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I wouldn't say nothing.

[comment cut down to reduce the wall of text, not to speak directly to the words I left in the quote] mb1685 nailed it. I don't have much to add except to say the point I was trying to make earlier is that you're missing the forest from the trees if you think "liberals" are the problem with America right now. As a very specific example, while Republicans are busy fighting Planned Parenthood over abortion, Comcast is gobbling up all of the information channels and chomping at the bit to crush competition as soon as net neutrality is repealed by the incoming administration. The whole Republican branding of Democrats as dirty, misinformed hippies was probably accurate 20-40 years ago, but isn't true at all anymore. I wouldn't have been a supporter of the liberals back then, but today, it's hard for me to support candidates who promote corporate welfare while cutting benefits for the average American, or blame immigration for job loss when it's actually a combination of technology replacing jobs, workers not receiving education/retraining for new jobs, and soaring university tuition costs. And I'm with you on your indifference, though. I barely have feelings in real life, and I definitely don't have them on here. I do like to reading different opinions though. I agree, but Trump pretty much created the media on his own with his Tweets and general behavior. I don't have a defense for Hillary. I think she has the personality of a cardboard box. Thanks dudes for the good conversation. This forum is boring when everyone agrees.

It's not hard to find a myriad of examples of reprehensible and hypocritical behavior from those on both ends of the spectrum. There was certainly no shortage of childish behavior and ad hominem attacks from those who identify as conservative after the 2008 and 2012 elections. But unless you live in an echo chamber (and/or all your friends of different political persuasions than you truly are just absolute shitbags), I think any reasonable person is aware that the vocal minorities on both sides of the aisle are the ones who garner most of the attention. The majority of people are much more moderate (and sane) and they blend into the background while the extremist attention whores (in this case, the regressive left) work to ruin the reputations of ideologies which are generally grounded in logic that was once able to be seen as rational by even those who disagree with the finer points. Generalized shit-slinging affords no credibility to any dialogue and is one of the primary reasons so many citizens are jaded (or even apathetic) with modern politics. It causes more and more people to vote based on perceived social stigmas rather than substantial knowledge of policies. Anyway, it's been a tough election for moderates. We get shat on by the far right for not being gung ho about Trump, and shat on by the far left for not preemptively declaring it the end of the world. Disclaimer: The discussion on this forum is certainly much more intelligent than on many other parts of the web and I'm not making accusations about it in particular.

Nothing can solve that!

Almost everything a liberal says registers as bullsh1t to me, but ever since I realized my brain is wired differently than half of Americans, and everything I say comes off as bullsh1t to the other half, I've been a less angry person. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/812061677160202240 Trump tweets. Says he's asked Boeing to price a super Hornet due to Lockheed cost overruns.

Tired of the popular vote argument. Let's not forget how many people didn't vote at all. How much motivation do you think there is for a Trump supporter to stand in line to vote in California when the chance is 100% it won't matter? I'd bet if the criteria for president was popular vote, Trump would have won. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

Lear, thanks for the added explanation, although I still disagree with the logic of promoting someone who is not willing over someone who is probably just as deserving but is just below the cut line for that particular board (but might not be on another). You say you don't know what scores are the cut line...but you do know that by giving someone asking not to be promoted any score at all they have a chance of bumping someone else. I don't think you can equally compare the letters of those asking not to be promoted versus those asking for consideration to be promoted...they are vastly different concepts. One should be automatic (I nor most want a field grader around who doesn't want to be there at that rank), while the other should be considered. Also, you say you don't want to give folks an "out" from their commitments...come back to me when the air force stops kicking people out then two years later deciding it needs to add 30k airmen. But that's a whole other conversation! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's funny right there...I don't care who you are.

"Fox 2!" A kill is a kill, amirite?

Enlisting in the Guard helped me in eventually achieving a UPT slot, ROTC worked out for brabus. As everyone here can attest to, any route you take luck and timing always plays a part. Good luck in the path that you feel is best for you!

Opinion: don't think it's a great idea to enlist if you KNOW your goal is officer/pilot. Sure it can and has worked out for dudes, but reality is you're putting yourself at least a few years behind timeline, possibly doing something you don't really want to do, maybe end up not getting hired at the unit you're enlisted in, when all along you already knew what you wanted. Unless you need it for college help or just don't know what you want to do/need a couple years to figure life out, it's seems to be more of a gamble than a "great way" to increase your odds of your dream job. No I didn't take this route, but I do know several guys who did and who share these sentiments. Go for what you want right away, i.e. keep applying at UPT boards across multiple units. FWIW, I've had a great AD experience (for the most part); yes I'm punching, but that doesn't mean I would do anything different if I rewound the clock 10 years. ROTC to AD pilot was a great path for me and a lot of other guys, so don't discount it. Give good consideration to all the options; there's a lot of very negative sport bitching on here (I'm just as guilty as others), but AD was not a bad way to spend the first 10 years of my flying career.

As noted by others above, "liberal" today doesn't mean what it used to. And as I intend it is most definitely a pejorative. Likewise, for most of the media which is synonymous with liberal. A liberal of old was open-minded and looked at all angles and came to a conclusion based on the evidence, facts, and the internal deliberation. Today's liberal is the opposite. And after the last eight years of being at fault because I am a white, hetereosexual, Christian-ish military officer (ret) from the South (pretty much the full monty for being to blame for everything) for the complete and utter buffoonery of the current Administration and its lap-dog press (imagine the 24/7 slanted, blaming coverage of Deepwater Horizon, the lack of results for the $1 trillion stimulus that didn't, the IRS targeting U.S. citizens, the President of the United States literally targeting U.S. citizens without benefit of a trial and then executing them via Hellfire, leaving Iraq in "truimph" only to be back in a far worse position today, etc, etc, etc, to the finale of Russian "hacking" but doing nothing about it until after the election), I am deeply and personally invested in rejecting that mantra. That much of what others want or want to tear down was largely, but not completely, built by those like me from past generations, I scoff at those who want to tear it down. It would appear that I am not alone. Trump was simply the means to an end for me. He wasn't my preferred candidate, but he won the nomination and I would have defected to North Korea before voting for Hillary (and her skewed nomination system is a whole 'nother thread). Since it gave a nice raised middle finger as well to the establishment Republicans who are essentially Democrat-lite, I am enjoying that discomfort and groveling that is occurring from them as well. As noted above, I dropped my Republican party affiliation in disgust. A pox on both parties since they have been responsible for the leviathan that is government at all levels, but especially at the federal level. I don't cotton much to being told what to do, how to do it, and how much of my labor's investment should be given to those who tell me they "know better." Again, it would appear that I am not alone. Finally, although it is very difficult to discern personalities or proclivities via short notes as on this thread, I would, however, think that perhaps I was taught wrong in my schoolin'. It would seem that snowflakes are indeed identical. So being directed "Stick to the facts instead of sweeping generalization and political non-sense. Put some arguments back into these posts instead of the Facebook standard "liberals... blah blah" "Obama... rabble rabble" etc." certainly seems directive and not a suggestion. If my writing is not to your standards, feel free to ignore it or rebut it. Either way, I am indifferent. I do, however, thank you for your service and commend you on completing the long, difficult road to being a fighter pilot. I wish we had a lot more of you. So sayeth one of the "bunch of curmudgeonly middle aged men[who] smugly laugh."

Classically liberal and the current "liberal" ideology are not the same, for sure.

I was twice passed over for promotion and separated earlier this month. I interviewed for my dream job and got it. They never asked why I didn't get promoted. YMMV. Also, there seems to be some confusion over how continuation works. I thought posting an actual continuation offer might clear some of that up. So, here's a picture of my continuation offer with my signature block scrubbed out from the bottom left:

Fellas, I said systemically, we as a service, should weigh the desires of the officer lower than the performance/potential of the officer and the needs of the service. Good or not, this is what we do in all things... Further, it is an incorrect assumption that the board can choose to promote or not promote any individual officer. We don't know the cutoff, the number to be promoted, or any of that data. We simply score the record as it sits. We do not know that all 7.5's get promoted and 7.0's do not. So we cannot just give every letter writer a 6.5 to ensure we honor the wishes of that officer above all other criteria. We also ensure every record gets a fair shake with the split system to resolve such differences in scores. It would be a shame if a board member saw the letter as the first thing in the pile and scored 6.5 and didn't even look at the rest of the record. Same with please promote me--should member just score 10.0 without looking at the rest of the record? Of course not. So..the officer's DESIRES as written in a letter to the board are of LESS concern than the rest of the record. I never said the service should promote someone who doesn't want promotion. I said that person's desires were weighed as equal to someone who DID want promotion but had a lousy record. I also said I don't remember ever hearing that a letter writer was forced to accept promotion. I'm also saying that if you permit someone to DQ himself before consideration that's a bad thing. Look at the bigger picture for a second. The up or out system has a few drawbacks. But it also makes long term career paths possible, ensures a quality force, and attracts the determined, adventerous, hungry kind of person we want to attract into Service. Do you want to serve in an organization that doesn't care about career paths and individual growth? That's the postal service or DMV, or any other civil bureaucracy. Up or out makes room for younguns. It sustains the all-volunteer aspect (you can still refuse promotion). By ensuring EVERY record gets looked at at specific intervals we try to ensure the best performers who demonstrate the potential to serve in the higher grade get a fair shake. Im sure some of these concepts are also codified in the officer promotion reg. Does SOS not cover the promotion process anymore? Don't you get to score actual records and discuss all these theories in class? It used to be so. Probably have some federally-mandated social justice training instead. PM me if you want to tell me I'm a f.u.c.k.in' idiot. Definitely PM me with your thoughts after you sit a board or two.

Hmmm. Ok then! Any officer, the instant that officer becomes "bitter" and doesn't want to be in the service anymore, gets a pass and released immediately? Or at the next promotion board? Should we wait two boards? How about promotion from 2LT to 1LT...refuse that and out you go?

Troll status: Confirmed. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

Thank you Maestro! Elena and Lauren are awesome! I'm always pushing the team to find solutions not problems. Glad we found a good one for you. We will get you a no cost VA refi next year to save you even more. Let me know if you need anything. Merry Christmas to everyone! Marty marty@mythl.com

Sidebar conversation... What is up with all the "liberals" slurs on this board. Every time I see that word, all I can picture is Rush Limbaugh foaming at the mouth while a bunch of curmudgeonly middle aged men smugly laugh. It's unoriginal. It's devoid of thought. And it seems you've forgotten that the majority of voters did NOT vote for Trump. The idea that there is a nation-wide rejection of "nationwide rejection of transgendered, trans-fatted, trans-national, 'we know better than you' attitude of the current Administration, the majority of the media, and the well-insulated liberals in the coastal enclaves" is preposterous. Tiny sample size, but about half of the pilots in my fighter squadron say they, "lean left." Like most Americans, myself included, we tend to lean left on social issues and conservative on financial issues... but it isn't black and white. It isn't the "us vs them" mentality perpetuated by Karl Rove and co. Stick to the facts instead of sweeping generalization and political non-sense. Put some arguments back into these posts instead of the Facebook standard "liberals... blah blah" "Obama... rabble rabble" etc.