HU&W

To them

When their references, specifically regarding the quote you pushed, include the LA Times? Absolutely. Am I saying that all VA claims are valid? Of course not. People will always work the "system". Some will even defraud it. But if military service causes lasting permanent injury to a person that would not have been incurred outside of that service, I do believe that warrants a claim of disability. Especially when that claim is completely in accordance with our laws. It's great that you want to sacrifice your service related disabilities for what you believe to be the greater good. Honestly, no sarcasm, I really respect you for that. But I just can't fault the person who destroys their knee in a forced ruck, loses a partial spectrum of their hearing to a rapid-d, or partially loses one of their primary senses to a deployment related botched medical procedure (personal knowledge of all three) for wanting to follow the law and claiming a partial disability when they truly are physically worse as a result of military service.

I didn't miss it. I dismissed it as speculative. The va disability system is designed to account for partial disabilities. It should be no surprise that 12 years of violent conflict for hundreds of thousands of individuals has led to an increase in partial disabilities. I'm avgually surprised the number isn higher.

Perhaps there's a correlation with being continuously at war since 2003, and not being at war before that.

Bad journalism. Their first person sources are an engine mechanic, a cop, and a pilot who is straying way outside of his lane trying to talk like a lawyer. Perhaps they should interview a few of the most likely candidates to be enlisted pilots, current and qualified sensor operators who actually know what the job entails, and see what they think of the idea.

How's URT going? Have you gone to IFS yet?

Good luck Duck with whatever it is. I won't ask for specifics because I don't have answers. I will say that one of our folks was recently successful in a very early palace chase for hardship. I don't know if the individual even tried the separation path though.

You might be surprised.

I hate to break it to you, but we don't have any 1942 stuff left. Our oldest planes are from the 50's. Some did fly in Vietnam though.

Good point. Actually now that I think about it, one of my UPT buddies did something similar. Former marine door kicker, now pilot. You can guess which one he prefers.

Trinity Kid, I saw from your other post to the forums that you're a 17 year old High School Senior. I'll keep that in mind as I do my best to answer what I think you're asking. Here goes. 1. This forum is mostly comprised of current, former, and aspiring military aviators (and a few other disciplines). We actually do some of the stuff you, and lots of other people, fantasize about doing while you're playing those video games. Some of it is real, but much of it is fantasy. There are some pretty big differences, mostly in the stakes associated with winning or losing for us, our coworkers, and a whole bunch of innocent people we try to defend. Note: we're normal people who play videogames too; for many of us, mostly as a way to blow off some stress while deployed. 2. You're looking at a very narrow element of our occupation if you think we just fly and have lots of free time. If you're the kind of person that only wants to think about flying while you're flying, you're not going to be very good at it. We know that, so we spend lots of our time on the ground studying (just like high school, but with explosions). We also spend much of our time on the ground performing administrative duties, everything from leading/training our young folks to recordkeeping to scheduling. The admin work takes tons of time, but it helps us develop as military officers. We also have time off work to spend with our families and our hobbies. We go to church, our kids little league games, shopping with our wives, work parties, and a few people even play video games. The way you choose to balance and prioritize those three areas, combined with your aptitude, determine how good of an aviator, an officer, and a husband/father you are. 3. There are ways to do something like what you're talking about if that's your goal. Combat pilots can do an Air Liaison Officer tour with the Army to learn to coordinate airstrikes from the ground perspective. It's usually a few years out of the cockpit, and you're not an infantryman kicking down doors, but it's kind of what you're talking about. Also, some aviation disciplines (rescue helicopters, special forces, rpa's, and close air support) integrate very closely with ground parties. You won't be the guy kicking down doors, but you'll watch or help them do it. Final advice. I tried to keep the sarcasm out, but it was tough. Remember you're talking to a group of professionals here that really do these things. We love to help where we can, but the way you phrased your questions didn't come across well. One of the first rules we teach our young aviators is to think before you speak. Our jobs are not video games, and don't work the same way. If you want to be an Army Ranger, pursue it with all your heart. If you want to be an AF pilot, pursue it with all your heart (and start that path by rocking college). Pick one.

Interesting commentary from LtG Heithold on potential usage of friggin laser beams on AC-130J's in the next 5 years. https://pulsegulfcoast.com/2015/09/air-force-wants-laser-weapon-on-gunships

The first step in reaching parity is replacing that radome with a cockpit.

Sorry, I suck at this new forum interface.

Still need a gun.

So, it's the end of the summer. Any updates?

Correct

It's horrible. Video at link below. VERY DISTURBING. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x335off_bryce-williams-shooting-video-18_news

Yes (rumint is that it's waived to 35ish).

Yup, using the assets they've already got under the operating paradigm that's expected from the AF. It'll likely prove interesting.

Or maybe Icarus

MC-130J is afsoc

Except... Although DOD policy is to not require receipts, AF has said that receipts are required to document the type of lodging used. Quick google-fu for the af.mil article. I've got the policy letter at work somewhere and it says the same thing.

Looks like just one major troll in there who was jealous of mx's schedule at spang. I did enjoy the comments/comedy about filling an entire airliner with ejection seats. Cheers to the pilot for making a timely decision and what appears to have been a safe crash.

Easy fix. Just pay bonuses based on EKIA. You'd have folks scrambling for the traditionally hard to fill jobs.