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Top pic: ...don't want to know what that far back seat, behind-the-goats-dude is smelling his finger for... Bottom pic: rockin' the flight approved sandals - nice.

My only interaction with soon to be Lt Gen Conley was when he was the 1 SOW CC and he said we couldn't wear Friday shirts anymore. HOWEVER, most people that I respect who have actually interacted with the guy are excited so that's good. When I heard the rumors that a 1 star was jumping up, I thought it might be BG Tom Palenske (Conley's 1 SOW predecessor). I actually interacted with him a few times and he did one of the coolest things I've seen a commander do. When I told him my dad was in the 20th SOS "Green Hornets" in Vietnam, he told me he had been the Commander of that unit and went out of his way to make sure to send my dad a coin and have the 8th at Hurlburt show him around and give a really awesome CV-22 tour when he came down to visit. Very cool thing to do that he absolutely didn't need to.

I'm not rationalizing it dude, I'm explaining it. I'm also not sensationalizing it like you are. January 6th sucked, but it was not an insurrection. End of story. I'm not voting for any of them because I will never vote for someone over 65 again, however, the entire root of the problem and why Donald Trump is going to win again is specifically because his opposition insists on treating him as a unique threat when in fact he is the exact same product with an uglier label slapped on. The regular people out there see right through this now, they don't know what the crimes are, the sins, the comparisons, or any of the other details. They just know that Washington has been lying to them for a long time and funneling a tremendous amount of wealth and prosperity from the middle class directly to their family and associates. They wanted a hero, but they are settling for a villain who at least validates their experience. Go look up the stats for how many Democrats thought the election was stolen when a Republican president won, and specifically Trump. The numbers are functionally identical to 2020, just reversed. It is unfounded sanctimony.

And you've ignored the same egregious behavior on the other side...that IS the problem.

Guard members are not assigned staff tours in DC, or anywhere else besides your unit or state. There are plenty of people who volunteer for staff tours elsewhere, if one is interested. O-6 and up becomes quite competitive and might require you to take a non-flying job somewhere to achieve the rank, but if you just want to fly, plan on retiring as an O-5. And the absolute best part of the ANG, is being a DSG pilot you won’t even have any other squadron job other than pilot. Go fly at your airline, and go fly at your unit. Best of both worlds just being a pilot!

Ridiculous, no one would ever let goats roam around a helo in flight. except the Afghan Air Force…. But they promised me it was just the once.

The preferred government method for paying debt is inflation. Borrow a dollar today, and pay it back when it's worth 50 cents. You have to find the sweet spot for inflation between lowering your debt burden and keeping the natives from getting too restless. The political incentives for cutting spending are not there either, nor have politicians made any serious moves to cut spending. What they debate now is the lowering the rate at which we increase spending, and touting that as a victory of sorts. Or adding a sunset clause that won't be honored to make the math work for the GAO. This system will keep working until it doesn't, and nobody has a clue what the trigger will be.

Whenever we as a country get serious about the debt/deficit spending (it will have to happen sooner or later, and I’m guessing at least within the next 5-10 years), cuts to military spending will most definitely have to be on the table. There is no way we can economically grow our way (or tax our way) out of this massive spending/borrowing problem we have, especially when it seems the country wants to make it much harder to do business. Over my last decade or so in the military I always thought it was hilarious how officers (on both sides of the political aisle) were so concerned about the military needing more money and didn’t seem to be even a little concerned about our fiscal situation. Our biggest problems in the near/mid future will be internal not external…but hey, what’s another hundred billion dollars for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel?

In other news…after two years of war… The last Russian Black Sea vessel with the ability to conduct Kalibr strikes against Ukraine is gone. https://maritime-executive.com/article/ukraine-confirms-strike-on-last-russian-guided-missile-warship-in-crimea Russia has apparently now lost its ability to conduct strike from an entire domain of modern warfare to a country which has no significant Naval power. On top of that the Ukrainians have begun targeting Novorossiysk which the Russians evacuated most of their fleet too after Sevastopol became untenable. This is probably the greatest embarrassment for the Russian Navy since the Russo-Japanese war. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Lighten up Francis. You entirely missed uhhello's point.

The funny thing is this absolutely has a COIN application. You could have replaced a huge portion of the air assets over Mosul or Raqqa in 16/17 if you had this technological solution. Just put something the size of a C17 flying as an airborne arsenal of FPVs with a Wolfhound or similar sized platform acting as the “crew quarters” full of operators. Now you’re literally just hunting people until you’ve killed enough to break their will or their means instead of dropping a 2k lbs bomb or pounding M36s into a target to reduce it, because you can literally chase a single bad guy with a backpack or on a motorcycle down. Effectively air delivered mobility denial and sanitation of any force that wanted to move underneath the wide arc it could cover. And it would be a F load more economical than spending a 100k dollar anti tank missile on a Toyota full of 3rd world dipshits. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Nvm. I got the background.

Dash's crash was 15 years ago today. Nickel... https://www.edwards.af.mil/News/Article/395729/t-38-crash-claims-life-of-edwards-pilot/

USAF: “F-35 will be able to cover that mission, no problem.”

The NRA pays me $70.00 an hour to drive that beast. It's a little better than regional FO pay.

I mean, let's put it in perspective: the discussion of land lost in the last year is 0.2% of Ukraine's land mass (As of this morning at 6am: 552 sq miles out of 233,062...Source). I am sure any countries leader worth a damn would say their definition of victory is to regain ALL invaded territory. It isn't very realistic for him to publicly say he is okay with Crimea being the sacrificial lamb. Behind closed doors in a negotiated settlement? Maybe it'll be different. But I can't fault him for his patriotism. I think well equipped Ukrainians can regain land from the Russians, after all, from June to December they liberated 199 sq miles. Russia has "only" occupied 294 sq miles from this April to May with their major offensive which coincided with Ukraine's major artillery shell shortage. Meanwhile, an underequipped Ukraine is still managing to schwack oil depots and major infrastructure in Novorossyisk and a refinery in Tuapse, not to mention the attack on aviation assets in Belbek Air Base, to name a few recently. We will see how they do after the next shipment of equipment arrives.

22 minute mark is nuts

Taiwanese U-2 pilot Johnny Shen died last Thursday, age 92 He was a U-2 pilot with The Black Cat Squadron on Taiwan from 1968 to 1973. He was admitted to the CAF Academy in January 1952, then trained in the PT-17 and the T-6. After his graduation in December 1955, he was assigned to the 4th Tactical Fighter Group in Chiayi. He was first sent to Tainan to be trained on the T-33, then returning to Chiayi to fly the F-84 in 1956. Later he converted to the F-100. He left the 35th Sq in 1973 and became the vice military attache in Vietnam. After the loss of Vietnam, he returned to Taiwan to served on several desk jobs. He retired from the CAF as a Colonel in 1977 and joined China Airlines, where he flew the Boeing 707, 727, 767, and 747, and Airbus A-300. He transferred to EVA Airlines in 1992. Then he returned served in Taiwan's Civil Aviation Administration until 1998. After retirement, he emigrated to Canada and lived in Vancouver. These guys flew some really risky missions. Him him...

Well, as everyone probably knows by now, the U-2 is being divested. The entire thing has been a public affairs disaster on how to release the information. Still, there is very little going out, and I'll avoid crossing any lines. Needless to say, the capabilities the U-2 has and that are ready for prime-time are pretty significant. Oh well... someone thinks the money is better spent elsewhere. The last interviewee was hired in January. Could there be an extension in the U-2's future? I think so... for reasons I won't discuss. Unlikely, yes. But you just never know. Hail Dragons...

F-22 1. Expect to deploy either to the desert or to the Pacific for 6 months at a time once every 1.5-2 years (home for 1-1.5 years between deployments). While in garrison, expect 2 x RED FLAG-Nellis/Alaska that take one month away from home each. Also expect 1 x COMBAT ARCHER trip and 1 x COMBAT HAMMER trip in there for 2-3 weeks each. In between all of that, expect 4 or so night surges for 4-6 weeks that will throw home life off, a few one-week CONUS simulator trips, and upgrade surges when none of that other stuff is going on. The community is minimally manned due to poor TFI mix calculations, causing the various shops (training, stab/eval, UDM, etc.) to be one man deep. You're busy. 2. Family stability is all about expectation management (this is true of every military family): if your family expects you to be home for dinner most nights, they have bad expectations and will be frustrated. If they expect you to work 14 hours a day and a couple hours on Saturday or Sunday, they will be pleasantly surprised about 2-3 times a week. 3. Community morale depends on the year group: all of the young guys absolutely LOVE life! It's the most dominant fighter jet in the world and you're getting to fly it every day. Throw on top of that, just about every bro in the community was top notch to get in, so they are awesome selfless individuals who will stay several hours late multiple nights in a row if needed to help a bro out. The oldest guys are usually the SQ/CC or SQ/DO; every now and then there is a Lt Col ADO who stuck around. They all love to be there because they chose to stay plus all of the stuff mentioned about the young guys applies to these guys (even leadership will stay to help out). I would be willing to bet that some of the best leaders in the USAF are in the F-22 SQ/CC seats. I've never once had even an average one. The guys who've been in the USAF for 6-10 years are a mixed bag. They've always been the best at everything they've ever done...until they got into the F-22. The ones who go to WIC, typically love life until after their first WO job when they get burnt out and punch to the Guard/Reserve (VERY few stay longer). Those on leadership tracks still love life. The ones who didn't get either are often cynical and looking to get out ASAP. 4. It's the Raptor. It'll continue to get upgraded and be the USAF's top A/A fighter. 5. There isn't a single bad location: Anchorage, AK; Yorktown, VA; Honolulu, HI; Panama City Beach, FL; and Las Vegas, NV. Expect to go Ops-to-Ops indefinitely unless you go to IDE. That's about the only way you reach escape velocity from the community, but you'll go right back after school/staff. Very very few go on 365s, and none are getting picked up for 180s anymore now that Schwartz' ridiculous "all-in" mentality has been purged (I digress). I have absolutely loved my time in the Raptor.

Flying fighters (F-16 for me) is awesome. I've done incredible things I would never had the opportunity to do anywhere else. The flying part: Flying A-B is nothing more than a means to an end...the end being tactically employing the aircraft. Flying the jet is easy, employing it well is difficult. If you want to fly around the world and stay in 69 countries before your first assignment is up, this is not the place. If you want to have "chill" time while flying, fighters are not what you're looking for. That said, I have flown all over this world (for a fighter guy anyways), had countless badass TDYs, and employed weapons in the best (i.e. TDYs) and worst parts of this world. The squadron camaraderie, even under the iron fist of the past few years, is second to none. Squadron life: Can vary a lot depending on leadership, as I'm sure the same is true in just about every walk of life. I have been fortunate to have great leadership, so my general experiences have been very positive. I know guys who were/are miserable because they have shitty leadership. Luck and timing matters. In the CAF, I'd say the average guy works 12 hrs day, 5 days a week. It's not uncommon to come in on the weekend to do 2-6 hrs of mission planning for a Mon sortie (because everyone was too hammered or didn't give a shit on Fri afternoon after academics and pilot meetings). However, that's personal choice; dudes could get it done on Fri and have the whole weekend off. You're expected to work your ass off on the tactical side to be a good fighter pilot, but there is still all of the BS that has to get done. You will have a lot to balance, but it is doable and the reward of flying the mission is worth it...at least for a while. If you go to other assignments such as teach B-Course, test, etc. life can ease up a bit and you're not necessarily working 60+ hr weeks...those are good "break for the family" assignments. Family life: It seems in general we are not on the road nearly as much has the AMC/AFSOC bros. But, depending on what's going on the squadron, those 12+ hr days can lead to a lot of missed dinners with the family, etc. There was about a 4 month period (no TDY, no deployment) where I didn't see my first kid 5 days a week because I left for work before he woke up and came home after he went to bed...I made the weekend family time. Overall, in my time flying fighters, I've been gone roughly 50% of the time (TDYs or deployed). Some guys hit more or less, but I'd say 50% is about the average. Overall for my family personally, we prefer longer time away with less frequency. Other communities do less time away, but far more frequently. That may work out better for other's family situation. Overall, I absolutely recommend dudes look into fighters. I think the best analogy I can think of is it's like playing team sports - very competitive (in a good way), you're very close with the bros (work and leisure), and you fly the jet/work together to win. Or you lose, but you learn and get better so when the big game kicks off, you're ready. It's a constant challenge that I personally would be bored without.