busdriver

If religion were the defining factor shouldn't Jemaah Islamiyah be the most prolific terrorist organisation?

Agreed. Most Muslims aren't middle eastern. Is the root problem religion or culture?

Make the paperwork look good, if you're confident in your pup don't worry about it just make sure your neighbors know him. If your neighbors like your pup because he's always so happy to play with their kids, there's no chance they'll turn you in no matter what he looks like. But if that pic is no shit your dog, he looks like a straight up mutt to me.

Just picked up a gun rag because is had a picture of the Colt Gold Cup on the front and I've been wanting to buy a 1911 for awhile. Just inside the front is a Ruger add for the 10/22 take-down. I now want said 10/22 takedown, bad.

to the Nimrod boys, wish there was more I could have done for you guys. Big black smoking smear and not much else.

Summer 2006?

I thought it was actually a solid piece of inadvertent bromenship. I've heard some stories from an Aussie equivalent to our PJs; watch out for the Thai lady-boys.

Hopefully the shit storm ends up getting the problem resolved.

Don't over think it, they're still fun to watch.

Really stretching it. Those are the types of missions where we could do it, or where Rainman would say a full up RMC isn't required. Most missions I'm aware of were making up for a lack of training with balls. Danger close over the shoulder rocket attacks with the right gun hammering down is a surreal experience.

What's up with the white gloves and masks in the HMS Sheffield video?

As a community we're not even close to being able to claim RMC right now.

Cold war was well before my time, but I know what you're getting at CSAR is only one subset of the PR umbrella. Part of the problem is the joint definition of RMC is vague and based solely on that definition the AF standard Sandy package is the best answer that fits that definition across the broadest threat spectrum, as it should be. However, as an example Sandy2 is a FAC(A) why? The Marine WTI I worked with swore up and down that a FAC(A) was not required for cross FSCL CSAR since there was no GFC to require close coordination with and SCAR-C was what they were really doing. Once again, Sandy for the win over a broader spectrum as not all CSAR events will be past the FSCL. But you can see where the argument could be made for differing skill sets filling the role in certain circumstances. If there's a rescue mission, someone has to be in command of said mission doesn't that make them RMC? I'd argue that we need to establish when a Sandy1 is required, when a Jolly1 would suffice, etc. Then we can say "In scenario X, we have to deploy A-10s to sit CSAR alert." or "This threat level is acceptable for a properly trained RV to act as RMC if given the appropriate supporting players." I know you're saying that I can call it RMC but it isn't, I'd argue that Sandy1 is more than "just" RMC. No argument on that last point I quoted and by no means am I suggesting we should change our paradigm from our current CSARTF construct, it works and is the standard for good reason. I'm only saying that as a community (including Hog guys) we need to train to the contingency that it isn't an option, and know based on training to that standard when we can and cannot execute with less than the optimal solution, that goes for loss of all Sandys and a partial Sandy package.

Rainman, I don't disagree. But the fact remains that there aren't enough Sandy1s available to cover everything. How do we we train guys for the contingency where there is no Sandy1? That is the current operational reality.

If you managed this and graduated, please tell me your secret. That said, I don't think we're too far off in opinion, just delivery. There aren't enough Sandy1 qualed guys in the CAF, that's a fact and there is only so much training available to make more, we have to figure out when a no shit Sandy1 is required and when that duty can be handled by the alternate and contingency plans. Once that's figured out we can decide how to train folks for the less optimal setup. This is isn't about re-inventing the wheel, it's about making sure everyone is trained to still make the mission happen when the traditional wheel isn't an option.

Yes, but I agree IP is a bad term to use on the fight freq and I've always used other terms.

I think the point missed is that if people want to be fucked up, fine so long as you don't fuck with me and mine. Once that happens, kid gloves are off. If they back down after we give em a black eye, they can go back to their sheep fucking ways for all I care as long as they leave me the fuck alone. I'm sick of trying to help people when they don't seem to want the help, they need to want it or no amount of help will amount to anything. Yes, CT operations will require dudes on the ground but we don't need to get endlessly embroiled with local politics. Kill the assholes who need killing and move on. Government rules with the consent of the governed, either explicit or tacit.

High flight time on airframes is hardly limited to one or two MDS. They have all gotten the shit beat out of them the past 10 years.

I see where you're coming from JCS, but I don't think us being RMC as a go to plan is really very good. A lot of issues have to be mitigated primarily comm and we all know how awesome comm always is, yes it can be done but it probably won't be pretty. The unfortunate thing is that given ops tempo and training lines available, none of the other fighters have the capability to pick up a full up Sandy1 program. "Making it happen with available assets" as Rainman put it is more what I'm talking about. Basically we've got a full up Sandy1-4 as primary plan, Sandy1-2 with someone else to escort as alternate plan, and if Sandy's drop out altogether, spread out those duties amongst other players and train for the contingency plan. Jolly as "RMC" is really that contingency plan, I think we should train guys to that level and I know full well it'll be ugly but we have to have a capability to get guys home no matter what and ultimately it'll make us better at our primary role as RV. I'm sure Rainman can tell you the difference between having an RV that needs to be led around by the dick versus one that knows how to help the RMC/ has high SA and knows when it's appropriate to take tac lead and when he needs to STFU and let Sandy1 think. The other piece is the opposed CSAR line he keeps throwing out, there is no way in hell I want to be RMC if I'm no kidding penetrating an IADS MEZ at 50' the whole way or have an extensive conventional ground threat. Afghanistan is a different animal, but I'd still prefer to have some trained to be OSC overhead start working the objective before I get there.

I can't speak to academics, I wasn't there. The only fast movers we flew with were the Mudhens, they acted as OSC while we got ourselves to the IP then took over. What it taught me was that yes I could be the RMC in certain situations that were higher threat than Afghanistan, but I needed the OSC to have an idea of what he was doing(we spent a lot of time in planning talking about things, and they ended up locating the survivor within 200ft without ever getting eyes on, using a mix of CSAR and CAS techniques), and I would make the final call of whether to execute or not. In the end, it won't be pretty, but it can work. As you said, it depends. Incidentally, it also taught me a lot out about how to teach CSAR to non Sandy guys. What I found was that anyone who's ass was on the line took CSAR seriously. It wasn't a matter of not caring, more a matter of not knowing. In the future I'd like to see a lot more involvement from the Raptor guys in learning OSC, not sure how reasonable that really is but my gut tells me they have the ability to hang out in the threat even after Winchester let's put them to good use.

How you define this one word is what drives the issue. Low/Medium/High threat? The primary plan should always be Sandy1 is RMC. But once again, there's all those other taskings: no shit at WEPTAC had Dog tell me that in a scenario we were talking about they'd have 6 Sandy's on alert just for CSAR. 20 minutes later the CFACC tells us, nope the Hogs are doing something else. If that's the reality, every fighter pilot needs to be at least somewhat capable of acting as OSC, more than just whipping out that I-OSC checklist you may have looked at once during ME when a CSAR guy handed it out at mass brief.

What is an RMC? What is an OSC? I can't do both from the get go, an A-10 can. But if I've got a competent Mudhen crew acting as OSC, I can act as RMC under certain circumstances. That said, if we can't delineate when a no shit Sandy 1-4 package is required versus a non-traditional CSARTF how can we stand in front of the CFACC and say "boss, you're tasking the Hogs with too much, we will no longer have the ability to bring our folks home." If there is a Sandy1 Hog available, we'd be stupid to task RMC to anyone else. But we won't always have a Sandy1 Hog available. We need to be able to bring our folks home in all scenarios, which means we need to spread out the training burden to pick up the slack when the Hogs get tasked with other shit.

RMC, Rescue mission commander= The Man, responsible for making the pickup happen and all the things that make that possible MCO, Major Combat Operations= The balloon went up, big war time (ie not Afghanistan) RV, Recovery Vehicle= The dude who will actually make the pickup AMC, Airborne Mission Coordinator= The shit filter, the dude responsible to the RMC as an extension of the CAOC/JPRC, who gives the RMC the reach back info he needs to make the mission happen without overloading him with useless info or nagging him with stupid requests. A good AMC is a huge SA builder, a bad one is a black-hole.

The HC's primary role in an MCO is giving gas to the RV. That said, there is a lot of growth in responsibility coming with respect to C2. I would personally like to see the Kings become the experts at the AMC role. After they get that down, there's a push from HC leadership (even currently) to push towards RMC and an offensive weapons capability. All that said, money's tight and they got slaughtered in the VSP/RIF a couple years ago. So most of the current IPs didn't grow up with senior captain patches running around. So in some sense they're starting from a clean slate, both the good and bad that go with that. If you went that route, you could be in a position to provide an outside the box voice and make an impact, but that's really up to you.

I know, but getting both sides of that fence to really comprehend what is required of the other side is sometimes difficult. Basically the T-Zo gap is fucking bullshit, either you're a team or you're not.