Jump to content

ClearedHot

Administrator
  • Posts

    4,645
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    438

ClearedHot last won the day on February 19

ClearedHot had the most liked content!

About ClearedHot

  • Birthday 07/04/1968

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    R4808-N
  • Interests
    BQ Zip's Mom

Recent Profile Visitors

45,831 profile views

ClearedHot's Achievements

Gray Beard

Gray Beard (4/4)

7.3k

Reputation

  1. Word inside the beltway is CQ Brown and a few others get the axe tomorrow. List likely includes CNO Admiral Lisa Franchetti. Hoping Slife is on the list as well.
  2. Why would I defend calling for a 40% cut, I don't agree with it AND I don't believe that is what is happening. I know you are smart and you don't believe everything the press says...you took a lot of time to do the math, I am sure you actually read the memo as well...right? For the record, the Washington Post reported the potential 8% cut as an annual reduction for five years. But the memo sent out yesterday morning does NOT say that. Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses said the goal was to find “offsets” in the fiscal 2026 budget plan, with a goal of finding at least $50 billion to transfer to “programs aligned with President Trump’s priorities.” Obviously some chaos here which is very unfortunate but the memo and other things I've seen sound more like another sequestration drill, albeit twice as severe. I worked in SECDEF's office during the sequestration abortion and it was beyond frustrating. One of the issues with senior leadership (and likely an issue in this case), they have to process so much information their staff waters things down (happens in industry as well), so the don't get the details that matter. If I were SD 30, I would NOT let the senior GOs brief, I would insist they bring the smart Majors/LtCols from the Engine Room to get the details, truth data and most importantly the nuance. Let me give a quick example of the sequestration chaos I lived through. During his tenure SECDEF Gates directed a huge shift to fighting insurgency (screw those F-22's - we don't need more than 187). He sent out guidance he "thought" was helping everyone including SOCOM which was growing to a topline end strength of 69,000. In short he said as part of the drill the services (and SOCOM is both a combatant command and a service as it has its own funding line MFP-11), could keep anything they cut from "tail" and converted to "tooth". Meaning he thought the system was too bloated and he wanted a focus on capability at the pointy end of the spear. Sounds great right? Unfortunately SOCOM leverages a LOT of support form the other services and combatant commands...everything from weapons, to transport to beans and bullets that are service common, SOCOM by its very nature is skinny on tail and heavy on tooth. In order to meet the cut bogey and attempt to keep as much as possible, SOCOM has to break down individual SEAL, ODA, and squadrons....then stand them back up as new units. I will stop here at the risk of complete diverting the conversation, but suffice it to say it was a complete abortion because it was not well thought through and I suspect that is what is happening here, especially given the pace of action and decisions. I believe what is happening it a realignment of priorities and now funding, but we shall see. I believe in other reported things Trump as said he called for halving the DOD budget in future years as the world calms down...obviously a pipe dream. Also, that does not align with other things he said. Earlier this year, Trump publicly suggested that all NATO countries spend at least 5% of their gross domestic product on defense, a figure that would mandate a nearly $1 trillion military budget for the United States. Bopttomline, read the actual words and details, buckleup and hang on.
  3. Tell us you don't understand PPBE without telling us you don't understand PPBE Of note, it doesn't work the way you think it does. DoD is currently working on a CR that expires in March. POMS are built using a topline number derived from POTUS that is then negotiated with Congress. Congress in typical fashion will add pet projects and cuts others but the top line number always starts with direction from POTUS to SECDEF.
  4. As U.S. and Putin negotiate, intel shows he's not interested 'in a real peace deal,' sources say Say it ain't so.
  5. Too Soon? IMG_8335.MOV
  6. I was quite honestly shocked at the SA provided. In the AC-130H for many years we did not have a moving map or access to the nav data other than tuning TACANS and the ILS. Around 9/11 they added another screen up front and we were hoping it would be a repeater of the PFPS moving map the Navs had but we only got sensor imagery on it. H model pilots tended to be very good (not me, I sucked), at building a mental picture of the AOR and what was happening on the ground...we had no other choice. The U-Boats had the Tactical Situation Map but dudes tended to stare at it rather than look outside. You are probably right...I am at the end game of a big career (or end career decision). In reality, without intervention the fund is depleted in 2034 right when I am trying to collect peak fundage. Crazy huh, not bad for a ham-fisted gunship pilot. I am extraordinarily lucky to have made some very wise financial decisions. That being said, I do not enjoy writing quarterly tax payments in the amount of $33,000 to the government....that in addition to the withholding on my retirement, salary and 40% of all most bonuses. I already do pay more...a LOT more. Never any hard feelings, you are welcome to come break bread at my house anytime, I've told you that before. Whatever liberal brainwashed lunacy is rolling around in your noggin is offset by the fact that you are part of the less than 1% who stepped forward to serve...and I know the things you did for this nation. You do provide a great perspective. I've said it before, I think framers wanted great long debate. We might get a little loud at times but I will happily buy you a beer anytime...before I fall in the grave.
  7. Shut up Nav. ADS-B was not a smoking gun and I didn't latch on to the ADS-B issue as casual, but as a dinosaur who now uses ADS-B religiously, I see the enormous SA benefit offered by the capability. I think if it was in use it could have been a glove save. On at least two occasions ADS-B has "saved" me. Both times were I was where I was supposed to be and others were not. I already do pay more....how much is enough? I already pay 35% AND Social Security that I likely won't get. The progressive tax schedule is pure punishment to those who are successful. Please save the progressive liberal crap justification. It is blatantly unfair and now you want more...shocking...not. I am so glad my "extra" contribution could pay for these items. - $59M for ILLEGALS to stay at the Roosevelt Hotel in NYC - $10M for "Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision" - $9.7M for UC Berkeley to develop "a cohort of Cambodian youth with enterprise driven skills" - - $2.3M for "strengthening independent voices in Cambodia" - $32M to the Prague Civil Society Centre - $40M for "gender equality and women empowerment hub" - $14M for "improving public procurement" in Serbia - $486M to the “Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening,” including $22M for "inclusive and participatory political process" in Moldova and $21M for voter turnout in India - $29M to "strengthening political landscape in Bangladesh" - $20M for "fiscal federalism" in Nepal - $19M for "biodiversity conversation" in Nepal - $1.5M for "voter confidence" in Liberia - $14M for "social cohesion" in Mali - $2.5M for "inclusive democracies in Southern Africa" - $47M for "improving learning outcomes in Asia" - $2M to develop "sustainable recycling models" to "increase socio-economic cohesion among marginalized communities of Kosovo Roma, Ashkali, and Egypt" - $1.4M contract to physically observe mailing and clerical operations - Over $32 million from various other government departments for Politico Pro, which then wrote nothing but positive stories about Biden and negative stories about Trump.
  8. Take that runway!
  9. Looks like it was more of a shit landing than anything else...welcome aboard ensign. RJ Landing.mp4
  10. The good ole days...not. Typing your code into a machine that punched the cards, then you took the cards to the front desk to be scanned and sent to the mainframe to be compiled...what a nightmare. Those were three dark days, thank god for the girl working the desk in the computer lab...she found my spelling error, today a debugger would find it in 69 seconds...further proof we need to update our systems. For those wondering (probably no one), "ENVIRONMENT" is a specific division within a COBOL program where you define details about the computer system where the program will run, including information like the file system, hardware specifications, and input/output devices, essentially describing the "environment" in which the program will operate.
  11. He did post context, the death field is labeled "false". Even the article you posted says "possible explanation". That’s just one possible explanation for what DOGE allegedly found. Musk could also have simply looked up the SSA’s own website, which explains that since September 2015 the agency has automatically stopped benefit payments when anyone reaches the age of 115. One would hope the SSA could quickly validate every recipients receiving benefits. It should be a simple query to find out how many U.S. citizens are over age 100 and how many recipients over age 100 are receiving benefits. Google says there are currently 89,739 centenarians, the number of recipients should be reasonably close to that number....if not, take a deeper look. Conspiracy over. I don't know if there is rampant age related fraud but it does show the government system is a freaking mess and warrants a peak under the hood...for EFFICIENCY, not necessarily fraud. Kind of like manually processing civilian retirements in a limestone mine shaft. As someone who actually programmed in COBOL (atrocious language...I lost three days of my life because I spelled the key word "environment" incorrectly, every time it when to the mainframe to be compiled it generated pages of the green and white pin fed paper errors), it seems terribly inefficient given modern computer systems. Again, I don't like the cut with an axe approach (actually flamethrower), but I see nothing wrong with taking a look at government processes to see if they can be improved.
  12. Maybe there is a reason why...
  13. I agree...at first I thought it was another Crazy Ivan but when you peel the onion back a little bit it makes a lot of sense. Obviously the strategic location issue but I had no idea about all the rare earth minerals, once that I came to light I was curious why Denmark wasn't harvesting everything on their own, apparently the capital investment is a bit to steep for them. interestingly the Chinese are aware, they have a heavy presence on the ground right now. What was truly surprising the extend of the independence movement in Greenland, a majority of the residents have wanted to be independent for some time. Everyone is throwing shade at Trump for bringing this up but the United States tried to buy Greenland in 1947 for $100 million. Just like we tried to buy Cuba in 1848 and again in 1854.
  14. Breaking reports - flipped upside down. Initial report say most people survived. 35-45 Knts winds at landing.
×
×
  • Create New...