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I pilot I have mentored since he was 14 is a TPS grad and stationed there as an IP. As late as Thursday the wreckage was still on the runway. He mentioned they got back to flying and he decided to go to Palmdale rather than do patterns and see the wreckage on every pattern. It's been tough on the entire test and bomber community, I think there legacy will live on because they touched so many lives.

This is beyond tragic. I can't claim to have known any of the crew but I'm confident I've crossed paths with atleast a few during my occasional trips to KEDW. I don't want this thread to dissipate so fast, like how the rest of the websphere has a ten second attention span. We need to keep these bros in our thoughts & prayers as long as possible.

KEND 26-12AF F-35 F-16 T-38 FAIP B-52 AFRC F-16 Bulgaria

Indeed, I am not bothered by it and see no conspiracy. Was just curious the thoughts of others. I've never seen a Chaplin throw rank around, quite the opposite. Under LOAC they have a different status anyway. Shack! Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam War, 55,000 dead American and how many other lives lost (MILLIONS). Air Campaign by numbers and sortie count which led to Bros strafing the Paul Doumer Bridge because we sold off all our bombs...the F-111...targeting breakfasts. He disastrously attempted to manage a complex human-terrain war using purely quantitative, statistical data (such as enemy body counts), while ignoring qualitative factors like morale, civilian sentiment, and enemy motivation. A LOT of writing on him in recent years...if you want to read an example of bad...look at project 100,000, his draft expansion program that lowered mental and medical standards to recruit disadvantaged young men who would have otherwise been rejected. Often cruelly referred to as "McNamara’s morons," these soldiers faced disproportionately higher casualties and severe post-war disadvantages.

If it sets off a war immediately, probably not. If it doesn't start an immediate war, but forces Europe into regaining control over their energy resources before the inevitable war comes (and it neutralizes the largest destabilizing force in the middle east), then probably so.

So I guess the obvious follow up question here is.. is Iran such an existential threat to the US that we need to bomb Kharg island, setting off a global economic crisis and potential war with China? You just listed some pretty gnarly side effects of your silver bullet solution to this war so I’m just wondering.. is a world where Kharg island is blown up but now we have a global depression/energy crisis and China wants to go to war with us somehow better?

It's just a few bad cops.

Let’s not forget another, Les Aspin and the Blackhawk Down fiasco.

Not quite. But yes, ours will be most insulated. It would be more appropriate to say that the mismanagement of their own economies at the shrine of globalization has put most of these countries in the position that any disruption can be a catastrophe. Because of this, we can't just smash the country that has been a sworn event for decades. Well, we can, but it'll be ugly.

Louis Johnson in my book with McNamara a close second.

I kinda don't care. But also, it reads like he has never really interacted with a Chappy before. Literally never had an issue with one, nor heard of one either throwing rank around, or having an issue being in high or low ranking environments. I'm a probably a bit biased, but I loved Chaplains - no homo. Seems like change for the sake of change? So, I reread it because I just kinda skimmed it before. Seems like he wants them to stop focusing on counseling and support. "Ministry" should be the focus. Well, with what he did with the re-categorization seems to me (with conspiracy glasses on) it's getting into "christian nationalism" proselytizing. With out conspiracy glasses on...see first response. Worst SecDef ever? I think McNamara still takes it.

Bombing's back on the menu - https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2222408/trump-launches-new-strikes-iran Has this ever worked without deep intel assets ready with a replacement, a la our forays into S. America? We just need to burn the rest of the world's economies to the ground and ours will be fine. K.

KDLF 26-12AF F16 B1 F35x2 T-38 FAIP F-22

That has existed for most of my career - and it generally has the effect you’d expect.

Correct

I just read the summary, but didn't the police leave him to his protest?

Update - https://news.wfsu.org/wfsu-local-news/2026-03-04/floridas-high-court-weighs-rico-charge-against-a-jackson-deputy-who-planted-drugs-on-innocents

I missed this when it happened in March, thoughts? Hegseth removes rank insignia from military chaplains

You can't make this stuff up!

All yours brother...all yours.

Yep, pretty much. The major, unforced error was starting the ceasefire back in April, stupidly thinking diplomacy would “totally work this time” with Iran, then combining that effort with, as you put it: short cuts, threats, mean tweets. Turns out none of those things worked worth a damn with Iran. The momentum was solid, the ass beating was large, and then we just stopped and have subsequently created the proverbial shit sandwich. As someone said earlier, tactical ass whooping without the foresight/capability to see it through to a strategic victory.

Dibs on the trash can, or on the orange and blue corrugated metal mesh waste receptacle?

We're making two different points. I agree with you entirely that focusing only on military targets will not destroy the regime, because the regime is not motivated purely by a capacity of the wage war. Assuming that we are not going to occupy the country and implement regime change that way, which we aren't, then the only other option is to create the conditions by which the Iranian people overthrow the current leadership. Obviously they hoped that by weakening the irgc militarily and by killing the entire leadership chain, that would give the Iranian people enough motivation to re-attempt a coup. That failed, at least for the time being. So that leaves the only other means by which the Iranian people can be "motivated." Economic catastrophe. Bombing Kharg Island effectively ends the economic capacity of Iran. Whether or not the irgc is overthrown at that point is irrelevant. Iran has no way to generate money outside of its production of fossil fuels. No money, no government. It's happened many times in the past and it will happen happen many more times in the future. We could do this by continuing the blockade indefinitely, but that leaves the strategy up to the whims of the politicians. Destroying something that can't be rebuilt for years is rather final. However doing so would probably result in the greatest economic catastrophe since the Great depression, for Europe and Asia, and probably Africa too. I'm of the mind that this economic event cannot be forestalled indefinitely, but destroying Kharg Island would start it immediately in all likelihood. It would be enough to start a war between the US and China if it wasn't for the fact that China is so reliant on Iranian oil that they wouldn't be able to afford the war until they secured other sources. Obviously the Trump administration doesn't want this, maybe because of the mid terms, maybe because they have other international ambitions. I don't know and it's possible they don't even know. Trump is mercurial at best .