brickhistory

And just so I'm not just asking for answers/recommendations without having thought of some of my own: - Renovate/expand the current POS building. Too small, not nearly enough vault space, and well past its expiration date. If Big Blue wants learning to occur, there has to be an adequate classroom for all involved and at the appropriate classification levels. - Provide realistic and enough adversaries to replicate something past the 1990s threats. The current "Red Air" tax is negative learning for both the affected players and the vul's Blue Forces. Not a fan of the barely third generation rental adversaries idea. Not the guys, but the equipment itself. Not to mention the dearth of ground emulators. Obviously, my thoughts run more along the resources line rather than tactical, but all of it needs to be looked at.

Should PR be a part of the scenario at all? If so, what about the all too regular no tanker available condition?

How would this be applied? Do they (actually ACC and/or Big Blue/DoD) accept the higher risk of a mid-air and let the boys play? Is that something you would accept as a player? Invite fewer players so that the blocks can be bigger? Does that negate the "L" in LFE?

What would you change regarding Red Flag-Nellis? Asking for a friend...

Link takes it site where I have to establish an account. No thanks. If the gist is a 12th century fight to the death vs. "can't we all just get along?," I'm taking a guy who turned millions into billions. Maybe pushing the "button" or the threat thereof is not a bad thing. And married/nailed a serious string of 10s. Keys to the world: 1) Brute force 2) hot chicks 3)money

I'm tellin' ya, keep "Tops in Blue" active and this goes away. Clown noses matter...

If only there was some platform capable of carrying lots of ordnance, loitering for forever, and didn't cost an arm and a leg to develop or maintain. Besides another A-10, of course. If only...

Even non-pilots can as well. Careerism has always existed. It always will. "Fair-haired," "golden boy," "early identified" types have always existed. Always will. However, the deliberate destruction of the squadron has occurred since the 1990s. The focus on everything but the mission has occurred since the 1990s. Look at the number of GOs today with the size of our miniscule force compared with WWII, Korea, or even your Vietnam example. Those on the spot, usually the best able and having the most SA on what the problem is and how to rectify it, now are neutered and must ask "Mother [insert your non-gender specific noun here] may I" before doing anything. And so on until at least a GO, if not a several button type is reached. Yes, it, the Air Force has changed. And people who wanted to be a part of the older version are voting with their feet. The new CSAF is the first to publicly identify this. So they've known for years if not decades, but no one would do anything about it because they would have been fired/retired. Not exactly "service before self" behavior, IMHO.

Not a military pilot, so no vote that matters. Got it... However, I would not. I didn't encourage or discourage any of my three but answered questions or started the topics to see what they thought about it. Exactly none of them wanted to. Both my wife and I are second generation USAF largely influenced by our fathers' service to be the next generation. The buffoonery that we experienced was not lost upon our kids. They have made the choice not to voluntarily experience the same or worse again. The politicians outside the military don't take existential threats seriously and throw uniforms at problems expecting the hammer to be the solution while restricting how hard the hammer can strike. Not a unique trait for civilian politicians, I admit. The politicians within the military aid and abet this behavior. Some of the political-ness of senior military officials is also not a new thing. However, since the mid-1980s when I first became affiliated with Big Blue/DoD in uniform through to today in khakis and a polo shirt, the ability to say "no" and take the consequences of being fired or retired has disappeared. Look at the "Deid" and "What's wrong with the Air Force threads" for examples. Some ideas/attitudes/behavior is cyclical and just human nature. Some of it is not and is a further politicization of the military with all the political correctness and social justice charges at the expense of military efficiency and killing people and breaking their things. And get the f' off my lawn...

THIS. https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/article/pilot-flies-around-the-world-taking-amazing-photographs-from-the-aircrafts-cockpit/ss-BBwy8ui?ocid=spartanntp#image=8 Add in the stuff that military aviators get to see and those memories make those last breaths right before lights out worthwhile. And this comment from an SLF who saw some cool sh!t so those that are meat servos probably saw 10x cooler stuff.

Probably drink a lot and hang out with his congressional and senatorial buddies. Again. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

So I've heard as well as several folks saying the Clark County range is pretty good. However I am primarily a handgun shooter and I like my creature comforts - not too hot, not too cold. It's been a trade-off so far between air conditioning in the 100+ degree days this summer vs. the dangers of the herd of Japanese shooters going full rental-auto and shooting my target. But at least they weren't uppity...

Which explains the recent rise in creepy clown sightings...

Interesting e-mail revelations to be sure. As to Powell, I was a fan during Gulf War I. I thought he was a stand-up guy. I was ignorant of the world then. His penchant for blaming others for things he's been involved with - Gulf War II, the State Dept e-mail fiasco, etc - has been a huge disappointment. You don't make four-star without being a politician. Bad on me...

Big Blue Corporate: "Hmmm, so we're having trouble retaining 'droid operators. "We're having trouble retaining aircraft pilots. "Say, boss, I've got this idea..."

You're new here, aren't you...? : -) It can, most likely will, get worse. The U.S. guv'mint is broke and deeply in debt. DoD, like many times in the past here, and like the MODs of allies/foreigners, is seen as a easy way to cut spending without pissing off a lot of voters. Then when we are in bad shape, something in the world goes pear-shaped and those who hung on will get thrown into a fight we aren't ready for and can't sustain at first. Those who are bailing need to ensure they are free and clear of the IRR as well 'cuz that option is still on the books. Just sayin' if they'll stop-loss without a national emergency which they've done, imagine what a real threat will mean.

But like the last Star Wars movie, Big Blue thinks the answer is yet another Death Star with that same goofy design flaw that lets fighters blow it up after running the obligatory flak gauntlet. (Side note: how come space IADS leaves out the SAM part? But I digress.) You'd think both USAF and the Empire/First Order could learn from history...

Soooo, the fix is to burn out the IPs in the training pipeline to fix the shortfall in line fighter manning which was destroyed by burning out the line fighter units... CSAF within a couple of years: "Hey, A1, how come we are so short of RTU IPs AND line fighter pilots?"

Big Green/Grey/Blue should never, ever be "tempted" to intervene. IF such an "intervention" should occur, there is no longer a Republic or Constitution to uphold. Then it's just brute force in charge like most of the rest of the world. There is no unfcuking the dead whore in that instance. Barring a rerun of 1861-1865, there is not a place for DoD in the domestic U.S. political landscape. A President not upholding his oath is something for the other two co-equal branches of government to stop. BTW, I'm against retired GOFOs spouting off on endorsements/insults for political candidates. Not a big step to go from retired dudes to active duty ones.

No. There is still a functioning system in place - Legislature and Judicial - as well as mechanisms for executive branch succession, e.g. Speaker of the House. DoD sits on the sidelines and stays quiet until the political branches sort it out. If DoD jumps in once, what prevents it from doing so again in the future. We may be awarded chest-fuls of medals and ribbons like banana republics, but we don't have to respond like one.

While I agree with your points, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was an executive action that he unilaterally took stating that all the slaves within the Confederacy were free. Interestingly, he didn't apply it to those held by Union states or territories (add Maryland among others to your list of Delaware). While not 'legal' or Constitutional, he still did it. A political act to be sure, but one which complicated the Confederacy's problems to no end. Which I, clumsily, tried to use as a supporting argument for my scenario on Executive overreach and causing the basis for a Civil War. IF the Constitution were to be so amended regarding the Second Amendment- the whole 3/4 of the states, ratified, etc, etc, etc - then I don't think there's a ethical leg for anyone to stand on regarding the Constitutionality of the action and, thus, the requirement for commissioned officers to uphold this new change. Laws and a SCOTUS determination are different, IMO. Since they can be changed or interpreted differently depending on the whims at the time. A bit of the ol' civil disobedience can be called for. By me and other retirees or civilians. Uniformed personnel will have to decide if it's a "lawful" order or not. Doesn't mean I'd willingly comply. Another tragic boating accident for my stuff in the Colorado River. Such an amendment won't happen. Too many people are supportive of the Second and too many are apathetic so the large-scale support needed won't happen. And such an act opens a very large can of worms as to what other Rights need 'fixing.'

(not my photo or gun) S&W Model 457 As I pursue the many avenues S&W followed back in the 1970s and 1980s with their 2nd and 3rd generation semi-autos, I found this several months ago, the Model 457. Due to a recent PCS and general life getting in the way, I only fired it today and that for only 100 rounds (more on that later). First, the details: 7 + 1 rounds of .45 acp in a DA/SA bobbed hammer-fired package with a decocker/safety on the left (as above in the photo). 7.25" long with a 3.25" barrel. Width is guesstimated at about 1.3-ish." This is about the same size as a commander-sized 1911 to my mind. It's definitely in the compact size range and not a sub-compact. Weighs 1.8lbs empty and pushes 2.5 with 8 loaded. Not a lightweight for a CCW but not heinous. Frame is aluminum alloy, slide is steel. I put Hogue grips on it. Comes with cheap plastic three-dot sights. Recently moved to Vegas and still trying to find "my" range. Today's won't be it because those plastic sights were waaaay off and, after unloading and locking the slide back, the RSO would not let me try to drift the sights to adjust them. So I was stuck with the sights sending centered shots waaaay to the right and having to compensate Kentucky-style. The gun itself was pretty good. Heavy enough to soak up the .45's recoil but not heavy enough to cause the shakes at the end of a full magazine string without lowering it. SA is really smooth a clean, light break. DA wasn't bad, but a very different break (duh!) than the SA and I found myself with a different trigger finger position (a little more first joint vs. first pad) for that DA shot, but that's just me. Ate 100 rounds flawlessly of Herter's 230gr FMJ and in tight groups. Not necessarily in the 10 ring, but again, the sights were so far off, it wasn't funny. But hold a picture, and you could put the entire 8 rounds into the same 2"x2" area. Some homemade gunsmithing and a replacement of the sites with some Trijicons and I'll like it better. Would I carry it with replacement sites and another 300 rounds down it to ensure reliability? Yes. Will I replace my XDS with it? No, but it's nice to have options. Another gun I didn't need, but another one I'm not sorry I have. I won't be selling/trading this one, so that tells me enough about it as a keeper.

Yup. Hence my edit above. Missed it the first time through and mounted up my high horse of outrage. Since dismounted. All good.

Really? To take what I consider a bad illustration of a hypothetical - Podunk, SC secedes and it's called an insurrection - and give a plausible scenario for getting into a Civil War for a largely academic discussion turns me into PYB? I used to think about "lawful" orders back in the day when sitting ICBM alert. Since the chain runs POTUS-SECDEF-me, I did sometime wonder about it. We all think about a key-turn being based upon a retaliation for an incoming nuclear strike. What if it wasn't? Was it legal for me to nuke someone due to a sensor failure/computer glitch? Or if the target was not the then-USSR but, say, Alberta? I notionally received a valid execute order. Was it legal? It got pretty weird under North Dakota at 0300. Turn the capsule lights off and only have the status indicators shining, cranks some Pink Floyd in the headphones and, "The Horror, the horror..." The thread was a "what if." I tried to give a "what if" that would involve the military and each serving member had to make a choice. No standing on the sideline. I did not advocate a position although my political bias did come out with the "liberal POTUS." Could just as easily be a arch-right winger as well giving an unlawful order.

BLUF: Whatever each uniformed individual decides, he/she had better be on the winning side. Now, in the event of a secession as in the original Civil War, the academic case has been made that the states, as sovereign entities that agreed to form the "United" States, they voluntarily agreed to form a union and, as a contract, had the right to break that contract should the terms not be met - i.e., "state's rights." Since the North won - Lincoln did what he had to do to win and the Constitution be damned - suspending habeas corpus, freeing the slaves that were private property, thus denying "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (read by the SCOTUS as property rights)," etc, etc, etc. By winning, he and the federal government achieved the primacy of the federal over the individual state governments. See Smith v. Texas (or some such where the SCOTUS ruled in the late 1800s that a state can't secede). If the South had won, their argument would be the one that prevailed. Ultimately, might does make right and the victor writes the aftermath law. In the scenario listed in the article - pretty isolated and hardly a 'mass' insurrection - it isn't a Civil War. Think New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. Big Green roled in and sorted out a lawless situation. And the Second Amendment rights of Naw'oleans were violated wholesale at the time as just one real-time, real-world example. A better, more realistic scenario would be a very liberal POTUS deciding to stretch (not all that much compared to Executive Actions begun under Lincoln, raped by FDR during WWII, and seduced during GWB and the current Administration) his/her powers to require registration of all privately-owned firearms under penalty of imprisonment for failure to comply. Would sheriff's allow this? Would state governments? Would the SCOTUS? What if the answer to this is "yes?" by any or all of these institutions? Would you comply? If, to force compliance, the National Guard was federalized in order to conduct house to house searches, all in the 'national interest,' or even the standing military was ordered to do so, then the basics for an insurrection are formed. Would the Guard comply? Would the military? My personal opinion is that younger troops/officers would follow these orders. I am not sure about mid-grade NCOs/FGOs. I hope (never a good basis for planning) that the senior NCOs/GOs would stop this by mass resignations and/or passive resistance. If you are wearing a uniform currently, you have to decide what you will do. Is it a "lawful" order? You have a duty to carry out legitimate orders and an equally strong duty to disobey unlawful orders. Better be right and on the winning side.