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Having grown up in Miami I could write a dissertation but the part primary reason is outlined above given their alliance to adversaries and willingness to host those hostile actors (luckily sans nuclear missiles thanks to Kennedy). Another reason not often discussed is their propensity to create and support instability in the region. Ever wonder why Maduro's protection force was mostly Cubans....? Cuba frequently provides intelligence sharing, operational training, and asylum to leftist radicals, guerrilla groups, and anti-establishment political movements around the world but mainly ones that destabilize Latin America. You might look up the ALBA alliance and Cuba efforts to foment chaos in Boliva. Finally, analysts and regional security forces have long accused the Cuban intelligence apparatus of infiltrating civil society organizations, leveraging state media to fuel anti-Western protests, and backing candidates hostile to U.S. interests. Way to close to home for me having so many Cuban friends growing up, it was a non-stop stories of things done to Cuban families both in Cuba, other Latin American Countries and in the U.S. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has a page dedicated to Cuba and they do a far better and more articulate job of giving details than I can.

On the tanker in a fighter...meh. Take an under-powered Gunpig to the tanker and hold position for ten minutes while you onload 35-40K. Your CG dramatically shifts WAY aft and you fall ever further behind the power curve with the throttles bent forward and bleeds off as you refuel to 10K over max peacetime weight. That is not just a combat situation, that is every ocean crossing...each one is done with a waiver. AR in the Gunpig is no joke and not a pickup game. Does that translate to the six ship diamond pass in review 18" from another jet for a show then march to the crowd line in your overly tight blue or red jumper...probably not. The most precise flying I've ever done was not in formation but was to ten feet of altitude and one knot of airspeed shooting 27M from the friendlies (one knot can make a 10' miss on the ground), basically across the street as the team was about to be overrun. Had another shoot on night three of OEF shooting in nearly 70 knot winds...imagine the defensive egg on its side, going up wind is great as everything slows WAY down and your bank angle gets low, downwind is like riding a bucking bronco, 45+ degrees of bank, maneuvering three dimensionally as you try to put the thing on the thing and push the trigger. Anyway, matters nothing more than a fun conversation, USAF is run by an Eagle dude again and the last thing he will do is surrender ground to the other than the fighter tribe. We have FAR bigger problems to solve right now.

Well yeah obviously, you've demonstrated particularly unbiased judgment of anyone involved with this administration. It should be no surpris that the only ones you like are the ones you agree with. Tulsi is one step away from becoming a Joe Rogan conspiracy theorist. And at this point anybody who brings up Epstein should be disregarded immediately as either too dishonest or too blinded to trust their judgment or assessment of, well, anything. Just another social-mania at its finest.

I had no hope for all 3, and I add Kash and Pete to that list. 3 down, 2 to go. I think Trump is saving Kash til late summer then sacrifices him to appease the election gods. As for Tulsi, perhaps she bought all that, no more wars, campaign bullshit when she decided to join Trump and then saw behind the curtain, called "fuck it, I'm out, peace fingers, bithes!" Or, someone showed her the Epstein files. She is still a Dem, IMO.

At least a few minutes most flights. On the tanker (especially in the weather), battle damage checks, coming up initial in places that don't have tac initial, and if you are hitting the weather without the time/ability/desire to get everyone into a trail formation. My first pond crossing I spent most of the first 5 hours in fingertip because the weather was garbage and if you lost sight you're diverting to some random Pacific island that you don't want to land a fighter on. Flying fingertip while racehorse is a serious challenge.

Maybe, but this very thing also was extremely close to happening (all the work and most of the staffing had been done to make it a thing)…and then the A-10 resurrected itself for the 5th time. Based on that, I think it’s decently likely they will implement something like I stated, BUT it won’t be with years of overlap. The most likely will be a core group of dudes trained (who knows, maybe they’ll make another XYZ TASS) and they will propagate to the current CAF while it gets added into B courses and normalized on RTMs. This will take longer than desired, but it will happen, and we just have to hope nothing goes down during the conversion period…and if it does, America will make it happen, even if under less than ideal settings.

I’m too lazy, so here is AI… Cuba is considered a national security threat by the U.S. government primarily due to its proximity to the U.S., its intelligence alliances with adversaries like Russia and China, and its support for hostile actors in the region. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis here is a link to the Cuban missile crisis for a brief synopsis on the historical threat associated with Cuba. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Wish I was as well written and in the know as some of the followers of this thread so I thought I would just let things stew for a while (didn't help) and see how this contracted Flight Academy issue would work out. My information comes from first hand accounts but may not be indicative of other contracted flight academies. In this particular case, one AF Captain back at the home AFB is tasked with keeping contact with that home base's TDY students as an additional duty and not as a primary job. Essentially there is no day to day monitoring of the civilian flight academy's performance or treatment of the students. The result is this flight academy in this particular case has to a large extent abused its students. Stretches of 12 days or more of being scheduled on duty, literally no regular scheduled days off each week, and the instructors have been abused too, and told to quit or be fired if they didn't like the non-stop 12-hour days. In some cases this has built up a huge animus towards the students . There is absolutely no consistency amongst the cfi's except that they all operate under FAR's. Instructional rides sometimes last up to three hours in the peak of heat in a small, hot cockpit. Can't remember if I ever in my career had initial instructional rides longer than an hour and a half. My understanding is it took a couple RAF guys, more senior in rank than the second lieutenants to call back to home base and threaten an IG complaint. That worked for a while but the civilian boss had other ideas. It's not unique that this Flight Academy is trying to push the Air Force students through as quickly as possible, and cheaply as possible, using new, young cfi's and schedulers that have no clue about duty days. And the word is out, every flight academy is different and some, like CAE, are top tier and very professional .Others have sent initial solo students out in planes that have had engine failures and were not fixed.( yes solo student had an engine failure on departure after it had supposedly been fixed.) Suffice to say, these flight academies, from Atlanta to Southern Florida to Texas and Arizona , sourcing instructors from every corner of the globe in no way shape or form will deliver a consistent, across the board equal product back to the respective home bases --from what I am seeing and hearing. I would love to hear this is just sour grapes from a couple students and I'm not getting a proper perspective.

Can someone explain why Cuba is a national security threat?

You guys can't possibly be this unlikable in the office, right? Actually what he said, if you must translate his already clear quote, was: "I could see the Republicans and Democrats both abusing this." And what a wonderful day for you, even Ted Cruz says the Republicans aren't on board with this: Cruz said about 45 of the 53 Senate Republicans were attendance and "at least half of them were blasting the attorney general and they were pissed." "They were screaming at the acting attorney general," he said. "There were multiple senators who were yelling at the attorney general — and it was not calm, it was yelling — and they were saying this feels like self-dealing." Now since you insist on making it partisan, when is the last time the Democrats revolted over a Democrat president being sketchy? Serious question.

The last of the glamour hires. I had high hopes for Bondi, but Gabbard and Noem seemed doomed from the start. Gabbard is isolationist to a fault, and Noem is a clown.

I like watching crooked cops squirm

Nothing will change until the mission doesn't get done in a messy and embarrassing way

Change block 30/40 DOC statement to reflect CSAR as primary mission - could be done this year if they wanted to. Has nothing to do with force posture. And ironically, Korea would be a likely place to conduct CSAR if that war ever occurred.

That's because depsite the perception, Big Blue doesn't control OCONUS force posture. As others have alluded, make CSAR a strategic priority, then it will get the attention it deserves.

Good points, new build Vipers with mods, options to specialize in these missions would be my choice, if not Superbugs. Chance of that happening: zero point zero…. CFTs, look at engine mods or options to get more on station time, stretched or D model airframes if possible (new) for more fuel / gear or a WSO to direct CCAs, CCAs optimized for these missions, maybe a probe & drogue AR setup as was offered to the IAF with CCA AR support, etc… the justification for this Christmas list is the INDOPACOM theater with the distances to be covered, the capability of the main adversary, the high probability of significant losses, etc… The optimized CCA paired with an optimized 4+ gen for dedicated CSAR/CAS is key methinks, bringing support while the traditional platforms are coordinated, faster and longer (giggity) immediate response

The central question was never whether Iran was a challenging environment. Nor was it whether Iran posed a serious threat, had the potential for nuclear weapons if they put their minds to it, fired ballistic missiles, or occasionally conducted special operations that targeted western citizens. All of that is true. The question was whether those conditions compelled the methods chosen — or whether they were invoked to justify choices that were poorly aligned with the United States’ own stated objectives.” He (smartly) doesn’t mention the clear “unstated” objective: to distract from other political difficulties that were becoming unmanageable. Once evaluated by that criteria suddenly everything starts to make perfect sense.

Interesting how your takeaway point here is that “I could see the democrats abusing this” as opposed to “I see active abuse occurring right now in only one party that I do or do not agree with.” Making invalid hypothetical comparisons is a fallacy.

Great analysis. Your friend writes well and seems genuinely strategically savvy.. most notably in that he avoids saying the quiet part out loud: “Conclusion The central question was never whether Gaza was a challenging environment. Nor was it whether Hamas posed a serious threat, employed tunnels, took hostages, fired rockets, or embedded itself among civilians. All of that is true. The question was whether those conditions compelled the methods chosen — or whether they were invoked to justify choices that were poorly aligned with Israel’s own stated objectives.” He (smartly) doesn’t mention the clear “unstated” objective: to completely evict the Palestinians from the area. Once evaluated by that criteria suddenly everything starts to make perfect sense.

It’s the Navy way.

The Rhino is a great jet, but also unnecessary for the task at hand when the AF already has a lot of Vipers, planned through 2047, a SPO, etc. From a program and financial perspective, it does not make sense to procure Rhinos…as good of a jet as it is.

They were spooning. That's gay.

Tulsi Resigns Effective 30 June Guess we're invading Cuba in July 🤔

"hard to replace". Give me a break.

...and not a single pilot died. Worth it.