ClearedHot

Fairly sound advice but I would avoid gold right now. Despite the devaluation of the dollar and other signs that the dollar will no longer be used to carry the price of oil, gold has in my opinion been manipulated. Several big investor sites now claim there is a gold bubble and I tend to agree. If you want a hedge against inflation look to some of the other precious metals that are often overlooked. As an example silver (as mentioned), is doing very well and so is platinum. Do your own due diligence but most "precious" (platinum, silver, copper), metals saw tremendous growth in the lead up to the housing bubble. They trended up not because of the U.S. bubble, but because China is seeing unprecedented growth. Whatever you do, make sure to maximize your Roth and TSP. Investing all of your Pilot bonus should be a given...three more years and I am done for good.

In the immortal words of a very sage Eagle Drive on this forum, slow your roll. When you have never done CAS, please use extreme caution before attempting to throw your dick on the table and proclaim you will be able to simultaneously master TF, AD, and CAS when others have dedicated their lives and careers to mastering only one or two of those. I have immense respect for people like "Charliedontsurf", who know they have been dealt a difficult hand and are going to try and make the most of it without being braggarts. Before you declare yourself Steve Canyon you might want to recall that not so long ago the MC community had to go "back to basics" because they could not master even one of those tasks (TF) and ended up smacking an airplane into a mountain in Puerto Rico and flew another one into a box canyon in Albania.

I completely disagree. The A-1 is too big and too expensive to operate. By definition a COIN aircraft should be simple AND inexpensive to purchase, operate, and maintain. The A-1 was a beast and it is far bigger than the current need for a COIN aircraft, and why would I need ECM pods in a COIN environment? Also, I don't see the need to haul multiple GBU-10's, ECM pods, AND a shit-ton of other things. There is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to hauling crap around the battlespace. The Super T and the AT-6B are better suited because of their smaller size and lower operating cost AND they both already have a second seat which again fits the COIN model....build partner nation capacity by training THEM how to provide their own fires so we can go home. Trust me, i would love to fly a tricked out super Skyraider deluxe with a pimped out engine, avionics, and weapons, but that is not necessarily what our partner nations need.

Understood, trust me, understood. Bottomline for the gunship dudes, someone is going to get killed and story will read "gunship" guys shoot friendlies...

Dude they are trying to make the point that you are saying you will be airdrop guys AND gunship guys. Remember gunship guys train for years just to do CAS and there seems to be a perception that the W's will not only master that cape, but remain current at the same time they are doing airdrop currencies. It does nto make sense and someone WILL get killed.

Blasphemy, I am a AFROTC grad because I was too dumb to join the Guard.

Sweet, I am 200% disabled.

The info is on the AFPC website by year group, but the asinine Comm Nazis at AFPC made most of the site .MIL only, maybe the chinese are trying to steal our promotion data, fucking idiots. Regardless, I think the DPs to Major are in the 30-40% range, however promotion to Major is running at 95% or better. Realistically if you did your PME and have a reasonable record, you will most likely be picked up. The real advantage of the DP is selection for IDE. Without a DP you drop to the 5-10% range for IDE. With the earlier promotion timelines (you guys are making Major about 3 years before older year groups), there is still time to recover and go to IDE inresidence even if you are not a a select. As a SQ/CC I had two non-selects that I got to inresidence IDE ( during their second look, one to ACSC the other to CGSC), of those two one went on to SAASS, so you can recover. The real discriminator is going to Lt Col, promotion rates are running in the 70-80% range, but only 10% of those selected for promotion will be SDE selects. If you are not a select your chances of going to SDE inresidence are about 1-2%. Best of luck on the board.

Answer

Gangload, check victor and I will speak slowly...HIS SA was low for the lazy attempt at a screenname, hence the recommendation for him to put the F-16.

Because SA is already low, I would put LGPOS at the top.

Interesting but I would rather watch this video;

Absolutely disagree, #1. I have always viewed this forum as a mentoring vehicle and while not all "Crew Dawg" Majs will find this useful, someone asked and there is nothing wrong with providing the information especially on the odd chance that one of the future "Slivers" is a young dude on this site who might one day rise to a position of leadership armed with the knowledge and common sense acquired from baseops. #2. From my experience, your statement about not going to IDE in residence is simply not true. I personally know several very senior officerswho did not go to IDE inresidence, peaked later and went to SDE and became Wing/CCs and higher. Obviously that is not the norm, but it does happen and more often than you think. Yes the numbers do tell the story of a very steep pyramid; 25% of O-4's go to IDE, 1% of O-4's go to ASG, 10% of O-5/O-6's go to SDE, but there are still folks who go as non-selects and achieve very high rank. As a disclaimer, I am in the group you seem to dislike, I did IDE inresidence as a select, followed by ASG, and went to inresidence SDE as a select. That being said, as SQ/CC I had a 100% success rate getting my O-4's to IDE inresidence, approximately 50% of those were non-selects that I fought tooth and nail to get to IDE. Of those, two were selected for ASG and will most certainly be picked up for SDE. I also fought long and hard to get vectors that will keep moving them along. Using your logic I should have given up on them because they did not make the initial cut. Bottomline, there are no absolutes and as long as people are asking, I will continue to provide the info...and for the record, hungry or not, I prefer my Breitling.

The Obama administration has proposed the possible pull out of all 40 F-16s from Misawa AB to the government of Japan. The discussion are supposed to have taken place back in April and have only now been released. The move could possibly start at the end of the year with the agreement of the new incoming administration of Democratic Party of Japanese leader Yukio Hatoyama. As part of the same strategic review plan the US has also told Japan that they may also remove 50 or so F-15s from its base in Kadena, Okinawa. Both proposals are pending as the Japanese government are still concerned about the situations in North Korea. Japanese officials say the moves could send the wrong message to North Korea and China at a time when Pyongyang has conducted missile and nuclear tests and Beijing is rapidly modernizing its military. The proposed withdrawal of the F-16s and the cut in F-15s at Kadena would be welcomed by local communities because it would help to reduce the burden of hosting U.S. bases by cutting aircraft noise and the chance of accidents. The F-16s were deployed at the Misawa base during the Cold War in the 1980s, and some defence experts believe the planes could be used for a so-called surgical attack against North Korea now that the Cold War is over. A Japanese government source said the next-generation F-35 fighters could be flown from Guam and stationed at Misawa on a rotational basis if the F-16s are pulled out. Full production of F-35s has not yet started, and deployment of the jets is unlikely to take place for at least five years. This could mean there is a period where there are no U.S. fighter planes regularly stationed at Misawa Air Base.

How do you ignore yourself?

Lets correct the record here. 1. JCS JT is best bar none. Note the key words JCS. I agree, not all JT jobs are equal, but nothing tops being on the JCS staff. 2. HAF is next. 3. The reason there were fewer HAF vectors is two fold. First, JT is better so they give that vector to all the top dudes. Second, the USAF made a decision to shortfall the rated staff. The numbers are staggering. Through the Spring VML there were 1200 (approx), Rated Staff billets open, the USAF is going to fill 48....yes I said 48 for a 3% fill rate. As a commander the brief I got broke down the individual rated categories the USAF was going to fill, as an example, Weapons School was going to be filled at 40%. 4. I've seen the DT process close up in both the SOF and ACC arenas, JCS JT was the TOP vector in both cases. In fact, the feedback we got was to specify "JCS" for our absolute top guys. For the record, I've done the HAF gig as an exec at a very high level and I never once saw a HAF vector out weight a JCS vector...form O-3 all the way to O-8 vectors.

Soon enough we won't have enough airplanes left to warrant a CSAR-X platform.

Another version

Hearing big-time rumors ref the F-15C/E/I/S. Also a big push to dumb-down the F-22 and re-attempt an export version. Something has to give, we bet the house on F-35 AND the ability to ramp F-35 production from 40+ to 80+ per year, before the first plane has even been delivered.

At the Weapons School teaching tactics I would be using in the very near future.

British Express Anger Over Deaths in Rescue of New York Times Reporter Who Ignored Repeated Warnings Not to Go Into Taliban Stronghold New York Times reporter and blogger Stephen Farrell is being criticized in the wake of his rescue by British commandos, a rescue that claimed the lives of a woman, child, and a British soldier. Commanders are expressing anger that Farrell not only ignored repeated warnings not to go to the site in hostile territory, but was specifically told by a local man that the Taliban was coming. The soldier was a member of the 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, Special Forces Support Group, which did a magnificent job in the rescue of Farrell, 46, and his interpreter, Sultan Munadi, 34. Farrell was investigating the scene of a US air strike on fuel tankers which the Taliban alleged was a massacre of innocent civilians. Once there, an elderly man ran up to warn him to flee because of the approaching Taliban. Both police and intelligence officers repeatedly told Farrell that it was too dangerous to go to the site. This is the second time that Farrell has been taken hostage. The herefirst time was in Iraq five years ago. A British officer was understandably upset with the loss of this true hero: “When you look at the number of warnings this person had it makes you really wonder whether he was worth rescuing, whether it was worth the cost of a soldier’s life. In the future special forces might think twice in a similar situation.” Another officer joined in: “This reporter went to this area against the advice of the Afghan police. So thanks very much Stephen Farrell, your irresponsible act has led to the death of one of our boys.” It is a tough call for journalists who cannot always comply with restrictions by local police or the military — which may not want independent review of such areas. However, it is also a lesson for reporters that, if you are captured, it is possible that others may pay the price for a risky journalistic mission. Frankly, as a stronghold of the Taliban, this area seemed far too risky for such a venture, particularly given the fanaticism of Taliban.

KABUL (AP) — Afghan journalists blamed a kidnapped colleague's death on what they called a reckless rescue operation by British forces and said Thursday that foreign troops have a "double standard" for Western and Afghan lives. The death of Afghan translator and reporter Sultan Munadi during a raid that freed a British-Irish journalist for The New York Times could further fuel anger among some Afghans over the conduct of foreign troops. That ire threatens to weaken support for the fight against a resurgent Taliban. Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the killing as did his main challenger in the country's disputed presidential election, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. The Afghan journalists' accusations came as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office said that the rescue operation Wednesday in the northern province of Kunduz was an attempt to recover both Munadi and reporter Stephen Farrell and that it was authorized as the "best chance of protecting life." Munadi, 34, died in a hail of gunfire during the commando raid — though it was unclear if the bullets came from British troops or his Taliban captors. Farrell was rescued unhurt. John Harrison, 29, from the British Parachute Regiment was also killed in the operation to free the pair, who were kidnapped Saturday. The newly formed Media Club of Afghanistan — set up by Afghan reporters who work with international news outlets — condemned the Taliban, who grabbed the two. But the journalists also said in a statement they hold NATO-led forces responsible for launching a military operation without exhausting nonviolent channels. They also criticized British commandos for leaving Munadi's body behind while retrieving their own slain comrade. "It shows a double standard between a foreign life and an Afghan life," said Fazul Rahim, an Afghan producer for CBS News. Munadi's family privately arranged to retrieve the body and buried him in the capital late Wednesday. On Thursday, more than 50 Afghan reporters, wearing cameras and carrying notebooks, laid flowers at Munadi's grave. At his family's house, women wept in one room and men in another. Munadi's father held a scarf to his face as he cried. Munadi's mother and wife sat against a wall, red-eyed. They were surrounded by women in headscarfs, who were crying, wailing and singing. The outrage among Afghan reporters adds to criticism of foreign forces in Afghanistan, even as the NATO command has taken steps to limit the use of airstrikes to avoid civilian deaths that could provide recruiting fodder to the Taliban. The force is focused on winning broader public support, nearly eight years after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban's hard-line regime for sheltering al-Qaida leaders. NATO is also investigating reports that civilians were among the 70 people who local officials say died last week when German troops called in U.S. jets to bomb two hijacked fuel tankers in Kunduz. Farrell and Munadi were looking into those reports when they were abducted. Police had warned reporters against traveling to the village, and other Western journalists, including some from the AP, went there in the company of NATO forces. Brig. Gordon Messenger, a former British commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan, said journalists in war zones who operate outside of military units are a complication. "My strong preference is for the journalist to be embedded with a unit," he said. Col. Wayne Shanks, a U.S. and NATO spokesman, called deaths during the raid "tragic" but said, "I don't think that during the middle of a firefight anyone can blame someone for what they did or did not do." A British defense official, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive details of the mission, insisted Munadi wasn't treated any differently from Farrell. "This was not an operation to save one individual," the official said. The journalists' organization, however, said few seem to care as much about the lives of kidnapped Afghans as high-profile foreigners. In 2007, Taliban militants kidnapped an Italian journalist, his Afghan translator and their driver in southern Helmand province. The Italian was released two weeks later in exchange for five Taliban prisoners, while both Afghans were killed. It was unclear Thursday whether Munadi, the father of two young sons, was killed by British or militant gunfire. His body was buried before it was examined to determine the source of the bullets. In his account of the four days in captivity and the rescue, Farrell wrote in the New York Times that during the chaotic operation, he saw Munadi get hit and fall down with his hands raised, shouting, "Journalist! Journalist!" to someone Farrell could not see. Farrell dived into a ditch and when he emerged, he saw Munadi's body lying where it had fallen. He wrote that the British commandos rushed him from the scene. "They told me they had his picture and would look for him, then dragged me away" toward a waiting helicopter, he wrote. Brown's office said the British leader will contact Munadi's family to offer his condolences. ___ Associated Press writers Heidi Vogt and Amir Shah in Kabul and Danica Kirka and Meera Selva in London contributed to this report.

It escapes me how some fall for the media is out to find the truth routine. Some of the embeds are good dudes trying to get to the truth, but that truth rarely sees the light of day. Army SF teams helping to rebuild roads and schools never makes the front page. Marines helping secure a new clean water supply is never a headline. Airmen helping to rebuild the Afghan Air Force does not sell papers. Thousands of Afghans inoculated against dangerous disease for the first time in their lives is pushed to the side in favor of a roadside bomb. Instead we are bombarded with a steady stream of negative stories and pictures of bombs and destruction, it is an insurgency for gods sake, that stuff is going to happen. Unfortunately the media perpetuates the bad and we as a nation respond to the case the media makes rather than the reality of the situation. The ghouls in charge of these papers and networks are only trying to sell papers and ad time, the truth is of no concern to them. In all honesty, I believe the media is a large part of the problem in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bad guys main target is not the indigenous people of either country, like Vietnam it is the American public they are playing to. They know we are quick to anger, but loathe to sustain in a slog, which all insurgencies are. I swore an oath to the Constitution and right in the front it protects the press so don't confuse my criticism as a call for censorship . That being said, I will never put the media on the pedestal they put themselves on.

The NY Times could care less about the British Soldier, it does not matter in their business model. Him Him

Don't get me started...I PCSed 6.9 weeks ago and still have not been paid my DLA or my voucher.