nsplayr

I used a place down near Hurlburt recently for a custom patch project and in the Quick/Good/Cheap product triumvirate, they nailed quick and cheap. Quality however... I swear, a vet who can get his hands on the right machines, design a website, market to the right folks and have some business sense could clean up all these other jokers out there right now...just remember to pay your taxes!

I mean, firearms accidentally discharge regularly. Not saying that’s necssarrily what happened here, but no one but Zarate really knows. The fact that the single bullet richoched off the ground before it struck Steinle to me makes a much stronger case for involuntary manslaughter than first degree murder. Then again I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express law school so take that for what it’s worth. I agree with you generally that the way the state and city handled his detention (or lack there of) immediately before the shooting was poor. I’m a fan of sane, just national policies in a lot of cases and immigration fits that bill to me. We’re one nation, we need one smart policy that applied everywhere. That being said, there’s an inherent tension in both parties where they don’t want the feds dictating policy on some things (immigration enforcement and marijuana on the left for instance, school prayer and abortion and many other issues on the right), yet they want the feds to impose their preferred policies on those who they disagree with. Just as long as we’re all honest about that duality these are policies that should be widely discussed and debated.

https://www.redstate.com/sarah-rumpf/2017/11/30/lied-kate-steinle-case/ I found this to be a good discussion of the trial and why the verdict was what it was. Found it compelling to think both A) Zarate definitely fired the weapon, yet also B) there is reasonable doubt that he committed first degree murder. And before “RIP my mentions,” I don’t think he should have been in this country and I’m not that big a fan of the idea of sanctuary cities. His immigration status isn’t really germane to the sentencing in this case re: manslaughter (what he should have been convicted of IMHO), and first degree murder.

Just got a new LES to partially correct the discrepancy...I'll make sure not to spend that extra $8.69 all in one place!

https://theaviationist.com/2017/11/16/we-have-flown-in-textrons-scorpion-jet-heres-what-we-have-learned/ Good new write-up of the Scorpion.

The AFSOC Mission Systems Support Center run by Digital Dagger would be a good POC on AFSOC's EFB program. AFSOC.MSSC@us.af.mil. They do all the MDM for the command. Customer service quality is hit or miss for random CGOs, so I'd recommend reaching out high-level if you want good quality advice on things that may be useful to your corner of ACC. In terms of classified use, when I left AD AFSOC U-28 land, (summer 2014) we could bring our EFBs into the vault for briefing/debriefing with specific EMSEC controls, but we did not actually store any classified data on them. We has foreflight installed and subscriptions for all crew members.

As another data point, I had LASIK done at Keesler AFB in July 2011. Very similar stats to Hopefulflyer above...I was 20/200ish before the procedure, sat up in the chair immediately following at 20/15. Today more than 6 years later I'm between 20/15 and 20/20 depending on how hard I try on the test. Zero complications and I was in the casino the next day post-op (that afternoon/evening you feel pretty beat up). In general the LASIK recovery is a cake walk compared to PRK, at least from guy I know compared to my own experience.

^^ the website for reference is https://scra.dmdc.osd.mil/scra/#/single-record

@Justonethought is like so operator guys...he's operator AF.

Also a guard guy, same ole flight pay on LESs with check dates out to 8 Nov. Is this seriously not like 2 lines of code in the pay system somewhere? SMH...I had big plans for that extra $1.67 per day!!

Of note when comparing CSP (Chase Sapphire Preferred) vs CSR (Chase Sapphire Reserve): CSP gives 2x points on travel and dining for the $95 annual fee. CSR gives 3x points on travel and dining, a $300 travel credit per year (defined quite broadly), up to $100 credit to sign up for Global Entry, for the $450 annual fee (plus $75 per additional card). Do the math on how much you spend on travel and dining and how you value Chase points to see which is worth it for you. My math says CSR and so that's what I use.

Good Kill just reeked of stupidity from the trailer so that was a hard pass, but after my dad told me that he really thought Eye in the Sky was good, I gave it a shot. Big mistake. My alternate title for that movie is, "Two War Criminals and 25 Dickless Idiots Conduct an Airstrike." I had to apologize to my wife afterward both for making her watch the movie and also for having to put up with me ranting the whole time...

Fly EW off a boat with a bunch of seamen...gee, where do I sign up?? Never saw the appeal...

Maybe the same reason why there’s not AT days loaded in the system yet for the new FY? Or why this year’s ROPMA results were delayed 3 weeks longer than normal? Seems like things at NGB and DC in general aren’t firing in all cylinders, which honestly is not surprising... Good luck...hopefully you at least get your $$ CAO 1 Oct!

One of the results of OA-X/LAE is the combat fly-off between A-29 and AT-6. Not sure what exactly we need to test here based on A-29 flying previously under Imminent Fury and the OV-10's work during Combat Dragon but I digress... Another result very likely will be a light ISR expirament, based in no small part on the Air Force's very positive view of the Scorpion's performance and potential during LAE: https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/air-force-association/2017/09/21/light-isr-the-air-forces-next-experiment/

I closed a conventional-into-VA refi with Marty a couple of weeks ago and their team did a great job. Lots of random paperwork stuff came up in the process but Ashley G. was outstanding at communicating and would call, email, text or stay late to take care of things if they popped up at the last minute. I talked with Marty directly on a couple of occasions and he explained everything to me and helped me compare what he could offer vs another lender. Looking forward to doing an IRRL with Trident when rates support doing that in the future. I referred one of my IRL friends who also had a smooth closing, and I second that recommendation here.

You've got to look into that Situation ASAP 😎

The book by the GSE Elevator guy is really hilarious, highly recommend.

::cough cough:: Israel would be a difficult case for a "no aid to non-legacy nuclear powers" policy... That policy would also be pretty hypocritical for India and Pakistan (the latter which you left off your democracies of Asia list), since they only got their nukes relatively recently and are not signatories to the NPT themselves. The who situation is fucked with zero even passable options, and it's been a shit sandwich handed down from POTUS to POTUS for many, many years. IMHO the best way we can demonstrate that a negotiated, non-nuclear third way exists for other countries out there that oppose the US/West is to uphold and respect the JCPOA with Iran. They are a bad actor just like DPRK and we're not suddenly friends now, but negotiating that agreement in the first place and living by it and enforcing it now shows the world there is a third option other than US-led regime change or nuking-up.

Questions retracted, answer retracted.

Which course did you take?

I was hoping someone would reply to this effect. I left AD 3 years ago and work at the same place where CH now works in additional to my guard gig. Good company many mil folks would recognize, great work culture at our particular division (many retired/former mil), lots of growth right now as he said. We're in the defense/tech industry and located in a city I love with some folks working elsewhere in a couple of mostly desirable locations. I do mostly 40 hour weeks with some surge as needed and about 25% travel +/- 15% depending on the time of year and other business factors. I take home IVO what I did as a flying O3 > 8 years give or take. As others have mentioned, unless you're a fed or work at the airlines pay can vary quite a bit even for people doing the same job based on background, prior salaries and negotiation skills so it's not real smart to be more specific with dollar amounts. Protip: don't under-sell yourself and make sure you look at net rather than gross, because a higher gross salary as a civilian will not always give you a higher net after you factor in healthcare and different tax treatment. I was a CSO so no airlines for me. BA/MA in International Studies with a good reputation in my community and some valuable connections, but nothing special in terms of AF paperwork i.e. I was never the XX/CC of anything. CH is indeed playing about 3 levels up from where I am, but his background and responsibilities at the company warrant that. Retiring as an O6 is not a requirement to work where we work, and if anything the ideal person is an E6-O4 with a background in one of the following: computer science, building/troubleshooting networks, radios and sensors, or government IT/IA/security or acquisitions. Fair disclosure, two high-up company leaders (one of whom is my direct boss) flew the same airplane that I did on AD and knew me through the bro network if not directly. I got in touch, they needed someone for a job I could do and I was getting out right at about the same time so things worked out. I can't say that's exactly a repeatable process but I guess the keys for me were: A) be the best XX you can be and work well with others so when people bro-check you, you get two thumbs up, and B) be willing to relocate and learn new things as required. I did get a few hits on other positions (full-time guard, D.C. agencies, etc.), but this was the best choice all things considered. If anyone is technically inclined and especially if you flew the U-28, MC-12W, AC-130W or AC-130J, PM me and I'm happy to make intros for good dudes.

Double-post, my bad

So I'm a nerd and wanted to analyze the source of the weakness in CSO numbers compared to the board average. I looked at 2016 Lt Col and 2017 Lt Col IPZ stats since back in 2015 the DP/P % was significantly different and thus harder to compare apples to apples. In 2016, CSOs were fairly in line-ish with the overall board selection rate (70.5% for CSOs vs 74.1% for the board). In 2017, CSOs were significantly underperforming (61.4% for CSOs vs 72.6% for the board). BL conclusion: about 1/3 of the difference is a lower rate of IDE + P dudes being promoted compared to the board average, and 2/3 of the difference is a lower rate of DP allocation for CSOs compared to the board average. Problems with the analysis are the small number of years (2) considered and the overall small data set (total # of CSOs on AD isn't that large), making definitive conclusions harder to draw. Overall there were about 22 CSOs who didn't make it in 2017 who "should have" for CSOs to perform at the board-average promotion rate. Is that a systematic issue or a few handfuls of dudes not quite being awesome enough? Hard to say. Pilots and mission support are easier to draw conclusions on since the numbers are larger...smaller data sets are more likely to be influenced by a few outliers. Super-duper BL: if we're in a rated manning crisis then we shouldn't be under-promoting rated aviators, that seems pretty obvious...the AF has no room to complain of 12X shortages now or in the near future since they've recently under-promoted CSOs and provided lower bonus numbers.

In that case I'll alert my bank to expect an incoming wire of $3,431,764.34 very soon But do we need to financially incentivize then to stay? There is a 12S bonus, so the AF says yes. My opinion is that all bonuses should have been open to free agents from the start rather than just FY17 UFT-expiring folks, so while I'm glad they're adjusting for some bonus tiers, I'd like to see that apply across the board.