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Great post and I concur. As one who has worn that EP hat, I can say definitive Q-2, Q-3 situations happen. The were very few and far between in my experience and the squadrons I was in. If I had any question about the validity of a rating less than Q-1, first, bad on me for not knowing my job, and second, I'd look at the instruction (reg in my day) for guidance ( and probably bounce off another EP or 2 ) before saying much of anything till the debrief. As for the debrief, regardless of the outcome, yes my duty was as an evaluator for the flight but I was also an IP as well. IMHO, every eval was also a chance to instruct if needed....of course in the debrief and not during the sortie. Also, the concept of "extenuating or mitigating" circumstances is open to broad interpretation which I often did..... In other words, a pilot would have to really prove they were deficient or completely unable prior to a 2 or 3 rating. I assume from the beginning they were qualified as a MQ pilot and as such deserved any appropriate benefit of doubt. Although I don't, everyone else has an off day. Cheers, Smokey

Well...Apart from the tree-huggers, I can't see any other use for a system that could autonomously track living things through the desert to targeting-level accuracy....

"Welcome to the Died, deployers. Just to let you know, this is a combat zone (shows pics of combat in some other location). In order for all our chiefs and numerous other non-combat forces to meet the conditions for combat pay, we must live in combat conditions. Therefore, the "Combat Shower" is in effect. By putting everyone under the rules of combat showers, we can get paid (shows pics of dudes in showers, no water on, with reflective belts). Now, I know all you flyers out there fly into the real combat zone every day, and therefore argue that the combat shower should not apply to you, but common sense is checked at the gate here--too many promotions are on the line." Out There. Poor man's CBT complete. I won't waste my time on the real thing. Edit to add this comment.

As an example, this is the guy you make fun of.

The Air Force did this to me... For example: Electronic records management. The Air Force is so sure that this new system is the way to go it's getting rid of the normal common server. So, 6.9 hours of training and now I'm set right? Nope. Now I need to assign individual permission to each folder in the ERM which to do so, requires full name and CAC-in ID number - the super long number next to your name before you enter your PIN. Once all of the Ops group's information is compiled, only then can I send it off to Tx to get lost in the fax machine or eaten by the mystical Air Force qweep goblins and fairies known as shoes. And I'm not talking about the fairies you all just thought of because I've been trained on the repeal of DADT - then again, maybe I am. God forbid any new individual join the Ops group thus resetting the whole procedure and losing another 2 days of flying...THE AIR FORCE DID THIS TO ME. Squadron Response: "ITS NOT YOUR FAULT"

I am going to take an educated guess and say that the "stealth helicopter" used in the Bin Laden raid was a highly modified Sikorsky S-92. I am going to speculate further and venture it might be one of the prototypes of the "Marine One" helicopters used in the test program that JSOC quietly acquired and modified at some obscure location like Waco (E-Systems). Question, are all the S-92 test aircraft for the cancelled "Marine One" accounted for? I will also speculate it is NOT an RAH-66, H-60 or H-53. I hope I am not breaking OPSEC by speculating...Was told that was a "No-No" in my AD days.