1:1:1

Q2 for wearing a wedding ring? You've gotta be shitting me. I wonder if Robin Olds wore his flight-approved gloves when he took off out of Udorn and dropped his mask for a quick cigarette before getting shot at for the next 2 hours. Probably could have found a few Q3 offenses over there. Not surprised though. Being from HHQ or the NAF is pretty much shorthand for being out of touch with reality and obsessed with all the wrong things. I'm sure this incident just reminded the entire Wing of that.

It might just be me but this thread reeks of Monday-morning quarterbacking. It makes me wonder if any of my close calls over the years had resulted in a Class A what people would have said about my own culture, mindset, scoffing of this or that. God forbid you found out I wasn't wearing gloves and AFE-approved boots along with my 100% wool standard-issue long john's at the time.

Not sure who you've been talking to. I can tell you in my neck of the woods instrument procedures are not scoffed, considering we shoot the ILS or PAR to mins in a snowstorm every week in the winter. The point of saying that everything they learned in UPT is motherhood and will be covered in the first 5-10 minutes of the brief is not to say that those things aren't important. Any 11F who's been around more than a year or two knows enough dead pilots to disabuse themselves of that notion. The point of that statement is to say that you are expected to maintain proficiency in those areas yourself so that when we're in an LFE adversary coord, followed by blue mass brief, followed by package coord, followed by 20 minutes of flight fill-ins, we don't spend what little time we have left briefing up the approaches. Last I checked it's not "11Fs" trying to trim the fat at UPT, but some enterprising General Officers. Those of us who actually instruct at the FTU or MQT in the CAF would tell you that those decisions are making our job harder and more dangerous.

If the AF were in the business of buying low-risk, newer, cheaper aircraft it would have bought the T-50 or KC-30 instead of the T-7 and KC-46. Sadly, the only acquisition we know how to do is the over-engineered boondoggle that is supposed to be "digital engineered" in half the time but actually takes twice as long for half the results.

Fair points, but most of those effects have already been achieved and I don't believe that our deterrence posture would be significantly hurt by reaching a negotiated peace that maintains the current line of actual control without conceding territorial claims. $80 bn annually is a lot of money and at some point it would be more useful modernizing our own forces instead of just dunking on Russia while our actual pacing threat grows stronger.

There are important differences, as is always the case in historical comparisons. It is by no means a "bad comparison" though. Significantly: both Ukraine and Korea are countries that have been conquered by their neighbors for a couple thousand years. Both are or were threatened by their larger, more powerful neighbor. Neither would stand without U.S. support (which has a cost). Both would prefer to fight long after "victory" is a forgone conclusion. At some point we have a right to decide that its not worth our blood and/or treasure to continue fighting a stalemate. While no Americans are dying, we have spent ~$160 billion in the last 2 years, or the equivalent of 20% of the annual DOD budget. That's enough money to buy 1,700 F-35s or 200 B-21s. Are we gaining something worth that cost? In 2022 I said yes. Now I'm not so sure. I'm open to being convinced though.

I think a little history from another corner of the world is useful here. Look up the Korean Armistice which ended the war on the Korean Peninsula in 1953. The signatories were the U.N. (really just a proxy for the U.S.), China and North Korea. South Korea never agreed to the Armistice because they considered it a failure to reunify the peninsula. The parallels between this and the current war in Ukraine are numerous, and a similar ending may be necessary for Ukrainian officials to save face.

Can't be worse than the Big Guy being beholden to Chinese billionaires

No I'm saying you can't forge a rental agreement to pocket the allowance

It never ceases to amaze me the lengths people will go to in order to justify defrauding the federal or state government. Other great schemes I've heard about: Loading your car up with cinder blocks before you move Claiming legal residence in a state you've never set foot in for tax advantage Having family members charge you rent so that you can pocket the hotel payment on TDY I'm sure the list goes on. At best you lie to your employer to make a quick buck and get away with it. At worst, you open yourself to serious civil & criminal liability.

Refugees have a responsibility to seek asylum in the first safe country they reach, not the one with the best career opportunities or welfare programs. If we enforced this principle with the remain in Mexico policy we would be able to distinguish the myriad of illegal crossings from legitimate asylum claims. As it stands you just state that you're seeking asylum, you get a court date, and you get released into the country with no risk of deportation when you skip your court appearance. How is this fundamentally different from letting 5000 people in directly? It just takes 1 extra step where you have to say the magic words. Semantics

Semantics.

Might as well make it a week

I'd recommend that men avoid sexual relations with women that will abort their children.

If students are actually flying additional flights to work on other weak areas that's great. From what I remember of pilot training if you PAed through a ride you just flew one less flight than everyone else. As far as I'm concerned, a dozen instrument flights is such little training already that even if you have a hot streak or just feel like you're nailing it, it's still worth it to see it one more time to solidify effective habit patterns and to potentially expose you to a situation you haven't seen yet. When you're RTB low on gas, at night and in the weather from an LFE sortie that utterly blew your mind, you'll be glad you have good habit patterns to fall back on.

I'm sure Proficiency Advancing a few high-performing students through their last instrument ride will solve the training pipeline 🙄 Let them get the experience. How many UPT DGs have morted themselves in the traffic pattern or on ILS?

Not to mention the attrition that will occur in UPT / PIT

The best part is that these civilians will be the ones flying daily while the line officers bear the burden of all the paperwork required to run a squadron. If contracting schedulers didn't fix the problem I guess we'll just contract all of ops.

But that kind of debate hasn't been allowed to happen because a 7-2 majority made abortion the law of the land 50 years ago. Think about that -- this issue that countless people have anguished over and debated since time immemorial (there are records of arguments on abortion at least as far back as the Roman empire) was "settled" in 1973 by 7 people on behalf of a nation of over 300,000,000. If it's truly about striking a balance and making the best law for the benefit of society, the issue should be left up either to the state legislatures and/or Congress so that they can enact the will of their representatives via the legislative process.

If abortion is protected by the 14th amendment why did it take 100 years to realize it? When Roe was decided, every state in the union had laws restricting abortion.

Need to keep Boeing in the fighter business

I agree there's plenty more we can do. I also think our standing in the world and the future of free nations that cannot defend themselves are hurt by our inaction. I suppose I'm just expressing my frustration that time after time we shoulder that burden more or less alone.

Fair enough, but as far as I can tell the average American shouldn't want to spend blood and treasure on Ukraine any more than the average German. With that in mind, it seems like the disposition of eastern Europe would mean a lot more to the Germans and Italians than it does to someone who won't leave America once in their life. Yet we accept this sort of apathy from the largest countries in Europe because we don't want to make waves in the classic Cold War alliances.

Never said he insulted me. I've just sat through enough all calls with NAF or MAJCOM commanders who harp on patriotism to automatically roll my eyes when someone implies money is shallow or meaningless. That is what I find insulting. That being said, if you enjoy your place in the air force, I'm glad you're happy. Continue to do what works for you.

Money may not buy happiness, but financial security is a real thing. Being able to send your kids to any college they get into is a real change in your quality of life. Knowing that your wife won't be impoverished if you don't make 20 years and Lt Col is also a real difference in your life. The air force may not be able to compete dollar for dollar with a lot of jobs, but pretending any money above $100k salary and tricare is unnecessary is asinine and insulting.