Leaderboard

I remember clearly the sortie I was on in Early 2006, my second deployment, thinking “WTF are we doing here?” when chiefs were on a reflective belt kick and the ROE was rediculous. I like to think maybe I helped someone make it home but in big picture look back, what a waste of time and resources. And everyone at the Maj level and below knew it while leadership just padded stats to get ahead. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Reverend! I can't say it felt like #winning as we watched a bunch of ANA/ANP getting overrun by the Taliban because of ROE and chicken shit civilian and military leaders. Felt like a metaphor for our time in Afghanistan. The few employments we had were probably just killing the kids of the guys we killed when I was there a decade earlier. We didn't have any semblance of a gameplan or objective when I was there in 2011...2021 was way worse. If we had taken out OBL at Tora Bora and subsequently pulled out (or left when we finally got him), I might have considered Afghanistan a win. Did we stop a possible terrorist attack on US soil during that time...maybe. Did we create more people who want to repeat 9/11 down the road...absolutely. We did find ourselves with aged jets, a few trillion in debt and more dead/broken soldiers, so we got that going for us...

Sounds like a win for the military industrial complex!

Not confirmed yet but a good day if Israel actually turned Nasarallah into fertilizer.

A place to share information and talk about the FY25 UFT board.

There was also a bs holding call that brought back a TD at the end of 3rd qtr. The Game Day guys, especially Saban, were all over it this morning. And there was not enough video evidence to overturn the call on the field. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

I suppose a lot us fit into that role, that is, something done directly help our fellow military peeps, be it giving gas at a critical point to dropping something to the ground and so on. Most us of didn't do the BIG thing that created victory, but maybe just helped save the day, 1 dude at a time. That might enough when you think of the little successes. Dwell too much on the losses and I understand that feeling of effort and sacrifice for nothing. This was a topic me and my pops, a Nam Marine, discussed once and only once.

Sad Day, always enjoyed refueling behind a -10. Great story about a KC-10. Panama Invasion, My Bud is in a 141 dropping cargo. The load gets hung and he flies around with the cargo doors open for a while as the loads are trying to jettison the load. They finally get it jettisoned but now he’s low on gas. He has to divert to Rosy Roads, but needs to refuel. Stressful night so far, as they coordinate for a tanker and begin the rendevous, he see’s it’s a KC-10!. He’s like, Thank God, and as he’s approaching the contact he tells the crew, “Engage tractor Beam” because the -10 was much easier to refuel behind, and the envelope much larger..

Well done! That is pure reality and thank you for sharing. No one knows when your times up so enjoy everyday as much as possible. Too many ways to unknowingly depart the fix which is an absolute. Fortunately I myself have been blessed beyond what I deserve and know it. Went thru a normally inconsequential surgical procedure last summer which turned into a debacle (not the medical teams fault, things go awry at times.) Although it was a bit disturbing, my transition to a strong OneLife viewpoint nearly a decade ago stayed the course afterwards. Airline wise it will be different for me than most as I will most likely miss this job as I enjoy most of the attributes that it brings as it fits like a glove beyond the so called work itself. Having two to three weeks off in between or more and wanting to jump back in says a lot. Rather be lucky than good especially when you might be no good 😉 *May you find your sweet spot and relish the time you have. Not everything needs to be rushed. “Live Like You Were Dying” - Tim McGraw song makes sense.

1. The was NOT a catch. The ball was moving and did not survive contact with the ground, it was clear to me but see #2. 2. I don't think there was enough on video to overturn. 3. The ACC has a different assessment. ACC statement on final play: "During the review process of the last play of the Virginia Tech at Miami game, it was determined that the loose ball was touched by a Miami player while he was out of bounds which makes it an incomplete pass and immediately ends the play." 4. Keep in mind, it was not just the ref that made the call, they have a "Review Center" in NY and a lot of people came to that decision. 5. PLEASE root for Clemson, just like I will continue to root for the FSU program to burn down to it's rotten core. 🙂 6. Cam Ward is the real deal, he had some rough spots but the dude is ice under pressure and fun to watch. 7. If you think the reviewed play was the only F'd up call, you would be wrong. VT's long field goal should NOT have counted, the refs missed two #17's on the field at the same time. The Kicker and third guy from the right. 8. One game at a time, but for now....Miami is undefeated. 9. As opposed to dog $hit boy and 5 layer burrito guy, can we ALL agree this guy knows how to lay down a challenge:

If the limited goal of killing some terries took 20 years, that's a failure in my book. And the fact that the Taliban won (and they did) makes it pretty hard to see Afghanistan as a win. I think it might be our Vietnam... And before we decided to kill Saddam, they were a key check on Iranian power in the region. So... why are we there in the first place? Bad intel. That's a loss... Like Saddam, Gaddafi kept Libya under relative control. Now? How has "let them figure it out" worked for us so far? It was figured out, then "we came, we saw, he died." Is that better? I know what we could do. We could have won in Afghanistan too. The question is what actually happened/happens. Yes, Isis, the Islamist psychodrama that was only possible because we destabilized the region by removing or attempting to remove the strongmen in charge of their countries. There is no ISIS if we didn't kill Saddam. That's the best example of "we created that problem." We did excellent work at the tactical level in all of your examples. But all of your examples are exactly what I'm referring to. The pre-US-involvement status quo was better than how we left it. We did a lot of good work for ultimately worthless (or in some cases counter-productive) endeavors. I do appreciate the dialog.

Alright, I’ll take a crack. Afghanistan: we went in to kill bin Laden and as many Al Qaeda as possible. Remember them? They’re all dead! Sweet! Did we bring democracy to Afghanistan? Hell no, and the mistake was to say that was an objective. The real goal was to kill terries, and we did. No Al Qaeda left. But we were too soft to dump the Afghans on their sympathizer asses immediately after Neptune Spear. Iraq: not done yet, honestly. If we leave, they’ll fail. We need to stay and keep buying their oil. Unpopular opinion, I’m sure. Libya: a mess? Yep, but that’s ok because we kicked ass with air power, lost almost no one, and left. Let them figure it out. Iran: we never fought them. If we did, we’d ruin their ability to export terrorism to the rest of the ME just like we did with AQ and ISIS. Would we try to bring them democracy also? I sure hope not! Because fuck them, that’s why! Just destroy their military and means of Shahed/TBM production in a month and leave. Syria: ISIS! Remember them? When all the murderous assholes from all around the world gathered in Syria to kill/rape the locals by the thousands. They were so bad even AQ was cringing at their videos. We gave them the apocalypse they were looking for and now they’re all fucking dead. Sweet! In all, we did a shit ton of good work, but our national/military leadership is too inept to know it. Organizationally, the USG needs a lot of work.

In my last assignment alone my sq was directly tasked with/involved in 3 ops to either rescue or recover Americans in harms way. If you don't believe things like that "matter" we'll have to respectfully agree to disagree. I understand and partially agree with what you're saying writ large about whether OEF/OIF/OFS/OIR brought us a better peace/world. I personally don't believe it was all for nothing but I definitely understand the viewpoint of those that do.

After 20 years of the GWOT we got bogged and lost focus/motivation. I think the USAF is a really exciting place right now as we face the emerging threats. I’m not sure a lot of GWOT raised/indoctrinated leaders are the right people to inspire the masses to meet the challenge. Most of the good things I see are by young smart and intrinsically motivated pilots while leadership fumbles with meaningless qweep, DEI and inconsequential tasks. I liken the modern fighter environment akin like it’s early 80s F-16s vs MiG 29s trying to figure out tactics with rapidly changing tech constantly emerging. It’s not just an exciting time for fighters. Tankers, Bombers, anything logistic or space all should be psyched to be part of the changing era of warfare. Leadership right now is really poor at conveying the excitement of it. Truth is, I’ve talked to 2 star generals who are my bosses bosses and they have no clue the realities of the new environment at the “meaningful” tactical level. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

My money is on this guy

Could be delayed if they don't find a cloud at the IP.