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By enthroning an incompetent, clueless leader in the Oval Office? I do see your point in part. IF Trump's approach to the military is one of benign neglect, I think we can count on solid leadership from Secretary Mattis and 'mo money from Congress (for at least the next two years). If Trump tries to actually be substantively involved in defense policy (with the psychopath General Flynn whispering in his ear) I fear for our future. I don't know you, and I don't know how long you've been in, so please don't take this as patronizing: I've seen a lot of young guys in the squadron the last few years that, because they commissioned midway through the Obama years, believe all the incompetence and all the PC bullshit in the Air Force stems from the Obama administration and Obama appointees. Not true. I came in when Rumsfeld was SecDef and "Buzz" Moseley was CSAF. Guess when Masters degrees came back, CSSs went away, Finance got centralized at Ellsworth, and E-9s were already rampaging? The latter part of the Bush years. It was probably happening earlier. Hell, it was probably happening from the days of He Who Shall Not Be Named on. In my adult life I've cast my four presidential votes for Bush 43, McCain, Romney, and, well, not the new guy. By far the lowest my morale has ever been in my career was the first 6 months of it when Rumsfeld was SecDef and the professional military advice of the generals—that our strategy in Iraq was clearly not working—was considered seditious. I say all of that to say, (a) PC bullshit/E-9s gone wild is an AF cultural problem we brought on ourselves, not one imposed by the political branches of government (**caveat that holy shit Debbie James encouraged it, thank God she's gone**, and (b) with the political people, it's not Republican vs. Democrat you have to worry about, it's "People who understand and respect the professional culture and political independence of the military" vs. "Those who don't." Among the former in my time we've had Gates (Republican... although holy shit he hated the Air Force... who pissed in his Cheerios during his two years as an Lt at Whiteman in the 60s?), Panetta, and Ash Carter; among the latter we've had Rumsfeld and Obama/Biden themselves, all of whom treated the generals and admirals as a suspect Fifth Column loyal to their partisan opponents, who would try to steamroll the president's agenda by... offering their professional military advice, and who had to be beaten in the bureaucratic war. So I am one the one hand buoyed by everything about Mattis, and most recently the letter you alluded to. On the other hand, I am deeply concerned by the new POTUS's CIA HQ visit, because it suggests the president falls into the latter camp, viewing us in partisan rather than professional terms. I'm not saying that partisan differences on military issues don't matter; clearly they do. I like 3% pay raises better than 1.69% pay raises. But I care more that we avoid situations such as '02-'03 when the Chief of Staff of the Army got canned for questioning the wisdom of invading Iraq with >50% fewer people than the OPLAN called for, or 2009-10 when the office of the Vice President leaked like crazy to the press to attack Gen McChrystal for essentially saying "These are the forces required to achieve the objectives the White House set in its own Spring '09 Afghan policy review." What we've seen so far does not have me optimistic at all. It has me very worried. But I do see Mattis and the esteem the public has for him as a potential BS filter, and for that I am grateful.

Whoa whoa whoa whoa

I'm not disgruntled with my job because of the deployments where I got to kill ISIL assholes on every sortie...

I would agree for some key jobs a year is helpful. But IMO we went full retard on 365s for a while to prove we were in for the win. For a while back in the late 200x's, those thing were dropping all the time for jobs I'd categorize as less than critical. I'd also argue that someone who's there for 3-4 months can make an impact, as long as others around them are willing to listen to new ideas. Problem is it doesn't look good to our Army brothers who always deploy for 12+ months. And I personally wouldn't presume Big Blue has done the robust calculus on which jobs need a 12 month stint, although someone may think it's a good idea. Maybe I'm too jaded but I saw FAR too many unnecessary deployments in my time to believe we did a good job using our manpower downrange. I'd also argue that turning an otherwise fired up warrior into a bitter hater of all things Blue during a painful 365 doesn't help the greater AF situation.

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A buddy of mine sent me a picture from their squadrons updated command wall Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

This is an internet argument, so clearly you're talking about Hitler. Kidding.

I would almost go back for the free go-pills alone. A guaranteed nine-line on every sortie only ads to the job satisfaction. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That'd be a crazy Austrian. But I quibble...

Political leaders using the military as an instrument for political purposes on the world stage. Huh, who'da thought? Wasn't there some crazy German who wrote a long time ago something about war and politics?

Maybe pertinent to this idea. https://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2017/01/20/donald_trump_has_a_coherent_radical_foreign_policy_doctrine_112180.html

No.

The pilot of that Luscombe was my good friend. I'd known him 19 years and had flown that Luscombe with him. We took a T-38 to Oshkosh a few years back. Aviation... all facets... was his passion. You always hear about guys that will do anything for you; guys that are always the bright spot in your day; guys with an eternally optimistic attitude. Spanky really was that guy. He was an amazing pilot. And an even better father and person. He always cared about his fellow man. After being a T-38 FAIP, a tour in the B-52, and a staff tour, Spanky applied for the SR-71 in 1997: they were hiring one... only one... pilot that year, from the hundreds of applicants. Spanky beat out everyone and was hired. He showed up at Edwards to start training, but four days later, Pres Clinton killed the SR program. Three days later, Spanky is at Beale to fly the U-2 interview flights. Five days later, he is hired to the U-2 Program and has to get a SecAF waiver for two PCS' in 2 weeks. He became my neighbor on base. When I first met him, I knew he was about 35, but he looked barely 21. I gave him his T-38 checkride on 23 Dec 1997. Friends ever since. He was the deployed U-2 squadron commander in Saudi before the war kicked off in 2003. I replaced him at the end of his tour. He elected not to go the professional pilot route after retirement, but was always super active in GA, EAA, and teaching his kids about aviation. The fact that Tim perished too is just crushing. So very tragic. He was loved by all that ever met him. God bless you, Spanky.

YY-#$% YY - Year # - Letter of class # from A to Z (First class in the year is A, last is Z) $ - B = Basic Course (as opposed to transition) % - First letter of base assigned.

I see so many of you as I walk down to the watch floor for my reserve duty. It's like watching people turn into zombies....but just super slowly. ATIS

I would agree that having the screen in the back is really nice. But nothing beats the video quality of the Black model. GoPro happened to listen to the consumer and put a screen in the newest GoPro Hero 5 Black. You now have the best of both world. Amazing quality video and amazing user interface. I would say go with Hero5 Black. Plus, the battery lasts longer.

Yawn. Nobody forced you to marry another .mil person. Single and mil-civ folks everywhere roll their eyes at shit like this.