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It was just the Straight of Muz until your mom showed up.

All good now>

Now do Iran...

It has been outed as gay. Edit: The Gay of Hormuz.

Because as an officer, it is quite literally his job to understand the legality of orders before carrying them out. One of the unique and saving graces of the US military: The officers swear no allegiance to the president, but rather to the constitution, and specifically in the oath, are required to follow lawful orders.

Pentagon - “Aircraft was damaged.”

Why does anyone think this is some sort of surprise. Seriously I sometimes wonder if some of you really aren't just random civilians that found this forum. Or has the military gotten so pathetic that the members have forgotten exactly how a war works? People die. Things get blown up. Planes crash and economies get hit. Iran needed to be dealt with. It was never going to be easier to deal with them than shortly after they got their dick kicked in following October 7th. So we could have waited like a lot of you seem to wish we had, and lost more planes in people when we inevitably had to clean up this mess. Or we could just done it now. I'm glad we're doing it now. I would rather not wait until we rationalize ourselves into irrelevance like Europe has.

come on now...who could've possibly guessed Iran would attack ships in the Hormuz?! 😂

Because as we played at ACE for the past decade and laughed as Russia got hundreds of strategic assets destroyed by $100 UAVs it turns out that no one learned shit. This is quite literally our version of a "3 day special military operation." Maybe it wasn't the smartest move to appoint a part timer Major to lead the dod.

I've gotten into the habit of twisting my entire body towards the window and looking as far back over the wing as I can when visually clearing. I find that the physical movement makes the action take approximately 2 to 3 seconds as opposed to maybe half a second just quickly turning my head in that direction and back. Makes it a lot harder to "pencil whip" the act and miss something because my mind is on another task. Basically the same idea as pointing to or physically touching the altitude window when confirming an altitude clearance. Makes it a lot harder to miss any errors when you add an exaggerated physical component.

Well survived where flying dreams go to die (MFS) for the second time. Im glad I did my FC1 two years ago cuz my eyes arent getting any better. Hoping whatever my assignment is its soon. Had a handful of the UCT and OTS reclass folks here as well.

No, I don't think that would work. But I think you're close. This idea of yours needs to happen where the major airline hubs are. That's where you could find cfis with military experience and a general willingness to fly for money. I can think of a lot of guys at American Airlines who would love to moonlight teaching the next generation, as long as it didn't take away from their lives in the same way that all the other Air Force /guard/reserve duties do. Pay for a retired or separated Air Force pilot working at the airlines to get their CFII, and then give them a decent "per day" pay for showing up and flying two or three student rides. Do it like the Air Force academy liaison program and allow them to accrue time towards retirement, but no official Air Force pay. You get the idea. That would end up being wildly cheaper than active duty pilots at an active duty base teaching, but you could get that military-esque training. Just a thought

Huh? 140Million barrels of Iranian oil are stranded at sea. the sanctions are to bring that oil to market. It is useless to engage the trolls, there is no discussion because they are single minded in their hate. Most of us have repeatedly said we don't like many things trump but he has done good things...no one is perfect, most certainly not our politicians. I saw what was in my opinion both good and bad with Biden/Obama/Bush/Clinton and was intellectually honest to admit those things. As most on this forum are in or were in the profession of arms it is stunning to find zero value in degrading and hopefully removing the single biggest purveyor of death and instability in the Middle East. The number of American lives lost or changed forever thanks to Iran should never be forgotten. If there is some short-term pain at the pump/economy to perhaps stabilize the Middle East and remove the biggest exporters of terror in the world, then I most certainly approve. Time will tell but at this point trying something different appears to be better than doing the same old thing like flying $1.6 billion in cash to Iran.

Oil pissing contest aside, Iran has brought death, destruction, and/or destabilization to most of the world for many decades. They are, and have been, wildly dangerous for a long time. It’s a failure that nothing with teeth behind it had been done about it decades ago. So while execution is never perfect, and there are valid critiques, it’s asinine to act like the status quo (or similar version) was doing just fine. War is ugly and unwanted, but it will continue to be necessary and unavoidable for the rest of human existence on this planet.

Some of us believe that expensive gas and unstable markets are worth it to move the pieces on the board for the inevitable war with China. Apparently some of the Trump admin, including Trump himself, agrees. I'll judge the effort once it's done, or at least a few months in, but if it works, then yeah, easily worth it. Seriously though, noble deaths? Who's the child now? We all signed up to die for causes that were too big for us to understand as 18 years olds. Now you should know better.

Agreed. The phrasing of the War Powers Act is pretty vague and I think that was intentional. While obviously not the same thing, when a contract is written vaguely, the wiggle room is generally interpreted more liberally towards the party that did not write the contract, or so my lawyer told me. Since Congress wrote the War Powers Act and did so in vague language, it seems reasonable for the Executive to be able to use all the wiggle room Congress seems to have intentionally given. As far as Constitutional questions, the modern Federal government has gone so far beyond the Constitution that it can't even be seen in the rear view mirror. It would be comical to suddenly draw a WAY more restrictive line when it comes to the Commander-in-Chief employing the military. Individual officers must be able to recognize and not obey illegal orders. Extending that same responsibility to the entire war seems to be a bit of a stretch to me. If the President ordered the invasion of Bermuda because he said he wants a better vacation home, that would be different, but this is a war on a country that has directly caused American deaths. An officer saying that's illegal because it's been XX days and therefore in his mind should have Congressional approval seems absurd.

Take away (or at least reduce to max extent feasible) Iran’s ability to project any kind of influence, power, and/or destruction outside of their own borders.

Recent satellite images show the strait of Hormuz isn’t straight at all.

I’m not getting the alarmism from the media.. it’s from your post: “It is completely conceivable they would strike us, Israel or Europe first with a nuclear weapon in an unattributable manner.“ No it’s actually not. Why do you just take that as a given? North Korea has nukes now, why haven’t they funneled one to a terror organization and blown up Seoul or Tokyo or NYC? Because it would be obviously attributable.. you think if a nuke goes off in Tel Aviv and because the terrorists that hypothetically did it weren’t draped in Iranian flags it’s some giant mystery where they got it from? Did they get it from France? Of course it’s attributable. These regimes want the nukes as a deterrent and tool to ensure their own survival. You think they’d spend all that time and energy to make one and then give it away to some 3rd party who may or may not even set it off properly? You guys act like all these countries are lunatic isis-style suicidal head choppers but they actually spend most of their time acting in their own rational self interest. And the whole point is moot because our own intel community assessed they weren’t building a bomb but clearly we’re gonna keep ignoring that.. This hypothetical nuke situation is all just another GWOT WMD pretext for war and maybe you don’t watch Fox News but somehow the Mark Levin boomer talking points have filtered down to you through the algorithm. Netanyahu has been saying Iran is weeks/months from a nuke since the 1990s. You can find the compilations on YouTube.

There is a much bigger picture going on here and all actions point to neutering and cornering China in the long run. Russia is depleting its military on its own, Venezuela got the message, Cuba can’t turn their lights on and the Iranian regime will collapse. It’s fascinating watching nearly the entire Middle East come down on Iran. It wasn’t long ago when Iran held the cards via their proxies. The Middle East isn’t what it once was. Those of us that have been vacationing on the Air Force’s dime in the ME for a couple decades have seen the transformation. The most modern cities in the world are now in the Middle East. This war with Iran has been extremely uncomfortable to watch unfold. Servicemen and women have given their lives. The markets are getting crushed - although today looks promising. But, I’m ok with it understanding the bigger picture. This administration is tackling long lingering complex problems. It’s needed to be done for a very long time.

Updated

While I do agree with you, in theory, here are some argumentative points. If the Framers’ intent to limit the authority to exercise the military by the president/CinC, then they would’ve written the Constitution to do so. The main reason for Congress to declare war is due to the “power of the purse.” It took Congress until 1973 to create the War Powers Resolution, which one could argue is still vague outside of the president briefing Congress before troop deployment and submitting a report within 48 hours of a deployment. Congress does decide the will of the people, which one could argue since they haven’t done anything to amend the War Powers Resolution since it was signed into law or impeached and removed a president since the resolution was created, then the current construct seems to be supported by the majority of the people.

Appreciate this input. Legit question for all following: This has been framed as a limited engagement, therefore not requiring Congressional approval. Trump's made some comments on why that phrasing has been used, but I do wonder from the members of this board: When, in your opinion, does the timing under "limited operation" exceed executive authority and need to require Congressional approval? Would it be a time period (ex. >2 months), funding amount, assets utilized (ex. # of troops, or x number of MEFs/squadrons/carrier groups)? And/or is there a operation type (ground invasion, targeting power generation, etc.) which also leads this to requiring Congressional approval? Would a Kharg island invasion be a crossed line? For my part, this already exceeds a limited operation (I would consider Venezuela that), funding is well beyond what I consider within the bounds of law (not a lawyer). I could see a week as a limited operation as well, but would want more Congressional involvement even at that level.

I can promise you one KC-135 is not $240M.

The fact we started this with our strategic oil reserve at ~58% full (415/720+ million barrels) shows there was no forethought.

Summation of the last page: several people with not a lot of actual SA acting like they’ve got it all figured out. Par for the course I guess.

You are looking in the wrong place, Tomahawk is not the best game in town because they are old, outdated and EXPENSIVE ($2.5M-3.5M each). USAF in particular has shifted it's standoff munitions strategy and is finally putting their money where their mouth is. Multiple wargames focused on China showed the U.S> needs roughly 10X our current stocks to defeat/deter China They have three phase approach with a new class of "affordable, low-cost munitions”: the Extended Range Attack Munition, or ERAM, and two variants of the Family of Affordable Mass Munitions (FAMM). ERAM entered production just 14 months after the first contract was awarded. There are currently eight companies in flight test on the Low Cost Cruise Missile (LCCM), with Leidos (Black Arrow) and Anduril (Barracuda), leading the fight. LCCMs have a target price of $100kl-$200K thanks to 3D Printing. Lockheed Martin entered the fight late but they are making progress. The FAMM program was fully funded by the Big Beautiful Bill with $650M to acquire 3000 munitions. Audndril's approach is a family of cheap missiles. Smaller Barracuda M100 is slightly bigger than a Hellfire, can be launched by an Apache and has a range of 85NM. The M250 is about the same size as an AMRAAM and has a range of 200NM. The M500 has a range of 500NM with a 100lb warhead...basically a VERY cheap JASSM-ER. Black Arrow has entered its second year of flight test completing a CRADA with AFSOC which has successful launched multiple missiles out of an AC-130J. They can fit 90 in an MC-130J and the AFSOC commander has openly talked about launching them from the SkyRaider II. The idea is focused on China but has applications for other theaters. A flight of four Skyraiders can pop up from a dirt strip 500 miles away, launch 40 Black Arrows from an attack vector no one saw coming and disappear before the munitions even hit. A flight of four MC-130s can flood the straights with hundreds of cheap missiles to counter a threat. Finally changing dogmatic thinking, even if it was cost that forced them to do it. Aundril is well into flight test as well, this video is over a year old.

KEND 26-08AF F-35 x4 (3 Guard, 1 AD) F-22 F-16 F-15E T-38 FAIP

Seems like the Republicans in the Legislature also aren't happy with how it's going and/or the "objectives" we've been told. (https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/25/politics/iran-war-gop-lawmakers-trump-administration-briefing) Seems like an overall lack of planning for second and third order effects. Most here spent at least 20 years of GWOT, we know people die, things get broken, and the enemy gets a say. The lack of strategic preparation is...concerning. The President declaring victory already...concerning. The Sec Def crashing out at journalists because they're asking hard questions and not writing propaganda...concerning. But you wanna rah rah around the flag pole? You're in the minority (unless your MAGA) on this "limited operation" going into its second month.

I have no desire to be lumped in with ppl like dayman, but I'm getting concerned we didnt adequately prepare for contingencies (the straight being closed comes to mind). Not having a valid strategy and thought out plans for contingencies to accomplish an actual objective is my concern, and its not without reason based on the last 20 years. Holding judgement and trying to give the benefit of the doubt though.

100% disagree. This line of thought of "I gotta get there right now because its an emergency" is almost certainly a root cause of the pilots' deaths. All first responders should have the first duty to "do no harm" just like doctors. This is not the first time that a fire truck in a hurry has killed innocent people on at an American airport. Fire trucks do not have that poor of visibility and they can see more than the pilots can from the cockpit windows. The lights are a problem, but that should only make them more cautious, not less. Part of the emergency call on the red line is the nature of the emergency. The driver of the fire truck either knew or should have known that this was much more in the lines of an annoyance emergency than a plane on fire.

It would probably help to make the automated crossing and takeoff warning systems mandatory at such busy airports. They are one of my favorite inventions.

I was SCREAMED at on SATCOM by the JFAC himself (Moseley), for going below 10K in 2002 to get below weather and support a TIC.

Yeah, this is exactly the point. Except your contention that they aren't a bunch of irrational head choppers is mostly unsupported. They have repeatedly and continually acted in a way that is only rational if you truly believe the United States was never going to respond. As demonstrated over the past few weeks, they are powerless against us. And yet for decades they have targeted and slaughtered Americans whenever they could. In fact if you listen to the entire podcast Coleman covers a multitude of attacks that are clearly insane for the Iranians to have attempted. And yet they did. So yes, the evidence suggests that they are in fact irrational head choppers. And those irrational head choppers can never have a nuclear deterrent. So long as they are irrational head choppers, we must retain the ability to stomp them whenever their antics exceed our patience. Enriching uranium to 60% obviously indicates the desire for nuclear weapons. We need not wait any longer than that to act against those goals. We certainly don't need to wait until they are at some arbitrary point much closer to a nuclear capability. There is not another country on planet Earth that regularly conducts government proceedings after proclaiming "Death to America" loudly and publicly. Why people keep pretending that Iran is just like our other adversaries is a mystery to me.

That’s civil lawsuit against the cops and AI company is going to be sweet.

I don’t think we are getting sucked in as much as we didn’t have a choice. Iran having nuclear weapons is not acceptable in any scenario, it is different than NK, Pakistan or Turkey developing nukes. Not only would they still hold at risk the Strait of Hormuz, they would still command some of the largest oil reserves and now a military capability that effectively holds at bay or at risk the world. They would have the means to if not push us out of the ME effectively, severely limit our options, if they developed a nuclear weapons capability. They are completely capable of nuclear terror, feigning innocence or ignorance if a weapon was used. It is completely conceivable they would strike us, Israel or Europe first with a nuclear weapon in an unattributable manner. Russia and China may be enjoying seeing the USA get into a fight with Iran and I wouldn’t intervene if I were them but we are not them. We occupy a totally different role in this drama, they can and will do things that we won’t because they, the mafia regime running Russia or the cult of personality running China, are the bad guys for lack of a better term. These are countries that might poison you with radioactive materials if the leader doesn’t like you or assign you to be worked to death and steal your organs if they want to. We are not perfect and neither are our leaders but by any measure we are more good than bad. I don’t like the fact that we secure a world that a lot of preening, hypocritical assholes free ride on and enjoy the benefits of while not doing shit but it is preferable to a world where China controls micro chips, Iran controls or threatens half of the worlds oil supply and Russia has retaken Eastern Europe. They will use that leverage to push us out, choke our economy and weaken us in ways we are not really widely thinking of. Chinese diplomats in unguarded moments have told American diplomats they wish to deindustrialize the USA, to turn us into an agrarian nation that supplies China and is essentially a vassal to it. Fuck that. Iran is part of the strategy to defeat that, not only for us but the free world and allies, as fair weather friends as some of them might be. We all have bitter memories of the GWOT, other long term missions or actions taken in the ME, we can legitimately be wary but we must be open that force is required yet again. The Korean War happened only 5 years after WW2, I’m sure the public was not happy with another war after fighting in the most destructive conflict ever but history waits for no one and reality is utterly remorseless, either we fight our enemies or we let them take what they want of the world.

100% This is gonna get blown up into a controller/FAA manning issue (as it should) but a huge portion of the responsibility shared by the fire truck crew is going to be lost on most people. Nothing against our emergency response folks but anyone who’s been a pilot long enough knows they kinda blast around airfields with very little regard for clearances. In the few times where I have ground egressed a jet, my primary concern after getting out was not being hit by a firetruck. And they aren’t pilots so they’re not going to have the same mental picture we might have after listening to a tower freq for a minute or two. I hope this incident prompts more airfield ops training for emergency crews because in my experience their shenanigans on the airfield and generally garbage comms tend add more chaos to emergency situations than they alleviate.

One of my biggest issues with the current administration is their attacks on free press. We've all seen Trump's contempt for new organizations that attack him and while some of what they say is not true...the same goes for many things he says. There is a reason freedom of the press is in the First Amendment...the founders thought it was that important. As Edmund Burke stated, the Press is the 4th estate...a final check and balance outside the control of the government. Current efforts by this administration are horrific and I hope the courts continue to punch them in the face. For those not following the story below, Hegseth tried to limit which press organizations could freely roam the halls of the Pentagon...sounds odd but it has been going on for years and if you know anything about the Pentagon it is normal to see Barbara Star and others standing in line to get coffee or lunch down stairs. A federal Judge struct down previous restrictions so Hegseth is doubling down and moving EVERYONE outside...very ungood. The Pentagon Imposes New Restrictions on Journalists

Odd angle to see for the Firetruck but I am the only one that thinks the have some responsibility as well? I ALWAYS check final when cleared for takeoff and check both ways when cleared to cross.

Hopefully it was off the Grand canyon..

@FourFans and @Negat0ry , you guys are going after the "illegal orders" straw man pretty hard. You can let it go. 17D is questioning the legality of the entire operation based on a court-established timeline precedent which has been repeatedly used to side-step and violate the constitution for decades before you, me, or anyone else ever considered joining the military. Vietnam, Korea, Iraq 1, Iraq 2, Afghanistan, and so on. In precisely zero of these 'operations' did Congress ever declare war. Again, you can spare me the refrain to article 8. We can all read. Someone else did a good job drawing out the distinction for you: yes, you have a basis and duty to question the legality of orders like "drop a bomb on this mosque." That's not what 17D was doing. As a line officer, you're on pretty shaky ground the second you start engaging in constitutional lawyership and pontificating about who does or doesn't have the authority to deploy me. My intent was to underscore the hypocrisy of asking questions on this basis now, after swearing an oath rooted in the very precedent he now seems to be trying to overturn. You (we) all looked at the rules of the game before we started playing, decided they were satisfactory, and now that we're on the field, some of us have started questioning the rule book because a few are upset that there's a new head coach. That's what I'm calling out. That's the opposite of the officership I'm talking about. It's rooted in self-service, not service to the country. It points either at the lack of introspection someone had when they swore the oath, or a newly found distaste for the flavor of the month. Neither are very officer-like. Feel free to misread this yet again and continue white knighting for the constitution.

Anyone have any friends at Pendleton hocking secondhand ammo and anti-tank missiles? Asking for a friend…..

They would. I would consider it materially the same as parking a bunch of warships around Iran. At a certain point you have to accept the semantic limitations, and get to the point. And for me, the point is we should not take over Iran and attempt to transform it in the way we did Afghanistan or Iraq. Taking Kharg Island is about taking resources with strategic geopolitical consequences and applying pressure. Kind of like taking Maduro. Outside of starving the regime of money, it does nothing to give the Iranian people a better future, something that I consider their obligation, not ours.

Yeah @FourFans , no one is saying follow illegal orders, but thanks for the re-iteration of the oath. @17D_guy specifically cast this in light of this war being illegal because Congress hasn't authorized it. In other words, he has implied that the operation is de facto illegal since Congress hasn't, what, voted on it? That's what I'm dismissing out of hand. And in any case, if that's the approach he's going to take to this conflict, then my logical follow-up question for him is why didn't he resign at any other point in the last 20 years of wars this country has been fighting which congress didn't authorize? We've all had plenty of time to adjust to the new modern way of war, and if we didn't like it, we could have put our money where our mouth was and quit. Only now we're getting the constitutional scaries??? Put differently, it's the furthest thing from officership I can think of. He stated clearly that he doesn't think this is legal because Congress hasn't authorized it. In no way shape or form does Congress have to authorize military action. That is fully in the President's lane.

What’s important to remember about executive branch scope creep and abuse of power is that its only bad when the other side does it. When your own side does it, it’s just an unfortunate reality/status quo of the times we live in.

They were just pretending to be interested in inputs to keep up appearances Saw that multiple times in my mediocre career, soliciting suggestions/applications for a position/program when the selectee was already decided on or the COA was set. But do what you can and what is reasonable, career self-immolation is rarely the right choice for anyone but an O-5/6 or above and even then only at the right time. Yeah, it’s going a certain way but I would say that the Borg could be convinced that quality is worth it in the long run. Sufficient flight hours, good equipment in reasonable quantity to keep production steady, specialized advanced flight training. This isn’t rocket science.