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Sure, and sorry for the delay. In Iraq circa 2006/7 the Army's #1 airlift request was getting stuff flown into Taji. There was a lot of fighting around Taji. I did a bunch of -130 deployments to Balad, and one day I happened to be the guy picked to fly the AMC/CC around the AOR. I asked him why we weren't flying into Taji, being that Army commanders at LSA Anaconda (Balad) were always asking us the same question, being told to call AMD, and subsequently being told no. He told me that he owned the pushback against authorizing us to fly into Taji, and he was extremely proud of it. Army helos were regularly taking SAFIREs IVO Taji, and he believed he was protecting his people (me) by denying the request. "Why would I make you fly somewhere unsafe?" But the Army had to resupply and operate out of Taji. It's in the heart of the Sunni triangle and at the time, security in that area was crucial to US strategy. Because AMC refused to fly into Taji, the task was left to Army helos and ground convoys. They are significantly more vulnerable to attack. It's pretty hard to hit a herc on a Pen-D with an RPK. It's not hard to use an EFP on some 21 year old kid driving truck #23 of a huge convoy. By embracing risk aversion for his fleet that AMC commander put more people in greater risk. Stated another way: his risk aversion didn't actually decrease risk, it merely forced another to accept it. And the people forced to accept it were far more susceptible to the dangers. When I pointed this out, I was completely blown off with a sarcastic comment about how his priority was my safety..... Etc.. It's a foul philosophy. There's absolutely nothing special about me and I'm sure a lot of dudes reading this have similar tales; but I hope this story illustrates the principal I was attempting to convey.

Typo

Guideline from experience, multiple PCS's with less than 30 days to RNLT. The best was when I was told that they would have to delay or cancel a TDY enroute. I told them good luck finding me another TX. And congrats for you will be the first to ever PCS from your base...or that's how it will feel

Anyone else gotten a RIP yet? Still not totally sure of my assignment, but wondering when I might be packing up here. Do you normally get at least 60 days between RIP and RNLTD, or is that just a guideline?

http://www.businessinsider.com/army-sergeant-gregory-mcqueen-ran-prostitution-ring-at-ft-hood-2015-3

In that case, get hired by a regional with no training contract. Complete the ATP-CTP, get some 121 time, and keep your apps in at the majors. I would only pay the $$ out of pocket if I knew I had the hours to go straight to the majors. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Still crickets here. Another weekend...

One of my insiders says Carlisle is no longer in the running (this is contrary to one of my previous posts about 8 months ago). They say Hyten's camp is awfully quiet, and that's usually an indicator. This is not very exciting news IMHO. I'd much rather have Goldfein. But then again, I would rather have Goldfein as a COCOM CG or Joint Staff Vice/Chairman as opposed to CSAF. The USAF needs more representation at the GO level in Joint positions.

So what happened to the rumored OSD/SECAF initiative to display diversity in the next CSAF selection? Seems like another old white male fighter pilot to me. Other than the fact that it's not McD, I'm not sure what there is to get excited about. Things can certainly get worse (McD), but how is Goldfein or anyone else going to make things better? Current CSAF was handed a shit sandwich and did very little to change course--some would argue things have gotten worse. If nothing else, the last few years have taught me that the bureaucracy of the Air Force makes it almost impossible to make lasting change.

MIL2ATP out in North Carolina was good. Finished a couple weeks ago. 3 flights, 3 sandbag sorties, and a checkride. All of their instructors are prior AF pilots. They have 2 senecas, and provide you with good gouge. Examiner was decent, as long as you weren't cocky. Had a short ground eval of about 10 min, spent more time going through admin than the ground eval. (I had a good written test score and no centerline thrust restriction, sounded like the normal eval is around 30 min). Checkride was a 1.4 sortie. Debrief consisted of a couple minor comments on the walk in, followed by getting my temporary certificate. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk