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  1. I did both. What I experienced in the army was the product of the times I was in the early 2010s. It was the surge in Afghanistan. Can't hover the helicopter? Can't pass the PT test? Don't know your EPs? Here are some wings... you are now your unit's problem. The only thing that would get you kicked out was a DUI. Going through as a young 24-year-old WO1, it did not try at all. Drinked and partied all the damn time and still got my top choice of CH47s. I thought UPT was way harder than Rucker. But when I went through I was way more mature. I got hired off the street by a tanker ANG unit and had to go through the full UPT. I was the last one to solo in my T6 class, even though I was a 1500-hour combat aviator in a helo. I guess I was just used to taking it slow in a helo. I would joke around telling folks at Vance that I used to do my ILSs at 60 knots... why? because I could. Now, going from Vance to OKC on a Rwy 17-day was a fast and rude awakening. I don't think it's a good metric to compare the two. The army sucks the fun out of everything and will try their hardest to change what should be a good experience into something horrible that will make you want to retire. At UPT, I lived for drop nights and the weekends. Party hard with the bros during those but come Sunday night it's time to hit the books and chair fly. But for your original question, I have the following: ARMY Rucker: Easy - The school program. Memorize a few things here and there. Doesn't matter if you even know what you're talking about, as long as you can spit it out verbatim, you will pass with flying colors.. - Flying VFR. Because flying instruments is very hard for all Apache pilots and MTPs. - The standard and the ability to make it. I had people I graduated with who had no business being aviators. But the Army needed the numbers, so here are some wings. I remember day one at Rucker we had the brigade commander tell us that the flight school policy was "No Flight School Student Left Behind" -I think the flying part is probably way easier nowadays. You fly UH72s in primary (no more TH-67s or OH-58s). The 72 has a pretty advanced flight control system that has studs being able to hover after perhaps an hour or two. Hard -The Army. You will graduate and think you are god's gift to aviation. You are not, and here are some field training exercises and ground training shit to prove it and to make you feel like an infantry guy. Also, here is a two-piece flight suit, a PT belt, and Eye Pro... all of those are inspectable items by the sergeant major at any time, so best be ready. -Being a warrant officer - Oh you think your job is a flying-only track? what a scam... and to prove it, here is some paperwork on stands, safety, and ops that an officer should be doing, but it's easier for the army to make a warrant do it for half the price. -Being a commission officer - oh you want to fly? here are some awards to type and some inventories that need to get done. Nobody will be your mentor and warrants will see you as more of a hazard to the flight since you probably know the ops limits of your computer better than any real helicopter anyway. USAF UPT: Easy -Wearing a one-piece flight suit and finally feeling like a real pilot. -Pulling Gs. Because doing a 60-degree bank in a helicopter is a pretty serious maneuver. Hard -The information overload and the fast pace of things. I remember coming back from a flight at Vance early during T6s. I was tired and beat up from all the U's my FAIP just gave me. I saw a random IP walking straight toward me to ask me what I was doing as soon as sat down in the flight room. Studying I said... Only to hear him say "No your not. We are stepping into another jet so let's GO! You can brief me on what all you need to clean up as we walk to the jet." All finish up by saying that the lifestyle in the USAF is a million times better than the Army. If your post originated as a product of frustration because you're having issues being selected to AD, ANG, or reserves, my advice is to KEEP trying dude. Don't look at going Army simply because the USAF is being too selective. It's supposed to be selective! The army should only be an alternative if age is not on your side. Hope that helps. Cheers
    20 points
  2. I'm doing my AA quarterly online training and one lesson describes what to look for to report human trafficking. Who do you report human trafficking to if the government is facilitating the trafficking?
    14 points
  3. I think it's because we have idiots in every crevice of our federal government.
    12 points
  4. The starting point in the conversation should be: Why at this point in history are human beings, at an incredibly higher rate, having these mental issues? It’s clearly a cultural phenomenon or societal issue and not biological. The lack of parenting leads to kids raising themselves under heavy heavy influence by a new phenomenon - social media. The adults should be addressing this and not condoning or supporting it. Especially, medical providers. But, it’s big business and generates huge sums of money.
    10 points
  5. Who here said America isn't great? It's a feeble attempt at a strawman argument. We're criticizing those who are leading the country. Why can't you make that distinction? We were forced out of one of two strategic anti-terrorist bases on the African continent while our former host cozies up to Russia. It was errors from senior leadership that lead to an this undesirable outcome. They actually are to blame. Because non of us spent our careers trying to reach a high level position in the DoS, we're not allowed to criticize them? Weren't you an ROTC instructor or something? How were you personally conducting foreign policy? I don't personally hold office, but my mother is state level house representative and my next door neighbor and former employer is a state senator. I am involved in both of their campaigns continuously. Things go fairly smooth in our state, but I do occasionally interact with my US representatives at certain events. I've pleaded with them on certain issues and if I get an honest answer, it's always the same. If you don't compromise your principals and cut deals, you're sidelined. If you think you can show up to DC, be good person, and make the country a better place, you're the most naive person on the face of the planet. Look what happened to @congressman. By all accounts, a fairly decent dude when he was elected, had an emotional breakdown, remained broken, compromised, was used, and was tossed aside. Given that you have a tendency to adopt the official narrative as your personal heartfelt opinion, and gleefully cheerlead things like mask mandates and forced vaccinations, you would likely do very well in DC. Probably better than @congressman. So why haven't you? Because our leadership is doing so well they don't need your help? I expect lectures to us in the threads about migration, inflation, etc, and that we shouldn't complain because everything is awesome and someone somewhere else has it worse.
    9 points
  6. Weird way to say the Army can’t defend itself against quadcopters. They’ll respond the same way they always have, by shooting more Patriots at sky debris which will result in the death of friendly aircraft. The lesson that the US Army should be taking from Ukraine is that a poorly equipped but motivated army can defend itself in flat, featureless territory against an army 5x the size if that larger force is unable wield air power to attack strategic centers of gravity.
    9 points
  7. Small blessing. His mental breakdown involved just killing himself, rather than shooting up a base.
    9 points
  8. Father of Gold Star Marine killed at the Abbey Gate Shouts "Remember Abbey Gate" and "United States Marines" at the STOTU and is arrested and charged. The next Day Biden Apologies to the illegal alien who killed Laken Riley for calling him an illegal. #FJB!
    8 points
  9. Latest RUMIT on Cat-5 is this all started after a shouting match with SOCOM/CC who told him to resign or be fired...Next AFSOC/CC should be a calming influence.
    8 points
  10. ALRIGHT! I'll do it. First order of AFSOC business when I'm in charge is that all aircrew will be wearing Air Commando Bush Hats immediately, everyone will be issued a single can of Sexual Tyrannosaurus chewing tobacco with refills at members discretion, and Cannon will close and everyone will move to Hickam and manifest destiny existing squadron spaces from current occupiers.
    8 points
  11. I heard the SEALs of the Sky were born there.
    7 points
  12. Mid-90s and Iraq does some pump fake maneuver to the border. I'm at Shaw working in Stan/Eval and we get tagged to generate and deploy 2 F-16 and 1 A-10 squadron. The Wing had an upcoming mobility ORI event so we call Langley and ask them to come observe to get the ORI counter complete. They say "No" because it wouldn't meet their grading criteria. WTF? A real world event doesn't match the grading criteria? How inflexibly stupid is that and WTF are you grading?
    7 points
  13. Consequences = Free health care, free phones, free housing, free pre-paid debt cards, the ability to beat police in NYC and be released with no bail. I recently came back from a business trip overseas, I have been Global Entry for many years and I still got hassled on my return. For my next trip I am going to fly to Mexico and walk across the border, I will get home faster and get some free Shiz when I swim across the river.
    7 points
  14. Anyone who thinks the USA is overly racist or that our government is a big offender for persecuting people due to political views or political speech…I highly encourage you to visit ::waives hands around wildly:: almost any other country.
    7 points
  15. Y'all are the sorriest bunch of pessimists I’ve ever seen, seriously. “Damn, the federal government and our foreign policy are so bad I just spent 20+ years working in the DoD and personally conducting American foreign policy.” 🤦‍♂️ Freaking sack up. Don’t be doomer Gen Z kids who think everything is inexorably fucked and they are to blame (bonus, everyone gets to fill in the they with whomever they want!). Be a good person and family member, be a good officer / pilot/ Commander / etc., be a good citizen and vote, run for office, etc. If something is broken try to fix it. You won’t always succeed but you should still try. It’s not all hopeless, everyone in charge isn’t just a moron in dire need of your brilliant counsel, but if you really think you can do it better then do it better. Talk is cheap, action isn’t, but it’s well worth the cost. I was taught all this shit as a child, were you guys not? America is already great, we’re not going anywhere fast, and yes we have our flaws but modern western liberal democratic capitalism is the worst system…except all the other ones. 🇺🇸
    6 points
  16. Bro, I got enough going on in my life that I don't need to also be contemplating my desire to fuck a bunch of cartoon Japanese/American hybrids wearing Bavarian attire. Anyways... Dibs on the redhead.
    6 points
  17. The Iranians are actively resupplying them. We simply don’t have the political balls to authorize ROE that would do what you propose. It’s similar to our Vietnam guys watching the USSR send in parts for SA sites, but not allowed to strike until operational. Our idiot generals have learned nothing & continue to fail the nation but see themselves promoted. Enemies are driving the fight, seizing the initiative, executing bold COAs; we just respond. So long as this paradigm continues our technological and tactical superiority will be neutered.
    6 points
  18. Welcome travelers with great big hug and salutation. You travel today on back bone of Soviet air transport fleet IL-76. IL-76 is unique airplane... only plane run on coal. For tonight’s inflight entertainment we have tetanus shot followed by soggy brown bag lunch and vodka. Please after finish meal and vodka keep bottle for make pee in. I encourage to avoid direct contact with Misha the 3rd officer and plane dog. This is same person. Misha has fleas and also short temper particularly when performing fuel consumption check. If at any time you feel unsafe during flight we encourage you take short nap. It will all be over soon. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    6 points
  19. Let's start with Emergency Medicaid. Also school meal programs. Pregnant women and young kids get WIC access. Free room and board in certain cities. You think a mother living in Haiti is more worried about rapists and murderers in Mexico than the rapists and murders she has to endure if she stays in Haiti? States seems to be struggling: https://wpde.com/news/nation-world/denver-hospital-system-may-collapse-due-to-migrant-crisis-we-are-turning-down-patients-southern-border-trump-biden-colorado-denver-health-post-donna-lynne-immigrants-illegal-migrants-asylum-seekers-resources What country do you live in that you think this is anything like the 1950s? And if the burden of illegal immigration is so low, why are the Blue Cities in the north melting down over 5-digit inflows of aliens being sent to them by Florida and Texas? What demand? There was demand for dirt cheap consumer goods from China, and that 30 year experiment decimated the American middle class and industrial base. The short term price suppression of cheap foreign labor is not worth the long term disruption to the economic balance of the society. And through all of this everyone ignores the effect on the originating country. What hope do these countries have of pulling out of the 3rd-world death spiral if their hardest workers and strongest men all flee to the US? Is cheaper lettuce and construction labor really worth the long term impact of having an entire continent of heavily populated, unstable countries perpetually feeding low/no skill workers to our southern border? Do you believe that the United States can handle the addition of... 100,000,000 low-skill immigrants? Because there are far more who wish to be here. Exactly how does that play out?
    6 points
  20. Wait, a Middle Easten Air Force showed itself to be tactically inept? Shocked I tell you, just shocked.
    6 points
  21. It makes me feel really safe when I get randomed 96.69% of the time but then my illegal immigrant passengers are flying for free with no ID or background check AND yet I have to show TSA 2 forms of ID.
    6 points
  22. Garland announces the DoJ will fight Voter ID laws. Imagine being against proving that you are legal to vote. This should be a no brainer, non-political issue. Unless you want people who aren’t legal to vote to somehow vote?
    6 points
  23. Retiring Delta bro goes out with a bang chartering A330 to Hawaii with fellow pilots that retired w/o a finny flight due to Covid. Retired Delta Captain Keith Rosenkranz Charts New Territory with A… (bnnbreaking.com)
    6 points
  24. Bring back the no-notice as an actual test of readiness. Don't fire people or end careers for honest mistakes. Use the the results to provide resources to fix gaps.
    6 points
  25. I agree with you in theory. The best inspection would be auditing a normal deployment or even a blowout to validate squadrons have legitimate processes ensuring trained airman are equipped and mobilized with alacrity towards a specified task. Bonus points if inspectors highlighted support agencies causing mission friction and could provide wing and Hq commanders suggestions on changing the present paradigm where deploying squadrons jump through hoops to accommodate arcane requirements by non-deploying support agencies. however, this will never happen. It is unfortunately not in our culture; our culture is preserving stateside bureaucracy who view overseas missions as a distraction to home station status quo. This has remained true regardless of who the commander is because it's entrenched culture within the organization. It's sad looking at YouTube videos like the one above postulating our forces are not ready for the big one. Of course they aren't, when have they ever been? Every war has required a waiver to some current process in order to allow operators to meet the task. Think about that for a minute. How many new ideas have you seen that made sense and could've helped the mission but could not happen without some multi agency multi year waiver, and the gatekeeper at every increment is some non-deploying homo who needs to be convinced the requirement is real. How totally fucked up is that? It is an indictment of every level above the line unit, which is one more clue in the puzzle of how we can kick so much ass yet never seem to win. Given this reality, I am not a fan of no notice inspections because I do not trust the system to do them intelligently. They will be done in the dumbest way at the worst time focusing on all the wrong things. And fantastic squadron commanders who are prioritizing lethality will get fired because they've been pioneering new TTPs instead of plodding through MICT. it's not all depressing, I do have a proposed solution, but it's better over 🥃 . You should swing by sometime!
    6 points
  26. The memes from this have been absolutely brutal!
    6 points
  27. 6 points
  28. underrated comment. and they are never held accountable. how someone like victoria nuland stays in powerful state department roles tells you everything. since 1992 the only Administration she didn't serve under? President trump. things that make you wonder... https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/26/politics/top-state-department-officials-asked-to-leave-by-trump-administration/index.html we need more of THAT
    5 points
  29. stoker you're missing the key word. ILLEGAL immigrants i'm all for immigration. just not illegal, unchecked immigration. illegal immigrants are getting WAY more welfare and support than the average poor american. 10k on credit cards in NY. free healthcare in CA. our country cannot afford to keep financing literally millions of illegal immigrants per year.
    5 points
  30. I appreciate your honesty on the matter, but then why should someone argue with you on the details of immigration when you’re not supportive of the most basic immigration law being enforced?—ie don’t come into our country illegally. As your Christianity argument, spare me. Unless you’re also for banning prostitution, abortion, divorce, etc. Oh and Christianity doesn’t say anything about having a complete welfare state to anyone who wants to come here. As for your ancestors, did they come before the 1930s? If so, what kind of social programs at the state and federal level were available to immigrants then and earlier compared to today? You can’t have open immigration and a welfare state…even some of the most progressive western countries understand how this won’t work well.
    5 points
  31. I frequently hear the migrant bussing effort is a “political stunt;” the implication being said effort can be dismissed as unserious. The Texas program is highly organized with a cleaner ends-ways-means briefing than anything I saw in the military. It is staying on budget, has broad public support in Texas, and is visibly meeting original objectives: evidenced by the developing public rift between D federal authorities facilitating the immigration crisis and D big city mayors feeling pressure by residents to restrict the flow of incoming illegals. Previous to this effort there was no disagreement internal to the D party, thus allowing them to ignore red border state concerns. Why do you malign this strategy as a “political stunt?”
    5 points
  32. Pretty stupid to argue F-35s are useless because they aren't the answer to $500 grenade carrying drones at 200agl. It's like arguing SSBNs are obsolete because they can't take and hold a hilltop.
    5 points
  33. Lol, air littorals. I can never hear that word and not think "clitoral warfare" and laugh.
    5 points
  34. If your rep guy says leave it alone, I'd leave it alone. Not worth the gray hairs. And I'd quit posting mloa on my off days. Unless you're removing yourself from something or blocking something, the company doesn't need to know when you do mil.
    5 points
  35. Not sure I agree with the first statement, although I probably do with the second. I'll have to give the situation with McCarthy some thought; in general I am a fan of accountability and holding people to their promises, although in that situation it did create a lot of turmoil. Was it worth it? I don't know. I know I do like the new speaker though. FWIW I recently had a one on one conversation with Gaetz during a ceremony. I'll take his brand of spear throwing aggressive showman over the weak sister cry baby frauds like Kinzinger. Neither are what I want as representatives, but we are in a place of voting for the least worst option and at least he tells Austin to fuck off regularly. It is a sad state of affairs in American politics, and one I don't know how to fix. My dad was one of the most honorable men I have ever met in my life. He twice ran for office and I worked his campaign; he lost both times in the primary. He was completely destroyed (>10%) by total scumbags with big outside funding sources. He ran a great campaign (considering our resources), handily won debates, was personable, worked the entire district, etc. But if somebody can afford $1 million for Robo calls, signs at every intersection, TV spots till you hate them & people to fake cheer in crowds (a real thing), they typically win a primary. Anyway, I wasn't trying to have a deep dive into Gaetz or the unpleasant realities of our current political process, I was really just dropping a dirty dozen reference.
    5 points
  36. No. I am applying the legal sense. There's not a court in the world that will convict that cop for shooting Babbit, applying the reasonable expectation. That's why no one is in jail for her death, aside from the obvious political bias in DC. You said it yourself. Beyond a "reasonable" doubt. You don't enter a locked door. It's locked. You break it down, or at a minimum defeat the locking mechanism. Those are proactive steps to violate a space. If you do not have a right to the space, which citizens do not have an unfettered right to occupy government buildings, you can not defeat the barrier mechanisms innocently. And if you do it as part of a rioting mob, as she did, I don't expect a cop to wait to find out, with his life, if they are just there for hugs. Trespass at your own peril. Rioting ≠ Protesting. It didn't for the George Floyd riots, it didn't for the Jan 6th riots. If things get so bad that I feel the need to riot, I expect for people to die. Sometimes blood is the price. Possibly even mine if I feel strongly enough about it. Breaking Windows, no unless there were people behind those windows that could be hit by the bricks. Lighting fires, if there was any reasonable possibility that innocent people were in the vehicles or structures at risk of being set on fire, open fire, and shoot to kill.
    5 points
  37. And you're in here reading it. rofl
    5 points
  38. “Destroyed” as reported by media leaves a hell of a lot of leeway by what we would classify as destroyed in actual Armor. Knocked out or disabled, yeah probably as that’s happened a lot in the past in Iraq as well. If you are disabled remaining with the hull would be suicide and the crew is the most irreplaceable component. But, short of burning if you can perform a recovery it’s pretty ridiculous how badly battle damaged but through rear area MX is restorable. The resilience of the platform and survivability of the crew is really what the M1 has historically shown its self to be. People confuse that with some form of video game god mode invulnerability. That’s why ours and every smart western military has focused so much on not repeating the mistakes the Germans made and put Armor recovery vehicles in our MTOE. It is far easier to replace a tank from the battlefield than it is to wait and build a new one. If the Ukrainians can recover it back to the rear they can Low Boy the thing to the Depots we already have in Europe for exactly this contingency. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    5 points
  39. They’re prepared… to take the two hour NATO union lunch break while they plan dinner.
    5 points
  40. You'll notice this dude was shit-canned as soon as he started hinting that the disappearance of expensive equipment would need to be reported. As soon as his "antics" transitioned from obnoxiously advocating for his unit to potentially tarnishing the reputation of his leadership, he was toast. You don't get to the top in today's military (college, government, etc) through competence, results, and successful leadership of your subordinates, you get there by protecting those above you. When the consequences for failure are restored, the institutions will resume filtering for and rewarding competence. It's going to get a lot worse before that happens, I fear.
    5 points
  41. Well with all the AFSOC bashing, some good news is the new 1 SOW CC is a stud. And he’s replacing Col Allison Black as she retires after a very long career. Great stuff for Hurlburt and congrats to AB!
    5 points
  42. A ton. But the root cause is the average voter is emotional and retarded. We’d see solid leadership if people actually gave a fuck about demanding and voting for that. Instead people vote based on tribal affiliation, what Taylor Swift says, and their opinions based on daily consumption of complete bullshit with zero individual thought or questioning applied. I wouldn’t be surprised by anything - go further left, swing hard right to the same magnitude of problems on the other end of the spectrum, etc.
    5 points
  43. Double tap on this. My IFT was loaded into my CDB for me to see. I went to my CSS and they pulled my record and was able to see my MFS and UPT dates that were hidden. My SURF was clean though. Apparently it updated at midnight and the dates were loaded at 1 am. Also I got my assignment RIP from the CC this morning as well. See you all in Columbus!
    5 points
  44. EFMP trick works btw! Slotted for Vance atm! Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk
    5 points
  45. Thank you for your post & link. I'm not spun up, but you're right that the commentary from the link I posted was needlessly dramatic; I should have just posted the Red Cross link. A deferral for blood donation depending on vaccine manufacturer is yet another strange clue that vaccine mandates were premature and ill conceived. My intent was adding to the growing collection of those clues listed here, not distract from how weird it is that C19 vaccines (from some manufacturers) now require deferral before blood donation. However, what you call hysteria I would phrase as righteous indignation at the crime of coercing the population to accept immature and dangerous vaccines which did more harm than good. You may argue that characterization is untrue, but many clues are slowly piling up (including this post) providing data for my point. The "hysteria" from this incident originated solely from the pro-vaccine crowd. Although the commentary on my linked tweet might be provocative, it isn't incorrect.
    5 points
  46. Yeah except for fundamentally there's a key difference. The universities are teaching the citizenship that they themselves are the enemy of the cause. The third Reich did not teach that german-born German citizens were the fundamental roadblock to Utopia. They picked a minority internal demographic, and larger external demographics to villainize. The force of the modern progressive movement in America, for better or worse, is fueled by well-off white liberals. They will happily preach and post about an ideology that paints themselves as victimizers, oppressors, and tyrants, so long is nothing actually comes of it. "Virtue signaling" is the most appropriate term. However if that glorious day comes that the progressive movement is ready to act on their nonsense, it will require the sacrifice of it's largest support base. Not going to happen. All those upper middle class, well-to-do white ladies are Republicans the day the revolution starts. And half of their husbands who provide for their privileged lives by exploiting the evils of capitalisms are already silent conservatives; they just have no inclination to scream about politics with their ignorant partners.
    4 points
  47. This one is fascinating to me. This is young likely middle glass white kid in the military. He's not Jewish, Muslim, or Palestinian. I'd say the probability he's been to Israel, Palestine, or immersed in the culture of any ME country is slim to none. The chances of him having a close relationship with anyone who has is also slim to none. Palestinians engaged in direct conflict with Israeli, and who should have the most reason to engage in extreme forms of protest aren't doing such things to themselves. His mind was hijacked by an idea that came only from second/third hand information on a screen he held in his hand. That information, which had no direct effect on his day-to-day life, consumed and compelled him to destroy himself to one of the most grotesque ways possible. Now imagine being able to create and distribute that type of information. Wokeness is deadly. It's a parasitc infection. We may cheer when a woke moron offs himself, but it's important to remember that the idea that caused it is propagated onto others. It's how leftism lives on even though its hosts do not. It's an old video, but one I think of quite a bit.
    4 points
  48. There are two John Mayers. The one that makes a ton of money making teenage girls all mushy inside. And then there is the one that makes blues, and no one pays attention to that one. The second one is actually very good. The first one is kindy creepy and past his expiration date. Only Taylor Swift is capable of staying an angsty teenager well into the thirties.
    4 points
  49. Ummm…from the CDC Director WALENSKY: First of all, I just want to note that I share this optimism. I`m so -- I`m so impressed with our ability to vaccinate at a clip of 3 million vaccinations a day. We have 93 million Americans who have gotten their first dose, 51 million who have gotten their second dose. And we have -- we can kind of almost see the end. We`re vaccinating so very fast, our data from the CDC today suggests, you know, that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don`t get sick, and that it`s not just in the clinical trials but it`s also in real world data. https://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/transcript-rachel-maddow-show-3-29-21-n1262442
    4 points
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