FLEA

Protection from what? Honest question. Most members of the military are not at risk for COVID based on age and low co-morbidity due to service requirements.

Yes. And if you haven't you are the exception and certainly not the rule. Don't get me wrong, I've had great commanders and mediocre ones as well, but 1 toxic commander is enough to jade your whole career.

Your points on timing are spot on. We would need to act with a hasteful resolve that I don't think our political processes will ideally support. That said, not all is lost. Sea conditions only support amphibious operations few weeks a year. Possibly even less if using modified civilian transport as China is. And the number of troops they would need to amass to achieve a 3-to-1 force ratio will be enormous. Enough to provide indications and warning for sure. So it's possible we can see it happening well in advance and our absolute best response would be to put a large enough contingent of US ground forces on the island "for exercises" that gives us the political legitimacy to enter the conflict quickly is China attacks them. This would also possibly deter China, knowing that possible outcome.

If the US commits full military power we have much better odds than 50/50 largely due to a competent partner and superb maritime terrain. If we half ass it with this limited war, train/advise/equip only bullshit, you are probably right. I also think we would get relatively strong support from other Pacific partners who would use a victory to cement favorable surrender conditions to their own disputes with China.

The VAERS data regarding post vaccine deaths isn't what's concerning people. It's the lack of data on COVID vaccine long term side effects. There are A LOT of people complaining about neural and menstrual side effects. It's even less clear if the vaccine will create more insidious effects like increasing risk factors to heart disease or cancer. If I you from COVID (because it wouldn't kill me) but I lose 2 years off my life because I died slightly earlier than expected from heart disease, than it wasn't worth getting the vaccine. Now for the record, I have the vaccine, but that is definitely the case A LOT of people are making and I totally understand it. Also for the record, my wife is one of the few thousand women reporting extreme and intense menstrual changes post vaccination. To the point that it literally incapacitates her one day a month. That's a hell of a burden to live with until menopause because you were nice enough to save someone else's life by taking an unnecessary risk in your own. Hope those people thank her for her service.

Well, I can't really respond to you because you came right out the gate with the irrational belief that everyone who claims to have a COVID side effect is a Chinese spy. I can only respond rationally so I can't offer a response.

High. Lockheed has been successfully sued by families of deceased aircrew in the past for negligence including the case of Janet Harduval who successfully exonerated her Husband of pilot error in an F-16 crash when she discovered faulty wiring in the F-16's avionics that Lockheed failed to rectify. But this has nothing to do with any of this. So I don't know why you even mention it. Why don't you read this website though? https://www.c19vaxreactions.com/ it's full of people who will likely suffer lifetime side effects from the vaccine and they are largely footing their own medical cost while having to leave jobs and upend life plans. Where is their justice? Who will compensate them now that their life will permanently be altered? "WE NEED HELP. The constant messaging that the vaccines are safe and with zero acknowledgement of these adverse neurological reactions has made it impossible for us to obtain medical treatment. We are “collateral damage” in the effort to stop the pandemic. "

It's going to be different for every individual based on their risk. The government would need to cover much higher liability for a 21yo female collegiate athlete than for an 82yo male retiree with liver disease. And it's going to be nuanced in every situation. Maybe I can live with a lack of smell for my life but I can't live with increased period symptoms each month.

I also don't think Taiwan plans on their fighters being around more than 1-2 waves. I think they see the beach defense as inevitable.

Uh... No.... You just don't understand maths. Look man, if you owned a 2007 Ford Fiesta would you expect a higher or lower insurance premium than a 2021 Chevrolet Corvette. This isn't that hard to figure out.

Doesn't matter. We aren't talking about MMR, polio or small pox. We are talking about COVID. I mean, small pox is far more infectious that COVID and had a 30% mortality rate. I sure as hell more likely to take chances on a new small pox drug than I am COVID because the risk now seems a lot more necessary. Point being none of your case examples or really relevant to the conversation. We have to evaluate each crises individually with their own nuances. A major nuance of COVID is the vast majority of people in society aren't at risk to lose anything more than a week of work from it. Now you have to convince them that getting a vaccine that likely won't do much for them is necessary for them.

Just curious, do the 2011 era numbers reflect IFS washouts? I feel like most classes I knew at CBUS finished with only 0-1 washouts but holy shit IFS slaughtered a lot of big dreams in their first 3 months of the Air Force.

I mean again, I think the biggest hinge on refusal is liability. It's great that getting the vaccine when you have almost 0 risk of dieing is making a noble contribution to society, but when you get the vaccine and do have a side effect, who is going to give you anything more than a "thank you for your service," a hollow offering empty of any real value. These are anecdotal cases but when you are the center of the anecdote the statistics don't matter to you, and to society you don't matter. In the end your left with a lifetime of heart issues, hospitalizations or painful menstrual symptoms, medical bills and perhaps a lost career, and all you get is a "well that's a very rare chance of happening". Now, in all of these stimulus checks, if the government did something like for instance, set up a 50 billion dollar fund to research long term side effects of the COVID vaccines and compensate victims of the short term side effects, you may find more uptake. But right now noone wants anyone to take that risk except you, and for you, as a low risk person to die of COVID, that becomes an unnecessary risk. And what do we always say about unnecessary risk in the operational world?

Actually this is really plausible and believable. Remember the vaccine only has ~90% efficacy. So 10% of people are still getting COVID. If 100% of people in the UK were vaccinated, 100% of your hospitalizations would be vaccinated. The UK has a very high vaccinated population (70%) that is disproportionately weighted by people who are at risk individuals (were able to be vaccinated earlier.) Hence, the 10% of 70 people vaccinated probably holds a lot of weight against the 30 unvaccinated people who are predominantly low risk. The most important statistic regarding the UK though is their overall hospitalizations which; are only 1/10 of what they were 6 months ago when their infection numbers were nearly identical. This big pretty problem I see with COVID policy at the moment is we lost sight of the goal. The goal was the reduce casualties by minimizing hospitalizations. Somehow the mindset has shifted to the goal being 0 case #'s. That will never happen and why do we care?

The worst part about this is, noone on the wing can understand it was the wing that failed, not the air crews. The wings plan to out process and deploy 3 crews was simply not a good plan and didn't account for the physiological realities of sleep deprivation. But instead of saying "hey we fucked up and should make a better plan next time" they just want to blame the air crews for not takijg an unnecessary risk to their lives. This is toxic leadership despite what the 552 Wg is saying. In fact by the 552's definition they are all covering their own failure now.

The culture in the AWACS community pretty much guarantees this is the case. Their priorities are often misaligned with the rest of the CAF.

Our inheritence taxes were designed with a pretty clear purpose. The founding fathers were terrified of enough familial wealth being accumulated to establish a landed gentry re-subjugating the United States to the whims of an Aristocracy. This is effectively what the Rockefellers did with their oil boom towns. I hate aristocracy. So I will always support some sort of inheritance tax.

From a reputable 3 star retention has declined to pre COVID levels as of the last quarter. Not that this has any bearing but just an FYI for everyone.

Actually the risk for an anthrax event is near 0. Anthrax is nearly impossible to weaponize. In fact, the largest anthrax attack in the US, which only caused 5 casualties, took the expertise of the virologist who INVENTED the Anthrax vaccine for the DoD to actually contain it to a form that was harmful. Weaponized anthrax is one of the most obscure and overstated bio warfare arguments out there. By the way, the dude mentioned above, the one responsible for the 2001 mail attacks, did them because he was bitter that he didn't get enough credit for his work and was bitter the DoD didn't mandate the vaccine. After the attacks, sure enough, the DoD mandated anthrax vaccines. Good thing we let him win on that one. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Edwards_Ivins

Correct. The language used is so nebulous on the AUMF it freely gives the POTUS carte blanche to launch military operations world wide so long as there is a loose connection to anything Al Queda related. Regarding the Muj's Facebook, I took a look but can no longer find it. I wonder if he found out about it and had it appealed to take down.

You're talking about "the Muj" (short for Mujahedin) and he actually has a Facebook page. He's Air Force famous in the same way Songtan Sally is.

The fact they require 6 months is ridiculous. Any other job is happy with 2 weeks but the AF.... Fuck no, we want to make sure your decision to quit gives us time to make it painful.

One thing to point out is most people I've talked to aren't worried about dieing from the vaccine. They are concerned with more subtle side effects like unexplained pre-diabetes in 20 years despite a healthy lifestyle, or reproductive difficulties that increase frustrations with getting pregnant. In either of these cases the right of the individual trump's the public health concerns for right to life because both of those situations are life altering to the quality of a person's life.

They already said the standard. The data has to be strong enough that either the federal government or the manufacturer will accept liability for any short term OR long term side effects of the vaccine. As soon as Phizer says it will pickup payouts to young women that may have fertility issues in 10 years, or young men who may have an increased risk of heart disease in 20 years, I think you'll have a whole bunch of people on board. As for me, I got the vaccine, mainly because I'm in Europe and I wanted the personal liberty to travel, eat at restaurants, etc... But I totally understand the arguments against getting it.

Lol. Being employed by the Fed makes me trust them way less. I see first hand now how under resourced, understaffed and incompetent the majority of offices are in the Fed every day. Just look at the What's wrong with the AF thread and speak no further.