discus

He's an agricultural pioneer who invented the seed drill if I remember correctly. *Pushes nerd glasses up*

Anyone remember the names of Afghan students who have graduated UPT in the U.S. I think most of them were sent to Columbus, but with continuity over here (none), it's hard to tell. Working on yet another pet project and this would make things much easier. Please PM me names if you remember them, and do not post them to the public forum. .Mil addy available upon request.

Edit: Pointed out that it was a double post. I'll leave it up because this one contains the text. https://www.wpafb.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123430954 How did we lose this young Airman? by Col. Donald Grannan 88th Communications Group commander 11/7/2014 - WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- She was an Airman Leadership School distinguished graduate, earned staff sergeant her first time testing, received all 5s on her Enlisted Performance Reports and took part in two deployments. Clearly she was a high-performing Airman. But, in her words, the Air Force had made it clear it didn't want her. Huh? I have proudly served our Air Force all of my adult life, so I truly didn't understand. Although I wasn't in her chain of command, I've known this young woman throughout her career. I tried to reflect on this from a professional, albeit admittedly biased, point of view. What would make this superstar believe we didn't care if she stayed or not? Was it a bad first impression? I remembered an incident as a new Airman at her first duty station. A senior NCO struck her car from behind in a minor fender-bender. Instead of admitting fault and moving on, he berated and intimidated this young Airman about the issue. Her first sergeant, who she went to for help, would not interject or discuss the issue with the senior NCO. I could have interjected as well, but I mistakenly believed it wasn't my place. It was. An Airman needed help, and no one gave it. Was it a lack of encouragement? After she earned staff sergeant her first time eligible, she saw the results online on the Air Force Web. Then ... nothing until the following Monday when the first sergeant stopped by to congratulate her and said the commander was "really busy." When she was a distinguished graduate from Airman Leadership School, it was a highlight in her career. But other than her immediate supervisor, no one from her squadron chain of command was present. I know, because I was there. Was it motivation? She was a veteran of two deployments, including one where she had a few days notice to support a humanitarian operation. By chance I saw her and another Airman at a connecting airport as I was returning from a temporary duty assignment. I saw their apprehension and anxiety and made sure they understood to take care of each other, trust their training and focus on the mission. But I wondered if their own leadership had talked to them like this. Did we at least send her out the door with a smile, to encourage others toward an Air Force career? No. Instead her superiors decided there would be no decoration for this outstanding Airman who achieved a lot in a short period of time and who was highly lauded by her supervisors. Why? Because she had once failed a physical fitness test, immediately re-took it, and passed. She had tried to 'wing it,' failed the run and learned a lesson. This young, healthy Airman, who weighs a buck-twenty-five, did not have a fitness or standards problem. She had a leadership problem. No one in her squadron leadership knew about or was present to witness her exceptional duty performance, her distinguished graduate accomplishment, her two deployments or early promotion. But they sure knew about the one time she stumbled. In the end we took an exceptional, highly motivated volunteer and did we mold her? No way. Did we encourage her? Not a chance. Did we create a new leader? No. We created someone who cares about our nation but is disillusioned and frustrated about what our Air Force finds important and unimportant. We lost an enormous opportunity, and we can't afford to repeat that mistake. Today, more than ever, as our ranks continue to decline, we must retain the best and most highly motivated Airmen. To do that, we have to lead them, be in the fight with them and focus on what's truly important and not become hyper-focused on marginal or anecdotal issues. How many more situations like this are out there? If you're in a leadership position, are you part of this problem? Do you know the people under you? Are you in the fight, witnessing their capabilities, encouraging and motivating them, or do you only know about them when they stumble? If you think command or leadership positions are just another assignment, you're part of the problem. Ask yourself, when was the last time a troop brought you a problem? If that's not happening, it's because they don't believe you can, or will, help them. So get busy proving to them they can count on you, and you'll be surprised how well you can count on them.

As far as I know, it's the traditional ending to the song "Dear Mom, your son is dead". Full line is "Him, him, F**k him/ how did he go/ straight in/ what was he doing/ 169/ indicated?/ Yeah" I'll defer to the fighter boys that probably know more than I do about this one though.

Yeah, I think so. I know this is the highest I have seen it.

I was told when mine was handed back that the promotion rate was going to be 95% with a 75% DP rate. Sounds like '05 May be at the bottom of the RIF / force management bathtub.

Any '05 guys at Little Rock gotten their PRFs back yet?

I actually started this off by wondering what we could do to fix the problems on Baseops.net. Now I see the solution is simple! Another classic thread of running a deranged internet nut job out of town on a rail. Well done, Gents. I declare Baseops officially fixed. We are a team of gnarly, nasty, Tobbacco chewing, women lovin Air Force fly boys who love having a place to vent, a place to not be politically correct, and a place to give advice. A place to remember the force Hap Arnold worked so hard to build, and attempt to keep it going in the right direction. We have always tried to do that here and we continue to do so. Carry on!

I'll let my previous post stand on it's own without edit. I think this thread has had some great, open back and forth on opinions. I hope that it can remain open and those opinions can be addressed (Gravedigger viewpoint V. Toro, etc). USAF Pilot, there is a point in time when you go over the top and people just shut out your noise. You are there. Let the conversation continue for a while without your input you might be surprised what people are able to work out without getting beat over the head at every corner. If you can't do that, Mods, I suggest you lock 'er up as this thread is now pointless.

Dude, chill.

DFRESH, nobody is arguing with what you have done for the forums, that's for sure. You took over a huge part of what Rich used to do in sustaining the technical side. Just a quick look at my "New Content" page for the day is reflected here. Looks like it will be an informative place and covers topics many would love to hear about. Let's dig a bit deeper with each one and I'll throw in a personal review of the topic: - --Great information about getting your ATP, current trends and requirements. Good discussion about possible future posibilities of the airlines. - -- Great information on how to make the system work for you and good discussion - --Good discussion on Altus. Filled with it's share of KLTS bashing which is both funny and valid - --Turned into a classic "Nav Vs. Pilot" argument in more than one place, still some good information here that has to be dug for a bit after seeing cross airfraime bashing. Could be moderated better. - --Good discussion about P-Cola. Informative. - --Funny, good natured discussion about military jets Vs. Civillians living on the ground - -- Good info about AMS. Have no way to verify -Buying investment property during UPT (aka the second ret... --Good mentorship of perspective pilot. Constructive critisizim all around - --Awesome if you are in the states and have decent internet. I have not been able to look for a while - --Good info on current trends. Occasionally degenerates into bashing, but can be fixed with better moderation. (Has been fixed before with posts deleted by moderators) - --Not a popular topic, but an interesting read -https://www.flyingsquadron.com/forums/topic/20166-upcoming-boards/ -- Good information for perspective UPT students. These are just a quick summary, and laced with personal opinion, but once again a starting point. It is interesting because these are the threads that people looking for information tend to migrate towards. I already clicked on all the "fun" threads like the cheerleader thread that started all this the first thing after I sat down at work this morning. I think it can be deduced that people come here either looking for information or entertainment and when these two streams cross is when problems happen. Once again, no real inputs, my brain hurts after typing this, but discussion points all the same. Edit: I'm sure there are some typos in here. I don't care.

Well, I wasn't going to put it that way. I want the history perspective of HiFlier, 'olEWO and the like. I want people like Steve Davis to be able to access this site they all give valuable input and I don't think we should discourage the ORF's to show up and add their $.02. Their input is way too valuable to discount. I do think the negative attitudes need to be kept in check and that our last influx of members came from a group (Rightfully) pissed about the VSP process as a whole. I don't have time to expand right now, as I have to do some more of the Afghans work for them as they are accustomed to, but wanted to throw in my disagreement with USAF Pilot right off the bat on those subjects. The moderation of the forum is something I feel needs some tweaking, however. If folks can add useful inputs and suggestions of how it can be changed, I think that's as good of a place as any to start.

So, let's take those critiques as the aviators we are and figure out how to fix it. Without Rich at the helm, we maybe need to re-visit his "commanders intent" for the forums and take a look at what we can do to make it better. Seperate thread addressing this anyone? I sure care a hell of a lot more about the forums than I do about the Afghans I am trying to advise.

Maybe it has something to do with you teaching and flying Navs around P-Cola and that is the reason for the T12?

Sure. Know plenty of guys that have gone AMC to ACC... From Tankers or Cargo to the E-3.

Hey, at least NATC-A got all the FE seats to build a movie theater in the hooch.

I sat and watched the giant chopper take the wings off of these perfectly functional planes, and then fuse, tail, etc. Looked inside one right before they chopped them. Full avionics and everything. There was no attempt to salvage anything. Edit: That was one week into my one year tour here. Coincidently, it is also when I ceased having any fucks to give.

I see what you did there...

Not a huge story. We figure on a 50% abscontion rate of all those we send to the U.S. for training. Most we find, some we don't...

We were all "Advisors" in Vietnam. That turned out well.

If you are not on the flying schedule and want to get out of work for a week do the TAP class anytime you want. Seriously. I suggest going a couple times throughout a 20 year career.

Have a 2001 F-150 with 230,000 miles and still running strong, and a 2012 150 ecoboost with 50k miles. Love the Eco boost. Great mileage, and can haul whatever you want anywhere you want. Hauled my ,01 f-150 on flatbed trailer behind '12 F-150 from OK to Albuquerque. 6,400' elevation change uphill and she pulled at 85 MPH the whole way without even breathing hard.

Currently using VPN Unlimited here in AFG to get porn *AHEM* Hulu and Netflix. Works well and is a very highly rated app on Iphone, Ipad and my Windoze laptop. $30 a year.

Update on A-29 training: The contractor is still developing the lesson plan, and we have the initial cadre of Afghan students ready to leave. The guys we are sending are all Afghan top notch (in other words, equal to a U.S. doctor in a Bonanza with 100 hours) with previous flying experience. If you get picked up for the program expect to spend at least a year of your Moody assignment in AFG, you know, because the president is sending everyone home...