raimius

We won't be operating in uncontested skies. The war in Iraq is over. Afghanistan is winding down. There are very few failed states anymore. Also glad we won that darn war on drugs a couple decades ago!

Dunkirk is good. Character development and dialogue are pretty lacking, but the tension is amazingly well done. Definitely worth watching on a big screen.

The Mossberg 930 Miculek edition has been working pretty well for me, at half the price of some others. That said, I don't mess with it. The only thing I've done is add a side saddle. If you tinker, results may vary. I think I've only had one failure to fire. Not sure if it was a light strike or bad round, to be honest.

It doesn't say much good about CNN that after seeing the President tweet a rude meme, they decide the best course of action is to do some open source intel gathering in order to go after the guy who photoshopped their logo into a years old wrestling video, have him apologize, delete his account, and imply they will publicly ID him if he ever posts things they don't like in the future. Legally, it's probably a stretch to go for a criminal blackmail charge...but seriously, this is what an international news organization thinks is a good idea?!

Non-vol to T-38s. How screwed is the AF if a bunch of UPT studs don't even want to be fighter pilots?

Fix the QoL issues and people will not demand massive pay increases (so long as people have a "comfortable" upper-middle class base pay). You'll still lose people looking for better pay, but probably not at an unsustainable level. OR Compete with the airlines for pay. You'll still lose people looking for QoL, but maybe you'll get sustainable numbers. OR Fix both and actually have a surplus of pilots (...and unicorns might shower you with pots of gold...)

Looking for feedback is wise...the AF "training" consisting of some speechifying and a blind intro, not so much. It sounds like the new cc feels extremely unprepared.

The first step is admitting you have a problem, right? Crowd sourcing leadership training is surely a sign of a problem, but at least "New SQ/CC X" is trying to mitigate...

Flying helicopters helps

AFGSC UH-1N crews wear them.

Chang, Serious question, have you read Bleeding Talent, and, if so, what is your take?

Work on your sales pitch. If you think the chance to work "long-term continuity" in the mountain villages of Afghanistan, followed by a desk in the basement of the Pentagon is the best way to sell this...you might be in the wrong forum. I also find it interesting that you try to sell it not on tactical or professional merit but on career advancement and language skills (which we can easily get elsewhere). This may be a necessary program for our national defense and national strategy. It may be an amazing opportunity for some people. But seriously, know your audience, man!

Plenty of sport bitching, sure. BUT the AF DOES have problems. If you don't see that, you cannot claim to be a competent leader. Out of one side, you say everything is great. Out of the other, you say we are in such a crisis that invoking Stop-Loss is a viable option. Stop-Loss is for national emergencies...see an issue between those two claims? Which claim are you going with? Personally, I've got a good deal from Big Blue, so far. I am quite aware that this is NOT a universal experience. I also know that, as a professional aviator, my skills have value. What do you think people are going to do when they realize they are not valued by their employer, are putting their family through hell, and can go find another job with 30% less time gone and a 40% pay raise? I know several people who saw that writing on the wall and decided that saving their family, working less, and getting paid more was a good option. I also know people who the AF kicked out because they cared about being expert pilots and flipped the bird to bureaucratic career advancement tasks that took them away from the cockpit. Bottom line, the AF needs expert pilots (among many other things), but those pilots won't stick around if you make their lives miserable, demonstrate you don't value their aviation skills, and load them down with non-aviation duties. I realize those in leadership usually don't see anything wrong until a slide goes red...well, guess what, your slide is red. What are you going to do?

By insisting that everyone should compete in promotions, we too often revert to metrics that apply across AFSCs...Which ends up meaning you are not actually rated on your primary duty. That needs to end. See the AFBlues cartoon about Luke Skywalker's OPR...

Did you really come to Baseops just to tell everyone that only guys on the ground do work?

1. Read and implement some of Bleeding Talent's recommendations. 2. Tech/leadership tracks for appropriate AFSCs. 3. Tracks will likely necessitate ending "up or out." 4. Properly man, train, equip, and fund support functions. 5. Move support activities to support organizations. 6. Try to breed professional pride and competency in both ops and support. (AKA finance doesn't win the war, but we still expect professional work and pride in a job well done.) 7. Empower JOs/NCOs to make decisions--both in the regs and in practice. 8. Fire/reassign people who do not contribute or work to make things work.

The willingness of people to buy into the idea that he represents AF "leadership" is indicative of something, though...

Haha, way to stay on message! -If our personnel folk are doing such an amazing job, why is pilot retention now in crisis mode and getting worse? -Are bandwagoning and group think now core values? Was there an MFR I missed? -Accusing service members of being unpatriotic for trying to avoid the AF's absolute breaking of faith and coercive actions...well, here is EXHIBIT A of the type of "leadership" that drives people away from what should be one of the coolest, most enviable jobs in the world.

You think they thought about all the details already? Planes first, then pilots...and er, maintenance, yeah that's probably good to have too! If done right, it's a good idea. ...IF...

Yes, they also have a recoil spring, built into the system and enclosed in the receiver. The AR design places that spring in the receiver extension/buffer tube. Leave the buffer tube off and the BCG is going to fly out the back. I'm guessing you know that, and we are just seeing the poor results of internet conversations.

Explain to me how the piston returns the BCG to battery...?

A toast...

Him, him.

Andrews does DV support and contingency operations, should the need arise. Not sure what you mean with the Fairchild/Yokota question. If you get Hueys, you can get any of the bases. AFPC dartboard and all that... It's split, as far as living arrangements. Quite a few married flyers live on base, but it depends on the base and town. I'd say most single people live off base, as paying for on-base is not a good deal compared to getting a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment in town. (Japan may be the exception, I haven't been there.) I've lived off-base since UPT, and have few complaints--the drive is longer and you have to plan more to hang out with bros from the squadron (but it also helped me put more into my retirement savings). Haha, thanks for the offer! Yeah, we have some necessary training over the city, at night, and a 2-bladed rotor is a lot louder than the B412's 4 bladed system. INOVA Fairfax--"lets build more hospital around 3 sides of the helipad!" /facepalm