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Woke up early for some reason so grabbed some coffee and turned on the TV...Police in full riot gear busting up the UCLA encampment...must see TV...Tear Gas, pepper balls, stun grenades and batons on skulls...I am cheering like it is a big college game!

This thread is a massive disappointment. I thought we were going to compare the USAF BX to the USMC PX where you could still find Hustlers and Harleys on display front n center.

I just love it when someone decides to pass judgement on the financial status of others. If you are financially sound, have invested smartly, and life has dealt you a great hand, then good on you! You should count your blessings. I'm happy for you! Keep in mind that there are many others that may not be as fortunate as you, and various factors have impacted their "financial health". For example, those who lost their airline pension during the collapse of the airline industry after 9/11. Or those who were furloughed for 10+ years. The stories of how they adapted are varied, but in many cases not conducive to saving for retirment. Not familiar with the PBGC? You're fortunate. https://www.pbgc.gov/search-trusteed-plans?key= united airlines Many pilots deal with very costly things such as taking care of elderly parent(s) that are in assisted living or Alzheimer facilities. Or they have a dealt with a spouse or child that has significant medical needs. In many cases, there are not only costs invovled, but the time spent on taking care of loved ones can mean less opportunites to work. I know plenty that have incurred the expense of a painful divorce, and others that have had legal issues that have wiped them out. The list goes on. So instead of preaching to us about how some pilots cannot be trusted to professionally fly an airplane if they don't meet your standards of financial success by the time they turn 65, maybe you should simply be thankful for what you have, and offer a modicum of support for those that have't landed on the gravy train that you are able to ride.

If you see something about "STOVL" or "Engine Nozzle Move Lever", don't touch it.

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Push what through? You mean keep things the same. I'm also unclear about "no data." Are you suggesting that the entire body of cognitive research in regards to age is somehow false? Even if you are completely unfamiliar with the research, surely you have existed, right? You've actually met old people? The suggestion that there's no "fact, reason, or real logic" to say that cognitive ability declines with age is completely absurd. The distinction doesn't fall apart at all. Everyone turns 65, unless they happened to die earlier. Everyone. And every single one of those people had the exact same amount of time on Earth up until the point they turned 65. That you would think there is a comparison between racial discrimination and age discrimination shows a complete lack of moral nuance. It's not about social ick. Again, if you somehow believe that there is no cognitive effect to aging, then I suppose you can get a little closer to a discriminatory argument. But there is, factually. There is not, however, any evidence that having darker skin makes you a shittier pilot. These two are so different that I'm shocked I have to write this much about it. The age at which you can drink, vote, own a gun, serve in the military. The age in which you can be in the House of Representatives. The age which you can be a Senator. The age that you can be President. The age that you are allowed to draw social security. The age that you get a better rate on car insurance. The age that you get discounts at movies. The age that allows you to move into certain communities (55+). I think you fundamentally fail to understand what group-based means. Rather than screening millions of people, you find a statistical point where it will apply to the majority of the demographic. I don't know what this "10 people taking a vision test at a time" nonsense is, but it doesn't apply to anything that we are talking about. It's the "appropriate framing" because it supports your point 🤣. The definition of lawful is that it is done by the government in accordance with that government's rules. That's what "law" is. That's exactly what's happening here, so this isn't a legal issue. You can argue it's a constitutional issue, But that argument has failed under the system and as such is definitionally not a constitutional issue. That only leaves the moral issue, which brings it back to my framing, not yours. You believe you have a moral right to work in a certain job until you die. I do not. Also an incomplete analysis. Because the check ride system does not screen for all issues. For example, it does not screen for heart issues. We have another test for that. Just like with a cognitive test, the more responsibility you put on the check ride, the more complicated it needs to be. And at least at my airline, check rides are not even remotely complicated. They are cookie cutter, scripted, rehearsed, and unbelievably babied. But you can do that because we have a whole bunch of other processes in place that act as filters. One of those being the age filter. You can get rid of the age filter and make the check ride filter more robust, but just like with having cognitive testing, a lot of people aren't going to like the results of that. It is also simply more complicated. Again it is one thing to argue that 65 is not the correct age. But calling it "bad" discrimination is disingenuous. It's denying the reality that old people lose their marbles. Discrimination in the literal sense is not bad. We do it for all sorts of things. What you discriminate, and how you discriminate is what determines if it is right or wrong. This rule does not exist because people don't like old people. Even if you accept at face value that it has nothing to do with safety, which I do not, and it is purely about job progression, even that is being fairly applied to all participants, and as such is not immoral. Another factor that determines morality is the presence of choice. You absolutely have a choice to participate in a unionized flying job that has equally applied age restrictions, or you could work elsewhere that does not.

Cowards should’ve protested at the Wyoming Gate after sundown! Show some bravery damnit! 😂 All the fent zombies are dormant right now.

I wonder what the Democratic Convention in Chicago will look like this summer…

No, it's not at all what I said. You have two options dealing with this type of thing. An individual test, or a group-based average. Both can work, and both can allow certain cases to slip through the cracks. But let's get rid of the outrage. You have no god-given right to continue doing a specific job until you croak, even if we did want to have an individualized test. The military does it too. You (whoever) entered the career knowing there was a time limit, just as everybody did, so you were not misinformed or ill-advised. You joined anyways. And you benefited greatly from the limit, so the system wasn't so odious when it was to your benefit that you felt the need to pursue a different career in protest. Even if we had a test to capture when cognition declines to a point of concern, unless we're going to take it before every flight, you're still going to have a window where someone is unsafe. The vast, vast majority of pilots are still safe at 65, which is what makes it a good number. Pushing it up to the point where there's a reasonable expectation of cognitive failure is just setting yourself up to have cognitive failure-induced accidents. But to be crystal clear, I am 100% okay with it being age discrimination. Because that's a b.s. category of discrimination. Banning black pilots would be abhorrent because not all pilots are black and the ones who are have it as an immutable characteristic with no fundamental effect on flying. Same for female pilots, or gay pilots. But we are all going to turn 65 if we make it that long, so it's not discrimination in the racist or sexist sense. Just like not letting kids drink or vote isn't age discrimination in the moral sense.

The ones wanting status quo are not the ones drawing an arbitrary line. But ya, it's fun watching guys who got where they are by pilots retiring in front of them. Yet now that they're on top, they want to stay and suddenly it's unfair and discriminatory, but only because they didn't get their pension back.

Good luck. This is a much harder question than what gun to carry. First you have to decide where you want to conceal it, then you have to get a good belt that you like, then you just have to try different holsters to see what feels right. I only carry appendix, so I can answer questions about that.

I prefer the braided leather JCPpenny bangers

And FFS get a good gun belt. (you cannot get a good gun belt at JCpenney, Kohl’s, or the Gap)

If an airline pilot cannot comfortably retire by age 65, then I question his decision making abilities enough that I don't think he should be responsible for the lives of hundreds of people.

Indeed. Working weekends and shift work is the downside. Still, our unit (and I think most) work 16 out of every 28 days, which is noticeably less than Mon-Fri. Plus on later shifts there are about 10 dudes in the building and I’m often in charge, so it’s a more chill type of work day. I can complain because I’m aircrew and it’s our god-given right, but not too much, it’s a good deal. Coming up on 10 years homesteading in a place I want to live and I’ll (inshallah) still get an active duty retirement out of it, staying at the FGO level in a flying squadron, no staff, etc. There are way worse ways to spend the back half of your career than as a Major/Lt Col line dawg IP occasionally getting to sling hate at our enemies all while sleeping in your own bed every night.

My standard rotation: G19.4 with a Surefire XC1, G43X, and S&W 360PD .357. The 19 normally rides in a DSG Arms CDC holster (the pictured holster, unfortunately they went out of business and they aren't made anymore) IWB behind my hip or in a Raven Concealment Perun OWB holster if it's cold enough for a cover garment (I prefer OWB). I do have a G-Code Eclipse AIWB holster for it as well, but don't use it often. 43X is normally in a Tenicor Velo AIWB (pictured) and is perhaps the best AIWB holster I've worn. The S&W is just in a sticky pocket holster, not the greatest but it's handy when in gym clothes. Currently using the Shield Arms S15 magazines for the 43X, they have all functioned flawlessly and it's awesome having a 15rd capacity in that single stack width pistol. I tend to carry the 19 more because it has the light on it, I don't like the flush lights available for the non-railed 43X. May get the 43X MOS for the rail at some point. I will generally carry a reload, normally a standard 15rd 19 mag with an OEM +2 extension (I know, I could use a G17 mag but I like the fit of the 15+2 better), another S15 magazine, or a speed strip for the .357. Have a few mag pouches both IWB and OWB. I like the Blue Force Gear OWB single pistol belt pouch, it's very slim.

AI Pilot leaves Air Force for Southwest Airlines

I get the question all the time. I'm at about 15% in the right seat, and I think I'd be around 70 in the left. I easily make as much or a little more than a same seniority Captain stuck on reserve, and fly less. A line Captain will make more than me, but the difference in schedule is dramatic. I probably average 30 hours of flight time a month and get paid 90 to 120 hours. I regularly eat dinner at home, put my kids to sleep, then go fly 1 hour away and I'm back before my wife gets home from work. I'm rarely away from home more than one night in a row, and if I am it's because the trip pays a bunch and still doesn't have much flying to it (e.g. a 30 hour layover for premium pay). I fly only the days I want, no weekends or holidays unless I choose, as many vacations whenever I want. I do have the luxury of a wife who makes six figures as well, but even if she didn't it would be hard to give up on this schedule when I can just wait another five or so years to upgrade, then do it as a captain.

That bio is a word salad of bullshit. When I read this kind of crap, I always picture that bar scene in Good Will Hunting where he’s mocking the Harvard idiots. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Homeboy in the back in his little crop top number should wear that outfit into Rafah and see how far he gets.

This is what happens when parents didn’t discipline their iPad kids, now they’re college students. Speaking of one retard.

I think at this point it's safe to say that all sides are paranoid beyond reason. Speaker Johnson made a really interesting comment in an interview, saying that most of the loudest voices against the Ukraine bill had not yet been in the scif to receive a single classified briefing. Yeah yeah, I know, we can't trust the surveillance State. But anybody who says that is just being reflexively stupid. You can't trust anything outright, but if you really believe that us intelligence is corrupted so thoroughly that it produces no viable information, then you were just as guilty of living in an alternate reality as those who claim the absolute righteousness of funding the Ukraine fight. I am very open to the counter arguments for supporting Ukraine at this point. But I am not at all interested in hearing it from someone who has gone out of their way to avoid briefings that would give them a full picture. As to your point about the funding going to defense contractors, that was under the impression that the incredible corruption in Ukraine, which I do believe exists, was such that we could not risk sending them money outright to trust they would use it appropriately. Sending the munitions directly will obviously not completely eliminate corruption, but it's a hell of a lot harder to launder 155 mm shells than it is a pallet of cash.

Wasn't really sure where to put this but on 21 April 2024 LtCol (ret) Sam Galloway flew West. Sam was the Navigator on the lead aircraft of the Operation Eagle Claw (Desert One) mission. Post AF he trained almost every MC-130H front ender that went through the FTU at Kirtland until he fully retired in 2011. Sam was a phenomenal instructor and also a genuinely fantastic human being, he'll be missed. Galloway, Sam | Gathering of Eagles Foundation (goefoundation.org)

26 hours at 120 decibels. That sounds absolutely horrible. The things dudes do to build time for the airlines.

Single track worked for years, created many of the old heads on this forum now - no need to fix what isn’t broken. Current AETC commander is phenomenal and unlike many of his predecessors doesn’t have his head up his ass.

https://www.stripes.com/branches/air_force/2024-04-25/air-force-hercules-marathon-flight-13652191.html Hell yeah. Everybody loves the Herc!!!

The SNCO corps brought that on themselves...

The inability of the USAF to fix issues of "specialization" in career fields without feeling the need to create yet another rank structure is simply failed leadership.