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Probably for the best.

i think Vance, like most rational people, witnessed the positive changes in federal policy under “orange nazi” as compared to years of leftist democrat representation. I’ve never heard anybody, except Trump himself, say what a “great man” or “great politician” our current POTUS is. There probably are some who have, but most conservatives recognize hyperbole if and when we hear it, and don’t tend to idolize people.

@Day Man Great clip. Textbook example of putting ego aside and updating viewpoints when new information is presented/previous information is invalidated. Also textbook example of being man enough to admit when you’re wrong and moving forward. Hope everyone took a good lesson learned out of that self-debrief! I’m sure you did…

Bro... Who cares what emotional response our inferiors have? Seriously? WGAF. The people you reference laughing are our dependents. Our vassals. Groups of people who have forgotten who actually makes the sausage on this planet. And you care about some chump lauging from the sidelines? Okay. Yeah the economy sucks. But why? It goes well beyond any political party or who is the president. Science stopped dead in it's tracks? By this president? Dude you're hysterical. There has been a replication crisis in science for decades. Science (TM) went off the rails ages ago due to the government inextricably grafting itself into the university system by tying funding and grants to it. Check out how much "social science" replicates...almost none. Any that does (IQ) is verboten from actually being studied for real. Climate change? Yeah. Ok. We're changing the climate. Guess what. That's all baked in. You know what is going to fix it though? Not a new tax. Not decreasing everyone's quality of life. Nope. It's going to be technology. You know who is dead-set against that though? The Left. We can't implement an actual solution because some poor people might get left behind. Or might not be able to buy Cheetos with the tax money they take from me to give to them...so they can have dignity or something. Instead, we'll get initiatives that seek to re-fortify poor people's homes against noise pollution because they tend to live in noisier areas. Under the guise of "climate justice." So don't confuse not believing in climate change with not buying into the Left's BS way of "fixing" it. They are different and separate. Voting rights? Dude, GTFO. The Left has gerrymandered the political maps in the country for decades prior to this recent spat specifically to create racial voting blocks in this country. Thankfully, that is coming to end. I know you don't believe me though. But it's true. Just look at New England. 40% republican. Not one republican representative. Doubt you would listen to something by the Federalist, but this episode provides the historical context and the solution. Bottom line: groups of people living together were supposed to be represented together. How to fix that is forcing redistricting boundaries to follow a simple mathematical relationship - the perimeter of a congressional district divided by its area must remain below a certain ratio. Fair. Color blind. Aligned with the intent of our founding. Check it out. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-virginias-twisted-gerrymander-wont-survive-judicial/id983782306?i=1000762441668 And in any case, no one has yet to make a cogent argument as to why you shouldn't need to prove citizenship to be able to vote. It's unimaginable anyone could come down on a different side of this issue, but then again, these are crazy times, and we are a divided people.

Sadly, the CGOC at FE Warren never completed the Ft Collings Brewery Tour as a group after that (although I lived in Ft Collins and did it many times with friends). I was told that some CGOs from Peterson did go. Some other interesting items from that time Lt Smalley (the one with the anti-drinking rant) was apparently a 35 year old non-prior enlisted Mormon with 4 kids, so his post makes a lot of sense in that context. One of the other CGOs on base called him and talked to him for 10 minutes and then said "i just wanted to waste 10 minutes of your time like you wasted of mine over that email". Overall, I think he faced a lot more backlash than expected and I felt bad for him. 1Lt Megan <last name redacted> did not make it to Capt, from my understanding after her somewhat overly graphic email response (info through the grapevine, no idea if its true) Multiple CGOs at FE Warren had to show up at the Wing Commanders office at 6am in full service dress because they were identified as forwarding the email off base (no one from the Comm squadron, of which I was part of, was identified...almost like the Comm squadron had to do the check and protected their own) I received about 300 emails a week related to the top for the couple month (everyone felt the need to CC me on everything). The email subject line got blocked at the Air Force Space Command NOSC after some amount of time. Our base commander (Col Michael Carey..who was later relieved of command for consuming excessive alcohol and behaving in a manner unbecoming an officer while in Russian in 2013..ironic?) was called in to explain himself to the 20AF 2-Star for his CGO's behavior. One of my friends who was an exec for a general forwarded me an email from the top Air Force general at the time telling all the four stars to "please mentor the young officers on proper email behavior" in response to this email chain. It took a few weeks to hit the enlisted side, the CGOs kept it in house for surprisingly long, then I became a minor celebrity within our own squadron, by this time I was VERY tired of the subject I received a call from a Navy enlisted person in Florida a good 2 months later asking "is this a real thing??" and some Civ in Georgia asking me to "stop the emails"

Or maybe Vance recognized that he was getting caught up in the same political rhetoric that so many others got caught up in? You know, the one where you compare everyone you don't like to Hitler, even though they haven't systematically eliminated millions based on their religion or ethnicity? Or maybe he made the comment in 2016, when nobody knew how Donald Trump was going to govern? And since then, Donald Trump made very clear his stance on a whole bevy of conservative issues that would appeal to someone like JD Vance. Now, if he had changed his mind in a matter of weeks because of a political appointment, I think you'd have a point. But JD Vance is far from the only person who thought Trump was going to be a catastrophe for the conservative movement, but was proven wrong (me).

Didn’t know about this little slice of Air Force lore. I have to assume @Biff_T was part of the email chain at some point though?

Good luck getting the smell out

I'm happy to report that the MP5K with the forced reset trigger is every bit as fun as it sounds. With a suppressor, even supersonic rounds are hearing safe. I'm getting a new locking piece to slow it down a bit, since there were a few feed issues, but 31 rounds in less than 2 seconds sure does put a smile on your face. I also have to accept that 30 years of watching henchmen in movies missing the protagonist with a barrage of machine gun fire might have actually been remarkably accurate for Hollywood 🤣😂

Recieved from a Japanese student today, frigin hilarious.

I knew it would take .69 seconds for you to get butthurt.

Well when the dems and their far left followers are constantly inundated with propaganda and rhetoric that dehumanizes (or outright calls for violence against) anyone seen as a political opponent, this is what we will continue to get. I wish those who are otherwise rational humans would see this and stop supporting the cult.

It's only fraud when someone other than Congress does it.

Is this really the uniform (blues) for space force command? I hated the blues as they were in the late 1980s, but if these, shown here, were required I’d have gone awol. That looks like old school Star Trek reimagined by some light-in-the-loafer AA flight attendants.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXh8pwQkseS/?igsh=MThtN3ZzejZxNzUyMw== And that’s enough internet for today!

You're all pathetic with your quips vice substance. No wonder people have stopped engaging here, it's like talking to children.

Gerrymandering is bad—period. Neither side should be doing it. But let’s not pretend this is some new revelation. The reality is the cat’s out of the bag, and now it’s a full-on fight because no one wants to unilaterally disarm. Packing the court? Also bad. Undermines the credibility of the judiciary and turns it into just another political tool. Yet we’re watching one side openly push for it when they don’t like the current makeup. Killing the filibuster? Same story. It exists to force consensus and protect against raw majority rule. But again, one side is eager to toss it aside the moment it becomes inconvenient. And making Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico states—not based on some sudden principle, but because it shifts the balance of power in the Senate? That’s not about representation, that’s about leverage. Call it what you want, but changing the rules of the game to lock in power is a dangerous path. History is full of examples of how that ends, and none of them are good.

Quit reading after this.

@slackline I believe you believe that wild bullshit. Critical thinking indeed. Pro tip, when you consistently consume negative, bullshit information, your brain will transition to thinking that way no matter what. Help yourself by putting down the AOC gummies and focus on all the good things in your life, this country, and the world. You’ll be much happier for it.

RIP DAC

Really, that's rich. Just today Kegsbreath was saying he was the best CINC he's ever seen. Why lie about something so obvious? Have you not watched any of the footage from a cabinet meeting where they kiss up to him as he cat he's a nap? And I get it, Biden was garbage. Agreed wholeheartedly, but you guys and your blinders... They did change their tune, almost overnight. Then Trump lost 2020 (I'm sure some of you think he won because he told you to), and their tune changed again, oh, somewhere around Jan 6th... Unsure why. And then it looked like he was going to make a comeback, and they changed their tune again. As for the Hitler comparisons, I think you guys are forgetting that He didn't start his career out by killing millions of people. There was a slow boil that led to it... We are a laughing stock, the world over. The cabinet, for being all about merit, is full of unqualified lapdogs. The economy is great for people with enough money to invest, but sucks for everyone else. Trump has stopped science dead in its tracks, to the point that it will be almost impossible to catch up to China now. You guys must not believe climate change is a real thing, which, good for you because he's rolled back every measure that made sense to slow it down. Voting rights have taken another major hit thanks to his SC, which he only likes when they rule in his favor. His SAVE act is a thinly veiled voter suppression act, and if it passes Republicans will take the biggest hit since they're the voters least likely to have a passport. We could go on, but I won't waste any more of your time. The narcissistic attitudes in here by what I used to believe we're critical thinkers is mind boggling. OK, I'll go back to lurking for another few years.

Its now called NACHO, Not A Chance Hormuz Opens, per some Bloomberg columnist.

Burn it with fire. Sacrilege.

Thanks a lot @Lord Ratner , now I have to buy another gun and a FRT. My wife might kill me after the last 12 months of gun-related purchases - worth the risk.

Yeah, I agree with him the radical left is a massive threat. They’ve proven it time and time again at all levels of society - why are you silent on it? By the way, two things can be true; you can ancknowledge all of this while also not liking Trump or his policies.

I wonder how much a type really helps you in landing an airline job. The airline is going to make you go through their entire training program regardless of having a type rating. So, it’s no cost savings to them. It does show you can make it through a training program, but that point is already proven by one’s military career (where training programs are a 1,000 times harder than anything the airlines do).

In a way, the AD is already doing that by sending first assignment guys to ANG squadrons. 😁

Based on Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden? 20 years or so.

What are we arguing about here? The fact a president cans/blocks people who don’t align with his plans/policies? Welcome to every administration ever.

If only we had the same zeal in going after military officers in positions to influence contracts that magically end up in high paying gigs at these defense contractors after retirement.

I like that "space flap" on the front, that'll pull all of the ladies.

I appreciate hearing from those who critique actual policies and political positions of our elected representatives. It’s interesting to see such diverse takes from the same data, depending on one’s worldview. I’d argue that most of us are a little jaded from seeing the laws our elected officials pass and the bureaucrats who administer them, continuously do the expedient thing, rather than the correct for the long run thing. Then, when discussing the “other side”, tribalism with a touch of personal bias attached skews our view of things. I think most of us attempt to filter our bias to some degree. Personally the discussions here (at times) make me check my beliefs on geopolitical, financial, and social policy issues/topics. But having said that, I do appreciate a good street brawl on occasion about topics people feel passionate about even if I have no skin in the game.

I think Ratner is just butthurt someone wrote a post longer than his...

I was thinking about responding, but if you can't even keep track of what you're saying, what are the odds you can follow what I'm saying?

Given how many Navy ships have caught fire the last couple of months the CNO might want to push out an MFR on the proper use of fire extinguishers….

It wasn't a come back. You're obviously upset about the things you read here, and it's not worth being on any website where the discourse is exasperating to you.

I’m 99.69% it’s the base honor guard practicing with empty caskets.

That better be empty.

First, great response. I wasn't expecting it. I don't dispute anything you put forward here. I am, however, very concerned with much of how Europe is allowed to bankroll their social utopias on the backs of American defense. That is real. When you look at what NATO can bring to the fight, much of what entire countries contribute amounts to a single fighter squadron - not nothing - but at the same time, we give them undue credit for what they are able to add to our collective defense. Holding them accountable for the level of insurance they get from us has been a proper political angle that Trump is correct to pressure. Inferior was harsh, but vassal is correct. Europe/Japan and much of the modern world is not what it is without pax americana. Trump is reasserting that, correctly. I do think the economy is shit. And structural forces are the only thing that matters. It's because of how the Federal reserve is intended to function as a central bank. It lends to the US government at below market rates enabling inflation as a means to an end to devalue government debt at the expense of W-2 employees. So yes, the economy sucks. I personally think it's going to suck for a very, very long time. We have a larger generation that is owed out-sized benefits from a smaller generation and working class. That is going to be painful for a very long time as productivity will be unable to match outlays. Tariffs? Eh. They're the flavor of the month and miniscule relative to the larger, structural issue inherent in the system. This could be a subject in its own right. I think we probably do agree a good deal. That said, the functioning of our academic system has become completely divorced from its original intent. Universities used to produce lots of science. Now, the government disallows research that would be fruitful whilst looking to fund programs and research that it thinks will serve as means to justify future spending that they likely already have earmarked, but just need some "study" to allow it to go forward. Don't miss the point I was making by latching onto the social science crisis example - the crisis is everywhere, but most pronounced in the social sciences. Broadly speaking, the government has corrupted what was once a good system. The fix is to remove nearly all funding from these entities and allow them to generate science that is actually profitable - i.e. solves real problems. On the subject of government science more broadly, I don't think I disagree with you; maybe we were talking about different things and I grabbed onto what I thought you were trying to say. That said, science is not stopped dead in its tracks...please. Fine then change how it works! The SAVE act is part of a much broader conversation in the country to address issues with voting. Which are numerous. Vote gathering, non-citizen voting, voting month, mail-in voting, and so on. I don't know what to tell you about this other than to say I could easily vote for numerous family members who once upon a time lived in the same state I live in, but no longer do. I still receive ballots for them and just tear them up. You don't see the issue. I do. The bottom line is if you can't be bothered to make even the slightest personal efforts to participate in democracy, then you shouldn't vote. If you need "help" voting, then someone else cares about your vote more than you do, and it shouldn't be counted, because it's really just serving someone else's ends at that point. I have no issue eliminating gerrymandering at large from the country. The court recently struck down Louisiana's racially gerrymandered map, and they'll be forced to redraw. So will others hopefully. To be clear, that podcast also makes the point that there is no sacred right to partisan gerrymandering, either. That's the Federalist saying that. A conservative powerhouse. Never said that republicans didn't do it, but theirs is generally partisan, rather than racial. Either way, its a ridiculous practice that needs to come to an end, no matter what the intent.

Great country song lyric "I ain't drinkin' anymore.....but I ain't drinkin' any less."

A Semi-Thompson with an FRT is as close to Heaven as I'll get me thinks. All my auto fire has been military, and I've never used an FRT. To those who have is it controllable? I bought an SA 1911 Garrison Commander length last year in .45 (as the Lord intended). Great accuracy. Very tight fitting and no issues feeding. I sent the slide to Novak for upgraded sights, and it should be back tomorrow. 🤞Tomorrow will be exactly one week since I dropped it at FEDEX for shipment so turnaround time can't be beat for Novak fyi. I've come to the conclusion that sometimes luck plays into what you get from different manufactures at different times. Hard to stomach given what you pay for sure. BTW SA is a Series 70 (Titanium firing pin and heavier spring) vs Colt's Series 80. No idea on Kimber.

You still need to perform the type check with an FAA DPE to get the type rating. I had to spend an extra day in the sim after my AF checkride to finish the FAA portion to get my 737 type (steep turns, etc that isn't part of the AF syllabus). Pretty sure though, if your MWS has a civilian type equivalent then those hours still count even though you can't legally fly the airplane outside of the AF (ie: C-40 to 737, C-32 to 757, etc).

The last administration wanted promotions based on race rather than merit and they are butthurt POTUS wants people who align with him...crazy.

Just curious, did anyone happen to find the monkey sex chick? I bet you she's learned some new tricks now that she's well into her cougar years...

https://www.flyingsquadron.com/forums/topic/15529-stop-drinking/#findComment-211382 20 years ago, I was the Lt who tried to organize the Ft Collins Brewery Tour that started this email chain. The email itself made my life very dramatic for about 3 months but luckily, I never got in any trouble because of it (the DD mention at the bottom really saved me). They say this stuff never disappears from the Internet, but this is the only reference I can still find. Still my biggest claim to fame in the Air Force, good times (or bad for a lot of people, ha).

Normally you’re correct. However, the KC-46 uses 787 glass in the cockpit and at the time I was in the -46 program (2020-2024), pilots were ineligible due to that reason. I don’t know if that changed back to giving them 767 type ratings since I left.

Aside from the obvious OPSEC issues, I'd be more concerned if he bet on a loss...that he was that confident, I'm impressed.