StoleIt

White House aides insisted F-22 be removed from Obama speech venue When President Obama spoke to troops at Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base last month, the unit there parked a shiny new F-22 fighter plane in the hanger. But according to multiple sources, White House aides demanded the plane be changed to an older F-15 fighter because they didn't want Obama speaking in front of the F-22, a controversial program he fought hard to end. "White House aides actually made them remove the F-22-said they would not allow POTUS to be pictured with the F-22 in any way, shape, or form," one source close to the unit relayed. Stephen Lee, a public affairs officer at Elmendorf, confirmed to The Cable that the F-22 was parked in the hanger and then was replaced by an F-15 at the White House's behest. The airmen there took offense to the Obama aides' demand, sources told The Cable, seeing it as a slight to the folks who are operating the F-22 proudly every day. They also expressed bewilderment that the White House staff would even care so much as to make an issue out of the fact that the F-22 was placed in the hanger with the president. A White House official, commenting on background basis, told The Cable that yes, there were discussions about which plane or planes would be in the hanger, but that they were not meant as an insult to the pilots and other personnel who work on the F-22. The official couldn't elaborate on why the White House aides felt it necessary to get involved in the matter in the first place. The official pointed to Obama's speech to the troops that day, where he praised both the 90th Fighter Squadron, known as the "Dicemen," and the 525th Fighter Squadron, the "Bulldogs," both of which operate the F-22. Even so, the Air Force personnel thought it odd the White House wanted to display the older plane rather than the more advanced plane that, in the eyes of its supporters, represents the latest and greatest in American aviation. The Obama administration fought hard and successfully to cut off production of the F-22 at 187 planes, a number Defense Secretary Robert Gates endorsed but that was hundreds less than originally planned and about half of the 381 planes Air Force leadership lobbied hard for in the years preceding Obama's inauguration. "It's one thing to be against further production; quite another to slight the folks who are flying them in the operational world," one source said, adding that "the F-15 pictured was put into service roughly around the same period when Obama graduated from college. It's vintage." https://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/12/02/exclusive_white_house_aides_insisted_f_22_be_removed_from_obama_speech_venue Weird...

Awesome. Sad that the Me262 gets all the credit for the start of the jet age. The He178 was indeed the pioneer. The allies had the Meteor and the P-80 which were sub-par to the 262.

Terrorism is such a broad term though... So yes it is...but do I associate these horrific events with things like 9/11 and the USS Cole? No. I still believe these events weren't Islamic extremeist terrorist style motivated, but rather just cowardice by Hasan himself. He didn't want to go and was too big a baby to just wash his own mouth out with a revolver and instead tried a "suicide by cop" type situation. Again, this is only my opinion based on the information I have read so far. If links are established that this douche-nugget had encouragement and ties to an organized terror network then I will reasses.

Should have been more specific, but what about in an area where the Army isn't operating? OIF and OEF seem like exceptions since the Army is using MedAvac so often. What if the army wasn't there? At least if it's in house and we have another "Watch" type mission we can order a CSAR unit to be there in case things go south. I don't remember if the Army had any MedAvac units sitting around during Northern/Southern Watch in case something went downhill (maybe they did).

The AF can't give up CSAR. You think the Army is gonna lift USAF PJ's behind lines to pick up air crew?

Aw fuck. I got a buddy down there who works either in the Company CP or near it (I forget). Hope he is okay, not answering his cell but thats standard for him. Edit: AWESOME! He is okay. If anyone else has any friends or relatives down there it seems like everyone is on lock down and probably can't answer the phone.

This is a pretty interesting subject from a Human Factors/CRM stand point. In my old CRM class we would shoot approaches with the FP (flying pilot) just doing all the flying and then the landing. NFP would handle navigation, comms, checklists, etc, and have his head outside the plane on approaches. Note, this was all in a sim. The flights we actually had (in a light twin) all ended up being VFR and we just shot visuals.

They are probably drafting a scathing email to all CGO's and making new suplemental policies to outlaw all squadron patches, stickers, and any other form of moral.

At CAFB we just got a rather entertaining email about how SF has been jacking up pilots at a pretty high rate. And the always entertaining "have to come to a complete stop at the stop sign for THREE seconds" ticket. Apparently the base commanders wife got a ticket for this...not sure how valid that rumor is though. I do think its ridiculous since they claim its a MS state law...which is simply made up. Ton's of irony in the email. I will have to dig it up tomorrow.

I am asking around. If I can find a buddy to go in halfsies with me then count me in!

Then: Now: Then: Nowish:

Nothing wrong. I didn't interpret this thread as one that only features declines in appearance. For example then: Couple of kids later: DAMN!

Joined.

Then: Now: ^her new show cougar town...i'd hit it.

Young: Ew: Now:

Enlisted...figures. I did manage to guess correctly before I even opened the page though, that the winner would be Air Force!

Honestly, I would be wary of precious metals right now. They have grown a lot very fast and are due to drop. I'd say they are pretty close to as high as they are going to get. Nothing worse than riding the wrong side of a financial wave.

It looks a like a good friend of mine is going to get screwed over on her move. Basically our ROTC det stops doing ANYTHING the day after we graduate. She has already entered active duty, is currently TDY enroute at ASBC on her way to Minot. She hasn't talked to TMO or anything about moving. All of her stuff is in storage in Illinois. Is it too late for her to call up TMO to get a partial dity rolling? She has a bunch of furniture and highly doubts she could pull off a full dity...She will have about a two day lay over between finishing up ASBC and starting her track to Minot (she graduates ASBC in about 5 weeks). Is she going to get hosed?

Thanks!

Need another post to get the rest in.

Need someone to make a post before I can add more.

We need pics of hot female dancers to un-gay this thread:

I bet they are begging us to come back in a couple months time if we make serious draw downs.