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Somebody does, otherwise they’d leave it alone.

After watching some of the videos presented to the Senate this week I’m convinced that Pence was in much more danger than I previously thought. Pelosi too. In the end the government was able to resume work fairly quickly which is a testament to the strength of our institutions. I thought the first impeachment was a partisan waste of time. The second is perfectly justified but the GOP is so full of cowards that nothing will come of it.

After getting over the fact that we weren't going to find out this week, I'm just glad that we have an actual date for release, which is nice. Never thought I would ever say this, but I hope the weekend flys by. 😃

And I believe @URTHopeful2021 wins the release date pool (from original predictions). You win the same prize as the rest of us: one more long weekend of waiting. Congrats!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CLBEYcLAqwN/?igshid=16va63nlyboj9 Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

They’re changing the logo and leaving the actual offensive part: it’s imitation “maple syrup”

Sure, In a nutshell, scope basically is a union negotiated strategy to save mainline jobs. Since we are a dirty contractor flying under the banner of United, American, etc, it says that we can only operate xx number of 50 seat aircraft and yy number of 76 seat aircraft in the fleet. Additionally, it says that we can only fly a certain percentage of mainline narrow body routes. It’s cheaper for United to contract with us, and have us fly say the DEN to IND route, but we can’t do it because of union restrictions, so they have to put a 737 on it with a mainline pay flight crew, even though that route traditionally only has about 64 people booked on any given flight. Scope was further reduced after ‘Rona in the union contracts with their parent companies. There is nothing the regional companies can do about these agreements, they just have to eat the shit that’s given to them. to be fair, in my opinion I think it’s a good thing. There should never, ever be a contracted regional jet carrying more than 50 PAX. Everything else should be at mainline pay. But your ticket prices would reflect that if it were to happen. So, I continue to fly my regional 76 seat jet which has been “scoped” to 70 seats by the ‘Rona. TLDR; Unions

Just a regional guy here (gimmick a break, I was a fucking Nav), but I am flying for THE regional. Skywest flies for American, Delta, UA, and Alaska. We are seeing a huge uptick in travel, and many of our jets have been full or nearly full. Now some of that is due to scope clause, but we are getting busier and busier. I do see the industry picking up steam faster than they thought it would, and see no reason why that wouldn’t continue. Our company is talking about resuming upgrades this summer and new hire by fall. Traditionally, the regionals are the first to see increase in flying. We are also adding cities right and left due to being scoped out of traditional routes. (Using a 737 at 60% capacity KDEN to KIND is a symptom of scope). Side note: if you are a USAF pilot, DO NOT go UQ in your last year, or you will be sitting here with me, yanking gear for a Nav.

I'd like to thank the academy and, most importantly, the air force for never surprising me with extended release dates. I accept this long weekend of waiting award not just for myself--but for all of the UFT 21 applicants 🙏🏆

What I can't understand is why everyone is so up in arms about some old, old wooden ship!

Honestly, we could use a few more senior leaders that bounced back from issues early on rather than the risk adverse ones we get.

I'll always support Kinzinger over the spoiled drunk that's never had a day in his life where he had to be accountable for his actions. Sent from my SM-N975U using Baseops Network mobile app

That works fine, until the legitimacy of elections are suspect. Whether true or not, the perception of election fraud will grievously damage our system.

Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification. I thought you were implying one couldn't gainfully retire as an FGO without the need for a full-time occupation; premise which of course I vehemently disagree with. To bring it back on topic of the airline talk, as someone who will be circa 46-49 with a check in hand, a kid out the house, and a working spouse, I'm going to be wanting to prioritize time-off over pay, full stop. I've debated a lot what potential avenues I'd be willing to take at that time (GS stamp licking job, FW EMS, part 135/91, sim jobs, even expat .mil contracting), and so far have come up fairly empty-handed for one reason or another. The only construct I've been able to research that remotely touches on the kind of work-life allowance I seek in a post-mil pursuit, is some airline outfits. But a place where I can't readily drop trips/schedules as a **perma-junior guy and still eek out 70-80K, is just not worth the trouble for me. (**not working past 60, so less than 11 years longevity from .mil to when I quit all work life full stop) -break break Congrats on AD retirement btw! I have two things I rather be doing right now as a young man that my work impositions are getting in the way of: (1) The hobby and (2) more time back home. Suffice to say, the wife is tripping over herself to partake in both, which is probably why she's my second wife and not my first one. 😮 And I digress. Cheers! 🍺

2nd shot did in fact suck. But I didn't die.

The Tulsa race massacre/black wall street massacre was pretty bad if you don't know much about it. It was the single worst racial violence incident in US history. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_massacre https://www.history.com/.amp/topics/roaring-twenties/tulsa-race-massacre Estimates of death toll range from 75-300, but also 35 blocks of city were destroyed by white mobs, including 1,200+ homes and 200 businesses. Left about 10,000 black Americans homeless. Also crazy, private aircraft were used to bomb black Americans as well... It's a interesting piece of history that I never heard about until I was stationed in Oklahoma.

https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2021/02/11/weve-become-parodies-of-ourselves-california-democrats-bemoan-sf-school-board-1362846 City is pushing back... Just as the majority on the right are “center right”, the majority on the other side are “center left” Hopefully both sides can make a little less room for their fringes.

I retired from the Air Force. I financially planned for 20 years to be fully retired at the age of 41. I sat around doing whatever I wanted for two years. Then I got bored, and the wife got tired of me always being around. So I went and found gainful employment that was also fun for me.

I'm sorry, I missed the punchline. What do you mean by that?

Don't get me wrong. I love the regional gig. Where else in the civilian world do you get to click the auto pilot off at 15K feet, cancel IFR, and hand fly a jet into Glacier National Park or many other NTA's out there on a regular basis? (And not have to haul your own Ice and snacks like the biz jet guys) I thought I was retired for two years. Turns out I was just unemployed. It'll happen. +1 on the correction for "Jobs". The unions facilitate some stability in an otherwise super unstable industry.

I wasn't NQ, just a Guard fighter guy not getting enough hours and ended up at regional. I actually had a good time, but then again I was home based, flew with Captains my age (mid-late 20s) and the FAs were mostly in the early 20s....good times. Pay sucked, but I had lots of fun and learned a lot about the airline world. That airline (Compass) is now no more...if you have to go to a regional, Skywest is probably your best bet. It's the most important part of the contract. To add to the thread, there seems to be more and more traction on bringing people back (and maybe hiring later this year), but we (DAL) may get more information later this week from a town hall. Basically the airlines are expecting to be ~90% of pre-covid capacity by summer of 2022. As Hacker eluded to early, the early outs will be a big help to get hiring kicked off as we recover. In many (domestic) categories at Delta, there are TONS of overtime trips going out every day. Some of that is because guys are NQ due to landings, part of it is because we have too many people out on UNA. Either way, after your apps are put in at FDX/UPS, update your other apps...barring any major resurgence/pandemic part deux, hiring could happen fast and furious.

On the one hand...I don't believe anything coming directly from my own email is non-attribution. On the other hand...I already have a line number to Lt Col. So not exactly afraid of a chief at any level.

We're representing minorities by removing minorities. Just like when Land O' Lakes repeated history by keeping the land and removing the Indian.

The senior guys I trust the most are those guys that have made mistakes and pressed through it to get where they are today. I dare say they are better leaders overall because they had so much more to overcome to succeed as compared to a golden child.

If the LOC/LOA isn't in your PIF anymore, my hunch is, its gone for good. Other things you said though are spot on. Just because Gen Kelly says its not a 1 mistake AF doesn't make it so. And the second and third order effects of this law were clearly not thought through.

Congress changed the rules/law. The AF is just complying with the law. Congress is probably fed up with embarrassments in the senior ranks, and thinks making adverse information available to boards will fix that. Funny thing is, most of those wayward senior leaders likely never had any formal documentation on poor behavior at any point in their careers, so it's moot.

The benefits outweigh the negatives on the XL extension. The main benefit being increased North American energy independence. We are better off getting petroleum from North American land vs the Middle East. Offshore carries unique environmental risks that are difficult to mitigate (busted well heads and crashed tankers). The jobs will help, although the estimates vary widely. The DoS's estimate was 40k jobs, of which 10% would be during the construction period. When compared to a typical 180k/month job creation rate in the US, it isn't much but every little bit counts due to COVID impacts. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-benefits-from-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-and-dakota-access-pipeline-pros-cons/ There is a technology and investment piece here also. Tar sands are significantly more corrosive than other petroleum suspension mediums, thus risking oil leaks. It is solvable in the near term via brute force (more metal, catchment systems) assuming the private sector is willing to pony up the funds. I'd like to see nuclear power regain a viable position and grow. Of course, there are limits regarding suitable conventional plant locations (large bodies of cooling water), construction materials (steady supply of rare metals due to neutron embrittlement), disposal, and uranium. That said, the hysteria around safety is largely overblown. If the Navy can run reactors on warships, we should be able to figure it out for commercial energy needs. Due to particulate pollution, hydrocarbons affect far more people on a per-kW basis than nuclear plants. Another 50 plants could supply 15-20% of our current electricity demand.

So I got my PRF back for the upcoming O-5 board. Keep in mind that I am a 4x APZ, but I got the following on my push line: #1/2 Eligible, #5/24 O-4's, Def Promote I also got a DP I checked last years stats and APZ, w/IDE complete, and a DP was 15/15 selected (for my board). But, it would be really on-brand for me to be the first ever (under the new board process) APZ w/DP to not get promoted. So that is what I am expecting. But, who knows.

If we learn one thing from the madness of the past 2 years, it's that local politics have a much more immediate impact on peoples lives. If you want to affect change, get involved. Unless you're a gay father of mixed race children trying to get on the school board in San Francisco...

The board is holding onto power, and doing the very thing they accuse white men of doing. How ironic. Then again, being a crappy person cuts across racial, gender, and social lines, so I guess I'm not too surprised. I agree with you-so much of racial issues are local community issues, and that's where the change/progress needs to be made.

WTF? https://www.guitarworld.com/news/man-builds-guitar-out-of-his-dead-uncles-skeleton-uses-it-to-play-black-metal

Yes, it is/was pretty remote like 14 miles, all on base at 55 mph, from the Rosamond “gate” to seeing the guard shack and other base buildings. BUT it was an awesome assignment I'll be honest, a lot of people from the DT community seem to dislike Edwards; however, having been assigned or TDY enough times to the other DT locations, Edwards ranks pretty high for me for the exact reasons Stitch and Magellan noted. One thing they did not mention is that you are about 3 hours to everything...beach, mountains, Vegas, etc. Personally, it was great being so close to the Eastern Sierra Nevadas and all of the great hiking there. The Edwards airspace is great too...not quite as good as the NTTR, but it is the only place where the highest and lowest elevations in the lower 48 exist. More importantly, make sure you know you want to tread down the DT path. Just like in picking an airframe in UPT, you should pick TPS or non-TPS based on mission not location. For most communities, once you go to TPS, you will not return to the 'regular' AF. You'll have opportunities to integrate with the operational test and even operational squadron folks from time-to-time, especially if you are a fighter or bomber guy, but it's unlikely your old community will bring you back for leadership or other opportunities. You'll still be managed by your old communities developmental team; however, for all intents and purposes, you're a persona non grata to the old community. Unfortunately, the test world has not capitalized on this gap and talent management has suffered as a consequence. Nevertheless, the DT world has improved in its efforts to be relevant for the rest of the AF by working with current warfighters, which may help soothe the sting of not being able to do the real-world mission anymore (if that is your desire).

This post exemplifies the real crisis in our country: an inability to talk to each other. Your first paragraph is filled with assumptions you believe to be facts. Your second paragraph is also assumptions masquerading as fact. The foundation of a functioning democratic society is disagreements are civil and resolved by good faith conversations. That means listening to the other side and asking yourself “could they be right? Can I understand their viewpoint? How can I convince them of mine?” You’re right about one thing: we don’t have much left to talk about if “talking” just means I’m brow beat with your opinions. How do you think the country hold together when convincing conversations cease and power is used to force those you disagree with to obey?

How in the world did she even make E-9??? Never mind, I know why, forget I asked. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

She'll be popular due to a failure of our institutions to protect the American Dream for regular citizens, rise because she is willing to say politically unpopular things that alienate her from the establishment but ingratiate her with her base, use social media to bypass the usual structures and speak directly to her followers, lack any sort of real understanding of the system she wishes to change, continually say things that are factually wrong, not offer a face-saving route for her opposition to side with her, and ultimately fizzle out because she can't make the transition from activist to diplomat and appeal to a broad spectrum of voters.

What if, in my example, the citizens of south Dakota doesn't want their backyard to be used for nuclear waste storage? Or to have consideration (funding) for maintaining the site? What if they have concerns about safety, or believe the waste site hurts their economy? Since they're taking waste from other states, should they get extra funding as a "thank you" to fund initiatives for their citizens? In a direct democracy, their voice could be effectively silenced by the majority a thousand miles away, and that majority wouldn't even have to debate any of the concerns-just up straight skip to the vote because the votes would be there. National policy (set by executive branch) is one thing. States are free to do their own thing. Of course, the federal government (executive) can encourage cooperation through slowing funding. But if other states are concerned about individual states doing things that affect them, it needs to be more than just policy. It needs to be law. And since multiple states could be affected, it should be handled at the federal level. So in your second example, I'd agree with you. Though the issue you point out has implications outside the state. Pollution affects others, and energy resources are critical to national security, not to mention our economy. So it makes sense to have laws and policy at the national level. We also do it for other things we value as a nation-look at our national parks program and federally protected wildlife areas, or our airspace. Another good example is minimum wage. There's a federal standard, but some states have set a higher minimum wage, and some counties or cities even above that. As long as the state or local governments don't break federal laws, they can make it more restrictive. If someone believes in raising the minimum wage, they should be lobbying at all levels. And the local level would likely be the most responsive, as we see with minimum wage. I agree with that smart, nationalized decisions can be good. But we are a very (physically) large and diverse nation, so things that work in the New York may not work in Oklahoma or Oregon or. This makes it challenging to take a one size fits all approach, because that leaves a lot of people unhappy. Putting power in states lets power reside much closer to the local area, and be more responsive for the residents.