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Grabby

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Posts posted by Grabby

  1. 35 minutes ago, Mark1 said:

    The relevance of statistics is this:  go to the COVID-19 thread and review all 150+ pages of posts.  If you'd like to focus the review, check out that last few where there's nobody left but the militant anti-vaxxers that wrapped their identities in this issue (because everybody else moved on with their life 2.5 years ago).  In the remaining echo chamber there's been a lot of 'dunking' going on by posting articles of anti-vax talking points with the insinuation that they've all been proven true.  Never mind the dubious 'studies' that lend credence to the point being made.  Never mind the dubious 'press' outfits latching on to them.  I'll grant, for the sake of this argument, that every single one of them is accurate.  The one thing you will never see is a rundown of comparative risk, because it blows any supposition they're trying to make out of the water.

     

    Dude, the reason the few of you "moved on with" your lives instead of talking about that absolute fiasco after the fact, is because you were dead ing wrong after screaming at the top of your lungs of how righteous you were.  Instead of admitting that your side was full of arrogant charlatans and trying to figure out how to ensure such a up doesn't occur in the near future, you high-tailed as fast as possible to save face.

    You deserve to be "dunked" on.  A lot.  It was a massive stain on modern society with long-lasting detrimental 1st and 2nd order effects.

    Also, are these dubious press outfits (who latch onto reports that further excoriate the people who demanded others get the vaccine) somehow worse than the ones who went off 24/7 for nearly 2 years about how the world was basically ending and everyone needed to trust the science? 

    GTFOH

    • Like 3
    • Thanks 3
    • Upvote 4
  2. I didn’t mean for any of this to be an indicator of how I felt during my time in.  I wasn’t upset while I was in.  I’m not upset now.  I was honestly pretty thrilled during my 12 years on AD.  And no one ever heard me say a single bad thing about our jet, ever.  Maybe I longed internally for a very different mission, but who ing cares.  I had a chance and it didn’t happen.  Boo hoo.
     

    Not loving your MWS can be kept close to your heart, or realized slowly after years pass.  I don’t love the airlines, but damned if I’m not the first to tell my fellow pilots how fortunate we are with a smile on my face, and I’m the first to suggest drinks and day trips while on the road.  Anything but a slam-clicker.

     

    I merely wanted to be transparent, on an anonymous forum, about my hindsight on if flying in the AF was worth it.  It took an enormous toll on my family and marriage.  I saw my son for, at best, 1/3 of his life while often flying empty jets across the ponds and in the AOR.  The 30 yo me didn’t care nearly as much as the gray haired me.  In retrospect I still feel fortunate and am grateful for the friendships, memories and ratings, but I have come to the conclusion that the AF definitely took a lot, and I probably would have gone a different route if I had to do it over.

     

    If that makes me toxic, I guess I’m toxic.  Judging oneself is never easy and rarely accurate.  I definitely felt like I was a solid bro who was always willing to push and smile while doing it.  I just felt like deep down it was not as fulfilling as I initially thought it was going to be.

     

    I’ll bow out to not clog the thread anymore, just felt like engaging when reading from strangers who don’t know me that I was not an asset but rather a detriment 

    • Like 1
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  3. 26 minutes ago, Standby said:

    Thanks for your service. That being said…it sounds like the AF is better off without you. 

    Possibly, but I think that’s arrogantly presumptuous of you to say.  

    I would be willing to bet there’s not a single person I served with who would think I had any pessimism or a poor attitude.  Quite the contrary. Additionally, I am grateful for my time in but age has brought a certain perspective, for me, that does not exist within your sounding booth.  I don’t think that warrants your need to make such a shitty personal jab.

     

     

    • Upvote 1
  4. Everyone will have their own take, but the only reason the flying was worth it for me was getting paid to build my time.  I loved UPT but rather despised flying the C-17.  So many bros loved it, so I’m sure many would disagree with my sentiment. Maybe I would have really enjoyed the CAF, but the absolutely ridiculous ops tempo and high % of flying in shitty places wasn’t, for me, the ideal way to spend my 20’s/30’s.  I make a great living flying as a civilian, but there are so many other routes out there.

    Did I fly with some great people?  Of course.  Did I fly missions that civilians will never get to experience?  Yep.  But my GF has travelled a metric shit ton with friends and co-workers, building meaningful memories, to consistently amazing locales while making WAY more than any mil pilot.  She’s as close with her friends as I was with my SQ mates.  

    It’s definitely opened my eyes to what’s available to smart, hard working people, and over the long run I feel like I would have had a significantly better work-life balance while becoming financially secure much earlier had I gone a different direction.  

  5. nsplayr,

    The reason there is not an equal gender split is because men and women are different.  We think different, we want different things and are attracted to different things.  I don't understand how this isn't clear to absolutely everyone, especially any adult regardless of political leanings.

    Why is it only certain professions that people decry an unequal ratio in?  

     

     

     

    • Upvote 1
  6. 24 minutes ago, Pooter said:

    That's a pretty pathetic sentiment. We are the most adaptable species on earth and you're saying we're going to be irreparably damaged by putting some cloth on our faces. You know our ancestors actually used to not have any cloth anywhere on their bodies?! But then we started wearing pants and shirts at some point. I wonder if the cavemen lamented the collective damaging of our psyches when that was implemented. 
     

    It is a small nuisance. So much so that multiple Asian cultures (specifically Japan and Korea) have been diligently masking for decades without grave social damage. And guess what, it helped them be more prepared for this pandemic where they have had significantly lower case and death rates than the western world. 


    The amount of assumptions and false equivalencies you made in one post is startling.

    Ignoring your condescending first paragraph, I have to ask if you’ve ever been to Japan or Korea?  Historically they didn’t wear masks en masse the way you implied.  At all.  
     

    Do you really think the reason they are healthier than us is because of a fabric mask?  

    Do you think it’s possible that not being a nation of fat asses is why they have lower fatality rates?  And perhaps that we test at ridiculous rates, even when we feel fine, is a contributing cause to case loads?

    • Upvote 5
  7. 3 hours ago, Pooter said:

    I just don't get the constant fascination with pinning this on China when in all likelihood our own NIH had a hand in funding the research that caused this too. And then they lied about it. 
     

     

    It was developed and then released from a Chinese laboratory.  In China.  Who would you pin it on?

    Are you getting your news from Chinese state-run media?  

    • Like 1
    • Upvote 2
  8. 44 minutes ago, pawnman said:

    It's not even a conspiracy.  It's that judges and prosecutors are often elected positions, and the police union reminds them that union support will be key to re-election.

    One thing that might improve this is if we moved to a circuit court model whenever a police officer is tried for a crime.  Remove the local prosecutors and judges that work hand-in-hand with the police in that area on a daily basis from the equation.

    Everything you are posting regarding cops is anecdotal.  Do you realize that?

     

  9. 6 hours ago, slackline said:

    Edit to clarify: of course everyone should be held to the same standard, but comparing anyone to Trump right off the bat eliminates anything resembling a "like" comparison.  You just seem angry that Trump's bully pulpit was finally yanked. Just the perception. Maybe that's not the case.

     

    Do you even hear your own double standard sometimes?  Of course that is an unacceptable tweet.  Does he have a history like Trump did of posting inflammatory things?  Does he have a following of 88M people?  If the answer to either of those things is no, he's probably got some slack to play with. Even if he has a history, does anyone care what he thinks, so is it therefore likely that he could incite violence on the level Trump did, or even at all?

     

    Just thoughts, but it seems as if you're so bent on the left being wrong, evil or whatever it is you need to tell yourself to sleep at night that it doesn't matter what anyone says.  You'll make an argument to counter everything anyone says...  It's like I'm talking with my teenagers!

    I literally laughed at the fact you don't see your glaring hypocrisy.  

    • Upvote 1
  10. 5 hours ago, jice said:

     

    I met somebody who looked like that at a party once. Turns out that person was an accomplished economist who redesigned the banking system of Monaco to accommodate crypto-currency. 8/10 would hang out with again, but I’m not interesting enough to get the invite. Millionaire many times over. Their partner also looked like that... and was a total mess.

    Is there more context here? Is BO.net a place we go now to make fun of people for how they look and the t-shirts they wear? That’s some high-school lunch room bullsh1t.

    I think most here would be happy to engage in a discussion of “black trans lives matter” (and most would likely agree with what I’m assuming you think about it). I’d also be disappointed if this has become an acceptable place to just be plain mean to somebody in a random photo. 

    I suggest going back through this thread from the beginning.  We've been laughing at people based off how they look and act for years.  

    That's the most maddening part of the progressive push.  It's been okay from the start to have a private laugh at people wearing the craziest shit imaginable in a Walmart shopping aisle, but now it's taboo to chuckle at a dude who literally looks like a clown while simultaneously piggybacking on a movement with questionable motives and throwing in a nod to people who feel mutilating sexual organs should be celebrated.  That's not being mean, that's looking at a picture and honestly thinking "What the fu%k?", which also happens to be the title of this thread.

    This is a private forum where a bunch of bros shoot the shit.  No one here would go try to make the pictured dude's life hell, and you know it.   So thanks for trying to chastise us like we're children for laughing at the wrong thing, but I'm going to just keep on finding humor wherever it presents itself and tell you to fu%k off instead.

     

    Edit:  Why can't I say "fu%k"?

    • Upvote 8
  11. 14 minutes ago, Prozac said:

    Fair ‘nuff. I just don’t get the tyranny part. SevenEleven doesn’t let you walk through their store with your junk hanging out. That’s not tyranny, that’s just them trying to protect their business from what most would consider antisocial and unhygienic behavior. 

    I don't think 7/11 gives a damn about unhygienic behavior.  Nor do most businesses.  Have you ever seen the clientele at the average Wal-Mart?  It's about what a business feels will drive customers away, such as a hobo's dick hanging out, and it's currently en vogue to slam others for downplaying the years most massive news event.  

  12. 3 hours ago, Sua Sponte said:

    Yeah, what a bummer that real “evidence” is required and not just hearsay.

    Exactly!  It's been several weeks now and this is getting ridiculous.

    Could you imagine if a large percentage of the news pushed by media outlets was based on election hearsay rather than hard evidence for, say, the next 3 years?  

     

    • Like 2
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  13. 36 minutes ago, Negatory said:

    I do believe it's selfish and flippant to want to just continue on with life without having a plan for how those actions will kill hundreds of thousands of people. Because the liberty crowd by large doesn't have a gameplan, they just want to open up. The general talking point is "old people and at risk people should figure it out and self-isolate, I demand my freedom and I want to go to Cancun." Give me a plan to take care of your fellow Americans' welfare while balancing this and I would love to discuss. Finally, I don't see how others like me can ever take you seriously based on what you said (just kidding, that is a super dramatic thing that you wrote though lol).

    "Take you seriously" was definitely overly dramatic, and in retrospect I would have altered what I wrote.  It doesn't accurately portray what I feel and I'm glad you called me on it.

    That said, the reason I used a micro scale was to put it into a perspective that people can relate to.  Hundreds of thousands is a big number, no question.  But at some point we have to understand that the world population is fairly unfathomable to the human brain, as is the U.S. population, and in my eyes trying to ensure no one dies for any remotely avoidable reason is no reason to base policy when it comes at the expense of what makes life worth living. 

    I cry at movies, get teared up when others suffer, and generally love people, especially old people.  But the most rational, objective part of my brain that I can access tells me that what we are doing is borderline insane.  I, by a large margin, prefer quality over quantity in nearly every aspect of life, to include life itself.  I don't demand that others feel the same way, but I find it frustrating when our quality of life is diminished to the extent is has been to marginally extend the lives of a very small amount of people, relatively speaking.  

    My biggest question for those saying we don't have a plan is:  based off the incredibly marginal loss of total years of life, what is a good plan?  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  But is a pound of prevention worth an ounce of cure?

  14. 10 hours ago, Negatory said:

    You have to put a disclaimer with your “99.86%” every time you write it or else you are being intentionally deceptive. What you meant to say was a 99.86% survival rate for people up to the age of 40, I assume. Also, let’s see your sources.


    The problem with this talking point is that it entirely skews the whole problem. Literally everyone has known for months now that young people will be okay. But as soon as you hit 50-59 your case fatality rate hits 0.5-1.0%. 60-69 is 2-4%.

    The real problem, though, is that 70 year olds have a 5-10% mortality rate and 80 year olds have a 15%+ mortality rate. And you’re ignoring that?

    This is the actual issue, and you can’t just gloss over the portion of mortality that doesn’t fit your narrative because it’s convenient. Although I have noticed talk radio loves to try. It’s akin to saying “Cancer/heart disease/[insert literally 90% of diseases] isn’t important to study because it largely doesn’t affect young people.”

    Now if you want to say that you’ve accepted the risk of older people dying - that that is a sacrifice we should make as a society - then at least you’re being genuine. Realistically there obviously has to be balance, but saying this isn’t a disease that’s more fatal than the flu and trying to discredit it with misleading statistics adds nothing to the conversation.

    Heres an actual source with case fatality rates: https://ourworldindata.org/mortality-risk-covid

    Warning: Long Rant

    What has anyone said that closely resembles the highlighted?  While I may or may not agree with Brabus on some of his thoughts, his main point is that the response is overkill considering that the average age of death from COVID is essentially the average life span.  You disagree, which is fine.  I think the issue is that some people want to loudly force draconian measures on the entire population, whereas many want to be left alone while quietly letting you do what you feel is best.

    I suggest people rework the numbers to a more manageable scale, and understand that with the size of the global population there will always be anecdotal and wildly improbable events that tug at our hearts more than our heads.  I like to consider the following scenario to put things into a better perspective: 

    A town of 3,300 people (i.e. Unadilla, GA) has an identical population spread as the U.S..  A new virus is going around and over the course of nearly a year had claimed the lives of 3 elderly, 2 of which had co-morbidities.  The three died at an average age of 75, 3 years before their expected age of death.  In an effort to counter the virus the city council mandated that life as we know it come to a halt.  Social distancing, closure of many businesses and most schools, no sports, etc.  

    Additionally, the same council opened the coffers and spent $22,000,000 they didn't have towards stimulating the local economy of 3,300 residents.  Each adult received up to $1200, and children $500.  Every single person owed an average of $6,700 towards the loan, though, and over 200 working adults lost their jobs in the meantime.  That means 1 out of every 10 working age adults became unemployed.

    The final oddity is that many emotionally charged residents spend a large portion of their days chiding the other residents for not doing enough, or for doing too much, to stop this virus.  In fact some are openly hostile to anyone who couldn't understand the unprecedented aspects the city council (who incidentally averaged over 60 years of age, while the highest ranking were in their 70's and 80's and extremely wealthy) demanded.  

    The final objective outcome:  9 years of total life are lost.  The town of 3,300 could have reasonably expected to live a combined 259,050 years, but instead only lived 259,041 years.  In other words the town is only going to collectively live 99.997% as long as they expected to.  On the other hand, 10% of working adults became unemployed and every resident took on $6,700 of city council debt.  Kids school years were cancelled.  Almost all QOL was negatively impacted.  Even Thanksgiving dinners amongst family and friends are vilified.  Maybe the saddest part is that half the population thinks it's ing absurd that so much was spent in money and alterations to daily activities for such a meaningless loss of life, while the other half openly rebukes the city council and their fellow citizens at how little was done to handle the situation, and that nobody is doing nearly enough to stop the spread of the virus.

    TL;DR - If you don't think your fellow Americans have done enough to combat COVID, or that they are being flippant and selfish by wanting life to continue, I don't see how others like me can ever take you seriously.  It makes one wonder if objectivity is dead in the age of social media and shock news.

     

    • Like 1
  15. 3 hours ago, jazzdude said:

    Completely agree.

    But if someone in a position of authority IS considering those factors when they shouldn't be, whether consciously or unconsciously, wouldn't it be appropriate for leadership to recognize it is happening, step in, and put a stop to it? Otherwise you disenfranchise a segment of the population, reduce the pool of people willing to volunteer for service, and limit the pool of talent and experiences our nation has to draw from.

    Let's remove race and sex from the issue for a moment. How many gripes about the promotion system, school selection, strats, etc are there on these message boards? I'm pretty sure 69% of this board is just complaining about injustices "the man" levied on the line pilot hacking the mission. How many commanders still track masters degrees on their strat matrix? Or the perception (or reality) of favorite golden childs being selected as mid level Captains and being groomed as a future GO, and given opportunities to accelerate their career and check all the boxes? Most guys I've known flying the line build up a resentment towards the system that says it rewards hard work and excellence in primary duty, only to see someone who may not have been hacking the mission get rewarded for organizing the Sq holiday party and the AFAF/CFC drive. We've all probably had a bad commander or supervisor that played favorites, or emphasized the extracurriculars outside of the mission, or at the very least had the perception of doing so by some out on the line. Maybe you could decide to play the game and do the extracurricular stuff to get recognition and opportunities. Or not, the ball is in your court to decide; you own that choice and the consequences of that choice.

    It sucks, people get mad and punch out of the Air Force, and if their experience was bad enough, probably would warn others away (like their kids, friends, kids of friends, etc). This hurts the Air Force twice- first for the loss of an experienced aviator, and then again in the future with it's ability to recruit. Military service is becoming much more of a family tradition, with people joining because of the positive experiences of family or close friends, especially in the officer corps.

    Now throw in an immutable fact about yourself that you can't change (race or sex, though I guess you could change the latter but that opens a whole other can of worms...), and that POS commander could derail your career, especially at critical points in your career, just because they "don't like your face." That individual doesn't have the choice to play the game to do what is valued by their (crappy) leader; that choice to be in the game or not was taken from them based on something they can't change. It hurts the individual, who then may go back into their community and discourages service, reducing the pool of talent our nation has to pull from.

    I think most of us want the best that the country has to offer fighting to defend our freedom, regardless of race/sex/whatever. The problem isn't just a military problem, but a societal one that also impacts the military. Quotas aren't the answer, but doing nothing just ignores the issue and may exacerbate it as time goes on.

    Funny, I read your entire post and agreed with almost everything about it, until the last paragraph.  Then I realized you were indicating minorities and women are not given a fair shake in today's military.  I can't think of a single example of a minority or woman being squashed by a superior due to their race/sex in the 21st century.  I have seen them given preferential treatment though.  

    If you don't desire quotas, but support quotas in the interim to fix a perceived problem, can you very simply state what that perceived problem is?  

  16. 4 hours ago, Prozac said:

    Here’s a photo. It’s disturbing and I debated posting it here but I think it’s relevant and appropriate in response to your post:


    00B02C68-6BAA-4479-B8D4-B04FD1C5070E.thumb.jpeg.c336891d8a742f3b6162566400d2cfe7.jpeg

    The photo appears to show a couple of Kyle Rittenhouse’s victims. In the foreground, clutching his chest, is Anthony Huber who was “armed” with a skateboard and apparently attempting to disarm Rittenhouse. He collapsed in that spot and died shortly after this photo was taken. Standing in front of Rittenhouse is Gaige Grosskreutz. It’s hard to see in this picture but he was apparently armed. Still, in the photo he is in a clearly unthreatening stance with his hands in the air, perhaps attempting to talk Rittenhouse down. He was shot in the arm. The events surrounding Rittenhouse’s first shooting event, which resulted in the death of Joseph Rosenbaum are less clear but reports are that someone other than Rosenbaum fired a gun into the air, after which Rosenbaum lunged at Rittenhouse and was shot in the head. I have not seen evidence indicating that Rosenbaum himself was armed. 
     

    Kyle Rittenhouse took a firearm that he apparently wasn’t authorized to own across state lines to a city in which he didn’t reside ostensibly to defend local businesses. He was young, immature, untrained in crowd control or use of force, and probably scared. He had no business injecting himself into that situation and the results were predictably tragic. 
     

    Brickhistory, I find your post to be in poor taste and antithetical to American values.  I don’t know you.  The fact that you’re active on this board means that in all likelihood you are in fact a veteran who loves his country.  I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you’re a decent human being who will take my comments as considered criticism and not a personal attack.  That’s not what this is.  But to equate American citizens protesting in the streets to “skinnies” is abhorrent.  We are talking about Kenosha Wisconsin, USA, not Mogadishu. EVEN if some of these protesters were participating in illegal activities, they are US citizens entitled to due process, not foreign enemies to be shot down in the streets. Celebrating and lionizing the actions of a misguided, scared, seventeen year old vigilante is beyond the pale. I never thought I’d see the day when a fellow veteran would refer to fellow citizens in the streets as skinnies and celebrate their murders. Pleas reconsider your statements.

    There is no way you can be taken seriously. 

    You post a single picture from a complex situation (there are several videos of it which would completely debunk the spin you're putting on it), and attribute a narrative to it while intentionally leaving out numerous facts.  Perhaps you missed your calling as a modern day journalist. 

    Let's dissect your post.  First, these guys weren't "victims".  They were chasing an armed dude down who just defended his life, and Anthony Huber attacked him with his skateboard (on video), which 100% is a deadly object.  He was shot in the chest and died.

    Gaige Grosskreutz did not have his hands up for more than a very brief moment, the he charged .  He was joining in on attacking Rittenhouse,  was armed, and was shot in the arm. 

    The events immediately leading to the first shooting of Joseph Rosenbaum are very clear from several available videos.  He was pursuing a retreating Rittenhouse with what any objective person would agree was an aggressive disposition, while shots were fired from a third party.  He got to within touching distance of Rittenhouse and was shot and died.

     

    I agree with your second paragraph if Kyle took a gun across state lines.  Looking at the second part of your post, though, I'll make a few changes to reflect the feelings of a growing number of Americans:

    Many RIOTERS crossed states lines to a city in which they didn't reside, ostensibly to destroy local businesses.  They were young and old, immature, untrained in crowd control or use of force, and seemingly not scared.  They had no business injecting themselves into the situation they created, and since armed Americans trying to protect others were present, the results were predictably tragic. 

    Prozac, I find your post to be in poor taste and antithetical to American values.  I don’t know you.  The fact that you’re active on this board means that in all likelihood you are in fact a veteran who loves his country.  I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you’re a decent human being who will take my comments as considered criticism and not a personal attack. That’s not what this is.  But to equate American citizens rioting in the streets and attacking a scared young kid just trying to naively help protect innocent people to “victims” is abhorrent.  We're talking about people trying to burn down Kenosha Wisconsin, USA, not Mogadishu.  EVEN if some of these armed civilian business protectors were participating in illegal activities, they are US citizens entitled to due process, not foreign enemies to be attacked in the streets by a rioting mob of felons (all three shot had impressive records).

     

    With more calling for de-funding the police, crazy assholes rioting and wanting to take it to the suburbs, and local governments stepping back to let shit play out, this is the only logical outcome.  The vast majority of people want to preserve America rather than destroy it while turning us into a lawless entity, and we will start to see more and more of these scenes develop.  I also find it strange that you would call out another vet because they called a bunch of rioters "skinnies".  I think you're offense to the pejorative is manufactured.  The truth is the threat these rioters pose to Americans, on American soil no less, is far greater than any Somalian in Mogadishu, and they weren't shot down in the streets in the manner you implied.  They were killed while acting as parts of a mob burning a city, by a dude defending his own life as they attacked him.  A military member called them a name which, on this forum, universally ID's them as pieces of shit.  While you may not agree, it's batshit crazy for you to not understand where Brick was coming from. 

     

     

    • Like 8
  17. I have a dual-rated gig on a small (tiny) island in Micronesia as a contractor.  Take home is less than $100k, but it's tax free, my house is included, and there's no car payments or associated insurance as there are no POV's on Island.  

    I work 3 days a week with a minimum 4 hour lunch break, which I often spend spearfishing in warm, clear water.  Home every day by 5pm, play golf and go scuba diving at least 3x a week.  Polo shirt and board shorts to work, and was told on day one to never come in unless I'm flying that day.

    I'll never make Delta money, but my QOL (for me) is untouchable and I have well into 6 figures of play money year after year with retirement.

    While the remote island life is not for everyone, the point is there are plenty of amazing opportunities out there that are off the beaten path if you go searching.  

    The industry needs us, which is pretty exciting.

     

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