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“Mr. President, we must not allow a balloon gap!”

I think we also vastly underestimate the VAST VAST VAST majority of people in society who just give zero fucks and really have more shit on their plate than taking the personal time to advocate for someone/something. I don't particularly like some of the injustices going on in society and I will definitely get vocal with 2 beers at a party, but you won't find me out there writing articles, picketing, or doing anything that otherwise distracts me from the 6 million obligations I have each week to make sure I can pay rent and not be homeless.

the real question is, is it ADSB-out compliant? Otherwise someone call the FSDO, they're prob not busy seeing as they don't accept walk-ins for IACRA CFI renewals.... 😄

Do they get Berets? That alone would allow me to live my best life!

6 posts in, and this thread is destined for classic status.

7m? That's impossible!

You all scoffed Mini and his 7m target guidance but now we have thousands of AMC trained ADA Counter-balloon crews ready to go!

Gotta let the Raptors kill it so they can actually get an air to air kill before they retire the jet. Or even better would be the Strike that killed the helo with a bomb AND a wayward MQ-1 back in the day. Add a balloon to that livery for the most eclectic kill roster ever.

Receiving now? Sorry. However, I do want to thank you for the ToL link (above), I have a subscription and think that is well worth $2./mo.

We stand nothing to gain? From taking most of Russia’s pieces off the chessboard? From showing the Chinese how high invasion costs can be? From gaining valuable intelligence on how Russian supplied war machines work? From coalescing Western allies in ways we haven’t seen in decades? From taking the Russians out of the European energy game? Etcetera. Etcetera. Curious as to what you think are more worthwhile foreign policy goals?

@Danger41 The tactics examples you mentioned are all good stuff and the reason I get out of bed in the morning as well. Don't get me wrong I love my job. I love flying fast jets and I love trying to get better every day and improve how the CAF does things. Like you, I also have been involved in some meaningful changes on the tactics and instruction side. I also really really care about teaching the FNGs coming up the right way to do things. From an ops perspective I am 0% jaded. But there is a whole other side of my job, and that's the one I'm pissed about. I notice none of the innovations you cited have anything to do with queep reduction or admin. The administrivia side of the Air Force is kind to those who "play the game" so the only people who ever make rank high enough to change the game are the people who played it in the first place. You asked why I want specific directives from top level leaders. It's because I believe that's the only thing that will dismantle the queep empire that's been built. I don't need specifics from majcom/ccs about tactics or mission leadership or how to manage my flight. I want specifics because generic inspirational fluff does not make it down through the 69 layers of administrators to result in any change at squadron level. A perfect example of this: a few years ago when Debbie James was the secaf, they did an additional duties reduction initiative. Big email got sent out about it saying something generic about how we're going to get leaner and reduce add'l duties. Literally the next day I was appointed the squadron emergency management rep, and DTS AO. The secaf email and my new appointments email were sitting right next to each other in my inbox. The next one was some horseshit about looking for volunteers to run that year's CFC. I screenshotted it at the time because I couldn't believe the irony of these 3 emails sitting next to each other. But anyway, cheers. I'll keep trying to fight the good fight, get better in the jet, and the moment I can get chat gpt to automate the queep side of my job I will spread the gospel far and wide.

So here’s my honest question: If there is indeed an issue here, why aren’t the rest of the flight surgeons across the services raising the flag? Are we really to believe that everyone but LtCol Long is either part of the conspiracy or has otherwise been silenced? I’m sorry, but if one LtCol is making noises while the rest of the medical institution says vaccinations are safe, I tend to throw out the outlier. Four out of five dentists & all that jazz.

Ameriflight has a UPS flow-ish thing going on: https://w3.ameriflight.com/ups-flightpath/ Not sure what our (brown) future hiring looks like. Things are kinda on pause for the moment, but you’d at least be checking the multi turbine PIC boxes. I’ve heard it’s a lot of work tho. Those guys help load the freight & can be doing single pilot IFR at night in some pretty gnarly weather and terrain. Not for the faint of heart. Maybe not for those mature enough to understand risk management either but might be worth a look.

Ah ok, didn't realize there was a difference with the medical exemption guys as we just have religious exemption guys. Here's hoping you have plenty of time before your next "year" to get a good year now. Even more so, I hope they just go back and give you credit for that year.

Go to 46:22 - 'More than half the women in my administration are women'

That's correct. I was denied a medical exemption in the fall of 2021 (far too long of a story to detail here). A Dec '21 memo from the SecAF basically said no/pay no points and eventual invol assignment to the IRR for TRs/DSGs. So I did no Guard duty from Jan 2022 until just recently after the NDAA eliminated the mandate, thus missing out on that good year. Religious exemptions, on the other hand, were slow-rolled and eventually a court injunction paused adverse actions against members with a RAR. They were allowed to continue drilling/flying. I was offered the option to pursue a religious exemption after my medical was denied, but I had my hill and was ready to die on it. I am in a fortunate enough position with my airline gig to be able to push back on all of this without losing much sleep.

If it ain't got Glenn Plake in it, I'm not watching it!

The original 1984 Hot Dog was a true inspiration for me. This could be me. Bet I'm the only one on here to compete in ballet skiing.

Over Montana? WTF Risk is he weighing?

Let's hope they rice to the occasion. Deciding what to do in this unbelievabao situation must be tso stressful.

You're right. We should absolutely not joke about it. Lets all take a moment of reflection and pray for our leaders in this tense moment.

Don't forget to critique the source, but not the content. Recent Data Shows 'Stunning Increase' In Serious Harm Reports In Young Healthy Pilots: Army Lt. Col. Theresa Long https://archive.is/AdbGX

1. In what reality am I supposed to make geopolitical (support/oppose) decisions based on my personal physical or financial health? I must be reading that one wrong. 2. Sacrificing lives? Show me the American that is forcing the Ukrainians to fight. FFS. They can end this war tomorrow. Are we sacrificing Russian lives too? Is everything our fault? Power of the seller. You want an iPhone, you pay the fee Apple charges. Want to use the app store? You sign their EULA first. Lets try taking the whole quote this time: A little different when you don't selectively quote. I have. And? I don't get your point. Are those Americans beating them? Have there been intercepted emails from Washington telling the Ukrainians they better get in there and fight, or else? How about some of the Russians raping kids and disemboweling them in front of their parents? No stomach turning there? War is fucking ugly. You show me the war that was civil and maybe we can talk, but until then this is just another dream that we can't base our foreign policy off. Read the tea leaves. We aren't going to responsibly-spend our way out of this mess. If you haven't figured that out now, I envy your optimism, but we aren't. We will spend until we hit whatever level triggers a massive upheaval that leads to the end of fiat (again). We'll get back to fiat one day, but everything goes in cycles. So between now and then we are going to spend XXX dollars of fake money, and I'd rather tilt the distribution towards spending that will weaken our enemies and strengthen our industries so we win the recovery. Not spending on the good things does not equal spending less. It just means spending more on the dumb things. Clearly you've never dealt with that type of crazy. Lucky, but until you have you can't understand it. I'm not upset about it, my life is pretty great. Most lives are a hell of a lot better, but that's because we are at a peak, I think. What's dark is what's coming, and I don't believe it can be escaped. Debts are always paid, and we have taken out huge debts to give everyone more than they are producing in return. That will have to come out of the next few generations, either evenly distributed (everyone has a lower quality of life) or unevenly (lots of people die, removing themselves from the list of debtors).

Thanks man! You’ll be in a good spot once you get the class date locked down. I think Trident is one of the few credible lenders out there that can speak/execute AD/reserves/airlines loans very well. There are some small broker shops that do but they don’t lend their own money or do their own underwriting. I always recommend folks transitioning add a mortgage plan to their 1yr out checklist if they plan to move. Once you are inside of 1yr from your separation date no underwriter for any VA, conventional or FHA can use that income because it’s not stable. There are ways to use future income or close you before your separation date is in but you gotta know the rules to work the gray area. I see other lenders preapprove people all the time based on their current AD income because they don’t check anything or are incompetent then it all comes falling apart in underwriting. Helped a guy who’s lender canceled them the day of closing because they did a final employment verification and discovered the separation date. Don’t fall for fancy sales tricks or being told what you want to hear. Always here to help! Jon

You probably know better than I that the AF is built upon regs that tell you only what you’re allowed to do. If you do anything outside what is specifically stated then you’re wrong. With this alone in mind I get the sentiment about wanting specific guidance. When I think about the sq, og, and wg/cc I’ve dealt with in the CAF, I have zero trust that they would have my back based on this memo. Obviously I can’t speak for AMC. I saw it when the approval to roll-up sleeves started and we had dudes carrying around the memo so they could tell chiefs to get bent. I’ve heard numerous stories about chiefs arguing with CGOs about how it’s not allowed because the reg hasn’t changed yet. This was rolling up our ffing sleeves mind you. I’m sure you’ve heard similar stories. The “if the reg doesn’t make sense, then do what makes sense and we’ll get the reg changed.” was a warm fuzzy for about 6.9 sec. Standing infront of the Bobs and explaining why we should violate a reg. because it’s the right thing to do for the sq/training etc, when you know all they care about is getting that school slot is a daunting thing for a young Capt. Bottom line. I have zero trust in the majority of individuals in leadership positions that I’ve dealt with in the CAF. CGO/FGOs need actually backing to make these changes because when the bros don’t trust their local leadership they need something specific and definable to back-up their thinking. Otherwise it’s onto the shit list and guard life here we come.

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.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-to-search-mike-pences-home-for-additional-classified-materials-11675356965 FBI in talks to schedule an additional search of Pence's home. Just like with Biden. Pence can continue living at his home in the meantime, his lawyer did the original search that turned up classified, etc. No conspiracy, just cooperation. It's weird that when you're not a belligerent asshole who ignores subpoenas you don't get raided. If you cooperate with an investigation like this, things can be a bit more gentlemanly. Pence is getting treated exactly like Biden has (other than the special counsel at least so far), and IMHO there's nothing fishy about it at all. Trump was treated differently because he acted very differently when the Archives & FBI started asking questions.