Gravedigger

Her vice was Brig Gen Thomas Gould, and he was awesome. He did fly F-16s, but he was first an engineer, and was great with the technical aspects of space operations. His fighter pilot background helped cut through some of the bullshit and he provided a great ops focus to the space world. The few VTCs I was in that he was part of, I left with a feeling that we were heading down the right path. With his boss, not so much.

I probably wouldn't fly an ejection seat aircraft with the Nikes, but they are an excellent choice for the rest (assuming some ass monkey doesn't get in your chili over them). They are by far the most comfortable boots I've ever owned, and they are incredibly flexible, which makes them great for riding my motorcycle. I imagine the rudder control would be great with them too, or maneuvering to the lav/food station. If the time ever came where you needed to run to avoid impending danger, they would definitely aide in your escape. /salespitch

Alright, I think the TTP has pretty much been solidified. If you are going to impersonate any sort of pilot, do it in Africa, and for the love of God stay away from aviation forums. It looks like this dude only learned the first half from our friend Timmy.

I know of at least one former missileer flying C-17s at Dover. Wouldn't that be ironic?

Apparently passed-over Lts got selection notifications today at our base, and they were told to expect to pin on this year sometime. Those of you out there waiting, there is hope. I am not sure how they will pin on this year, but that's what they're being told. I'd still put my money on 1 Jan 2014.

This. She's a nice enough person, but she makes some very questionable decisions when it comes to ops. Just because she was a satellite once doesn't mean she understands satellite ops.

That's what pisses me off and what I was trying to convey, though poorly, in my previous post. Assuming he is found guilty, and probably even if he isn't, the effects of this incident will be far-reaching. All of us are cast into the fire simply for wearing the same uniform. I am betting there won't be many options for anyone accused of sexual harassment/assault/battery in the future after the last two years of very public black eyes. I don't foresee many Generals putting their necks on the line from this point on, regardless of the evidence. I have seen a number of cases where people have been falsely accused, and that sucks, this case (based upon little evidence, biased news articles, and my gut feeling) seems like the dude is guilty. If he wasn't beaten up and still at the scene when the cops arrived...maybe it's a different story.

You're right. Although, the evidence looks pretty damning in this case.

Every male officer in the Air Force that is not a rapist should hate this douchebag, period. The black eye he has given all of us by association, justified or not, will have far-reaching impacts. I hope he does go to prison, and I hope that he meets new friends that don't bother to ask "permission to touch" first. Seriously, fuck this guy.

I don't agree with the Senator, but it would be nice if she didn't move to the AFSPC/CV position. Her tenure as 14 AF/CC and JFCC-Space has been...interesting. As a side note, we haven't had a US Space Command since 2002.

Anyone hearing about a new DoD policy for all riders to take Intermediate Rider Safety training within a year of the Basic Riders Course, and then every five years subsequently? Haven't gotten the official word yet, but our safety officer says it's on the way.

From what I've heard, those 1Lts passed over during last year's board will pin on 1 Jan 14, just like they would have if they were selected 1 APZ had the board convened this year. The folks that were APZ to the last board and passed over again were all forced to separate by 31 Mar, so they're all gone now.

I don't think he's a very good NFL QB, but I don't get the hatred.

Is there any other reason to work at a camp...or Catholic Church for that matter? I was too busy with JROTC, show choir and CAP to go, sadly. Still am.

I volunteered at a camp. They fed and housed me, and it kept me from moving back in with my parents. Not a bad deal if you ask me.

Very sad. Saw the OPREP at work today, said they crashed on landing. No other info was available yet. Over the past week, the Air Force has had numerous fatalities, and several serious injuries. A few heart attacks of relatively young people, a couple drownings, crashes...we aren't even in the 101 days of summer yet. Stay safe out there folks!

Shenanigans, Jill Metzger was previously mentioned in this thread.

Here's my thought. These guys felt like they didn't belong, and felt rejected by society, probably for being losers. They got deep into Islam (or at least the older one did) and they began to read websites that supported their contempt towards America. At some point they decided to retaliate, and used the plethora of online tools to build these rudimentary bombs. They chose a day that they knew would strike at the heart of the American spirit and population that they felt so disconnected from. They weren't capable of the mass destruction they were probably hoping for, thank God, and they had no real exit strategy. The fact that they weren't suicide bombers leads me to believe they were more angry at their surroundings than on a mission from Allah. The car jacking, shootout, and hideout show they are just cowards and amateur terrorists at best. Sure they might have used tools provided by AQ on the web, but these are absolutely not AQ operatives. Chechens really don't have a real beef with the American population, in fact they were supportive of a lot of our actions against USSR before the Cold War ended. Bottom line: these kids were fucking losers that wanted to bring some sort of action to their pathetic lives and hurt to the people they felt oppressed by.

This seems fairly obvious to me that these dudes did not have any sort of formal training in terrorism. The news was all about how sophisticated this attack was...bullshit. This was amateur bomb making, a poorly developed plan/strategy, and absolutely not consistent with any of the attacks being carried out by Chechen extremists or AQ in other parts of the world in terms of lethality. I am very thankful these idiots were not more successful, this could have been a lot more deadly. The bombs that are being used in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria etc. are generally much more sophisticated and much more lethal. These bombs seem to be the result of google searches and very little prior experience. I do think these dudes were probably motivated by radical Muslim beliefs, but I do not think they were backed or sponsored by AQ or Chechens.

Other than abolishing blues Monday?

I agree with you on the whole, but you aren't considering that instead of making instantaneous decisions, which he certainly could do, he is trying to influence the culture in a way that will keep some of these changes around when he retires. With the current crop of O-6+ folks in the Air Force, the odds are good that they will eventually reject the decisions that they felt they didn't have a hand in. When dealing with stupid people, you can often trick them into thinking that the decisions you made were really their ideas. Then when it comes time for you to move on, the changes have been made and embraced by the masses because they felt like they were involved in the process. I personally believe that Gen Welsh generally understands our plight, genuinely cares, and is working for long-term solutions.

Shhh...we don't want to ruin the good deal. I don't think it will last long if everyone finds out about it.

Understaffed to complete the 90,000 bullshit taskers they disseminate. Appropriately staffed to carry out actual productive work.

Yeah?? Does the word undergraduate offend you?