WTF? (**NSFW**)

[lloyd christmas]

Been doing this long enough now to see the slide from something I dreamed of doing all my life to something that is absolutely unbearable at times.  Dad flew for 28 years before me and both of my grandfathers lived into their mid 90s.  Both were WW2 vets and I knew them both well.  I listened and learned from them and their stories.  

There’s a reason BO.net has seemingly endless threads with countless pages devoted to the self induced shenanigans of the military/AF.  Truthfully, I wasn’t even sure which thread to post my response in.  But, it’s the Tucker issue that has my attention so I’m posting here.  Ben Shapiro has a really good take on the situation.  Once again, he’s spot on.  His point, as well as Tucker’s, is that the military has lost focus.  The simple question is, what makes the military more lethal and more effective?  There’s a reason we have standards.  Those standards start at the very beginning of service.  It actually starts in the selection process for service in the military and continues on through basic training.  Those selection processes are designed to weed out people who are not fit for service.  Am I saying that pregnant women should not serve?  Of course not.  But, I do agree with Tucker and Shapiro when they speak of this loss of focus - or misguided focus of our current military leadership.  There’s a shitload of energy that is fired in the wrong direction by military leadership right now.  

I returned from my 6th deployment to the Middle East exactly 8 days ago.  It was another 120 day deployment which is standard for my community.  It was my 11th deployment if you consider other parts of the world.  This time was much different though.  I’m Guard so entitlements and pay matter.  We didn’t get our tricare 6 months out.  We didn’t get paid on time.  We didn’t get hostile fire pay as we should have.  The AF had NO consistent plan for dealing with COVID and how that related to getting to the theatre.  There was a major battle between our home unit and the deployed wing commander as to who is responsible for the health of our folks and where they quarantine.  We ended up quarantined for 2 weeks at an Army base.  Other units didn’t have to.  I could go on and on.  And this was not on our local wing’s level of responsibility.  This was absolutely the fault of big AF.  Things were no better in theatre.  Every mission we flew included issues with flight plans, local services (water, power), local pax services, local aerial port, local trans and the same could be said at EVERY stop we made around the theatre.  It was a complete shit show from start to finish.  Day after day after day.  

My point of all of this is not to sport bitch.  

It’s this.  About a month into our deployment, the AF Chief of Staff, CMSgt of the AF and the Sec of the AF came to our base for a visit.  I was one of the lucky ones who was invited to hear them speak.  I couldn’t wait.  I had many questions to ask based on the shit we’d been through leading up to the deployment and in the first month that we’d been there.  There were about 5 questions asked that were pre screened.  That was it.  They spoke for about an hour.  Only about 10 minutes of it were them talking about issues related to the theatre, procurement, budgets, manning etc.  Nearly their entire speeches consisted of social justice issues.  I was struck by the feeling of being preached to by two women and a black four star general about being held back.  I really struggled.  Everyone did.  After a quiet ride back to the squadron we talked about it.  I don’t see and have never seen issues that they spoke of.  And their success proves we get it right as a whole.

I get it.  My view from a flying squadron isn’t the end all be all regarding issues in the military.   I’m sure my squadron is very different than a ship in the Navy or a barracks full of 19 year old paratroopers in the Army.  

But, I am getting really tired of fixing big picture problems at the point of execution while being bitched at about things I don’t see my military having problems with.  There is a lot of mis-directed energy in the military and our society.  I think that was Tucker’s point.  And I agree with him.  
 

[Sua Sponte]

On 3/14/2021 at 6:57 PM, ThreeHoler said:

Did you even read one post above yours before ranting about preggo flight bags? No, most CEAs do not wear OCPs.


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Maybe in your community, but not what’ve seen in the -46/-135 community.

[Lord Ratner]

On 3/14/2021 at 8:40 PM, Tank said:

Let me ask all of you are who talking and arguing about the pregnant flight suit:

What’s it f**king matter?!?

I can almost guarantee that none of you are females, so you’ll never have to wear this flight suit.  You all are arguing over something that literally doesn’t affect you!  If anything, it is showing progression in the USAF and I’m hoping that will translate to some changes for the males (I.e. beards).
 

But hey, if sounding like a bunch of arguing teenagers from UC Berkeley is your thing, then keep it up....

How it matters, and the point I think Tucker Carlson was trying to make (poorly), is that our president made it a point to talk about pregnancy flight suits, which have zero-to-nearly-zero effect on our military readiness, while failing to talk about the litany of real military threats that face us.

 

This is the go-to move of the political left these days. When you are failing to accomplish anything of substance, or in this case, failing to address a real and escalating immigration crisis at the border, do some low-impact SJW bullshit and know that your side will trip over their equity erections to attack the conservatives tripping over their social-collapse erections, and both sides (of voters) once again completely miss the chance to unite against our shared enemy, the politician class.

 

Both the GOP and Dems had zero appetite for dealing with the most glaring threat facing us: China. Trump, in all his clownishness, saw it clear as day. Now he's gone and the politicians can get back to what they really care about: enriching their families. China has been great for that. Taiwan will be a great pawn in this. The US will "recognize" them in a variety of venues (a can of worms Trump opened), while doing nothing of substance to support them. China will feign outrage so our "leaders" can look like they're being tough on China, but as long as we don't actually do anything, China will be pleased, and the money can flow. 

 

You and I won't see any of it, of course, unless you happen to be invested in the same stocks.

[ClearedHot]

[M2]

Forgot one...

 

[Pooter]

@Lord Ratner
"trip over their equity erections to attack the conservatives tripping over their social-collapse erections"

probably the most accurate description of modern political discourse I've ever seen

[Pooter]

Having said that... I'll play devils advocate again here and say that making a pregnancy flight suit isn't a very heavy lift for an organization with more than half a million people. 
 

Tucker is presenting a false choice here between accommodating people and lethality. An organization as large as ours can actually do both. Making a uniform to accommodate pregnant women does not come at the expense of lethality. There are those of us who go to work every day and train to China and Russia and Iran and Syria scenarios and that training keeps going no matter what new uniform is being developed. Obviously the job of the military is to kill people and break their shit. But the military is made up of individuals and individuals have needs.. other than simply being a badass tactician.

 

I'd even argue that accommodating people does make us more lethal because it improves quality of life allowing service members to actually focus on tactics instead of not having a uniform that will fit your body. This is the entire philosophy behind all of the MWR resources the government pours money into at every base. 
 

I wonder how big of a conniption tucker would have if he found out that most bases have a golf course, bowling alley, auto hobby shop, arts and crafts shop, thrift store, etc...

 

I get that people like him and Shapiro want to fight back against the endless woke bullshit that's pushed on us every day. But he did it in a really really stupid way, and chose a bad example.  I'm not surprised at the backlash at all and frankly he deserves it.  If we can make a flight suit to accommodate women flying non ejection seat aircraft well into their second trimester to support the killing of our enemies, that is awesome.

[lloyd christmas]

22 minutes ago, Pooter said:

Having said that... I'll play devils advocate again here and say that making a pregnancy flight suit isn't a very heavy lift for an organization with more than half a million people. 

That’s exactly the point.  The Commander in Chief shouldn’t be commenting on this.  Uniforms designed for a fraction of the total force shouldn’t rise to his level.  I’d like to hear more about strategy, procurement, budgets, technology, manning, etc from the boss.  

[arg]

1 hour ago, Pooter said:

 

 

  If we can make a flight suit to accommodate women flying non ejection seat aircraft well into their second trimester to support the killing of our enemies, that is awesome.

How far into a pregnancy can a woman fly a fighter on a combat, or training mission? Honest question, I tried to find the info. What kind of support mission would be okay into the second trimester? I would have a hard time being okay with my wife, or daughter, or granddaughter now(ha) doing six or seven sorties a day in a Herk supporting operations in wherever the AOR might be. But then again if the woman can handle it she can go to the back, have the baby, hand it to the loadmaster, then come back up front in time to complete the checklist and fly an overhead approach to an assault landing.

[Pooter]

2 hours ago, lloyd christmas said:

That’s exactly the point.  The Commander in Chief shouldn’t be commenting on this.  Uniforms designed for a fraction of the total force shouldn’t rise to his level.  I’d like to hear more about strategy, procurement, budgets, technology, manning, etc from the boss.  

 

Agreed that there are bigger priorities, but when has a president not paraded around for getting some low hanging fruit?  And it really didn't take up much of anyone's time until Tucker decided to go wildly high aspect about this issue. 
 

1 hour ago, arg said:

How far into a pregnancy can a woman fly a fighter on a combat, or training mission? Honest question, I tried to find the info. What kind of support mission would be okay into the second trimester? I would have a hard time being okay with my wife, or daughter, or granddaughter now(ha) doing six or seven sorties a day in a Herk supporting operations in wherever the AOR might be. But then again if the woman can handle it she can go to the back, have the baby, hand it to the loadmaster, then come back up front in time to complete the checklist and fly an overhead approach to an assault landing.

Current guidance says non-ejection seat aircraft and it can go at least part way into the second trimester.  Those regs have existed for a while so this is really just a case of uniforms catching up with already existing policies.  

 

[tac airlifter]

4 hours ago, Pooter said:

 

Agreed that there are bigger priorities, but when has a president not paraded around for getting some low hanging fruit?  And it really didn't take up much of anyone's time until Tucker decided to go wildly high aspect about this issue. 
 

Current guidance says non-ejection seat aircraft and it can go at least part way into the second trimester.  Those regs have existed for a while so this is really just a case of uniforms catching up with already existing policies.  

 

Are you saying women can deploy and fly combat missions while pregnant?

[pawnman]

2 hours ago, tac airlifter said:

Are you saying women can deploy and fly combat missions while pregnant?

You do know we fly training lines at home station, right? 

[tac airlifter]

1 hour ago, pawnman said:

You do know we fly training lines at home station, right? 

Yes I am aware.  Now that I’ve answered your question, kindly answer mine: Did I ask about training lines, or did I ask about combat lines?

recommend you read the original question from arg, which specifies combat lines, then read the reply, which indicates pregnant women can fly those aforementioned combat lines.  Hence my inquiry.

[Pooter]

2 hours ago, tac airlifter said:

Yes I am aware.  Now that I’ve answered your question, kindly answer mine: Did I ask about training lines, or did I ask about combat lines?

recommend you read the original question from arg, which specifies combat lines, then read the reply, which indicates pregnant women can fly those aforementioned combat lines.  Hence my inquiry.

Apologize for any ambiguity. No I don't think you're combat deployable once pregnant.  But that still leaves most of the flying that happens in the Air Force as fair game. 
 

I'm not sure why you're so intent on splitting hairs over this. Pilots should be flying as much as possible. 4-5 months out of the jet is a hell of a lot better than 9 months out of the jet. The Air Force has a policy that actually makes sense (for once) granting pregnant pilots some flexibility to continue to do their job. And now they've made a uniform so they can do that job comfortably. Both of those things are wins in my book. 

Edited March 18, 2021 by Pooter

[Breckey]

Apologize for any ambiguity. No I don't think you're combat deployable once pregnant.  But that still leaves most of the flying that happens in the Air Force as fair game. 
 
I'm not sure why you're so intent on splitting hairs over this. Pilots should be flying as much as possible. 4-5 months out of the jet is a hell of a lot better than 9 months out of the jet. The Air Force has a policy that actually makes sense (for once) granting pregnant pilots some flexibility to continue to do their job. And now they've made a uniform so they can do that job comfortably. Both of those things are wins in my book. 

Plus they may not need a RQ because they're not 6 months out of the aircraft. Doing a couple recurrency flights is a whole lot easier than a CC directed RQ.

[tac airlifter]

3 hours ago, Pooter said:

Apologize for any ambiguity. No I don't think you're combat deployable once pregnant.  But that still leaves most of the flying that happens in the Air Force as fair game. 
 

I'm not sure why you're so intent on splitting hairs over this. Pilots should be flying as much as possible. 4-5 months out of the jet is a hell of a lot better than 9 months out of the jet. The Air Force has a policy that actually makes sense (for once) granting pregnant pilots some flexibility to continue to do their job. And now they've made a uniform so they can do that job comfortably. Both of those things are wins in my book. 

Dude I totally agree that less time out of the jet is good.  No issues with the new policy allowing pregnant members to fly.  My “splitting hairs” is just for accuracies  sake.  

[BashiChuni]

On 3/13/2021 at 10:59 AM, di1630 said:

I hear the sq/cc got canned


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Any more details?

did the af do something right!?

[Tank]

I’m thinking this is a stupid move by Nike but you never know anymore in today’s f**ked up world.  
 

Update from Nike:  “We do not have a relationship with Little Nas X or MSCHF," Nike said in a statement. "Nike did not design or release these shoes and we do not endorse them."

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.tmz.com/2021/03/27/lil-nas-x-nike-satan-shoes-music-video-montero-music-video-hell/?fbclid=IwAR01w5fDOQoF8xZwTns0eFueFt4phPMcQgYMa2IOzP97zYrnZ-zpIRW3lMY

Edited March 29, 2021 by Tank

[HuggyU2]

Glad Nike wasn’t involved... not that I’ll ever buy another Nike-branded product again. 
How long before someone gets whacked by someone stealing those shoes?  

[booze]

On 3/29/2021 at 10:30 PM, HuggyU2 said:

Glad Nike wasn’t involved... not that I’ll ever buy another Nike-branded product again. 
How long before someone gets whacked by someone stealing those shoes?  

Never. Cuz they're gonna be so rare now that they'll be a collector's item that nobody actually wears on their feet.

And if the bible thumpers never got triggered, we'd never even know about this....Irony at its best. 

[GrndPndr]

6 hours ago, booze said:

Never. Cuz they're gonna be so rare now that they'll be a collector's item that nobody actually wears on their feet.

And if the bible thumpers never got triggered, we'd never even know about this....Irony at its best. 

The blood thing needs to be explained (for amusement sake).

[Lord Ratner]

Wait, do people really think Satan shoes are... Anything? How is that important?

[GrndPndr]

1 hour ago, Lord Ratner said:

Wait, do people really think Satan shoes are... Anything? How is that important?

I don't know, people in the USA have been killed for "athletic" shoes, think about the culture that this is sold into.

[lloyd christmas]

2 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:

Wait, do people really think Satan shoes are... Anything? How is that important?

Here’s a good commentary on why it matters.  He brings this Lil Naz X character into the discussion.  
 

 

[HuggyU2]

Most of us aren't "triggered", booze.  Just disappointed and disgusted... and a bit saddened too... with much of this sort of thing. 

If you find it powerful and cool and relevant, so be it.  I guess you're "triggered" in a happy way.  

 

Edited April 1, 2021 by HuggyU2