General Discussion

I couldn't find a recent or highly relevant thread for this topic. This thread can be for any drug abuse incidents or news stories that affect military personnel. Biden’s Son Hunter Discharged From Navy Reserve After Failing Cocaine Test - https://online.wsj.com/articles/bidens-son-hunter-discharged-from-navy-reserve-after-failing-cocaine-test-1413499657 Joe Biden’s Son Hunter Biden Discharged From Navy After Positive Cocaine Test - https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/joe-bidens-son-hunter-biden-discharged-navy-positive/story?id=26257601 Biden's son discharged from Navy Reserve - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/10/16/obama-joe-biden-hunter-biden-naval-re…

An AF major went missing from the mall in Krygyzstan... https://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/0...oman/index.html Hope this story turns out good :(

A while back, I seem to recall reading a "noise complaint" letter from a guy who lived under a low-level route. The basic premise was "you guys aren't training right--you need to be lower and faster!" Anyone know the letter I'm talking about? If so, can you post it or direct me to it? Apparently my search skills are not as good as I thought. Thanks.

Do accidental ejections ever happen from aircraft. When looking at cockpit photos, it looks like there are several ejection handles in the cockpit. Do people ever get things caught in them, or accidentally grab them when turning around to look behind the plane? I assume that they require a good bit of force to pull in order to prevent this? How else is this prevented from happening?

The soon-to-retire Chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee, Sen. Carl Levin, gave a speech on 15 Oct, saying: On 1 Oct, Stephen Colbert interviewed ADM Mullen (Ret), the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saying: And lastly, the Huffington Post had a rare moment of sanity and intelligence to publish an opinion piece a few years ago from one retired Lt Col Astore.https://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-j-astore/why-its-wrong-to-equate-m_b_655611.html These three pieces have stuck with me and I believe they perfectly encapsulate a major part of the Zeitgeist for the last 5 years, and probably for the next 5 years. They correctly describe the subconscious…

OK, I've searched about nine different ways and can't find a previous thread. I've been using a three D - cell, LED Maglite for years. I've just moved to a new jet and my bag is now stuffed to the gills with charts for said airplane. I'm looking for something smaller that will still illuminate all the dark crevasses of a large airplane, with a minimum amount of bag space. Any suggestions? Thanks!

https://www.airforcet...g-block-112111/

Hey all, another new C-130 co-pilot in training here. I just finished corpus and I'm enroute to the rock. Final destination: Yokota AB. Maybe I'm jumping the gun here, but assuming I survive CP school, any advice for moving to Japan? Thanks! J

So I hit 20 years of service on 31 May 2015, and requested a 1 June 2015 retirement date. I have an ADSC for Advanced Flying Training (MWS Requal) that takes me to 10 December 2015. I put in my retirement request with a waiver asking to waive the final six months of my 3 year ADSC. The guidelines state that the waiver has to show that it is in the best interest of the Air Force. My justification included the following: 1) Letting me go six months early saves the Air Force six months of O-4 pay + six months of flight pay. 2) The AF is actively Force Shaping. I did not take the recent TERA offer because I was deployed, and doing so would have required me to s…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-29544064

https://www.kadena.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123427236 Yeesh... Word is they were taking pictures of the storm and 4 got washed into the sea. One made it back to shore, one was found by the coast guard and pronounced dead, two are still missing. Prayers to them and their families, friends, co-workers.

The jungle drums are beating in the UK planespotting community with the rumours of some USMC F-18's that are visiting Lakenheath to fly through the "Roundabout" in LFA7 in the coming weeks If anyone would be kind enough to confirm this either way then please can you drop me a pm Thanks in advance Alex

Hello, I plan to go into a 4 year university, enlist in the ANG, and major in aerospace engineering. When I graduate college, I plan to score high on the AFOQT and apply to fighter units. I have a few questions regarding this path. I really want to become an F35A pilot preferably with the Vermont ANG. My first is" Will a high AFOQT score make up for a low GPA in college?" I am worried that since I am majoring in a tough major, I will have a low gpa, therefore making my fighter wing application look less competitive. I also plan to have my commercial pilot license/rating by time I graduate also, plus my enlisted service, to make my application look competitive when applyin…

This is a good article on what happened to all those Dornier's that used to fly for the regionals: https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/check-out-the-us-department-of-state-air-wings-shadowy-1634123990

Can anything be said about any of the aircraft above? Deployments? Once you get in can you stay in AFSOC for the whole career? Is the flying all it is cracked up to be? Bases? I know a lot of the stuff is classified but any generalizations that can be talked about? I could only find stuff on the MC-12.

NATO Is Acting Like It’s 1985 ‘Maskirovka’ Is Russian Secret War Good articles on next-gen warfare as practiced by the Russians. Question comes to mind: Can we do the same to them in areas that they tenuously control or destabilize their allies the same way? If so legally, then morally? Thoughts?

One pilot rescued, still searching for the other one. Hopefully he's found safe soon. https://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/09/12/two-navy-fa-18-hornets-crash-over-western-pacific-ocean/

https://washingtonexaminer.com/army-cant-track-spending-on-4.3b-system-to-track-spending-ig-finds/article/2552808

Are FE's enlisted, navs, or pilots? I know the KC-10's have FE's, do any other planes?

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/08/30/ISIS-says-it-forces-abduct-pilots-to-train-fighters.html

Good Stuff: Base has a "morale" folder on one of the drives. About 300 GB of music, music videos, games and MOVIES!!! You can check out a vehicle and go to Kuwait City (if vehicles are available) or Camp Doha. Bad Stuff: Dining Hall with many rats and cats. Aircrew Billeting...rooms are small, smaller or smallest. Expect three per room. Tents are a better option. [ 12 January 2004, 13:25: Message edited by: evil load ]

Could be in the Russia or Ukraine threads but worthy of separate discussion, the genie is out of the bottle, I hope you can fight without GPS. https://www.gpsdaily.com/reports/Satellite_Navigation_Failure_Confirms_Urgent_Need_for_Backup_999.html

https://m.ktxs.com/news/small-plane-crash-near-abilene-regional-airport/27818540 RIP...

https://www.controller.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=1334219 This would be a fun refurb project. Wish I had stupid money.

I just applied for the LEAP program and am waiting to hear back about it. Has anyone on here been involved in the LEAP program at all? Also, I have been looking into the Olmstead program, which looks awesome. On the official site it says that each service gets 10 people per year but it looks like the AF only selected 6 out of 61 last year. Anyone been involved with this as well and have some info on the process and how to get selected? Thanks!