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Ruh roh. Not a flattering look for the ACES seat. No way even the most experienced driver is going to have the presence of mind and the in-the-blind dexterity to pull the manual override in a ground level ejection attempt, at night no less. Manual seat sep from a ground pull is just not a realistic expectation under any circumstances. Surprised this hasn't got more public scrutiny in the community. The TUL ANG ejection cited even allocuted to the fact that dude had the benefit of daylight and a looong freefall to gather his thoughts and remind himself of the manual seat-sep option. This kid (he was a student of mine at DLF) didn't get that chance. The most contentious and soul-searching weeks of my AF career by far, were the weeks immediately following the 38 crash in our AD associate squadron, due to the NAF level leadership's unwillingness to speak immediately as to the SIB-relevant facts pertaining to the condition of the seats following the fatality. That soured a lot of people, and created a climate of open dissent, and led to a couple of firings. Ugly stuff all around, even for DLF (which was just coming out of Mollygate and the T-6 MX firings, and is a football bat of a place on a good day). Then there was that big boo boo in Midland with the Bone, and the eventual inspection revealing NONE of the seats would have fired. I could go on. These are fundamentally confidence-eroding trends, and big blue better get their @ss around it or it's gonna lead to chaos. The pointy jet/non-deadstickable business doesn't have the off roading option like I used to joke about during my T-6 IP days. On this side of the street you need confidence in your seat or things get insubordinate real quick. As to the decision not to controlled eject, I'm not gonna second guess the element lead and SOF. That's a tough one though. Even by the AIB's own stipulation, the kid would have still faced the hardship of having to have the presence of mind to manually seat-sep a faulty seat during a controlled bailout attempt... At night, not knowing he had a bad seat. Eff those odds. I don't know the Viper's landable gear combos, but in the 38 one main up one main down is a no-go. Difficult to ascertain the weight bearing capacity of a damaged MLG on this accident, especially given the indications of brace damage as described by the chase ship. The kid did the best he could given the information presented at the time. That seat betrayed him period dot. That pull was textbook in the envelope, should have led to a canopy. I'm at a loss.

I’m genuinely curious as to what you thought would improve under Trump as well. I think the president really does a lot less than people give credit, but I still voted opposite you. Since you said you’re genuinely curious, here’s a few points: 1) I believe a lot more of America’s influence in the world comes from soft power than people realize. How the world perceives our president is important, and worldwide public perception of the status of America is at an all time low, in part due to rough rhetoric. I think this could improve. 2) I believe basic, preventative healthcare should be a fundamental right for the working class. This has a higher likelihood of happening now. Will be good for my children. 3) I don’t believe in social conservatism even slightly. Protect the rights to abortion/birth control/gay rights. Keep religion separate. 4) One of the biggest ones is probably income inequality. Trickle down economics does not work. I don’t care how many times you’ve been spoon fed that line. Productivity over the last 50 years has gone up - wages have stayed the same (inflation). The system is rigged against America’s youth whether you look at college that costs 70k a year (look up the costs), a dwindling job market (it’s been like this pre-Covid) that was propped up by min wage gig economy jobs, or the disastrous housing crisis. I’m glad I’m in the military, as it solved a lot of these problems, but is the American dream still alive as much as everyone says it is? Policies to increase min wage, provide healthcare, reduce student loans, support unions/workers rights - these will benefit the whole of America. It’s hard to vote for a “billionaire” who literally paid less than I did in tax for multiple years. And before you say he was just playing by the rules, if he cared about the system, he would make a concerted effort to fix the glitches. 5) Responses to pandemics or emergencies will actually have compassion or an iota of human decency. Handling of things like Puerto Rico or COVID have been terribly politicized and divisive for the nation when they shouldn’t have been. 6) The federal reserve has been used for quantitative easing in a dangerous precedent to prop up the stock market. The US government basically propped up $3T of stocks THIS YEAR and then the president took credit for the economy. The economy is a sham and the fed balance sheet should stop being manipulated. We’re using the coffers of our children for republican talking points. 7) Politics is nastier now than I’ve seen it. The media has been demonized, unless it rhymed with “Rox,” and I’ve never seen more conspiracy theories in people I know. I’d like someone that would like to improve America for all, not just red/blue voters. Also, I’d like the president to stop calling me a “hater and a loser”. You’re the leader of the free world, so act like it. Issues: 1) NATO and the EU have never pulled their weight, and we are probably going back to the one sided relationship that we all hate. 2) If Military acquisitions are cut anymore, maybe we’ll be fighting China’s 6th gen fighter with mech scanned vipers here in a decade. Although, to be fair, the Trump policies didn’t exactly FIX the acquisition problems that the military have had the last 20 years. 3) Racism is real, I believe. But the Democrats solution to be hypersensitive crybabys and cancel people is stupid. I agree with the recent push to limit diversity training, and I fear there are gonna be some STUPID policies. Did you see that survivor is gonna be 50% POC??? So dumb. 4) Biden is old and Kamala Harris is not someone I respect or like. This is the biggest drawback for me. I honestly am not worried about job security. I’m in defense, as I assume you are, and there are boundless opportunities for military officers in and out of the military. My wealth will continue to increase in the stock market just as much as it would have. I can still purchase property, but I am definitely not going to be part of the owner class (and none of you will be either). Bottom line, I want someone with a bit more moral compass and maybe slightly more progressive views. So that’s how I voted this election.

ADMIN NOTE: Too late, you now require approval before any of your posts will show. Don't bother messaging me about it, you were very close to being banned; so even if you don't agree with it, I am doing you a favor. I did you a second favor by deleting several of your recent offending posts. Anyone else?

Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) Tweeted: Biden supporters, faced with a loss, geared up for riots. Businesses boarded up in fear. Trump supporters, faced with a loss, geared up to fight in court. This difference matters. Media elites can stop finger wagging at folks using a legitimate process to make their case, ok?

Plus Negatory is comparing mainstream democrats to "right wing" extremists who aren't conservatives. Talk about total nonsense. There have been no conservative groups rioting and robbing!

I worked the election processing ballots.... keeping an eye on a voting machine..making sure that initials were in the right spot, paper jams got cleared... In a high school gym full of tables, workers, machines etc. Nine hour shift which was a bit sporting for the older folks..but they pressed on.. NOW, the highest levels of the Republican party (starting with Donald Trump) and many party members are all but accusing me and co-workers of fraud, mis-handling paperwork, forgery and in general just being a herd of mopes. BTW..we had an official election observer..spent most of his time perched on a chair screwing with his phone... Some locations had armed demonstrators banging on windows. I am truly beginning to wonder about people who took an oath to "support and defend the Constitution from all enemies foreign and Domestic" Have I become a Domestic Enemy? Do I need to be defended against? Any other potential Domestic Enemies you fighting men need to deal with?

This is exactly the kind of "system failure" that the SIB and AIB were designed to identify. Will the AF wake up and take responsibility for its own leadership and decisionmaking failures that set this poor kid up for failure and, ultimately, his death?

SocialD and Prozac, I'm going to have to disagree. Yes, the failure of chopping syllabi, lack of parts, poor senior leadership, et al. is clearly at the root. Coming at this from a macro level and isolating the failure well above the squadron or wing is just not an accurate assessment, IMO. That fails to put the micro level responsibility exactly where it should be - at the feet of the flight, squadron and wing leadership. The fighter squadron has always had to insulate itself from the general dumbfuckery of the USAF leadership and when required unfuck the results caused by the same. There was always a final sanity filter at the operator level. Lt Schmitz was clearly challenged by the basics on this particular night. No senior level general officer directed this particular Lt complete this particular mission in the manner attempted. There was a grass roots failure to consider the current limits of his capability and over-task him. How and why he arrived at that diminished level of capability isn't relevant to that local level decision. No one can say for sure what the outcome would have been with different choices. We can "what-if" this all the way back to his B-course and the Mx decision process regarding the seat. But, given his actual state of qualification when he stepped, he should have been walking out to a D-model with an IP. If that happened, it's almost guaranteed we'd be plus one F-16 and pilot. Failing that, having a proactive SOF that actually got the tech support necessary to make his recommendation would have at least bought this kid an extra 2000 feet to save his own life in the seat with a manual chute deployment.

https://cdn.donaldjtrump.com/public-files/press_assets/2020-11-09-complaint-as-filed.pdf You need to take an anger management class. You seem way too angry, especially after your guy "won".

My father got a vote-by-mail letter in Florida. Problem is, he passed away over 14 years ago... Don't tell me there's nothing wrong with the system!

Awesome post. I'm not sensitive to the covid issues, because diseases happen and how we should respond is not at all consensus. Hell, I know *far* more young people who care than the old people who are actually at risk. Done care, some don't, and both sides are completely right in thinking the way they do. Which means there shouldn't be a national policy. Disagree with soft power. It's not a coincidence the strongest country has the most influence. Look how much influence China is gaining as their "hard power" increases. Agree with health care, but disagree that it will end there. Checkups and treatment for broken bones? Free. Birth control and IUDs, free. Under the age of 20? Free. But if you're 36 and get leukemia or you're 85 and your kidneys are failing, you better have insurance or you die. That's the gamble. The primary discriminator for if the government provides the coverage should be price and predictability. On social issues I'm 50/50. I don't agree with religious based edicts. However the "old knowledge" didn't come from God, it came from thousands of years of observation and adaptation resulting in the most successful societies. We have to understand why a social norm works before we tinker with it. The sexual revolution comes to mind. Income inequality is a pointless measure. But you're spot on with conflating the stock market and the economy. Because the boomers have their retirements in the stock market and real estate, that's exactly what the government has artificially inflated. And it's crushing entire generations. The boomers will go down as the most devastating generation in history. Some random caller on a podcast I heard (Femsplainers) nailed it on nasty politics. There are only two parties. If there's only two groups that are opposed to each other, there's no limit to how nasty the situation gets. He used his competition in business as an example. When there were just two of them, it was fierce and awful. Once there were a dozen competitors, it mellowed out. We might be programmed to recognize when there is an isolated threat and destroy it, who knows. But if we can't get some more diversity in the political arena, the nastiness will probably not abate.

I'm gonna try to answer a few responses at once, coherently. Maybe, but I disagree because I think there is a much more likely explanation: men and women express different preferences in their lives and their choice of profession reflects those (innate) differences (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160715114739.htm). This is (by far) the reason for the differential outcomes observed in certain professions. Take being a teacher, for example. In elementary and middle school, women make up 80% of the teaching force (https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/sunday-review/why-dont-more-men-go-into-teaching.html). In kindergarten they make up 98% (https://slate.com/human-interest/2017/10/a-male-preschool-teacher-reflects-on-the-stigma-keeping-men-out-of-pre-k-classrooms.html). Surely you will agree that there are no barriers preventing men from getting into either of these professions, no? What causes this immense disparity, then? I contend that it is social and biological factors at work. There are numerous other disparate cases as well: nursing, engineering, oil-rig working, construction worker, dental hygienists, and yes, pilots. Taking that, there is a much higher likelihood that that a man wants to become a fighter pilot (or other pilot) than a woman. Maybe it's on the order of 10 times as much. Hence, if you took a random sample of the population (men and women), asking each whether or not they would want to be a fighter pilot, you'd probably wind up with something like 9:1 male:female. Now the interesting part is that about 25% of women (in the general population) are shorter than 5'2". In the military (this is completely anecdotal) they are taller on average. The same is true of my male colleagues. I'm of 100% average male height - yet I'm on the shorter end of the spectrum among F-16 pilots - so we skew taller as a group. Don't ask me for actual data - I don't have it. Look around though and I'm sure you will fairly conclude the same thing. It is likely that people in the military skew taller than average because you generally have to be of better health and athletic ability. So you made a point about women being excluded, but don't forget, there are large numbers of men who are precluded from flying since they are shorter than 5'2", as well. Lessening the height requirement opens the door to all of them, too. Thus, if 10% of those 25%, of say 100 women are now interested in the career, that's a grand total of 2.5 (call it 3) women. And if there are 9x as many guys in that last 1% of short males (those less than 5'2") interested there are going to be 1% X 900 = 9 extra guys eligible as well. So even if you eliminate height requirements completely you are still going to wind up with more men in that last outlier group than you do women. And if you're being fair to both groups, you'll likely wind up with about 4 more males and 1 female pilot if you choose 50%. So this doesn't "solve" the "problem." Finally, please note that absolutely none of this is to say that I think women should be excluded from flying if they want to. I honestly welcome it; I just don't think we should break our backs trying to fix nature. Thank you. This is predictably rolled out as evidence of systemic discrimination against minority groups. The problem is there are groups of whites who are prosecuted at disproportionately higher rates than blacks for different (but equivalent) crimes. See crack vs meth (https://medium.com/@JSlate__/the-myth-of-racist-crack-laws-63d7a7554cae😞 "Moreover, the press almost never mentions the federal methamphetamine-trafficking penalties, which are identical to those for crack. In 2006, the 5,391 sentenced federal meth defendants were 54% white, 39% Hispanic and 2% black. No one calls the federal meth laws anti-Hispanic or anti-white.The press has also served up a massive dose of crack revisionism aimed at proving the racist origins of the war on crack." I agree with you in the sense that it wasn't done as part of a conscientious act to disallow women into certain career fields, but I don't agree that there was any "thought process" that excluded them either. Rather it is the results of the sum total of choices groups of men and women make - which are different. Minorities were more "likely" to be accused because they come from groups that have a higher (background) levels of crime - so that is not a surprise. Since they are not convicted at a higher rate than whites, this means that justice system is fair. To your second point, that is not a problem, though it is framed as such. Innocent men are more likely to be accused than women. Problem? The problem was identified by Slackline (and maybe others, including you), and that is that there are after-effects on one's career even after charges are dropped or the accused comes out clean. That is a problem that can be solved. Here is the study in question: https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/699380.pdf. It says this: "GAO’s analysis of available data found that Black, Hispanic, and male servicemembers were more likely than White or female members to be the subjects of investigations recorded in databases used by the military criminal investigative organizations, and to be tried in general and special courts-martial in all of the military services when controlling for attributes such as rank and education. GAO also found that race and gender were not statistically significant factors in the likelihood of conviction in general and special courts-martial for most services, and minority servicemembers were either less likely to receive a more severe punishment than White servicemembers or there was no difference among racial groups; thus, disparities may be limited to particular stages of the process." What this means is that within the microcosm of the military, different racial groups reflect the same level of background noise (crime) that is present in society. This is completely unsurprising. What would be indicative of systemic bias is if one group, say blacks, was convicted at a much lower rate than whites. This would indicate some sort of command-level animus towards blacks serving in the ranks, with commanders at all levels proffering charges against black members - using the UCMJ as a bludgeon - only to have the military justice system be the final backstop that provides some sort of relief/justice - since they're not convicted at higher rates. But that's not what's happening. In actuality, Blacks, Hispanics, and males commit crimes inside the Air Force at similar rates as those outside the Air Force, and this data shows it.

A close second...

Overly violent trump supporters? Where are they? And if they do exist, what violence have they caused? Is it anything compared to the leftist supported riots this year on any scale? Sorry but I’m afraid that is a straw man my friend. One set up not on fact but emotion, assumptions, and fear. The fear the leftist have been peddling has come back to them if what you say is true about being afraid of violent trump supporters. Are there even any violent trump supporters in numbers comparable to the leftists? So something that doesn’t exist in any scale worth mentioning is made even scarier by using “Overly” in front of it.

Hahahaha. I've been wanting to post this all day but I haven't gotten to it. You beat me first. This dude claims to be able to change car tires but any person with a modest understanding of automobiles wouldn't be caught dead spending 70K on that piece of burning dumpster tampons. It's one of the worst reviewed SUVs ever. If he wanted to impress us he could have at least made up owning a vehicle people found respectable.

The only picture that comes to mind when I read the above post... Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

A Maserati Levante...oh, good our internet troll is a soccer mom.

I guess the first thing to improve would be a Biden Presidency won't echo talking points from the GRU. Secondly, we might not get a new SecDef every 9 months. Thirdly, DOD and DOS policy might actually synch better, have more thought out strategy, and we won't have to react based on Twitter diplomacy. Finally, the "F!@#$ your Feelings" group would have a lot of crow feathers to pick out of their teeth.

Also make sure everyone knows your Parler username so you can trade voting conspiracy theories, what about Hillary's emails, Obama's birth certificate forgeries, how Biden's the worst person on the planet cause he's a career politician (even though McConnell has served three months less in the Senate compared to Biden, almost 36 years).

He fucking lost guys. Get over it. Your tin foil hat schtick is embarrassing and, frankly, worrisome in that you guys probably hold security clearances. The GOP held the Senate. President Trump outperformed himself with virtually all minority groups compared to 2016. The Democrats lost a dozen House seats when they were supposed to gain a dozen. The squad scared off a lot of independents. From a strictly partisan point of view there is much to be satisfied with if you are a Republican. But the President got his ass handed to him by a larger margin than he won 4 years ago. The networks called it, as they do every year, when the states report a sufficient number of ballots. IT IS OVER. This would be a great time for the POTUS to show some grace, class, humility, integrity, and leadership. While we are waiting for that, here is a textbook example:

That’s a helluva battle to pick.

Shit! Guys, I think Trump is not leaving peacefully! He started mining the white house.

To be clear, you're saying if the lawsuits are dismissed for lack of standing, cause, non-procedural issues, etc., then it's still a legitimate election for Biden? I would suggest that some people on this board, and a ton in my FB feed, who wear that label disagree with that assessment. Where is your line for the judiciaries hand in deciding the election, especially since the Courts have been very reluctant so far to get very involved? Fantastic read, thanks for sharing. I also happened to come across this, about some GI's taking extreme voter corruption head on. Book just came out about it - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Athens_(1946) It's been made apparent that my time on here isn't as appreciated by my family as it is by me. Additionally, my daughter was directly exposed to COVID..so I'm going to hunker down, lurk, and take care of what's important. Thank you all for the conversation and different opinions.

Best meme of the past week...

No, my mother shredded it. Some people still have morals...

You're going to be really disappointed if you think Biden is going to get you to Europe. Dude, Germans can't even visit France right now. There's no way they will try to accommodate people outside the Shenzhen in the near future. I've lived and worked here since the start of this shenanigans. Its a fucking disaster right now.

For me at an immediate level, absolutely immeasurably yes on the first two. I'm an ATC, federal employee. Being reclassified as a political appointee and having my due process rights waived was not something I was happy about, because I'm not an appointee, and that was just within the last couple weeks. Let's also not forget the two and a half months I went without a paycheck, over the holidays no less, for absolutely nothing. It's not the first shutdown I've been through, it certainly won't be the last (guessing we have one coming in a month or so), but it was the longest and the most obscene. And the anti-labor executive orders...don't think I even need to explain those, how detrimental they'd be. I'm very active in our union, it's the proper avenue for us to improve and address the workplace. I think we have a good mix where it's optional to be in the union in the first place, you only pay dues if you're in, and we can't strike so the legally-mandated communication is different. I could go on if needed but I think I made my point. Also I was very concerned for the future of my profession, our wage, and my leave time...lots of talk of big changes for those in a second term. And our labor contract expires two years into it. For the satisfaction of identity as an American...well, I'd like to be able to travel the world again, and it's somewhat abhorrent that we still can't go to Canada or any of Europe because of the President's erratic-at-best, or even lack of plan for COVID. Our response and stats do all the talking here. You can say what you want on political leanings or leverage, but the fact that we're shut out from our longest-standing, closest allies should alarm you. And sadly I trust the career politician to create a functional, cohesive government/cabinet more than the current clown show that only favors loyalty, like it's the fucking Mob or something.

While not necessarily violent, but didn't we just have tons of Trump supporters protest at the polls with guns, banging on windows? Not exactly peaceful, nor overtly violent.

This failure is above the DO, SQ/CC or even the WG/CC. Way above!

I appreciate your thought out counterpoints and disagreements. I know that my beliefs aren’t categorically true, and a lot of voting comes down to “feelings,” whatever those are. Cheers.

It’s not about you, quit being dramatic. There is clearly widespread cheating but don’t ever piss and moan about democracy and turn a blind eye to the clear fraud from the Democratic Party. Biden might indeed be the winner (in which case god help you all..) but you’re going to have a very angry and non trusting electorate amongst half the country if that fraud is not addressed. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You can’t be serious, can you? I give up. You win kid. It’s just the internet after all. Somehow, my life will trudge on. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Dang, this guy is troll, level 10. Ignore him. I’d put money he doesn’t put any stock in his own words, but he’s doing a good job at pissing off a bunch of professional, military aviators. Ignore him. This is a great back and forth, and he’d have it all stop, why? Who knows...? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

AP reports MI turnout to be 71%. https://apnews.com/article/record-votes-michigan-highest-turnout-1f7802d2a2e67966ba8ccb02e3d1cbed WI reported to be 72%. https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-wisconsin-elections-c14705ea715877b472454e57df022a91 Not sure where you got 90%, but the lesson for rational human beings is that Eric Trump’s Twitter page may not be the unbridled truth.

This fight is far from over. We need questions answered about "software" called hammer and scorecard. Thousands are coming out with affidavits about fraud. USPS postal workers coming out under oath saying there was widespread fraud in MI and PA. How can anyone even think this is over yet? Legacy media does NOT have the authority to call elections. PA votes will likely not be certified at this rate. GA and MI headed that way and possibly WI, especially with their majority of Republican state legislatures.

Commonwealth, can’t compare it to a republic. /s

She's not going to. She's the embodiment of a Useful Idiot.

Precisely. There is effectively no comparison between the two countries, yet somehow we think the leadership is the reason for the disparities? That's like comparing NYC to Catalina island.

To go back to something quickly from over the weekend. I've thought more about it. AOC's list of Trump supporters, IMHO, is wrong. I think it returns to a dark time in our Nation's past. Shows her immaturity, and I hope she's able to grow up a little.

I just watched that video and that's not really what he is saying. Trust me, I would love to jump at the chance to trash Cuomo and his complete idiocy, but he's talking about Trump's vaccine roll out plan and not that the vaccine itself is bad news and that they are going to try and stop the vaccine. This definitely falls under a sensationalist and slightly fake news tweet. Even at the end he discusses working with other governors to find ways they can tweak Trump's roll out plan and not stop the vaccine from getting to their populations. Of course the TDS still runs deep in Cuomo so maybe that's where him and the other governors will end up if they can't work to tweak Trump's plan, but that was not what I got from the video right now.

Girls girls. You are both pretty.

Are we sure Guardian and Slackline aren't married to each other?

You guys ever have a bad sortie where a lot of folks died, and in debrief you looked back on the plan and said "welp...not much else we could have done. we pretty much nailed it."? Yeah me neither. It's amazing to see some of the best tactical minds I've met suddenly go blind when it comes to identifying DFPs, root causes, contributing factors and coming up with instructional fixes when it comes to politics.

Biden doesn't have any true character gain. The dude is a facade. He has no actual plan in mind, just words along the lines of "trust me, I have a plan." Also, I find that after 47 years he's really not done anything as a public official. Quit justifying Biden because he's "not Trump." Not being Trump doesn't make him good.

I'm looking to upgrade to one of the embossed nametags and was wondering if you have any pictures? I saw how the embossed looked on the Navy jackets and was much more impressed than the foil pressed versions that are ubiquitous in the AF. Also the embossed MAJCOM patches look way better than the embroidered ones.

I was a Marine maintainer, and I will have you know, that we also have adjustable wrenches and a flat head screwdriver (but only a big one). The selection of hammers was pretty incredible though.

So I put this here vs starting another thread that likely wouldn't be that long. Sean Connery died today, aged 90. The best James Bond ever. So suck it, Trebek!

well they are marines... they'll scrap it and use the metal to build 3 F-35s! RUT