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Fear drives some people away from liberty and into tyranny. It happens all the time, we’re just seeing it more pronounced now. People are actually turning in neighbors for not wearing masks or having people over. Pretty crazy stuff. I’d like to think the majority of the American people are worried about the virus, but are becoming more irritated at the size and scope of the shutdown. My parents’ town has had two cases. One death, and the man was in his 80s. They have a mandatory curfew at 8pm. The city police actually pulled over my sister (an essential employee) and interrogated her for her “papers” on the way home. That same area is mandating masks. So... you know what? Yeah. I’d protest too. It’s the most unconstitutional bunch of shit I have ever seen.

I think @matmacwc would have liked this bit of history, this is something that was right about the AF: The Army’s only air to air kill since WWII was done with a .50 cal in Vietnam From the article and showing the best traditions of the Air Force: However, two legends of USAF combat aviation in Vietnam were more than happy to initiate him- then-Colonels Robin Olds and Daniel “Chappie” James, known affectionately as “Blackman and Robin.” “I actually knew both of them,” Lee recalled warmly. “Colonel Olds would meet me on the flight line and pick me, and only me, up and take me up to the debrief room. He would have a case of Bud iced down and I would give him targets that I had been working on in Laos the week before. So he was not a stranger. He was a very warm and personable man. I respected him and he knew it. I was not afraid to just sit and talk to him.” Upon hearing of Lee’s hushed victory, the two Colonels demanded a celebration.

I’ve seen a few of those posts, as well. The big one is something about signing a document that says you won’t take medical treatment once you get it because you didn’t follow quarantine guidelines. I couldn’t help myself and asked the person if smokers, morbidly obese people, motorcyclists etc should all have similar documents since they’re knowingly putting their health at great risk. Imagine how that played out...

When it comes to nurses & some of the protests to open things back up, I think we need to show some compassion. 5% toward those protesting because freedom of association and movement and work are important, and 95% to frontline healthcare workers who are going through hell right now. The endgame solution is a balance...feel free to pick from the above options and call your Congressman. Back to nurses and the (joke) cards running around for people to sign away their right to healthcare if they get the Rona: how many random soldiers recommended glassing the entire Middle East after seeing their buddies get killed or maimed in Iraq/Afghanistan/et al? I know more than a few personally and I also know there are several examples I could pull from this august body of spear-throwers. Nurses and doctors likely feel about the same right now toward people they see as making the their jobs harder. If I were them I'd be pretty damn angry too; hell, I can get angry at people not doing the right thing and I'm just sitting on my couch. In other news, get off my lawn. I have great certainty that 99.9% of healthcare workers would treat any patient rolling through the door with COVID-19 regardless of the circumstances, just like 99.9% of soldiers wouldn't murder innocent civilians on the battlefield.

That’s a good point. I think the majority have done a good job, there are whackos everywhere and they don’t represent the majority. But an alarming trend is the false dichotomy so many people appear to be clutching - if you don’t blindly support total destruction of liberties or policy making based on unreliable data, then you 100% don’t give a fuck about health or safety and are a window-licking idiot dumber than the dirt on my boots. What if there’s a middle ground where people do care about health/safety, liberty, and don’t want decisions made based on knee jerk data, but instead acknowledge there is a moderate approach to problem solving. All three of those areas of concern can reside in one person, but the far left/right zombies following their “leaders” and wielding online pitchforks refuse to acknowledge it. The “my way is the only way” crowd needs to pull their heads out of their asses.

Guess I’m OK with a bunch of self-righteous, fear-driven, incapable of critical thought, bubble dwellers having no means to support their family while willingly handing over their freedoms like lambs to slaughter. But, despite their own dumbassery getting them there, I’ll still do my role to help pull them out of the shithole they gladly jumped into. Because that’s what Americans do. Good Americans don’t say, “well I don’t agree with you, so I totally have no problem if you just fuck off and die.”

Don’t act like those documents, or any others, are perfect stone tablets handed down from God. It takes continuous improvement from all players to make us all better.

Ok, so we are all in agreement for more robust social safety nets and a baseline of healthcare to keep people alive and out of bankruptcy? Lots of pearl clutching here. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes...regardless of which political party you are part of. Luckily these people are a very small group of folks and most have enough sense to social distance to help end it faster. I saw this on twitter...I enjoyed it.

Yeah, they do. But like any profession, you've got a wide range of people, and with that comes with a wide range of beliefs and emotions. I chalk it up to a nurse that's frustrated and dealing with a crap situation. It's like asking a SrA or A1C how to win in Afghanistan, or how to deal with Russia and China-they'll have an option, but maybe it's not so great or realistic. It's an interesting question to work through (my wife is a nurse who works at a clinic caring for mild COVID positive patients). On one hand, you don't want to turn away someone that needs medical care. On the other, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. What we settled on was all you can do is the best you can for the patients you get while protecting yourself, and hope that the infection rates stay slow enough that the medical system stays ahead of the need. But that's based on her employer right now providing proper PPE (N95 respirators, isolation gowns, googles, face shield, gloves) and continuing to do so. As soon as she doesn't feel safe at work, she's got the option to quit, as we'll be okay on my pay alone (though I doubt she would make that decision lightly). Oh, and there's been a registered nurse shortage for years, and patient loads have been going up even before the pandemic, and I'm guessing it hasn't gotten any better for the nurses.

No dude, it’s anecdotal. We are arguing whether it’s okay to be mediocre and just shoot for Vol 1/2 minimums like Joe1234 suggests or be the professional combat aviators that our country demands of us. I have zero doubt as to why our CAF bros scoff at us MAF dudes.

Sounds like a lack of passion, lack of duty, lack of responsibility, ok a whole bunch of lackey that needs to be driven out by leadership top to the bottom and Instructors are where the rubber meets the road. As a former instructor I relished the responsibility given to us to motivate and propagate that passion, etc above to maximize training events with vigor and realism with imaginative “what if” moments to our crews and not so much if, but when you find yourself needing to push the flight envelope/long duty periods during crisis/wartime events. (Nice run on sentence) Granted it was a lot easier right after 9/11 broadcasting this sh*t is for real and folks are counting on us - better yet you need to count on each other to stay alive. This is only from a former 141, but mostly my C17 perspective. Went from lackadaisical 2+ hour locals maybe some tanker time, etc. to 4,5,6+ and 8.3 being the longest which was definitely excessive and thought I could have been to Germany by now eating Schnitzel dammit; nevertheless we did double of everything (Tanker run, LLevel, Day Assaults, Grd Ops, pattern work, LLevel, back 2 tankers (dusk), NVG Assaults, Grd Ops, night pattern work dog tired) Definitely pinged the Higher Risk levels and we didn’t do it often, but it’s something when you prove everyone can do it and we weren’t even doing airdrop - kudos to you guys. Learned a lot from former SOLL II guys who pushed us on those extra parameters (legal for them/not for us) which was quite impressive and just more tricks in the bag. So much queep/extra duty/filling squares/CBTs, etc. pushed to the forefront when it needs to be sidelined for your pilot skills which need to be honed/sharpened. It’s not airline flying, you are the tip of the spear when something does rear it’s ugly head and lazy instructors are giving you the shaft. Judas Preist it’s not good when currency is overvalued and not proficiency which has been a cyclic issue. Commanders do your job, IP’s pass your skills, AC’s demand proficiency beyond up and downs, co-pilots push to fly. It’s sad when a few folks become seagulls and you gotta throw rocks at them to fly. I even see that in long haul in the commercial sector which is dumbfounding. Screw it, I want to fly and will steal legs when hesitation presents itself. I want to be up front, that is where the wizardry resides and I want more. “Always play a better tennis player when given the chance.” Apologies, it truly sucks when I hear Instructors don’t give a $h*t. No cents given, just common sense as you all understand. Thanks for the time.

Desk pop? Desk pop.

Whoops!

ADMIN NOTE: Thanks for the info, I sent him a message about it. It will be resolved.

I should have quoted the relevant posts. Pooter posted something about letting religious people gather so natural selection could take its course. Homestar calls him out. PooterBilbo defends by saying, "No, I said.." Not that it matters. Just odd.

I get the whole "If the minimum wasn't good enough, it wouldn't be the minimum" attitude...but that's usually what you tell yourself when you don't do very well. Personally, I don't want to fly with aviators that want to do the bare minimum at flying. (CBTs, queep, etc?---sure min/max perform that and get back to your real job!...but your actual job? Shouldn't you be really damn good at that?)

Are we really arguing whether getting vectors to final or not makes you a good IP? Forget that whole mission part in the middle...

Yes, and that’s what I’m saying is the problem. I’m sure it varies by community or squadron in the MAF, but that is the problem. Again, zero qualms against those who want to serve their commitment and head to Delta, I’m 50/50 and don’t blame a soul for heading off to greener pastures. But while we are here in the Air Force, we have a professional duty to be better than the “vectors to an ILS.” Oh btw, I place 100% of the blame on big AMC and the years of queep and careerism that’s fostered this culture, not my bros.

This is from my own social media and is written by a friend’s girlfriend who is a nurse. She wants all protesters to not only be arrested for protesting but also be prohibited from receiving medical care. Yikes was my only reaction. Pretty scary thoughts running through the heads of normal citizens in this country right now.

For all the smoke and mirrors and “changes” to the system, this is really what it always boils down to. If you’re able to get that DP as an APZ major, looking at past statistics, you’ll be extremely competitive. May the odds be ever in your favor!

no it's not "The logic goes something like this: any and all measures we take to prevent community transmission are justifiable because they will prevent infections and therefore prevent deaths among these vulnerable groups. In a medical sense this is irrefutable, but the underlying assumption of this logic is that the onus on the individual to protect themselves should be almost totally removed in favor of controlling the behavior of everyone, no matter how susceptible they may be. Some unsavory individuals [POOTER] prefer to make it personal and equate any resistance to an indefinite period of social isolation as wishing death upon those who are least likely to be able to fight the virus." BINGO! https://spectator.us/coronavirus-lockdowns-cowardice/

So, not only did the old SECNAV quit his job, possibly get COVID, but he's also terrible at math?

Actually the USAF screwed this one up. They awarded Northrop Grumman bonus points for additional AR offload beyond the contractual minimum but that extra wasn't supposed to be scored per the contract, right or wrong. In Boeing's defense, they would have offered up a 777-based tanker since it would be able to offload more fuel. The GAO agreed with Boeing and the rest is history.

I'm driving with the daughter not too long ago, she states that she's in charge of music for the ride, and tries to plug in her device, but hits the CD/XM button. I have 5x "mix tape" CDs in there from eons ago and we start hearing some ZZ Top. What starts out as "What's this?" finally ends with me trying to explain what a 10-12 song mix tape is/was. When we got got home, I had to show her the clip from High Fidelity on rules for making a mix tape. PS, for the next song, The Cranberries "Zombie" she goes, ooooh, I know this one, its by (some unknown name), but why is a girl singing it? Tried to explain why too many artists these days take a song, slow it down, and sing it all raspy and moody. Then gave her the Cranberries CD to listen, but she wondered how she was going to listen to them on her device. MP3s I answered. I tried to explain those. In the end, I concluded I'm a dinosaur, but when the XM satellite blows up, and Spotify and Pandora go offline, I have thousands of MP3s, CDs, and old cassettes to keep me company. "Like that'll ever happen" she says. I asked when was the last time she had coffee in a Starbucks!

that’s correct on the bottom line. 1/1 and 2/7 Majs. The number 1 Major being already selected for O-5.

You will absolutely get picked up.

In the words of The Dude, "yeah well, that's just, like, your opinion, man". I appreciate that you have your opinions on what our professional duty consists of, but so does stan eval, safety, the DO, the commander, the wing king, the MAJCOM, and so forth. And that battle has already been fought, the result being the MDS vol 1/2. Anything above that is technique, and I hope you're making that clear to the guys you're instructing after preaching about professional duty. Personally I like instructing, and I'll advocate for going above the minimum, but if a guy wants to get vectors for the ILS and then speed off to the airlines, that's entirely their prerogative and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

I didn't "suggest" anything, I'm just stating the facts. The vol 1/2 minimums ARE what our country demands of us. That's what is required of a professional combat aviator. And going above those minimums is purely technique. If you want to advocate your techniques and opinions, then fine, make a persuasive argument to pilots you fly with. But, it's bullshit to imply that meeting the standard isn't acceptable, when it actually is. And even more bullshit to get pissed off at other pilots for not meeting whatever arbitrary standard of professionalism you've cooked up in your mind.

No, I said they should be allowed to do that if they want to. On the condition it wouldn't affect other people. It's not religious bigotry. I'll say the same about the throngs of Florida beach goers yesterday, people who throw coronavirus parties, and anyone else who chooses to congregate in large groups during a pandemic. Doing things that increase your probability of death, or an inability to adapt (behaviors in this case) are the drivers of natural selection. I'm sorry that offends some people.

I'm OK with this, gotta clean out that gene pool!

How'd you conflate politics with having common sense? Not happy with anyone dying but if people are going to willfully flaunt rules designed to protect lives, then I'm ok if they end up paying the price for it.