Leaderboard

I pilot I have mentored since he was 14 is a TPS grad and stationed there as an IP. As late as Thursday the wreckage was still on the runway. He mentioned they got back to flying and he decided to go to Palmdale rather than do patterns and see the wreckage on every pattern. It's been tough on the entire test and bomber community, I think there legacy will live on because they touched so many lives.

KEND 26-12AF F-35 F-16 T-38 FAIP B-52 AFRC F-16 Bulgaria

KDLF 26-12AF F16 B1 F35x2 T-38 FAIP F-22

Yep, pretty much. The major, unforced error was starting the ceasefire back in April, stupidly thinking diplomacy would “totally work this time” with Iran, then combining that effort with, as you put it: short cuts, threats, mean tweets. Turns out none of those things worked worth a damn with Iran. The momentum was solid, the ass beating was large, and then we just stopped and have subsequently created the proverbial shit sandwich. As someone said earlier, tactical ass whooping without the foresight/capability to see it through to a strategic victory.

Quibbling. We took it from a bad situation to a much worse situation in which our adversary has significantly more geopolitical influence than they did a year ago. And now they know that we don’t have the capability or intent to do what is necessary to stop them.

Trump started a war of consequence without the support of Congress or the American people and changed a status quo that favored the US to a status quo that favors Iran. Iran has been a problem for a long time, but maybe previous administrations didn’t “do something about it” because there was a high probability or a poor outcome.

I don't want to throw Biff under a Frontier Airbus but, holy moly, I've never had a car stolen or broken into and describing those issues as "comes with the territory" is a sad summation of civilization in a once great state.

That’s a hell of a way to put it. Read a book, get in a vault - inform yourself.