Lawman

We do a lot of it to ourselves. Some new wiggit or capability or radio comes out, "hey PM _____ can we put that on the ______." And then we go back three steps to redo software, add weight, redo testing of the actual component and before we get back to where we should have been we do it again for another good idea. That was what killed Comanche and ARH. What's truly sad is the ARH is flying and working cheaply in form with the original requirement but we faked it away trying to squeeze every bit of mo'betta out of it instead of building what we had originally asked for. That's why the E model Apache has the same old 50 point database. PM said "knock his shit off we will add it after we actually have an aircraft to show for it." Hopefully after seeing how much better that works we can unfuck some of the self inflicted pain in acquisitions.

It's not just you. There is definitely a lowest common denominator element to he show.between the terrible continuity and being told everything 6 times to recap it over and over again I feel like it should have been narrated by John Madden.

Or it could have been the fact that we have ignored upgrading that helicopter for so long to bring it up to a useful standard fleet wide would cost as much as a full acquisition (that isn't run into the ground by Bell like the ARH).

If ever there was a culture in the Navy known for eating their young it's Surface Warfare. That's kinda the reason for the back stabbing, it's viewed as the only way to get ahead and it's a fair game because everybody else's is playing it so you don't want to be the one honest guy left out.

Self deport... Like locusts leaving a field of crops after they've consumed all the resources... Brilliant!

Did you just sit around listening to a lot of John Lennon when you typed this? Really? Do you own your F'ing house? Are those locks on your doors not a restriction of the rights and privileges of passage and occupying your property? Why don't you go ahead and invite the maximum number of people you thing you can reasonably feed, cloth, and shelter with your given budget. Then have 10 more sneak through a window and demand the same treatment. Immigration is the occupation of space and the consumption of resources relative to a given area. The last part is particularly the most important part of this conversation. No different than a Hospital ER has an ability to conduct triage to insure the most effective use of its limited resources a country has the right to restrict its borders. No one would expect a person to take on the burden over an unsustainable demand on their given resource limit but somehow America is supposed to just continuously pass out finite resources to people who commit nothing to the system (ie taxes). That's the problem with illegal immigration. Nobody has a problem with us bringing the family of the guy acting as a translator in Afghanistan to help us out as quid pro quo. We are pisses about an I defended point of entry that is the Mexican border allowing both leaching mirgrants and criminals/threats.

Maybe it's like the Lamborghini Limo in team America. Not that it pops out wings and flies, more that everyone on it has had someone else's fingers in their ass to get on the "team."

Damn...

The Hawk is and should be the last pure medium lift (medium being generous) that we operate. The driving force behind hat design was to carry an 11 man infantry squad within the confines of the combined arms model.... An Army model based on linear warfare. That means the thing is only designed to work within 30K of the FLOT. That's where these constant make it do more ideas are fucking us, and you guys specifically. Even the SOAR guys have realized the 60 is really just a short range platform. The ranges you can expect an OCA/DCA mission to go down its just insane that all we have to go with is a heavier, fatter, heavily armed 60. Jump FARPs and Air refuel theoretically extend that range but we haven't really don't anything different with the model of what your bringing to the fight. Either you need a huge package of aircraft to put any effective ground force on the dirt or you need a shit load of escort to keep those handful of super medic/snake eaters from being over run trying to defend the isolated personnel. FVL is coming... But it's at least a decade out if we start today. The Army isn't even defining the requirement till 2019 with an expected implementation around 2025 (not holding my breath). Hell we aren't even going to be done buying E model Apaches and M model Hawks until something like 2022 according to the current plan.

The ground force commander doesn't understand anything aviation that the BAE cell doesn't feed him through AGI power point and the occasional steaming shit laid in a briefing by what is typically a CW5 with nothing to lose and enough experience nobody questions it. Seriously I'm saying that as an Army Aviator. Nobody is going to care what is dropping bombs. We care that bombs are being dropped. Just like it was never a question of whether they had 58s or 64s assigned as their time blocked teams despite the shortcomings in sensors, ordnance, and station time with the 58. Nobody is gonna stop the show because the CAS came back as F-16 assigned even though your Assistant S3 specifically put in 30mm forward firing on the CAS request to game the system and get Hawgs. The mission will go on. We did CAS (real no shit non OEF CAS) Before the Hawg, during the Hawg with other airplanes, and will someday do it after the Hawg has been put out to pasture. Honestly you guys should be jumping at getting into a new airplane like the F-35 before all the "other guys." Build that culture from the ground up day 1 with your experience so that CAS doesn't become problem number 53 to solve later ... Someday... On short notice because we put it off so long learning X, Y, & Z.

So we get rid of the programs like F-35... And get nothing in return because canceling the program won't net any quantifiable amount after all the fees and everything else are paid out. And then we can spend hours talking about how great it will be to have Hawgs fighting the Armor in some rough and nasty brawl ala desert storm.... just as soon as we launch another billion dollars worth of TLAMs and lose another dozen legacy platforms trying to kick down that first 3 day IADS.

They aren't the same thing?

Again, you can teach other planes to fly as Sandy. Build a syllabus to train to and do it. The only reason for the commitment to the Hawg doing it is it's the only aircraft that has been doing it. You can't teach/make a Hawk to fly higher and hotter or further, or stick any more mission equipment on it without making it even more of a pig. Even the whole Mike model buy your getting into is a half way measure.

And you think the forceful fighting in congress over keeping he A-10 around has anything to with combat effectiveness, OR/sortie rates, CEP, or any other metric we would use? This is about votes and jobs. Congress doesn't care what the airplane does. If we could force them to chose between a hypocritical A-10 vs Light Grey Eagles retirement the first question wouldn't be "how many planes can do the Eagles job." It would be how many bases and jobs will close if we divest the 15 mission to Multirole Vipers and the Raptor.

Your CSAR argument is kinda moot though. CSAR is far more limited by he fact you are still using old worn out G model Hawks than what's running the RESCOURT package. The problem is the Air Force is trying to divest a heavily guard integrated Airplane. Same problem is happening in the Army with Apache. Nobody cares we are retiring the Kiowa what matters is we are taking away guard jobs moving Apache and there for voters are mad. I think that's why you didn't see anywhere near the screaming on the hill when the Navy retired Intruder or Tomcat or the AF retired the F-111. There wasn't a large angry population of Guard guys and all the other jobs attached that vote for their respective districts.

I was gonna say isn't that what E9s are supposed to be for? That's the only thing they are good for in the Army.

Wasn't that the Political bureau guy the Russians used to put in military units to make sure nobody said anything mean about Stalin. That's sure as hell what it sounds like.

I went to Flight School with a few Utah/Arizona guard guys at do Border Patrol as their civ job. From what hey describe talking about being on an island. Think two dudes in a blazer or Tahoe driving around with just enough Ammo to start a fight and being sometimes hours from anyone that could be considered friendly. Dudes talked about rolling across groups of armed individuals at night and just letting it go because starting that fight was a guaranteed lose for them.

True but this is Army Aviation we are taking about. Most of us in the Warrant corps are already spending half our base pay keeping 1-2 dependapotamus harpy monsters happy and fed. Now that I think about it that would be a good discriminator on who we send.

That and Alimony payments are the two things I would be most worried about

Army is sending a small aviation task force of Lift and Attack on what is supposedly to be a rotational basis. First units are slated to head here around September of this year. TDY in the Philippines.... What could possibly go wrong.

Remembers in the 90s when people were making awful websites on Geocities and Tripod.... Those people work for the DOD now. Which is why it takes 9 months to get a SIPR token in he Army.

Ft Carson has spots for Housing mayors and family members of POWs.... And they are closer to it than the "expectant mother" spots which is just funny.

Weird, the Army is working on the opposite idea. They got tired of people cheese dicking it through the C course after spending money on basic and advanced aircraft training and having to either boot them or give them a pass. But our SERE course is also at Ft Rucker so no TDY just 3 weeks in a sequestered barracks with no phone and occasional trips to the "woods."

You can get some ridiculous good deals on display model stuff like outdoor furniture/grills. I bought a 500 dollar weber grill for a little over 100 when they were clearing out the PX to move in the Xmas shit.