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Here’s the pragmatic answer - they aren’t gonna have a problem unless things change a lot. In reality, egg prices haven’t actually changed significantly for consumers (turns out bulk price decreases don’t matter to families), gas prices same. Tax proposals to create structures where the rich pay more are not supported by republicans in congress AND proposed policies that include elimination of income tax + tariffs are highly regressive, so good luck making people believe that the Repubs will actually do anything. Probably a graph like this would play well in the “things to cry about:” And immigration policy - despite whatever wins may be occurring - will be met with criticisms about the administration using tactics that appear dictatorial and unconstitutional. Maybe they’d throw the fact that the Epstein logs still haven’t been released? Who knows! That’s how 60% of America views those issues now. Hope it actually gets better.

Maybe. I haven't had the time to delve into it too much. When I shot it, I was just using the head box of a USPSA target at about 10 yards after a match. Probably a 4 inch group or so. The dot plate screws sit above the plate, so the dot mount is janky. ??? Beats me.

PVC will just be the new heritage 🤷🏻‍♂️ We're just getting old, that's all.

They just announced a deal with China. Lets see how this turns out... The UK deal was more symbolic than anything. With egg prices down, fuel costs down (inflation will come down in lag with energy costs), the border is closed and Trump just came out in favor of higher taxes on the top 1%. The Carville/Bernie/AOC are going to have to dig deep into the bag to find things to cry about.

mother of all thread derails jesus dude

*yawn* That sophist nonsense again? cool I'll play. Sorry about the GO thread derail: This isn't about generals, this is a larger austerity project than the author intimates. Yeah I see you (the royal you). I've heard that pitch at least 3 times before in my career as an AFRC baby. It's the same ol song and dance that if your position is primarily stateside, you shouldn't wear a uniform. And I got the same retort I've always had for these doublespeaking austerity hawks: FUPM. That expeditionary force myopia is not suprising, given this admin is the party of FAFO, but you're assaulting/gutting your Reserve component capacity with that kind of deployment-supremacist view. More to the regAF point, wildly overestimating the degree of active duty retention you think you have by attempting to extend that COA into AD end strength. Typical FAFO hubris from the "I won't be here when the grenade goes off" dum dum Willie types. To say nothing of AD largesee for me but not for thee run amok. Matters not. You think you can operationally staff DOD congressional pork barrel economy garden spots with 60 cents on the dollar 'local' blue suiters? Go right ahead, let me run to the microwave real quick and get the corn bag. Fact is nobody with a scintilla of existing corporate continuity/tactical expertise is going to do this job beyond the journeyman level (get the civilian transferable training and immediately bounce, brain drain jobs program) in present circumstances as an ART equivalent or worse, no military code GS, when they have to punch out of that 1960s decaying empire Boeing-betrayed POS. No buck no buck rogers homey. And there's a hell of a lot more to that buck than W2 wages. Serious people recognize than nuance, unserious austerity clowns don't. This not conjecture, they cannot staff ART billets to save their lives even if you threw in a free Oprah car with it. They gutted FERS with that multiplier nonsense (1.0 vs 2.5 or even 1.7 for LEO, good grief, and a 4.4 fee since '14 as of last reading), pushed the sunsetting of ART Tricare ineligibilily to FY30 (a fucking theft, when no such imposition is made of retirees who go straight GS employees). And you want to backstop your baseline regAF capacity with that kind of retail level turnover job offers? lulz. It's also the same reason you're not going to retain talent by trying to send career tactical experts (aka technicians, in the occupational meaning of the word) to warrant payscales. That's not a programmatic quip either, they're not doing that to end up paying operators *O(SP)-4/5 money to do the job. (*that's my ficitious O-4/5 equivalent to the ARMY exintct specialist SP tables, non-commanding track, latter which my late English-illiterate grandfather retired from the army in 1966). The point of their COA is the paycut. FAFO. The level of myopia in that austerity pitch is wild. It's all good though, we already got IPT early exit polls in AETC already brewing a real sweet track record on the FAFO front. Add some Boeing malfeasance on the T-7 side and you got yourself a real boondoggle. I could tell y'all what Boeing plans to do to meet IOC contract legalities this summer, but I'd straight up doxx myself at this point and betray the confidence of my sources, so I'm gonna digress. DOD management (leaders they are not) is starting to show their arsecrack once again when they bend over to pick up pennies while walking over dollars. Now back to GO officer drawdown kabuki theater potato.

Well done!

A bit more color from someone who spent a LOT of time around that environment...including as an exec for the Deputy Chief of Staff. Not suggesting it is a personal chauffeur but home to work was the norm when I was there and especially in places like DC it is a HUGE deal, especially with the parking and special security lanes. Also, moving around DC while the rest of us use the METRO. Ironically, I once Slugged with a dude and when we got to the Pentagon drop off area he asked if I worked in the building...I replied yes and showed him my badge. He said stay with me I have decent parking. We went through security, zipped past south parking and down pat the memorial and corridor five where all the 3-4 starts had their cars parked. I got real nervous when we turned the corner and he drove up the ramp and parked in the second spot by the Mall Entrance...unbeknownst to me I just rode to work with the DEPSECDEF who insisted on driving himself. I was trying to replay the conversation in my head because he was asking me questions all the way down 395. The "assist" with entertaining is the most abused part of the program. "International agreements with world leaders and senior partners" is absolutely comical. At least half the time they are hosting old friends who happen to work in industry. I never once saw a"world leader" but I saw a lot of old bros coming over for dinner and drinks. You forgot to add the USAF is sending these assistants to culinary schools...usually private ones. When I was an exec the boss' were swapping out and the new guy decided the interview of his new in-home assistant was a test case hosting a party for other senior leaders. That prep included mowing the Senior GO's lawn...by the way, the interviewee was pregnant. That was a defining moment when I knew I didn't want to be a GO. You forgot the execs and enlisted assistants that DO personal stuff like dry cleaning, uniform setup, going to get breakfast and lunch...I used to fill out birthday cards (I know because I got yelled at for one misspelled word in a stack of 53 cards). Same docs or not as you note they have a special place and process that they get to use even when RETIRED. They don't wait for appointments and why do they need more privacy than HIPAA provides the rest of us. My first boss had some medical issues, I could call the GO office at Walter Reed or the In-Pentagon Flight Doc and get him in within the hour. C-21s and other aircraft for the 1-3 starts...white caps for the 4 stars. Being a GO is hard work with long hours but I don;t feel sorry for them one bit.

Just to color in some balance: They get sedans, and sometimes drivers for official business only. Home-to-work use and vice versa is very rare, and usually not allowed; and personal use and stops are prohibited. They don’t get a round-the-clock chauffeur. GOs that occupy Flag Quarters get aides who assist with official entertaining required by their position. Think folks that set the table and make the food when discussing international agreements with world leaders and senior partners. At the end of the night they go home. Personal services are prohibited. There is no special healthcare plan. In some busy locations (Walter Reed, etc) there are separate areas or appointment processes that help them get seen to take care of issues (or avoid getting seen by the masses for privacy concerns), but they use the same docs and TRICARE plans. You’re right about the pay - the FY2015 capped their pay and retirement. I agree that we need less GOs, and propose less officers overall, but in a more streamlined organization. Here’s what our new friend has to say: Trim the Brass, Sharpen the Spear A wartime-ready blueprint to realign America’s officer corps The U.S. military’s command structure is misaligned with the demands of modern war. The senior officer corps has grown too large relative to the force it leads, distorting spans of control, inflating headquarters, and diluting accountability. We propose a deliberate reduction of general and flag officers from 525 to approximately 350 by FY33, accompanied by a targeted drawdown and restructuring of the broader officer corps. This reform restores wartime focus, reduces decision latency, and enables a more credible, combat-aligned military architecture. The goal is not austerity. It is clarity. The reduction preserves surge capacity, strengthens the operational core, and ensures that uniformed officers serve only where their presence is essential—to command forces, make lethal decisions, or operate under military law. Responsibilities misaligned with those functions—acquisition oversight, installation management, enterprise support—shift to civilians or warrant officers, freeing uniformed talent for operational and combat roles. Rebuilding the Structure for What Comes Next This is not the first time the military has confronted institutional overgrowth. But the nature of this moment is unique: dispersed operations, data-saturated environments, hypersonic timelines, and adversaries that prize speed over scale. It is no longer just inefficient to carry excess headquarters—it is operationally dangerous. To correct course, five principles guide the proposed change: Combat first. Uniformed officers remain where lethal authority, command in battle, or military justice are inherent to the role. Surge capacity preserved. A ready bench of one- and two-star Reserve general officers ensures rapid reinforcement without sustaining unnecessary peacetime overhead. No ornamental billets. Positions that exist for convenience, tradition, or administrative overreach—whether in program offices, family services, or base-level operations—are subject to reassignment or elimination. Every cut validated. Billets are reviewed against theater contingency plans and operational requirements. If it’s needed in war, it stays. If not, it goes. Span of control restored. The target is 1 general or admiral for every 4,000 active-duty service members, supported by a flexible, civilian-heavy institutional base. A Three-Phase Reduction Phase I (FY25–FY27): A freeze on new general and flag officer billets. Retirements and unfilled vacancies begin reducing staff layering across major headquarters. Redundant deputy directorates, overlapping support roles, and administrative excess are trimmed. Estimated reduction: ~10%. Phase II (FY28–FY30): Major consolidation follows. NORTHCOM and NORAD merge into a unified Homeland Defense Command. Navy and Marine Corps departmental headquarters unify under a Maritime Service Secretariat, while operational independence remains intact. Base and installation commanders shift to senior civilian leadership. The Defense Health Agency is streamlined. Spans of control increase meaningfully. Cumulative reduction: ~25%. Phase III (FY31–FY33): Key defense support agencies (DIA, NGA, DTRA, NRO, DISA) transition to civilian SES leadership with uniformed deputies. A new statutory cap of ~350 general and flag officers is established in Title 10, with annual oversight mechanisms to enforce compliance. The Reserve flag pool is formalized and resourced. Final span of control: ~4,000:1. A Promotion System Built for Relevance A smaller senior corps must be matched by a promotion system that recognizes functional need over structural inertia. The following reforms address that reality: Parallel career tracks. Officers will declare either a command track—focused on leading units—or a technical track, optimized for fields like cyber operations, AI, logistics, or advanced sensing. Technical officers may culminate in O-6 “Senior Specialist” billets with appropriate incentives. Up-or-stay. Officers who are not selected for promotion may continue serving if they fill high-need roles. Career progression is no longer tied solely to upward movement. Demand-informed boards. Promotion and continuation boards will use real-time Talent Marketplace data to gauge where officer demand exists, ensuring advancement reflects operational value. Lateral entry and reentry. Officers with critical skills from outside government, or those returning from academic or industry sabbaticals, can enter or reenter service without being penalized by traditional career timing. This modernized system ensures that officers are advanced, retained, or reassigned based on what they contribute—not simply how long they’ve served or how many boxes they’ve checked. Where Uniforms Are No Longer Required Reform is not just about removing billets. It’s about putting the right people in the right roles. Uniformed officers belong where warfighting, military authority, and combat decision-making are required. Elsewhere, stability and expertise often matter more. Installation and community support. Garrison and base leadership transitions to civilian SES or GS-15 professionals, supported by uniformed deputies where appropriate. Enterprise logistics and acquisition. Approximately 1,400 officer billets—especially in procurement, lifecycle management, and depot oversight—shift to civilians or warrant officers. Deployable contracting and sustainment teams remain uniformed. Medical and training institutions. Around 200 field-grade billets at military hospitals, schools, and non-operational centers are transitioned to civilian or warrant roles. Policy and analysis roles. Legislative affairs, public affairs, and long-term policy planning roles that are often filled by staff officers will instead be civilianized to preserve institutional knowledge and reduce rotational disruption. The result is not less capacity—it is more relevant capacity, matched to the function it serves. Risk Is Not Assumed—It’s Managed Forward capability is retained. Military contracting, legal, and finance personnel remain embedded in operational formations. The surge bench is real. Twenty Reserve general and flag officers are maintained, trained, and aligned to COCOMs for rapid activation. Reform is incremental. No mass firings. Reductions are phased in through retirements, billet realignment, and voluntary civilian transition. Every change is rehearsed. Reforms are tested in wargames and planning scenarios. If the billet supports combat power under pressure, it survives. The Force in FY33 General/Flag Officers: 525 → ~350 (−33%) Total Commissioned Officers: 234,000 → ~196,000 (−16%) Span of Control (Flag Officers): 1:1,600 → 1:4,000 Annual Overhead Reduction: ≈ $1 billion; 30,000 fewer PCS moves Decision Latency: Cut by half; command chains shortened from six to three echelons Retention: Technical and tactical experts retained; command-track officers promoted on merit Surge Resilience: Maintained through Reserve flag pool and SES institutional continuity Structure is Strategy The current officer corps was not built for speed. It was built for routine—career patterns, headquarters comfort, and institutional self-preservation. But adversaries do not calibrate to our bureaucracy. They calibrate to our weakest link. If the structure that governs our people, decisions, and actions is bloated or misaligned, the rest of the force cannot compensate for it. This proposal is not about doing more with less. It is about doing better with purpose. It realigns billets to functions. It reduces friction where decisions matter. It builds incentives that reflect today’s needs, not yesterday’s promotions. And it preserves both readiness and resilience. A smaller, faster, more operationally aligned officer corps is not a luxury. It’s the bare minimum for a military preparing to fight at speed and scale against modern threats. By FY33, the United States can—and should—field an officer corps in which every rank, every billet, and every staff function supports the central purpose of the profession: winning in war. That requires sharper tools, not more of them.

It would appear not. https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/trump-pentagon-cuts-climate-change-defense-department/ https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5291458-hegseth-timeline-transgender-troops-military/#:~:text=Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the Department,not exit voluntarily%2C according to a new memo.

I graduated yesterday. Thank you for all the inputs and support!

I may disagree with the intensity of your statement, but not the overall point you're making. If the non-HAMAS Palestinians want to take a stand against that death-loving cult, then they need to do it...otherwise, they are unfortunately guilty by association.

Being against Hamas is not the relevant metric. By the time of October 7th I believe Hamas had already lost a support of the majority of the Palestinians living in Gaza as political leadership. However there was practically no daylight between the "citizens" of Gaza and Hamas on the key issue: October 7th was to be celebrated and the Jews are to be killed. To further clarify using your distinction, I believe that Hamas needs to be exterminated with lethal force. I believe the people of Gaza (who have not individually murdered Jews, but pray for it daily) must be forcibly relocated from Gaza to another part of the world where they are with and/or surrounded by other Muslims. We could not exist peacefully with Mexico as a neighbor if a core identity of the Mexicans was the religious calling to murder, rape, and otherwise dominate Americans. And yes, of course an alternate solution would be to move the Israelis, but since they have no stated or apparent desire to rape and murder every Palestinian they can find, I think they get the benefit of the doubt.

I agree with almost everything stated here...the only thing is "Palestinians". If you said HAMAS instead, then yes absolutely, no white-space between our positions. But the non-HAMAS tolerant Palestinian civilians are an issue to figure out. I've seen some media reporting about some small-scale protests against HAMAS happening, but not enough yet. However, I'd like to give them the chance to throw off the shackles of HAMAS oppression and join the international community as Israeli citizens...who happens to grant full citizenship to "Palestinians" people who choose to live in peaceful coexistence under Israeli rule.

My response was in regards to the US getting involved in some form of middle eastern nation building. Any plan that has US troops involved, I can't get behind.

I think they changed it recently but in years past GO pay had a scale that increased over time like everyone else. However, actual basic pay for O-7 to O-10 was (and still is), limited to level II of the Executive Schedule. That limit number was lower than the pay amount for their rank and years of service on the chart. While on active duty take home pay was limited but for retirement their pay was calculated off the higher number in the chart.

"affirmative action, anti-racism, critical race theory, discrimination, diversity, gender dysphoria, gender identity and transition, transgender, transsexual and white privilege." please tell me why my kid needs to be exposed to CHILDREN's books talking about cutting their genitals off. and books telling my kid she is inherently racist and has white privilege. hypothetical argument because i'll never let my child be in a educational setting that pushes that trash.

Don't do the help. Advice not just for the US military. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/navy-chief-removed-from-duties-for-investigation/ar-AA1EviFw?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=b89f888174e34ed8b353eb76b778cd6a&ei=24

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pentagon-orders-military-pull-library-192211948.html Please Pete, tell me there's nothing more important that a good ol book burn. How many hours will be spent on this? How many hours so far? Wait, there's a panel of people? DOGE them, money saved. Does the list include the Bible, seeing as it contains racism? The buzzword is on the ban list. JFC Pete, do you need help figuring out priorities?

We might be advocating for different things... I'm suggesting (and I think Gkinnear agrees) that the only real solution is the forced relocation of the Palestinians out of Gaza (or I suppose the slaughter of all Israeli Jews). At which point Israel can do whatever they want with it. To my knowledge this has not been tried yet.

452nd time has got to be successful right?

Violent agreement...I think it should be inside the borders of Israel. I just don't see the compelling need for US governmental involvement. Private US business concerns can invest if they want to, but I'm very hesitant on US government at any level.

What is an accelerated retirement pay scale?

Yeah they have it tough with drivers, cooks at their houses, personalized GO only healthcare and an accelerated retirement payscale. 99% of them will make up and pay deficit within 30 days of walking out the door.

The validity of the Gaza Riviera plan is this: There is *no* solution where 2 million+ Palestinians are living in Gaza, and Israel remains as a Jewish state. Period. History does not equivocate on this. The only solution is the same solution that humanity has turned to forever: migration. The Palestinians must be moved somewhere else. Either incorporated into a collection of existing Muslim nations or, more likely, moved to a new territory that borders more than a single nation of people the Palestinians believe God wants them to murder. Any other suggestions of a two-state solution with the current geographic reality are either ignorant or disingenuous. No one thought a country as developed and Western as Germany would systematically round up and slaughter millions of Jews and other Europeans in the Holocaust. People will be equally shocked by what happens in Israel or Palestine the next time a global conflict keeps the attention of the rest of the world focused on their own problems.