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From the outside looking in on AMC I think I speak for a lot of people by wondering: Why is Minihan mouthing off about war with China, firing clips, and drone delivery good idea fairies when the two tankers that constitute almost our entire capacity to project airpower around the globe are f-ed up with no end in sight? This is also the dude behind single pilot tanker ops right? Seems like he is big on new age pie in the sky nonsense and not very big on the fundamentals. If he's actually so concerned about war with China, maybe he could do something about the fact that the tactical experts in his (and all majcoms) spend 60-90% of their time on administrivia. Do you think chinese pilots are worrying about quarterly awards? I doubt it.. And in case he's reading this thread here's a non all inclusive list of things he could enact literally tomorrow that would immeasurably improve our lethality and mobility: -abolish all awards not related to combat operations -enact single line OPRs and EPRs that show your strat 1-n and that's it. -reduce the waiver authority for literally everything in every reg to no higher than OG or WG level -reduce readiness reporting to once a quarter -abolish TMT -order your subordinate commanders to eliminate the every additional duty that does not directly contribute to readiness/lethality. If he ever did any of that, I'd take his memo a lot more seriously.

Shut up Nav...I'd rather have the gas.

Again, I am biased because I've known him for so long. IMHO he truly believes we are going to fight China (as do I), and when you look at the models, wargames, intel briefs, numbers...it is going to be UGLY. Under current circumstances the losses will be terrible on both sides and will cost us greatly in lives and treasure. Allowing the conversation about single pilot tanker ops was a move to set the conditions for change. I don't care if the union thinks it is a bad idea (it is), the situation is so dire we need to discuss every option, reexamine every tactic and find ways to flip the calculus back on the Chinese. Brother I hear what you are saying about admin and queep. A couple years retired and in reflection I am GLAD to be retired, I miss the squadron, the flying, and mostly I miss the people, but I always default to be overwhelmingly happy to be away from the queep and the caustic leaders we turn into GOs. That being said, as a component commander Mini is pushing the limits where he can (and a bit outside those lines). As the training and equip boss, CSAF sets the tone and makes the rules on queep and I've seen CQ do NOTHING other than continue the status quo (or make it worse...ie Advanced Degrees). I am willing to give Mini the benefit of the doubt and see where it goes. Did you read his memo? "COMMANDER’S INTENT. Go faster. Drive readiness, integration, and agility for ourselves and the Joint Force to deter, and if required, defeat China. This is the first of 8 monthly directives from me. You need to know I alone own the pen on these orders. My expectations are high, and these orders are not up for negotiation. Follow them. I will be tough, fair, and loving in my approach to secure victory. RISK. Run deliberately, not recklessly. You will be governed by the principle of calculated training risk, which you shall interpret to mean the avoidance of death, serious injury, and Class A damage to attain higher readiness, integration, and agility. If the Tactic, Technique, and Procedure you are developing increases AMC’s ability to fight and win inside the first island chain… move out. If you are comfortable in your approach to training, then you are not taking enough risk." Disagree, I would argue it is his DUTY to communicate his concerns, orders and intent to the forces he leads. As for attaching a specific date, the intel community and some think tanks have been signaling that for the past 12 months. There is a collision of specific events in 2025 (Chinese capes, Chinese population, Chinese economy, U.S. Presidential election and a few others), that have a lot of people believing there is a mark on the calendar. This "date" is driving a lot of decision making and if you step back you will see it...Sole Source Wedgetail to replace E-3, Bridge Tanker, Navy ship maintenance timelines, Navy Attack sub procurement and shipyard turn times. I pray to god I am wrong and we don't fight China, but if I am right I am thankful there are people like Mini willing to risk career and inspire change, outside the box thinking and find new ways to win what will be a terrible fight.

At about 0625 Saudi(2125CST) time is when 03 went down. We didn't know it yet we just knew they overdue. Didn't find the wreckage untill March. I'll be toasting

If by immediately start working you mean line number at a legacy, this story will go legendary status.

I can’t wait for them to validate that thing because it’s one of the potential game changer toys we keep playing with in Warfighters. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Flying fighter jets is a hell of a drug.

I recently received an 80% rating. Filed BDD claim in May, retired in September, award received in late December. I worked with a VSO and contrary to some experiences on this thread mine was excellent. We went through my records, he offered his recommendations which I mostly agreed with but did not claim everything. For example he saw a mandatory mental health screening and without details he listed that in his draft, but I'd never been seen for an actual issue so didn't feel right about including it and pulled it from the app (oddly enough my comprehensive exam doc added added a follow on mental health appointment but I didn't receive any rating for it). Ultimately I had one 50% rating, another 20%, and several 10%s that worked out to 80%. There were also several 0%s but that remain in my file. In the end I was a little surprised but there wasn't any gaming of the system and I used only what was in my records and offered honest explanations during my appointments. One note... they denied my claim for dependents which I'm having to re-file for and should be fixed shortly. Should have included marriage & birth certificates in my app it seems. TLDR: Long process but ultimately what appears to be a fair rating based on VA's guidelines and my records, albeit a little higher than I expected. ZB

I think he’s channeling his inner General Ripper. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

After spending some time in the country & seeing how they operate, I’d bet money you’re wrong. I can almost guarantee they’re spending enough time in ‘how to be a good communist’ class for it to be a detriment to their warfighting skills. That said, the rest of your post is spot on.

That memo reads like it's written by someone who doesn't actually believe that rapid global mobility is a tool in the strategic bag just like blowing people up is. Read about the Berlin Airlift and the strategic dilemmas a bunch of transport aircraft were able to create for the Soviets, and options they created for the US, and none of those pilots were shooting pistols at targets or flying like cowboys. The ability to deliver a couple thousand tons of cargo a day, safely, is a unique and war-winning capability in the right circumstances - we need to play to our strengths, not pretend we're ACC light.

I'm sure some people agree with his assessment. But the point is it's not his assessment to make and blast out to the whole world. His job is to manage AMC, make sure it's as good as it can be, and leave the strategy up to the secaf, csaf, secdef, Congress, potus etc... Attaching a specific year to your prediction is especially asinine because you're almost begging for it to happen on that timeline. He could have said something like "near peer conflict in the pacific is likely in the coming years so I need you to all be ready." That says basically the same thing inside AMC without everyone in DC having to run damage control for you.

I emailed AFPC about dates and when we should find out (since some of you already are). They said expect feb 20 for all mfs and ift rips to be sent out. They also said that they’d hopefully have PCS locations & dates by then.

And on top of that, Ronna got re-elected. The DNC is pure hammered dogshit of the highest caliber, and should be simple to crush. And yet, the RNC is embarrassingly incompetent and living in a fantasy world. The only hope is someone like Desantis or Paul wins the primary, but the GOP establishment is just as corrupt and corrosive as the Dem establishment, so won’t be surprised to watch them “take the competition out” like the Dems did with Tulsi. Fuck! I need a whiskey.

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

The new ordnance item contained in this latest Aid Package = The 'Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB)/long-range, all-aspect, precision-attack, ground-launched weapon developed by Saab in partnership with Boeing to address the emerging needs of armed forces.' U.S. readies $2 bln-plus Ukraine aid package with longer-range weapons -sources | Reuters

What’s the lead time to establish a trained Viper pilot. What if I give you every 3rd guy is a former Mig29 or other high performance aircraft pilot. Ok now let’s compare that with the time to train a system operator in any air defense system… They are taking rounds against their infrastructure now. Yes we can give these guys access to the NATO stock of 4th Gen aircraft but acting like just having high performance aircraft is “how we achieve air dominance” is ignorant whether you are reading about it in a rag like Telegraph or saying it as anyone that has been to the Party wearing a US uniform. If the argument was they need X because they’ve expended their hole stocks of Y that would be a different argument. They aren’t making that argument. They are trying to pretend we haven’t given anything that solves the problem and the tanks will somehow be exposed to some massive losses from air power the Russians have yet to demonstrate any capability at doing. Viper or something similar is a very small part in that massive mechanism we wield to achieve Air Superiority and dominance our way (from the Air primarily). Pretending they have all or some of the other facets of what makes that achievable and the missing link here is us giving them Vipers/Mirages/Tornados/god damned spitfires is ignorant at best. And the other issue with that article is it alluding to the idea that the Uke’s haven’t created a storm of problems for the current Russian air threat both with the systems they had on hand and the ones we are giving them. Acting like the thing that Russian air has been waiting on is the presence of modern NATO armor to get off its ass and be part of this fight is ignorant of all the burning bent hulks of what used to be a Fullback/Frogfoot/etc littering Ukraine over the last few months. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The part you leave out though is we are still going to buy that extra Ford class aircraft carrier. I think thats where the contention comes in.

Let's also be honest. Not a single cent that has gone to Ukraine would have been used in any meaningful way to make the US better. Infrastructure desperately needs updating. Our education sucks. Health care?

We’ve sent million of dollars worth of air defense systems ranging from PAC3 to Geperd to MANPADS like Stinger. “Oh no we won’t give them Vipers” seems like a statement of ignorance considering their military model doesn’t attempt to achieve Air Superiority through air platforms. Haven’t done anything to give them Air Dominance… tell that to Russian Fullback, Hokum, and Frogfoot drivers. I’m sure the reason we are seeing the Russians resort to massed drone and cruise missile bombardment or lobbing pods full of rockets at high angle Blind has nothing to do with the danger of exposing their manned platforms to the battlefield. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

For sure. SHould have been more specific. OEF post 2010

Plenty of AMC crews reported airbursts and "tracking projectiles" during my OEF/OIF/Alphabet soup days. (2010 to the end) 🙂

CBS news now reporting the FBI DID search the Penn Biden Center in November of 2022. Funny, that never made the news before the election, the White House mislead everyone and it is just now coming to light...

If they could find a tailor, they'd be a force

Retired Air Force intelligence officer had 'hundreds' of classified documents in his Florida home including Top Secret briefs on the NSA's capabilities, feds say WTF? Former Presidents, Vice Presidents, Senators and now LtCol Intel types taking TS/SCI home...seriously what are these idiots thinking?

I think your point is valid but I think sometimes there is value in stirring the pot. He’s a 4 star of a MAJCOM, he expressed the martial spirit and perhaps awkwardly a bit inspired his troops I think he was trying to channel this We need not always be reserved and restrained, letting our foes and competitors know that we are ready and on some level itching for fight is a good way to nurture deterrence Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No idea about the Reserves/Guard. However, getting backpay is the least they can do after threatening to destroy someone's livelihood with an Other Than Honorable discharge. I wouldn't be surprised if that was one carrot to use to try and avoid lawsuits.

Buddy of mine who refused the vaccine just got called into legal. They asked if he wanted to continue his separation or return to active duty. He said the latter but wanted his record scrubbed of the adverse fitrep and page 11s. It was already done. They asked him what orders he wanted, he received orders to a new squadron that is standing up, which he requested. He also is going to receive all back pay, about $110k.

Got my dates this morning, RNLTD of 6 May to Columbus!

We absolutely should have preference or ranked-choice voting in every election nationwide. It takes a bit of additional voter education, but it enables more nuanced preferences of the electorate to be expressed.

My biggest concern is that when Trump doesn’t win the Rep primary that he decides to run as an Independent and then in turn splits the Rep ticket. This would almost guarantee the Dems to win the 2024 election…

Kinda weird that the memo is dated 1 Feb (a couple days in the future from when it was sent). But, overlooking that slight anomaly, I think it was a poor attempt to try and (re)galvanize AMC into a wartime mindset. The people that are going to have to worry about their vRED and getting slapped around by China don't need to be told to empty a "clip" (WTF) into the head. Ops and MXG already have that mind set. Get the other groups onboard. But that will never happen. The frozen middle administrators in support roles in AMC make everything harder than it needs to be. I want to be optimistic about what he is trying to accomplish but this memo was a piss poor attempt IMO. February: My bases CATM literally can't keep up with the current demand so all the pilots we have no longer keep up weapons qual. Now they want everyone to shoot in the month February? Okay...that's not going to happen. Update vRED. Neat. Can I just wait until it's mandatory for me to update it or do I literally need to waste time and look it over? Also, thanks for reminding me that in a war with China I'm gonna die. I'll just add that to my pros/cons of getting out of the Air Force list...how much QOL is dying worth? I guess the $400k SGLI will be nice though...anyone know if civilian life insurance covers PL-15's or is that something I have to get specific policy for? March: Go see JAG to get my household affairs in order. Neat...again. Maybe the JAG will know the answer about my life insurance question. I think I'll just push the separation button slightly earlier actually. I can do that from my office instead of going all the way to the JAG. We can't even get a working autopilot on the -135 and you want to modify it to be a drone carrier? How about we get it back into RVSM airspace as a realistic and achievable goal. /rant

Trump opens 2024 run, says he's 'more committed' than ever

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.

Start a new thread Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

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.

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.

Don't wear a mask to school if you're sick, stay home. There.

A dude in my squadron said he declined a pilot slot because he wanted ABM instead