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So what do they call folks in USTRANSCOM? Trannies? 🤣🤣🤣

Knives Out was pretty good. Chris Evans makes are really good asshole and Daniel Craig half pulled off a southern twang.

Wait...you're telling me that's not real? Prime comment from video - " That's the realest military mustache I've ever seen on film. "

“But sir...”

For those who prefer a picture. We spent about a year and a half trying to normalize monetary policy in this country, the markets tanked and the Fed cowards reversed course and slashed interest rates. And when that wasn't enough to get the stock market back to all time highs they decided to blow out the balance sheet again. In 3 short months plowing in so much liquidity they undid what took over a year and a half to sell off. But Jerome Powell assures us this isn't quantitative easing, nope definitely not QE4 going on, nothing to see here the markets are fine.

If you were to seek an enhancement now, your IFC I exam would be invalidated and you'd have to re-accomplish the eye portion after a six month mandatory wait. You also are not allowed to get refractive surgery during pilot training. If you don't have the six months to spare, my recommendation is to simply wear glasses and when you hit a point in your career when time allows, do the enhancement then. Note that as a trained aircrew member the six months is no longer required to return to fly. You can begin flying after refractive surgery when your eyes have healed and the vision is stable. Typically a couple months after PRK and one or two after LASIK. If you get it done in the AF, the enhancement is free.

The name is way less cool then the speculation alludes to. It'll be released on Thursday.

Probably their take on Aurora/SR-72. I watched them film that scene while I was leaving work. They did a few passes with Blue Angel #2 and of course nobody was actually standing there. They had a full-size mock-up of the bird pictured in my hangar. China Lake definitely does not have a guard shack right at the departure end of 14.

The gayness continues...

I'd heard all the buzz around The Irishman, so watched it a couple weeks ago. In all the buzz, I hadn't realized that the movie is three and a half hours long. Damn. And not "Wow, that three and a half hours just flew by." More like, "Damn, Scorsese really likes doing those long shots of people simply walking....for like five minutes straight." It was entertaining, but be prepared for the long haul. Not Goodfellas good, or Casio good, but still entertaining. Felt like it could have been edited down to 2.5 hours or so, and still not lost anything.

So you pretty much just described the status quo, except right now there’s the intermediate step of hoping they’ll assist us with security responsibilities. As for ISIS moving around, they’re already looking over their shoulders...for the Taliban. I’m surprised we haven’t better-embraced the “enemy of my enemy” position a little better with regard to the two factions and their hatred for each other. In the end, the best thing for Afghanistan is our departure. I’ve seen how capable these guys actually are when we’re not around. It isn’t that different from when we are, except they receive a lot less stuff that they don’t actually NEED.

WIC for every community is academic and briefing heavy, obviously plenty of flights but the flying is only there to validate the complex mission planning. The desired end state for any WIC is being able to integrate not just across MWSs but domains, a requirement critical for the next fight.

It took a long time and a lot of effort by some great people to start a U-2 WIC... but it finally happened. And the initial cadre was Patched Thursday, and graduated tonight. A very HUGE congrats to Jester, Posit and Gump. Leading the way for the Brotherhood, they are great reps for the U-2 weapons system. I was able to attend Thursday's festivities, and the O'Club was mobbed with U-2 folks... Intel, Mission Planners, 9RW Chief, and all of the Drivers. It really was an epic evening. Thanks to all involved for allowing the Old Guys to show up and be a part of it. Hail Dragons.

ADMIN NOTE: Well, the bad news is that I didn't get an email notification of your reply, so something's up with the forum software. If you don't mind, could you start a thread about the problem under the AFTO-781 section of the forum so it will be "officially addressed?" Unfortunately, I can't promise when it will be fixed. We're due for an update that may take a couple of days to occur, but those are usually for security issues so don't be surprised if nothing changes after it. I ask for an appreciate your patience as we figure out what's going on...

Eh, this is certainly true for a great candidate being able to accomplish anything, but it is even further along to age being a big issue. Having been here now, there is something to the old-dog-new-tricks concerns they have about older folks in UPT; especially in the fighter track. The pressure to perform, put time in, and pick it up quickly is very real in the 38 track and it starts in T6s from day 1. A young candidate is going to be way more moldable, have much more free time to study and focus solely on the program, and just flat out have more brain space available to cram in GK than an older person that has a ton of other life/job/etc. taking up space in there already, in most cases. I have quite a few points to that I think back it up, but in the vein of brevity (not my strong suit), UPT is a young person's game. Multiple IPs said the same to me in their teaching experience: The old folks seem to struggle in the beginning, but come on strong later when it all starts to get put together. But, that's not conducive to the T38 track. You've gotta hit the ground running in T6s, catch on quick, and be top-performing from the beginning to give them the confidence you're going to succeed down the road. Of course, if you've been picked up by a fighter unit and have a guaranteed 38 slot, the pressure to earn that slot competing with others is removed, but the pressure to perform perfectly isn't. And that continues throughout fighter career which, again, can be harder for older folks to be okay with. Again, it's not the case 100% of the time, but it's what .02 is from my short run in this world.

You won’t drill with the 340th or your gaining unit as a Reservist before UPT; the 340th doesn’t have drills for UPT pipeline and won’t let you drill with your home unit. You’ll just be on DEP, basically. You’ll swear in, but you won’t be doing anything until you leave for your first piece of the pipeline. Your sponsoring unit has no control over you until you head to your PIQ/FTU. 340th handles your school/travel, pay, leave, orders, etc., so your home unit is just waiting for you to pop out at the other end with some wings.

I’m very interested to read the AARs when the investigation is over. Reports are the Ensign that lost his life jumped a desk and engaged the shooter, and later made his way outside to assist law enforcement with location/description of shooter. I’ve heard vague reports that others might have attempted to disrupt the shooter as well. A Navy contract officer was shot and two deputies. My thoughts after a few drinks on Friday, a week to reflect, and living just a few minutes away. This asshole went to inflict mass damage. He encountered resistance from some absolute heroes and perhaps a building that was locked down by the time he overcame that resistance that saved lives. The simple fact the asshole engaged a soft target, and 3 people lost, 8 wounded (3 being law enforcement) I would say the assholes objectives were thwarted. (I in no way am down playing those lost/injured, but whatever happened in that building saved lives). I really hope when everything is over everyone who deserves recognition gets it. Engaging a shooter unarmed and sacrificing your life to save others in my opinion deserves a highest honor. The police (both military and law enforcement) that responded did their job absolutely honorably, they went in to saves and accomplished that mission. I hope we learn some lessons and don’t let the lives lost be in vein and unrecognized cheers 🍺🍺 To Them. 🍺🍺

So, I know there's a telecon coming up on 16th to discuss details, but you seem to know quite a bit. The idea that this somehow does away with the "anointed" seems silly to me. Are raters and boards going to lose the ability to count? Everyone can count to five. Edited, because I found what I think are answers here: https://www.airforcemag.com/app/uploads/2019/12/Talking-Points-BPZ-and-Merit-based-Reordering_ao-9-Dec-19.pdf

At PCola, it is long enough that off-base law enforcement can get to the scene and kill the shooter before the on-base military folks can. WTF?! I've been to the range with military cops and contractor-cops. Not pretty.

All of this! What's the average reaction time of SF to something like this? I can assure you it's long enough for me, and many of my friends to get filled with bullets. At least give me a fighting chance. I'll take my chances that SF would confuse me with the attacker. What's going to happen is people are just going to start carrying anyway and taking the chance that they'll get in trouble.

If Trump wins a second term this should be his mission, who give a sh*t what permanent Washington, the swamp, think tanks, Puzzle Palace and the like want: Just order a phased withdrawal, declare our mission complete (no win or loss mention just done) and publicly order the US military to begin withdrawal one month from announcement and complete in one year. No one wants to be the President when Kabul falls like Saigon, but our role there is done. It's just done. No politician who come up thru the established paths and gets all the associated baggage can do this, it will take an outsider who DGAF what the American Aristocracy thinks and will rip the band aid off.

Looking forward to this one...hope it's done right!

I work with a guy who’s father was killed because he was an interpreter for the Army in Afghanistan (from Kabul). He got an expedited temporary visa because the Taliban found out he was working for the Army and started calling his house and found his work number and threatening to kill him, his wife, and kid. Obviously if it’s not for nefarious reasons, I don’t blame those that defected knowing they could lose their lives for just interacting or being trained by Americans. He’s taking his citizenship test laster this year, just had another kid, and bought his first house. If there is someone that loves being in America, it’s him. Sometimes we just don’t realize how good we have it to be naturally born Americans. It takes hearing stories like that to make us realize that despite the internal turmoil that this country has, it’s still the greatest one on the planet.