filthy_liar

420 fpm - that seems awfully high. Is that right? I'm not smart on any of this, its an honest question.

JAG friend. "Her take." Volumes right there. I'm not an INDOPACOM expert, sounds like you actually are, but the second you mentioned a JAG, I turned the volume down. I found that if you are in a shooting match, which we are not with INDOPACOM, but if you find yourself in one of those, the JAG is the furthermost concern from your mind. Honest question, when has a JAG ever produced any kind of execute value info? If one of your troops are in trouble all a JAG can do is offer you a laundry list of horseshit info that is highly invaluable. They can't tell you to do anything, all they can do is offer their advice. Which is a laundry list of horseshit info that your wing commander is going to tell you, no we're not going to do that. And the ADC pads their resume. JAGs love to get into ROE discussions. Because they are not accountable for people's lives. JAGs are some of the most useless creatures I've seen in the AF. Besides Navs and WSOs of course.

Incorrect. A human sexual urge is to breed and carry on the lineage. Nothing more. There are aberrations of that urge, as there are in all instinctual urges. The most powerful urge in a human is to survive, as is in any animal. There are all kinds of urges. Stealing, killing, raping, compete, etc. Society tries to tamp down the urges that tend to be non beneficial and rewards urges that are. We've decided that pedophilia is a non beneficial urge. We've decided in the DoD that commanders engaging in pedophile behavior and doing things with gimps are non beneficial. Totally agree that it is a totally made up rule. I think its a good one, sounds like you do too. So, our current construct is: pedophile=bad. Commanders getting with gimps=bad. Get rid of the Commander. If those rules change, fair enough. I personally hope I'm not around to see it, but it seems like this stuff is on the doorstep already.

So I was in my Sadaam spider hole the other night looking at my firearms collection. I have a problem. I have plenty of room to hang plenty more handguns across the wall, and I have space to put at least two more 7x rifle racks. I've backed off over the past 6 months or so, but over the last 3 years I went unchecked buying handguns, rifles, steel targets, ammo, scopes, red dots, and component upgrades. Felt pretty good about it until the other night. A lot of empty space. Now, I don't want to spend another truckload full of money, but I want more guns. I want to get into purchasing some surplus / vintage stuff. I don't know anything about it, but I want to get some reasonably priced guns. Any advice / suggestions would help. I have two ranges on my property, one is a 55 yard handgun range in the woods (think hickock 45) and the other is a 200 yarder into a berm in a cleared field. I recently decided to put my self defense eggs in the AR-10 basket and so .308 is the preferred caliber for me for long guns. 9mm is what I have the most stocked up for handguns, but .45 would be ok too. I already have a 1911 (Kimber Custom) so I'm not really shopping for a vintage 1911. I'll get a Colt later on. I have an FFL here that charges $25 to receive a shipment if you're a veteran. Best price down here, its about half of what Bass Pro or any of the other places charge. Surplus/vintage that I'm interested in initially: - Makarov: I know, 9x18. Would have to buy yet another caliber of ammo. But there are some cheap Makarovs and they have an interesting history - Enfield - Henry - Barretta 92F: Before any of you go to Tractor Supply and buy chicks so you can raise them until they are old enough to lay eggs just so you can throw them at me - I'd like to own a 92F, just because that was our issued firearm. I can't shoot it worth a shit and its heavy as hell, but - personal nostalgia. Related note - I'm not really familiar with any surplus/vintage dealers so that info would be appreciated too. Please don't say Buds.

I don't accept a whole lot of mandates. And that makes me a weirdo. And that's too bad. You have demonstrated over and over that you love mandates. You are bringing them out of the woodwork. You love mandates, they make you feel comfortable. I wish they didn't. I wish you still had an ounce of pioneering blood in you. I wish you still had a fighting spirit. And I wish you never flew on the B-1.

What is the point of this DMartin17? If its a venue to vent, fair enough but this seems very LPAish. Yes, you're going to have a shitload of additional duties. Yes, pilots hate them and are no kidding getting out because of them. I fail to see the point of this thread.

I'll answer this a different way. I hated everything about active duty. I loved every job. Its a bit psychotic but that's what it was. I loved being a student, and I hated formal release. Hated being a flight commander, and I found it rewarding to lead a few people. Loved the schools. ACSC was a dream - many of you haters have been mislead. School was out by 11 and on the golf course. Loved SAMS that came next. One of the best experiences I've had in the military. Hated DO. Worked for a shitty boss. Loved/hated squadron command. But one of the other best experiences I had in the military. Hated the system. Absolutely hated it. It drove me out. To me the system turned out to be not what I described what I loved above. It became all about PC, get the metrics green even if you have to blatantly lie, the mission isn't really what we're focused on right now, etc. Drove me the out.

A lot of questions, but understood.

To those that criticize Musk, fair. I wouldn't name my kid that either. But the problem with Musk is that he understands disruption better than anyone else on earth except maybe Bezos. He knew exactly what he was doing when he bought twtr. He knew the challenges, he knew the landscape, and if you look at what he's done in other sectors, he knows what he has to do to overcome all of the obstacles that are in his way. Just like he knew how to convince LA that he wanted to "dig a hole in the ground." In friggin LA. And love or hate the guy, he worked his ass off to keep tesla going in 2008. He has vision and he has a work ethic, and he produces. That's pretty American. We'll see what happens. I'd bet on Musk. BTW - electric cars suck. When one of them (or a gas engine car) can drive me completely from A to B autonomously then we'll talk. I mean literally and legally drive me from A to B autonomously. Hyped up garbage to this point. I'll keep my gas guzzler for now.

Welp, yes I did forget about that. That sucked. those assholes too and their shithole country.

You think this is as relevant as it was a decade ago? Maybe with the current admin, but when the don was at the helm, ppb dropped to the point that opec wasn't much of a thing. Not gifting that to the don, only saying that there is relatively current precedent that opec can be sidelined.

That's my view of it, although our analysis and takeaways are probably different. There is a reason people are quite happy with draconian measures. Someone earlier typed something to the affect that being controlled makes people feel safe and comfortable and subsequently those people are turned into Kens and Karens to enforce that control because it is now their duty to make sure others are safe and comfortable. These people do not question the source of the measures, don't think through the logic of the measures, and certainly don't question whether or not there is an agenda tied to the measures. Covid was a very ugly full up display of this. The question is why are people like this? This is where I likely part ways with most of the folks on this forum. I see manifestations of this all the time, in every aspect of life. HOAs immediately come to mind. Like good little citizens, they are named covenants instead of mandates. And god help you of a Ken or Karen catches you violating one. I cannot imagine living like that in a country where you don't have to. In the public school system they are named guidelines or charters instead of mandates. Woe unto the person that uses the wrong door, turns the wrong way in the car line, asks to go directly to the student's classroom to talk to a teacher, or any other number of government mandates that serve no useful purpose. This is the why according to a filthy liar. And this is where I part company with most everyone on this forum. We used to be pioneers. That's an important word - pioneer. We used to push west and deal with everything on our own, or at least as much as a wagon train could handle. There were all kinds of threats. But there was no government to save the wagon train. Then we built communities, institutions, and started relying on a centralized agency to oversee these types of things and to provide essential services. Then we REALLY started relying on this centralized agency to make sure things were available. Little things, like say - food and water. We somehow figured that this was the best path forward. And now we find ourselves in a situation where 85% of us are not even semi self-sufficient and in a situation where we depend on that centralized agency. So when that agency starts taking draconian measures, it is perceived by many of that 85% as not only necessary, but moral to preserve the community. And they would be dead if the grocery store ran out of food. I take a different path, and yes I realize that I'm one of those weird people who live out in the woods. But I don't depend on the government for much, especially on what to do to protect myself. Mask mandates, grocery store quotas, vaccine requirements, etc are ludicrous to me and everyone out here where I live. Again, not expecting everyone to be a weirdo and live out in the woods and be self-sufficient like me, but that is my explanation for the eagerness for some of the 85% to adopt draconian measures. Final disclaimer - I know we're not in the 1800s and plenty of intelligent people choose to live in the city and burbs. In fact, most of them do. But when something bad happens I don't need the draconian measures or heavy government overstep that they might. That's important to me.

I concur, but to be clear, that means you have the freedom and liberty to do the best cost-benefit analysis. That's where we all get sideways on this. I'm a retiree - hung it up abruptly in 2015 to escape a "very good" deal to the caoc for another year after squadron command. I understand stepping in line to be a part of the institution. But as I got older there were more and more things that the institution demanded that I scratched my head on. Fortunately I didn't have to deal with the woke stuff, my biggest one was the AF position that every male was a rapist (remember that?) and so I had to wade through a few of those ugly cases. I'm sure we're all aware nowadays that not every single female was getting raped, but back then, everyone was. According to the AF. And those weren't experts brother. That was AF leadership. It was the most ed up thing I had ever seen. Be careful about those experts. They'll tell you anything. I was the most expert squadron commander in the CAF, obviously. I got an awful lot wrong. And I saw a lot of experts in charge of me get an awful lot wrong. Humans. Guard that freedom and the right to think critically and at the end of the day say what the ? Hell no, you are wrong. That's gold my friend.

Fair enough and well put. My hyperbolic post is the result of some pent up hostility, some Blanton's single barrel, and access to the internet. Won't be the last. Zero point zero effect is like you said nonsense, but I'm still not convinced it had all that much of an effect. Anecdotal - I got covid about a month after my second vaccine dose, after having skated past it for about 2 years and yes I was one of those people on the beaches every holiday. Your last sentence is the most important.

What a collossal bucket of America's response to covid turned out to be. Stores emptied. Stores closed. Goya beans the only thing available on the grocery store shelf. Ammo shortage. Gun prices through the roof. Vaccine touted as "just get on board, it will make this all go away." "Wear your mask. Social distance." I realize a lot of you didn't see it because you can't, but a shitload of people didn't get the vaccine, and those that did well, that didn't really stop the spread. A shitload of people either didn't wear a mask or half assed it. And a shitload of people didn't social distance. If any of you went to the coast during memorial day or the 4th in 2020, 21 and 22 you can attest. So at the end of the day zero point zero of that shit had any effect. Good god there are a shitload of brainwashed idiots in America.

True.

Well that's where things go south. You got it right there for a second - we should hold individuals responsible for the choices that they made. At that point you should've scrolled up and realized that life choices matter. No assistance for poor life choices. That's my $ going to wrong life choices. The times I got choices wrong hooked a ride. I didn't get any money or sympathy. I got told that I failed the out of that ride and I better get my shit together. See the diff?

I spent some unwanted time at Eskan Village in Saudi. Got to travel the country. My opinion: overall shithole. Arrogant incompetent assholes. Saw things I've never seen before: 18 wheelers laying sideways on the interstate with a billion coke cans strewn across all 8 lanes, dude driving 75mph with a camel in the back of a pickup truck, the Saudi sweep, etc. Driving skills aside, interacting with them, they were arrogant assholes who sucked at whatever they did. I mean they are real assholes. Going into the RSAF headquarters they treated you like you were laden with explosives, denied every overflight request going to OEF, denied an IFE 2 ship of dark grays to land in their territory, and generally treated me and everyone else that was not Saudi like shit. I don't understand how/why we gave them a pass for 9/11. It definitely wasn't for the oil. They were scared shitless of us not buying their oil, every conversation about overflights or maintenance on F-15s or AWACs devolved into an oil discussion. As an old head trying to clean up 9/11, why didn't we do anything about Saudi? Wasn't the vast proportion of terrorist attacks on American soil traced back to Saudis?

Agree, but have you seen the train wreck at the school system? Everyone says local this and local that, but our voice isn't being heard in the school system. And before you call me a redneck hillbilly Prozac, not that you would, at the local level, no voices are being heard. They call a vote, the ayes say aye and the nay say nay and afterwards the ayes and nays get together and say wtf? That's not what we voted on. And some rich strolls on stage and thanks everyone for coming out. That's the school system

so is pawnman still giddy with delight that service members got kicked out of the military?

Correct.

Concur. But does grassroots matter? It certainly matters in the neighborhood, but does it matter at the national ballot? I'm a conservative. I live out in the sticks, don't consume a lot of media except when I show up to work every morning on an Army/NASA installation. So I'm exposed to it. There are no grassroots movements that matter at the ballot, hence, the two party system. I don't see an end to it.

I did not see several awesome chiefs at Dyess that knew how to get shit done.

Klobuchar/Buttigieg/Whitmer as viable candidates? I don't agree there. I agree with criminal justice reform and might could get on board with the New Call to Service plan as long as it didn't hinge on climate change, but they all get pretty woke after that. Agree with your statement about Trump. Republicans can't seem to figure out the easy stuff that conservatives have made clear: get Trump out, put DeSantis in. Makes me wonder if that party is not really about conservativism, and the Democratic party makes me wonder if they aren't really about being progressive. Maybe, just maybe the system that has evolved in Washington is about making the holders of office wealthy. You vote a dem ticket and I vote a rep ticket. Afterwards, maybe we pay higher prices at the pump. Or maybe we get a tax decrease. Peanuts, really. Even less so for lower income folks. You think any of them have been lifted out of poverty by either of these parties? I don't own three mansions and I'm not a multi millionaire. And you're probably not either. But they do, and they are.

I agree, but is that going to work in a two party system that is more polarized every day? I don't understand how to disrupt the system so that what you typed above is actually a legit approach. Trump tried it, or at least campaigned that he was going to do it - massive, massive fail. His policies were in my opinion a huge win, but the rest of his presidency further polarized Americans. The question becomes, when you aren't advocating a party (there's realistically only two), how are you going to change anything? That's where I'm lost in our political system. I don't want either of these trainwreck parties. Where does that leave me?