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Making assumptions to get to my question - subdivision-like environment/sidewalk/public road and easement beside property, etc. and dogs are being walked on a leash/controlled. If these aren't valid, then please illuminate. What, exactly, will you say to neighbors who own urinating dogs? How are the neighbors, again assuming dog is being walked and not running loose, to prevent said dog from peeing on your superty-duperty bionic grass? If it's just dogs running loose throughout neighborhood and targeting your prize Mexican sensamilla, then I get it. Otherwise, WTF?

I don't think this is a conspiracy thing at all. Our comm has been compromised time and again, if not directly via actors in foreign countries then via ppl like Snowden. This seems like a great cover for passing high level info, while also publicly providing expectations face to face. Seems fairly logical to me. Even if it was just to give direction, then an in-person brief is definitely justified. The liberals/fat retired nonners are butt hurt, sucks to suck. If Panetta had done this to provide direction on Dont Ask Don't Tell repeal it would have been justified and ppl like Rainman woulda lost their shit whilst NSAPlayer threw a rainbow party...RIP

I live in an area with a lot of retirees. At least 3 of my neighbors on all sides of me are retired. I'm the youngest at age 43. Anyway, we live by a golf course where a lot of elderly chose to retire. You're right, there are a lot of dishonest people out there. The elderly get taken advantage of by lots of business owners from what I garner on the Nextdoor app. It's kind of pathetic and sickening. Why I don't install the CAT6 and camera myself? #1. My home's exterior is stucco. Having someone with experience doing the drilling matters in my opinion. I can drill into wood easily, but I'm not willing to practice on my stucco. I doubt I have the drill bits too. #2. I don't do ladder work unless it involves a step ladder. I leave ladder work to the professionals, especially at heights of 11-16 ft. On a separate note, these camera installers will try to put cameras well above 15 ft. It's intentional so you'll have to call the camera technicians for any repairs. That installation height would interfere with any AI features. The sweet spot is 10-11 ft. During my retirement, I have learned about lawn care, plants, electrical, and construction. I had an electrician swap out 3 Arc-Fault Circuit (AFCI) breakers. He looked over my bedroom paddle switch installation. He says, "I thought an electrician installed this based on how you turned your face plate screws. You didn't do anything wrong, the one breaker that's tripping is just old. It's smart that you purchased 3 new AFCIs from Lowe's in order for me to swap out the 3 old breakers." I told him that YouTube taught me how to install light switches. YouTube taught me how to turn the screws like an electrician. I have installed a motion sensing light switch in my bathroom as well. I have gotten really fast at electrical installations.

Probably. It's true that it is difficult to find good help.... but that story took long enough to put together... Why not do the work yourself?

In 2024, I wanted to have some home security cameras installed on my 2 story home for three reasons. First, it will give me something to tinker with. Second, the cameras have AI tracking of cars, faces, people, pets, and license plates. I will be able call out neighbors who think my lawn should be their dog's urinal. Why? I grow my lawn through a germination process called overseeding. I essentially select the best cultivar of grass seeds to use based on a national study that grades the grass on characteristics like color, germination rate, drought and disease resiliency. I don't use sod. Third, I was going to invest in a robotic mower and the cameras would serve as a second layer of security. I received a few estimates for running the CAT6 and installing the cameras from business owners. One guy who gave me an estimate had a terrible camera and installation plan. A second guy was going to use cheap materials. The third estimate I received had a solid installation plan. However, the sales representative had some minor issues. He gave me an estimate for 17 hours of labor. I raised the bullshit flag so he revised it to 11. He tried to tell me that I will need to be trained on my cameras, which drove the 17 hour estimate. I told him, "How are you going to train me on cameras I hand selected myself and purchased? Cameras for which you don't even sell? You can literally watch a 5-10 minute video on how to set the cameras up via YouTube." I won that debate. I remember him telling me I'll need a cloud key and they could run an HDMI cable for my system to one of my big screen tvs. I told him that my UNVR acts as a cloud key. You can bring up the live feeds for all your cameras through Ubiquiti's app for smart tvs and cell phones. I am for certain I crushed his soul at that point. At some point, he mentions being a "retired Army colonel." I raised the bullshit flag again. I selected the third estimate. They had great installers who installed everything in 11 hours. I haven't had any issues in over a year with their work. There was two minor issues like not leveling the doorbell camera and not wiping silicone off the base of two cameras. Ubiquiti came out with a new camera in September 2025 that I wanted. I attempted to receive an estimate from the same small business to install my 6th camera. Apparently, my sales representative was fired. They told me he was wanted by the FBI and he was no retired Army colonel. "I was shocked, I tell you 🙄. The small business gave me a different "installer/sales representative" named Mike. Mike tried telling me it will take 5-7 hours to install one camera for $1.3K-$1.6K. I called him out on his estimate. Mike's first excuse was that he has been installing cameras for 20 years and he is a veteran too. Then he tried to use some lame excuses to pad his estimate by telling me the technicians have to go up and down a ladder and load cable before visiting my home. I torched Mike's ass. First, I told him that I have my own cable just like last time. I sent this to him in my highly detailed contract requirements before he issued his estimate. Second, I informed him that my solar company installed a fully functional, 23 panel solar system on my 2 story roof in 6 hours with 3 technicians. His 2 camera technicians are only going up to the first level eaves, which is half the distance that the solar technicians had to travel up a ladder. Third, it took 11 hours to install everything last time for a grand total of $1.6K. Around 10 hours was spent on running CAT6 and installing 5 cameras, which equates to 2 hours per camera. I told Mike that he must be doing California high school math because it's not accurate. Mike tried to tell me that he likes to give higher estimates so customers feel like they're receiving a deal when they have to pay less. Needless to say, I hired a different small business. The owner told me it will take 2-3 hours maximum. Am I the retired flying asshole here?

Anyone using ID.ME and AMEX offers? ID.ME has provided me great deals on: NFL Sunday Ticket: $198 Google Store devices Apple Store devices Sony Bravia Theater Quad wireless speakers & subwoofer for my Sony tv Netgear WiFi routers I always use SheerID for Nike discounts

And? One other point; nothing says sincerity/seriousness like the face-to-face interaction. Rather reinforces the point of the new sheriff in town operates differently so get on board or get out. Also, generals work for SECDEF & POTUS. If those offices chose to call generals in, said generals respond with "yes, sir." Pretty standard, I'd say. A maybe conspiracy thing is that this meeting was a cover for another purpose regarding upcoming actions.

I suppose my view of this event comes from an interaction I had with a 4 Star. I was worker bee end on a conference we were producing with other Gens, etc. Boss leans in and asks my boss, "What decisions will we be making? (Rest is paraphrasing) If we're calling in a bunch of Gens, we better be making productive decisions otherwise it's just a big waste. One way speeches are pretty much that. Now if the crowd got to stand up and ask good, hard questions, that changes my opinion, unless said Qs are planted softballs. But for that to happen, the doors probably needed to close and the TV cameras turned off. And there goes that big beautiful production for the world to see. Lastly, in the whole world of policy changes, to include stuff like don't ask, don't tell, to, ok, now you can tell, or women in combat, etc., has there been a briefing like this to convey those policies? Nope, a letter is ginned up, signed, maybe a press conference, and sent out.

I simply thank my God that there is someone to be my moral and wisdom mentor posting here. Also: US Special Operations Command general retires As he's been there since 2022, simply a routine retirement. But still another one gone.

- It’s one TDY added to a list of many. Bottom line, why are you against a TDY added amongst a sea of executed/scheduled TDYs? It’s not whataboutism to state a fact that a large portion of the military adds TDYs throughout the year. If you want to argue about justification or perceived importance/utility of any TDY, then you are very inexperienced in the military/have no idea how the gov operates with regards to in-person vs. virtual application. Example: I’ve spent many TDYs watching GOs (also TDY) sit there and stare at their eyelids/the wall for days, while adding nothing to the situation and based on their reactions, taking nothing home with them. Welcome to the real world. (Experience I’m coming from: over 100 TDYs at tac/op/strat levels). - The boss is pushing a massive cultural shift, that has seen some resistance, and he’s sick of the resistance. Do you believe something of that high of priority to him does not warrant in-person interaction? Some comments above can be boiled down to, “this isn’t a big deal and therefore could have been an email/TEAMs call.” Do you believe from the boss’s perspective this “isn’t that big of a deal” and an email/TEAMs call is all he needs to do to get this train on the right track? People are bringing up “justification” of TDY, citing the topic as “not justifiable” for a TDY. They brought that up, it is not a red herring to discuss what they previously stated. - Some literally said it could have been a virtual discussion (email, TEAMs, YouTube, etc.) Is there a third option besides one of those or in-person? Because if there’s not (I can’t think of one), it can’t be a false dilemma because it is literally a dilemma (boss had to ask himself, “do I do this in person or virtual? Which one will be most effective for my directives/message?”) Ad hominem - I’ll take that one, my bad.

I think... we all think... the bag all call was a nice idea. [mumbled agreement among others] But... I'm not pointin' any fingers... they coulda been done better. So, how 'bout... no bags all call this time. But next time, we do the bags all call right and then we go full regalia.

I think they would already have the number of allocations going into the board no? Idk how else they’d be able to place people in the different jobs and draw the cut line. I agree though I’m sure they’ll try to rush the list before the holidays. Makes sense there could be some delay, especially with all the civilian support AFPC has. We shall see!

Ironically this response is a masterclass in fallacies. Whataboutism (“others waste money too”), false equivalence (comparing a mass GO recall for every senior leader to routine TDYs), red herring (ranting about DoD identity when the question was whether the TDY was justified), ad hominem (calling folks political hacks, retarded), and a false dilemma (“either in person or useless Teams call”). Nice work dudes!

You think so? I would think the board racks and stacks the packages (our fate already sealed) and AFPC determines the amount of allocations, A1 manpower legalities and AETC signing off on the list. All which takes time, but I don’t think would take the exact time of the shutdown (in total) to push back the results by that time. If they’re shooting for pre-thanksgiving, I think they would hit the ground running when the shutdown ends to meet this deadline to prevent doing as much work the month of December (holiday season). This is just me be positive and optimistic through my years in the Air Force and my experience of the last shutdown in 2018, I could be completely wrong but hope for our sake, we know sooner than later 😅

@Smokin As it should be. We were living in a super blue state at the time, so lots of coddling, zero accountability, “everyone’s a winner,” etc. going around.

I know you guys are going to love this. Say what you will, good or bad, we all have to admit his troll game (though usually inappropriate) is strong. https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-posts-bizarre-grim-reaper-themed-ai-music-video/

More parents than you would think will take your side. I sat kids on multiple occasions across multiple sports because of an attitude and only one time did I have a parent say anything about it (and the coward didn't come to me, they went to the club admin who backed me). I set clear expectations at the start and 95% of kids met them. The few that didn't found little support from their parents. I benched one kid and he walked away crying over towards his dad. His dad took one look at him and said something like "what'd you expect?" and the kid stopped crying because he realized he wasn't going to get anywhere. He didn't have an attitude with me the rest of the time I coached him. Also gave out exactly zero participation trophies or medals.

How massive of a change is it that he wants to increase lethality? Clamps down on fitness and appearance? Those aren’t massive culture changes. Those are getting back to the roots of what the military is. I’ve been screaming it for years, the military isn’t a business, it’s a military. I for one applaud the announcements.

210 RQS (AKANG) is still in conversion and *should* be the last(total force) unit flying Golfs.

Obama golfed? Guarantee he used the red tee box.

What else can you get from this little birdie? Maybe allocations? Or the commonality amongst packages that scored high?

Many years ago, when one of my kids was young, he did not display the attitude/effort we expected of him during T-ball. End of season participation trophy’s get handed out, my wife makes him give it to her and she throws it into the nearest trash can, telling him he didn’t earn it (and why). All the other pussy parents looked on in disbelief. My kid basically never again had a bad attitude or lack of effort, and this incident was 9 years ago. The little things matter - coddling your kids produces shit adults.

There are probably tens of millions a year spent on useless TDYs/PCSs. Cue every person who goes to in-person PME, every bullshit “TDY for the boys” (but they are fun as shit!), every guy who travels to unending conferences and meetings while not providing, nor consuming, anything of value to their job and other attendees. We have endured a significant identity/priorities crisis for years in the DoD, and unfucking that is critical enough to not just throw it on YouTube or a TEAMs call (where nobody will actually listen/receive anything - they’ll be “present” with their muted mic symbol). Complaining about one TDY out of tons each of these GOs are doing yearly is lazy, political hacking on display. Attack the argument/point SECDEF is driving home, but you can’t, because it’s the most logical direction one has given in my lifetime. So, you jump to a retarded Red Herring argument of “but mAh TdY CoStS!” Hilarious, and sad at the same time.

A little birdie from AFPC told me UFT board results processing is on pause due to the shutdown. I speculate we can expect the release of results to be delayed about as long as the shutdown lasts.