brabus

With you 100% on that. But in reality, we'll never be so limited on capability that we can't keep going to 3rd world shitholes, so I'm not so sure limiting our capability against larger threats would overall have the effect you and I want. I hate to say it, but I think the only real way to stop going everywhere is to get our shit pushed in (and I mean for real). Congress/the public doesn't give a shit about what has happened the past 15 years, but they would care when a draft starts, we're losing 20 aircraft per day, etc.

You can even forget about 10-15 yrs, right now I can think of 3 separate places where we're a sneeze away from a total shit storm and everyone not in a 5th gen aircraft starts riding the silk at Vietnam+ rates (or we avoid that by full up quitting, packing our shit up and going home as soon as it starts). Am I saying it's going to happen, not at all, but only people with their craniums in the sand think shit like that is "far away" and not something we need to worry about until 10-15 yrs from now. That is reality now, it get far worse years from now. I'm with you that in the end it probably doesn't happen, but we'd be the dumbest assholes in history if it did happen and we got caught with our pants down. If I and another guy are pointing guns at each other's faces right now, I say that's a problem to worry about now, not in a few years because I'm kind of sure maybe sort of that the other guy isn't going to pull the trigger. I'm not taking that bet.

It's an easy game: give people some semblance of family life ability and don't waste their time on bullshit taskers, deployments, stuff that has absolutely zero to do with their job, etc. Keep doing that shit and 95% of the "golden children" will keep punching. A few incentives go a long way, but the AF has apparently zero capability to pull its cranium out of its ass and see that.

Our Wg/CC said the "new idea" is to have more candidates go and less selects. Maybe they finally realized selects are bailing at a high rate and they shouldn't put so many of their eggs in the "this guy's going to be a 4 star!" basket. We'll see if it holds true, but sounds like candidates are in better shape than previously.

There's no room for logic here Lawman, this is the government we're talking about.

6th gen reqs address your concern - so really you want the 6th gen fighter to replace the F-35. That plan already exists, except you and I will be drinking whisky in the retirement home before that thing is FOC. Don't lean so far forward as to sell current/near future technology short - we have some good stuff, but in the end handcuff ourselves due to budget and bureaucracy issues. Frustrating, but that's what we get when career politicians run the country.

Sounds like you're leaning towards ROTC/OTS. Pros and cons to everything, but any of those will get you to commissioning...means to an end. OTS fluctuates a lot in terms of how many people they'll take; the academy or ROTC will give you a higher chance, though going through 4 years of college with zero BS and only having to slug out 12 weeks (or however long OTS is) would be preferred, but also much riskier as you hope there's an OTS slot for you in 4-5 years. If you want to avoid 4 years of BMT as you put it, do ROTC and don't look back. I'm very glad I went that route, but I also have a lot of great friends who went the Academy route...we all ended up in the same place, except one side put up with significantly less BS and had significantly more freedom to live a normal lifestyle. The education is excellent either way.

I'm not sure where the disconnect is, but what you're arguing for is an F-35, an "LO strike platform and missile truck" as you call it. The reason 4th gen will be around until 2045 is because we don't have enough money to afford an AF full of only 5th gen - there'd only be F-22 and F-35 if we had all the money in the world/had made significantly better decisions when it came to acquisitions and program management. F-22 and F-35 are complimentary, we just simply can't afford enough of them.

It absolutely would not be more capable unless we're talking about a complete redesign (software and hardware) that would make the F-35 program look like "best seen to date." A more capable 5th/6th gen A/G fighter is currently called F-X and will probably not see the light of day until the 2030s and probably won't be useful until mid to late 2040s...unless we learn from our acquisitions/program mistakes, but who honestly thinks that'll happen?

You just described the F-35. This debate is useless. Lets scream for more F-22s because we absolutely need them in the A/A realm, not because we have a misguided idea that somehow a FB-22 would be better than an F-35.

This shouldn't be surprising, but the Raptor is not an A/G fighter; it's what we all think - an A/A fighter with a few cool A/G capes, but not nearly enough to really execute AI, AO, CAS, etc. It's quite ridiculous to think producing 500 more Raptors solves our "A/G gaps." I'm absolutely a huge supporter of producing more if it was doable, but I want it for what it's built for, not for a delirious dream that it is anything but an A/A fighter with a few niche capes to help out on the A/G side.

I asked Memphis when I was there and they said no problem (whether you're overseas for deployment or stationed). I think the only catch is you have a limited time to get it done once back in the US (6 months is what I remember, but not 100% sure on that).

Shit. to another fallen bro. Prayers for his family and friends.

Good point - generation probably has at least something to do with it. Though at least the several dudes I know who are in the "current war generation" still are quiet about it...their parents must have done that parenting thing, a very lacking thing nowadays.

My CC had it in his email a few days ago

I don't think I've ever ran across someone who talked themselves/their experiences up who did not turn out to be completely full of shit. Every "real deal" I have interacted with doesn't say shit about their job outside of the work environment.

I love the "turns night into day" propaganda in the video...completely oversold. That said, there's a lot more to DAS than simply "you can see through the floor!" Champ nailed it on force composition. 4th gen assets are projected out to 2040+...the F-35 crowd will have the last laugh when all the Vipers and Eagles are 3g limited because they have 20K hours on the airframe. It won't be a problem though, since I'm sure the 6th gen acquisition process will go really well.

Binoculars included (and encouraged by dear leader) with every NoDAK porn site

Have not heard great things about them, but that's just WOM. I looked into them as well before going to Memphis, glad I made the decision to go up to TN.

Interesting. Related note, I got a crossbreed IWB about a month ago and really like it. Comfortable, high quality build, perfect hold on the gun, good draw (for an IWB), etc. Highly recommend them.

Damn, down 11% as well. That said, aren't you grandfathered in to your current BAH for the length of your current assignment?

I don't follow.

The DOD is WELL ahead of you on that one. Guys, remember, stealth is the flashy word that gets thrown around in the news, facebook 5th gen bashing, etc. People much smarter than you and I have thought about and developed solutions regarding problem sets like this before you even realized the F-35 was a thing. It's not all about stealth, and dudes on the internet are not the first ones to think of that mind blowing idea.

DOD: "Stitch, can we pay you $6.9 billion dollars to be the middle man who brokers this deal? Also, it's cool if post-contract signing you fuck us over and require millions more to fix a contract breach you're 100% responsible for. Also, have you by chance seen the S&M Man, we're kind of into that sort of thing."