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@Lord Ratner Valid points. The bitch for quite awhile has been why are DAL pilots flying record premium pay while simultaneously wanting a new contract. But, it has still worked out, assuming TA passes. The “mission focus” vs. “fuck the company, do only exactly what’s required” is a fine balance. I agree do the right thing, which includes not rushing, cutting corners, completely jumping through your ass to make it happen, or doing anything else that may affect safety/your fitness for duty. But also keep in mind your actions can either make a family’s day/life, or they can destroy it. So if safety is not a concern, then I understand wanting to get flights out and help the people in back. You don’t know who on the plane is trying to make it to see their parent in the hospital one last time or make a once in a lifetime family reunion. Once had a CA give me shit for taking 3 min of my time to source a wheelchair for an old lady because Prospect sucks ass. Got it, not my job, but also that old lady doesn’t deserve the screw job either. We all should remember the human aspect still matters for something.

I'm guessing it'll be a bit more like this...

Yes! These are the two examples I always use. Bundy shows a bloodless use of the 2A. Waco shows a bloody use. Yeah, those people died, but because of their guns they forced the government to draw blood for what they wanted, and that price turned out to be too high, leading to changes in how the govt performs raids. The 2A is about increasing the cost of tyranny, not just allowing for a popular revolt.

Seems like we just discovered balloons are “always in the notch”. Now that NORAD is turning off the filters, I think there are going to be a lot more scrambles to check out radar anomalies.

I get it, but I still think there are situations where some guys go too far with “fuck the company” and fuck over a lot of people because of their quest for ultimate spite. You can play hardball and still seek to minimize pain for people when able, they are not completely mutually exclusive. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating taking extensions, sprinting a mile from TSA to the gate, skipping the shitter, etc. But I’m also not going to purposely come up with a bullshit excuse to force a timeout to force a canx just because I want to be a dick to the company. Seen that one, and I just don’t agree with it.

DeSantis work for you?

When MAC decided we were going to learn CRM in the early 80s we were taught by United Airlines instructors. We learned not just the Asians have that culture. To start off just the Pilots and FEs got the training. During the initial class my pilot, who was a great pilot and AC(you need to be both in a Herk), sarcastically asked "Does this mean I have to actually listen to what the FE says?" Of course the instructor didn't get the sarcasm. Bit of a learning curve for him about Herk crews.

I've been personally wrestling with this. The answer for traditional reserve retirement: As a TR, if you retire with paperwork that says O-4, you get O-4 pay when you finally get it at age 60. My MFP troops were kind enough to show me that in writing...no idea the reg...to make sure the fight was worth fighting. After being twice passed over, I pinned on O-5 shortly before separating for the AFRC (long story). Fast forward to me with 20 good years (a few years after joining the AFRC) and ARPC started claiming that my DOR was my accession date into the reserves, NOT my actual DOR when I pinned on while on AD. Our personnelists were entirely perplexed, but it turns out that they can't call ARPC directly. Yes, you read that correctly. There is no pipeline for base level AFRC personnelists (at least mine) to contact ARPC directly. They had to submit a trouble ticket, just like I did. They got the same answer I did: "you need 3 years TIG" with no reference or reg that states your DOR becomes your accession date. Four months and much pain later: My personnelists finally found the AFI/AFMAN/REG that states with no break in service, you keep your original date of rank. POOF! Magically my retirement order is published to retire as an O-5 at my originally requested date. ARPC is a completely corrupt clown show run by GS's who will suckle at the teat until they literally die, all the while stating as "fact" what is actually "I think I remember from back in my day the reg said..." Two UTA's left.

Looks like somebody in a Viper got to launch a Sidewinder today...

USAF just shot down another one over Lake Huron.

Did one of these get away?

I'm sure they appreciate you quoting that image so it shows up twice on this thread. You Ass.

10 USC 1370A is one source. One is definitely demoted when transferred to the grey area if he can’t hold his rank. This new rank then becomes a basis for actual high-36 calculations which are performed at age 60 or the RRPA. How could it be otherwise? Additional proof of this is what 4Fans detailed above with his original transfer order in which ARPC couldn’t seem to figure out something as basic as a DOR!

But you know how confidently wrong they are all the time! They’re good at one thing, and that’s it right there.

Most of the time we take a 15-20 minute delay and still block in three minutes early.

Yep. I’m pretty confident a Bundy type event will happen where I live if required…choose wisely where you live in this country. There are likely rockier times ahead before things swing better.

4Fans: That'd be a "why" question, but I'll take a stab. Based on what I've observed over 10 years as a reserve/guard, it is now clear to me that RegAF 1. does not "like" the part-time ARC and would rather it not be a thing, 2. Has never gotten on board with the idea that ARC members rate a retirement (or anything, really). As a result nothing has ever fundamentally changed and nothing will change, I predict. Witness Congress over the years repeatedly tell DOD to fix the ARC's systemic problems, and what happens? Study after study, making Rand rich, but no hint of systemic change ever happens, just more band-aids. Examples: 1. Early in the GWOT RegAF complained that it was "hard" to access reserves for their purposes. DOD came up with yet another duty status called ADOS (we're now up to 30 duty statuses, BTW). RegAF worried that Reserves would then easily stay on ADOS their whole career and then get a Regular retirement. The 1095 rule was born--1095 was supposed to be tied to a position, but having no mechanism for tracking this, they tied it to the person, the added benefit being that they could deny a regular retirement to individuals (for the most part). Navy & Army are much more aggressive than AF when it comes to a concerted effort to deny. 2. AFRES has been talking for YEARS about reforming basic functions such as UTAPS and AROWS, yet all they have are excuses as to why they cannot. 3. DOD whined about medical readiness in the reserve. Congress responded with making Tricare and Tricare Dental available to reservists. DOD opposed this. 4. AFRES's record-keeping system for reserve points was basically non-existent. The effect was that reservists would apply for retirement and then have to prove their service. If unable, AFRES would deny the retirement. Congress responded with a band-aid fix of mandating PCARS and issuance of the 20-yr letter which could not be revoked. AFRES opposed this idea and watered it down to include an out for themselves: "the number of years of creditable service and retirement points upon which retired pay is computed may be adjusted to correct any error." Ergo, the onus is ultimately still on the reservist, potentially, to prove his service. 5. When I first entered the SELRES I asked many benefit questions to the finance/personnelists both at my group and ARPC. I received virtually no information and the information I did receive was littered with errors/outright wrong. I concluded that these people didn't know and didn't care because they were full-timers (whether ART or AGR or attempting a Regular retirement) and it didn't affect them. It became quite obvious to me that I would need to find answers on my own starting with title 10 and go from there because the AFIs themselves are littered with errors. 6. BLAB: RegAF runs the show, does not care about the ARC, and any attempts at reform point to the desire of RegAF and ARC Full-timers to just do away with the entire concept of a part-time force because it's pesky to them. This explains the constant drum beat of "we're an operational reserve." It also explains the constant push to get rid of IRR participation (achieved by AFRES except for ALO and CAP-RAP--but they're working on it), points for correspondence courses (achieved by the Army), and the absolute disaster that the IMA program is currently devolving into, sped along by the so-called "IMA Strategic Review Team." Basically the AF wants people on active duty or not on active duty, but can't seem to get there because of their desire to deny benefits in the name of saving money.

1970's - 2020's Reagan - Desantis Russians - Chinese/Russians Severe 'self induced' Inflation - Severe 'self induced' inflation ('self induced' reads: "democrat controlled legislation induced" seriously...read history) Negative Media Bias - Negative Media Bias...with a heavy Left tilt High waisted pants on my wife for no reason - High waisted pants on my wife for no reason Entitled generation of toddlers hanging in the balance - Entitled generation of toddlers hanging in the balance Just exited unpopular war that left a bunch of vets really unhappy - Just exited unpopular war that left a bunch of vets really unhappy. So, this is what the 70's were like? Cool

Break @Tank Thank you kind sir! Break Also, @Danger41 The line "It's the choice in life" almost made me piss myself. Lol. Kenny Powers for President!!!!

Tank’s inner monologue right now.

4Fans: That’s good. The other 2 most important documents will be your 20-yr letter and your PCARS printout. Heard about an old boy went to Army HRC to get his retired pay started. HRC says they have no record of him at all. He had his 20 yr letter, tho, so HRC knew they had to pay him something. But with no record of how many points he had earned, they gave him 50 pts per yr for 20 yrs. That’s brutal. My 20 yr letter has my points as of my 20th yr printed on it, so may not be a factor for you, but I’d get PCARS printout anyway, especially with their screwing around with all the software.

Thanks for the clarification, I must have mixed up the AGR and DSG retirements.

...so long as you're looking for hostile re-naming fodder...

Hindsight2020: Army’s press release is incorrect, tho. 10 USC 1370A does say the same as 1370, meaning reserve and regular are both 3 yrs TIG now.

That's AGR/regAF retirement, not TR/DSG. For a TR/DSG retirement, the grey area (time during retired reserve, aka the grey years, which usually top most people out at 30) payscale longevity accrual is based on retired grade, which would be O-4 for an O-5 without 3 year TIG. See chida's response. As such, that's why this mickey mouse business about TIG potato has always been centric to TRs, not AGRs or regAF (a mere vanity on paperwork for the latter two). break break According to Army sources, TR O-4s should still be golden on 6 months TIG. Typical of the DoD: WTFK Link source ETA: Just saw Dec 2021, not 22. Perhaps the latest change made the inclusion of non-regular retirement retired grades.

My experience on the Herk is everyone communicates a lot on the flight deck except the FE. Then when the FE opens his mouth almost everyone shuts up. Its always something like "heh.... thats interesting....." and suddenly both pilots and the nav are dead silent with their shoulder turned. I don't know if they train them like that or what but its like a ridiculous CRM tool. I could tune out a landing gear horn probably but I will never fucking tune out a Flight Engineer that says "heh.... thats interesting....."

As long as CAs keep flying premium solving their problems for them I doubt anything Unless APA and the AA flight crews stop flying premium they (management) are not under enough pressure Just my two cents from the outside on MLOA Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did AA recurrent training last month and they had a compilation video of vehicles hitting jets or almost hitting jets. The total number of hits on aircraft was over 200. My personal favorite was a high speed baggage tug dragging several carts and the driver makes a sharp turn thus throwing himself out of the tug. And, as our intrepid driver collects road rash bouncing and rolling across the concrete, the now driverless tug and carts careen into another tug and carts. I'm guessing we aren't hiring our best and brightest for these jobs. But it is nice to know that those guys can just swipe a card to enter the airport secure area while 50% or better of pilots are getting tagged for additional screening.

2014, Bundy ranch in Nevada. Armed citizens won a standoff with the feds - the feds finally just quit and walked away (I think because they ultimately knew another Waco would be really bad for them).

Maryland Senator submits bill make the age of consent to vaccination 14 years old, without parents' permission. However... if the parent desires the child be vaccinated, the 14 year old child cannot refuse. Sort of has an evil vibe to it. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2023RS/bills/sb/sb0378f.pdf

Even if this was only a big bag of wonton farts, this was great coordination by all involved. Joint PME complete! Sent from my SM-F721U using Tapatalk

It was a complete lie, most of his voters will stupidly believe it though. I really liked how McCarthy tried to be the adult in the room. Makes Pelosi look like a petulant child from two years ago . The SOTU is nothing more than political theater. Accomplishes absolutely nothing.

It’s almost like we’ve known these things for years now…weird.

At least we recovered the high tech balloon material.

Congrats to BigRed on his initial Solo in the U-2 on Wednesday. 🥃 He will be known as "Solo 1095". Not bad for an old Navy guy.

Good breakdown of the whole COVID-19 religious exemption debacle. It’s hard watching these things cause all it does is make you so upset/sad and reminds you of one of the most embarrassing times in military history. Spitting in the face of warfighters much better than me who have gone to hell and back for this country.

Also press should be mandated to report financial contributions for stories they run. You might not know this but companies often pay news organizations to write stories or do segments on their products/service disguised as "news." Same goes for political campaigns that do the exact same thing. Lastly, a significant amount of primary education needs focused on teaching people that news media is not a reliable source of information in any capacity. There's a reason its not citable in academia but we need to be more explicit at telling youth and teens that media isn't there for your benefit to consume information--its there for the benefit of other entities who want to advertise products/services or push policy efforts. The legitimate news stories that are featured on news are often just there to keep the entire image of media as a trustworthy source afloat and make it impossible to distinguish biased/bent stories. But by and large a journalist does not have a noble job--their job is to make revenue for their network. Same as any other private sector entity. Why we place so much trust in them is beyond me.

I agree. Americans are bored. If you put down the chainsaw, gardening tools, close the door to the chicken door and sit down and think about how absurd the shit that woke people are concerned with is, it makes sense. They are extremely comfortable, safe, and therefore bored. Again, I don't think ill of urbanites. But I can see the boredom. Unfortunately I can also see the fragility of the safety net.