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I was surprised about the 20% too...but even more surprised at the enormous costs associated with such a small percentage of retirees that continues to rise. I think this new "retirement" system that pretends to be "fair" to all who serve is really just an attempt to create another pot of money (required TSP contributions) to raid in order to fund the current retirees until they can find another solution. I think they are hoping this new investment strategy lasts long enough to fund and eventually phase out the 20-year annuity retirees so there will no longer be a liability. We are living longer, so it will obviously take decades before that happens. The problem is that I don't see people motivated to stay longer than 10 years...so in the long run, the DoD spends billions of dollars training new recruits to replace the ones who are no longer motivated to stay in past 10 years. Where are the savings? If I were coming into the military today under the new retirement system, I would contribute for 10 years into the TSP, get my free education, free $1M flight training, and transfer my investments to a real 401k when I transition to the airlines. Other than patriotism, give me another reason why I should stay any longer than that? My question is what other benefits will they offer to keep people in past 10 years in order to continue "funding" the current benefits?Because we are living longer, the retirement benefits currently funded by DoD won't decrease fast enough in series with the proposed defense budget cuts. So, in theory, entitlement spending for DoD will become a larger percentage of the smaller DoD budget. It has to be funded somehow...

As Hoss stated, the 1911 is an excellent pistol and every American male should own at least one in their lifetime! That said, there is a slight (and I do mean slight!) decrease in reliability as compared to better modern polymer semi-autos (the XD, Glock, etc), but honestly I find my 1911s to be easier, accurate (well, I am better with my XD; but I also have a lot more time shooting it) and honestly more enjoyable to shoot (because of the heavier and longer frame). Honestly, the normal-sized ones are not as easy to conceal; but as far as everything else, there is absolutely no reason not to but a 1911. Even the cheaper, entry-level ones from the Philippines--such as the Rock Islands--can be decent shooters! Cheers! M2

He is from one of the last classes at Randolph. Not sure about a recent change, but I'm pretty sure I didn't misunderstand as he was pretty heated about it until they told him he'd still be going to Kadena. Perhaps there is more to the story that I didn't catch. I'll try to get in touch with him and let you know. edit: all the Japanese bases look the same

The real reason is that it pissed off the shoes that we were different. It feeds their inferiority complex. What sucks is that the supposed flyers in charge let them get away with it. At least when you close the hatch you're still in a shoe free environment (for the most part)... There, I can push up my sleeves, wear whatever-the-fuck kind of sunglasses I want... Hell, I can even wear my favorite hat and those fuckers can't do a goddamn thing about it...at least for the duration of that sortie. That ball-cap has seen more combat sorties than these douche canoes ever will...

(to the panel Chief quoted above) Well Chief you're probably right, only a little morale comes from wearing a colored T-shirt and showing unit pride on Fridays. It is the last of any morale and pride left in units these days. Lets just do away with unit pride altogether...squadrons shouldn't even have colors. Standardize all flight suit patches so they are the same color...squadron patches can just be a big white patch with bold black letters (insert unit here) so people know which squadron you're from. We'll make name patches Air Force blue so everyone looks the same (although you'd probably f*ck that up trying make a "rule" to determine which shade of blue to use). You're obviously disconnected from your "troops" if you can't understand how important a little bit of unit pride and morale (regardless of how small) means to a squadron in which morale is lacking because of all the BS they have to put up with on a daily basis...and yes, that is part of a bigger problem that you're too disconnected to see. We've been wearing squadron T-shirts as far back as I can remember (wasn't 'against the rules' that whole time)...and in 35 years I don't remember Amn Snuffy ever being confused about breaking rules regarding which T-shirt to wear until you made all of these stupid rules to follow. If you are worried about Amn Snuffy being "confused" about breaking rules because people are wearing colored T-shirts, then yes, we have bigger problems that standardizing T-shirts will not fix. I would put more focus on making sure Amn Snuffy is familiar with rules and AFIs that apply to his job so he can do it more efficiently and less focus on what you think Amn Snuffy will think just because I'm wearing a yellow T-shirt on Friday. How can you trust Amn Snuffy to do his job if he can't follow the small rules? I really hope that shiny boots and clean sideburns is not how you determine if you trust Amn Snuffy to do his job correctly. Good luck Chief...we're all counting on you!

You silverbacks need something constructive to do.

Don't the majority (THE PUN, IT BURNS!) of people get MAJCOM staff as their vector (speaking from the MAF side)?

https://www.news.com.au/world/us-grounds-fleet-of-f-22-fighter-jets/story-e6frfkyi-1226081824105 Update: Grounded "indefinitely."

Am I the only Air Force pilot just not 100% impressed with the Robin Old's style? It is a niche leadership style that worked for a certain type of person in a particular era. As I mentioned in the previous post, I agree with his tenacity and am obviously not a fan of the complete slide to political correctness today. But, Olds' style was much like a Patton. Olds and Patton are great battlefield commanders. But, imagine if Eisenhower and Omar Bradley weren't present to keep aggressive leadership style such as Patton's in check. Similarly, I think an Olds style leadership simply caps out at a point. Disregard for politics in total favor for mission and bros is simply an ideal that doesn't exist in the real world. Personally, I prefer Gen Welsh, Colin Powell, Petraeus type that seem to strike an excellent balance between politics, morale, and mission. Unfortuantely, this style is few and far between so we tend to herald back to the days of Gen Olds and set an unrealistic benchmark

Intel 3 yrs old is still pretty good, seems the guys in the onesies bitch about the same thing.....repeatedly. It's actually entertaining.

Let's just say this shoe clerk makes sure parts that fix the plane get to the mechanics, and I have the dubious pleasure of trucking the onesies to their air craft. It's quite a disappointment to see how the flying community views the rest of AF.

If I saw something out of place with the Wing/CC I would politely mention it, I surely would get an attitude and jump him for it, use your head. And why do pilots run the majority of the AF? Rhetorical question so to speak?

You can toss the "Technical Expert" term Old Man, shoulda/coulda/woulda been a Warrant. Flyers get pissy with queep shit done or said by Shoes, but will rarely do or act against a disrespectful Enlisted person for fear of getting talked to by a higher ranking Shoe O. I expect Officers period to act like Officers and lead. Confused? Go talk to the USMC, their O's seem understand that ideology, even their flyers. NCO's have better things to do (I.e. making the military run) instead of making uniform corrections you're too to make yourself.

Ok. This is an easy question. If pilots run the majority of the Air Force, then why do we still have these nit-noid rules? Another question is, why are they having us enforce those rules? Case in point, during our last ORI the Wing Commander about had a fit because people were getting caught without reflective belts.....and this guy flies, I see his name on the flying schedule. So what gives?