FourFans

That's awesome! Not a single tube of shame!

Fully agree. What I'm curious about is after hostilities begin, what then? I don't see a conflict over Taiwan that doesn't expand after hostilities begin. Even if China is 100% successful in taking the island back (which I highly doubt), I don't see a scenario where the waves they make in doing so don't extend farther and result in consequences from Afghanistan to Japan. This is precisely how wars of conquest in Asia have proceeded in the past: Once the army is assembled, just keep going until defeat or complete exhaustion of the army. 'When holding a hammer, everything look like a nail' holds true in Asia. In some ways China's biggest threat is DISassembly of a massive army. All those men with training and nothing do. In that regard, Xi is almost a mitigating factor, because I have no doubt he actually does have a plan. An overthrowing mob wouldn't.

The question I'm beginning to ponder: Is a China instigated war scarier with Xi at the helm, or whomever comes after him? Imagine a world in a year or so where Xi is no longer in power, and China still decides to go to war... Echos of Russia turning into the USSR, or possibly France's revolution turning into a Napoleon led war machine...

It seriously feels like about every 18-24 months or so over the past decade DC spouts off with "UFOs are real, shiny object, look over here!"

Please. We Need To Move This Thread Along

This one. Zero stars. Do not recommend. IYKYK Definitely not the child. You're a little weird bro.

...like -135 level genius? ...or actual genius? Risk aversion and that community seem...well...tight with each other. Not seeing how a -135 guy in a think tank = good strategic analysis of displacement of ground forces. Not saying it can't happen, but the correlation there seems odd. JTT is really intelligent too, and I would not have followed him into combat... Just sayin'.

Big difference, he quite literally put his own skin on the line. I say let him keep it.

Based on Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden? 20 years or so.

Seriously. Can't believe Maduro thought he'd make it out unscathed.

No one told the C-130 community that. That RTM pie gets bigger and bigger every time someone invents a new strap-on tech for crews to play with until they find a use for it.

I'm sure most of the parts are the same. Most of the body panels are gray, so I'm sure they're interchangeable. Say, how do you think the A-10 will do with afterburning motors?

Getting through the strait IS a short trip...

Nope. That image is ridiculous. I really hope that's a parady of some sort. If not, his narcissism has hit a new high (or low...). There's has to be a backstory to that absurdity. That looks like a painting from a boomer grandmother about her kid.

Seriously. We need that "what the captain means" guy to be the press secretary for Trump! Love the fact that "The Captain" was actually a Colonel. Sidebar checklist complete. Back to the irrational ranting that will change nothing and only inflame the emotional state of the ranters.

You do realize your inane circular logic and inability to employ critical thinking concerning ideas you don't like is one of the primary reasons this thread is the way is, right? Like a boomer complaining about how much the generation they raised and crafted sucks. The acoustics in your head must be breathtaking. Then again, this is the Iran Thread. None of this makes sense.

Second that notion. But the times change constantly. If your DO is worth his salt, he should be able to help read the terrain for you and give good advice. If not the DO, the ADOs should have an ok feel for it. Historically though, no. If you did an all flying 6-month deployment, the quantity of flying should show up in air medals and AAMs. The promotion boards are relatively good at recognizing work that's been put in.

You're not missing them, you're choosing to ignore them. Nothing about the 800 US service members Iran has directly been involved in killing over the past 20 years? Nothing about the active approve of EVERY GULF STATE...you know the neighbors who've had to put up with Iran's BS for the past 50 years? Nothing about the 10's of thousands of Iranian civilians killed for protesting before we showed up? Na, just focus of...let's see...not the US border...not the worldwide problem with Islamic immigrants that was enraged by Iran...not the fact the US doesn't need oil from the gulf...oh yeah...gas prices will be the metric of the day that makes your argument seem right. I'm sure you've got all the classified intel that went into all our actions and a full understanding of the big picture and you're not just emo raging like a toddler. Yeah, this process has never steered you wrong. Keep up the well investigated and perfectly justified raging. I'm sure that will help heal the divides in our country. Can we get a rational argument for once instead of the standard "everything Trump does is bad". Literally NO ONE here actually likes the guy wholesale. Some of us have realized we DO have to deal with the policies and actions, so let's make the best of it.

Opening apertures has been the A-10's thing for a while...

It's....transitioning?

All of Europe just instinctively flinched...

Yes. Using little birds makes total sense. Fast, stealthy, reliable, expendable. Looking for one dude is way easier with four of those instead of the flying freight train that is the MV-22 and the overcaffeinated hyper-violent TRAP team that's on it.

Nope. Very simple. Been doing it for a long time.