Leaderboard

I’m stuck in the weird dance where I’m checking the forum 29 times a day, and making myself overly accessible to my CC. Keep hope! How is everyone dealing with their nerves day to day?

Approaching the the last batch of Gen Xers. I look forward to what kinda shenanigans the Millennials will bring to command.

Let’s keep positive thoughts that tomorrow is the day

Still holding out hope tomorrow's the day. Last year, they released results to commanders towards the end of the day on Jan 10, so most guys actually found out on the 11th

It would be nice to have a bit more transparency on where it is sitting at and what day commander release is projected to be. Results expected to release in late January is extremely vague (is that public release or CC release)

Best line I heard about Austin’s hospitalization was because he needed a “New Spine” and the operation takes time!😀

I have been laughing as I check the milsuite page 2 times a day at the views counter going up and up. I am on the same level of feeling that Dillon said where the anxiousness has exhausted me that I don’t know if I would give as good of a response to a selection notification as I would have when I submitted the application. I’ve just been throwing myself into work and trying not to go crazy from checking all my records for a slightly change.

Badass disc golf course...lol. You from Colorado? 🤣

It was on Tuesday the previous 2 years so just a guess

My company went remote so we cashed out and moved back to the south east on acerage. Its CA 2.0. We have young kids and Denver wasnt a good place to take them to explore so we avoided that pre covid. Post covid parts looked like a refugee camp. Just a bad vibe. I read something like 60% of office space is vacant in Denver. We lived in a massive sub division in the burbs and there were far more rainbow/BLM flags than US flags on pples homes. I travel to CA often for work and its really sad. I usually would stay near a beach and do a morning run....not sure if I will anymore. My last trip in the fall was pretty sketchy.

Hard to get a word in when they are screaming equity, DEI, open borders, hate the orange man and white guilt. Not a good reply if you don't invoke Trump. I am not a giant fan of the waiver either but there are good exceptions but IMHO Mattis was a good one. For those that know Austin it was obvious he was not a good choice for the job or the waiver but he did hit the DEI metrics. Having worked in that office I do not agree with this assessment. Yes we absolutely need civilian control of the military and that is one of the main drivers for the waiver requirement but some of these "straight-up civilian defense/security executive", are nothing more than academics (usually from left wing Ivy universities), and that presents a separate issue of ignorance. If these were elected positions I might think differently but I always flash back to Robert McNamara and the horrific damage he did and the American lives lost because of his actions as SECDEF. Interesting you mention Kathleen Hick, I've worked with her and again I do NOT agree with your assessment. Having a public affairs grad Mount Holyoke College determine defense policy for the most powerful military in the world is far from optimal. I hear you...but different personalities and drivers, not everyone is the same. You and I have both worked with people driven by power, like you I am not in that ilk but I can see how some need that pursuit to keep them going. I will be curious your view when you get closer to my age. Growing up poor I am now in my peak earning years which is beyond anything I ever dreamed of as a kid. It's crazy, my wife and I both drive cars that cost more than our first house. Also, based on my childhood I will ALWAYS have the irrational fear, I don't have enough. I've mentioned before that years ago I set three personal numbers. The first number was absolute minimum to retire...I will easily meet all basic needs and never have to work again. Second number was great quality of life, freedom to do whatever whenever. Third number was FU money. I had first number when I retired from the AF and was fortunate to hit second number years ago thanks to second job and two big investments that paid off. Oddly my childhood wealth insecurity is colliding with peak earning years and a bonus package from new job. In round numbers if I work another 14 months there is a big payout. In essence would you work another 14 months for $100K a month? It is probably irrational especially knowing my family and my wife's family are both wealthy and will leave us more than we could ever spend, but inheritance was never part of my retirement calculus. My wife confronted me over the holidays and asked me to retire and I committed to get across the bonus finish line then hang it up while we are both relatively young and have our health.

Wengen, Switzerland....car-free mtn village overlooking Lauterbrunnen Valley. Discovered during my Germany tour. Hasn't changed in the last 30 years. And yes you need to go there.

As a Boomer I took your advice at 59:

The article is vague, but it sounds like he was in the hospital for the better part of a week. If I'm reading that incorrectly, please ignore my post. What horrifies me is that the SECDEF is in the hospital for days and no-one in his office bothers to inform the White House. I'm equally horrified that the White House apparently did not notice they hadn't heard from him in several days. Does he have a spouse that could have called someone? Did SECDEF notify anyone or was it the kind of medical emergency that would preclude that? Did his staff know or did they not know? If they knew did they inform the White House? If they didn't know, did they just ignore a missing SECDEF for several days? I've had people no-show for work and if I can't get them to pick up the phone I go to their house and knock on their door, even if it's 3 am. This is basic Lieutenant level stuff that the very top of our government got wrong. The whole situation is utterly inexcusable and the public is owed a straight answer on what went wrong.

As a bonafide elitist Dem who would not do anything to maintain power, I do care. I know some of y'all don't talk to many Dems these days it seems... I have never understood the Austin pick and don't know how you could possibly go to the ICU and not direct a member of your staff to inform the White House. In fact you would think he must have directed his staff not to say anything for this to have occured. If I was on Austin's staff, my first phone call would be to the WH Chief of Staff after the boss was admitted to give them a heads up. Specifics of this hospital stay aside, from the start I'm not a fan of waiving the requirement that flag officers should have been out of uniform for seven years. I didn't like the precedent set by approving a waiver for Mattis (even though liked Mattis, especially in a Trump admin), nor do I like that the traditional was continued when Congress approved a waiver for Austin. The SECDEF should be a straight-up civilian defense/security executive, not a very recently retired 4-star with all the active duty military political baggage that comes with it. Someone with a background like Kathleen Hicks, the current Deputy Secretary of Defense, should have been tapped for the top spot in the first place rather than a recently retired general or admiral. Also Austin is 70...for fucks sake Boomers, fucking retire already! Hand-build a canoe in your garage and let your grandchildren sleepover for the weekend. GTFO of high office and enjoy the fruits of a lifetime of labor. And I say this to all of you equally in the 65+ age range. When I am that age, I sure as hell won't be commuting to an office 6am-8pm, busting my hump flying around the world, dealing with Congress & pulling my hair our managing a gigantic organization. Screw that man - that could not possibly sound less appealing.

How about the fact there are active hostilities going on involving our deployed troops as well as the Russo-Ukrainian war and yet the SECDEF can go a week without talking to the boss. Guess we know which cabinet members don’t mean that much. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The DEI hire was not the issue, it was the damage done by Jimbo who ruined the culture and legacy built by Bobby. Jimbo built a necrotic culture then ran away in the middle of the night to get paid, not surprising ran A&M into the dirt - oh and he had weed problems of his own three freshmen suspended for smoking weed in the LOCKER ROOM. I think Norvell has done a great job of rebuilding the FSU program and brand but how you carry yourself through adversity matters and yes it is part of the culture. I know this is personal to you as an alum, but this has happened to numerous other schools who were either left out of the playoff or worse didn't get enough support when we VOTED on a national champion. Yes FSU should have boycotted the bowl game, but they made a conscious decision to play (likely a monetary decision), so yes the players should have stepped up. Opting out of bowl games is a relatively new phenomenon, it certainly didn't happen when I played ball with Jim Thorpe and the Gipper. I think back to many years of playing this game (2nd grade through college), and there was a recurring them of "team" and "family" instilled by coaches that you hear kids talk about today. Unfortunately driven by NIL and the NFL many college players don't really believe that and drop their allegiance at the drop of a hat. Fortunately some kids still get it and I would point to an incident that was captured after the Alabama v Michgan game when everyone stopped watching. Tyler Booker and J.J. McCarthy played on the same high school football team. Tyler found JJ and listen to what he said..."I love you baby, go finish the job, I am so happy for you bro" THAT is culture that matters.

Didn’t know about that in the 70s, is that a specific event, would want to know more about it. I think that India can serve two purposes in our upcoming sequel to Cold War 1, a type of foil to China and a link to a wounded and pissed off insular Russia after the Ukraine War stops MCO, my belief is it will likely be a frozen conflict with a very tense situation for the next few decades. India can help the West with Russia and we can help them vis a vis China Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk