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You clearly don't know what it takes to fly precision loops to Van Halen, while taking all the 60 series.

Hopefully someone kicked some rudder because lead got lucky with having enough space to eject. Since everyone made it and are OK: Rejoin to the piggyback position? Is that a new Ace and Gary maneuver?

So 19AF can now solely focus on continuing to gut the UPT enterprise

We've been down this road, and similar paths, constantly and consistently since the 1970s. I'll believe that Big Blue is serious about CSAR (and CAS) beyond the A-10 when the following things occur: 1. SPECIFICALLY, in-writing, designate a MINIMUM of FIVE squadrons (of the MDS of their choosing) that will take CSAR as a PRIMARY mission. These squadrons will take dedicated, three week (or longer) TDYs to Moody AFB to learn, refine, and become proficient in the CSAR mission so that when the last Hog flies West, the mission is so deeply ingrained in the PRIMARY focus that no stress or strain can erase it. Why 5? I'd argue that's the absolute minimum number for a somewhat regular AFFORGEN deployment rhythm. Welcome to the world of low-density, high-demand. Who's going to want to go into no-kidding combat without Sandys? They will also publish the recurring training events that will prove to the entire CAF that the commitment of NEVER leaving a comrade behind on the field of battle is alive, well, and preserved in the United States Air Force. This won't happen, because it hasn't happened. In order to do this, those five squadrons will have to give up other missions in order to focus on CSAR. It isn't a pickup game, and if we relegate it as such, we're breaking faith with our own. Period, dot, full-stop. So, what can we ask that F-16, F-15E, or F-35 squadron to give up in exchange for keeping CSAR alive at such a pace that our own don't lose faith in our ability to come snatch them from the Valley of the Shadow of Death on the worst day of their lives? Draw the line in the sand. Demonstrate the commitment. Spoken words are hollow. Write it. Sign your name to it and accept the accountability for the decision. If we're not willing to do that, to that level, then we have to get serious in another way. Alternative COA: Give the mission in its entirety to the US Navy. Carriers are near the fight and are mobile. Sign it all over if we're not willing to do what it takes and maintain the mission at the standard that was forged in the skies over Vietnam. The mission has been tinkered with and tossed around a few times, and every time that's happened, it hasn't been good. We had to relearn the TTPs in Desert Storm, and that only happened because enough A-1 vets were retained in the young Hog community to keep the idea alive. Draw the line and go big, or punt on fourth down. Doctrinally, the USN is the closest to the USAF CSARTF in terms of composition, so push it all over there. Zero's perfect solution because I have the pens: Get serious about what war has really been over the last forty years, and the elements that will endure REGARDLESS of the war we want to fight. Our track record on predicting future conflict is pretty terrible, so (as they love to say at Air University) use the past as prologue and keep the things that you've always somehow needed, even if you didn't want them. Get serious about the USAF commitment that's existed in this manner since the original Sandys made it clear that they would walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to bring a comrade home. That means extending the A-10 until 2035, with all that's needed for such sustainment-- depot, WIC, FTU, test, and spare parts. That timeline gives the service time to develop a proper follow-on A-10X. You can even bolt-on some after-market add-ons to make it a VERY formidable F/A-10X and take the low-end counterair vs the low-slow toys so that the super expensive machines can focus on their high-end fights. Better yet, call it the ATTACK-MULTI-role FIGHTER, or AMF. You could field it in no time since you've got a foundation that you know works-- put some new versions of the -34 on there that get 15K lbs of thrust or more, add on every means of plug-and-play munition, EW, and comm suite that already exists, and of course, keep the gun. Done. On the ramp by 2035 so that the last of the c-models can take their place in the boneyard. We need the pickup truck in an era where everyone just wants the sports cars. EVERY conflict since Desert Storm has proven that. Bottom line at the bottom is that there is a numbers game that we're losing and will continue to lose so long as we don't accept the harsh reality before us. Budgets aren't big enough to field an entire fleet of exquisite and VERY expensive fighters. You can't field an NFL team with all quarterbacks, but it's also damn near impossible to field a winning team without those high-speed, highly paid leaders who pass and carry the pigskin. You need linemen. You need knuckle-dragging brawlers. There's already not enough to go around, and the trend is continuing downward. If you're going to transfer the mission, DO IT RIGHT, and START DOING IT NOW so that the new guys can learn from the experts. If you think it's a pickup game and that you can re-learn it on the fly after your one upgrade ride four years ago, you'll be joining Jack in the Esfahan Hilton. We're already late.

Buddy my job is literally to travel around the country and stay in different cities. Just because it happens sometimes in other cities doesn't mean there's a comparison. California has been orders of magnitude worse since the pandemic. And it's not even close.

I’m an equal opportunity hater - fuck em both!

Whoever made this is next level!

Pretty impressive landing roll. Actually a no roll. T/O is incredible as well. I’m not sure the tires even rotated fully.

We had a rental van in Germany year ago. We were flying down the autobahn when the dude in the passenger's seat rolled down the window....the combination of speed, airlfow and age on the van was just enough to tear the headliner loose.....BOOM....we were all suddenly sitting there covered in a cloud of insulation, it looked like a scene out of a movie, all we could do was laugh. Took us a while to get all the insulation out of our hair, teeth and flightsuits. The next day one of the guys super-glued the headliner back into place. We turned the van in a few days later and never heard a word.

I’ve returned a car OCONUS missing a door. Said “have a nice day” and left. Never heard about it ever again. Seen many GTC rentals returned all kinds of screwed up over my career, never seen or heard of anyone getting screwed (questioned by the CC is a different story).

I'm glad they didn't have a radar gun on the Destin bridge 40ish years ago.

Nope. Do it. What's the magic number? 4? Because I've been to 4 different CA cities and witnessed the horror show with my own eyes. None were SF.

Blancolirio said their airshow flying was an additional duty. Well, that should just about take care of the airshow demos in the Growler. Glad they all got out, but why a colossal waste of money and not a good look for Naval Aviation.

Look at the picture again. Dude shit in the street, not on the sidewalk. It's the little things....

Two has some spalining to do...parroting other holy cow lucky they all got out and didn't get tangled up. I thought it was AI at first...they were stuck together after first contact.

It’s the Navy way.

...and not a single pilot died. Worth it.

LGA > JFK

I think this sounds like a solution in search of a problem.

Have the F-16/15/35 doing the Sandy mission? Sandy 1 is a never ending helmet fire centered on finding the survivor, authenticating the survivor, protecting the survivor, and making the final go/no-go call. Sandy 2 has to manage comms to keep track of all the players while executing the FAC gig to defend the survivor. Sandy 3 needs to find a way in and out for Pedro/Jolly and troll the route for threats as the helo transits. All Sandys need to be down up close and personal doing "Hover Cover" with eyeballs on the pickup ready to deliver ordnance quickly on pop up threats to the helo or survivor. Doing that at 400+ knots up in the Bozosphere is not going to work. Doing that at low altitude at 400+ knots won't be any easier and certainly not an improvement over the A-10.

Believe Moose has previously identified himself on this board (view post history). Although the change in tone from ~10 years ago and this kind of writing below make me wonder if his account was hijacked, or maybe he wasn't who he said he was initially.

There are always USAFE AND PACAF jobs popping up that don’t require SDE or IDE in res. If you’re after multiple years of adventure OCONUS (and adding to your TAFMS), no need to do school to make that happen. Also, only have had one guard wg/cc who did in res school, the rest did SDE in correspondence.

In a just world, lawyers wouldn't exist, and they certainly wouldn't be involved in combat. Combat is supposed to be brutal beyond the pale to the point that anywhere a combatant hides is a valid target until there are no more targets or until the enemy gives up. America seemed to have forgotten that fact somewhere right around 1946. Somewhere along the line we decided to be "nice" when we use military force, which is how you end up with a military doing 'nation building'...the complete opposite of it's function.

We need about 300% more Growlers…but yeah, let’s burn some on airshows for no good reason. Dumbasses. Glad they’re all alive.

Shifting back to a more tactical discussion it appears the Saudis and UAE are VERY upset by the latest attacks from Iran. Pakistan has now joined the Saudis and there is talk of a ground incursion into Iraq to target the threat vector directed at the Kingdom. Saudi has recalled 50,000 reservists. Pakistan has deployed a squadron of fighters and thousands of troops to the Kingdom...next few days are going to be interesting.

Timing and spacing was good. Two, your PLF was a little off. I saw feet, butt, head. Remember to roll on your side next time.

I can’t explain that, because I don’t know. What I do know is as follows: 1) We have an artificially higher gas tax, by a significant amount. I don’t know why because our roads are terrible and they’re turning them into bike lanes. 2) My electricity rates are increased at a rate that is greater than the advertised rate of inflation (but are likely what actual inflation rates are.) 3) Trash fees, which were previously apart of property tax, just became an additional fee of $600/year. 4) $19,000 a year in state income tax at roughly $300k a year. 5) 1% property tax on a $1m home (median) is a lot. Plus community taxes. 6) We’ve created the fastest high speed rail… That doesn’t exist. 7) Probably lots of “Learing” Centers.

Another good question is going to be why do we have Growlers flying air show profiles? Did you really need an LDHD two ship to do a routine that would probably look exactly the same in slick hornets?

I love California and hate who/how the state is run. I have a beautiful home in San Diego that overlooks the airport, bay, and North Island... And we've had my wife's car broken into once and a homeless man come onto my patio, steal her shoes and a weightlifting belt I had on my squat rack. We also have a really nice property six hours North of San Francisco where the only things you run into are deer, black bears, and mountain lions. I agree that California is probably the most diversely beautiful state. I just wish that it wasn't controlled by the Bay Area and LA populace. I'm hopeful that people are waking up. Spencer Pratt's Mayoral campaign seems to be going quite well. Can he win? I don't know, but I hope that he does.

Is there any rage bait you don't fall for?

So I saw the Snowbirds are retiring the CT-114 Tutors with CT-157 Siskins (PC-21s) https://aviationweek.com/defense/light-attack-advanced-training/canada-commits-pc-21s-replace-snowbirds-team and I knew their demo team came from all career communities in the RCAF, kinda has to because of the size of the RCAF and need to cast a wide net then. So I thought with the T-7 eventually becoming the universal trainer for the USAF why not re-equip the Thunderbirds with T-7s, open the application to all MAJCOMs and build a demo team from the entire AF rated pilot communities? Why? Represents the whole of the Air Force better; inspires, motivates and invigorates new pilots to reach for this opportunity thus bettering their communities; reduces the stovepipe cultural problem across the rated force and invigorates the demo team as a concept with this new direction. Yeah, there’s some staff guy writing in that paragraph but I think it would be a good thing just because you’re telling the other guys, we want you to represent the flying skills and traditions of the Air Force in this very important way. Training, costs, risk, implementation and all factors are important but I argue here for the concept, not details. I yield the floor…

Yeah.. not holding my breath

Well yeah obviously, you've demonstrated particularly unbiased judgment of anyone involved with this administration. It should be no surpris that the only ones you like are the ones you agree with. Tulsi is one step away from becoming a Joe Rogan conspiracy theorist. And at this point anybody who brings up Epstein should be disregarded immediately as either too dishonest or too blinded to trust their judgment or assessment of, well, anything. Just another social-mania at its finest.

At least a few minutes most flights. On the tanker (especially in the weather), battle damage checks, coming up initial in places that don't have tac initial, and if you are hitting the weather without the time/ability/desire to get everyone into a trail formation. My first pond crossing I spent most of the first 5 hours in fingertip because the weather was garbage and if you lost sight you're diverting to some random Pacific island that you don't want to land a fighter on. Flying fingertip while racehorse is a serious challenge.

I’m too lazy, so here is AI… Cuba is considered a national security threat by the U.S. government primarily due to its proximity to the U.S., its intelligence alliances with adversaries like Russia and China, and its support for hostile actors in the region. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis here is a link to the Cuban missile crisis for a brief synopsis on the historical threat associated with Cuba. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Nothing will change until the mission doesn't get done in a messy and embarrassing way

The central question was never whether Iran was a challenging environment. Nor was it whether Iran posed a serious threat, had the potential for nuclear weapons if they put their minds to it, fired ballistic missiles, or occasionally conducted special operations that targeted western citizens. All of that is true. The question was whether those conditions compelled the methods chosen — or whether they were invoked to justify choices that were poorly aligned with the United States’ own stated objectives.” He (smartly) doesn’t mention the clear “unstated” objective: to distract from other political difficulties that were becoming unmanageable. Once evaluated by that criteria suddenly everything starts to make perfect sense.

Interesting how your takeaway point here is that “I could see the democrats abusing this” as opposed to “I see active abuse occurring right now in only one party that I do or do not agree with.” Making invalid hypothetical comparisons is a fallacy.

"hard to replace". Give me a break.

That’s some real turbo douche going on there.

I think you mean the AF as a whole or the US in general.

Iran is waiting until the midterms. Trump wants an off-ramp, which is why he apparently had a heated discussion with Bibi yesterday.

Just the 60 series, I thought it was the entire NTTR... Valid points, might have been a different story when I went through in the days of Orville and Wilbur where we all flew T-38's. You point about speeds not sure I am fully on board, some heavy platforms fly a lot of formation, closer than you would think and requiring some heavy brain power to maneuver a large formation around. Not at all a dick measuring contest, the pointy nose community certainly has the market cornered on going faster, closer and upside down so it is a much easier transition versus a Tanker bro that doesn't exceed 45 degree of bank. The real question would be is the juice worth the squeeze just to wear a tight red flight suit and sign autographs. It is great to see the Thunderchickens fly fast and make noise, great recruiting tool that we should probably leave alone given the other real issues that need to be fixed. My only real beef with the T-birds is the program has turned into another platform to make fighter GOs. But life isn't fair so move on. Quick funny story - during my tenure at the WIC my senior rater was the 57th Wing/CC. For my 2BPZ push to O-6 (which I made), the boss gave me a the highest strat in the wing, a strat that pissed off the then T-Bird/CC so much he later confronted me about it...Really Bra like it was my decision? Anyway, life isn't fair, move on.

The door event was 16 years ago. It’s been a couple years since the last “oops, our bad” rental return.

Iran knows Hesgeth/Trump aren't going feet dry. Otherwise we would have done it already. Its now really a game of chicken, but we're not on a collision course. Its turned into a game of mean tweets. Israel is shaking its head, going WTF, but they got their useful idiot to perform a bombing campaign to further their goal to neutralize Iran. This deal Trump wants is just figurative so he can say, "look what I did. I'm impressive. I want a ballroom. And a statue of me with Epstein in the ballroom, where we hold each other while we diddle each other. Melania, film that. Oh, I need my IRS guy to exempt me from taxes. Where's my US Supreme Court? I need some ball licking. Pam, get in here... wait, damn, I fired her boobs. Or his boobs. No wait, those were Noem's BOOBS. Such bigguns. PS. No TDS's were harmed in this production. Yet. Mike Mike Mike... Hump day!!! PPS. That is what rando thought Trump does at 3am every night.

As interesting as it is to conceptually debate whether war crimes should even exist as a category (Jesus Christ guys) I’d like to circle us back to the thread topic of Iran. We’re now on our 3rd or maybe 4th iteration of: threaten total obliteration->back off the threat->promise a super stupendous deal is right around the corner. Apparently this time the Saudis, Emiratis, and Qataris asked us to postpone so it totally wasn’t a taco (although it is hilarious these ultimatums keep coming due on tuesdays.) So I guess now our force posture is.. ready to exact total obliteration but also eagerly awaiting a perfect, amazing deal. I’m sure this new status quo will last literal dozens of hours. Honest question: is there a point here where we just be honest with ourselves and admit we’re being fucked with?

As the IP told the story in the bar afterwards...probably

Except more cool...