egochecks

Thanks, man. I've been debating getting a subscription for months now and was just wondering if they did anything for the military. This is even better than I had hoped. I appreciate the info. As far as this article on Syria goes, I keep thinking about the report they did awhile back on the effectiveness of NK's strategy. Essentially, NK knows how to turn up just the right amount of plausible crazy to have an effect larger than they can actually back or sustain. Now with Syria Friedman made the statement that Obama needs to back his bluff so that he doesn't appear weak to Iran and NK. Us taking action in Syria because we're afraid of what Iran and NK thinks feels like the tail wagging the dog and just sets a precedence of one of them being able to push our buttons and paint us into a corner. The thought of letting either one of those countries even remotely dictate (obviously they influence) our decisions is just backwards to me. I think Assad needs to be held accountable but I think we need to slow roll this and get everyone (at least most or many here at home) on board. I'm sure there are fifty members here who can show me the errors of my over simplistic assessment so I'll learn. But seriously, thanks for the info. -Ego

"<a href="http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/obamas-bluff">Obama's Bluff</a> is republished with permission of Stratfor."

Godspeed to an AF legend. And I'm with you, Discus, I thought Welsh's tribute was well done.

M2, the purse snatcher and tennis shot are too good. -- Today's hottest in anti-drone fashion. http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2013/mar/31/anti-drone-hoodie-big-brother

Luc was one of the three IP's on my tweet x- country. Without doubt one of the most unselfish bro's I have ever known.Had his camera with him everyday. Him Him. Rest in peace, Luc and Serene be proud.

Impossible to quantify the positive impact he's had on the services and those whom he enabled to chase their dreams, myself absolutely included. Baseops is a legacy if ever I've seen one. I hope his family knows the impact he's had. I didn't know he was so young. A sad loss. Him him.

It's been good. Bro level rather than UPTish (at least on the 38 side). Just need to stay on top of your syllabus and make things happen. 38's have ramped up which means BIT studs have ramped up as well and you'll be competing in the same pool for sorties. This has been my experience at CBM but I talked to a bro at Vance and he said his syllabus is moving a little more quickly. However, to the point of your question, it's bro level treatment all around.

Cap 10, thanks for the info. Spoo, thanks for the memorial.

Sad day. He was my IP in tweets, my dollar ride IP, and damn good pilot and instructor. He will without a doubt be missed by many. My prayers are with his family. RIP, brother.

I don't believe you can truly or fully divorce anyone from their core beliefs/motivations (at any time in life let alone when someone fills a position in an institution) nor should you try. Saying leave religious/spiritual beliefs "out of work/what you do" (the AF, government, etc.) has seeming wisdom but it's not going to be the cause of an objective/un-biased/mutually-respective workplace. Somewhere you just have to trust that regardless of your CC's or your leadership's or your subordinate's core beliefs they're going to recognize the possible inherent difficulties in having beliefs that may be contrary to another's (whether atheist or theist) and be able to account for those biases and make the objective judgments they've sworn to make. You can't expect someone's decision not to be "colored" by who they are but you can expect them to keep their prejudices from negatively affecting how they make decisions with regard to others. For me it's similar to the "race" discussion. People have different colored skin and are culturally different. It's a fact. Acting like "you can't say that" or acknowledge that fact is ridiculous. There are many positive aspects of that fact and they should be embraced not consciously and forcefully ignored (as if that was possible). What's unacceptable is assigning negative judgments to those same facts and then allowing one's prejudice to negatively affect one's behavior or decision making. I don't think there's anything wrong with the CC being explicit in making known his beliefs, however, I can see how sharing them in this way at his CC call, given subordinate expectations when being told what the CC's expectations are, can be seen as going too far in the wrong forum. I would think this should/could/would be chalked up to a bad decision or lack of a recognition of the effect his words may have had on the subordinates in his audience. At the same time, I can see how it could be seen that that may have been just his intention and thus the consternation. However, I've never personally met the General and I wouldn't feel right passing judgment on his motives. Edit: Spell checker like a mo' fo' & an idiom correction.

Speedy & Tunes, Thanks.

For me personally, to C-5's. For the bigger picture, there's no consideration of the "tactical" requirements of the follow on. It's simply the last a/c flown which I'm assuming makes the most sense in time required for familiarization.

Thanks, man, and wilco.

Looks like I'm headed to Dover. Don't start FTU until early FY13 (Nov 2012 at the very earliest) so I don't expect to be at Dover until Spring/Summer of 2013. Looking forward to flying the M. Tunes, sending a PM your way. -Ego

Those of us returning to fly got our training dates and locations yesterday. Looks like the POC at AFPC did a great job for all of us and it's very appreciated. Looking at the list I would say most guys (if not all) got their base of choice. Here are some of the details for those interested. First guys will begin training (either H2O, SERE, or Refresher) in March with first PCS's taking place as early as Jun and the last of us (C-5 guys) PCS'g most likely around this time next year. Refresher course will be prior Phase 3 a/c. T-38 course will be roughly 10 weeks, Tones roughly 7 weeks, and the two T-44 guys will tentatively spin up in the T-6 for roughly 7 weeks. Refresher training will take place at the various UPT bases (Vance, Laughlin, and Columbus) throughout the year. Knowing now that we'll be spinning up at the UPT bases are there any IP's/FAIP's that have been a part of setting up the Refresher course who have any gouge or a general overview of how the training's going to look? If so, any info would be appreciated. Thanks. -Ego