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We’re about to be amazed at the number of military members with dual Ph.D.’s in economics and virology.

We’re working on it.... There won’t be a sea change overnight. The change will be generational. It’s a guerrilla war ongoing inside the MAF. Takes longer than you’d expect and there’s a lot of resistance - mostly by senior level and GS management. There’s also a significant portion of most MAF communities who want to do nothing more than ILS to a full stop and pad airline applications. Malaise can be contagious, especially when the economy is good. Furthermore you have a significant portion of Star-wearing leadership (And this their minions as well) which values EXPOSURE over EXPERTISE. Note I didn’t say ‘experience’ over expertise. In the MAF they want you exposed to all things MAF - mile wide and inch deep. They don’t care at all about big Air Force things or the application and control of Air Power as an integrated warfighting force, or expertise in employment. Just do MAF things and you’ll lead one day. Expertise is not valued as much as “MAF-exposure.“ The problem with that logic is that the CAF runs the Air Force. Literally the language of the service is that of the CAF. The vast majority of wings are CAF wings. The vast majority of GOs are CAF GOs. In the CAF when you show up in a new community, they wonder WTF is wrong with you that you got voted off the island. In the MAF if you become an expert, they scoff you for “only knowing one mission set.” It’s bizarre. The MAF scoffed the CAF for years, only wanting to build their mobility empire in the cornfields of southern Illinois, but the reckoning is coming... There’s a whole new service out there looking for another four-star, and there’s a lot of the staff function at both ACC and AMC getting gobbled up by the Air Staff... The MAFs lack of integration with the rest of the USAF will be its demise if we aren’t careful. That’s what many of us are working to fix, though that work and the results are seen by some as “un-MAF-like” endeavors.... Brought to you by your friendly (old) neighborhood Weapons Officer. Now... Get off my lawn, this grass is delicious. Chuck

Sounds like the key is inflexibility/lack of room to be free-thinking and problem solve. A few years ago when I had some direct interaction with AMD, they had zero interest in helping solve some real problems, the excuses abounded. The primary one that pissed me off was talking about how the crews wouldn’t be able to hack it...bullshit, i’d sat up front with several and had plenty of time to BS; the crews would have risen to the occasion and won...but AMD wasn’t in it to win it, they were there to make donuts and nothing else. As I think back to all my experiences with the MAF, it is very frustrating to think about all the good dudes who are held back by AMD, TACC, etc.

Continuing BMT and OTS just sound like a really really bad idea. Especially for BMT. Can't expect them mitigate the stress environment too drastically. Granted they have newer dorms now, but you are still packing a bunch of people into confined spaces, who are constantly stressed, which causes weaker immune system. This is how virus/disease spread. Just really not a good idea. The healthcare system is strained as it is, why take more chances? PCSs are not happening anyway.

I'm not an expert nor did I stay at holiday in express last night I do have a perspective as FF/Paramedic on a transporting unit. Two people on my department are already in quarantine, I've already donned the PPE twice in less than two 24 hour shifts in an area with 30 confirmed cases as of yesterday. We can't wear N95s when we go into a nursing home for the 217th time for the day to take additional precautions for the immunocomprimised/elderly that reside there due to playing the numbers game. I fully expect to acquire the "Kungfu Flu" lolz and my concern is that I'll be called to another response and inadvertently pass it on to someone whom has additional risk factors due to many being asymptomatic carriers. Also, in my time practicing I've gotten the shitty follow up report for people below 35 who have passed away from the Flu/Pneumonia that we're otherwise healthy. It's rare, but it can happen. It's not lethal to perhaps the vast majority of the population, this is true. The main issue is what it has the POTENTIAL to do to "our" ability to provide critical care to those that need it (Tubed, placed on a vent and monitored). The Doc/RNs/RT/Techs etc are getting exposed to a higher degree, face going into quarantine themselves and/or experiencing more complications if they come down with it. If they're compromised it exacerbates the problem. Supplies are limited, the normal amount of Trauma/Medical emergencies are still happening on a day to day basis. In my world, it's real out here. I'm glad I got my Charmin supply two weeks ago so the minions can fight over the Scotts TP..."aint nobody got time for that". Hopefully we never reach what Italy is going through, we are all in it to win it so to speak. Stay well, wherever Y'all may be!

For fucks' sake (yes, all the fucks), it's called the Kung Flu.

When I was a FAIP, there were a few guys going through the T-37 portion of UPT and then heading back to their home in Honduras or El Salvador to fly the A-37. An airline pilot friend of mine went through San Salvador a year or so ago, and saw 3 of them sitting on the ramp. Wiki says they are still flying 15 of them. There are two A-37's flying in North America, and a 3rd that will start flying later this year.

Thanks @torqued Same to anyone who has a spouse/SO that's in the medical field and/or works in hospital. Maybe if I catch the Covids that'll help me get a Age ETP/UPT slot within the Guard/Reserves. By any means necessary😁 #Noshame

I probably should have made my sarcasm a little more overt. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard those comments repeated to me by family, friends, and neighbors. This is the biggest world event in our lifetimes, and the effects of which will be felt or many, many years. Thanks for doing what you do Unit#8192. People like you are about to become the heroes of this year.

Listen up. I was the OP on this thread. I don’t care about your office. I don’t care about your fast-food cravings and how they are affected. I don’t even give two shits about UPT since they won’t let me go through the course again, nor let me teach there This thread isn’t about things like “terrorism” and “pilot retention” and “military readiness”. This thread is about something WAY more important. This thread is about Airshows. And bringing the dream of aviation to the masses... especially the young. And keeping America in the forefront of aerospace because of Airshows. And of course, great airshow parties... but I digress. So write your Congressman and Senator and DEMAND that... when this crisis is over... they REQUIRE ALL WING COMMANDERS to support the 2021 airshow season. Stop threadjacking my thread. Stop picking your nose. Wash your hands (Hacker!!) And for crying out loud, learn to use the rudder in the T-38, you pussies! WTF?!?! That is all. p.s. get off my lawn, Ram.

The AETC War on COVID-19 versus the response to COVID-19 in a real war. It seems someone is out of step. US Pauses Afghanistan Deployments, Isolates Arrivals There; https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/03/19/us-pauses-afghanistan-deployments-isolates-arrivals-there.html

Well, you're not alone. We went to "telework" yesterday...but no cuts to the flying schedule at all. So show up to mission plan and fly, but otherwise work from home. I'm flying today. I'm not confident I'm going to have a crew bus, because I'm not sure LRS got the memo that they can't telework their bus drivers.

You can retract a separation up to 30 days prior to the separation date under current COVID-19 related guidance. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

The MAF leaders and managers obsess over it because the queep grows usually with rare periods where it is cut. Just by the sheer size, visibility of the reports generated by the execution of queep and use of the measure of execution of queep, that is where or where a lot of the non-mission, myopic focus comes from. Much easier to put on a PPT slide 98% compliance with X beans vs. the X number of vingettes of the MAF crews doing a good job on the mission but missing X not worth a damn beans. One is an easily transmitted slogan, the other a nuanced story requiring time to ingest. Other things at play also, the execution of primarily support mission to combat forces necessitates a certain level of rigidity in execution to be predictable and reliable to our customers of said support missions. That rigidity can sometimes be chaffing as at the tactile level, the crew might see a better way to do something but at the macro level that efficiency could be disruptive to the macro goal of stable, reliable, predictable service... that could just be the nature of the beast in the MAF but it can also imbue in managers/leaders a lot of shut up and color answers to legitimate questions/critiques from the line, this again could feed into the mindset. I also think that this is a product of 20+ years of continuous operations serving the same or similar missions in the same or similar locations/theaters. AMC got into a rut, where the DOs and ADOs were just constantly and are still trying to fill the rotations leading to a widget production mentality at their level and a time to make the donuts mentality at the line level. This monotony or cadence wore down a lot of the positive aspects I think over time of AMC. I offer no solution but only that lament as it may have been/probably is just necessary as that is where the mission just is/was.

Yep - I'm a dumass. No one has every held me up as the most observant and I'm staying true to that. 🙄

I don't disagree with the premise that it's not necessary, but I feel like a lot of people are not grasping the end game in all of this. The end game is herd immunity. The end game is 'everyone' (e.g. a large fraction) eventually becoming infected and developing immunity. We don't need to prevent every infection, just blunt the spread out over time. BMT and OTS are relatively closed systems. I'd expect that they would put in further restrictions to leaving base or even the immediate training area on base during all of this. If so, if there's transmission within the system and it's [mostly] contained, it doesn't really go against the goal. It would be no different than the cruise ship quarantines. If the aim was to stop every transmission they would have been quarantined in isolation rather than as a group. Yes, the training instructors that leave base at night could become vectors, but again, we're not trying to eliminate every vector. Just a large portion of them. The likelihood that they'd have to suspend training in he middle of the courses due to an outbreak is another story.

From the sounds of it pipeline PCS are still happening. So why bother with the stop movement order if 2 levels lower is just going to come out and change it? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Too bad the same guys didn’t publish a tactics bulletin a month ago detailing the best sell strategies for the upcoming drop.

People don't seem to grasp that the health care system is also a finite resource. Read the articles and look at the videos that came out of China a few months ago.

Correct, OTS, BMT, tech training, UPT, FTU all are carrying on as normal as far as I know.

It’s just the flu. Last years flu killed way more. When we get warmer weather, this will clear up. The markets will bounce right back. Buy the dip! So many great deals to be had.

I like the sentiment, but there is not an 11F need for more new guys as stated previously. Secondly, the fighter community is not a social change mechanism - putting people here for that reason is right out. Why is it that the MAF is so incapable of getting out from under queep and refocusing on the mission? I’ve heard this from many heavy friends - I feel for you guys, and I’ve felt some pain as a “customer.” There are tons of good dudes in the MAF who have the right mindset, yet they appear unable to cause a shift...what’s stopping them? I assume it’s a cultural problem that could change with mission-focused DO, SQ/CC, OG/CC, etc. who aren’t pussies. Why is no one who fits that bill making it to these positions? a cross flow doesn’t solve that...maybe the MAF needs a coup; anyone there have any favors they could call in with the Clintons? 1st step in the shoe clerk playbook - deny common sense until a person can prove to you directly from one of YOUR regs that they’re right. Definitely one of the top things wrong with the military.

Huggy I was wondering how long it would take them to catch on. You better be using my checklists! TDY to Honduras. The Hondurans were transitioning from the F-86 to the A-37!

How did he get close enough to tell with mandatory social distancing? You should have chiefed him for being within 6-9 feet! Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

So porny. Very nice. Stay strong!

User name checks out

Quote from your article - WTF? GOAT MAJORS!? AND YOURE ASKING WHAT A PIONEER SERGEANT IS!? TELL ME ABOUT THE GOAT MAJOR!?!?!?!?!?