Blue

I think that photo was at Lockheed's facility in Ft Worth, so the pic is accurate. Jet is exhausting copious money onto Lockheed, as designed.

Alright, lets get Cold War II started!

Ahh, fun times. Had one where they recalled the whole squadron on a Saturday, and then loaded us on busses to go over to the auditorium. OSI was out there loaded for bear, with their vests and goofy utility belts, looking like they were about to go on a SWAT raid. Had the K-9's out and everything. Sat everyone down in the auditorium, and then did some theater where a very short OSI dude hopped up on stage and started asking if anyone knew someone doing drugs. A couple young enlisted folks raised their hands, and they were led to the back of the room. Heard rumors later that some of the folks who raised their hands were "plants," that had been asked previously to step up. Guess the thinking was that no one would want to be first, but once some kid saw someone else raise their hand, then that would embolden others to do it. Don't know if that bit of kabuki theater actually ended up in anyone being caught or not, but I doubt it. Don't remember anyone disappearing from the squadron afterwards. Spent the rest of the morning sitting around the auditorium sipping on bottled water, BS-ing, and awaiting my time to piss in the cup. They didn't even have the decency to serve us breakfast afterwards.

Read this in Aviation Week awhile back, and thought it was interesting. LockMart appears to be upping their efforts to promote the U-2. https://aviationweek.com/blog/are-gloves-finally-dragon-lady

So how does that work? Does that mean that 40% of the AS200's nationwide just got told to turn in their AFROTC stuff and don't bother showing up at the detachment anymore?

Interesting article. Is it normal for a Rear Admiral to, for lack of a better term, "micromanage" the flight ops like this? Not to Monday-morning QB the thing, but it seems like up to this point, the folks in the aircraft and the folks in the tower were getting things taken care of.

Yikes. AFROTC was always kinda heavy on dudes/dudetts who would step over one another to look good in front of the Detachement staff. And this is based on my experince during the days of "Everyone Goes to Field Training." Sounds like a whole other level of BS to put up with now.

So, basically what you're saying is, sometime around 2020 a U-2 pilot is going to take some nice high-res photos of Southern Arizona while out on an FTU training mission. Photos where, if you zoom in enough, you'll be able to see the row of Global Hawks sitting out at AMARC.

Anyone read the book? Any good?

Agreed. WTF. Could have gone without knowing that.

Agreed. I can't imagine what that would be like. Wake up one morning, and find out that you don't owe Uncle Sam those four years after all. ROTC folks, take a long hard look at your options. It is kinda rough in the private sector right now, but damn if this isn't a great opportunity to walk away with a free education. Hell, if you want to walk, but still want to keep one foot in the military game, go talk to your local ANG or AF reserve unit and see what they have to offer.

Gotta imagine that after a semester of Academy fun, plus these latest revalations, some cadets are going to come home for Xmas break and just decide not to come back.

Wow. And, +1

Youtube link to the tower comm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fjPx_i2XIw&feature=youtu.be

Relax, young explorer. I think most folks are just thinking about going some place where the American dollar goes a bit further and/or the weather is a bit nicer. From Post #39 of this thread....

  Comment: This sentence reads like it was written by a 3rd grader.

I'm guessing they're referring to Camp Bastion. So much for attention to detail, National Air Cargo.

Does the Air Force no-kidding bill people in these situations? I mean, I've always heard about it happening second-hand, but I've never met someone who was actually making payments to Uncle Sam due to failing out if IFT/UPT/Whatever. Does this really occur? How the hell does that work? Split it into 60 easy payments?

Wow. That site is kinda heavy on buzzwords and light on specifics. Clicked around on it, and I still can't quite figure out what their end goal is.

I have no idea. But, damn. Four back teeth broken off to the roots? Gotta be a good story behind that.....

Furlough talk blows my mind. If they're serious about cutting costs associated with federal employees, then they need to start having some damn layoffs. The DoD has always had a bloated civilian workforce, and 10+ years of GWOT money has made it much worse. I realize there will always be ineffiencies and waste in a large organization, but at this point, it's out of control. There are entirely too many people with nothing to do but sit in a cubicle and "manage" some small potion of a program.

No idea about this board, but back in the early 2000's I heard rumblings of something similar--i.e. dudes with engineering degrees not getting rated slots becasue the AF needed them to go be 62's. Never heard anything definitive.

Damn. I go TDY to WR AFB every now and again. Been staying in WR. Someone suggested it would be more fun to stay in Macon (college town, and what not). Commuting from Atlanta? Damn, That's a haul everyday.