Leaderboard

Bottom line, those MudHen drivers went to bed with a smile on their face, knowing they did a great job. Plus they garnered the admiration and Thanks of another nation. They will be honored in the future. Nice Job!

Another good example of how a bullshit deployment can turn on a dime. Good work strike bros. And awesome work by all the maintainers getting it done under very hairy circumstances.

Only counts if this is how it was done

USAF shot down 70....repeat 70 drones last night. How many drone aces in the strike eagle community today?

It'll be an interesting and tough call for Israel. Do they gracefully accept the help they received and use the short term international good will to free up a hand to do more damage to Hamas or do they strike back at Iran in a significant and public way to show they won't accept this type of thing? Striking back may be popular and gratifying in Israel but might end up doing more harm than good in the long run. My bet is nothing happens for a while and then some Iranian leader has 'an accident' or one of Iran's centrifuge facilities suffers a mysterious explosion. Something that everyone knows was Israel but no one is really able or willing to prove thus decreasing the chance of escalation while showing that they won't sit by while a country launches a horde at them.

I just finished watching Master's of the Air. Well done series imho . I look at each and every one of them who brought down an enemy plane with a 50 cal as an ace whether in a P-51 or a ball turret.

This is completely wrong. I work SIMCERT stuff on staff. AMC self-certifies its sims to level C+/D “equivalency” (AMC has its dets go to the FAA course) but none of it is FAA certified. The time counts for nothing and do not put it on your apps.

Zero. No such thing.

Re-sharing these gems:

Stolen

It counts for nothing

*Promote ahead of peers*

I have never heard that Air Force Sims have equivalency, unless those Sims are not actually part of the Air Force. But I also think we are getting off on different paths here. Logging your sim time as sim time is one thing. That's literally what it is. Counting it towards your hours for the purposes of qualifications is an entirely different issue. I have never heard anyone say that Air Force simulators count towards flight hour qualifications, for example, an ATP. Also at American Airlines they did absolutely nothing with my hours. Are you military? Are you breathing? You're hired. I made a single cover sheet with a summary of hours, and handed that over with my Air Force records. I let them do the rest.

For some reason I have a feeling that this event was bit more frenetic than your run of the mill lost link shoot down. I wasn’t there and have no SA on what it was like in the jet so I’m probably off the mark…

Back on the personal finance front... Fidelity will allow SPAXX as your sweep account in Cash Management Accounts (CMA) starting around June 15. IMO this makes CMAs a no brainer. No need to mess with separate online savings accounts to get higher rates on your cash. I know this took me a while to wrap my head around and I wish somebody had broken it down for me earlier, so for those that don't habla CMA, here's the skinny... CMAs are brokerage accounts that operate "like" checking accounts. Debit cards, ATMs, fee reimbursement, checks, online bill pay, direct deposit, etc. Your cash balances by default are kept at various banks around the country. You can see which banks, but there's no reason to care. You get FDIC protection, ~2.7%* interest, and manage your cash centrally via Fidelity. If you elect to keep your cash in SPAXX, you give up FDIC coverage, but you can get ~5%* on your cash balances. Vanguard just started "Cash Plus" accounts to compete. I'm sure they'll be great accounts, but I moved from Vanguard because (IMO) their service starting slipping around 2020 and became untenable. Bottom line, especially for the young dudes: Look beyond USAA for your banking needs. With some work, you'll be very wealthy one day - learn to manage it well now. *all rates are as of 4/15/24

How many MASCALs do the actions of a Robin Olds or Dick Bong etc prevent? I know this virtuous knights jousting in gleaming steel amongst the clouds crap people buy into is sexy, but reality is fighters unless they are sweeping the skies to prevent mass devastation by bombers or in this case drones, mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of geopolitical weight. Now don’t get it wrong, I want them viciously deadly at their job, I just don’t pretend to care it matters more than how many bombs some eod tech defused or how many routes some 19 year old in an MRAP with a roller plow prevented from being effective. We just dont have cool names for that kid. While you guys are shitting on a bunch of mudhen drivers, they may have just helped in actions that prevented a world war. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I will bet a large sum of money that they will agree with that sentiment. I also bet that modern day fighter pilots will have a different interpretation. Seeing as I’m between these two generations, I’ll defer to the voice of the elder millennial, Jeffrey Lebowski.

Went to Civil War today. Very good movie. I really liked how there was basically no political agenda one way or another, just a story. Highly recommend.

Call my accounts manager…. Tell him to put half of it in Raytheon. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So you’re calling Biden a Nazi now? That’s what the left does to Trump!

You ever seen Joe Biden reading a teleprompter? Can't concentrate more than that...

Iran’s attack seemed planned to minimize casualties while maximizing spectacle Such insightful analysis from CNN. I am sure the wall of Raptors, Adir's, Sufa's and Ra'am's, GPS spoofing, Iron Dome, David's Sling, Arrow, Jordanian Air Force and Air Defense had nothing to do with it.

Great decision by Obama...I am sure none of that cash was used to buy/build drone/cruise missiles/TBMs that were shot at Israel last night.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/13/iran-israel-drone-missile-attack/ If we need to launch a "massive drone attack" against IRGC-affilated bad dudes in response, I volunteer to take flight lead. I know a ton of good dudes & dudettes who can fill out the strike package 🇺🇸

Man, this idiot doesn’t know crap!

C-130H and C-130J sims are certified Cat C or D (Full Flight Sims) sims and count for sim hours in the civilian world for maintaining currency. Yes there is a civilian type for the C-130J (L-382J type rating is different than the L-382 type). Yes, there are civil carriers that operate the C-130J. They exist, the end. If you doubt the certification of all the C-130 sims, go look up the Sim Cert folks at Little Rock. Certifying our sims to an FAA standard is literally their entire job. It's sim time. Log it and keep track. It doesn't count toward total time for civilian companies (though there may be a few exceptions). Don't expect to get anything for it though RIGHT NOW. Realize that at the drop of a hat the FAA or some airline you might fly for in the future may want to see that sim training, or even count it towards some time counter they track. The civil aviation career field is known to be ossified and immovable...right up until it changes over night. Be ready. Long view: It's professional training you've accomplished. Keep track of it in your own logbook. If you don't have a personal consolidated logbook (all civil, UPT, mil flying) start one. You're a professional and that is your professional resume and professional journal. I've met more than enough airline pilots who stopped logging their own hours when they got hired at their "forever" airline, only to be shocked years later when they needed to find a new flying job and had to scramble to make sense of the 'flight log' that their company kept. Pro Tips: DO NOT TRUST USAF HARMS RECORDS TO KEEP TRACK OF YOUR FLYING Keep your own logbook. Also, yes it will be years before your log PIC time. That's normal. Don't fudge those numbers to make it look like you've got turbine PIC before you should. Airline hiring shops see right through those tricks.

Okay, I've been there, done that although it was a while ago in 1994. Got hosed by what passed for DEI back in the day but that's another story. So, got hosed as the A-10 Division Chief of Stan/Eval for the Wing and my AF career is pretty much over. Not much I can do to fix that. "Should I stay or should I go now..." was an appropriate song lyric and I chose to go. However, I wasn't prepared to go with no airline apps but airlines weren't hiring, no Guard/Reserve contacts, nothing. So, I had to get those done before I cut the income lifeline and I ended up sticking around for about a year and a half before I separated from Active Duty and left with a $52K separation bonus. Got a GS-13 job as an IP at Barksdale but I was looking at the job as a place holder until I could get hired at an airline. I did get promoted to Major. After 2 years, I got hired by American so I switched to the traditional Reservist role. Somewhere in there I hung up the G-suit and got a staff job at 10AF. Got promoted to Lt. Col. I retired with 28 years total service although I wanted to retire earlier but 9/11, a faux bankruptcy, age 65 retirement, and a real bankruptcy made me not want to give up that lifeline until I had to. I'm currently paying back the $52K. As much as getting passed over was a huge insult, I think I'm better off for it. I wasn't worried about the next promotion, I wasn't worried about the next school, and I wasn't worried about the next job. I flew T-38s and A-10s for 21 years. I got into a more lucrative career and approaching my airline retirement, I have financial stability I'd never thought I'd see. That $52K that I'm paying back was basically a 30 year interest free loan for a house now approaching $1M in value. The military retirement also includes medical which helps. So, you have skills that are marketable and there are companies out there that value them. Even after getting hosed for promotion, I did do Air War College, I did an Electronic Warfare School and a few other odds and ends. Making yourself more valuable is always a good idea and don't burn bridges that you might need to cross back over. Your life isn't over but it is going down a different path than planned. Best of luck to you!

My favorite output from that was the crater directly where the hangar with gym in a box was with a quote “I told you to stop dropping the weights!”

I know plenty of guys in the guard who were passed over (not sure about twice, or if there are implications there) and have gone on to become Lt Cols in the guard. It ain't necessarily over, and this could wind up working in your favor. I'm not saying don't prep for a civilian career, but if you want a future in the military, all doors are not necessarily closed to you.

Honestly it was a ballsy move by Iran, if they had killed any US with the TBM strikes on IZ I think things would look different right now. The mood was lethal. When we had zero casualties (granted many folks had TBI) the decision was made to stand down. It could have easily gone the other way. Fun side note: since they destroyed our hangar with TBMs I used the event to clean up 5 years of property book shenanigans. Seriously, it was very beneficial. For anyone reading this: if your stuff ever gets destroyed by the enemy, seize the opportunity to do your unit a solid.

You remember where 1200+ Israelis were literally raped, tortured and murdered? Sorry but the hunger of the supportive population does not trump the security of the attacked population. Anything else would be an abdication of responsibility to the Israeli people. And a friendly fire accident is another regular feature of war. Sucks. We sure had our fair share. Unless you are arguing that the WCK convoy was intentional, then just saying "do better" is horseshit. Hamas could do better too. Everyone could do better. Lets make this useful and say how many dead Israeli soldiers are a fair exchange for how many dead Palestinian "civilians." Until then it's just sideline commentary. The Palestinians have a government, that's who should be worried about their hunger and safety. Instead it is up to Israel to move hundreds of thousands of people who cheered the rape and torture of their wives and daughters so the terrorist psychopaths they are protecting can be hunted and killed. But sure. Do better. Funny how the standard is always "do better" up to and past the point that the objective can no longer be accomplished. And how many of those were sheltered over or around the many varieties of Islamic militants? Subtract those. How many were storming the border fences or checkpoints? Subtract those. How many were civilians killed as the primary target, not collateral damage in response to direct attacks on Israel? That's the more relevant number. Once again, do you believe we were wrong for Hiroshima? Dresden? Because we did blockade Japanese oil, and most of Europe made Germany into a pariah state after WWI. Holistically is a cop-out. There is a line between geopolitical competition and outright acts of war. Hamas, not Israel, started this war, to the cheering of their poor, hungry population. It is Israel's responsibility to it's people to end the threat. When Israel starts raping Palestinians, bombing apartments, or dumping humanitarian aid into the sea to "make a point," then we will have the beginning of a basic equivalence. They are humans with free will. Yes, pawns. Yes exploited. So too was every population in history that eventually found their way to peace and freedom. And they elected Hamas in 2006. Hamas has since taken total control, but since when did Americans decide that populations are no longer responsible for their destiny? Once again, how many Israelis should die to save the lives of people who want Jewish blood in the streets more than they want their children to eat or survive? Americans and Westerners have a really tough time understanding religious fanaticism. When death is a reward for killing your enemies, you can't freedom and compassion your way to changing hearts and minds. How we haven't learned this after the last 20 years is mystifying.

I concur with everything Lord Ratner said. Getting promoted in the Guard or Reserve is pretty easy as long as you check the boxes and don't have any derogatory information in your record. Hell, you probably could have paperwork and still get promoted. Know of a guy that just made O-5 with a DUI in 2020. Fly as much as possible to get to 1500 hours before you have to separate. If you do go to PIT and instruct at UPT, I would look to join the Guard or Reserve unit at that base as that will be your easiest transition when getting out. If after getting hired at an airline you can always try and go back to your previous MWS.

So much history there. We PL'd in the backyard of a guys house in Suffolk. Shut down and the guy came out. Old old guy in full old british guy wear. I walk up to him apologizing for landing in his back yard and he was grinning from ear to ear. Sat and talked with him while waiting for maintenance to show up. His dad was a milkman who wasn't medically cleared. He would talk about how his dad gave him milk to bring to the boys before they would go fly in the early mornings.