VigilanteNav

The ANG accession 4 year commitment is standard and is a separate commitment from any ADSC/Palace Chase/etc. I have accessed into the ANG 3 times and each time had to sign a 4 year contract (found one online as an example) regardless of what ADSC I had which was really none each time. 2 times were basically Palace Fronts and once was a move from the Reserves to the ANG. Twice I left the ANG prior to the 4 year point but both times were to move elsewhere and continue serving (once to the Reserves and once onto AD (VLPAD)). So, its possible to leave a unit prior to the 4 year commitment expiring but not sure if it would be approved just to discontinue service completely. https://www.101arw.ang.af.mil/Portals/1/documents/Statement of Agreement and Understanding - v7 dated Sep 2017.pdf?ver=2018-06-01-091745-607 I guess you can talk to the unit leadership about signing on with a shorter commitment and see what they say. The issue will likely be that they would have to get that approved by the NGB (ANG A1 specifically). Trust me that would not be a quick process (glacial movement would be a good description). IMHO, if you are dead set on not getting a 4 year commitment, I'd go to the Reserves where there should be no extra commitment over the ADSC/Palace Chase ones...unless, someone chimes in that they have actually experience in accessing into the ANG with a shorter than 4 year commitment.

Hegseth dropping out in 5,4,3,2.... Got to say, DeSantis a way, way, way better choice on the whole. He'll sail through the Senate confirmation process as a non event. Has actually run a large organization. Has been in the House so knows that everything the DOD needs to get better on actually needs to get legislated through the House. Decent cultural warrior for those that care about that stuff...but, knows when to say when...(ie...his backing off on the war on Disney). The downside for the USAF perspective is that being a Navy guy one can assume he's not going to push for any big changes to get the USAF the more funding (relative to the Army and Navy) that it surely needs to modernize quicker than the status quo. That's the real concern for the USAF that the likes of Deptula, etc have been preaching (not whether or not we can or can't have beards).

Very lucky it wasn't a military trained dude. Always go for center of mass not the head.

Tony says all that needs to be said... Solution in Search of a Problem - by Tony Carr - The Radar (substack.com)

Pretty sick stuff by Putin but unsurprising. You'd think this would push Congress over the edge on providing the Ukraine funding package that's been held up by the MTGs, etc. But, alas, maybe not. " joint investigation by 60 Minutes, the Insider, and Der Spiegel strongly suggests that the Kremlin has waged a sustained kinetic campaign directly targeting US government personnel both in the United States and internationally for a decade, with the likely objective of physically incapacitating US government personnel." Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 1, 2024 | Institute for the Study of War (understandingwar.org)

I doubt he'll read it but this brought me great pleasure in envisioning BC's head exploding as he reads this. Enjoy! https://www.wired.com/story/man-gets-217-covid-vaccine-shots-totally-fine/

More interesting than tank kills. Ukraine's Defence Intelligence posts final flight path of downed Russian A-50 – map | Ukrainska Pravda So, that's 2 x A-50s down and this latest one is claimed to be from an S-200 (SA-5) and not a Patriot. Pretty impressive they pulled out a system that in open sources says they retired 10 years ago and proceeded to shoot down an aircraft at that range. This combined with the reporting that they've shot down around 10 fighters in the past week or so is making for a bad week for the Russian Air Force. Ukraine might be losing some ground but the Russian Air Force is paying for it.

Interesting, it's almost as if they waited until after the Tucker interview.... Russian activist and Putin critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison | Alexei Navalny | The Guardian

Some news to push this thread back towards its original topic... Russian activist and Putin critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison | Alexei Navalny | The Guardian My assumption is it won't move the needle in any direction. Sadly.

My apologies. Should have said "effectively veto'd" instead. Senate advances Ukraine aid bill despite Trump opposition | Reuters Regardless, I guess you can call me a pro-war bubba. I'll continue to be happy to side with Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. And, yeah, would have liked to see some US border security funding included in this bill. But, the grand master said all or nothing and so they had to go with nothing.

Senate votes for the Ukraine, Israel, INDOPACOM, etc Aid Bill. Quick analysis: when McConnell, Grassley, Cornyn, Thune vote for something and Bernie votes against it, it must be a decent bill. Now, if the House sinks this, it will be because someone who is not the current President but presumes to be veto'd it. I'm not sure that's what the founders intended.

I'll admit that at first news of this interview my initial inclination was to be disgusted with Tuck. However, I know think it was at least useful to the US and Western world's intelligence agencies to gain just a bit more clarity on Putin's intentions going forward. Additionally, now the US knows with a bit more clarity what it will take to get the journalist and Whelan freed (nothing short of turning over a few ne'er do wells we have jailed to which I say let them have them as we've certainly turned over many of these types before). And honestly, if Tuck had secured the release of the journalist, I would have celebrated that! As for Putin's intent going foward, this snippet from ISW's summary of the interview is instructive. Russian Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev noted that Putin told the Western world in the most thorough and detailed way why Ukraine did not exist, does not exist, and will not exist.[6] Medvedev’s description of Putin’s interview further demonstrates that Russia has not abandoned its maximalist goals of eradicating Ukrainian statehood and that Putin does not intend to negotiate with Ukraine on any terms short of these goals. More assessment here: Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, February 9, 2024 | Institute for the Study of War (understandingwar.org) If you agree with Putin's assessment that the unbroken tradition of Russian statehood dating back to the 9th Century with the modern "invention" of Ukraine - a country he insists was "created" as late as the 20th Century. Tucker Carlson interview: Fact-checking Putin's 'nonsense' history (bbc.com) is perfectly acceptable rationale for Russia to invade Ukraine and effectively install its own preferred government in place of the current one which is overwhelmingly supported by its people, then we'll have to agree to disagree.

One man's lying is another man's information warfare. Ukraine is in an existential war and using all the methods of warfare at its disposal. A more interesting discussion topic is this article. Putin won't make peace in Ukraine before 2024 US election -US official | Reuters For all the talk (led by the old football coach) about how weak the US military is these days, why would Putin have to wait until the US goes in a different direction politically?

Musing about "formal deprogramming" still doesn't quite hit the bar set by a certain former Prez musing about hanging a 4 star General, right? Now, she might be onto something concerning a few Karens out there. Start at 3:27 and let me know if you think she just needs a few prozacs and she'll go right back to being a concerned, conservative, (R) voting, and productive citizen. If you have some extra time, the YMCA rendition is quite entertaining as well.

Thought this was worthy to post for a good chuckle. The old mishandling of grenades on an aircraft mishap. Putin offered a bizarre explanation for Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death during a press conference at the Valdai Discussion Club on October 5 to deflect blame from the Kremlin. Putin stated that the Russian Investigative Committee Head Alexander Bastrykin informed him that the investigation found grenade fragments in the bodies of victims onboard Prigozhin’s plane, suggesting that grenades detonated inside the aircraft.[6] The investigative committee has reported publicly only that all 10 people aboard the plane died.[7] Putin also emphasized that the investigation ruled out external factors that may have caused the plane crash and implied that the plane crash victims may have been using alcohol or drugs onboard that could have led to the negligent handling of grenades (that were presumably on board for some unexplained reason). Putin claimed that, while the investigation did not test the bodies for alcohol and narcotics, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) uncovered five kilograms of cocaine during their investigation into Wagner – likely referring to FSB’s televised raids into Prigozhin’s mansion in June and July 2023. Putin added that in his opinion the investigation needs to test the bodies for substances. Putin’s bizarre explanation of the plane crash is likely an attempt to blame Prigozhin for his own and his comrades’ deaths and further disgrace him among his remaining supporters. Source: Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, October 5, 2023 | Institute for the Study of War (understandingwar.org)