FLEA

Dude most competent adults understand an exaggeration. I don't give a shit. Im done here. You're all worthless to me. The fact you don't have the balls to advocate your people tells me everything I need. Youre shills. Youre your own toxic leaders and frankly deserve every grievance you have at the service. I'll never forget the day a dude called HeloDude told me he deserves thanks for his service but he doesn't even have the humility or grace to thank the door gunner that went out with him, with zero control of the mission execution, the danger, the risk. WTF man? Why would I ever encourage anyone to service. Get fucked.

I will grant you there are definitely toxic E-8s / E-9s out there. Who do you think is standing behind them?

An entertainer? Bro John Stewart is one of the most important lobbyist for Veterans on the hill right now. Don't relegate him to a simple container. What do you know? You're just a helo pilot right? Why are enlisted on food stamps? Because they keep getting assigned to high COL areas I guess? WTF kind of answer do you want. I already explained how the program works. It's based on your household income and zip code. Enlisted have zero control on one of those factors and minimal control on the other. (No freedom to seek outside employment, spouses have barriers finding work or working within field). You want to make this it's a behavior problem and I've already told you several times spending behavior isn't accounted in qualification.

I can't make an argument because you are so far behind on the conversation I literally dont have the time to type a novel to get you caught up. The expectation was you were an officer and already knew this. The fact you don't is where you lost all credibility with me. I have nothing for you. https://www.benefits.va.gov/benefits/docs/veteraneconomicopportunityreport2015.pdf https://www.hiringourheroes.org/resources/hidden-financial-costs-military-spouse-unemployment/

Food stamps qualification is based on income and family size. It has nothing to do with payments or expenses. You simply have to make below a certain multiplier of the poverty line as a family unit. I dunno,.... I think I'm done with this conversation. You all lost credibility in my eyes. Thought there were actual leaders on this forum. All I hear are a bunch of lazy pussies now who are only infatuated with their own success.

It's a John Stewart quote that went viral a few weeks ago. He was clearly exaggerating a bit in a heated argument with Kathleen Hicks--the actual percentage is much lower. However the principle is that the answer should be zero. Zero service members should be below the income thresholds qualifying for food stamps. Our enlisted are disproportionately exposed to more danger, face higher casualty and injury rates, earn significantly less pay, and have significantly less exit opportunities from service than their officer counterparts. The fact I have to beg any veteran, officer or enlisted, to go to a VFW and "just be a bro" or give a bit of time to a foundation like Warrior Scholar, or Pat Tilman Foundation is appalling. You can spite the service I don't give a shit, but don't spite the people that rode in the trenches with you to cover your ass. Its fucking shameful.

I'm going to ignore your political comments because veterans are largely a bipartisan space but even beyond that the most recent problems in the space have been caused by the GOP not the DNC. Remember who blocked the PACT act the first time? But aside all of that.... As an officer, you had a vastly different experience and QOL than your average enlisted airmen, largely at their expense. We ask our enlisted to do some truly awful things and endure some truly difficult obstacles. As John Stewart said, for any organization that receives $850B why are half out forces on food stamps? At the end of the day, it wasn't the politicians that issued those orders. It was you who stood in front of someone, looked them in the face and asked them to eat a shit sandwich because you knew it was in the best interest of our country. If you don't feel you have any obligation to at a minimum thank that person for being dutiful to their position at extreme financial and personal hardship I think that says something. Consider it. I don't give a shit about your service to your country. Everyone here gave that much. What I care about is your hollow convictions that you believe yourself to be a leader but when it comes to actually doing what real leaders do, taking care of people and being there for your airmen, you are suspiciously absent. Enjoy your six figure airline salary and $500K McMansion. But don't forget a minute think I respect you for it when you don't even have the common courtesy to kick the ladder down behind you for the people's who backs you rode on to the way to the top.

Possible? Anything is possible but its incredibly rare and so unlikely its not worth planning a career out of it. In my 14 years AD they only had one crossflow window, that was only available to a very small audience of eligible pilots (based on their time on station, duration of PCS, years of service etc...) and they only selected an incredibly small number of people. The fighter community generally doesn't have an interest in taking crossflows and has found it has worked better for them to suffer undermanned than to deal with perceived cultural friction. There is probably some merit to some of this, a lot of the rest is probably ball wash, regardless, the AF has by and large decided it is not a good idea. Being a heavy pilot isn't all that bad. Its a pretty hefty pay raise when you account for all of the per diem dollars of being on the road constantly. You will lead earlier in your career because you will actually have enlisted aircrew hanging around the squadron. You will have a slightly easier time transitioning airlines as your experience is more relevant, dont need to worry about centerline thrust restrictions and that bullshit. You get to go to some cool places fighter dudes never see, like St John's. My best advice is to discount the possibility of crossflow for now because in the near term you have an incredibly important decision to make regarding the platforms that are available to you--and fighters aren't one of them. Whether crossflow happens again or not, your success in life is largely going to depend on your ability to fly the platform you earn out of UPT. So you should look at the mission sets that are available to you and decide what you find interesting, what you can see yourself doing long term. Read the airframe and mission thread and ask your IPs. Air Refueling, Airlift, C2ISR, SOF, etc.... they all have pros and cons.

Very few officers work in the veterans space. Its really sad. Its like all that fluff about caring for your troops and looking out for them was horse shit for 20 years. Good on you for getting involved afterward. I'm an O-4 and like you I usually find myself uniquely at the top in this space.

I don't really find it funny. He is another middle aged white dude who is making a joke out of something that is disproportionately affecting a single race. He might not see the wider context but that is no excuse--at his position he has an obligation to know better. I like seeing warriors in high office as well but they carry character flaws as often as anyone else. Especially SOCOM types. Look how many scandals were uncovered in the last decade with drug smuggling/addiction/abuse and murder for hire schemes.

Ugh I hate when I'm quoted before I realize I made a typo. "People protestors" lmao. Oh well.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/protesters-flood-desantis-office-florida-republicans-pass-sweeping-education-bill Just curious how many of these "peaceful protestors" decried the Jan 6 BS.

By the way, did you watch the video I posted? Watch again and pay special attention to the language of the news reporter.....

Absolutely! Definitely put the chief of police and mayor on trial for murder and for abdicating their duties to protect citizens! 100% agree with you.

There's a lot more going on here than the news story covers. At the base of which is that these urban police departments refuse to patrol their metro systems. 6 months ago we are berating passengers for standing by doing nothing while a woman is assaulted (and another one raped in Philadelphia) but now we want to denigrate someone who did do something in the only way he knew how. If there's any anger over this situation is misplaced at the bystander and needs to be directed at the city that is turning the daily commute for 90% of it's residence into a Purge movie. If you haven't seen this video before, its going to trigger anger. The genuine fear in this poor woman's eyes... https://youtu.be/44-IpvZRfAw