nsplayr

Bullsh*t, part of AF Heritage since 1947. Thank god it's part of the pre-game that hopefully people will miss rather than part of the half-time show...what a waste.

The point with multicam is that it is superior in almost all natural environments. If you can spot the person in either of those shots then good on ya (unless you've seen them before on the website). Diverse environments, same uniform. Why don't we have this again?

Yea, because they actually got something that works well, looks good, and provides real camouflage. It's not the one-pattern wonder that multicam is, but their uniforms are actually nice so they can keep them if they want. The other three services should go to multicam; the jig is up. We just got them issued and I don't really know if I like them. At best it's a push, and if I'm honest I don't like the pocket layout as much as the one-piece; probably just out of habit. There's no reason I need one or the other for my platform (i.e. fighters clearly need one-piece, helo dudes may prefer two-piece from the couple of dudes I've talked to), so I say don't fix what's not broken. I don't plan on bringing them on my next deployment.

I don't understand and I'm a UFPM who's pretty intimately familiar with the regs. You need to get minimum scores in each component, as well as an overall minimum score of a 75 to pass. You can choose to accomplish that 75 any way you like. For a male under 30, your maximum run time for that component is 13:36, giving you 42.3 points toward your 75. It's not very difficult to gin up 32.7 more points out of a possible 40, so I'm not sure how you can say that if you "min run the AF PT test you fail." That's simply not true. What is true is that if you get the minimum for each component, you will fail overall, but just getting the minimum in each category wasn't the deal to start with, you still need a 75. It allows you to really really suck at one component (within the bounds of the minimums) yet still make up for it by being good at a different component. None of this is to say that the test is a good measure of fitness, that I like the test, or that I endorse the scoring system; just pointing out what I think is an incorrect statement. Let me know if I'm reading what you wrote wrong. Also let's add that if you can't run faster than a 13:36 twice a year like your job depends on it and you're 30 years old or younger, you should be cock slapped. Just my personal opinion.

Yes! We need this to catch on so when someone harasses you about your uniform at the deid or any other shoe infested location you can reference the STFU with a straight face.

Saw a few good ones lately. The Fighter was excellent, highly recommend, especially if you have fond memories of '90s fashion. Also saw The King's Speech, which while not for everyone, was pretty good too. Good acting, surprisingly funny.

I've only every worn a flight suit on the rotator. YMMV

I love your last one...I also enjoy wearing the Standard Tan Flight Uniform (STFU) while serving in deployed locations

I seriously doubt Soliman (said intel chief now VP) will actually make it to power. I think this thing is going down big time unless the Army starts really bloody crackdowns ASAP. If they hedge or even join the protesters as has happened in some places, the whole regime is done for and who knows whats next. ElBaradei seems ok in principle because he's an educated, articulate, moderate with lots of experience on the world stage, but A) he's not that connected to the people on the streets since he's been abroad so long and so recently returned, and B) he's not exactly thrilled with U.S. policy in Egypt the last few decades, so no one knows how he'd move forward WRT us.

Real mature. Not quite as eloquent as the Dear Boss letter and definitely addresses some different issues...either way it's popcorn worthy for the discussion alone. Either way, sir, you have huge balls for a post like that and thank you for your many years of service

Wow, ::popcorn out::

This is exactly the problem. Despite talk about al-Qaeda "hating us for our freedom," their real beef is with our support for dictatorial Arab regimes and for U.S. troops basing/operating on historically Muslim lands. Our long and deep (sts) partnership with Mubarak is going to be a problem if some of the more radical elements in Egypt gain power, and the same situation exists for many of the other Arab nations this could spread to. Are you talking about the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war? I'm thinking a closer potential parallel is Iran circa 1979; seems that the Egyptian protests aren't as ideologically fueled but I'm no expert and it's hard to know how this is going to turn out. Edit to add: CNN reporting looters on motorcycles are wielding samurai swords...now those guys are ready for the Zombie Apocalypse!

Question is though, what conditions would warrant a mass evacuation? The current government is an ally of ours, but that's not to say the next government won't be. Unlike say Vietnam when our allies were getting their assess handed to them by a mutual enemy, I don't think any of us knows who will take over if Mubarak is thrown out. I think this is my greatest concern for the region: We've all seen what happens when mummies get disturbed...

One of numerous stories on the ongoing protests in Egypt. Figured it's an appropriate topic since Egypt is both a big U.S. ally in the region & also unfortunately has quite an iron-fisted regeime. For all the talk of us supporting freedom we need stability too and those competing interests have put us in a tough spot. Thoughts on implications for U.S. interests?

Blog doesn't always equal shady. The one you linked is by the editors of Foreign Policy Magazine, not some Joe Blow anonymous who posts on the weekend. Anyways, well done China, you've successfully demonstrated your ability to shoot down F-5s from 1986...

Didn't we have authorization for them like a year ago and then the money got turned off last minute? I know that was one of Deacon's pet projects (figures...). Either way, we're probably f-ed now that the Army is eating up all the capacity to produce the things and since we just got those spiffy ABU two-pieces.

Not a pilot, but general rule is ask for what you want. If they say no or you drop something else then so be it, but always make your preferences known to your leadership and on your dream sheet. Seems like since the RJ isn't necessarily a hugely sought after pilot assignment you might have a decent shot all things being equal. GL.

Now that's a goddamn oxymoron.

13:36 is the cutoff if you're under 30, so honestly you were probably closer to failing than you thought. However, if you normally run a 10 and change outside that's gonna be a problem for people that aren't that fast under optimal conditions. Seriously, you should have a foot to stand on if you can get sympathetic leadership to talk to the person who "approved" that run course to. Obviously winter conditions make testing outdoors tough, but seriously, if it was a legit indoor track, that makes sense even though you would still lose time (example: Randolph AFB has a 1/8 mile indoor track). But using a basketball court or whatever you guys were forced to use with 69 turns is not a fair assessment and should not be an "approved course" as is required by the regs. Unfortunately for you the regs don't delve into what an approved course must consist of, but whoever does that approving must have guidance of some kind somewhere...

Took the PFT this morning and the whole "have a buddy count for you" seemed to work well. The people from the FAC were too overwhelmed to be pushup Nazis and I think most people are ready and willing to not be dicks now that they see what the alternative is. On the other hand, a chick from the FAC did fail to count about 8 of my situps for not going all the way down, which is unusual from what I've seen in the past; did 60 good ones anyways just a a little FU to the powers that be. Hopefully the bad idea of the FAC will be allowed to fail and we can go back to testing on our own. If we're so worried about integrity issues there are other ways around that, but the only thing the FAC is good for in my opinion is employing 6-9 individuals who would probably be jobless otherwise. Newest wrinkle at my unit is that based on the new guidance, deployment waivers are no longer required (i.e. a member's PFT expires while they are deployed). If that happens, you are exempt while you're gone and for 42 days once you get back. Seemed like a way to get rid of paperwork, good thought. Except now how in the hell is the FAC (which is the only place data can be entered into the AFFMS system) supposed to know when my guys are gone vs. if a dude just goes non-current because he's lazy/forgetful. Approved solution is to send a memo when members deploy versus a CC-signed waiver. Great, trade one dumb process for another. Progress at it's finest...

I'm not a pilot, but cooperate to graduate man, can't go wrong with that. Doing well should not trump being a good bro (within the bounds of what's legal and right), and frankly doing well is more difficult if you're not. Also, probably should move this to the "road to wings" section. Take heed of those who have asked dumber questions here and gotten their nuts hammered. Technique only, make your second post in about 6 months after you've read all you can handle and opened your ears for a little while or at least stick to the road to wings section as needed. Good luck to you.

Dude, this is bull sh*t! I'm from North Stafford and lived in that neighborhood for 7 years. Hope they catch the guy and let Dick Cheney have a little fun with water...

Just read this on Danger Room & thought about posting. I think the expectations the company sold got a little blown out of proportions. At 2 fps how the F were you gonna track man-sized targets in an urban environment? Either way, the idea is potentially good but maybe the technology isn't quite there yet. Wonder how we can possibly digest all that video even if it does work...

Yup, the way I'm looking at it these changes are the first indication that the FAC concept is failing. You need a ton of people at one time to give tests to groups as large as 30 (since there's only 3x tests per day, 4 days a week at my base), but they only need to be there like 4 hours a day and there are large breaks inbetween tests. That means either paying workers to sit around and do nothing, or using common sense and tapping the vast amount of "free" labor available on base in the form of other airmen. We're taking bets on how soon we UFPMs can start testing folks again due to FAC undermanning...can't come soon enough because I could personally test every member of my unit (while I'm home) and alleviate 100% of the work the FAC is currently doing and it would add maybe 4-5 hours to my normal work week, not counting the time I'd save not having to schedule people online and/or constantly call the FAC to schedule walk-ins...

Holy thread-bump batman...