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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.

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

Maybe it's because I don't watch any major news outlets...in fact it probably is precisely because of that...I haven't heard the above said even once. Have you considered that maybe you're allowing yourself to get jacked around by the media outrage coupled with the active disinformation that accompanies all armed conflicts? I'll grant that Trump is a loose cannon when he's in the media spotlight, which I think makes everything worse. I won't rule out the possibility that he INTENDS to be a loose cannon when in the media spotlight, but that doesn't really matter. In any case, spare the outrage and acting like you see something no one else does. There's already enough whiplash going around. Send your letters to congress and the president when the 82nd is actually ordered to invade. (which btw, I've already started drafting now that they've been given a WARNORD to deploy. Not happy about that)

Russia and China were well aware that our military is dope before we showed it off yet again. This isn’t some “oh shit” moment for them. They’re patiently watching, collecting valuable intel, and they’re celebrating that every JASSM, MOP, TLAM, PrSM, and high end interceptor missile used against Iran is one less we have for an eventual fight with them. We moved CSGs, marines, fighter squadrons, patriot and THAAD batteries, and countless weapons from other AORs to the Middle East and I’m supposed to believe this makes our force posture toward China stronger?! Our resources are vast, but not infinite, and everything you expend against a second rate regional power is stuff you won’t have to fight against the big dog. Also agreed, Iran with a nuke is not a good thing, but as I posted earlier, our own intelligence community assessed they were not trying to build one as recently as this past year. Which I guess is just an inconvenient fact that we’re gonna continue to gloss over. Then we “obliterated their nuclear program” in midnight hammer but now suddenly there’s an imminent nuclear threat of the bomb we already assessed they weren’t making, then “obliterated” … So what the fuck are we even talking about? This is all boomer GWOT Fox News alarmism. “IF WE DONT ACT NOW THEYRE GONNA NUKE TEL AVIV OR NYC NEXT WEEK.” How do you guys not see this is just the same old script the establishment uses to sell every war?

No. They really aren't. They're happy to see us step on our crank, but they're also very not happy to see how lethal our forces can be when partially unleashed. Russia in particular is very unhappy with the results of their own air and EW defenses. China, well, best indications are that China's leadership doesn't actually comprehend what our absolute and lightning fast decimation of Iran's defenses really means for their Taiwan plans. I'm willing to bet the rank-and-file PLA get's it, but the one-man command structure probably doesn't. Is the US stepping in it right now? Yup. Is it really hurting our strategic capabilities? Not unless we commit conventional ground troops.

ELT

Talking with a controller friend, it's not all that uncommon for that time of night. Technically two controllers "on duty," with one off status resting while one controls the entire show. I know I've been at the busy early morning push in EWR and we couldn't raise anyone on clearance for a full route clearance. Jumped over the ground and the controller apologized, "I'm the only one here right now." Dude was reading full route clearance after full route clearance, then asking guys to read back only their squawk, because he was busty issuing taxi clearances. I assume he was issuing T/O and LND clearances as well, but I wasn't on that freq. Our controller staffing hasn't recovered from the hiring freeze during rona, among other reasons... I still have no idea why they won't accept military controllers who over >30, seems like they're leaving out some qualified candidates. Relatively small pool, but seems like a terrible policy with the current shortages.

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.

Was landing FA was thrown 330 feet from aircraft and survived with only broken leg.