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I know we've already moved on from Greta but a friend sent me this a bit ago.

you're not saying anything new, nor far fetched. Those of us who weren't born into the decade of "everyone gets a regional job!" have been saying it since the lost decade. Air Force plays run the clock offense, always has, always will. And will continue to do so, until the next trigger for airline hiring slow down. It's an incredibly cynical play, but historically has always been THE play. The only difference between the upcoming recession and the 9/11 confluence is the number or mando retirements plus the capacity right sizing the airlines did under post BK contract. That will yield few if no furloughs, as they throttle the demanded capacity with organic retirements and displacements as required. That doesn't help the newly-hired of course, which brings me to the next point. Sub-10 year airline Reservists flock back to their units, as they always do. Being the plug in your BSE during a period of no new-hires is no picnic, even if you're gaining longevity pay. At any rate, most of the sub-10 year guys come hide at the squadrons when the airline reminds them of the other side of "livin' da dreeeeam". This fills up the full time positions immediately, troughing pot gets thin, and the angle for active duty separatees to use the ARC as a leverage position temporarily disappears. Rinse and repeat, just like daily wind trends. I've seen this movie before. Caveat Emptor. My only dog in this fight? Whatever one decides to do, just don't sh!t where you eat. Most do an honest job on that front, but we got a small cohort of boomeranging blue falcons that ruin it for everyone on both sides of the airline/mil continuum. As to AD? I don't think it will ever get any better. I treat is as a known quantity, and something ultimately to be tolerated in small and/or non-consecutive quantities. To each their own.

Jaysus... sick douche bag. **break break** I'm grateful to say that I got through my sq/cc tour without a link being posted in this thread about me getting fired. Today was my last day as the CC. It was great and terrible all at the same time & glad it's over/wish it would keep going all at once. Time for a cocktail.

They have a government contract fuel rate, and when I went through there a year ago there was no mention of Turnberry. This is simply people in the media who have to idea how the system works trying to make a hit piece on Trump.

Done, send a six-pack of the good stuff to the usual address...

Hehehe...

On the subject of tankers: https://warontherocks.com/2019/10/the-case-for-a-three-tanker-air-force/

Ya, I can't remember when the change happened, it may have been after your visit. At the most basic level, the issue is we no longer have the ability to log our own UTAs in AROWS. For the average Guardsman who are not pilots and only show up to drill every month, it's not a bid deal. But for us pilots who show up 4-5 days/month and not always on drill weekend, it's a royal pain to log/track. It used to be that I could log in and certify a UTA and that was it. Now I have to log into my email the admin folks when I made up X drill. They then have to go into AROWS and input that card. I then have to log back in and get into AROWS and sign it. Throw in the fact that for the part-timers it seems like every time we log in, we have to wait on some other update or for the email to "connect to the server" (if the network isn't down that day) and/or the admin guy being off work that day...it's often weeks later that you'll finally get back to sign that card.

It’s pretty similar, just more structured and everything is smashed into two days. They may try to get you to be a guinea pig on alternate tests but all in all pretty normal. At least my experience was.

Thats great. That does not defeat the fact that the Kurds disarmed villages in Sinjar and Nineveh Plains in 2014, promised security, then high-tailed it out of town. The Christians in Nineveh Plains were lucky, and we all know what happened in Sinjar. Ive heard horror stories from people that were able to get to US after that. The Kurds have oppressed and used minorities in the area for their own gain. They are not a benevolent group in any sense.

"states don't have friends, states only have interest." Was one of my favorite Queen Elizabeth quotes. It shows how fickle relationships with allies really are.

They assisted the Turks in committing the Armenian and Assyrian genocide during WW1. Not trying to say they did not fight hard in the last few decades, but I also hate the rose tinted glasses that we wear when we talk about them.

DIME model is still valid.

Me and a couple of the other Eagle squadron commanders went up to NGB back in May. This was one of the topics we talked about. Let me be upfront: I'm not saying it's good/right/excused/etc - just stating the facts here. The DFAS system is being overhauled, rollout scheduled for FY21. They aren't putting any additional money into the current one for modifications or updates. The current DFAS system has the AFTP limits hard coded into it, the new one will be able to adapt to changes in AFI's. (allegedly) We talked to the people who wrote the changes and asked why the changes were the way they are, this is what they told us. I guess you can say at least there is a reason other than someone just crossing their arms, stomping their feet and saying "NO! NO! NO!". (which is how I picture most things going down (STS) when we ask the staff to fix things for the field)

I was DQ'd for color vision as well back in ROTC in 2011. Had my PPL already at the time, so it was a huge letdown. Now on my last leg trying this dream out as a old geezar Captain. With all the hours I accrued, I'm rolling into this with a 94 PCSM. But I'm also sweating bullets with MFS, as I still only scraped by on the CCT (old version) during this last FC1. Pmike, do you think the new version of the CCT (with the directional C) is easier than the old one? Wondering if this is gonna be a crapshoot or not again...

Air Force Concludes Investigation into Aircrew Trump Resort Stays; ""The [investigation] will show that the policies or procedures we had in place for both using civil airfields and lodging, and the crews [decisions] aligned with [current] policy," Gen. Maryanne Miller, head of Air Mobility Command, told Military.com Wednesday." "Miller continued, "There was no violation of anything. There was nothing that was out of alignment with all of that; and we even looked at the perception side of things, and the crews just did exactly what they were supposed to do." "If you look at Prestwick and you look at the rules for lodging that our crews abide by, 77% of the crews stayed right around there," Miller said during an interview here. The Air Force reviewed records and travel vouchers between 2015 and 2019. Another 17% stayed near Glasgow, about 30 miles away; and 6% of other crews stayed at the Trump Turnberry Luxury Collection Resort, roughly 20 miles away, she said." https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/10/10/air-force-concludes-investigation-aircrew-trump-resort-stays.html

I like to think that there’s a group of DARPA guys sitting in a bar somewhere laughing their asses off at all of this.

I don't think we need to go to war. We just need to warn them that bad things will happen if they attack the Kurds. Sanctions. Kicked out of more military programs the way we kicked then out of the F-35. Reduced foreign aid. Reduced military spending at Incirlick. We have options aside from shooting down their jets and strafing their tanks.

Every fighter I have flown or evaluated used AOA, but all, with the exception of the Super Hornet and Hornet, were flown in the region of "normal command" (front side) which is more intuitive to fly, IMO.

Executive summary.

That is a wild guess, and wildly inaccurate. As I've said, I've been visiting Prestwick Aviation for 17 years and those folks are on the up and up. Contract fuel prices are set. Lodging and perdiem rates are set. The Turnberry was only offered when it was the only accommodation available. Do you know of an alternative airport that meets all the requirements of transiting military aircraft, crew, and pax with fuel prices 50 cents less? I challenge you to find it. There's quite a bit more to RON planning than the price of fuel. If you've ever been deployed and are looking to save $25K of taxpayer money in Scotland, you're looking in the wrong place. If an FBO/hotel provides a great experience while conducting business within the government rules and government rates, how is that a hustle? That's just good business. This is no Fat Leonard, just another instance of politicians throwing shit against the White House walls hoping something sticks.

Whenever I hear this phase, I love to recount the DOZENS of times I’ve flown a completely empty C-17 across an ocean.

I stayed at the Turnberry last year. I've been stopping in Prestwick to/from deployments since 2002. We just tell the FBO when and how many people, and they make the arrangements. Last year we arrived right after a snow/ice storm that shut most of the major freeways for days. All of the hotels in Ayre (our usual location) and Glasgow were booked. The Turnberry, an hour drive away, had enthusiastically agreed to give us the government rate. The hotel itself was absolutely incredible and the staff thanked us profusely for our service. The bartender let us sample some of the local Scotch whiskeys. It was too cold for golf, but we toured the course which was an old WWII pilot training base, and some of the old runways/taxiways still exist on the course. The hotel called in a bagpiper to play us out the door as we departed for the sandbox at 5am. It was one of the best deployment sendoffs ever. There was nothing to it other than it was the only place with rooms available at the government rate, and the FBO was proud to have found a place that they thought we would enjoy. The media and politicians are idiots.

According to Salon: https://www.salon.com/2019/09/09/were-starting-to-see-the-scale-of-trumps-personal-corruption-and-its-massive/ That's some world-class "reporting".

We know you've been flying your balls off, you're tired and your morale is in the dumps...but if you guys could start staying in shittier hotels, that would be greeeaaaaatttttt. We know the allowable rate is $150/night but the Commander has his own unofficial official max rate of staying at the HOJOs... If it's within the DOD directed rate then what's the fucking problem here? Fuck this passive-aggressive, touchy-feely, TDS "perception" shit. It's either within the reg or not, if they don't like it, change the damn reg/Dodi/etc... Good stewards of the taxpayer dollars...for fucks sake. Every time I've attempted to be a good steward and save the taxpayer money, I got bent over by finance. They don't give a damn about being a good stewards.

OK, not a dirndl; but incorporates all the best aspects of one...

Pending further investigations, the problem here almost certainly isn't what anyone in the Air Force did, it's that the President has not divested his personal financial stake in and control of numerous businesses. While serving as President, he personally benefits from these businesses that both create the perception of corruption as well as break what I think is pretty clear language in the constitution & subsequent court cases and DOJ guidelines about the President taking money/gifts/etc. from foreign powers (i.e. emoluments). Jimmy Carter put his family peanut farm in a blind trust when he was elected, and DJT should have done the same with his businesses. The fact that the President has made millions off of stays and events at his hotels that very likely would not have taken place were he not President is the issue - this stuff with the USAF is another (small) straw on this particular camel's back. A couple dozen airmen staying at Turnberry pales in comparison to what takes place at the President's DC hotel on a weekly basis.