Smokin

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/05/nasa-chief-frontier-better-relations-muslims/ NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a recent interview that his "foremost" mission as the head of America's space exploration agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world. Though international diplomacy would seem well outside NASA's orbit, Bolden said in an interview with Al Jazeera that strengthening those ties was among the top tasks President Obama assigned him. He said better interaction with the Muslim world would ultimately advance space travel. "When I became the NASA administrator -- or before I became the NASA administrator -- he charged me with three things. One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering," Bolden said in the interview. The NASA administrator was in the Middle East last month marking the one-year anniversary since Obama delivered an address to Muslim nations in Cairo. Bolden spoke in June at the American University in Cairo -- in his interview with Al Jazeera, he described space travel as an international collaboration of which Muslim nations must be a part. "It is a matter of trying to reach out and get the best of all worlds, if you will, and there is much to be gained by drawing in the contributions that are possible from the Muslim (nations)," he said. He held up the International Space Station as a model, praising the contributions there from the Russians and the Chinese. However, Bolden denied the suggestion that he was on a diplomatic mission -- in a distinctly non-diplomatic role. "Not at all. It's not a diplomatic anything," he said. He said the United States is not going to travel beyond low-Earth orbit on its own and that no country is going to make it to Mars without international help. Bolden has faced criticism this year for overseeing the cancellation of the agency's Constellation program, which was building new rockets and spaceships capable of returning astronauts to the moon. Stressing the importance of international cooperation in future missions, Bolden told Al Jazeera that the moon, Mars and asteroids are still planned destinations for NASA. ------------------------------------ His "primary" mission is to make Muslims "feel good" about themselves? Guess he should fire all the engineers at NASA and hire some Muslim psychologists for this mission.

I asked a bit ago about red dot scopes, ended up going with the CompM4s. Found it online at www.botachtactical.com for $587 shipped since they're having a 15% off sale right now. Pretty good deal considering MSRP is $760!

Seems to be two similar threads on this, but this one seems to have better information. My wife and I just got life insurance from AAFMAA. It was really easy, only a couple pages of paperwork to fill out and only $19 for $400K is the best we found and we looked at 6-9 other companies. Some other advice I received is to make a list of every financial account you have. Don't need account numbers or anything but a simple list that is easy to find can make life a lot easier on your family if something bad happens.

We just need to turn this whole anti-pirate campaign over to the Russians. Looks like they're the only country with the balls to do what needs to be done.

13,000 lbs to UPT!?! I understand that you're ANG and thus likely not a 21 year old newlywed, but have you moved recently that you know how much you have? I don't think I even got close to 10,000 lbs on my first three moves. Your options all depend on how much work you are willing to put in and just because you have TMO move 100% of your stuff does not mean you have no work to do. If you really have 13,000 lbs, TMO will tell you that it'll take three days to pack your house, which means you have three days of babysitting the movers to make sure they're not stealing/breaking/whatever all of your prized possessions. And if you have them unpack for you (read: take stuff out, unwrap it, and set it on the floor wherever there's room) you will have to supervise that and put everything where it goes anyway. The way I look at it is that I would rather take a week and pack everything myself so it won't break and take a week to unpack slowly so everything ends up where it belongs (read: your wife unpacks most of it because you're going to UPT and she is going to be the one spending time at home and will probably want to organize it all anyway). I've done two full DITY's and two full TMO moves and I much prefer the DITY's, but maybe I'm just obsessive compulsive. If you do the DITY - get a much bigger truck than you think you'll need. The price difference is usually pretty small and is well worth it.

Very impressive, sounds like he shot five bad guys with five shots at over a mile against moving targets.

Elevator is a request to be cleared to climb or descend through blocks of airspace you don't own during an engagement. For example, you are red air during a defensive counter air sortie and you get killed while trying to sneak in low. When you turn back to go regen, you could ask the controller for an elevator up which means you think you are clear of any conflicts but you don't have enough SA to know for sure. This obviously requires the radios to be fairly quiet and the controller to not be busy which won't happen much unless all the red air is dead and flowing back to regen. Climb or descend is usually a command as opposed to elevator, which is a request.

Good advice, thanks. I've been looking at the Aimpoint also, but was just curious if anyone had used the RMR as a standalone sight. Most places I've seen it for sale has been about the same price as the Comp ML2, but sounds like the downsides of the RMR outweigh the battery-free upside.

Yes, you extrapolated my example perfectly. If I apply the same logic to your argument then speeding is the same as genocide. If you stole a pen from your squadron you would expect a different punishment than if you stole a flatscreen. I never said that .01 over should not be punished; I am saying that all DUIs are not the same. For example, when I was stationed in Europe there was a woman who got a DUI for .01 BAC. Not .01 over, .01 period. There is a difference between having a slightly slower reaction time and not realizing that you're driving on the sidewalk. Punishment should fit the crime. A woman who has two beers during a dinner and then drives home (who would be over the legal limit in most of Europe) should be looked at differently than someone who was drinking all night and can barely walk to the car. All of this is a rather minute issue and has been a sidetrack from the initial conversation. I was just trying to point out that often the military goes overboard with all of the alcohol stuff. I realize that it is a serious crime that often kills people but the manner in which the laws and regulations are enforced is often illogical, especially in the Air Force.

Yes, there should be a difference. If I punch you, it is assault. If I keep attacking you until you go into a coma, is it still just assault? Shouldn't the punishment be different?

Sounds like Lt raincoat got scared and plea bargained. There was a guy in my college who got a DUI for riding a bike around his back yard during a party that got busted. He lawyer'ed up and the charge was quickly thrown out. One thing I dislike about our current DUI laws (and AF policy) is there seems to be little difference in the repercussions between someone who has a little stronger drink than he realizes and has a .01 BAC over the limit and someone who has been drinking all night and has a .25 BAC.

Has anyone used the Trijicon RMR sight? I'm looking at getting it (or something like it if there's a better or cheaper option) for my M4 style rifle and was just curious if anyone had any experience with it compared to the traditional Aimpoint style red dot.

By the reg your are not only not allowed to ask for an upgrade based on being military, but you are also not allowed to accept an upgrade if being military is the only reason. The only upgrade you are legal to accept is if you are randomly upgraded by the airline. Now, I doubt that many of us would turn down a free upgrade, but I also hope that the majority of us are not trying to do what that Col did. If the person at the gate guesses I'm military, or I'm on orders and check three bags and have to show them my orders and they use that information to upgrade me; awesome. But I sure as hell am not showing up to the counter in my uniform asking for an upgrade. Anyone who does is a douche.

Best way to be in complete compliance with the above email is the Hitler stache. That way no one can possibly say that you're out of regs. Seems to be a lot more reports of push back from the leadership this year. Anyone else notice that?

I think everyone is looking at the wrong stuff here. Who cares if she drops f bombs? This is the military, we kill people for a living. If you're offended by an occasional f bomb, you're probably in the wrong line of work. The stuff that should be looked at is yelling at officers who came to her for advice, putting senior enlisted in "timeout" (funny, but probably not a good idea), using the office for personal gain, and throwing normal coffee mugs at subordinates. A wadded up piece of paper - irrelevant, but throwing a ceramic coffee mug at someone is corporal punishment, which has been banned for a long time. I don't think any one of these things got her fired, but the combination of all of these made here an ineffective leader who should not be in charge of a ship. I also believe the the report that says the racing ships had nothing to do with it. I have relatives in the Navy who have participated in races and is apparently a relatively normal event.

I totally agree. Every pilot makes multiple mistakes on every single mission they fly; from forgetting to reset the altimeter to looking at the radar for a second or two too long. Skill and experience decrease the number of mistakes, but you will never be perfect no matter how good of a pilot you are.

Wow dude. Pretty judgmental for a guy who has apparently never flown a jet before. It must be nice knowing that you are perfect. I hope you never make a mistake, then you'd have to hide under a rock for the rest of your life to avoid other judgmental pricks like you.

Your clicking finger must be slow, I bet that means you are not up to date with all your CBTs.

Dude, do you really think that we're going to go to a merge with tanks on our jet? Our "standardish combat loadout" you're talking about is for A/G. If we merge, we're jetting our stores and we'll be clean (except the TGP), so if you want to do BFM against our "standardish combat loadout" we'll be clean. Ask any guy in my last squadron about any of these and he'll know plenty, even about the PW3 that we would never drop. If you think that any one community has a monopoly on weapon employment knowledge, you're an idiot. Copy, you think every single Viper driver is completely ignorant on CAS. If you could get off your high horse for two minutes and look around, you will see Vipers doing at least our fair share downrange and training to CAS just as much as you are back home. If you really think this, and weren't just saying it to be funny, you have some serious issues.

Food poisoning; you never know when last night's dinner could come back to haunt you. That's why I always fly with an airsick bag. It won't stop me from crapping myself, but if I just had to vomit then: I won't puke all over myself, I won't have to clean out the cockpit after the flight, and I might be able to keep it on the D.L. which means the next Roll Call goes much better.

I'm trying to figure out how much difference it makes to have the masters done vs a BAC+ prior to the O-4 board in getting school select. During my last assignment, I planned out how long it would take me to get my masters, decided I could wait until we left Europe, and still get done in time. Long story short, my school didn't give me transfer credit for a couple of classes that I thought I'd get. Now I could either virtually kill myself with three classes at a time for the next two semesters and get it done in time for the board or I could go at a reasonable pace, easily get my BAC+ in time for the board and hope for the best. I plan on putting in 20 years, but not sure if I'll stay in after that. Just looking to keep as many doors open as possible

With the wing mounted rifle in the last pic, I think that makes it an AC-1958 Piper Cub. A new COIN contender?

How could it possibly be mandatory? Do you think the shoes will carry a list of names and pictures with them of who scored a 90? They could make it mandatory per the regs, but I'd like to see them try to enforce it. Now if they really wanted to see people do better, give them some of those GPS running watches or something cool fitness related that guys might actually like for getting a 100.

Don't get me wrong. If I right now I could go back and talk to myself 10 years ago, there are no major decisions that I would change. Yes, we all get pissed off by the gayness of the Air Force and more than once I have found myself wishing I joined the Marine Corps instead, but I don't think I would be happier anywhere else. The last three years of an ops assignment in Europe were probably the best three years that I will ever have in my life (if not, I will be pleasantly surprised). I flew with fighters from almost a dozen countries, traveled so much we wore out two sets of suitcases, and drank ten times my weight in Bavarian beer.

I love my job, I just hate the Air Force. That doesn't mean that I'd think about the Navy or something, I'd probably hate that even more. I really just don't like the pussification of the military in general, but I don't think that anything short of WWIII would change that (and maybe not even then). Reference the human weapon system thread. I fly the Viper (although I'm just starting my ALFA tour right now) and have loved it. There's nothing more fun than low level pop attacks on the range, nothing more challenging than 4vX DCA sorties, and I'd imagine nothing more rewarding than knowing that guys on the ground are going to live to see their family again because you were there (never actually been downrange myself, so that last part is speculation on my part). The pace of an ops assignment will wear you down, but I've found that it is all the extra queep that big blue sticks us with that really wears you out. After getting home from a 12+ hour day where we double or triple turned good sorties, I'm physically tired. But after even a 10 hour day of work that I consider to be worthless and am only doing because some two star somewhere made an off-hand remark about wanting some more information on something, I get home and am far more tired (mentally and physically) than a tougher day doing something worthwhile. And to the C-5 guy who said C-5 pilots don't deploy; yes, you don't deploy as a unit or even as aircrews, but I personally know C-5 pilots who have been non-vol'd on individual non-fly deployments.