 100% It’s actually 75% unless there are other claims. “The Math” - https://www.va.gov/VA-combined-ratings-table-2019.pdf As for the original post (di1630), I would suggest you left a lot on the table. For most of you (I assume AD) a 50% rating is min target as it then becomes a $1150ish/mo tax free IN ADDITION to ret check. Anything less than 50% and it’s simply eliminates the tax on that amount of your retirement check. NOTE: 50% is not that terribly difficult to rate when you take into account things like sniffles, allergies, knee issues, tinnitus, hearing loss, ((plantar fasciitis <—— foot stomp 50% alone)) to name just a few. Plenty more easily puts said poster well above 50%. Veterans Administration report to Congress, the ten most commonly awarded medical conditions that are getting approved for benefits are as follows: Tinnitus Limitation of flexion (knee) Hearing loss Lumbosacral or cervical strain (back and neck strains) Limitation of arm motion General scars Limitation of ankle motion PTSD Migraines Paralysis of the sciatic nerve Finally, it’s not “a game”, it’s a benefit available for a reason. When you swore in some 20+ years ago, the govt agreed to return you to after your service in the condition you were in when you entered service. Here’s where I get on my soapbox - are you aware that ED (often associated w most your claims and a no brainer for someone w back issues) is a Special K award of $120ish/mo on top of your VA rating. Oh, and for you pilots, also free viagra for life. jus sayin~ “Game the system”? No. Understand the benefits you’re due and learn the rules, HELL YES! Finally, the time to start preparing yourself (increase your medical visits) for those benefits is 1-2 yrs from retirement, not at your govt reqd TAMP session.

KSPS 23-02 F-35 x3 F-22 F-15C (ANG) A-10 B-2 F-16 x5 (AD) F-16 (ANG) T-38A T-38C B-52 x2 KSPS 23-03 F-35 F-22 F-15E A-10 B-2 F-16 x5 B-52 x2 T-6A Eurofighter x3 Tornado x2

I'll add my $0.02 to this discussion, as someone that was confused why I'm an alternate but 2 others from my wing were selected. You can look at my comment history in this thread for more details but short story: I had better scores and numbers, stratted higher from the wing, and had a Wg/CC sign my letter of rec. I'm an alternate but they were selected. The other 2 from the wing had objectively worse applications in every measurable way. Emphasis on objectively. So I emailed the board. I asked about the alternate process and as an after thought at the end of the email, I asked "how I can improve my application for next year's board, specifically anything subjective they noticed". (I didn't complain about the above situation, I knew that wouldn't look good). They replied explaining the board uses an algorithm to help quantify subjective packages. Only 30% of your score comes from PCSM, AFOQT, college GPA, etc. I don't remember what the other 30% and 40% was exactly, but one of them is leadership and experience. They said really good test scores don't mean as much for an otherwise average application. They made sure to tell me my application was above average but this board was very competitive and my chances of being selected next year are good. It helped to read that last bit but still stung haha. This coincided with the feedback I received from my Gp/CC. The other 2 from the wing are the same AFSC but have been doing it longer than me. So by default, by doing the job longer, they have had more leadership opportunities and experience to present to the board. Also, their scores were decent too. I've had a bright start to my career, but I'm "young". Anyways, if I've interpreted all of this feedback correctly, what you've done in your career and how well you communicate it to the board is just as important, if not more important, than every number on the AF215 combined. I definitely know how to improve that for next year. Food for thought. Edit: incase it wasn't clear. The things the board probably are looking closely at is the personal letter, letter of recommendation, the 3 bullets from your rater and 3 bullets from your senior rater. Specifically how robust they are. They can tell if it's a bunch of fluff or something meaningful. All of the test scores, PCSM, etc are likely just checking a box for the board.

I'm not entirely following here. Reductionism is useful in theoretical conversation, but it can't be confused for a framework for viewing the real world. There are no relevant hypotheticals, the real world has already created the scenario. Is Russia being evil in their actions? Is Ukraine to blame for the invasion? Who is right and who is wrong in this conflict? The world is not black and white, but the many shades of gray do fall on a spectrum that are either more black or more white. Arguing that Ukraine has done something wrong, and therefore a moral judgment cannot be weighed against Russia, is the geopolitical version of saying well she shouldn't have cheated on him if she didn't want to be beaten to death. It really is amazing to me how many people are using other conflicts as some sort of basis for minimizing the obvious moral dilemmas we face in Ukraine. Past acts do not impact the moral characteristics of present conflicts. Right and wrong are not relative. To argue otherwise is too close to post-modernism, which is thoroughly deviod of intellectual substance. It is also remarkable to me that conservatives are now using the same twisted logic that progressives have used for the past decade or two. Well the United States had slaves, so who are we to judge? It's nonsense. Did the chauvinistic kleptocracy deserve to be invaded or not? A fundamental basis for our nation is that we do not inherit the sins of our fathers. Ultimately, there is no United States of America, there are only the people who make it up and the decisions that they make. I don't give two flying fucks if other people made the wrong decision in the past. My job, my duty as a moral being, is to make the right decision in the scenarios I am faced with. And when I fail, as I have before, I do not get to use that failure as some sort of justification for future inaction. Now, I would not say that the moral nature of international activity binds us to any course, but the Tucker Carlson wing of the Republican party seems hell bent on disputing the moral nature of this particular war, rather than just the appropriate national response, and I find that to be almost laughably obtuse.

You know what’s a lot more important than the tank…. The people you spent umpteen man hours training to effectively use a tank. If you don’t understand the massive survivability advantage Leo/Challenger/Abrams enjoy over the old Soviet designs and the logistical component of people actually familiar with and able to use the system you are hopeless in understanding it is well worth the logistical impact on needing more fuel or track pads or being heavier and putting more strain on recovery/engineering/bridges/route planning…. Oh no it’s got a new shell…. One that has to be loaded and comes in a single contained piece vs the multi piece shells for the carousel auto loader…. Oh and we can battle carry a fuel load of them instead of going with only the 20-24 in the floor because we are concerned about cooking off a wet stored round in the T64/72 turret…. Do you realize how much of an improvement that would be? About 6 ish months ago the big comment was “why are we sending them HIMARs what could they possibly do with it.” Those same critics are now telling us how they can’t use a “jet fuel powered” tank because of their vast experience working with Armor. And this isn’t about getting this capability to them tomorrow, which guess what we are doing sourcing T72 and 64s from NATO stocks. This is getting the ball rolling on a capability issue that will give the Russians absolute fits in the 6-9 months from now it takes to start fielding it. It’s not the one or the other option you’re calling it. The Russians have absolutely nothing comparable in parity to an Abrams or a LEOA5 or later. They’ve expended the best of their Armor. They are pulling 55s out to put them into service. Putting a Battalion of modern western armor anywhere is a serious problem for them they can’t easily solve, same as a half dozen GMLRs are giving them fits. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure how you can use this analogy with a straight face. Ukraine is not a part of Russia. It was part of the Soviet Union, an empire that imploded three decades ago. It didn’t secede & invite the West in. It’s been a sovereign nation with control of its own destiny since the fall of Soviet rule, just like the Czechs, Poles, Latvians, and all the other former Warsaw Pact nations that are now free of the shackles of a totalitarian communist oppressor. The Russians seemed to be fine with this when the Ukrainians had a corrupt government that tended to align more with Moscow than the west. It was when that government started to reform that Putin started annexing territory (again-from an internationally recognized sovereign nation). There is most definitely a moral argument to be made here: do we abandon a country that, the moment it starts moving in the positive direction we’ve been actively encouraging, is invaded by its neighbor? Or do we show some backbone and support them? Easy decision made even easier by the fact we get to wreck the Russian war machine in the process. To your point, no, this is nothing like Texas seceding with help from our adversaries.

Listen to Dan Crenshaw's latest podcast for a fascinating (and horrifying) look at the war from an American operator who joined the Ukrainians. Reminds me of much earlier in the thread when some of us were simply content to spend a few billion fighting evil. A much better use of my tax dollars than keeping old fat people alive until they're 100, bailing out the banking mafia, funding the university indoctrination apparatus, attacking the basis for advanced civilization (energy production), or funding virus research that fist-fucked the global economy for a few years. It's also lost on some of the isolationists that we don't need some sort of additional justification to "meddle" in this war. Russia invaded a sovereign nation. Whatever reasons we decide to involve ourselves, our "right" to interfere was granted when an innocent ally was attacked and called for help. If you see someone being mugged, and you beat the shit out of the mugger, no one cares why you did it. Maybe you saw evil and felt compelled to act. Maybe you have a hero complex. Maybe you just wanted to feel someone's life end in your hands. Doesn't matter; motive is only important when you're doing the wrong thing. There are all sorts of reasons we might not participate. The budget is one. But I hate hearing people start dancing around the relativist cry of what right do we have to decide what happens there? We have every right.

How many years passed between the Russia attempt to annex anything in Georgia and their bleeding in Afghanistan? Never mind the ridiculousness of comparing Afghanistan and Georgia with the conflict going on in Ukraine or the potential one in other Soviet Satellites like Poland/Czech etc. How many years did it take for the Old Bear to come out of its cave with teeth borne and attempt to seize territory? Because if this conflict in Ukraine resets the clock to even half that before the Russians can restore any sort of actionable conventional combat power we are getting off stupid cheap. We are also setting a very fine reminder to any other global leaders with ambitions of glory that maybe we aren’t going to just roll over and let you have country X, Sea Y, Straights of Wherever the hell…. And yes letting them off the hook in Georgia and Crimea (which some of us were screaming about then) did nothing but embolden them into the conflict you see today. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The system of life you enjoy is build around the framework that for the last 70+ years a developed country could not annex another developed country by force of arms without global repercussions (See Desert Storm). Failing to get off our collective asses and do something about Russia attempting to upend that system absolutely impacts your ability to “do normal stuff.” Because right now the accepted global norm is at the near bank of the Rubicon in what the accepted global status quo is. Throwing up the isolationist “not our problem,” is crossing that to the other bank which would be an entire new paradigm in the global status quo. One that will very well likely require us to get directly involved in a conflict of arms vs what is now a relatively simple matter of giving a somewhat friend the ability to hobble a definite opponent. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wait, wait….You believe that the United States is violating somebody’s sovereignty? For the record, your statement is absolutely correct. You just (somehow) seem to be confused about who the aggressors are here.

Let me boil this down. Russia, Ukraine, and Europe DO impact your life. You not realizing that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Apparently I don't have the right verbiage to explain the 'how' in a way that you'll choose to hear, but let me put it this way: If you drink coffee, wear clothes, drive a car, or use the internet, those countries impact your life. Ignorance is not an excuse and it's certainly not a defense.

This seems familiar… can’t quite place it… nahh, we didn’t ever experience this while deployed. https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-new-ukraine-general-focused-on-soldiers-shaving-uk-intel-2023-1?amp

Found one. Hard to see because of the flash but the positive needle is over at the 3oclock deadspace. I know, fighter guys are chuckling at 5g

Biden has apparently had dementia since he started his career as a politician. Among other gems coming out of the current President's mouth, Regan never claimed to be arrested visiting Nelson Mandela. Regan didn't lie consistently about his life experiences. Regan didn't have a son named Hunter smoking crack, making porn and using the name Regan to make business deals. The Bidens are scum.

I'll take a swag and say you have no clue how to run a maintenance squadron.