SurelySerious

You mean they don't have a bigger perspective than "it's not our fault"? Shocker.

This is a total non sequitur to the discussion. Lack of progress in Afghanistan has pretty much everything to do with asking an Army to be a police force in order to try building a federal government in a society that doesn't have any interest in nationalism or democracy versus asking an Army to fight an Army, and not with the efforts of the people we asked to fight. Or are you saying it would be successful if we put 2M soldiers in AFG? Recruiting is recruiting, it always pitches the glorious aspects and/or benefits. No one advertises about the finance/logistics, they rope you in and then you get stuck.

Mmmmm, except I'm not. You are. Your statements was simply: Soldiers have bitched about QOL/pay/separating/sport-bitching for a long time, as a documented issue. As for your blabber about how much everyone is compensated: everyone world-wide, especially in the United States, has a much higher standard of living than they did 50 years ago, and the 50 years before that. There are a lot of BMWs out there in normal society, look around.

I like CNN's footage of I-HAWKs followed by a Patriot launcher while discussing the sleeping launch officers for Minuteman missiles. Solid.

You mean the same discussions that happened during the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc, just in an electronic format? Tough to use something as evidence for your baseless and highly generalized claim when it isn't unique to even the last century of US military members.

At the situation.

WTF

I'm reading a book that I think details some of what is missing in the Air Force. It doesn't really fit in the "military books" thread, so I'll throw it down here. Invisibles: The Power of Anonymous Work in an Age of Relentless Self-Promotion By David Zweig He profiles people in various skilled career fields whose craft goes largely unnoticed (and who are intrinsically motivated), but the success of their effort is inherent to the success of the organization. His three identified traits are : 1) Ambivalence toward recognition, 2) Meticulousness, and 3) Savoring of responsibility. It's an attitude and approach you still see in maintenance crews, comm guys, and aircrew, just one you wish you saw more of. I think it's worth the read.

B-2 crew flew 44 hrs to AFG out of Whiteman. Giddy up.

A bunch...and mostly in this thread, if that's any indication.

The Solution to Border Disorder: The best antidote to illegal immigration is a functioning system of legal immigration

FFS. What an insult to dudes suffering from PTS.

Glad he's somewhere imparting wisdom to young guys. Waiting for this to be a public decision to take his talents for a full time dedication to domestic enemies.

I'm pretty sure they don't understand their own data or method, whoever is replying.

There's always this.

Did they forget to make highest suicide rate an inverse contribution to rating?

It has to be propaganda.

They left off Creech. It's 69th. Edit: and how the F did Grand Forks, Cannon, and Holloman beat bases in Colorado Springs?

Unfortunately, no. Our CGO force is so inundated with this crappy feel-good-not-concerned-with-being-a-combat-force bullshit, that they come up with those questions on their own. No kidding.

I've been in several multinational environments when I was outside of my airplane and there wasn't any question whether I was American. No flag patch required. Is your crew confused in the brief who you are? It's not that I have an unnaturally strong desire to wear a wing patch, it's just that I don't have the irrational insecurity that I MUST wear an American flag all the time. Listen dudes, in the previous post I pointed out why guys from other communities poke fun at the idea of always needing to wear an American flag. We're all inherently dedicated to the American ideal represented by the flag, and don't constantly need an American flag to remind us. When you get offended and throw around childish things like "it's because fighter guys never go anywhere outside of their own base," it doesn't help your argument.

I'm glad you're attached to a patch, but we're all in the U.S. military... by definition we are all dedicated to the United States and the ideas behind the flag itself. Unit cohesion and identification is, in fact, and important concept, but it doesn't mean that we're not dedicated to the country. Our presence (with the American airplane, in the case of AMC with an American flag on it) speaks for itself. You should be proud of the years and thousands of miles you have flown to different places supporting our country, but it wasn't special just because of a flag patch. Dude, everyone goes somewhere to be "ambassadors" for the country, even if it's just to Cope Tiger. Global Strike guys don't wear a patch around; they go plenty of places, and everyone knows it. Let your airplane do the talking.

You're inferring a lot about COMACC and his installation commanders. I'm sure that's not why they prescribe the wing patch option. It does not transcend patches, we're all in the U.S. Air Force. It's just you feeling obviously more American than the rest of us and whining that you don't get to do what you want. You've made this issue about yourself, not patriotism. Let your airplane, that you're inside of when you're wearing that flight suit, do the talking.

True, but in another thread where this was discussed she was portrayed as well regarded, regardless of her AFSC.

The thing that you never seem to understand (and that the article totally, in every way, ignores even in the snippet you posted gets wrong, see below) is that the U.S.A, like other countries, is a governed place. A sovereign nation, if you will, you know, with laws. Every law restricts someone in some way, but is done to reflect some kind of social norm, mostly when the actions of one start to infringe on the rights of another. When people enter the country illegally, for whatever reason, be it wanting to better their life in an upright manner or something illicit, at the least they start to benefit from whatever the government provides without contributing to it. Essentially, they defraud the government at the cost of everyone else. Defrauding is illegal. When most of the immigrants were entering via ports because they were from across an ocean, the immigrants were registered and known in at least a basic form. When they get to walk across the border at any time or place of their choosing, this isn’t the case. In your magical world, if it were legal for anyone to come across they would go straight to immigration office and register themselves because it is legal and there are no barriers. Except it wouldn’t work that way. If we were to implement legal immigration to all, it would still be in the better interest to control where the immigration happens so it can be documented and the people can be registered as citizens. Otherwise, under your free-for-all system, you’re still making the system less efficient with a bigger government that increases in size and decreases in efficiency and detracts from everyone else. This then, is where it starts to infringe on others. This is a dumb position. Unspeakably. Should the government not say where roads are? Most of those are public property, where apparently no one can say how the land should be used. We also shouldn't have any government facilities because no one can say how the land should be used. All military bases, gone. No Police departments, courts, City Halls, or public parks. And no zoning laws of any kind.

Most of it is the environment. No one is being asked to go through terribly difficult air defenses, like WWII, right now. If we were, our aircrew would respond and do what was needed; the focus would quickly move away from that.