Majestik Møøse

An interesting statement considering that WW2 happened.

Or the Herc…

Because you don’t have to go to college first.

Weird way to say the Army can’t defend itself against quadcopters. They’ll respond the same way they always have, by shooting more Patriots at sky debris which will result in the death of friendly aircraft. The lesson that the US Army should be taking from Ukraine is that a poorly equipped but motivated army can defend itself in flat, featureless territory against an army 5x the size if that larger force is unable wield air power to attack strategic centers of gravity.

I know a guy that couldn’t enlist in the USAF because his ASVAB was too low. So he joined the Army and they made him a Tower Controller, then they sent him to flight school and he’s flying C-12s now. So there’s that.

Low alt this time

But you don’t ever pay for it, because the nature of AF moves means no one will ever be held accountable for decisions that provide a short-term benefit with worse long-term outcomes. Big decisions on acquisitions and personnel don’t come home to roost until the people who devised and approved them are several assignments in the future. There’s no personal or institutional financial penalty because the budget always goes up and the bad decision makers always get a defense gig afterwards.

Barksdale is 22,000 acres, mostly woods. A golf course is 100 acres. Something tells me this isn’t about space.

If I were fighting an enemy that had gone all-in on high-end low volume $500M silver bullets with standoff weapons, I think I’d just pay some insurgent groups a couple $B to go start fires on the other 5 continents. The idea that we should only have assets that can fly west of Taiwan is ludicrous.

A lot of us still fly like this, albeit with ForeFlight strapped to the leg.

Intel defaults to doom and gloom baseball cards. Some of them seem to get enjoyment from telling scary stories to the pilots.

That’s a net gain of a 14x14 mile square for the world’s 4th largest military after a year of force on force conflict. It boggles the mind how wrong we were about their abilities before the war started.

Probably aided by Trump consistently disparaging POWs, WIA, and KIA as losers.

Turn reversal at 6:45 was definitely fun

…I’d guess the left but when pressed would doubt myself.

Crossville, TN sure is getting taken for quite the ride. https://www.crossville-chronicle.com/news/local_news/dean-guest-speaker-at-fg-community-church-flag-day-event/article_7b695aea-0095-11ee-844b-4fa21924db71.html https://www.crossville-chronicle.com/news/glade_sun/salute-to-the-flag-retired-colonel-won-t-stop-honoring-my-country/article_dfd42a28-1044-11ee-981c-dba997986bc0.html

I should say - to be 100% truthy - I’ve worked with some great O-6s. But they were in the minority, and at some point almost all of them said something that made me think twice. Never let your guard down. The really good O-6s we’re the ones that shielded you from bullshit so you could remain of pure heart and mind and give them the best information possible.

Exactly the same experience. Reminded me heavily of the board room scene from Margin Call (which by the way is an outstanding movie heavily inspired by the Lehman Brothers collapse): the big boss at the head of the table engaged directly with the analyst who’s telling him “there’s a big problem that’s going to tank us all”, while the middle managers in between just want him to be quiet because they all want to hide mistakes or don’t really know what’s going on. Or a little bit of both. “You’re talking to me, Mr. Sullivan.”

Bobs lie to their bosses about how things are going. The Russians did it leading up to the Ukraine invasion and I’ve seen it amongst our own O-6s+ in real time. The Full Bird Reset (where they fall in line with the orders of their superiors with the renewed loyalty of an E-1) is a real phenomenon and I swear they can’t see that they’re doing it. Policies, Guidance, Ways Forward, already decided COAs - written by a non-expert AO/staffer and approved with a nod from a 4-star - could be completely out to lunch but if there’s even a perception that an O-6+ is pushing back they’re done career-wise. Read about Xi’s Thoughts where everyone in the Chinese government is required to understand and think the same way as Xi…can anyone see echoes of that mentality in our own failed endeavors? The good news is that we’re different, because that lockstep mentality doesn’t exist at most of the Capt-Maj aircrew level. There are enough of them that they can air their informed opinions and grievances when things aren’t looking quite right, but still remain relatively anonymous. And sometimes that trickles up, skipping echelons when the wise GOs wander down to the slums to get a feel for things. Which is their duty, IMO. Don’t ever lie to your boss.

It was the military’s fault for never pushing back, first on regime change without economic investment and then on leaving based on an arbitrary timetable. Edit: ok I just read the article, and from looking at the graphs the confidence increases greatly when your favorite politician is president.

You could plop two of the same guy into the Air Force (or any other organization) and get completely different outcomes regarding performance, experience, and morale. Or you could have guys from wildly different backgrounds reach the same outcomes. The morale and personal outlook certainly varies by assignment and time, and sometimes you get far enough behind the morale power curve that staying in the Air Force is no longer worth it to either you or the organization. I think that’s all that @Standby was trying to say. Everyone, including the government, is glad for the work you did.

Seriously, why would the USAF entertain the idea of spending $69B to develop a new A-10 when they could use a combo of Vipers, EXs, and F-35s to do the same thing? When the existing A-10 already 1). works and 2.) costs well under $2B/year to operate and upgrade. If the answer is “because the senators want the airplane builders to have steady income,” ok I’ll buy that.

Lockheed always gets their $69B annual revenue; don’t worry they will also plan and execute the war for us so we don’t need you guys

Your troll game is slipping!

Agree, deterrence. I’m not sure if anyone in this thread is arguing that.