ClearedHot

So do I, but I am still an asshole. Call me jaded but I will not stand and clap for this one...not yet anyway. Probably unfair to bring up the association and situation with his brother, but within context it does have some bearing. For those that don't know his brother is a retired two star who was punished in the time of Moseley for unethically helping to steer a $49M contract to Gen Hornburg's company shortly after he retired as the ACC commander (well within the 1 year cooling off period). I mention it because Fingers wrote a book called Sharing Success and Owning Failure, in the book he uses and quotes his brother's leadership style as a shining example of "providing the vision and setting the environment" of command. A personal interaction with him a number of years ago also gives me pause...in short, while I working as a senior level exec in the puzzle palace then Col Fingers (who was at the time the Holloman Wing/CC), came into the office with his Codell delegation. In those glorious days we could still wear flightsuits even in the most senior offices. The congressmen went in for a private meeting with the boss before the formal meeting and Fingers stayed outside with me. I saw him look at my WIC patch and he walked up to make some chitchat because he thought he knew me from somewhere (in his defense I am a powerful and attractive man), he was asking how long I had been in the job and where I was before this assignment, I told him I came out of the ASG program and he was all smiles and asked about the program. After that he again looked at my patch and said what platform did you go through in? When I answered AC-130's his smile, disappeared he replied "oh", and he turned around and walked away...never spoke to me again. It was such an odd interaction that it stuck with me for the last nine years. Can't say I will care much after I walk out the door in a month, but for those still around I would check six.

It's about to be...

It will be Fingers...

The only thing that saved the Air Force from the late 1990's low bonus take rate was 9/11, the airlines stopped hiring and there was an obvious rise in patriotism. IMHO today is a perfect storm of intense hiring pressure from the airlines (partially do to increased demand but also a function of age 65 retirement kicking in), combined with a force that is fed up with the relentless ops tempo and constant trips to the desert.

If yesterday you could get out whenever you want and today you can't get out until November...that seems like a stop loss to me.

Not seeing any threads yet, but AFRC is instituting Stop Loss effective until November 2016. I would imagine Stop Loss on the active component is right around the corner.

As seen through a gunship HUD, tag team from hell.

I've been saying this for years...if they get details like this wrong, imagine all the other inaccuracies we read on a daily basis.

You are welcome to vote, but there is a $75.00 charge to do so.

History repeats itself.

For those that care I went with the S&W M&P Shield 9, a great fit for me. A bit shocked at how easy it shoots, right out of the box I put the first eight rounds in the center ring. A lot of luck on my part, but my office has a weekly shooting competition (one shot for the pot), I put four mags through the gun then onw shot to win the pot. Also, for those looking for a different kind of carry holster, I give the Sticky Holster very high marks.

Still amazed the pilot survived.

Crashed on the A27 highway...

7 fatalities

Very intrigued by the M&P Shield 9MM, I will be checking the BX this week, many thanks. Brick, your S&W Model 4566 looks identical to my S&W 6906 which I have had and carried for many years. Mine was also a police gun, my brother's duty weapon for a year before they switched over to the Glock. It fits well in my big paws and I can drive nails with it, but it is a bit too bulky as a concealed carry weapon.

Lots of 1911 talk as of late but I need a new concealed carry weapon, something light and small but I have big hands, prefer to stay 9MM so I could toss it to the wife in a pinch. Read good things about the Glock 42, but not a big fan of .380 for stopping power. What are you guys carrying?

Perhaps a setting on my part but videos are no longer embedded from my view. Check the "flying videos" thread. Also, when replying to a thread the previous ability to insert media is no longer active... i.e. the link button on the tool bar only allows an image URL and the "insert other media" allows a preloaded image or a URL.

Interesting story out of California about drones impeding efforts to fight the fire that swept across the highway yesterday. Five drones showed up in that short period of time, given this and a bunch of other stories I've heard in recent months I would expect legislation is coming.

Holy Crap, we are going to war with China next year! F-35 on track for first combat use by Sep 2016

The answer as always is, it depends. Some are in favor of putting the GAU-8 on the new gunship, while another camp is DEAD set against that COA. An understanding of gunship employment is important because they way a Gunpig would use the 30MM is very different from the way a Hawg would. Nothing against the A-10 but they are obviously limited to forward strafe so they make gun runs using very accurate high volume short bursts. The Gunpig is always over the target and always pointed at the target (always in the bad guy WEZ as well), so it does not need the same high volume delivery. A-10 bubbas please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe you employ the GAU-8 AT 6,000 RPM...while the 30MM and 40MM shoot MUCH slower (200 RPM and 100 RPM respectively). Even when the AC-130H's had the 20MM there were "slowed to a respectable 2500 RPM because there were seen as suppression weapons. When I learned to shoot my old head IPs would have me spell my name in the dirt with the 20MMs so I could develop the fine muscle memory need to employ the 20MMs in a dynamic situation or against a mover. Employment of the 30MM and 40MM is much different, while you can put the guns into a rapid mode and sling a lot of rounds, it is usually better to act as a high volume sniper and that can shoot in VERY close proximity. On one rotation in Afganistan I was supporting a team that was about to be overrun, I ended up shooting the bad guys at about 17 meters, a lot of pucker factor but the slow, steady, accurate volume of fire from the 40MM made it the ideal weapon for that particular fight. The 40MM and 30MM (MK-44), are also very good in urban environments. On many occasions our guys would get wrapped up in house to house fighting and we would be forced to engage a target on the other side of a street...sometime the other side of a wall. If there is a draw back to the 30MM and the 40MM its that you usually need a direct hit to kill someone. Yes they throw frag and often the frag will wound, but we learned early on that the bad guys would go to ground and even though it looked like the frag was taking them out, we would come back a few minutes later to scan the area and the bad guys would crawl away. We changed our tactics and had a montra in the squadron, "shoot until they leak." No...a common myth was that the 20MMs would slow and "tumble...in reality as the threat drove employment to higher altitude and thus longer slant rangers, the velocity decay of the bullet resulted in a loss of enough kinetic energy to cause detonation at impact. The old 20MM fuses were very safe, I've been on the range with EOD types would will reach down and pick them up barehanded, I've actually seen dudes juggle undetonated 20MM's. The 25MM on the other hand is a different beast. The same EOD guys who would handle 20MMs on the range would see a 25MM, place a red flag, and keep a wide birth away from the projective.

Awesome!

And not a word about the AFSOC guys who flew to the X and actually picked him up...

The Gunpig community has made a living of tearing ourselves apart, first the hatred between the 16th and the 4th, then everyone looking at the 73rd with the stink eye and now a rift between the Whiskey and the Spooky. Because of this distraction we let the Pavelows and some Talons rule the world. Through some miracle we have successive gunship AFSOC/CC's and we are still fighting. I wonder how the dynamic will be when the entire fleet is AC-130J's, with everyone in the exact same platform will we just look for other reasons to argue and hate each other. The 4th is about to get a fantastic leader, motivated by good rather than hubris, the J is on track...every new platform has issues, but good men and women are working very hard to fix those issues and I personally believe we are back on track. JHMCS or a comparable HUD solution is on the way and will change the employment dynamic...for the good, the 105MM will round out capabilities especially in the close fight, and other solutions are well underway. The J with a 30MM, 105MM, SDB, GRIFFIN, and Hellfire will bring a lot of hurt and choices to the battlefield. Stop and look around young Jedis, a gunship guy is in charge right now but there is rising tide of acidic senior leadership from outside the gunship community, put these petty differences behind you and focus on the future.