Fuzz

This isn't your dads corporate america anymore. Most of my college buddies now working the spread of big corporations to small start ups have told me stories about drinking at work (and I'm not talking the yearly Christmas party). One of my best friends was telling me about working at the company (large corporation), and he rivaled how much a typical squadron drinks.

There is a difference between using the military to look for him initially and sending the SEALs to kick in the door of where he was being held. That is what the news reports were saying, that military leaders didn't want to risk high value assets on a person that could be a deserter.

So you want to stay in till the beginning of next year? Sounds like a great way to end up helping your wing fill that 4-6 month CAOC tour that just dropped, which is also conveniently how much time you have left.

No surprise, there goes that slippery slope. Not saying they haven't been trying to do this, as shown by the quote we just confirmed the value of doing so. "A Taliban commander close to the negotiations over the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl told TIME Thursday that the deal made to secure Bergdahls release has made it more appealing for fighters to capture American soldiers and other high-value targets." https://time.com/2826442/taliban-kidnappings-bergdahl/

While I disagree that this trade should have been made, if we had a chance with a low risk of casualties we should have taken it however, risking highly trained assests in a high risk operation to bring home a guy who said "fuck you" to his unit I believe is a poor use of resources. He may be one of us but even we all understand that there is (was) a standing policy not to negotiate with terrorists. Also I believe the idea of we won't leave you/me behind is also dependent on the person's circumstances that lead to capture, if I was doing my duty as a member of the military and end up in enemy hands then spare no expense, however, if I purposefully abadon my duty then we should not risk our people to recover a person who made that choice. (Not arm chair quarterbacking circumstances but purposefully leaving your unit, I see akin to not heeding an evacuation order and then requiring the fire department to risk their lives to come get you). All this aside, after watching the video today of Bergdahl's handover to U.S. Forces, it doesn't seem like his health was in any sort of critical danger. This story and reasons continue to stink.

Don't forget the 69th pivot to jobs and the economy. Don't try to keep up with all the pivots you'll be dizzy for a year.

You are right we don't get to decide that, my point was there is a difference between an unfriendly sitting government and a terrorist organization turned government entity. This guy brings up some good points about the holes in this deal. Specifically what would the network holding him agree to his release for people that don't belong to their organization, when we specifically have people from their organization in GITMO. Looks we just gave the Taliban their people back to in turn cut a nice check to the Haqqini network. https://www.theblaze.com/contributions/negotiating-with-terrorists-inside-the-capture-and-release-of-sgt-bowe-bergdahl/

So the Taliban is now a legitimate entity? I'm sure you feel the same way about Hamas since they hold seats and a couple years ago controlled the Palestinian government; or how about the Muslim Brotherhood since they were running the Egyptian government for a time?

Isn't it believed he walked out the front gate of his FOB? I'm glad this guy is back but unlike O'Grady, the Vietnam guys or the humvee, they were put into enemy hands or jeopardy by hostile actions or being near hostile territory. If he was on a patrol and was captured that's one thing, if he walked out the front gate then I don't believe he or anyone should receive special treatment even if he was held for five years. Its like the idiots who go hiking on the dispited Iranian border and then complain about being picked up by Iran. Yes because of who we are we will move heaven and earth to bring you home, but once you are home you may still have to face the music for your stupidity. I'm sure though he'll be touted a hero regardless of the actual circumstances anything negative will be swepped under the rug.

If anything is apparent after these past couple months is AFPC wouldn't know a shitstorm if it punched them in the face. They are a bureaucratic machine far removed from the ops tempo of the air force. They wont feel it, they'll just grab the next name on their excel spreadsheet.

Smokin, I for one hate to see the these experienced IPs leave and am concerned for the future of our community, although I'm happy for these guys. I know that people will step up and fill the void, but you can't entirely fill the void when you don't have 12 years of combat experience that we are loosing. All the guys that play punched at my base were very experienced IPs and Lead Airdroppers.

Maybe you have more update info than I do but I got a call from a buddy in the 17th about two weeks ago saying they were told they were being cut next year.

I stopped reading at "I'm a ball", knew there was nowhere this could go but down.

You might want to go read up on how the EU's open immigration policies are affecting England, specifically the influx of Romanian cheap labor and the spikes in crime from the new immigrants.

Doesn't even have to be the border area. I grew up around the suburbs of DC, quiet little town (not mayberry by any means) but your average middle class america town. Then there was the housing boom as the DC sprawl came to county with coporate HQs and everyone trying to get out of the urban areas around DC. This brought a literal tidal wave of illegal immigrants to do the cheap labor for the new construction. They don't assimilate into the society, they set up literal ghettos in apartment complexes or pack 7-8 families into houses. They treat the public schools as a daycare, and yes a lot of citizens do as well, but the proportion of Americans that do it pales in comparison. They are dragging the schools into the ground becuase their kids don't learn or care to learn. They get food stamps, welfare, housing assistance, free breakfast and lunch for their kids at school, all while driving escelades, with iPhones with gold chains etc.; yeah sounds like an exageration but its not I've watched it happen for years in my home town. The other problem prior to this housing boom, we had very little crime, the town overall was pretty safe, now we have the largest concetration of MS-13 gang outside of LA in the Northern VA area. I went home about 4 years ago and noticed the cops were carrying shotguns and AR-15s on racks in their cruisers along with wearingn body armor. I asked my dad why they were now so well armed? Well turns out muggings, home invasions, drive-by shootings, etc. have all become common place. It was on the upswing when I was still there in high school but no where near as bad as it is now. These immigrants aren't really under any threat from local LEOs they literally stand in parking lots waiting for guys in pickup trucks to come by and pick them up to go work for the day, while the LEOs sit. On the other side of the street and watch. Vertigo I'm with you on opening the boards and making it easier for people to come hear above the table, guest worker programs etc. but please knock this bullshit off about how illegal immigrants aren't a danger or a drag on society or those of us who oppose them are selfish racists becuase it's not fucking true.

Cause that's worked so well in the EU.

Considering he had to find out about the buffoonery that was going on at the time from someone at an all call at Altus, I'm going to guess it is the first. Or worse yet, he knows and has been told to shut up and color by the powers that be in which case its not going to be good.

Didn't we just go through this with Joint Basing? You know that whole process that makes everyone's life more complicated while costing more money.

True, so by your comment, I'm assuming your squadron has a continuity book for every function and all those protocol details documented? Usually the continuity books I have seen are usually light on those types of details and focus more on the actual event planning (POCs, reservations, ect.) and that's lucky if you have a continuity book for said occasion. Yeah they can be completely useless, not saying there aren't ones that aren't but if the person knows their stuff they can be a real asset.

They are the ones that know all the rules of ceremonies and functions (flags, who sits where ect.). They can be pretty useful for those of us who don't have the time to look that shit up while planning said event in addition to all our other duties.

Vance has a communal dropbox link that our classed linked too and then had our own drop box for the class specifically.

A U-2 caused the shutdown of LAX's ATC the other day. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/spy-plane-fries-air-traffic-control-computers-shuts-down-lax-n95886

Several of my buddies in MC-12s have started talking about having to fill out ADPs, still waiting on further details from them.

You mean the same guy that voted to cut retirement? Probably not enough political points in helping this guy after the media has moved on.