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It's okay, I downloaded it from a Russian porn site. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G530AZ using Baseops Network Forums mobile app

I'll echo this - DFAS debt collections are super fucked up. My debt was easily shown to be incorrect and it still took 6 months to get it back. You pay or they send you to collections. Their communications take 150 days from when you send in an issue and when they answer.

Just a backseater, but the stick monkeys say the movement of the boom in front of your nugget is tricky to tune out while trying to maintain position. Not my problem, I'm usually eating a sandwich.

Is anyone in congress talking about the incessant use of the military as a foreign policy tool in recent decades? There are a great many potential problems with this practice, many of which are no longer hypothetical. We are using up an aging fleet at rates that were never anticipated and we cannot hope to recapitalize in a timely manner, even if the military budget is greatly increased (I have my doubts whether Increased defense spending is really in the cards). Perhaps more ominously, we are doing the same with personnel. Most of the operators in recent conflicts whether they be spec ops, aircrew, maintainers, etc, are simply burnt out and taking their experience elsewhere. Yet the only plan seems to be to continue to attempt to squeeze water out of the rock. How about the monetary cost of these conflicts? I'm a big proponent of a strong military, but the fact is we have spent an astonishing amount of money with very little to show for it. It amazes me that we've laid out the cash we have while actually shrinking personnel and aging the fleet. I don't care if you lean left or right, everyone in this country ought to be demanding more accountability when it comes to military spending. Don't expect me to support increased military budgets without telling me EXACTLY how that money will be spent. So, what's the plan? Throwing money at the problem is not sufficient. I expect my elected officials and my military leadership to work together to come up with a sustainable defense strategy. Forgive me if I have little confidence in either group to deliver.

All of them.

If only we would have fired the first Gen Schwartz before he wrecked the place. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

I can't link on my phone but Maj Gen Schwartz is getting fired on Jan 20. Story is on Drudge. It doesn't mention GO-1, but I wonder if this story has anything to do with it. Edit: Samsonite! I was way off. The guy getting fired is Maj. Gen. Errol R. Schwartz. Went back to the top of this thread-that guy is Maj Gen Burke. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

A pilot can ride in the DSO (defensive wso) seat if it's not a tactical flight.

And fuel spray looks like you're trying to AR in a hurricane if all 4 pumps are on since the receptacle is right in front of the windscreen

The vast majority of airline pilots have NEVER flown formation. Ever. And when I used to push off the gate in the 787 headed to Australia, we had over 200,000 pounds of fuel on board, or twenty hours of duration. Commercial AR will never happen.

Harrumph bitches.

First, thanks for your service, both mil and gov - I've seen your interviews on CNN, and I find your opinions well-balanced, nuanced, and reasoned. From a mil perspective, I'd like to see up-and-out promotions go away, with a repeal of DOPMA. I believe this would help stop the hemorrhaging of talent and address the manning issues at the grassroots level. I would also like to see a bigger push to allow members to take breaks in service without mortgaging their futures with huge ADSCs. From a national perspective, our foreign policy needs a major vector check. Threatening to withhold support from NATO is massively destablizing. We are on our heels trying to figure out how to respond to Putin. Russia is not as strong as many perceive, but that actually makes them more dangerous. Please don't support more conflict intervention without clearly defined, attainable goals and articulated end-states (not accusing you of this, rather our adventures in nation-building since 9/11). Thanks for your time.

I think the nose AR would be easier than not seeing the receptacle 10 feet behind you.

Bomber (at least in the Bone) AR currency is a pretty big deal for maintaining CMR. Self re-hacks not allowed and it wreaks havoc with scheduling when IPs go dead. We end up generating a lot of 3-pilot proficiency sorties to get everyone current which detracts from training. Probably also has to do with the fact that it's a somewhat difficult skill to master since the receptacle is in the nose like the Hog and taking 100K+ means hanging on for 15 minutes or more. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

Pictures with info that shows deliberations/findings, etc are privileged. Pictures with no such information/markings are not privileged. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

As with everything, "it depends". It depends on a lot of things that are entirely out of your control. If your Convening Authority is given a list of choices to offer, the CA may pass that option down to you. The CA also might not...and you would never know, since you aren't part of the communication process for the FEB or the Waiver. Some CAs may even make you accept the Waiver first before even telling you what might be in the hopper for a follow-on for you. Some might tell you beforehand what airframe they're going to recommend for you. In my opinion, there is rarely anything to be gained by not taking the waiver and going to a full-on FEB. Occasionally, when gradebooks were poorly documented and maintained, a good attorney could get a student reinstated....but more often than not guys end up at the same place they would have if they'd just accepted the waiver, months later down the road and perhaps $ thousands poorer in attorney fees.

Probably because they're all going to be needed for riot control when Trump is actually sworn in and half the libtards in the city lose their damn minds and start burning buildings and throwing bricks.

Understood. we are in a new era in the world where everyone is super connected and the world is smaller, and challenges are different a greater. In a cold war construct, it was easier. In Low intensity and irregular warfare we are burning our fleet and people. I think personally America is uniquely positioned to keep some world order (not in a new age govt conspiracy meaning) but its gonna take new thinking. Do we need F-16s burning their hours flying holes in the sky and doing Gods work dropping bombs, or could a AT-6 do the job cheaper while we save the F-16s for the war on Russia or china? We need to expand the number of people in the ranks and shrink the civilian force, so that rotations are less often. WE NEED TO BURN REFLECTIVE BELTS TOO. What it looks like ultimately will be up to the Commander in Chief and us here, but I think we need to reevaluate our equipment and personnel priorities daily. Unfortunately with ass hats willing to blow up kids in a school or café, I think this war will continue for our lifetimes. Military strength can also make war less likely as it strengthens diplomacy. Just my opinion.

As an ANG C-130H nav, there are definitely training events that could be reduced/eliminated from a pilot's current readiness requirements to allow them to maintain a fully mission ready status with less days required at their unit (given the current real world ops requirements). Additionally, it would be an outright boon to morale and retention to eliminate the Afghan Air Advisor mission (or contract it out if it will continue). If not entirely familiar with this, let me know and I can elaborate. It could decimate the instructor force in the ANG the longer it goes. Guys will go to the desert for 60 or 120 days with their units but there are not many who will go for 180 to fly as Afghan Air Force crew members.

You're more optimistic than I am. I've seen all the ways benefits have been eroded (chipping away at BAH from 100% to 85% of housing cost, the ever-dwindling number of conditions Tricare covers, the reduction in per diem if you're TDY 30 days or more...). I also know that the Air Force cut something like 20,000 people just three years ago for budget reasons, and we've been struggling to recover ever since. I don't sit in on the votes, but I do read the NDAA when it gets passed, and the latest one sounds like bad news for military paychecks. I hope your right, but I have my doubts, especially with Sen. John McCain taking aim at BAH every year.

There's only one SpecOpsFighterPilot...

Why?

I think most folks would agree the DOD wastes a lot of money on the acquisitions/contracting side. The Pentagon is to blame for some of this, but some lies in the enormous infrastructure required to comply with the FARs. Simplify the FARs as much as possible (a quick initial fix, eliminate "preferred" vendors and set asides for XYZ owned businesses. Small businesses are awesome but too many get stood up deliberately to compete for contracts and end up not being able to follow through and cost more than if the product/service was purely competed in the first place). Similar to #1, let the DOD roll over money between FY. We don't usually have budgets anyway so it would increase capability and eliminate the flying around the flag pole/buying pallets of flat screen TVs that happens every September. Let DOD recolor money. When a MAJCOM is trying to sustain their aging aircraft, being able to pull in the flat screen or flying hour funds at the end of the year will help instead of waiting 3 years for a POM to kick in. Allow services to waive admin rules in the interest of personnel/mission accomplishment. A lot of the additional duties (records management, etc) or training (trafficking in persons) or X program of the day are impossible for the AF to get rid of because of an obscure congressional mandate tasking the DoD to do it.

This. Don't give a drunk a drink. Until they tell you they are ready to quit growing the blob of non-mission relevant bullshit and the shoe clerks who feed on it. Make them squirm and publicly state what will be dropped, eliminated and changed. The SECAF & CSAF made a step in the right direction with the attempt and some success in the elimination of excess / unnecessary additional duties but it has MUCH further to go. You're going to have get him to strategically change the career intent, focus & development in the officer corps to level the wings. There are issues in the enlisted cadre also, careerism at the expense of primary duty competency, but the lion's share of the problem is that the AF stuck in an Industrial Style HR system (particularly in the officer cadre) that strives to maintain a force structure not really suited for today's workforce, operational environment or financial realities. Also, make them buy a LAAR - that would be the cherry on top.

Quibbling...

Airline life is like a stripper. Once to get your hands on her and see how nice she feels, you'll never be able to go back to your ugly, fat bitch wife. Sure, the stripper isn't perfect by any means...but it's oh so much better than your previous witch...