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It's literally in the first sentence of the article.

A family member works at Lowe's. That company is a mess. If there's a big-ticket item on sale that you really want, ask to talk to the Manager or ASM. You would not believe how many items have an "out-the-backdoor" price that's much lower than your military discount. They can override prices down to pennies on the dollar with a few keystrokes. We have more than a few local stores whose inventories are entirely comprised of products Lowe's practically gives away.

Prayers to both of you

ADMIN NOTE: "It's" been taken care of (again). In fact, someone already had it taken care of it when I went to take care of it!

Since I don't suffer from TDS to 10th degree....what's wrong with this emblem?

Complaining about having nothing to complain about...saltiness level: expert

ACSC in-residence for myself was a means to an end. Disliked living on base, enjoyed the guest speakers immensely, papers were mind-numbing, pay every 2 weeks/benefits invaluable during our units aircraft conversion 6-10 months and returning for qual training plus AD points = priceless. If your near the 15 year mark of AD points, not a bad idea to take the opportunity. Once over the 15 year mark points wise, then get hired by your airline of choice hopefully. Chase the remaining AD points for retirement while gaining seniority if able. Yes, it may cost you some seniority and “seniority is everything” does hold true for the most part - I still cannot say enough about the peace of mind and extra boost in monetary value and benefits an actual pension provides. *I understand there are those who lean on the airlines being sticklers for this type of strategy, but the playing field has changed. Do your 1 year probation if able, but there are no longer mil types just loitering around waiting for something to materialize as yesteryear. Normal military retirements will not fix the wave of new hire requirements (It has always been a substantial airline force multiplier, but now it’s a mere trickle) - you are in demand. Your work ethic is in demand period. Airline business is fickle, but should remain on the uptick for awhile due to the extreme amount of retirements. Economy can and will eventually swing as it always does, but the bleeding of folks at the top end will stave off quite a bit of economy impact at this juncture comparably speaking. The TWA/Pan Am’s have come and gone, but the current big 3 would most likely be propped up like our car companies in some sort of fashion, good, bad and ugly if something drastic were to occur. May not alleviate a furlough situation, but the threat value is less likely than in the past. Mergers can and will happen and I will never forget a great friend telling me when he was hired at United in 98’ what the CEO said during indoc in Denver, CO - “Welcome to the last job/career you will ever have!” Boom, 911 which was not truly the only reason some airlines cut pay, drained pensions and/or furloughed. Some were overextended financially and that gave them an excuse to cut some digits and limbs as my friend said. He raced to the Guard unit like many others I met to maintain employment status. When it was all said and done at United, he was #46 from the bottom to be furloughed, but had already committed to his unit. He made a choice not knowing where the cuts would end. He is back as 777 very senior FO enjoying the good life, but still wary of management forever with one eye open. Military spends money, airlines make money - real world thrives on profit and stock holder gains, not OPRs, CBTs and your relentless get the mission done attitude. You are valued, seek out what you personally value and go out and conquer. I wish you the best pick and opportunities available. Don’t get discouraged, there will be folks always looking from the outside wishing they were in - only time will tell whether you were blessed with the correct choices.

F9, B6, and NK. Most here don’t know what that means, so I recommend you spell it out. This isn’t APC, and a few extra key strokes might make a difference.

Wear the ball cap.

So what are E-9s out doing these days as part of the OCP flightsuit uniform police? I miss getting Chiefed ever since I started wearing the two-piece a couple days a week. With the green bag I used to get talked to for rolling up my sleeves until that became legal again, so then I started leaving both lower cap pockets unzipped, but that didn’t seem to catch any E-9s outside of Maxwell. Somebody please help me out. I don’t know how much longer I can go without being “mentored”. I’m really starting to wonder if they care about me anymore. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

"Not only was the flyover too low, Featherstone said, but in avoiding the landing traffic, the pilot also flew too close and too fast to where onlookers were watching." seems cut and dry to me. low SA to do something different from the brief when you know lots of eyeballs will be on you. and sandwiched between landing traffic? GMAFB. if i was the general i'd take that entire low flyby as a huge middle finger

Interesting perspective. Don't know the leader who did the firing. I'll assume what has been posted previously is accurate regarding the expectations of that leader re: the altitude and airspeed of this maneuver. Full up war or not - is it not reasonable for a leader to expect compliance with limits that he set and were agreed upon by his subordinates? Couldn't one make the argument that failing a simple test of disciple in peacetime puts into questions this squadron CC's ability to pass far more serious tests of discipline in a full up war? 600 feet and 350 kts doesn't look as good as 200' and 500 knots. But considering the lack of experience and currency that created an environment where an F-18 speared a C-130 on a night AAR, maybe it's possible little of that currency problem has been solved. As simple as that flyby may be for most current, hard charging guys - maybe higher and slower was all the General felt those guys were capable of at that time. If the jet doing the flyby hit the water and the CC wasn't in the jet, would you be saying the same thing about the lack of "real leadership" over the decision to fire him? Just because someone didn't mort doesn't make the lack of discipline acceptable. What if the CC of the squadron with the tanker mid-air had briefed the General that they wouldn't do night AAR and then did it anyway? Where's the line if not exactly where it's been agreed on.

What everyone else said. We're hiring everyone right now and will be for a while. If not, UAL, DAL, or SWA will hire you. You won't be at the front of the wave, but short of some game-changing economic event, if you want to fly for the airlines, there will be options. All are better than Active Duty. In full disclosure, I did get called out on Reserve, so that will be 7 days worked this month. UGH. PS: Personal opinion, the MCAS issues set automation/single pilot ops back an additional 10 years. PPS: Pick the place where you can drive to work

Wow, this was a shock and very saddening, I had to re-read the OP a few times to make sure it wasn't a joke. I didn't know matmac personally but safe to say he seemed like a great guy/officer and well respected both on and off this forum. I remember years ago back when I was still an rotc cadet him and rainman shutting me down on a regular basis for saying standard ignorant cadet things but usually with a constructive tone (but not always... sometimes pure ownage at my expense). We exchanged a couple DM's later before I was med DQ'd and again he seemed like the real deal. Mat was one of the posters who kept me coming back to this forum over a decade after I discovered it and this news is a real tragedy. RIP, him him

For Sputnik - Got it, makes sense not living in someone else’s shoes. I need to give some back ground info that pertains to my situation specifically. Skip to the bottom for the quick answer and avoid the personal fluff below. See *** Note: *If your a Guard baby from the beginning and have never left your hometown/state OR have visited areas you would like to retire in than it’s probably easy to figure out where you want to live since Uncle Sam probably deployed you, but never really PCS’d/moved you. Or, you have kids in school and it doesn’t make sense to uproot yet again, etc. kind of a no brainer. Having Friends and Family nearby since birth is a luxury and I envy this position - granted, that’s based upon great friends and good family members of course in a good location. It’s all eye of the beholder of course. As for me: Consider yourself fully retired having served over 24 years of military service in the active duty AND Guard or Reserve Components. Moved 9 times fulfilling 9 assignments in 6 of our great states. Lived overseas during my younger (high school) years. Have family in Europe and the Far East. No real responsibilities such as kids, schools, universities grandparents, parents, spouse employment etc. tying my wife and I down. Our immediate families live in NOT so nice areas, basically a lot of America has changed these past few decades as it always has and not always for the better. Company I work for has domiciles, but we also have the option to commute (paid ticket) and hotel waiting for you prior to launch if you will. It’s a huge plus as we can pretty much live anywhere in the US and quite a few of our folks live overseas. May cost you a day commuting, but you get to live where you want. If you call HOME places like New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Miami, etc (some of our domiciles) then it’s a perfect situation no doubt. ***I retired from Pan Handle of FL which was very nice and we moved to TN (1st move) summer of 2017, then moved to Atlantic side of FL summer of 2018 (2nd move), pulled chocks after 6 months and right back to TN to a familiar area for now. Bottom Line: Uncle Sam has told us where to live for a very long time. Most people live where their jobs/livelihood/family thrives or have anchors they cannot break. We are blessed to be able to live almost anywhere (no complaints). Despite the cost/headaches, we have been striking out in search of somewhere we can settle down comfortably which meets our particular needs. Our Home towns of decades ago are no longer what we consider a great town today. While definitely not my hometown - I graduated from San Jose State University and thrived in “The City” (San Francisco) 89-93. How does “The City” look now? Never will return to the Left Coast. Definitely <1st world problems and not a bad one to have if you can afford it. It’s probably a quick an easy answer for most, but it’s been perplexing at best. We’re still in the hunt for what we can only answer!

Don’t make snap judgements of a senior leader based on a bio. Luck and timing has a lot to do with combat as well. Back in the day, Rainman talked about not logging combat time in OSW and ONW and that was common in his squadron. Maybe a similar thing here, who knows. And by this logic you could say “she didn’t even kill one MiG over there? Dudes got kills!” Combat decorations for quantity don’t signify anything other than participating. My community is a great example of a few guys with a crap ton of combat time and air medals that don’t have very good tactical credibility. I’ve never met this Colonel or the OG and don’t know anything other than what’s in this thread. I do wonder if there is a single leader that the unwashed masses of this site think isn’t “toxic”.

Is this a sick joke or an outright abomination to mankind and those who design emblems?