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For reference, I agree with your post and think you are on point. One specific item concerns me though: Dr Fauci as our expert physician. I'm an ER doc's kid, so I've witnessed the difference between doctor who "administrate" vs doctors who "do". I'm making no judgments on Fauci, I'm simply making inferences base on his background, how he presents his opinions, and the content of what he says. He's clearly been a "do" doctor, and appears to be an "administrate" doctor now. Take this for perspective: Would you call any 4-star general in the USAF as our BEST Pilot, Cyber Expert, Personnelist, etc? I wouldn't. They lead those people. They filter a LOT of data and present it in politically and socially palatable format. These people are leaders and politicians, and they are only in their spot for 3-4 years. Fauci has been in place advising the US government for 40 years. He leads NIAID. He understands what's going on, but he is no longer the line "do" expert. What a lot of people don't know how respond to is that line expert "doing" doctors are saying different things than Fauci and the political-health professional advisories coming from D.C. That means, just like in the USAF, there are often different messages coming from the line than are coming from the front office. Any pilot watching the USAF's pilot crisis has seen drastically different stories from the Top brass and the Line flyer voices. "Pretty Darn Good", right? Fauci is a politician and knows how to package information. He also recognizes that he MUST provide advice that is palatable by the mass populous by way of the violently slanted media. The problem with that is we all now have digital access to more voices than his, and we're hearing dissonance in the message. As a (relatively) rational creature, I decide my way through differences instead of blindly trusting "experts" because i've seen FAR too many experts who weren't. Do you trust every Instructor Pilot or Evaluator simply based on credentials? Yeah, neither do I. If the "expert's" message differs from rational principles, I look for truth elsewhere. What I've seen and heard from Fauci, tells me that he's driving a personal/private/political agenda that does NOT jive with ground truth. (I get it, ground truth leads to ill informed masses making dumb decisions...that's a whole different discussion.) So I discount him and the mass media and search elsewhere. That makes me highly skeptical of any message that blindly references him based on credentials alone. I don't think I'm alone in that...not by a long shot. How do you think we're supposed to address that problem? What do we do when reason pushes us to disregard experts like Fauci when we taste the political agenda?

The problem as I see it is that the experts are responsible for the backlash against expertise. I know it's fashionable to blame policy makers and political leaders, but they are still doing what they were put in position to do. Experts, however, have made a media-like move towards opinion making, not simply the hard work of science. I think the root of it is that they are no longer willing to say that they do not know. And the coronavirus was a perfect opportunity to do just that. They just didn't know. Instead, they put out models that were based on incredibly thin data, and those models had sensational implications. Rather than recognizing those implications were hypothetical at best, they used the mere possibility of a catastrophic situation to justify catastrophic action. then, as humans are prone to do, they double down as their models fell apart. Because humans are prideful. if the experts had come out as soon as the data was starting to turn and said "our bad, this thing is nowhere near as dangerous as we thought it was, we should end the lockdowns immediately," then perhaps we would have a case for trusting experts. But they didn't. This isn't the first time we've seen it either. They've been so catastrophically wrong on climate change that any good that could be done to the change that *is* based on science is probably lost. They've been wrong on diets as well. Overpopulation, peak oil, acid rain, the hole in the ozone, global cooling, they just keep getting it wrong. That's fine, science is messy, and in the long term it always tends towards progress, but in the short term it is frequently, if not more often wrong. The problem is, they don't want to admit that because it would mean a loss of authority. Power is a hell of a drug. You should trust an expert when they are interpreting a historical body of work in their field. When your doctor says your cholesterol needs to be fixed, you should trust him. when a structural engineer tells you that you need a foundation of a certain thickness, you should trust her. But if a UFO lands in your backyard tomorrow, there are no experts. New things seldom have the luxury of experts.

As of last year this was still true

I believe you still need to apply for ENJJPT even when you go through OCS. So its by no means guaranteed. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Also keep in mind, that while your chances are much better, ENJJPT doesn't necessarily guarantee a fighter. The only way to guarantee a fighter slot is to get hired by a guard unit.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/barr-taps-top-prosecutor-to-probe-unmasking-by-obama-officials/ar-BB14IqLo?ocid=spartanntp I will say it again, IF the power of the law enforcement/intelligence communities were used against opposition political entities, it's not good for any of us. If no one is held accountable with indictiments, then it will be done again and, likely, even more egregiously. Regardless of your political leaning, this appears to have been a bad thing and needs to be cleaned up. Otherwise it will, eventually, be used against your side. Then it won't be ok.

Go for it

Weather canx 😕 next attempt Saturday at 1522 eastern according to NASA.

Good post. And I respect to you too. Especially because you defend your ideas and engage in the frustratingly messy act of attempting to convince others. Precisely why I’m frustrated at “experts” who had no time to explain the science behind unprecedented lockdowns, we just have to do it now!! But we have data indicating otherwise, so it’s reasonable to ask the people who insisted we obey without debate to explain how they were so dramatically wrong. Turns out being knowledgeable about infectious diseases doesn’t mean you know shit about public policy or predicting the future (FLEA said it more eloquently). Additionally, I welcome debate about my line of work. Tactical debate on execution isn’t germane, just as no one is seriously debating exactly how doctors treat patients. But overall strategic debate about the wars, our goals, etc.? I welcome a national debate, and the various “expert” generals who have lost for 20 years definitely could use the second guessing. Good analogy!

Great article. Hopefully next time a great panic comes knocking we’ll delay tossing out freedoms at least until we have real data, not merely projections by self described experts. Speaking of which, now that data has disproven the experts, can we cease calling them experts?

So I have never met matmacwc in person. But hearing that we lost him made me cry. He was extremely kind and helpful, always answered my questions, reassured me to try again when I was ready to quit. I just got picked up as pilot on the Active duty UPT board, but I can’t stop reflecting on how great a person he was to take the time to talk to me when there was nothing in it for him. Since I can’t message him and say thank you, I am saying it out here - loud and public. If there is a soul and god, may yours rest in heaven! RIP sir!

Pyro was my student (Cadet, ERAU ROTC Prescott) and I returned for his commissioning 23 years ago. He stood out as one of the brightest, kindest and most engaging people I'd ever known. Over the years, we stayed in touch and visited often; the last time being at his final role call at his AZ ANG unit last year. Remarkable but not surprising, the outpouring of admiration, respect and affection displayed by the standing room only crowd, many who'd traveled great distances, and included 2 General officers. An inspirational, larger-than-life type, he became a mentor to my son, taking him up in the -16 sim, giving him a tour of the flight line and ultimately guidance and advice throughout ROTC and UPT. We were able to attend the beautiful ceremony for Matt, and as expected, countless friends and fellow admirers came from all corners to pay their respects. Matt may have been a student at one point, but I probably learned more from him. Nickel on the grass

Made an account to make a shameless plug. Here's an IP Fundamentals doc for a T-6 squadron made in the spirit of the same IP fundamentals class from PIT but also referencing a few classic and widely-referenced weapon school papers on how to brief and debrief. It was a labor of love and totally open source, free to use/modify/throw spears as anyone sees fit. 434 IP Guide.docx 434 IP Guide.pdf

Chuck covered what I've seen in my rapidly dwindling career. I'm an "also ran" who isn't going to stick it out because the AF decides I can't do "X Job" until I've paid certain dues. Being a DO fucking ruined this for me. I've had to explain to my young CGO's repeatedly that I'm not a HPO/Unicorn/whatever even with really good strats and good jobs. Doubly so since the outgoing Group/CC fucked me with no-strat last OPR, so glad that prick retired. When a group/cc strats a Capt to keep a streak alive despite the Sq/CC saying he don't deserve it...you know it's time to hang it up. With 18-days left to terminal my family and I have decided not to play for a multitude of reasons. But the number one I'm seeing now is being able to tell someone I'm not interested in a job/location and there's nothing they can do about it. And if I ever run into someone unable to manage as that former group/cc I can ask for an insane amount of money, or walk. It just wasn't worth it to stick around 7-more years (min. 3 moves) before retiring in grade as a O5 "hopefully" to be closing out as a Sq/CC trying to find a job at almost 50. Only thing keeping me was the basically-zero possibility of BPZ.

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Every other recruiter I spoke with other than the one I used the last time stated you are under no obligation to put any jobs other than the ones you want. Also have a friend at the Pentagon in the USAF A1 who seems to confirm this. The whole if you turn down a previous non-pilot offer to try again for pilot it will hurt your chances isn't really true either. Bottom line don't let your recruiter(s) scare you into taking a job you don't want.