Hacker

So, it sounds like he had US quals (Did the FAA yank his ATP for the 'good moral character' part after he spent time in jail?), but not the JAA certificates or medical?

WSOs are on their own separate training track as part of a normal IFF class with the pilots. I don't remember offhand how many sorties they have, but it is about half of what the pilots do. Stud WSOs don't have any dedicated sorties; they piggy-back on the pilot sorties, riding with the flight lead. When the student pilot is flying an offensive BFM ride, the WSO is in the lead/bandit aircraft on a defensive BFM ride. When the pilot is defensive, then the WSO is on an offensive BFM ride. Most of the purpose is to simply become acquainted with USAF fighter ops; simple stuff, like wearing a G-suit and helmet, un-learning stupid Navy-speak (hopefully a lot of that is gone now), brief and debrief etiquette, and learning all of the other basic formation/BFM/bombing fundamentals that the pilots do. WSOs will have to be prepped for the brief just as much as their pilot brethren (systems knowledge, EPs, threat of the day). On the ground, they may handle some comm, but there will be a division of checklist duty execution (which doesn't simulate F-15E ops very well, but there are obviously limitations with the T-38). In flight, WSOs are expected to learn to assess the other aircraft; recognize different pursuit curves, recognize range, aspect, closure, and nose position. Apply their awareness of those parameters to WEZs, and know which defensive maneuvers to execute and when in reaction to those shot opportunities. They'll primarily just be doing directive/descriptive verbal comm to the pilot and 'calling' the fight. They will not be hands-on the controls. The weakness of the program is that, since none of the rides are dedicated training for the WSO, there are limitations to what can be done. For the vast majority of the rides, the flight lead is flying a particular profile to achieve a very specific training objective for the student pilot/wingman. When the WSOs are recognizing threat WEZs and directing 'jink' or 'tighten down' or any one of other maneuvers, often the pilot they are flying with will not/can not actually perform those maneuvers because it conflicts with the profile they are flying for the pilot's benefit. Really learning how to be a "WSO" is going to happen in the F-15E B-Course. IFF is just another building block like (some) of the other building blocks from CSO school.

I wonder if the POTUS is familiar with the term "Unlawful Command Influence"?

There are several shots found on Google of MRAPs inside Atlas jets that are secured with cargo straps. I'm just a pointy nosed dude and know nothing about securing cargo loads...but it is there in the photos.

I don't think it does. Just because loads checked good at previous checks does not mean something did not break loose...

You're right -- because it never would have even gone to trial in the civilian system due to the lack of supporting evidence. The civilian court system is so burdened as is that they won't bother wasting time and money on a trial where a conviction isn't a slam-dunk. The rest of the US criminal justice system doesn't have the same hair-trigger attitude toward anything remotely sexual assault related as the military -- and the USAF in particular -- does. BTW, citizens on trial are not "found innocent"; they are presumed innocent, and "found guilty".

The 'senior' term for an E-8 is a Navy tradition. I never heard it in the AF until the last 6-9 years.

It is an AP article with information provided by the Police Department. PA didn't put that moronic word in print.

"Nickel on the grass", itself, is a parody/play on "Nickel on the drum", an old song the Salvation Army used to use: http://thechapel.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/salvo-sing-along/

Unfortunately, not a new tactic. There was another one of these that existed in the 90s during the last big "guns are bad" political push, and was unmasked (unfortunately prior to the age of widespread internet, so it wasn't widely known). In 2005 there was one, too, called The American Hunters and Shooters Association: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Hunters_and_Shooters_Association

For the T-38 program, at least, it is a relatively short requal -- about 50 days and 25 or so hours of flying, plus academics, sims, and the like. There are three tracks, depending on where guys are headed (A: fighters, B: bombers, C: everything else). The main difference between the three tracks is the amount of formation flying and low levels in the syllabus. There is a single non-Form 8 checkride at the end. I've seen less than a dozen guys go through the program at Vance over the past year, and none of them have had any significant issues getting back into a manned aircraft. So far as I've heard, guys in the pipeline aren't being held up due to budget shenanigans yet.

I never thought I'd see the day when the Garand was cheaper to shoot than the AR-15.

Our RAF exchange pilot from Scotland, Duncan McCockaner.

For the past 20-30 years, handguns were the FEBA for the gun control debate. Since Heller took handgun bans off the table, gun control advocates have had to shift their efforts elsewhere. This is why, at least in this latest 2012-2013 gun control push, it is scary looking guns (which are not used in any significant number of crimes) that fires are being focused on. If it weren't for Heller, I guarantee that some sort of handgun ban would be part of the legislative push.

This scenario is not a straw purchase, nor is it indicative of a lie on a 4473. He is purchasing the rifle for himself -- what he does with it after he purchases it, including giving it to the Tuscon PD, does not constitute a straw purchase by any definition.

So, he is publicly advocating doing something that is illegal in most localities (and something not recommended by any legitimate firearms self defense technique) as a primary methodology for self defense? Well done, Joe. Guns are for threatening, apparently. I wonder what his plan is for that ol' double barrel when the warning shots don't scare the intruders off...or if there are more than two of 'em....or if he misses....or there's a misfire/hangfire. I love the part about ARs being harder to aim and harder to use. Isn't the argument for banning firearms with pistol grips is that it makes them easier to "spray from the hip"? YGBSM.

There's a magazine on the Garand, too, it just happens to be fixed inside the stock.

I'll repost the wise words of a then-Major (now a Brig Gen) who had similar critiques about the way the USAF handled medals during ALLIED FORCE in '99 (posted to David Hackworth's website back in the day). Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose:

No, the U-28 crowd had their own issue with aerobatics, which was dealt with entirely differently than it was with Liberty.

Dislike. Veterans are not "super citizens" who should be entitled to any more rights or privileges than the rest of America. The same goes for law enforcement personnel. There is only one class of citizen in America -- one to which all of the liberties and rights apply to.

Amazing and frightening book, most definitely.

Bear Safes in OKC is an excellent option.

Huggy, not sure if you are trying to promote the practice or stain it with that photo of Steve Ritchie...?

I think the most important tribute any of us in the AF can make to men like Raz and of the AF's Vietnam warrior generation is to not allow the heritage they made (and which they carried on from the warriors who had gone before them) to die on the vine because of political correctness. I have a collection of about 60 years' worth of USAF songbooks, going all the way back to Korea. Warriors singing obscene songs -- despite what some might have you believe to further their own agendas -- is most certainly not some kind of recently-manufactured-invented heritage. Turns out, when warriors came back from risking their pink butts in MiG alley and killing enemies to freedom, they liked to unwind by drinking, smoking, and singing off-color songs.

Hopefully all that Duracoat stays good looking after they actually shoot that thing. Despite the mixing of at least three different aircraft type markings from two different time periods and theaters of operation, too. Reminds me of this old air racer (which was intentionally painted as a mash-up of as many different Mustang squadron and group markings that he could pack on to one aircraft):