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Seems to me the State Department has been on its own side for the last 40+ years and generally does a miserable job advancing US interests.

https://www.indianz.com/News/2015/017364.asp MGen Keltz from what I could tell was officer's officer, and he voluntarily stepped down, saying he didn't live up to his own high standards.

Served with an intel officer who was the intel officer for that squadron right before they deployed. She tried to give a helo vis recce class and was told to get lost. Another intel NCO I served with was in another squadron at the same base, same time and he told me that all of the other squadron intel shops briefed Army helo ops except that light grey squadron who didn't want to hear it.

Never underestimate the ignorance and short attention span of the typical voter.

I'm sure glad the adults are back in charge.

The same thing was said about Vietnam shortly afterwards but we didn't learn our lessons apparently. Racking my brain, I can't think of single counterinsurgency that was successful against insurgents who had a sanctuary in a neighboring country.

I know one thing, if I ever hear another Army or Marine general officer saying only boots on the ground can win wars, I'm going to vomit. Airpower may not win wars by itself, but it hasn't lost any either. Only due to the heroic efforts of Army/Marine NCOs and CGOs did the fecklessness of our generals in Afghanistan not turn into a disaster 10 years sooner.

Yep, only Ghenghis Khan subdued Afghanistan and he did that with mass slaughter. That isn't an option in this day and age and it would ultimately be counterproductive. Afghanistan should have just been a series of raids to get OBL and the Taliban elite, not boots on the ground.

I think we can all agree the Pakistanis are a wicked lot.

I have serious doubts as to the Taiwanese will to fight. Their attitude seems to be that the Americans will ride to the rescue and do all of the heavy lifting. For example, only buying enough air-to-air missiles for their fighters to fly 1-2 sorties but they are out doesn't smack of preparedness to me. Also, I went to the ROKAF Staff College with a Taiwanese F-16 pilot and I was concerned about some of the statements he made. Sample of one but if he represents the mainstream thinking, their heart really isn't in it/in a lot of denial about the threat. A Taiwanese-American retired USAF officer friend of mine who has gone to Taiwan numerous times for FMS and security cooperation visits with their top brass has doubts too. A massive TBM barrage along with a blockade might be enough to force the Taiwanese to capitulate. I hope I am dead wrong. Anyone fly with their guys in F-16 FTU or UPT and have a different experience? And there isn't a lot of will in this country to fight and die on their behalf either.

We can't solve the gang violence problem in any major U.S. city, but sure, let's go try to remake Afghanistan into a functioning country though we don't understand the language, culture, history, who is who, the centuries old feuds, etc. with a population who have an average IQ of 85 and most of whom probably have PTSD from the decades of war, UXOs, child rape, complete lack of safety culture, banditry, etc. FFS.

And ten years later, what the article said has finally dawned on the "elites". FFS.

The irony of a free press is that it is simultaneously a democracy's/republic's greatest defender and greatest threat. When the press does its watchdog role faithfully against the government irrespective of who is in power, it is vital to our system of governance. But when it decides to become merely the propaganda arm for one political party, then it is dangerous.

Can't get people to give up their liberties and freedom if they feel safe....

I asked a TPS grad who was a BUFF EWO about the re-engine thing a long time ago and he said the four engine thing was kinda out because there wasn't enough rudder authority to counter the asymmetric thrust from an engine-out situation, or something along those lines, IIRC. Let the smarter people chime in...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9387769/F-22-stealth-fighter-pilot-reveals-forced-Air-Force-racism.html I didn't see anything like this with the African-Americans I flew with or served with. Heck, most of them did better than I did and went to USAFWS, SAAS, AWC, and made O-6... YMMV though.

Imagine you're the INDOPAC commander and the day the invasion of Taiwan starts you get a text stating all your bank accounts have been drained, your IRAs drained, etc. and if you lead the response it's all gone permanently. Sure enough, you check and all your accounts have been erased. Imagine how that would mess with your head...

We will NEVER achieve MLK's dream in this country because far too many people on both sides (your Al Sharptons and David Dukes, et al) make a good living stirring up racial animus. And far too many listen to those fools.

The damage "experts" like Fauci have done to the credibility of the government in general and expert opinion is vast and will be a wickedly hard problem to correct.

Therein lies the problem, the vast majority of politicians advocating gun control are not operating in good faith. They are just moving the ball down the field towards their goal of eliminating the 2A.

Who the hell at Walmart decided that was a good idea? I mean seriously, have they ever been to a buffet line!?! Same fools that are loading their plate one kernel of corn at a time now are gonna self-checkout in an expeditious manner? YGBSM. Now going to Walmart takes 3 times as long. <rant switch off>

Well, whatever happens in the wake of the Capitol riots, you can rest assure the DC types will handle it in such a way as to create the worse possible outcome for everyone, especially the rest of the country who wasn't there taking part... They seem to excel at that.

Nice strawman. But fine with me. Coast Guard is the only service that defends the homeland as it's primary mission. The rest of us are defending our freeloading "allies" and corporate access to overseas markets. See, two can do this strawman thing.

The basic problem is the government has too much power and control. If we could dial it back to what it was intended to be, then it wouldn't matter who was in the White House or in Congress. With so much direct involvement in the lives of every American, the stakes are too high to let the other side (whichever side that happens to be) be in control.

That's just for us retirees...