FourFans

FilthyLiar Disappears...Chang Reappears... Coincidence?

@TheNewGazmo What these two dudes above said. If you want some solid, no-nonsense advise that's written in a form even a pilot can read quickly, read "The Simple Path to Wealth" by J.L. Collins. He discusses all this stuff in there.

Yes.

@FLEA So I'll lead with this: I agree with you on the problem. ANY hierarchy structure that allows older/stronger to prey on younger/weaker is not a responsible structure. An argument could be made that in these JROTC units, even without rank structure...there'd still be rank structure in the form of 8th grade vs 9th vs 12th grade...etc. That's not going away. I'm betting JROTC definitely exaggerated the problem by providing a backed-up rank structure to work within. Yup. That's a problem. It's also been a problem in the active duty. Your experience as an aircrew member is BY FAR not the norm in historical standards. Having a Col as a Nav who has to listen to you as an aircraft commander is overwhelmingly weird in the history of ranks structure, even in modern militaries. Because we're technicians who are also officers, things get sideways real quick, thereby making our experiences a poor example. 10 minutes of observing US Army up close will show that. Read your Robert Heinlein for excellent clarification about the heart of officership. My real argument here is not the problem that you've admired and spelled out so well. My issue is with your solution. You point out a correlation (rank structure and abuse) that may, or may not, be causal. Contributing? Definitely. But there is so much cultural specific influence going on here that it's very difficult to breakout the root cause. The solution is very simply though. Why, for the love of pete, do you come out with the solution of "ban all ranks in all JROTC"? Aside from the obvious fact that you don't like them because...well you obviously don't seem to understand them at a macro level (which is fine). The obvious answer is shut those units down. Permanently. If they are a detriment, get rid of them. It's a localized problem that requires a localized solution. You don't kill a man for a broken leg. You deal with the leg. Your supported answer is akin to saying "don't ever let this man outside again". It's foolish and mis-aimed. There are plenty of JROTC units with NONE of these problems. You quoted 50% OF INNER CITY UNITS. That's a localized problem. What's the number come to if including all units nation-wide...which is where you would apply your answer? You are calling something systemic that is, in fact, due to a local unit culture problem. Put in other terms, if 50% of T-6's go landing gear up, should we change to T.O. for every single airplane in the air force, regardless of their gear-up landing numbers? Or perhaps make everyone fly around with their gear down because retractable gear are stupid and I don't understand why we need them! The analogy breaks down, but hopefully you see the point. The obvious answer is if the units are a detriment, shut the units down. The end. Instead you choose a solution that should be implemented country wide without any thought to 2nd or 3rd order effects.

Thanks for the references! @nsplayri'll let you know if we go down that road.

You mind sharing the bank where you've got that high-yield saving account? USAA has lost me.

Haven't seen these rates since the 80's Edit, I stand corrected

That's one hell of a broad brush. Would you care to elaborate how some recent and admittedly horrible events in Chicago overshadow the entirely of the JROTC program? I'm not a JROTC guru, but in making such a large claim, you clearly must be. So, by your standard, if a program fails in one location we should change the rules everywhere? That doesn't check. You're willing to trash a whole program based on the outcomes of one section of society. But let's walk the dog a little: What's your take on service academies? Ban those too? What about CAP? They've had scandals. Executive staffs? Political interns? Oh yeah, and Colonels. LOTS of sex scandals with Colonels. Get rid of all those too. Where do you draw the line. Restructure and reorganization? Definitely. Rip away the foundational bits? Ummmm no. You might as well get rid of uniforms, saluting, flags, marching, PT, and all forms of decorum. Heck, just say whoever's the biggest and strongest gets to make the rules. That works out well, right? Hyperbole aside, consider what the military will look like when these kids who started their military experience with no rank then become leaders. Consider an active duty general in AFPC someday recommending we get rid of ranks, because he saw it work once when he was young... Seriously. That kind of shit has happened. Moreover, casting aside rank is the first step towards casting aside responsibility and accountability. I'm a history guy, and yes, there are 1000's (plural) of years of written history with ranks involved. There were periods when social status fed into that, but rank has ALWAYS been associated with responsibility. It's one of the first tiers that separates the professional military from a militia or a band of civilians. According to you. If it was so dumb, did you burn your rank in effigy about how you were being oppressed? I doubt it. It wasn't dumb, you simply didn't understand it. Just because you think a tradition or structure are 'dumb' because you don't see with a long vision, don't mean jack in reality. I have no doubt many people have thought you are dumb, that doesn't make you dumb. The facts of history don't give a shit about our emotions. Ranks structures have for 1000's of years created order, unity, cohesion, and a clear line of authority in military structure with members down to the age of 12...and younger if you're Greek. Step back and look at the nearly 300 year tradition of the military in this country alone and you might grow some respect for rank, structure, and responsibility. You don't have to like it. You DO have to understand it, especially as an officer. Some failures in that system don't make the system bad. They mean that the system is populated by imperfect people. The system can be improved, but not by wiping away it's foundations. If we based our military authority structure solely on the moral success or failure of the individuals, we'd have cast it aside right about the time Benedict Arnold decide he didn't like how things were being run here.

From TreasuryDirect

Pundits only have the power you give them through your attention. Our media has been a shit throwing fest since the 1800's. Stop blaming them for, well, anything. In any case, you've done a horrible job of supporting your point with facts, and you've not even attempted to explain how and why you support this administration....just like EVERY SINGLE LIBERAL I ASK. Without fail whenever I ask for facts and logic the response is "you don't understand" or "I don't want to talk about it" UNSAT. I misunderstood nothing. Exact words you said: Please go find some rational and factual support for your statement. Claiming that what Biden is doing with relation to Ukraine is potentially disastrous on a thermonuclear scale is not understating the facts. He is currently acting like a little kid with his daddy's shotgun, flexing his muscles, only he's doing so with a nuclear armed country who is increasingly backed into a corner. Meanwhile our OTHER major rival is hinting at helping Russia out of that corner. All the while there is very real mounting evidence that our sitting president's immediate family members may well have been working with both the Chinese and Ukrainians as a useful idiots (I severely doubt they're some kind of knowing spies...they are dupes at best). How is following those facts to it's logical conclusion a "hyperbolic narrative"?

Thoroughly agree. Unfortunately do you see a realistic outcome, under this administration's policies, where we don't fail to keep our word to Ukraine? I am of the belief that "keeping our word to Ukraine" entails restoring the entirety of Ukraine's sovereign borders. That's definitely how they see it. I don't see any outcome where that happens with our current leadership.

You make it sound as if the good outweighs the bad. So, let's get specific. What are you criticisms and what are you praises of the Biden administration? Make it simple, like a pros vs cons bullet list. I'm curious to hear how Biden supporters validate that he's been a good president with specific unemotional examples and a wholistic view. I'll kick off your list with a pro: Micro chip production brought back to the US. Please make your case.

You mean this guy @pawnman? How dare you go calling people out for words they said!

Not today AFPC

Sunday?

I’ll be interested to hear how the training for the sky warden will address that problem. The PC-12 is relatively clean by comparison. Hopefully they reach out to the cropdusting community for some lessons learned so we don’t have to re-experience some avoidable crashes.

I find the full timeline graph even more interesting. Not a single administration in the past 40 years has done this. That includes the Gulf War, OIF, and OEF, just to name a few massive possible drains on our reserves...

What does that have to do with the violently liberal shut-up-and-comply agenda that's clearly being implemented by our elected officials...predominately democrats? Trump is a raging twit. Fact. Stop saying his name like it's some kind of defense or excuse for the horrific policies of the current administration. Our current administration has exacerbated or outright caused complete failures in America's economy, foreign policy, military readiness, immigration policy, border security, energy and transportation management, trust in our healthcare system, and faith in our baseline governing civics. The former president had nothing to do with ANY of that.

...sarcasm but not really...good point...

C-130J-30 has a 1 second reaction written in books, at least in the last -1-1 I read. Then again I'm retiring. In reality it's a 3 second reaction from recognition to throttle and brake actuation. The book numbers are all way off anyway because they never updated the performance numbers for the carbon brakes, which makes all the numbers "conservative" and the actual performance during a reject is WAY better than the book number, both in the sim and the airplane. I've heard they fixed that in block 8.1 though. Any 8.1 dudes here that can set me straight?

Do you understand the phrase 'imaging seeker"?

Good thing he slapped that thing down before it released it's payload.

Santa Rosa?

@Internationalmesa I've got some thoughts to share...but give it a second...

Meh. If every missile our country created and fired in the last 50 years had performed exactly as advertised, warfare wouldn't exist anymore.