nsplayr

🫡 you too bud

I have given lengthy, insanely lengthy, explanations and justifications for my views on numerous political and non political topics over literally 15+ years posting here. If this is what you take away, it’s more proof that it was all a massive waste of time! Thank you for confirming my belief that this is all a bad habit that we’d all be better off doing less of. The truth is my beliefs have changed over time just like anyone else, but also that my values remain relatively stable and those values lead me to overwhelmingly support liberal, Democratic policies rather than ones proposed by the conservatives, libertarians, socialists, etc. Believe it or not that’s a perfectly reasonable POV to have, just like it’s perfectly reasonable to be 69% consistently conservative GOP, libertarian, or grouchy contrarian and “politically homeless” like most of y’all here are. Also believe it or not all of this type of conversation is much more effectively had in person. It works so much better when talking to my friends of all political stripes in person, over a late night shift or a beer. As you pointed out, too many people are miserable assholes online even more so than in real life. I try not to be too often, but hey, sometimes it’s hard (sts). My resolution, although it hasn’t always been kept, is to stop typing political stuff here and to take those thoughts to places where they’re more productively heard and where I can better appreciate other peoples points of view - in person. Or just to STFU and talk about normal stuff like cars, airplanes, kids, sports, etc. Politics is a new national pastime 24/7/364 and honestly the whole country is worse off for it. Back to step 1 on my BO.net AA journey, “I am powerless over my desire to talk politics with you miserable bastards here, and that waste of time and effort has become unmanageable.” 🤣

Good thing you’re not a mil officer then! You seem to genuinely not like America very much. No mention that Russians have no rights under Putin other than what he allows. The brazen murders around the globe. Invading neighboring countries, etc. 🇺🇸 I for one find is to be the good guys the vast majority of the time despite our faults and I have hope for an even better future. I plan to work toward that rather than wallow in our faults and apologize for enemies. To each his own I guess!

Hold on, let me check JuannaBlowMe.net for the latest “unfiltered truth data” from the battlefield… Or maybe there’s another 4 hour podcast with 3 blurry guys from Cyprus that has some intel I’m not seeing at work? F off man, this is not a debate worth having with you Chang. I hope you can pay for your next set of knee pads in rubles once your current set wears out.

Look, just because I’m a terrible addict doesn’t mean I can’t tell you that crack is bad. You are 96.9% likely not convincing anyone of anything who didn’t already agree with you. You’re also, IMHO, being both a weird contrarian AND a useful idiot for clear Russian IO propaganda, but that’s just my opinion. I admittedly haven’t read your entire library and carefully parsed the facts from the BS. And I don’t plan to. There is absolutely room for debate on how, when, why and how much we should support Ukraine’s continued fight against the Russian invasion vs other possible policies we might choose instead. But not if the opening argument for that proposed policy change is based on what you heard on the PutinTV.net podcast, that’s just not gonna pass muster in this forum of what should be relatively informed mil personnel, nor should it. Love you too though 😘

My man, I say this with more experience than 69% of the people here...you abso-fucking-lutely are wasting your time here. I would know!

Saying RT is the same as privately-owned US news outlets working with the government at times is laughable. Especially from a fellow military officer. This is exactly the point of view Russia would like you to have! So well done there. Reminds me of the video below. While Trump is not technically wrong from a very cynical POV, the worldview is wrong IMHO in that in puts the U.S. government on the same morally equivalent ground as the Russian government, and again, as a mil officer I sincerely hope you don’t actually believe that!

Funny enough that’s a BO.net specialty! 🤣

They really missed an opportunity to say "Britain's Greatest Penis," I think that would have been better 🍆

Also gotta take my own advice...

Given what you meant, this is a funny typo 😅

We're all better informed by listening to Duran Duran than to reading straight-from-the-source Russian propaganda like The Duran. Agree with helping Ukraine, disagree with doing that, that's all fine; that particular source of "information" is incredibly bad. It's unmitigated BS and propaganda designed to entice Westerners to support pro-Russian policies. Side note: IDK how some of you guys even watch 2+ hour long video podcasts where it's just 2-4 blurry guys babbling on and S-ing each other's intellectual D-s the whole time. It's literally the most mind-numbing thing I've ever encountered. Here's a recommendation for what to spend your time with tonight:

The incentive structure is off in non-ops-oriented units & work areas. They gain nothing from the mission going successfully or going at all. Hell, they may only be vaguely aware at best of what the mission of their installation even is. What inventive do they have to bend the rules, expedite, hell, even follow their own rules to ensure the mission gets done? Very little unfortunately. Heck, I can say the same thing in some ways even for Ops. Too often your OPR / standing in the squadron just assumes everyone is relatively equally competent at the mission so, "Tell me what else you've done lately?" Shop work and extraneous bullshit > flying prowess in most units in my experience, even some good ones. Occasionally there's a no-shitter mission where things have to happen right or people die and then you get a small glimpse into who can actually fucking hack it and who, despite potentially being rated highly on paper, cannot.

Y’all keep responding to this dude on all his burners and I’m still wondering why…

Oooohh scary! You know who has two thumbs owns Alphabet shares through Vanguard? This guy 😎 I must really be near the inner-most rings of power, in that same all-powerful Vanguard account I also own shares in 499 other large American companies! Tune in next week when I explain how I amassed this power and how you might be able to learn the truth too. #tinfoil

Ok dude, this is why I retired from this stuff. I’m not interested in these primarily political debates online anymore. What are you hoping to achieve here? Believe what you want. I’ll keep doing my thing in my unit and you can keep doing yours wherever that may be; we’re good over here 🤙

I disagree. I mean, keep an open mind obviously to changing circumstances, but I've had plenty of good commanders, leaders, and fellow service members who I'm pretty sure vote straight ticket one way or the other. Would you feel the same way about other things? What about professed and vocal Christians? Or atheists? Or vegans? Or Crossfitters? IMHO having strong and consistent opinions and preferences on something should not make you "exempt from command." Command should be entrusted to those who can best execute the mission, lead people, manage resources, and improve their units...damn those sounds familiar...😁 I hear ya here and sort of agree. The office is not the right place for politics, especially when it comes to commenting on your current chain of command. That said, the best Commander and leader I ever served under was a huge Trump fan and everyone knew it. The guy just loved Trump; obviously I do not. BUT, he was an awesome leader and I'd follow him anywhere...except in the voting booth I guess! One of my current favorite SNCO leaders in my unit is also a well-known Trump fan, and again, he's just a great leader of people, takes care of his airmen, is good in the seat, manages programs well, instructs well, great character and family, the total package. I'm proud to be on any team he is on, politics aside. The first sentence isn't accurate. Not willing to debate it though - see my retirement post from arguing about politics. I think my unit handles any DEI issues well, but then again we're like an ~85% white male Guard unit in the South and I'm a southern white male, so perhaps there are issues I'm not seeing. IMHO our unit is well led, lethal at executing the mission, and seems to manage resources & morale well, hard to complain too much. DEI is about the 69th most important thing I worry about at work. Yes. See above though. If it's a political discussion primarily, I'm not willing to bang my head against the wall anymore. If you wanna talk renewable energy, EVs, solar, etc. I'd love to. I also live my values in this regard especially - I have solar on my house, batteries in the garage, and we have exclusively electric vehicles now. It's great! Let's take it offline or to another thread if you'd like. Also FWIW Germany is far from the most advanced country when it comes to renewable energy. They weren't before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and they certainly aren't after it. I don't think anyone has ever claimed that other than maybe you. I'm not sure I've ever said I was a "hard over Democrat." The only thing I'm "hard over" these days is BQZip's mom. I agree that being a hyper-partisan and vocal-about-it military officer is a bad idea, no matter what your particular politics are. I'm not, and the big Trump fans I know in my unit aren't either. We're too busy killing the enemy and figuring out how to keep everyone paid and happy to do more politically at work than typical aircrew banter.

If you're still under the age cap (seems like you are), you could go active duty. Otherwise the above advice is good - show up multiple drill weekends in a row at your target units. Ask if you can do that, don't just wait to be invited. Bring some beer. Open your aperture too if you're willing to fly anything. Rush heavy units as well as fighters. And I hate to say it but you could consider flying Navy too; at least talk to a semen recruiter. Good luck!

I am in charge of both, thanks 😃 Do you seriously think that Democrats are not in the military or in other positions of authority? New flash, people of all political stripes serve and do so well. My politics has little to do with my service in uniform. A fellow pilot on my team is a HUGE Trump fan and we joke about it all the time, but we work great together. He gives me shit, I give him shit, we fly the mission, etc. We'll be checking different boxes on election day 2024, but pretty much every other day we're fully aligned on killing our nation's enemies and protecting it's friends & interests with airpower. If that seems weird or foreign to you, I in turn hope that you are retired. TYFYS.

Re-sharing these gems:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/13/iran-israel-drone-missile-attack/ If we need to launch a "massive drone attack" against IRGC-affilated bad dudes in response, I volunteer to take flight lead. I know a ton of good dudes & dudettes who can fill out the strike package 🇺🇸

Agree on Sullivan and I like Blinken as well. Yellen is excellent at Treasury, she never should have been replaced at the Fed, although Powell is also good...their policies & philosophy seem very similar. Haaland and Vilsack are quiet A- players in their jobs. Linda Thomas-Greenfield is great at the UN. Overall some hits and some misses, as usual. Hoping that a second term brings some fresh faces in some key positions!

Not a bad list (disagree about Carson but YMMV), but low-key Mnuchin was the best senior Trump Admin official. And I was highly skeptical of him when he was nominated! Dan Coats as DNI was also good IMHO. Mnuchin also took one of the best cartoon-villain pictures of all time haha.