ClearedHot

Target got creamed this week, down $8 a share. They are feeling the heat from Amazon (as are all brick and mortar stores), and political backlash from their stand on gender and bathrooms. Some think they still have upside and they took a lot of steps this week to correct the downturn, I just don't know if I can take a chance on them.

It can and is being done by other services and commands. I have a friend from high school who flew Falcon jets in the Coast Guard, he retired after 20+ years and they brought him back as civilian instructor on a two year contract (turned into four years), and now he is at jetblue. AFSOC uses civilian IPs for PC-12 and U-28 training, the Rockhill Group always has openings. Location is of course the issue for UPT bases, but if the pay is high enough I would think the supply demand curve would bring some folks in. I would NOT make the GS types, limits the pay options, cut a contract with room to pay location bonus and try to surge production for a few years until the airline demand goes away...oh wait...it is not going away. Edit - I would not limit the contracts to T-6s, every platform will eventually be short, but the shortage on the fighter side is helping drive the argument right now...don't eat your seed corn sending a bunch of O-3 fighter pilots to teach T-38's. Preserve, season, and grow your combat capability in the CAF with some contract guys in T-38's as well.

Back to the main theme of the thread, you are getting distracted, and that plays to their hand. Bottomline, Fingers listened to the problems (like Boomer before him), and decided it was easier to go around the identified problems and ask Congress to take action to make every pilot less marketable. A big GIANT FU to those that serve. I will not address the issues that make you want to leave, I will simply ignore your complaints and take external actions that will make it harder for you to find a job on the outside. Anyone else want to vomit at the hypocrisy? It was the same thing from a former MAJCOM/CC, a guy I used to respect, who said "they will stay out of patriotism and if they don't we will just make more" Good luck with that one...of course he was a Nav.

The investment showdown thread seems to be more focused on types of investments and strategies. I thought a thread to discuss specific stocks and rationale might be interesting to some. Stocks I have been watching as of late: 1. Western Digital (WDC), mainly because they bought Sandisk (I bought Sandisk years ago in the low single digits and held it through four splits and the acquisition), I ended up with a large number of shares from the acquisition so I continue to follow. 2. Cisco (CSCO), This is an interesting beast because it appears their software/cloud sector is poised to surpass their hardware division. Interested in the thoughts of others.

This thread has generated a lot of interesting discussion so I thought I would create another thread for those interested in discussing specific stocks. If no interest I will delete or merge back to this one.

I would say that is up for debate. Most earn less in retirement than during their peak earning years. Worrying about future tax rates is valid given our national debt... For now I am happy with my strategy, the current market is certainly not typical but I am up 7.1% since 1 Jan and I glad I have more $ in play.

You shouldn't call your Mom a ladyboy.

I would tweak the statement "put aside the max the government will match" to say put aside the "max allowable." Most view these vehicles and contribution rates as a function of trying to get the most "free" money you can from a match, when in fact they are also a tremendous way to reduce your current year tax burden. My current company has a 4% 401K match but I contribute 25% of my paycheck which of course lowers my tax basis in the short-term and puts a much larger chunk of coin in play for investment growth. I will worry about the withdraw taxes in a few years when I am in Thailand chasing hookers and withdrawing from my 401K. I am lucky to have a retirement that supplements my income and not everyone is in the same position, but if you have the discipline to maximize your contribution from your first paycheck you will likely never miss it and your future self will send a thank you note.

That is my biggest problem with the ruling. Past precedent has extended Constitutional protection to aliens while they are on American soil, but the moonbean 9th circuit seems ready to extend those same protections to non U.S. citizens while they are on foreign soil...simply staggering. With rulings like this it is easy to see why 90% of the decisions made by the 9th are eventually overturned.

How does it end, I fell asleep at 2:11.

What happened to the commitment to the RPA community?

A slightly better way of stating the cost...during WW II we lost more aircraft and people to training accidents than we did to combat operations...staggering. I also disagree with the "go do this and come back alive construct", losses of 25% in a single raid would be unacceptable in today's world. The second raid on Schweinfurt is a great illustration of the cost...Of the 291 B-17's sent on the mission, 60 were lost outright, another 17 damaged so heavily that they had to be scrapped, and another 121 had varying degrees of battle damage. Outright losses represented over 26% of the attacking force. Losses in aircrew were equally heavy, with 650 men lost of 2,900, 22% of the bomber crews.

Absolute truth....sickeningly true. During my two sentences in the building my trips to the Hill were the least favorite experiences because of the inept and generally "what can you do for me and my district" attitude. We repeatedly tried to explain complex issues that needed attention, serious thought, action and funding now to prevent future catastrophes. More often than not the staffers (you rarely get to the elected official), looked at you with a blank stare. McCain was one of the worst, anytime the Air Force proposed a basing action, regardless of where it was, he wanted to know why that function, unit, aircraft wasn't being moved to Arizona. I feel like I need a shower just remembering it.

There are some mitigating factors in that the PBR is VERY delayed and might not be submitted for another 60-90 days (typically the RMD is out by now. With approval not likely until the summer it adds to the confusion. Regardless, they are fucked...

Cute little jets hauling two bombs around the battlefield, precious.

1) I should be surprised, but I am not. Maybe one less appearance on Foxnews will give you time to go back and look. 2) Don't act like a Martyr, you are a representative of the people who came here ASKING for issues.

I made you aware of several things and NOTHING.

Quibbling...

Laughlin circa 1990ish Caught by a State Trooper who noticed the tire marks and thought kids were drag racing so he did a little stakeout and was a bit surprised when "Cool-25" did a little touch and go. Yes there was a patch...need to search my archives in the attic. There was another group, I think the "Turtle Club", that would zoom the T-38 and when they got below 50 knots, open the canopy and quickly place a sticker on the outside that was then "verified" by someone read-in in the RSU. All went south went an IP couldn't get the canopy latched and ultimately lost his canopy over Ft Stockton. Allegedly.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/air-force-dc-employees-no-drinks-around-inauguration

So the memo is out, 40,000 Airmen assigned to and under OPCON of the AFDW are banned from consuming alcohol for 48 hours surrounding the inauguration. Air Force civilians are strongly encouraged to adopt the policy as well. All of the promises from Fingers made to look like a steaming pile of poo in one moronic action.

So glad I retired... In many ways it is sad to watch this happen, but in a twisted sort of way it is gratifying. I used to love the Air Force and serving, but a small group of spineless leaders sold their souls to get promoted when they could have fallen on their swords and sound the alarm. Who knows, the outcome might have been exactly the same. It sickens me that I put faith in some of these guys, Christ I flew with people like Rand and really believed the bullshit. I truly hope you guys and girls don't end up as jaded as I am. Now it feels like I am comfortably sitting on my front porch watching a kid poke the hornets nest when I told him 10 times what would happen and while I don't want anyone to suffer, I will feel a small bit of satisfaction when he gets stung.

The answer obviously is "it depends".... As well all know training is what makes the difference and some potential partners do not grasp that concept. As Americans we tend to think of ourselves as superior in both looks and intellect (I am after all a powerful and attractive man.) In reality the differences are based on cultural situations and the educational system in each country. Again flashing back on my own experience, when I went ot ACSC I had fighter pilots from both Canada and Mexico in my class. Both were superb officers and it was interesting to see the differences in the approach to airpower from our two closest neighbors. The Canadians obviously had F-18's (and are very good with them), they have a stronger educational system and at the time a stronger economy, that and their NATO membership drove them to a high-tech fighter. The Mexicans had F-5's and were looking to replace these aircraft with something newer. My Mexican Air Force classmate had just come from their AF HQ and shared the internal discussions which were centered on price but more important...maintainability. The logistical cost of modern fighters is always more than the cost of the aircraft and it also requires more advanced technical training, at that point the Mexicans were leaning towards Migs because of those two factors and they were going to refuse the gift of some HH-60's for the same reason. I think you have to take a short-term view in this arena, while it seems wasteful to send equipment to countries that won't maintain it or their skills over time, in the short-term it is still cheaper to gift and throw away some of there platforms if it puts out a fire in country X. When you get to higher level strategy these choices while difficult, really do revolve around money. As a senior commander I remember going after a HVI with some DVs watching and a wonk actually questioned shooting multiple Hellfires at one person. He had a very short-term view looking at the cost of an extra hellfire versus all the man hours, satellite bandwidth, fuel and brainpower it took to get to that one window of opportunity.

Well in the case of the DNC that private organization controls super delegates that did in fact determine their party nominee....I concur with your wishes for more informed voter participation, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. Thankfully on the RNC side, the voters did ignore the establishment.

Not very often as the collective takes up the slack...it truly depends on the crew position. One bad gunner and you likely won't notice as the lead gun while "deal with it." The real issue is having a bad Aircraft Commander or one who is a weak leader. On numerous occasions I've seen that second set of eyes make the difference in a key engagement, case in point I remember one engagement when the crew was focused on shooting two assholes who fire at our folks and were attempting to flee...they were running in a series of ditches along a wall, the other sensor just happened to be scanning from a wider angle and noticed a much bigger group attempting to sneak up on our ground forces. On another occasion we were finishing off a group that had just conducted an attack, I came of the HUD to reposition the aircraft due to high winds and noticed a vehicle hauling ass a good kilometer from the current fight and well outside the view of the sensors, we finished our engagement and went after the vehicle, turned out to be a big HVI. I am not trying to say one community is better than the other, just from a workload perspective I think a crew has more options and brain bytes in very complex fight.