SocialD

I'm not saying they're walking dead, I'm simply saying we can protect them and not completely destroy our economy. According to the CDC, 61% of all covid "related" deaths come from 7% of the population. If we drill down further and look at those with multiple comorbid conditions, the percentage of the population with an elevated risk get smaller. Take out the numbers of people killed needlessly (because we didn't know better at the time) BECAUSE they were put on vents and the number gets even smaller. Throw out the deaths caused by leadership senselessly forcing retirement homes to take covid patients and that number continues to plummet. Hindsight is 20/20 and all, but we have learned a lot! I'm not saying we cast them off, but we sure as hell can develop a better plan to move forward and mitigate the threat. Ok so I'll ask again, what if we don't have a cure by this time next year? 5 years from now? 10 years from now? How long do we sustain this footing? When do we say enough is enough? Eventually we'll even run out of ink to keep printing money. Hyperinflation sucks and will cause lots of death too! I couldn't agree more, though I place a lot of fault at the feet of MSM as well. Currently, I believe they're the single biggest downfall and threat to our country, but that's a whole other discussion.

They've just given up on pointing out all my autocorrect/grammatical errors.

I know that, but many do not.

Well we unfortunately got it while TDY to a known rona hotspot, because we're "essential," due to an upcoming deployment. Truth is, we actually likely got it from a fellow squadron mate that thought what he was feeling was so mild that he didn't think it was actually rona. But I digress.... So how long do we keep this up? One month? One year? One decade? What if we don't get a vaccine, we just do this for the rest of our existence? How about we do what some of our local places are doing...providing shopping/office hours (or days) for those at a heightened risk. Point is, a vast majority of us will be just fine and can continue to keep things going. This isn't the military, you don't punished everyone just because one person shits their pants. Funny you bring up being self sufficient. Thanks to all this shit, the main (big name chain) grocery store in my home county just shut down. I'm from the sticks and this was pretty much the sole source of groceries for the entire county. It was the only place in the county that had the option for "click list" level of shopping...meaning they could order online, pull up, people load groceries in their trunk and leave. Now they'll all have to either get their groceries from the super expensive "corner store," or drive 30 miles out of the county to next best option. Great so now, not only does the next town over have it's locals shopping their, they'll have a whole other counties worth of people going there...social distancing shouldn't be a problem at all...

Ummm, won't that further drive a divide? Hey, we think you won't be willing to reach out for help from someone different than you, so here is more people like you so you can continue to stay in your own circle...

I'd recommend we get back to a daily lives. Wear our masks, wash our hands and keep on, keeping on. If you have 2 or more the "comorbid" conditions then you probably need to be more cautious and stay home. That doesn't mean we all stay home and be scared of our own shadows. Despite wearing my mask/washing my hands, as well as everyone around me doing he same thanks to the current rules in place, I currently have the rona. A few days of mild body aches and a mild fever and I'm back to normal, the same for my 2 other squadron mates who currently have it. No matter what you do we'll likely all end up with it sooner or later. Let's stop driving our economy into the ground over this thing and get the train back on the tracks. If someone loses their job, their home or their marriage and commits suicide, do they get counted in the covid deaths?

Cargo vs Pax aside, this is a great example of timing is everything. I'll never push any of the young guys in the squadron toward the airlines/cargo jobs, as it's not for everyone and certainly has it's ups/downs. That said, I'll do my best to give them the most sound advice I can and answer questions on how much I like/dislike the career...and I really do love my job. I feel the most important piece of advice I give is that if you think you'll ever want to jump to the airlines/cargo, then the earlier you make that decision, the better. Stop fucking opining at a temporary pay cut or whatifing everything. If you don't like it you can always quit, but you can never go back and get a better seniority number. I had a few squadron mates who knew they wanted to do it, but took forever to pull the trigger or kicked the can because they "didn't have time" to fill out the application. For one, the difference is likely keeping my WB FO gig in base vs commuting to NB FO reserve in NYC and only missing furlough by 10 pilots. Even if I don't keep my WB FO gig, I'll be in the top 15% of my seat (read picking my schedules/vacation/days off) vs being in the bottom 10% or commuting. Timing is everything, and of course, better lucky than good. Obviously this assumes you're not near an AGR retirement as that changes the dynamic a bit. As far as the cargo vs pax, I'm glad my cargo brethren haven't been negative impacted by this situation. I'd happily be at FDX/UPS if they had called first, but I ended up at DAL. Truth is though, we really have no idea where any of these companies will end up and/or what threats lie ahead for each industry...we all have our boogeymen out there. I'll still recommend to go with the first one that calls, THEN if one calls that allows you to live in base, you have a decision to make. Obviously right now that decision is easy, but the pax carriers will come back. Very few things will increase your QOL like living in base at your job...as has been said on here numerous times, it's like having a completely different job. I understand that it's not always a realistic option (keep momma happy), but it's a decision that shouldn't be taken lightly. If you absolutely must live in Hays, KS, then ya, cargo is probably a better choice for their better options for deviate dh. Just realize that anything can change with the next contract or next shift in business plans. Either way, in the long run, you really can't go wrong...hopefully lol. Best of luck to us all.

Ya, when a kid is running down the middle of the street (TOWARD the police) and not raising his gun to anyone...you kinda lose that defense. The kids is going to face some weapons related charges no doubt, but from all the videos I've seen, his self defense claim will stick. Oh and don't bring a skateboard to a gun fight...let him keep running and watch from a distance, the police were seriously a block away.

Can't disagree with your comments on calling them "skinnies." However, how about posting the picture of the convict chasing the 17 year old down and tossing an object at him, or the picture of him taking a skateboard to his head, or the picture of the other convict with a hand gun? How about the video of that same individual that threw the object at this kid, aggressively threatening the very people defending the properties? That said, if these people keep it up, they are going to awaken a sleeping giant that is Americans who just want to be left alone. You're upset, be all means go protest and air your grievances, but when you start destroying private citizens business and property, well that's when I stop defending you. There will be more and more of these bands of citizens who take up arms to defend their towns if local leadership can't/won't get the protestor under control...and there will be much more bloodshed. You try something like this in my home town and there will be a lot more people with extra holes in their bodies. Maybe if more them starting getting shot or having the shit beat out of them, they'll stop destroying their fucking cities. Anarchists want anarchy, until they get bloodied...

We very much still dedicate an entire phase to BFM..same with BSA. In all fairness, it's more a matter the number of PAA, especially if your squadron is tasked with ONE. If we had the jets, our mx could easily do it.

I just wish commanders at the various levels of command would get "woke" on their quarantine requirements. At the very least, the SECAF or CSAF need to throw down with a single measure rather than delegating it down...because right now, we're triple stamping a double stamp, and it's beyond ridiculous.

You win the internet for the day!

Or another gas tank? Bring on the lasers... https://theaviationist.com/2020/08/19/lockheed-martin-shows-new-airborne-defensive-laser-system-for-f-16-and-c-130/

I can't personally say one way or the other but a few friends have posted comments on this article. None of them had anything good to say about working for her. Mix of fighters/tanker pilots who've work for/with here at various times. There seems to be no love lost...

The poop on the streets?

Control grade nightmare!

Just hope that the AF actually gets the EX lol.

When I was a crew chief, my 7-level CDCs covered A-10/F-15/F-16/U-2/MQ-9/Global Hawks, with the idea was that we'd universally assignable. I've stayed in contact with a few AD guys from my crew chief training days. One worked F-16s for a few assignments, now is now an NCO in A-10s, another was recently assigned to KC-135s. Every platform has quirks/intricacies that are relevant even when you're leadership, and retaining long term knowledge on the platform is huge. There is a reason we have such awesome mx in the ANG.

A friend has been a deployed CEM for 2 months and has already had to send 3 airmen home for this. It seems some of these kids just can't handle life and/or any amount of tough love. In my enlisted maintainer days, a finger in the chest by a red-faced NCO was not an uncommon event. However, they'd be buying you beers at the bar that night, you learned, got the mission done and moved on. Now, that "transgression" will make some to lose their minds and cause them to "not be able to work with you anymore." It's fucking weird. Preach it brother! Back in my young enlisted maintainer days, leaderships view was that if you're old enough to put on a uniform, you're old enough to drink. End of trip parties were something that you didn't miss because they were so much fun. We worked hard and partied harder...the camaraderie was amazing. One particular TDY location accounts for a large portion of my most fond memories in the AF. If you've never been to a TDY party at the "River Club," you're missing out. If those walls could talk😳, but I digress... Contrast that with the fact that a few months ago, our MX leadership handed out paperwork (not the type that disappears at the end of the TDY) to a few maintainers for underage drinking. They never left the hotel and weren't even causing problems so I'm not sure why it was even elevated or even a big deal. Kids seem so scared of getting in trouble for bullshit stuff, that they don't even show up anymore, or they blast ASAP. It's work hard, work harder and if you party, you better not step out of line. Some trips are better than other, but it seems to be an increasing trend to the negative. Edit: A friend in a Guard Herk unit says their entire unit wasn't allowed to drink for the entire two weeks they were at the above mention CRTC! Supposedly an AMC IG rule (back when we did ORIs) or some ridiculous shit like that. Talk about a great way to piss off your people! This! It's actually one of the reasons for tension between OPS and other sections on base. They think we always just "get away" with stuff that would get them hammered. We can't help that their leadership just chooses to give paperwork out for minor bullshit, while our leadership is much more big picture about this type of stuff. Last week, I told my crew chief to hang out and watch my takeoff because I was planning an unrestricted climb right in front of the ramp. When I got back, my young crew chief plugs in and is still pumped up about the unrestricted climb. A bunch of the maintainers swing by as I'm walking off the ramp and gave me some high fives and thanked me for a morale boost....apparently the entire hanger knew lol. Something so small and it seriously cost me about the same amount of fuel as a normal takeoff/climb-out. These kids love seeing their hard work get the jets in the air, this is a small thing to occasionally reward them with something cool.

With a high emphasis on meeting you in person. Scores are great and all, but only one small part of the equation.

Ugh, really? I don't care what your name is anyway...

Even for mil guys, an upset recovery training course (UPRT) is definitely money well spent, especially if you fly any amount of GA. Big 2, to Hacker/Brabus posts...and yes tailwheel flying is where it's at, definitely makes you a better pilot. At a minimum, UPRT should be required training a commercial ticket. Also, check out the videos I linked above.

Apparently, they need LEPs. May have to check some out from the squadron for my next PDX layover.

Oh man, this reminds of some ridiculous shit wrt medals. I once got an MSM as a Capt because our (loaned to us from the staff) OG was passed over for O-6 the first time. He found out through his "bro network" that part of the reason was because he didn't have an MSM, because apparently every O-5 should have X-medals (WTF?!). So anywho...viola, a few months later, nearly the entire squadron gets an MSM, because "he doesn't want that happening to us in the future." Funny enough the next WG/CC (loaned to us from active duty) shows up and freaks out because I'm now a Major with 2 MSMs and no AF commendation medal. Guess who got to write his own AFCM...SO DIRTY! Silly me, I thought medals were meant to be for people who stood out and did good shit, not just another checkbox for promotions. The bull shit we worry about...