Lawman

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Ray E. Wilson, Jr. (821221), Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving as a Rifleman of Company I, Third Battalion, Twenty-Sixth Marines, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 14 March 1945. When heavy and accurate machine-gun and sniper fire held up the advance of his company and inflicted severe casualties in his platoon, Private First Class Wilson volunteered to act as guide for the tanks after his Company Commander requested tank support. Exposing himself to hostile fire near the tanks to use telephone communication with the Tank Commander, he crept and crawled over fire-swept open terrain for fifty yards to reconnoiter and to guide the first tank into an advantageous firing position. After firing tracers at the enemy machine gun nests to indicate their positions, Private First Class Wilson returned three times and led the remaining tanks to previously reconnoitered positions, on each occasion, in full view of the Japanese and under the continuing hostile fire. After maneuvering the four tanks into position for more than one hour, he moved forward with the company and continued to guide and direct the tanks although he was seriously wounded in action. His initiative, unselfish courage, and indomitable fighting spirit were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. Story basically went that a week before graduation they asked all the candidates "do you have any VIPs coming to graduation." Now VIP is typically E9/O6 and above and somebody always has somebody. Well my uncle didn't think about it since neither of the Marines he was expecting made E9, though granddad was close. Morning of the graduation he says one of the Sgt Instructors just exploded at how he didn't tell them who was coming. And he was like wtf are you talking about. And out on the parade field there sits uncle Ray under the nice shaded area with all these high level O-grades in dress while he's just sitting in a suit and they are shaking his hand and even some of the Sgt instructors and staff are going over to pay respect to the man. Paul had no idea Uncle Ray had received a Navy cross, but apparently there was this one full bird who was kicked off the dais to sit in the sun with the normal people who was just over himself to be apologetic about not wanting to give up his seat when asked.

RESPECT Yeah Pop has this funny story from my Uncles OCS graduation about a full bird Col being pissed off because the VIP seating area was full and he was being asked to leave. Then he found out who was taking the seat and just kinda sank like "wow I'm an A hole." Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

/uploads/monthly_2016_01/5692b27ceb5f4_ImageUploadedByBaseopsNetworkForums1452454523.786441.jpg.25fe0af37d79d6c00ba55c0a683e9e7a.jpg'>I'm stealing that. I can think of a dozen uses for that in the next week.Side note, did you not see the video? It works on my browser. Worked fine on iOS for me. Have to love the general public. Ah ok I couldn't tell if you saw the video or were talking sh!t for me making a dramatic four word post with no content. The video terrifies me. Especially the follow your dreams moron. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm stealing that. I can think of a dozen uses for that in the next week. Side note, did you not see the video? It works on my browser.

We are all doomed....

I can speak for the mindset my grandfather and Uncle both explained to me (both retired Marine Corps). Unless the event was specifically military related they wore civilian clothing even if others wore theirs. I recall my grandfather wearing his dress long after retirement to a Marine Corps ball or other event being hosted by the military but other than those type things and the Veterans Day parade where he drove his old restored jeep, the man always wore a suit/tux. Not even his sons commissioning and his brother wasn't in uniform either (though he did have his Navy cross lapel pin on his suit). Ive never seen my father wear a uniform since his retirement. Especially not to my events, and for that matter neither did the family friends who came to things like my graduation and had also retired from the service.

I'm not gonna lie I love old Seaplanes. I don't care if it's fiscally responsible or even mission effective over land based counterparts when you look at our tanker capability. There is a mystique to them that overrides that logic in my head and says damn those are cool Id love to fly one. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Pull the Marlins out of museums. Then the Navy has a plane as old as the B-52. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Omg... Setup was just too easy.

What's funny is the reaction I get from my more liberal friends when we get into the discussion of how Russia is a threat Obama pretended wasn't coming. This video pretty much illustrates the point of many half hour long arguments in seconds. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And we haven't been. The Army has enlisted sensor guys and warrant pilots/platoon leaders for our WO community. We don't have the same problem. So there is our chicken or egg problem. Is it rank and money because you guys are throwing mortgage money at commissioned officers and not getting results with double the ADSO. Maybe the problem stems from the fact you guys have a whole butt load of guys in UAS that didn't join the AF to fly a drone. Yeah it's gonna take some time to ramp up drone specific pilot generation to the point that you can stop robbing jet pilots of what they joined to do. Like say... The length of time a senior enlisted drone pilot ADSO would be? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here's an idea, instead of building an entirely new rank structure and providing less training and less pay for the same responsibility in the jet, why don't we bring in more airmen and GS-4's to do the office work that is driving said pilots away and removing their focus on flying, and stick with a system that's been working fine for the last 60 years? Pilots will *gasp* get to focus on flying and being better, smarter pilots. Congressmen get more jobs in their district. Big blue gets squadrons with tons of experience and less turnover, giving them better combat capability and allowing us to focus on getting better products out of UPT and trimming it down, eliminating possibly 1-2 UPT bases and returning all those white jet slots to the MAJCOMs to give us even better manning. Look it's all just COAs from the shit house on here, but if you want to waive how long it's worked as the flag of success the Army has been doing the same thing with a split warrant/RLO community in aviation for as long as you guys have done it the other way. It's not exactly a metric either of us should be using in this discussion. I get what Fuzz and others are saying about how can you expect enlisted airmen to stay when captains/majors leave because QOL... But you guys seem to not understand they don't do what Captains and Majors do. There is a known way Warrants are used and a way RLOs are used and very little overlap besides sitting in an aircraft. The day you leave flight school as a warrant or a Lt you will not and do not show up to a unit with the same expectation. There are a host of duties an RLO will do that WOs will not touch and vice verse. But more important is the longevity in aviation and staying in the cockpit. For one the squadron/battalion is not the identity you use as a pilot it's the company/troop of 8 aircraft and 3-4 officers and 10-14warrants. We have pilots who have been troop pilots all but the last few years of a 20 year career. Some even manage to always stay there because they don't need to leave to make their 20 from prior E time. RLOs are lucky to stay in a troop for 5 of a 20 year career and one of those positions will be commanding it. And all this screaming of "it doesn't F'ing work" without 1. acknowledging it does outside your service and 2. Admitting that whatever you are doing now is unsustainable Is telling the guy with the row boat to "F off your boat sucks" while standing on the roof of a house in a flood. You are going to have to do something. And if this is really more painful than going to a 14 year ADSO or telling people even more often they are going to UAVs after spending the money to put them in a real plane is a better idea I think it just comes down to not wanting to do something because "that's the way it's always been." And that phrase is dangerous as hell. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dude, If we're going to talk about the truth, let's talk about the whole truth WRT to enlisted Air Corps pilots. The enlisted pilot thing worked great before, primarily because of economics. The Great Depression made enlisted pilot positions viable during the interwar period. We have the exact opposite economic problem right now. I don't have the stats, but a disproportionate amount (perhaps all) of the interwar enlisted Air Corps aviators were prior O's whose active-duty time as reservists was up. The Army, in its infinite wisdom, didn't let the Air Corps officers get to any more than 12% of the overall Army officer corps through 1939. Bottom line, most of those who attended flying training in the 30s were either flying cadets, with a much smaller number regular officers, and an even smaller number enlisted. The flying cadets and sergeants who graduated would earn reserve commissions, but would only be able to remain on active duty for a year or two. This was so room could be made for yet more reserve officers who were graduating from flying training and entering AD. After the one or two year AD stint, they had the option of becoming traditional reservists or reverting to enlisted rank. The other two members of Chennault's "Three Men on a Flying Trapeze" demo team were enlisted pilots . . . who were reserve Lt's who were trying to compete for a very limited number of regular commissions. They reverted to their Lt rank on days when they flew demo's. Another example--Maurice M. Beach--who ultimately became a Brig Gen. He went through flying training as a Sergeant, pinned on Reserve Lt. rank and served as an AD Lt for two years, then reverted to his prior enlisted rank & kept flying. Shortly before the war, he got an AD commission again, and ultimately went on to command the 53rd Troop Carrier Wing, which towed the gliders across the Channel on D-Day. Bottom line, the enlisted pilot idea worked great, primarily because the American economy sucked so badly in the 30s that serving as an enlisted pilot--with the possibility of earning a regular commission--was far better than the prospects in the civilian sector. That ain't the case today. My perception is that pilots are leaving in significant numbers now in large part due to the greater economic opportunities available to them in the civil sector. If such is the case, it would be galactically stupid to spend the time and money training enlisted pilots, with the hope of retaining them with even worse pay and benefits in the current economy. Enlisted RPA operators might work, if there is no market for RPA pilots in the civil sector. Given that, from this forum (I'm certainly no expert on the RPA field), there are plenty of good opportunities for RPA pilots in the civilian world, the enlisted Global Hawk idea is unlikely to be successful. While I'm happy that the Air Force is trying to think outside the container, and perhaps it's at least worth setting up a test program to see if it's viable, I have difficulty seeing this work in the long term. TT You missed the point of my counter Lear's point. His point was without officer participation the senior leadership levels of the Air Force will suffer as will the decision process at those echelons. If this was as simple as "they don't pay me enough" then throwing 125 grand at it like the AF has should fix the problem right? I mean it worked in all those other shortages of pilots you guys are having? Maybe just maybe since even in an uptick of airline hiring and expanding drone opportunities the Army/Navy/Marines aren't having the man power issues you are having while at the same time spending less (or in the case of the Army No) money on incentivizing staying in is a sign you guys have the problem. Nobody is in here arguing replace all the line pilots with enlisted drone operators. What I and others have been arguing is if you don't think it'll work just because you never did it you are being intentional blind to this exact model succeeding elsewhere. Enlisted/WO communities that don't have to go do the all the crap box check "career broadening" opportunities are more apt to stay than you give them credit for. They also don't have the same opportunities in the outside a commissioned pilot would have since as a population they don't have the corresponding civilian education. And in a world where you are now effectively losing that 20 year golden ticket for guys finishing a 12 year ADSO to limp towards finding new options is going to be paramount. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you are already generating the next generation of Eakers and Lemays with the 60-70% burned out manning you have now it's not like expanding your roles to enlisted/WOs to get to 90% manning won't still achieve that goal. The WO/Enlisted pilots aren't gonna suddenly steal command/staff slots and vital flight time. They are gonna give you the man power to: 1. Take the constant burn out down and give your O-drone community some breathing room. 2. Allow the AF more opportunity to breed leaders and not managers because not as many burned out guys with potential are going "F this place" and walking. 3. Get guys the PME/Schools/back to a jet/TDYs they need to progress because they can leave the line without the mission suffering. If anything this would help big blue, not hurt it.

That isn't exactly true. There had always been Enlisted pilots as part of the Army Signal and follow on Army Air Corps, and indeed were always enlisted pilots in the opening days of the Air Force. It was only as a separate service that the USAF reinvented what it was to be a pilot and killed those communities along with the idea of Warrant/Limited Duty Officers. Culturally look at some of the whole "only ____ can be responsible enough to do _____" that the Air Force has gone through. There was a time where the only people that could fly an armed drone had to be tactical jet guys because the idea of a Transport or Tanker pilot suddenly shooting missiles was such a forbidden thought. That stands in stark contrast to all three of the other combat services where we have our trigger pullers being mostly enlisted. I'm not just talking about rifleman either, Artillery and Tanks units are lead by officers but plenty of E6/7s command tanks, gun crews, sections/platoons of such. The idea that only officers can and should be the tip of the operational spear is completely your own doing. Look at the Gunship community, nothing is lost on the pilot from his later senior leadership because he had dudes in the back pulling triggers and operating sensors that don't wear stripes instead of bars. It's a mix of Es and Os in the fight to achieve the same thing, effective employment of air power to influence the joint fight. If the idea is officers need to be there for the accountability and responsibility required then way not extend the same requirement for JTAC/CCT who employ far more ability to influence the battlefield or political picture through the misuse of air power. Those guys arguably have even more responsibility put on them than the TacAir community let alone drones since they are running the CAS fight.

Christ... If I was the guy that did that tattoo I would hang this picture in my shop and make adds that they might/might not impart magical powers.

I seriously doubt it. If Paul Ryan and the GOP are smart (which often times they are not), this won't even make it to a vote, much less ever have a chance of passing in the House. As for this bill itself--I thought progressives just wanted background checks? Oh I don't think it'll go anywhere but just like last time it'll set off some price bumping of full capacity mags and rifles I'm sure. I remember seeing Pmags as high as 50 bucks last time. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

But if I can't expect you to follow the pointless inane BS that doesn't actually have a written reg or policy letter to reference, how can I expect you to read my mind on all the actual mission decisions and do things that aren't written as a requirement... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Price gouging on AR-15s in 3..... 2..... https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/4269/text

We are flying jets, running Brigade level ground convoys and sailing ships into waters specifically to push back against Russian aggression.... Seems a lot like what my dad was doing when he was wearing a uniform. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yup She's dressed pretty conservatively from what I saw in Crete and rest of the Islands. I'd go to Greece in a heartbeat.

Just for perspective with the Army WO community, our UAV guys all have to spend prior time as UAV operators. There isn't a specific street to WO program for UAS the way we have for aviation. Even if there was though you would likely see the majority (70-75%) of the community being prior enlisted same as we see in Aviation. The idea with WO is you are a technical and operational expert not just a 2/3 pay Lt. Now the cross trainer aviator guys who transitioned out of helicopters would be the weird ones in the population. That's more of us farming out jobs to the 58 community. I'd say on average most of our guys come into the WO community with 14 years of usable service in active duty before they hit 20, so most guys are only going to get as high as CW3 before they can opt out which keeps some of the competitiveness down in the Helo pilot world for the guys who come straight off the street and need the full 20 meaning if you don't make 4 you get out before retirement. That won't be as big an issue now that the pension is going away. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well here is a step in the wrong direction.... https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/va-attorney-general-mark-herring-delivers-blow-to-gun-rights-advocates/2015/12/21/d72ce3d0-a821-11e5-9b92-dea7cd4b1a4d_story.html Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

"Oh gawd!.... What will we do now!... They're gonna make us fill a critically under strength real job." Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Congrats to you guys for having management definitely put up a score in the win column.

that was money well spent... /s Found another article on the subject of poor acquisition choices of the Phillippines AF, IAI offered them low time Block 60 Kfirs with technical support for 20 million per tail. FA-50s came in at 38 mil per tail and have no combat record, where as you could almost buy two Kfirs for the price of one, get support and is already operated by Sri Lanka and Columbia. https://aviationweek.com/awin/iai-looks-east-sell-updated-kfirs The FA-50 did have one big advantage for them in the world of airplanes they could have picked and that was that it is very Lock-Mart Viper at heart. The Viper guy on the team went through the Dash 1 for it when they got him a copy and said it was almost close enough to fool him. So teaching them in the future will be easier. We just have to get them to buy something smart to transition to like Blk 60s in the future and not do something stupid like get DCS Rafales and then ask us for help. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk