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I’m absolutely not trying to start a religious debate (full disclosure I’m a practicing Christian) but this type of comment always intrigues me. Every phase of humanity (at least Western cultures post-Renaissance) has thought they were the peak of human knowledge and understanding. Time and time again, we’ve proven ourselves wrong and changed our thoughts on things. Hell, look at the progress of aviation where the peak of scientific knowledge and thought basically proved it was impossible or we couldn’t pass the sound barrier, etc. My $0.02 is that I think we were all blessed by our creator with the ability to think critically and that is a blessing, not something to be stomped out. Having said that, I don’t understand why kids get cancer, why war happens, why MyEval keeps coming back, etc. Whether it’s a divine test (story of Job), a lesson (rain falls on the just and unjust alike), or just a bad deal (Psalm 73:3 & 13…basically says bad people have good things and what’s the point of living right when I get bad things), I truly don’t know. And I’m sure non-Christians will dunk on me for this, but I find peace in that.

*agnostic has entered the chat* *nihilist has entered the chat* *deist has entered the chat*

We wouldn’t really be talking about this stuff if the dems and this administration weren’t so full retard on all the grooming homo/trans stuff. I’ve never seen a more illogical fanaticism for such unhealthy, immoral, and dangerous ideology. There is nothing beneficial to the individuals involved or the society that allows and fosters this type of insanity. And, it’s downright destructive for the kids caught up in the madness. Heck ole demented Joe and that whack job spokesperson were blaming 9 year old kids in Nashville for their own death at the hands of a trannie. Saying the poor trannies had to respond since all of us are trying to kill them. I know we’re a constitutional republic and that allows complete individual liberty, which i wholly support and swore to defend, but that doesn’t mean the government should encourage and incentivize unhealthy and destructive behavior or ideology. And it def doesn’t mean we should let adults screw up our kids.

When you realize you’re the chick in a college date scenario and the AF is the dude who only cares about fucking you…

I'm not particularly religious but I always find it hilarious that atheist talk about the bible and fairy tails on one hand and then "we probably live in a computer simulation" on the other.

I agree with @Danger41 that it is interesting that, for the most part, each generation has more knowledge available than the previous generation yet never seems to learn that we are always learning and much of what previous generations "knew for a fact" was in fact wrong. Go through a museum today and what strikes me even more than the vast amount of information available is the absolute absence of any humility. You will almost never see the terms "scientists think" or "evidence suggests". Theories are presented as irrefutable fact because science cannot be wrong. A generation ago, many considered the majority of the Old Testament to be complete fiction and even much of the historic figures and places of the New Testament to be fictional as well. Historians pointed to the absence of any King David, until the Tel Dan Inscription was discovered. Then more and more archeology discoveries proved Luke's description of people and places to be remarkably accurate, even places he never personally went to. People may be quick to dismiss the Bible has parables and fiction, but put just as much faith in unproven theories with considerable problems in them. For example, what actually caused the big bang? Something doesn't explode for no reason. How did life come from inanimate objects? Richard Dawkins, one of the smartest atheists of our time, answers that with ... aliens. But that only prolongs the question because then where did the aliens come from? To me, the atheist potion takes more faith than the Christian position. If I'm wrong, I've wasted time time and money. If the atheist is wrong, there is literally hell to pay for eternity. Perhaps we should start a thread on Christian apologetics in the Air Force.

I think your post is pretty spot on. Nobody is going to get hired because they brought the nicest bottle. But, it’s also a tool to help people remember you/your name when discussions on who to hire come up, FWIW.

I put everything on the GTC when I am TDY, except the strip clubs. After the DEAMS debacle years ago, when some of us fools didn't get paid for deployments for MONTHS, I started using my GTC for everything. Why? The Air Force is not going to send me on a deployment away from my family, expect me to pay out of pocket, and then, due to a deficiency in a system (they most likely procured from the lowest bidder), not pay me for months. I remember when leadership in my unit at the time told us we had to pay off our GTC on our own without payment. I LOL'd at that one and said, "Yeah, you may as well just type that LOC up now.". Sent from my SM-F721U using Tapatalk

My father (never-military) once quipped when conversing with me about his geo-bachelor father (retired USA SP5, English-non-proficient, gone 20 years, complicated homesteading circumstances not made easier by my grandmother choosing to remain local, to be fair to the man), that he anecdotally felt he probably had a korean, filipino, or vietnamese half-sibling on this Earth, and he'll never know. Then he went on with the conversation. It was the most nonchalant comment, this is before I entered the military anyways so it didn't particularly resonate. Took me years of my own service, token TDYs over to PACAF, to finally recall that comment and realize once you put it in the proper context of that time (1946-1966 for my grandfather), how it really isn't that much of a stretch. break--break-- As to present day pearl-clutching, I'm of the opinion it's high time for systemic overhaul to frat rules anyhow. Demographics of the military are saturated with female members writ large. For every "undue command influence" so-called scandal about senior officers disparaging the supposed good order and morale of the Service, we all know of the thousands of lasting marriages borne out of fraternization. If it's a matter of pretense for domestic consumption, that's fine by me. I'm no warrior monk nor is it like we didn't go through DADT (spank you today, give you a medal for it tomorrow) for decades as an acceptable COA for the Service's inability to process their own cultural myopia. But the nerve of the service to get chagrinned about any of this. I know I know, not supposed to talk about fight club, but after 17 years I've grown quite insensitive to the warrior monk litmus test virtue signaling. They're gonna run out of bare bone technical/aptitude bar clearing volunteers if they keep it up. The Col Jessup mantra has never rang more true for me. Solicit my indenture, then question the manner in which I provide it. lol. You know, this wouldn't make a terrible prologue to my memoirs for ol' Jr to read in my passing: "Dearest [redacted], here's the story of how your English-illiterate great grandfather retired an SP5, and your father an iron major nobody with 5,000 hours and no staff tours....we did it our way. Chapter 1: *inhales* ". 🤣

You would be surprised at what they teach at "Colonel Charm School." They start by sending you a document attached to a congratulations note. Paraphrasing the document but mostly verbatim: 1. Don't ask to be stationed near your parents because they are ill, all Colonels have older parents and we can not accommodate. 2. Don't ask for an extension in one location so your kid can finish high school, all Colonels have kids in high school. 3. Expect to move a lot, the average Colonel moved every 18 months. The needs of the service were never more true than now that you are a Colonel. 4. Again, don't ask for the above, if you don't like these rules, thanks for your service, bye Felicia. I went through both the Group Commander Course and the Wing Commander Course prior to taking command and both were centered on "here are the things that gets Colonels in trouble: 1. The car - I shit you not...long discussions about the rules for using your White Top. The car went away after my command so I guess it was even more sensitive. 2. Money - Be careful and be sure about how you and those in your command spend govt funds...trust but verify. 3. Your dick - I forget the percentage but as I recall almost half of all instances of being removed from command were caused by misplacing your dick. There was a small section about being a dick...for a brief time the AF was actually going to stop caustic leaders but we all know that was just lip service.

The pendulum swings hard left followed immediately by hard right. For a while O-6's had to volunteer to be considered for command...that resulted in a shortage of "HiPos" seeking command. A Corona discussion followed..."we aren't people volunteering for command? The reason as it turns out, people were freaking tired...I can't imagine why? As is the norm CSAF responded by making all O-6's "all in" whether they like it or not for the next command screening cycle. I don't know what it looks like now but in 2014 they had a SERB for O-6s, two years later they asked O-6's to come back from retirement to fill certain staff roles. Also, as I recall in 2020 or 2021 AFSOC lost almost 60 O-6's, that is a lot of experience walking out the door to escape some caustic leadership. Regardless of what they say your best interest is NOT in Big Blue's crosscheck. You are just another number in the system.

I can't imagine why so many people retire instead of taking the promotion to O-6...

And if you’re too drunk and fuck that one up, pay that shit off immediately and don’t tell anyone. You’ll probably be fine…totally only heard that from a friend, no chance I personally had that experience…

Use the ATM outside of the juicy bar, not the one inside.

What is a woman?

That’s exactly what every younger/lower income dude should do. Don’t put a cent on your own card and there’s zero risk to yourself. And remember, you can always use your GTC at an ATM if you need cash (but recommend choosing wisely on which ATM you use). Now once you’re higher income and can take the “temp hit” because you want your own points/rewards - follow your heart.

The current "Brief" at least takes you to dinner and pretends to listen to you first...but no changes since your time.

You know how the USA Women's soccer team gets better? They play 15-year-old boys' teams. And they get smoked by them.

i did...he quoted me where I asked to specify metrics to illustrate his point, and he didn't. ok, cool. Let's use Honduras as an (extreme) example. By what metric are they better than America? What you call conversion, I call progress. We have just about the entirety of human knowledge at our fingertips, so for someone to question some religious parable and realize it just doesn't add up (Noah's Ark?)...that's ok with me. Thanks for the discussion.🍻

Just another Tuesday night on the boardwalk at KAF… watching another O6 eat ice cream with an E4…. Nothing to worry about…. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I can't wait for the tit (😉) for tat that follows. DAs in conservative cities going after dems and vice-versa. There will be no one left to run the country. Show me one politician in DC that hasn't committed some sort of crime that us commoners would serve time for. They've all done something shady to get where they are. All of them.

We have walked away from what made us great. Every great power I can think of in history that walked away from what made them a great power has completely collapsed. I cannot think of any that have peacefully transitioned from one type of successful society to another. Perhaps Great Britain, but that was also driven by the two worst wars in history and still caused her to fall from the status of a great power. Athens was a great power due to their navy and empire. During the war with Sparta, they built up a land army and rested on their laurels with their navy. Sparta built a navy, took the empire from Athens and Athens has been a marginal power since. Ironically, Sparta's change from a small elite land army to a larger naval power led to her collapse. Similarly, Rome became great largely due to their style of government and incentives for conquered peoples to profit from joining Rome. After Cesar, the government slowly grew to be completely out of control (sound familiar?) and Rome collapsed. The United States became great because of a combination of a limited but effective government, the work ethic of the citizens, the ideal that anyone could rise as high as their talent and effort merited, an abundance in natural resources, and, most importantly, a strong sense of Judaeo-Christian values even if the founders did not always profess that faith. Today our government has grown so far beyond what it started that the founding fathers would almost certainly rise up in rebellion if they were somehow transported in time to be now. The work ethic of our citizens appears to be at a depressingly low level and I personally know healthy, capable individuals that would rather sit at home on unemployment than take a job they were offered. The new 'equity' movement gives the appearance that skin color is more important than merit. Even if you do well, you have combined tax rates pushing 50% in some states that drastically reduce the appeal to work harder to earn more. Finally, we are willingly stopping from using our own natural resources in favor importing those exact same natural resources from other countries. Most importantly, the Judaeo-Christian values that this country was built upon are being actively attacked and portrayed as hateful. Those values are/were the bedrock of the American family which is a microcosm of America in general. Without that traditional American family unit, you cannot expect children to grow up and endorse those values in any significant percentage. As others have mentioned, you cannot rip the foundation out from under a house and expect the house to stand. We are living in a house where members of the household are taking jackhammers to the foundation. If this goes on for too long, the house will collapse and take many of us with it.

So by this logic, shouldn't Hillary have been brought up on the exact same charges? She paid for a fake dossier with the expressed purpose (nothing to unpack on intent), of influencing the outcome of a Presidential election.

Very easily unfortunately but there is a logic too it Small fleet, expensive support, new hotnesss is the F-35 and money is needed for NGAD, B-21, TPS reports, etc... F-15EX with a great radar, AIM-260s and cued by F-35s forward and cloaked relaying targets via datalink and you have a good 5.0/4.5 team

This time is (D)ifferent.

32%?!?! disgusting. should be 95%

It's almost as though religion is just correlational, not causal, to the tendencies of humans in tribes.

TDY from Tyndall up to Cold Lake. Landed and were putting the jets to bed. Local gas trucks show up and we fill everything up. Go inside to finish forms and somebody mentioned something about their gas card didn't work so they borrowed the next jets. New crew chief hears this and asks what a gas card is. Long story short, truck driver asked for a card and new guy gave him his GTC 🙂 Wonder what 2300 gallons of JP-5 cost back then.

I think you’re on the right track here, but please listen to what I’m about to tell you…Enlist in the Guard!! Don’t go AD if you want to be a guard pilot. Enlist in the unit you want to fly in. They will probably cover your tuition, leaving your GI bill to pass on to your kids one day. You should spend a fair amount of time getting to know the pilots. They’re the ones who are going to select you for a pilot slot. We guard pilots like to pick known quantities, if you enlist AD and show up at board time, you’re just another guy.

That’s a solid plan. Another course of action would be to see if your state’s Guard offers any sort of tuition waivers. I know a lot of the Northeastern states offer 100% tuition waivers for state schools. You could go to school full time and get your degree faster while serving in an enlisted AFSC as a part time Guardsman. You wouldn’t have all the pay and benefits of an AD airman which may be a drawback for you, but you would have free college and a pretty solid part time job with more time to focus on school and potentially get to work with the very people that may someday hire you to be a pilot in that unit. There’s many different ways to skin the cat. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

I know you mentioned as of now you have no preference of location/airframe, but do you think that may change in the future? From what I can tell as a civilian looking in the AD side of the house involves a lot more moving all over the world. I guess it depends on your personal goals if you don’t mind being moved around well into your 30s. If I was in your shoes I would crush the AFOQT, rush your most desirable units, apply everywhere, if after a year of that no bites then I would start to consider AD. For the AFOQT make sure to study those time tables a lot!! I studied very hard but didn’t study the time tables because I didn’t think you could study them. Needless to say it did bring my pilot score down to an 88. Hope this helps!

I find it hard to believe that the units who are receiving 150-200 applications have had 150-200 visitors in preparation of the board. The unit that hired me didn't look at apps under PCSM of 80 and STRONGLY recommended a visit. So that has to eliminate a huge chunk right off the bat. Then remove all those apps over an 80 PCSM for folks who didn't visit unless they have some sort of crazy life experience and had a 4.0 GPA in mechanical engineering at MIT (or something) or are prior service. There was only 1 or 2 guys on my board who interviewed out of 20 that didn't visit prior to the board and one of them was a prior enlisted that worked at Edward's in flight test in some capacity. Pair all of that with the fact that probably 6% to 9% of the apps are folks who love the idea of becoming a military pilot and haven't even started the process or don't have a degree or have no life experience. Go visit. Make connections. Fix your short comings. It took me 3 years to get hired by the unit of my dreams. I visited 4 times over 2 years and they were located across the county for me. I spent thousands of dollars of dollars i DIDNT have so i could know the pilots at my unit. I changed my life to make this happen - if you want it bad enough you can too. The ones who don't get hired are the ones who quit - and if they quit applying for a slot they probably would have probably quit UPT too. Cheers guys and best of luck! I hope this helps.

It took me two years, 16 fighter boards (applied to some twice, one of them three times), and quite a few visits to get hired. A couple of things from my personal experience: Make friends with the other applicants you meet I only got interviews from places I had visited at least twice I never got an interview from a place I didn't visit When I was tight on money I skipped the hotel and did a same day round trip to visit the unit, especially if the unit only did a "during the day meet and greet." Another option is the good ole' 20$/night air bnb's you can find almost anywhere. In Fresno - my 20$ airbnb was a bedroom next to their kids room in the ghetto - it was weird - but I had a place to sleep. I had about the same scores as you for AFOQT but you had a better GPA than me (2.6 in Marketing) I can't say if you will get hired or not - but I can tell you the ones who don't get hired are the ones who quit.

Well one is potentially a crime, and the other is a strategic decision about when to prosecute that potential crime. Seems like a pretty simple distinction to me. And I'm not saying trying to influence an election is bad. That's literally what running for office is. That's why people raise money, and run attack ads, and try to win debates. But the common thread here is: don't be an idiot. If you have skeletons that will hurt your election chances and are going to pay people off, be smart about it and don't get caught. Because you can bet the other team is going to have a field day if they figure out what you did. Im not really interested in making value judgments either way. You all know my opinions on trump but on the flip side of the coin, I don't think the Dems are on some morally virtuous crusade. They're making hay while the sun is shining. That's it.