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Not trying to dogpile you. This point keeps coming up, not just by you. This seems to be following along with Mearsheimer's analysis of how "we" got to this point. What this line of thinking omits is a strong defense of the counter factual. Said another way, I think the idea that if NATO had not continued to grow post cold war, that Russa would not have done any of the stuff they've done in past 20 years is silly. Putin considers the collapse of the Soviet Union the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century. Fundamentally, this line of thought is a serious case of main character syndrome. All of that analysis contains the implicit assumption that all foreign affairs are essentially reactions to western (USA) action. No one else has agency. Which is completely at odds with one of his own key realism points; namely that all states will seek regional hegemony in order to secure their survival. Russia has always been an expansionist empire. They don't have defensible borders.

Hey folks, over the next few weeks, I'll be migrating to a newer server. There may be some random down time and/or a few lost posts when I "flip the switch". I'll alert everybody with a sticky post and it'll be in the middle of the night sometime in the next few weeks.

But see that’s the thing, we are getting accelerated modernization through support of Ukraine, the media sphere talking points just don’t support the space required to have that conversation. ATACM and Bradley are being given to Ukraine under that financial dollar amount. That’s not to build the Ukrainians new equipment, we are divesting M2A2/3s that are still serviceable but near the end of life cycle and funding accelerated replacement of those stocks with A4s. 1st CAV will be the first unit to field A4s in an Armored Brigade Combat team about 2 years ahead of the original timeline for it, they are set to fall in on them returning from the EUCOM rotation they are on. Similarly ATACM isn’t being built to replace, the money funds PRISM. Upgrades are absolutely happening, and at the cost of equipment and ordnance we were going to have to pay to DRMO. And while we can sit in an arbitration of negotiated peace, the people selling the inevitable collapse of Ukraine are ignoring a lot of reality on the battlefield. The Ukrainians now possess and are permitted to use weapons to shape the Corps and Division deep areas, which they didn’t have in hand during their summer offensive. If you’re going to conduct offensive ground operations and you don’t have an Air Force with established air superiority conducting interdiction that’s going to be a necessary capability (the other big problem being engineering). They just started pushing the Russians north of Vovchansk for example they are well north of the River which was their defensive line. They can do that because they can shape the deep fight in a way they weren’t allowed too. Everybody screaming last summer about how come they don’t advance like us were largely ignoring or ignorant of that being something we would need to do if we were in their place. The artillery they did have last year was being used in direct support of their FLOT, which while effective at limiting casualties makes for slow movement to take the field from the opposing force because they can just feed in the strategic reserve. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fair points, but most of those effects have already been achieved and I don't believe that our deterrence posture would be significantly hurt by reaching a negotiated peace that maintains the current line of actual control without conceding territorial claims. $80 bn annually is a lot of money and at some point it would be more useful modernizing our own forces instead of just dunking on Russia while our actual pacing threat grows stronger.

I think my main stance was pretty consistent throughout: mandates for civilians = bad mandates for military = shut up and color But for debrief purposes: Knowing what we know now about efficacy, should it have been mandated? No. Do I think it was a horrible reckless medical experimentation campaign that subjected service members to huge risk? Also no. Virtually everyone I know got the first two jabs, and I know zero vaccine injured people. Did I take any boosters? Also no. I caught covid within 9 months of my 2 shots, reference the efficacy point above. Last thing I’ll say is: a big frustration for me in this thread has been that you guys project every gripe you have with the government covid regime on a handful of us slightly dissenting voices, who actually agree with you on most of the big picture issues here. I also think the government seized on a crisis to try and take as much power as possible. I also think suppression of the lab leak was bullshit. I also think fauci has perjured himself numerous times and probably belongs in jail. I also think the lockdowns accomplished nothing and were a huge detriment to the economy and people’s mental health. I just think there’s an argument to be made for military mandates (in general), a lot of the objections were based on pretty weak BS, and the shot was never very risky. Still happy to debate those.

Thanks for sharing Skitzo. This is the type of transparency Airmen have been asking about for years. I’d personally put this in the “what’s right with the AF” category. Sorry to hear about the lost assignment.

So now it’s blood AND/OR treasure now. But nobody ever wants to talk about time. I think in our lack of a LSCO in recent times we’ve forgiven that those wars are thought of in spans of years. Iraq was an anomaly. What were general staffs doing in April-July of 1945… figuring out what they wanted to do in 1946, because there was never an assumption the end of a conflict was just around the bend. For less than 10% of the annual DOD budget because 811 billion per year is 80 billion annually in a 2.5 year of which ~60% of it went directly into building out our own stateside infrastructure and purchasing new stocks in exchange for old DRMO ones necessary to conduct LSCO in the evidence of expansionist policies from both our major opponents… we managed to: -Contribute to Russia losing something along the lines of 20% of its tactical Air power… -Destroy 60-70% of its Gen III+ MBTs and later armored vehicles (4th guards was training with T62s last summer)… -Neutralize every warship that would able to contest us or influence NATO territory with Calibr from the Black Sea or Baltic since that’s who they largely augmented with… -field test a butt load of emergent tech and methods rather than learn them the hard way… At the rate we are going between attrition in this war and NATO members moving to develop a real military across the continent we won’t need a 2 theatre military, because Russia won’t have one left to field offensively. This is the lowest return on investment in the history of our military spending. And in the meantime we demonstrate to the Chinese who are watching “no you can’t just invade and hold while we lose our attention span on your annexation of a neighbor.” Yeah that’s a win worth far more than maybe a dozen more B21s 6 years from now provided somebody doesn’t reappropriate that money for other things because we forget great powers type war is still a real thing out there like we did through the 90s and early 00s. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I wouldn't put that much credit on the Russians here. I have no doubt they're doing their information warfare thing, but Mearsheimer is a very big name in political science and he's vocal. I don't think that video coming back up requires any nefarious action.

Yeah… it’s not our fault. NATO didn’t force him to do anything. He was never promised anything, and for that matter neither was Gorbachev. More to that point that when NATO did start expanding, there was permission given from the Russian government at the time in a quid pro quo exchange of billions in US currency to prop up its market economy (preventing another coup during the Yeltsin era), and agreements in time table that would be advantageous to both the Clinton and Yeltsin elections going that year. We (UN Forces) were active Combatants in Korea having actually exceeded the original mandate to protect South Korea by then attempting to unify the country crossing north of the 38th, the internationally recognized border in an attempt to punitively unify the peninsula only to get pushed back south of it and lose Seoul a second time…. Retake it…. And end up in a stalemate mostly along the 38th for over a year. South Korea didn’t give any territory or make concessions to just not have Inchon or Sokcho be theirs anymore. We negotiated for a return to the original status quo. We (UN/NATO) weren’t and aren’t active combatants in any of the territorial annexations through force that Russia has executed over the last two decades. A more apt comparison of what is being suggested now for a truce in this conflict in terms of a Korean War would be like the UN stabilizing the Pusan Perimeter for a while simultaneously having no combat casualties doing it, and then telling the ROK “ok this is the new South Korea, enjoy what we negotiated for you.” Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

At the risk of being labeled a Putin propagandist, Ukraine has been ruled/controlled by Russia since the 18th century and then by the USSR until very recently. Before that, Poland, Lithuania, and Russia alternatively controlled most of Ukraine throughout most of the 14th through 18th centuries. Using historical reasoning, the land belongs to Russia and should be turned back over to them. Any land Ukraine keeps should be considered a bonus to them(tongue in cheek). I'm all for a Ukraine independent of Russia and think Russia shouldn't have invaded the nation they gave independence to. However we (NATO countries) are largely to blame for much of whats happening including Russia deciding we were continuing to FA and we needed to FO. I blame piss poor U.S. leadership and decision making (both covert and diplomatic interference) for much of what's going wrong around the world.

I think a little history from another corner of the world is useful here. Look up the Korean Armistice which ended the war on the Korean Peninsula in 1953. The signatories were the U.N. (really just a proxy for the U.S.), China and North Korea. South Korea never agreed to the Armistice because they considered it a failure to reunify the peninsula. The parallels between this and the current war in Ukraine are numerous, and a similar ending may be necessary for Ukrainian officials to save face.

Dibs Laces out Dan!

I pissed on Mike Cahill's Boom Operator sticker at the Bird in Hand, multiple times. I saw that sticker all over the world. Never even met the dude. I also got trashed on snake bites there, more times than I can remember.

Similar story. Proposed June 3rd, married July 14th, moved to Lubbock July 21st, started UPT Aug 3rd. First kid born mid-May (middle of 38s). 3 more years of FAIPdom, another kid, followed by 17 years of Herks. 15 years after retiring, and we’re celebrating our 35th anniversary next month. YMMV, but don’t pass up “the one” Sent from my iPad using Baseops Network mobile app

My wife and I had been dating for about 1.5 years. As my UPT date approached, we weren't sure what to do. She was still in college. I was going to be in BOQ in Columbus. How was she going to visit and how often? I proposed on a Thursday evening. We went to the courthouse Friday morning and got married. Then we called our parents and I called CBM and said I needed a house on base. Arrived there a week later and got to work making some kids. That was 26 years ago. Now we have grandkids. I wanted to fly and I wanted a family. There is absolutely no reason why someone can't do both. Granted, you gotta choose wisely, but going home to a house after flying, having a dinner at a table every night, getting laid, and having someone to be with... I wouldn't do it any other way. That said, I sympathize with you. The quality of women available to men of your generation is absolute shit. good luck.

Long-time hang for Herk crews on rote for yrs. Easy walk from the Zoo or the Morgue 😎

I can't believe that lying douchebag isn't in prison. He should be for what he did.

I'm sorry to see this. That was a great spot for us 60 day wonders (ETTF) at Mildenhall to relax and have a cold pint or two after a flight. It was the first English pub I ever visited, and while over the years I visited many more (some better and some far worse), it was always a relaxing and fun place to hang out with the crew. It was also convenient if one didn't have transportation readily available.

It's a good scenario. What's not to love?

He is a dishonorable man and disgrace to the uniform. The worst CJCS perhaps ever. I’m hopeful I can eventually say it to his fat face.

I just read on FB that the Bird in Hand at Mildenhall is closing due to the gate being extended or something like that? I have not stayed there in years and when I did I often stayed in one of the newer billeting buildings so I’m having a hard time remembering the place.