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I stole it and have preached it for years that the key to greatness is being brilliant at the basics. So I’m with you 100%. But unless 22 years (JFC) of GWOT and the ONW/OSW/WW Desert Storm have taught me, the mobility bros are pretty amazing at the basics. Not many people know about the mobility role in Schwarzkopf’s left hook but that whole thing doesn’t happen without AMC (MAC at the time). But now, this reminds me of the Tomcat looking for relevancy after the Cold War ended and the Soviet bomber cruise missile swarms weren’t a thing. They reinvented the platform into a great strike fighter. Same with the Viper going from a day VFR fighter to damn near everything under the sun. Same with the C-130 evolving into the AC-130 in Vietnam after the previous Gunships paved the way. Same with the F-4 evolving into a very good SEAD platform prior to retirement. I think the B-25 showed some pretty decent, non-standard use on April 18, 1942. Why can’t a tanker be a delivery platform for UAS? Hell, take the AC-J internal CLT mounting configuration, crank it to 11 and you could easily put 100 of those in the back. Yes, you’d have to cut holes, flight test, etc but you could turn the back into a radio shack setup with a laptop and have all that shit ran by the boom when he’s not being a boom (aka napping 95% of the time). The earlier Block Draco variants were pretty much cables and laptops everywhere with dudes making it work. It’s very doable. I always thought the tanker force in Afghanistan/Iraq should’ve had some passive collect capability while they covered the whole country 24/7 in the tracks. Maybe they did, I’ll have to check my garage scif but nobody told me. I also saw the proposal for AMP-4 ops and think that should be approved tomorrow. Get some IP’s to Hurlburt/Cannon with the MC dudes, fly a few locals, get some academics on it, and press. To the uneducated outsider, this is the litmus test for me of if this whole endeavor will make any headway. Unfair or not, my perception is that AMC has some incredibly risk averse people that call “safety of flight!” For damn near anything. AMP-4 is something different but well within your command’s capabilities. If it gets hung up by those in the Safety camp*, nothing will change. My passion for this topic is probably pretty evident. My favorite line in a movie is in the Departed when Jack Nicholson’s character talks about how John Lennon said “I’m an artist. You give me a fucking tuba, I’ll get you something out of it”. That’s how I view my time in the AF. I may not have the tools but I’ll do what I can to help win. The other reason IGAF about this is I can’t stand cynicism (copy shot on picking the worst profession in the world for that). My hero, Theodore Roosevelt, talked about it and I actually had this on my wall as a young Danger. ”The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. There are many men who feel a kind of twisted pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes to second achievement.” That’s a very long, very rambling way of saying I hope AMC gets after this stuff and finds ways to win. This post brought to you by the good people of Basil Hayden’s. *Safety is critically important and I’m not advocating for stupid risk. If these things prove to be stupid, then don’t do it.

@Prozac @Danger41 You both have excellent points and perspective and these are discussions that we NEED to be having if we want to defeat/deter China. FWIW, Mini is an old friend and we shared a beer at WEPTAC two weeks ago, two things that struck and impressed me: 1. While we were talking about old times and family a steady stream of captains and majors walked by and engaged him with ideas...they were not seeking career advice or face time, they were bringing genuine ideas on how to solve tough problems. He took the time and engaged with every single one of them. 2. At one point two captains engaged and brought a contractor along. They were brain-storming through a current tough tactical problem and had an idea that was actually very good and it combined some capes we already have. Mini immediately grasped what they were saying and said "put it together and bring me 467 of them." The captains and contractor actually seemed shocked, finally one of them blurted out "serious?" Mini immediately replied "I am trying to win a war here!" I know in the past we have had false hope in some of these GO's, and knowing Mini gives me some bias, but what I saw was a very senior leader genuinely interested in defeating China even if that meant changing the status quo. He was also setting the environment to bring as many ideas and inputs as possible into the conversation. So while things like single pilot tanker ops loading with cruise missiles may get a lot of eye rolls, I think that line of out of the box thinking and the willingness to foster it is what makes us better.

We lost the last one, but GOs weren’t fired so the organization already forgot. To me the worst part of 1206s is lack of feedback. I spent hundreds of hours trying to get folks recognized and never received feedback on why they were or were not the chosen one. Our processes can’t work with shitty/toxic GOs running them, and we’ll never convince inspiring officers to stay unless we treat them better. Which we can’t do because we’re managed by shitty/toxic GOs…. The downward spiral is tragic.

Check your 2808, the stamp will either say "Medically Qualified for FC1 pending MFS" or "Medically Qualified for FC1." You'll only need to attend MFS if it's the former, otherwise you're cleared hot! It depends on where you did your initial flight physical too - if you did it at either USAFA or Wright-Patt then you won't need to attend MFS, but if you got it done anywhere else then you'll need to attend MFS to be fully cleared for FC1. I got mine done at USAFA in 2016, got DQ'd there in 2018, then redid my FC1 locally at my base (Grand Forks AFB) in 2022. When I did my FC1 physical here, the flight doc said that I'd only need to go to Wright Patt if they needed more info about my waiver, otherwise I'd be good to go. My 2808 stamp says "Medically Cleared for: FC1 (w/waiver), FC1A (w/waiver)."

That's me when I fell out of the cargo door of a KC-135, twice.

Mobile protected firepower for the maneuver forces attempting to retake hardened objectives. Eventually all the fires in the world need to be capitalized with infantry to take and hold territory. Tanks make things that stop infantry go away quickly or draw the attentions of the defender in such a way that the combined arms maneuver has a free hand. With Abrams you also get a weapon system that can direct fire at stand-off preserving Survivability while still remaining useful. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Bet this will raise some eyebrows…And for Milley, that’s gotta be excruciating.

Gotta love the world we live in today. In one breath people are saying “(insert woke ideology here) is the reason we are going to lose to China”, are probably the same ones complaining when someone actually does more than just talk about it. I’m not calling out anybody in particular, just a general social media observation. I’m just happy somebody is actually trying to do something, instead of analyzing the problem, coming up with 6-9 coas, reanalyzing, performing a study, 3-5 coas, picking one then nobody actually doing anything with it.

It's pretty hard to film a HIMARS hit that happens dozens of miles behind the enemy line. Your post doesn't specify biggest public relations successes, just success. The ability to quickly blow up any Russian colonel, general, or ammo depot that the US Intel apparatus uncovers stopped the Russian advancement nearly overnight. I agree the PR is definitely more influenced by YouTube videos. That's not too say the Ukrainians aren't doing an amazing job in other ways, but HIMARS have Ukraine the ability to decimate Russian logistics. That's what wins wars.

That's about the answer i expected. DFP? IF? From a nav turned UAV operator? Yes, good luck to you also.

I think what lloyd is getting at, is that a father abandoning their child is sickening, abortion laws or not. I can understand his disgust that people are arguing that sense pro choice laws are in place in a certain state, then the man should also be able to get out of taking care of the child. I agree with lloyd - that is ing disgusting. Males in this country are devolving at an alarming rate.

So back in the day, AFSOC started doing a thing called “Air Commando Field Course” which involved tactical driving, shooting, clearing buildings, emergency medicine, etc. We all scoffed it with typical aircrew knowitallism (see above) and how all these people wanted to play GI Joe etc. Fast forward to Iraq 2015 and I found myself in a Hilux, with body armor, loaded M4’s and M9’s, and civilian clothes with another pilot driving to the Consulate that had gotten bombed the previous day and I was wishing I’d spent a little more time paying attention. Or Kabul when everything went to shit and aircrew guys had to apply similar skills to break into structures and clear them to get food when the people working it said “F this, I’m out”. More stories like that will come out from that deployment and I have the utmost respect for those folks, but they weren’t anything but motivated type A winners making shit happen. Mobility folks can do the same stuff if they’d just stop with the GD pessimism about everything. From my outside perspective, I love Gen Minihan’s whole program and hope that AMC embraces the urgency and importance of their role in this fight. Easily the most important MAJCOM in this scenario.

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.

PSDM 23-54 has dropped! Deadline: 03 October 2023. Last day for application updates: 03 November 2023. "3 November 2023 (1)ETP Suspense for medical disqualifications.(2) Application Update Suspense: Updates to applications including AF Form 215 data and PCSM scores can be submitted up until this date. Please submit a signed MFR from the applicant’s direct supervisor containing the updated information. Additionally, include any appropriate attachments indicating successful completion of the update (i.e. copy of PPL, copy of updated PCSM, updated AFOQT scores, etc.). Be brief and concise. There is no need to obtain a new updated/signed/coordinated AF Form 215" Board convenes 4-17 November 2023. A little early, but wanted to create this thread ahead of time and update it as information and dates roll in.

KC-135 strikes. Brings up a question. Does the mother ship get credit for the strikes or is it the actual drone?

Oh it’s legit, it was sent out in a mass email most of AMC received.

Deadbeat dads are horrible. They are shunned in moral societies as they should be. Abortion however, in some parts of the country, is celebrated. They are both fucked up. I assume nobody on here likes deadbeats, my comparison between abortion and deadbeats is to highlight the inconsistencies in how people in our society view these topics. Once again, one is celebrated and the other not so much.

To put it visually… stuff like this becomes a hell of a lot easier when your supporting bases of fire includes a tank. Then the maneuvering element comes up and steps on your neck while the S-head element dug into the objective tries to deal with that armored gun reducing their position one 120mm round at a time. Not to mention 11k roads of machine gun that it adds to the supporting fire positions. The defense would use indirect fires to disrupt the attack. Usually that’s gonna be mortars. Maybe they’ve got artillery but even then the Tank largely doesn’t care. So they have to have dedicated anti tank systems in close with them and there are only so many of those in a formation to go around. So the enemy is forced to make a decision of withdrawal out the free axis and try to consolidate a counter attack later giving up the ground, or they can stay there and be overwhelmed and try to trade out casualties to make the offensive force stall. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You really add absolutely nothing to any conversation you engage in, eh?

At night most importantly

I thought everyone needed MFS...I'm rated too. MFS being in wright pat and required for all pilots?

Touche.....only thing missing is the old crank pencil sharpener mounted on the desk. I still have one lol

Totally checks. I only brought them up because I don't see how tanks fit into the equation. They're not asymmetric, nor are they long range standoff strikers for targets behind enemy lines like himars are.

That's incorrect. Nearly all cryptocurrencies are traded peer-to-peer as their native behavior. The exchanges are simply the easiest way to connect buyers and sellers.

I think HIMARS coupled with American intelligence providing the targeting coordinates has been far more decisive than the grenade-laden drones.

A quality 3-hole punch is EASILY the best and most effective weapon employed through my entire Air Force career. Always have an ankle punch…always. ~Bendy Sent from my iPad using Baseops Network mobile app

Good grief. These are two of the best paragraphs I've ever read that support the notion that religion is completely made up and anything goes. Abortion is a pretty morality based topic. To state that you could go either way on that and still be Christian...wow. BTW...Catholics = Christians. Protestants/Catholics are Christians just like Sunnis and Shi'ites are Islamic. Here's a gem: "And the Pope has said as much WRT Catholics, case closed." Doesn't having a human being on earth here today making such proclamations violate the first commandment? Do you really base your moral compass on what some dude in the Vatican is spewing? Here's another one: "But super inside-baseball doctrine where there is a variety of opinion AND the head of the faith says it’s not critical…again, case closed." First off, super inside baseball doctrine is obviously a farce. Second, do you believe that kings and emperors and popes are divinely anointed? The "head" of the faith? Pray tell, who gave him that BS title? I didn't. He sure as heck isn't head of anything in my world. I struggle in 2023 to understand how Americans, who rejected the notion of the divinely appointed kings and emperors (and included a prohibition against the gov't awarding titles of nobility in our constitution), how do Americans recognize the pope? He was awarded a title of nobility by cardinals. And now you have people like yourself saying things like the pope said it, "case closed." You are a very strange liberal.

As I said, exchanges can be regulated, but the actual trade of crypto is by nature peer to peer and distributed therefore by design, and because of how blockchain works, it cannot be regulated. This is how North Korea continues to purchase and exchange crypto. The production of new Bitcoin is built into the algorithm and capped at 21M coins. Every 4 years the total coins possible to be mined is divided by 1/2. This is what's called the "halvening." And generally drives prices up as market adjust for reduced supply. But no intelligent regulator is determining number of coins.

Just got my assignment notification from my CC. Headed to Columbus in May, was not expecting it to be so soon! No RIPS with a class date yet however.

Sir, just one question. Who's going to get the ATIS?

I’m all for more focus on the mission, esprit de corps, and treating military members like warfighters. Doesn’t mean the pendulum has to swing to absurdity. Single pilot tankers launching a hundred UAVs into the fight is a bit much. How about AMC just shifts focus back to flying/mission basics for a while & see how that works before crafting grand “outside the box” schemes to utilize platforms in ways they were never designed to operate?

Thanks for the info! Yea I have a line number, AGR might be right due to family circumstances for a bit… TBD

Tanks are similar to BUFFs, IMO. If you use them stupidly and without proper support, you’re not gonna have a good time. If you use them and support them appropriately, they are incredibly effective and devastating.

“We will fight in 2025.” Pretty big stones for a GO to say that about the #1 adversary state when he isn’t even the CSAF, let alone the Chairman.

The off-ramp remains open any time the Russians want to take it! Either get rid of Putin and stop the invasion or convince him to do so if that’s possible. That’s it, that’s the basis for peace in Ukraine. The Ukrainians will never back down from defending their country from an unjust invasion, nor should they 🇺🇦

I'm still trying to figure out why I had mx officers. Here have some rope, let me know if you need some more. Dang! what happened to that guy, he was only here two weeks, Darn! I didn't even know his name. Only thing he said to me I'm a Cal Berkley Graduate and I'm smarter than you. Boy Howdy did he impress the shit out of me. The only ones I ever needed were O-5's and above. If I was King of the USAF, my plan was how Chuck Yeager started his career as a commissioned officer. He started as rated mx officer who flew all the FCF's and OCF's. Maybe it should go to the way the Naval Ops sq does it, pilots have to do leadership on the ground by leading mx troops. If your name was on the side of the jet, it was your responsibility to write the Crew Chiefs EPR and make sure he gets an end of tour medal. Rated Majors would run mx and hopefully by the time they get their own CC job they understand health of the fleet and just not sortie count. MX and Cop Sq's are huge and have very busy First Sgt's, if you know you know, historically those guys are treated like shit and are pounded with constant extended 12 hour shifts with no days off. Which to leads to why they are always undermanned because no one reenlists, the enlistee raises his hand the first time, but his family reenlists. Also bring back Warrant Officer, that way a technically shit hot E-5 or E-6 doesn't have to eat shit from the Top 3 so they get a decent board score. I retired an E-7 but I knew I would never be a Chief due to that I could never get off the flight line. Most of my fellow senior E's were nothing but backstabbing apple polishers, they were given jobs off the flight line just to get them out of the workflow because they suck. Unfortunately, they were the ones who made Chief due to showing they had diverse career broadening assignments, in reality they were getting moved every 6 months due to effing up that section they had to move them. Plus, their EPR was written in way that he was a water walker and not the Charlie foxtrot he was. The good ones were kept on the line and were manipulated by the Chiefs to make sure they stayed on the line making the Wing King money. My only shot of getting off the line was interviewing for a Wing Safety job. My incentive was a slot for the NTSB crash investigation course if I got that job. The Vice Wing CC interviewed me and told me then to report back Monday. This was a Thursday and started doing PCA paperwork. Friday morning get called into the Chiefs office, got told you're not going anywhere. He told me point blank you will be on that flight line with a brick and schedule to make sure we make that schedule. I'm sure if I was milk toast maintainer, I would have gotten that job because the guy who got it sure was.

Totally off topic but I spent 9 hours writing 1206's for annual awards today for people who don't event want them. That is more hours than I have flight time in the last two months, and I am (supposedly) a CMR instructor pilot in the CAF. We are going to lose the next war.

You should. stuff that isn’t bothering you now or an issue at all may get worse later. establishing that it’s service connected, even if it’s rated at 0%, is a lot easier now than it will be later. For example…I broke a big toe on AD. Fully healed. Zero issues. But it’s documented and service connected at 0%. If, some time in the future, that joint decides to be the epicenter of arthritis, or fuses up, or starts growing horns…or some other such bullshit … getting it treated will be a lot easier. same with the neck/back. Fine today. But if I can’t move it in my 60s me and the va May have to chat.

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.

When I went through WIC every WUG had a SCIF in their Nellis Inn room. It was cleverly disguised as a small wooden cabinet with a lock.

The absolute most aggravating part of this is there staffs are really the ones that F this up and face no consequence. Nobody honestly thinks Trump or Biden etc went and got boxes and packed their office do they? No of course not that’s the staff flunky job. So why the hell after these things happen do we not crucify them and revoke clearances. My regimental S2 pulled up some of Hillary’s staff after the whole thing and they all still showed up in JPAS. Like holy hell we will crucify a good Soldier for plugging the printer in the wrong color cable… but hey you actively ignored and moved stuff either through neglect or deliberate effort… oh no big deal. Please by all means keep your lively hood. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not in a fucking herk I’m not! I’d love to hear this more in depth over whiskey some time. Sounds like a badass story.

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