JS

Am I the only one who had to look up M-28 in addition to C-145?

Best porter out there, in my humble, sober opinion. Founders makes an awesome IPA and Breakfast stout as well. And I love how the packaging has the IBUs and Alcohol % on the neck of each bottle of each brand. Standardized. Dang, I just checked the beeradvocate score for the stout. I think that is the only beer I have ever drank that got a 100 on that website.

Watched Angel of the Skies last night, and it was pretty horrible, despite looking decent in the preview. I am usually pretty forgiving on movies, but the acting was horrific in this. The one scene in the planes was sort of OK, but the bad acting even ruined that. IMDB gives it a 3/10. I was going to give it a 2/10.

Yes, it is a great irony. My interpretation, however, is that this might be a big case of "the grass always seems greener." I actually caught up with my old boss a few years ago on LinkedIn. I worked for him doing engineering stuff about 10 years ago before joining the Air Force. The real reason I was touching base with him was just to keep my feelers out in the industry and see what opportunities there were. Before I even got to mention that I was thinking about getting back into engineering, he went on about how cool it was that I had the nuts to quit my cushy, well paying job to do something that I love and how he was just still sitting there doing the same shit, working a desk, etc. (I also noticed from his profile that he had been promoted twice and was likely making a lot more than the $115/year he was making 10 years ago). But in his eyes, I had the envious job - flying jets for the Air Force while getting jerked around with BS cutbacks and queepy extra requirements. In my eyes, I was admiring the stability of his having a nice, stable job that pays close to $200/year, wondering if I made a mistake 10 years ago quitting that job. I guess that grass always seems nicer.

For those in the Alabama area, or definitely while at Maxwell, you should check out some of Good People's beers. I think I mentioned their IPA on here before, but they just started selling the Coffee Oatmeal Stout in stores. I tried it, and it is pretty good. Beer Advocate gives it outstanding marks too - a 94.

You need 4 years of financial experience in order to actually get the CFA designation, correct? So you are basically just knocking out the test in case you go into the field? How long are the tests good for if you don't work in the field and get the CFA designation?

Not sure I agree with Rosa Parks and Snowden in the same sentence. Rosa was breaking the law to change something that was legal and Constitutional, Snowden was breaking the law to change something that was illegal and unConstitutional. But yes, Rosa should have been arrested and charged for the laws that she broke. There is a process to change the law and the Constitution, and I just feel that when people willy-nilly decide that they can break the law as a means of changing the law, then are we really still a nation of laws??? And that is what I meant by "Western Society," that we are a nation and society of laws, and I think that is a more fundamentally important value then sitting in the front of the bus or finding out what we already knew - that the government spies on us. Is society and the world better off because of what Rosa did? Of course, and she obviously chose, with the help of her friend MLK, a much more dramatic tactic to changing the current laws of the time versus writing her Congressman and waiting for those useless pieces of shit to act. So again, her falling on her sword was something that had to be done, essentially. And if we are to say that we are a nation of laws, then she should have been prosecuted, despite the good intentions and the ultimate good that came from her actions. Vertigo - I realize it will make things more difficult for future whistleblowers to come forward, but I think it is better than adopting a policy of "here are our laws that must be followed....unless you take it upon yourself to not follow them because you think something might be illegal or unconstitutional, then no laws apply to your actions."

This is really a great question, and the main question at hand. I think he was right to do what he did - expose lawbreakers for secretly breaking the law, especially the MacDaddy framework of all of our laws, the Constitution. We are a nation of laws, last time I checked, and breaking the law on this scale kind of tears at the fabric of the foundation of Western society. But it was illegal for him to do what he did, and I think he should be punished according to the laws on the books, not only to reinforce that nobody and no organization is above the law, but because life is not fair. It is kind of like falling on your sword to prove a point - you still die if you fall on your sword, you don't get to prove your point and then ask for "death clemency" from the sword wound. It sucks that Snowden is a criminal for doing the right thing, but that is life. I kind of equate the sucking to when a Commander takes full responsibility, to include possibly getting fired, for something stupid that a subordinate did completely without the commander's knowledge. Life sucks and is not fair sometimes, but it had to be done.

There's an Not that this is not related, but most of this stuff was discussed already if you read the last few pages of that thread. Just be careful about self-investing and thinking that you have a clue about diversification, financial analysis, balanced portfolios, etc. You don't.

Why are you dealing with the FSDO for the ATP? Do you not have a designated examiner in your area?

Yup, what used to be be, prior to SocialD letting the cat out of the bag with this post, the best kept secret in the Guard/Reserve.

AGR

So are they doing that computer color vision test as standard now instead of the Ishihara color vision test with the little dots? So if new incoming guys don't pass that, they can't get a flying class one physical? Also, what is officially supposed to happen if guys fail the laptop based color vision test during their annual? We had three guys fail - all with good color vision over the past 10-15 years. The first got got an overall "qualified" on the physical with no questions asked, the second guy was told to take it a few more times, with some help, until he passed. And the third guy was told, "from now on, you are book color vision test only." Kind of fucked up. Makes me wonder how great this new test really is.

I think the program at Reagan was the old program where you just flashed your ID to get it to work. There were only about 10 or so airports that had the little machine at security where they could verify your status on the spot. This new system is basically every major airport in the US, but it only works, from what I understand, if you enter your ID number in your reservation ahead of time. This way, I presume, the airlines can run your ID number through "the computer" before your reservation and verify that you are still in the military. Two different programs.

Biggest takeaway from the video - when you hear "what's it doing?" that should be a big cue to click off some of the automation before it gets you violated or killed. Not saying I am better than the average guy he was talking about who buries his head in the box the second they get a new clearance in the terminal area or the second "it" isn't doing what it is supposed to do, but I would like to think that my mentality has always been to dumb down the system and click it one level down the second my SA started to decrease due to "it" not doing what it was supposed to do. And of course, 99% of the time, "it" doesn't do what it is supposed to do because of pilot error or the computer being programmed wrong, but that's sort of another story. I like his overall philosophy of having, as your personal safety net, the mindset to click everything off and fly the damn plane the second your brain and the automation are not flying in perfect formation.

So did you tell them that they they should focus on their primary Lt copilot duties of getting a master's and completing SOS for the first of four times???? You need to set these kids straight these days, jeeez.

You had your eyes wide shut until then and first realized this? I think I figured that one out quite a while back, way before we even went to war.

You mean the Ohio State that is probably going to lose to Mich State and if not, definitely lose to Florida State? Ha ha, sorry, but the USAFA vs Ivy League compared to a running back vs corner back got me thinking football. Good analogy, by the way.

Sounds interesting. Maybe I can score a gig like that later on. I figured the instructors were all over, but I assumed the AUSIS people who generate the mouse clicks that grade your automated online course were not instructors, but admin people at Maxwell.

I was going to list some of this stuff as well, but this is how things were back in the day in the early 2000s. So just because a series of cockbags, uncleverly disquised as "leaders," institute a bunch of stupid shit over the years that eventually get repealed, does not really make that an improvement. These changes kind of go along with the example that someone brought up before where you get a 10% pay cut and then several years later get a 10% pay raise. That's not really a raise or an improvement. Don't get me wrong, the Deid is actually a pretty good place now, and the positive impact that civilian clothes and no reflective belt douchebaggery or chiefs brings about cannot be overstated. It just never had to be that way in the beginning, so I can't chalk this stuff up as an overall long-term improvement.

Before you can register for the next course, the old class has to be "graded," even though it was all online and automated. Do you think they are working over the Thanksgiving weekend at Air University? Look for that class to be "graded" sometime Monday afternoon or later. Then you can register in AUSIS for the next class. You will get emails when they grade the course and code it as "passed," thus allowing you to register for the next one. Some of us posted a little about the DL 6.0 class in the ASCS OLMP thread. Those posts probably should have been in this thread instead. The enrollment issue was addressed there.

Good to know. I am about 1/3 through and I heard you can call or email them to sign up for multiple courses. I guess I will try that.

I read this thread twice before starting the Distance Learning 6.0 course, but still didn't fully understand the whole registration and timeline thing until actually experiencing it. The main blackboard page has a picture that looks something exactly like this: I thought it was just a stupid visual of the course and them just trying to make something more complicated than it really was. Turns out, this picture is the syllabus for the entire ACSC program, with the list of all the courses and the types of courses that each one is. Each shape represents it's own "course" that has to be registered for separately through a different website (AUSIS). Plus the courses have to be done in this order, except for the few exceptions when you can double up. Now that I understand this picture, I think it is worth a thousand words. Basically, any of the large colored arrows represents a self-paced "course." Any of the greater than > white arrow thingys, are the "applied courses," which have a specific start and end date. These are the message board classes that involve posts and papers. The problem is that, generally speaking, all of these two-week applied courses are only offered once a month at the beginning of each month. And the biggest kick in the nuts is that you have to register two weeks before the start date in order to enroll. So say, for example, you are deployed and try to register for the Dec 1st class on Nov 16th, too late to meet the 2-week prior requirement. The next class you can register for is the Jan 1st class. So you have six weeks to do the one or two self paced courses, then you just sit on your dick for a while. The eight self-paced courses listed in this picture can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two if you push it. They are like long CBTs. And the speed of completion depends on your TTPs while attacking them - word search, skimming the readings, screen shots of the online tests in the event you have to take the test again, fast-clicking through the flash media content like regular ADLS courses, etc. Some of the classes are just downloaded readings with short quizzes that you can word search. Some are interactive flash video things with videos, decisions, wargames, "virtual situation rooms," etc. So even if you max performed the self-paced courses in a day each, you still stall out in the overall program because those four applied courses, represented by the white greater than shapes, can only be done once per month. You are allowed to work ahead one self-paced course while you are waiting for the next month to start the applied discussion board course. In summary, I would say it would take a total of about 5-10 full days to do all of the self-paced stuff, but it will take you a minimum of 4 months total to complete the entire course - mainly due to the waiting time for the class start dates of the applied courses. Oh, and second the frustration that you still have to wait a few days for the self-paced courses to be "graded," even if the only tests are through blackboard and are automatically graded on the spot. The previous course has to be graded and marked complete before registering for the next course.

You just reminded me of another thing that has improved - the quality and humor of baseops.net posts, especially the quality of the animated gifs.

Don't be that douchebag and make your intro like this. I know it's cliche, but first impressions last a loooooong time - especially in a guard/reserve unit. A friend of mine, who is a pretty good dude, made a heck of a first day impression....like 10 years ago...... at the unit, and he is still labeled as that douchebag despite him being a good dude since then. Guys still bring up the time he made his entrance those first few hours in the unit.