General Discussion

For all of the airdroppers out there, here's a USA Today article about precision airdrops, https://www.usatoday....rops/52902982/1. I was in the Tactics shop in Bagram back in 2006 when this was introduced into Afghanistan. Good to see it is still successful and getting the guys the stuff they need to kick ass and survive!

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2012/01/air-force-suicides-rise-lead-to-standdown-013012w/ January 2012 has seen a record number of suicides across the Air Force. What does the Air Force do? Why, they schedule a 1 day stand down for additional resiliency training. How idiotic. This mindset that you can just brief away problems only causes more problems. So we have a one day standdown. During that we are reminded just how "important" we are. The Air Force can't afford to lose any one of its airmen (well, aside from the thousands they fired last year, and the additional ten thousand they are seeking to get rid of). Instead of a day off, we get another day of …

https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2012/01/31/dassault-parvient-enfin-a-exporter-ses-rafale_1636901_3234.html#ens_id=1636502 First export ever. The Typhoon was the favourite for the contract. Weird.

Once again we've pulled off a pristine pirate-killing, hostage-rescuing operation. Awesome! https://news.yahoo.co...-063438091.html US military raid in Somalia frees American, Dane By ABDI GULED and KATHARINE HOURELD | Associated Press – 53 mins ago MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — U.S. Special Forces troops flew into Somalia on a nighttime helicopter raid early Wednesday, freed an American and a Danish hostage and killed nine of the kidnappers in a mission that President Barack Obama said he personally authorized. The Danish Refugee Council confirmed that the two aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, were freed and "are on thei…

Link Looks like the Air Force Global Hawk is being canceled in favor of retaining the U-2. This is interesting that a manned airplane is actually beating out a UAV. I wonder what this means for all the people recently hit with a GH gig but haven't PCSd yet.

Have read this before but saw it on the new AF website again https://www.af.mil/specials/courage/story.html "We've got a motto for a reason: these things we do that others may live." Technical Sergeant James Davis said somewhat casually, just days after risking his life to save two Army helicopter pilots from an unforgiving valley in Afghanistan. Along with his crew, Sergeant Davis makes up an elite group of Airmen who serve as Combat Search and Rescue Aircrews – the professionals who go in with helicopters, hoists, and guns, putting their lives on the line to save others in hostile situations. He deployed to Afghanistan as an HH-60 Pave Hawk flight engineer…

Why does a Group/CC or Wing/CC need 2 execs + a secretary + a deputy/vice? Our Squadron can't hardly function with people having upward of 4 additional duties, yet they still take people out of the Squadron to fill these roles. I am just wondering.

Wondering if anyone else caught this. I don't know who's to blame more. The Marines or the guy taping this and leaking it out. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/12/panetta-orders-probe-video-showing-marines-urinating-on-dead-taliban/

Feel free to move if this would go better elsewhere. My wife and I were curious if it is possible to use the military to help get lower interest rates on her student loans (currently at 6.9%)? Anyone have any familiarity with something like this?

World's biggest super-jumbos must be GROUNDED, say engineers after cracks are found in the wings of three Airbus A380s Cracks found in two Singapore Air super-jumbos, and one Qantas Both airlines admit cracks, but say planes are safe 'We can't continue to gamble with lives' - engineer https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2084242/Airbus-A380-Worlds-biggest-planes-sky-worthy-say-engineers.html

Just got reclassified cyber (failed the new computer color test at my FC1). Anyone have a current read on the cyber pipeline? The only info I've received from my AFROTC cadre is that it is at Keesler, and info I've scrounged via google is inconsistent. How long is the training? Phases? Content? Is there anything I should be preparing for in the meantime? How long are LTs waiting between commissioning and EAD? What PCS options are there at the end of the pipeline? Any other SA is appreciated

Hi! So, Mildenhall might be our new home coming up this summer. Some questions to anyone who has ever been stationed there: What is base housing like? Do you get to "pick" which housing you're in? (meaning: I've heard that there are a total of three bases with housing available). Dave has seen Lakenheath housing (and liked it). His friend was stationed at Mildenhall. Thoughts/opinions? Obviously, I completely understand if Lakenheath peeps have first dibs on their housing over Mildenhall peeps. I JUST read that importing pets changed their rules (as of Jan 4th 2012!). Has anyone traveled with their pets overseas? I know the general gist of taking care of t…

Multicam is obviously worn by the Army and those going outside the wire downrange. In AFSOC, though we go outside the wire and have purchased a ton of the 2 piece multicam flightsuits, we are not allowed to give them out yet. This is mainly because we do have written guidance on proper wear. I am trying to run down who has the authority to ram this thru, and who is the person I should speak to about writing a reg that lets us wrap this up.

Hello all, My name is Dan Stevens, I'm a sales manager at National Bank of Kansas City's mortgage division. You may have noticed a new advertisement for National Bank of Kansas City this week in the forum. I just wanted to introduce us to you all by posting a short note. Over the last couple years, we've received several referrals from members in your group so we thought it would be good to help sponsor this forum and make it easy for anyone to contact us. If you have any questions about VA loans or our bank, feel free to reach out to me via this forum. you can also reach us at baseops.nbofkc.com Interest rates are at the lowest point I've e…

37' ain't a whole lot of room. Fox News video

This is a video the pilots in the scout platoon of the company I was in made in 1988 (B Co. 4-229th AAHR) at Ft. Hood, TX during our unit's start-up and reciept of the AH-64 Apache. It's a parody of the "Apache on the Move" video made by MD to tell the world how awesome the Apache was back then (and it really is, but after a while it got tiring to always hear about the Apache -- I mean the OH-5.8 had been around since the late 60's)! To really understand the parody, you should watch the actual "Apache on the Move" video, if you have time (about 10 mins). Here's the link: As far as the OH-58 Parody (called "Kiowa on the Move"), it's here, and is also about 10 …

We seem to have extras...any takers? https://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/australia-looks-overseas-for-defence-staff-20111227-1par2.html The Australian Defence Force is trying to recruit laid-off soldiers, sailors and air crew from Britain, the US and other western countries in order to fill recruitment quotas. Australia is reportedly looking for defence specialists, such as fighter pilots, submarine crews and officers and are offering fast-tracked citizenship as an incentive, The Australian reported on Tuesday. According to the newspaper the Royal Australian Navy has sent a delegation to Britain to discover how many retrenched sailors, particularly en…

Hey all, Heading to Shindand AB soon for an extended stay. Has anyone been there recently? I'm looking for info on living conditions, facilities available, etc. PM me and we can exchange .mil email addresses to make sure we're not crossing any OPSEC lines on an open forum. Thanks for your help. -Todd

Christmas almost came early for China... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16292244

In today's AFA Daily... I didn't know the BUFF was "conceived" in a hotel room! Cheers! M2

Folks, I got the text from my work account, but be on the look out for an article running in the AF Times regarding the force management stuff included in the latest NDAA. I will try not to violate the copyright, but some of the highlights I remember -15 year retirements - VSP - Early Retirement Incentive Pay The two bits of commentary in the story stuck in my memory 1. The author mentioned that the NDAA was rolling out force management options not seen since the post Cold-war Era drawdown 2. A congressional aide was quoted (under anonymity) that law makers said that the services were not planning for large drawdowns...but it seemed quite s…

Gents, I am not a flyer. I am a comm guy (that's "cyber operator" in today's Air Force...). Long story short, I am writing the AFI that addresses how you pay for gas away from your home station (e.g. AF 664s), turning in those docs when you return, and how the WRDCOs get the bills paid. I've spent lots of time talking to WRDCOs since they are the focus. I've also talked to couple of pilots, but no boom operators. I'd like down low on how/what actually happens when you have to refuel away from your home station - both on the ground and in the air. I'd also like to know what happens to the 664s and 791s when the mission is complete. The older Air Refueling …

Just thought I'd remind everyone that the new BAH rates came out today. Got a nice increase (almost $300) for my duty zip code duty station. Here's the direct link to the calculator. https://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/bahCalc.cfm

I just got a a T-6 PIT flying job - moving this summer. Looking to see if there are any folks there in San Antonio who can give me info on where to live, schools, etc - the normal stuff. Right now, we're looking to rent in the Stone Oak or Canyon Springs area, but looking for opinions. Thanks