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Buddy from high school went to the CGA then on to pilot training. Flew Falcon jets most of his career and had two assignments - Miami (Opa Locka for 10 years, then Mobile for 10 years. Retired as an O-5 and immediately hired by Jet Blue. Flew withJB until 9/11 then some sort of Mil-Leave as a Govt contractor with the Coast Guard in Mobile flying as an instructor while still getting his retirement. Four years of that and back to Jet Blue with his line number intact.

Define winning. For the gains and losses attached, the Russians have gained the following: Absolutely destroyed any semblance of their supposedly modern military Bolstered a severely fractured NATO Decimated their already critical working age population At a minimum, put their economic growth on pause due to sanctions So what did Russia gain? This has to end eventually for political reasons. We can't support a stalemate indefinitely but I doubt the UKR's will stop fighting and I'm sure they'll continue to receive some type of support from the West, just not to the current levels.

Thankfully, sounds like pilot was rescued via SAR. Glad to hear of a successful water rescue after a spate of bad news. 🍻

Thanks for showing us your snakes, Biff.

That's some cold fucking water.

Exactly! Me "dipping my toe" in to check the temp:

I'm not an engineer but those things kinda need to stay attached, at least in flight.

Well that's just absurd, you can't really mean that. Here's a short list of groups who disagree with you: the Taliban. The third Reich, the Japanese imperial army, general Ulysses Grant, the native American tribes, Cortez. GMAFB. I'm not sure what you were trying to say, but this is one of those squishy hearted axioms like "violence never solves anything" that we must reject as an outright falsehood. People win in war and people lose. More than any human endeavor war has very specific winners and losers. Your sentiments are a result of our soft and protected lives here in the modern west, a lifestyle made possible by wars we have won. And someone will win the war in Ukraine. Right now it appears Russia is winning, because they are not bothered by the people and material lost thus far provided they attain their objective which grows closer daily. I don't want them to win, but I am also unwilling to deplete our treasury in pursuit of stopping them. And what's more, I'm disgusted at people who cannot have a logical discussion about what actions the US should take in the Ukraine war to best serve our interests, people who claim anything but blind support to the Zielinski Dictatorship is somehow pro Russian.

The one time a poop suit doesn't suck is during an unexpected frigid night swimming session.

Seventh crewmember recovered... https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2023/12/10/divers-recover-seventh-crew-member-killed-in-osprey-crash-in-japan/

@BashiChuni not being pejorative, but your optic is somewhat tainted having been raised in what we want to be the American way of war. Declare an objective, go take it quickly, packup and go home. Thanks to support from the west and ever more efficient weapons have both exposed the faulty Russian war machine and equalized Ukraine on the battlefield. Sadly the fight in Ukraine has settled into a battle of attrition that in years past would have favored Russia giving their willingness to endlessly throw their youth into the meat grinder. Yes Ukraine wants to counter attack and regain their territory, but as long Russia continues to try and conquer Ukraine, then Ukraine has accidentally settled into the strategic position the German Commander Falkenhayn had at Verdun where the purpose was not to out maneuver or gain strategic position, but to bleed the "French white." Ukraine is paying a horrific price, a cost that is purposely not being told, but as long as Ukraine has the support of the west, they will survive, Russia is alone and the impact is long and will be far reaching. The impact of years of internal social issues and this conflict has reduced their young working male population, an issue that will manifest in several years and further accelerate the decline Russia as a world power. Russia's Navy has been hurt, Russian's Air Force has been seriously degraded and Russia's army is in tatters. Putin's expansion has been stopped and his dream of rebuilding the FSU is dead. We need to keep it buried.

No judgement, we all have to make hard decisions that we didn’t expect to face. Personally I recommend you revaluate the reason you’re seeking to leave your current unit. If it’s because you regret not going T-38s and want another shot, you’re making a mistake (you will burn the shit out of bridges while also not getting into a fighter squadron). If it’s for other life/work reasons, then I recommend you look for an alternate unit that flies the same/similar aircraft. Talk to your current sq/cc about whatever issues are going on, and continue to produce for the unit until the day you leave for whatever is next.

This has been a bad take for two straight years man. That being said, the Democrats refusal to come to the table on the border in order to also fund Ukraine effort is frankly sick and proves they don’t give two actual shits about Ukraine or America. Their only focus is funneling more and more people across the border in order to try and force as much demographic change as possible. The “border funding” they claim was in the failed bill is mostly to streamline the asylum process, which will only ensure more masses flood the border. It’s not like the Republicans were looking for an either/or and wanting to completely cut funding to Ukraine. I personally think what’s happening in Ukraine is still in our national interest (and I realize some disagree with that), but the border is an absolute embarrassment and MUST be addressed. The democrats refusal to even remotely pay attention to the border and then try and play the sympathy card about Ukraine just proves that they are corrupt, inept, and don’t give a shit about doing anything that’s right for the country. If the Ukraine funding dries up, they only have themselves to blame.

Ima just interject here for a moment and reiterate my belief that the coasties are the smartest among us. Went through the USVI on my way to a BVI for vacation and noticed 4 or 5 CG helos there. I just saw a post of FB for coastie promotion while they were "deployed" to the Bahamas. They get to do their mission a lot more than everyone else. The few coasties I've known have saved quite a few people in their day and none of them had to spend a day in CENTCOM (though I know some do). A squadronmates brother retired from the CG as an O-5...dudes assignments sounded like one vacation hotspot after another. Also, there is a CG station in my city and they have the best booze selection of any exchange I've ever seen lol. Anywho, back to your regularly scheduled programing, hoping the C-27 tail doesn't fall off.

"for the good of the world" please. so tired of the globalists.

The North American Blue Falcon (Falco Douchebargensis) is a species pathologically incapable of answering any question in the introspective. You have to be a sapiens to begin to do that. Like giving a book to a chicken, it means nothing to them but it's hilarious to watch.

10 ship looking for a tanker.

Politicians are such pieces of shit. The best fix is remove 100% of them, enact term limits, then start over. Everyone does 8 max and done. One can dream…

Progressives politicians: We need to give Ukraine tens of billions of dollars (money that we don’t have on top of the other tens of billions we have already given them), and if we don’t, Ukraine will fall to Russia and the US will have the blame. Oh and additionally we many have to send our own troops to fight in eastern Europe. Non-progressive politicians: Ok, well, as long as we can also add funding/make significant changes to our own border security and tighten illegal immigration rules/laws, then we’ll fund that and money for Ukraine. Progressive politicians: No

Secretary Austin is a disgrace.

It’s not hard people, the LEFT leg pocket is the SCIF, not the right…rookies.

let them be emboldened. putin isn't going to capture europe. that's extreme gas lighting and won't happen. hell he can't even take kiev and the experts are shrieking about paris. gmafb. the second putin crosses into NATO i'll be interested. until then i DGAF

the time to use soft power was long past. expanding nato was a HUGE strategic mistake. putin didn't just wake up and decide to invade ukraine. we were fucking around in russia's backdoor for decades and guess what...we found out

Apparently you can't see through the rhetoric. Being globally aware and engaging the power we (USA) still have is simply responsible for our own well being, forget the rest of the world. We have options now that we won't have later. You can choose to stick your head in the sand now, but that only leaves tomorrow you two options: A: Try to become globally aware and engaged later with options, power, and leverage you might not have any more. B: Learn Chinese. That's not an opinion. That's fact proven by history time and time again.