Mark1

You should have thrown it out the window while you were at it and then wiped your ass with the Constitution. Extra douche points for using your military status to gain favor with law enforcement. Don't bother with your predictable response to this either...it's bullshit and you know it. You did not have to show any ID whatsoever, but if you wanted to, it was a conscious decision to use the CAC. Does it not strike you as unbelievably hypocritical to use you status as a person whose charter is to defend the Constitution and what it stands for (equality under law being one of those things), to then win favorable treatment for yourself over your civilian counterparts? As long as you're taken care of...it's all about you.

You should quit getting your news from whichever press outlet reported this.

I separated from active duty 1.5yrs ago after 7yrs and 9mo of service. I was not RIF'd or VSP'd, had no remaining ADSC, and did not separate under any special program. While going through the separation process every time it came up in the paperwork or in dealings with MPF it was clear that on their end they believed I had no remaining Military Service Obligation. I was close, but just short of the 8yr mark, so my understanding was that they were wrong. However, not having any desire to voluntarily continue in an IRR capacity if I didn't have to, I kept my mouth shut figuring I might be on the positive end of a military paperwork f*ckup for once. I've been happily existing on the civilian side for over a year now and today I get a letter in the mail from my local AFRC unit telling me that I should expect to have to report for IRR muster in August and that actual orders to do so will follow. From what I can gather online, in the past an officer would continue indefinitely on IRR unless they resigned their commission, however, that was supposed to have been changed a few years ago. Apparently, at the 8yr mark I should have gotten a form that would have required that I elect to continue in the IRR, or resign. That didn't happen and because I thought I had mistakenly been given a clean break when I separated from active duty, I didn't think anything of it. Apparently, if I'm a member of the IRR, I'm required to maintain my uniforms...that would have been nice to know. Not to mention it seems I should also have a reserve ID card with base access and BX/commissary privileges. Neither is the case and at no point during the separation from active duty was I given any information on the IRR (made sense given that I didn't expect to be transfered to IRR status). Information available from a quick Google search is all over the place when it comes to officers. Can anybody who's either experienced this process or had a spouse go through it point me in the direction of a good source of reliable information? I'd like to be educated before I call AFRC to figure out whether this is just a f*ckup on their end haunting me from beyond the grave and I can tell them to pound sand, or whether I need to formally resign my commission with AFRC. I don't want to run in to the typical scenario where neither I or the person on the other end of the phone truly knows what they're talking about, so they just default to the easiest solution from their perspective to get me out of their hair (i.e. 'yeah, you'll have to show up for muster in August unless you resign'). Thanks.

I wouldn't want to be the next person to get rolled up after that decision. Getting your head sawed off on film is the scene everybody imagines when they think about ending up being captured over there, but the reality is that that isn't statistically likely. It was never a frequent outcome on the OEF battlefield, and even though it was a popular tactic in Iraq, that was the case for only a short period around 2004. You let loose on those guys after the transfer and you can guarantee the next poor bastard to get snatched goes out in the most gruesome manner imaginable. Not to mention no matter how unrealistic it is, there's an understanding that to have a stable Afghanistan after we leave the Taliban has to be included at the table. The Soviets did their damnedest to kill their way to victory and never came close. We, although employing less aggressive tactics, haven't been able to come close in 13yrs. They aren't going anywhere, so probably best not to royally piss them off right before you leave the area if your hope is that the area doesn't turn into a festering anti-American cesspool.

I agree. But you still bring him up on charges, sentence him to 'time served' (which would just be a no-confinement judgement with it made explicit as to why the judgement included no confinement) and a bad conduct/dishonorable discharge. But I wouldn't be surprised to see him gracefully moved along with all the commensurate lifelong medical care and benefits that will come along with a normal discharge, plus a lump sum of back salary that he earned at a rank he was promoted to while in captivity. A slap in the face to those who put their lives on the line to try and get him back.

Um, I'm not sure you understand the actual concern. It's not a question of whether the scales balance out between the value of the 5 that were released in exchange for 1 in return... Anyway, regardless of whether it was the right or wrong decision to swap prisoners, it was a bold move on the part of the administration. Now I'm curious to see if they're bold enough to bring Bergdahl up on charges when he's through with his re-integration. I doubt it.

Only convicted of 2 co-worker rapings in FY13 -- 200% decrease over last FY!!! On pace for zero rapes by FY15. Brought 4 sq spouse vacation swimwear pictures to IG attention. Pictures shredded, then burned -- disaster averted. IDE now, promote soonest.

Yeah. He's an amazing example for Catholocism. "How fucking dare you..." I'm pretty sure that's straight out of Jesus' mouth. Especially given that it's attacking Cruise for implying something that he wasn't. If anybody cares to look at what Cruise actually said, this would be a non-controversy. That's probably the reason it disappeared off entertainment news a day or two after it was a non-stop headline. Doesn't change the fact that Cruise is indeed a monumental douchebag, but in this case, the assholes are the ones criticizing him.

Really? You've GBSM. Part of the reason healthcare is so god damned expensive in this country is precisely because of excessive consumption...and I'm tired of subsidizing a general public that can't deal with routine illnesses without 'medical care'. Is it really necessary to see a doctor so that they can tell you to get some rest and drink a lot of fluids? Infant child has a fever? Emergency room visit. You're a healthy 24yr old who doesn't feel so good because you have the common cold? Go to the doctor and demand antibiotics. Oh, antibiotics aren't effective with a viral infection? I don't care, I've heard good things and I want them...write the prescription. Getting a wisdom tooth pulled? I need to be unconscious for that, and I want a Vicodin prescription to kill the 'pain' afterwards too, because I can't deal with some minor discomfort unless I'm heavily medicated. I've got some lower back pain because I have horrible posture and sit in front of a computer all day. I need an MRI. MRI shows nothing abnormal? Thats odd. Well I guess you should just write me a prescription for a bunch of painkillers then. Rolled my ankle playing basketball and it's mildly painful. Need an D.O. to look at it, get x-rays, give me a pain killer prescription and an air cast to immobilize it. Oh yeah, I need time off of work so that it can heal, too. Yeah. You've got the be shitting me. I'm tired of subsidizing a general public that can't deal with being a human being.

I think the correct answer is, you both suck equally. Who cares how accurate/inaccurate the guns are when inevitably you miss, or only kill half your targets between you and your -2, and it takes an eternity to get a re-attack accomplished. Pylon turn for the win, bitches...as long as you don't involve the BMP.

Yeah...they have an extra crew member onboard to ensure that they arrive 4min late to the IP going the wrong direction. But I did have one toboggan down to 1500ft AGL in order get us the gas we needed to support a particularly ugly TIC. I'm not so sure that they had any idea what they'd done as most crews might fudge the numbers to get down to ~4k and then balk, but if they did, there we some guys on the ground that night that appreciated it.

Funny because when the bulk of the move from Florida took place circa 2009, when the housing market throughout the rest of the country was in the crapper, home prices were higher in Clovis than pre-crash...by a significant margin. Economically understandable, but tough for guys that had to eat the impact of the crash on their Florida market homes, only to move to a market where they couldn't obtain a home at a comparably depressed price. Now, in the rest of the country the market is fairly hot, some places have returned to all time high home values. It's a competitive sellers market in those places...and the opposite in Clovis. Just in time for 4 year onstation PCS season. Double######ed.

Especially the Jews and the Japs. Thankfully Beck is generally out of the public eye nowadays after being shitcanned (oh wait, he stepped down, that's right), but it's comforting to see that his long, drawn-out, downward spiral into fullblown dimentia and schizophrenia continues. If it came to be that you couldn't trust in that, then what could you trust in?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvUvG1umqLg

Yeah, you've got my number. I'm a Junior in the ROTC program hoping to go to gunships. It's too long a conversation to have over this forum, but they did not invest in the opportunity to install persistently available, permanent, moving target infrastructure on the impact areas. The band-aid alternative is nice, but not that nice. How many days out of the ~1500 since gunships arrived at Cannon has the moving target option been available and used? The best time to address the issue is when you're building two impact areas from the ground up. It wasn't done...or rather was considered and shelved in favor of other 'luxuries'. Putting a tank in between a couple conex's and calling it an urban setup is cute, but does very little to impact training effectiveness...that's not a complaint, Im just saying that it's not a plus in the Cannon column over Eglin either. If you scheduled your airspace with it in mind at the Eglin complex, you could own an entire altitude block in the R-area and therefore have miles in any direction to manuever IVO the impact areas. That is not the case with Melrose. It can be dealt with, but is a clear benefit of the Eglin complex. (I'm not talking about simultaneous live fire as your response seems to assume). And again, users come to Melrose when they have to. Like, for example, when AFSOC throws a bone it's way to prop up it's image of usefulness and sends Emerald Warrior out for the year. For the air component it's fine or even better than the HRT area, but not for the training of the guys on the ground. XP may turn guys away, but they aren't the same guys that were turned away from HRT years ago. A 5 minute talk with the guys when they're forced out there for their once-every-other-year would tell you all you need to know. New base housing is a step in the right direction, sure, but it's going to be on the backs of those that have been there from the beginning and have a stake in the market, as opposed to AFSOC creating the necessary infrastructure before moving thousands of people out. Talk to the E-3s that were forced to go downtown on E-3 BAH and find a place to stay because the base couldn't house them...they were too busy building DV billeting and couldn't be bothered to get a dorm up. I hope those guys were prepared for the random gunshots and drug use that exists around the areas that a couple E-3s can afford. Anyway, it's way off topic. Marginally on topic, the gunship community lost a bunch of dudes the first time they tried to send guys out to Cannon who dropped paperwork when they were given orders from the 4th to the 16th. The second time around things were slightly better when orders were strategically dropped largely to guys that didn't have a choice in the matter. It appears that the left hand doesn't talk to the right...the U-28 leadership will probably have to come to grips with the fact that they'll have to do the same.

From the gunship side (and yeah, I get that they are only 1 piece) yes, Melrose is worse than the Eglin Range complex. The fancy new targets are nice, but provide nothing in increased training value. Only moving targets would do that, but AFSOC wouldn't spend the money. Otherwise it's just something shiny to look at while you squeeze off a round. The airspace is more restrictive than Eglin because of the impact areas' proximity to the eastern edge of the Restricted Area which makes manuevers while live firing or integration with fast movers difficult. For 90% of the time AFSOC has existed at Cannon, there has only been one impact area open and available for gunhsip use making live fire scheduling harder than anything I ever saw with Eglin. And, it's been rectified, but for a long time AFSOC did NOT own the range, and DID NOT set priority on Melrose range. As far as the terrain being simliar to where we fight: put down the kool-ad. I think most would agree that OEF is one of the most straightforward battlefields we will ever see (and we've got 12yrs experience with it), we shouldn't be training to the lowest common denominator. We should be training towards the most difficult theater, and then when the Afghanistan's of the world come around, it'll be a cakewalk. Plow out a dirt LZ anywhere in the world to let the rotary wing guys deal with brownout landings, and call it good. I'll give you the low-level routes over Hurlburt, but just barely. And from the gunship side, simulating full mission profiles over Clovis/Portales day after day after day because we don't have the legs to make the next nearest civilization center has drained so much expertise from the community, it's sad. Cannon meant to reduce deployment time to the Pacific? Joke. Hope you don't have to deploy a combat configured AC-130 in July without immediate tanker support, cause guess what...they'd have to depart EAST to Dyess in order to onload enough fuel to make the next available airfield to the West. A departure from HRT without tanker support would literally make better time. With tanker support? Do the work to make a comparison of the routes. The result will suprise you. The users come to Cannon by force only. We used to have units show to HRT all the time, yes to get their yearly training in, but because their guys saw it as a desireable TDY location. Now they avoid it like the plague and only show when they have to. Camping, hunting, hiking? Yes, a 3hr drive away. Name a location in the U.S. where that isn't available within a 3hr drive. 1000 homes coming on the market you say? Awesome, I'm sure the guys that bought houses at extortion prices, because rentals and base housing were absolutely non-existant, will enjoy having a small market like that flooded with new/free/high-quality homes. That'll do wonders for their property values. And then compare snapshots of the units now vs. 6yrs ago. Sad. AFSOC is at Cannon to stay. I get it, deal with it. But quit reading Gen Wooley's talking paper to justify the location. The only justification is that AFSOC wanted a bigger footprint, more command billets, and more money under their control. End of story. Oh, except for the chance to cash in on shady real estate deals. You can include that, too.

The book was written by Luttrell with a ghostwriter. I don't know the reality of the relationship during the writing (how much liberty the ghostwriter took, or if it was straight dictation with literary inputs, etc.), but ultimately Luttrell's got to be held responsible for the content of the book, given that it's published under his name. During the chapters that deal with the compromise Luttrell chooses to make a political point that is absurd and I can only hope is fiction. He says that he was such good friends with Murphy, and they knew each other so well, that immediately upon the compromise they had a non-verbal moment that made it clear to Luttrell that both he and Murphy understood there was only one proper solution to the problem. They had to execute the goat herders that stumbled upon them, but couldn't, because the liberal politicians back home would crucify them for making the 'tactically sound' decision. He downplays, or fails to mention the fact, that one of the goat herders they wanted to kill silently with a knife for the crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time was a child. I find it hard to believe that on top of a mountain in remote Afghanistan, on a mission that wouldn't make the press if the military didn't want it to, facing a potentially life or death decision, both Luttrell and Murphy couldn't think of anything other than what the liberal politicians in Washington would think of them if they didn't let the goat herders go. He insinuates strongly, without explicitly saying so, that Spietz, Murphy, and Axelson's blood is on the liberal politician's hands. If that account is really true, then I feel sorry for both of them having lived their lives so ruled by political division that they couldn't make a life or death decision without it's taint. But much more likely, Luttrell chose to use one of the most significant moments of the story to make a point outside of the reality of the situation, and in doing so, put something terrible onto a dead man (Murphy) who can't speak for himself. That they both REALLY wanted to execute innocent civilians, including a child, to spare themselves but couldn't because their hands were tied. Not really the picture you'd like to have for a MOH winner...and a HUGE foul on Luttrell's part if he made it up to bolster the story or make a point. Of course at the same time he calls into question his own character, as he was the other among the group that wanted to slit a childs throat to be on the safe side. The point about overbearing ROE getting guys killed is a valid one. Have that conversation with every media outlet in the country separate from the book, or write a different book on that topic, or put it in Lone Survivor as your own opinion aside from the story, but don't do it on the back of a dead guy. I thought it was odd after reading the book that nobody else seemed to take issue with it, instead focusing on how heroic everybody was, but since then Murphy's dad has come out to say that he didn't appreciate that portion of the book either, saying his son would never think that way. There are plenty of other exagerrations and stretches of the truth in the book, most notably the number of enemy they faced. I've seen the debriefing materials and AAR, and there are several other stretches of the truth in the book as well, but of less significance. It's a shame because the story speaks for itself. It was amazing in reality. It didn't need churching up, or the addition of Luttrell's agenda, and only serves to dishonor the guys who died that day.

It will be...however, from the 10 seconds that depict the compromise in the trailer, it's already more credible than the book's handling of the matter, so that's something.

Not from anyone who doesn't base their questions on emotion, there aren't. There were certainly some things that needed thorough debriefing from an operational standpoint that night, but none of those things point to some sort of consipracy. Someone needs to sit the famililes down and give them a thorough debriefing on the circumstances as there are answers to their questions, but the very questions being raised make it clear that the famlies are completely unfamliar with what their loved ones did on a daily basis. Among other ridiculous statements: Klayman, Strange and others have questioned why so many special ops were on one aircraft that they claim was not equipped for such a dangerous mission. They also want to know why members of Team 6 weren’t looked after just months after the bin Laden operation.Strange said, “There was no eye in the sky tracking [the Chinook]. Why not?” Ugh. Really? Aside from the misinformed absurdity of this statement, I don't think it would have gone over well with those members that were involved with the Bin Laden raid if they were subsequently handled with kid gloves and not allowed to continue with their lives within the unit. What accusation, exactly, is being made by the comments that insinuate the bodies must have been cremated to hide something, Sen Chaffetz? Or are you just reaching for controversy where there is none? Your sons/brothers/cousins/nephews signed up for dangerous work on the understanding that they may have to make the ultimate sacrifice one day. Unfortunately they found themselves in that circumstance. They weren't doing anything at the time that thousands of others haven't done previously, and since. They aren't any more special than the thousands of others that have died in the last decade+, some in very similar circumstances. War is hell, chance ran against your loved ones that night, Im sorry for your loss. Move on with your lives.

Although congress/brass isn't going to factor it into any sort of decision on the matter, I would also throw out there that aside from mission oriented justification, Mildenhall being a possible AC-J base location would help out the community tremendously. Nobody in AFSOC leadership will acknowledge it (at least not in a public forum...I've been in the presence of several O-6s, an O-7, and one O-8 who would do so in a private capacity), but Cannon AFB has had a significant negative impact on the community. No need to rehash the argument here as it's been had before in other threads, but giving guys an avenue for reprieve from Cannon, if only briefly, might do something to change the mind of future high speed guys considering tracking gunships that would otherwise decide against it because of the land mine that is Cannon AFB.

There is a persistent operational reason why it would make sense to project the gunship overseas that does not apply to the A-10s...the reason is a valid one, although there would be an arguement to be had as to whether the upsides outweighed the downsides. I don't have any current picture into top brass thinking on the matter, but it was certainly being explored as of a matter of months ago. Whether the desire was born at AFSOC HQ in order to meet supplied objectives, or born at SOCOM and forced on AFSOC would have an impact on the likelyhood that it occurs. However, if it were to happen it's almost certainly going to be AC-Js, and there aren't going to be enough of those to both replace the retiring AC-H tails, and stand up an additional squadron, for a long time coming. If you're currently in training, your decision to either go or not go the gunship route should be made with the assumption that you'll never see the opportunity to put Mildenhall on your ADP while you're a crewdog.

Yes, I'm aware. My point being that the system REWARDS that behavior en mass. Behavior that can't be defended if you want your officer core to be the selfless defenders of good and righteous, as the AF purports to want. And sure, you could put your whole hearted effort into SOS by correspondence. And in that case, you're wasting your time jumping through a hoop to prove your worthiness to go do it AGAIN in residence. That cannot be logically justified. And I'd think that the AF wouldn't want it's core group of 'thinkers' doing things just because. In fact, I could point out multiple occasions where the SOS texts themselves make that very point. Don't follow the herd, don't be a sheep, etc. I mean, how ######ing crazy is that thought right there? I wasn't trying to make any point whatsoever with the comment. It was a reference to an earlier post. I wasn't working 20hrs a day every day, and I wasn't complaining that I worked too hard to get PME done. If I had decided to do PME by correspondence, it could have been the same 10min cram session before 3 tests for a total investment of 30min of my life that most everybody else took to get it done. As I said, effort required was never the issue. So we agree wholeheartedly, good. Nowhere did I say knowledge was stupid, so I don't know why anybody would think it smelled like that. I believe I said the exact opposite. In fact, I said I was more than willing, not even just willing, but actually desired to go get an in-res degree at a legitimate institution. The AF just needs a program to facilitate that. One was tested in the Army not too long ago but I don't know what the outcome of it was (and it included educational incentives and continuing pay, which I wouldn't have needed/wanted if given the time off to get it done). What is stupid is a program that everybody and their mother knows isn't actually designed to impart knowledge or growth onto the AF's officers. If they get a little growth or education as a side-effect, great, but we all know that that isn't the aim of the system. It aims to do nothing more than force AF officers to put their flag up saying 'yes, I wan't to promote through the system (evidenced by my willingness to waste my time to jump through these hoops), so invest your time in me and consider me for promotion'. There's a better way to identify those that want to continue on to FGO+ than to force them to waste their time. How about a program that would both identify those that wanted to promote and make them a more well rounded officer? Is that a crazy idea?

That was kind of my entire point. Just game the system, put in min effort, skirt the intent of the program, make sure to get nothing from it, return mediocre but passing scores and bingo, you're going to Maxwell so that you can exercise your remarkable ability to get things done without effort there. You know, integrity and excellence all balled into one. And certainly the best indicator of senior officer leadership ability I can think of. And you're right, the "middle managers" are more of the problem because they've slowly on an individual basis tried to distinguish themselves (in meaningless ways) to promotion boards by jumping through illogical hoops. To the point that the hoop jumping is standard, and is no longer even distinguishing, just expected. I understand that given human behavior the kind of collective stance I'm about to talk about is impossible, somebody will always try to get a leg up on everybody else, but if the CGO core collectively shunned the AAD and SOS by correspondence requirement, selection to SOS in residence and promotion criteria would necessarily have to revert back to actual job performance. When you've got 0% who've completed an AAD, it's hard to flush out your entire force. Extra idiocy for you. On a regular basis squadron leadership would come to me to double check that I hadn't completed SOS by correspondence without anybody noticing, because there had been a fallout from SOS in residence and Wing/Group needed a body to fill the hole. I was at the top of the list to go, whether by fallout or through the normal periodic rack&stack process, but the Wing/CC by policy would not send anybody who hadn't completed it by correspondence. Keeping in mind that there is no actual requirement for correspondence to be complete before residency (other MAJCOMs sent their guys without it routinely), does it make any sense to send a guy that is down the list, in lieu of a guy who would otherwise go first? Let me make it clear that I didn't take a defiant stance in an effort to prove something by forcing the system to martyr me. I did my job...and well. Nothing more, nothing less. I knew what it would mean for me, and as I said, I wouldn't want to promote through a system that I couldn't believe in anyway. I knew for a long time coming that I would move along when my ADSC expired. Sadly that was prior to meeting the board because I would have been curious to see what would've happened. And for the record, if I happened to be on a wage basis, you don't work more than you bill on your time sheet. If you're required to work more than planned for a typical week, you bill your time and are payed overtime for it. But I'm happily a salaried employee. I get my job done, no matter how many hours it takes to include overtime or weekends if necessary because I wouldn't be okay with myself collecting a paycheck for ostensibly performing a job that I didn't perform. I was in the shop late into the night, or on weekends on a regular basis when I was AD. So were a lot of other guys. But you know what? There was a significant contingent of guys who you never saw around unless they were flying. They could fade into the background in a squadron that ran 24hr flying operations. Where's Jimmy, I haven't seen him in a while? Oh, he must be flying the late sortie tonight, or he must be in crew rest, or he must be TDY or on CTO. But his peer group knew better. Jimmy rarely volunteered for a flight or a less than ideal TDY. They knew because they had to pick up the slack and fly the Friday night line every week and take the aircraft to BFE for an exercise. This on top of setting the best example for his E's by not being present at work when they had to be and letting others get his work done for him. And guess what? Jimmy will be an O-4 in short order because he threw his shit against the wall and picked the answer that wasn't shit-covered for god and country. Hit too close to home, man? I'm not suggesting that everybody approaches things that way, but you know damn well that that is SOP for MOST guys that jump through the hoops.

Trying to justify the numbers as "not bad" even for no AAD is completely missing the point. I separated prior to meeting the board, but by the numbers above, would have had a 0% chance of being promoted. Spent half my life in the AF in combat. High hours in the aircraft, half of which were combat hours. Upgraded before my peers to instructor and evaluator. Several EQ Form 8s. Flt/CC box checked. FTU gig checked. OGV box checked. Strat'd in the squadron on early OPRs and in the group on later OPRs. Push lines all stellar with the full support of my ops squadron commander for a DP...but the Wing/CC would not issue me a DP (straight from the horses mouth) because of a couple of problems... On principle, I refused to waste taxpayer money (or my money for that matter) on a basketweaving degree. Want me to get a Master's degree, Air Force? Great, I'd love to get one also, just give me the time off to do so and I'll come back with a legit degree, some actual growth from the educational experience, refreshed and ready to get back to work. No pay, no BAH, no BAS, no educational financial aid, no time in grade, nothing. Just give me the time to get it done and I'll do it. Not an option? Fine. I won't compromise my integrity by trying to find the easiest program majoring in Folklore at a diploma mill that's barely maintaining accreditation because the people that attend there don't actually want an education, they just want a worthless piece of paper without having to work for it. Then scope out the professors that especially don't give a shit, sign up for those classes with a buddy, and cheat my way through with min effort. All on the taxpayers dime. There's still a chance if I go to SOS in res, you say? Great, I'll pack my bags. Oh, the Wing/CC won't send anybody who doesn't have it done by correspondence? Well, I won't compromise my integrity, or waste my time, by purchasing the 'brains' for the course off the internet, borrowing the 'answers' to the exam from a friend that just took the tests, study the answers for 10 min before each test, guess at the questions you don't recall from the gouge, and hope for a min passing score. If I fail, that's ok. It just gives me a free look at the test that I can retake next week. Then after that, they'll send me to waste even more taxpayer money by retaking a course that *should* be rendered obsolete by the correspondence course I just took. Either way I'll brain-dump everything .69 seconds after walking out the door. So I've got a 0% chance of being promoted. The guy who CHEATED his way through a worthless correspondence course has a 29% chance. The guy who CHEATED through BOTH the correspondence course and his TUI basketweaving classes is guaranteed to get through. I'm an officer. I thought you paid me to think, not just fall into the conga line that's headed for the cliff like an E-1 is expected to do. I saw something illogical and refused to participate while I did everything I could to kick ass at my job. For that I'm non-promotable. The others that compromised their integrity (it's only the first god damned core value) to get through the hoops set before them are auto-promoted to Major. Would I have been the one to take the 0% number (w/o ADD or SOS) to 6% the following year? Doubtful, but it doesn't matter. I didn't want to belong to an organization that values what the AF values, whether that's as a 20yr Captain, or a Major+. So I took my services elsewhere. Makes precisely zero sense. And for those that will say, "AAD/SOS isn't hard, dude. Just suck it up and get it done", you're also missing the point. Effort level required was never a concern.

Good lord...is this serious? I don't even know what to say. Is there some sort of collective defense pact within the rotary community that obligated you to attempt to defend the indefensible here? Please explain to me where, in anything that I said, I made reference to anything regarding gun control or a desire to ban/limit guns or gun violence, or anything even remotely of the sort. I suppose my advice to 'READ THE REPORTS' for someone who's going to use them as evidence of something might not be sufficient if reading comprehension doesn't inherently go along with it. I'm sorry that you believe elementary level statistical comparison is 'idiotic', but unless you can dispute the last 5000 years of mathematical law, what I presented was truth, and nothing more. I made no ######ing conjecture on WHY the numbers are what they are, and took no stance on ANY topic other than the unbelievable (and intentional) retardedness of anybody who would use the '8x greater' number FOR ANY PURPOSE. And it hurts me to know that as a guy who wholeheartedly supports the right to own a gun, I'm lumped in with people who will use blatantly fraudulent evidence to support a stance that has plenty of legitimate arguements behind it.