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It’s almost like the ATO is classified for a reason.

Wow!

The French and Germans are conducting operations outside the Taliban check points to retrieve their citizens but we are not. I get it, Trump was a narcissistic asshole but this is what you wanted?

The AF is good at saying one thing and doing another.

Pic stolen from another thread… The Air Force isn’t a bunch of 4 stars in the pentagon. It’s not some politically appointed civilian SecAf and it’s not Curtis LeMay rolling in his grave. If there’s one thing I learned during my time in the AF it’s that Airmen, NCOs, and CGOs are the really important people who make the whole thing work. The Air Force is you guys and you guys do some really good shit every day. I’m proud of all of you and even more proud to have served with many of you.

Come on Man... First and foremost Trump promised to maintain U.S. Air support for the Afghans...Biden took it away. We all know our airpower was holding things in place. How do you think this would have gone down had we kept airstrikes in support of the Afghan Army in place...please answer honestly. I seriously doubt the Taliban would have won in 11 days with airpower hitting them. We most certainly would have had more time. Members of Trump's National Security team have come forward to say he was bluffing and it was part of his plan...not sure I buy that, Trump wanted us out but I don't think it would have gone down like this. Also, didn't Trump slip his initial date? Biden straight up admitted that he made the decision to do it this way. He has been wrong on EVERY foreign policy decision he has ever been associated with and this is the apex of his absolute stupidity. Look at him attempt to answer questions...utterly embarrassing as he "stands by his decision."

Nothing political, just a first hand reflection of a linguist who spent a lot of time listening to the Taliban during fights. What I Learned While Eavesdropping on the Taliban

Similar boat as well, except for my first child. On top of that, it was a difficult/complex childbirth resulting in a weeklong hospital stay, during which my boss considered my duty location to be the hospital while mom and our newborn were there. Access to the military chaplain helped us get through/talk through some significant emotional events during that hospital stay. It was great having the 3 weeks of (paid) paternity leave to help care for my kid and take a lot of the burden off of my wife so she could have an easier recovery and not feel overwhelmed.

It is good that the AF consistently messes everything up, predictability is good...right? Otherwise we would all be anxious with uncertainty!!! And knowing the future is good, unlike current events...

Sorry for the double tap but fire this fuck and get the AC’s from those C-17’s out of HKIA in there. At least those folks have fucking balls.

Watching DOS brief right now. Reporter just asked if there was COVID testing at the airport before letting people in or on planes.....How fucking out of touch can you be with reality there on the ground.

European officials dismayed by Biden's decision to follow Trump's lead on Afghanistan Interesting report yesterday, The White House admitted that President Biden has not spoken to a SINGLE foreign leader about the situation in Afghanistan. I thought Biden was going to "restore America's place on the world stage" Where are all the people who voted for Biden and why aren't you here defending him and his actions...this is what you wanted right? Biden's first Foreign Policy Speech "As I said in my inaugural address, we will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again, not to meet yesterday’s challenges, but today’s and tomorrow’s." "As I said earlier this week, we will work with our partners to support restoration of democracy and the rule of law, and impose consequences on those responsible." "America’s alliances are our greatest asset, and leading with diplomacy means standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies and key partners once again."

Might as well laugh at this point.

Christ.... what a disaster. Whether you agree with the reasons why we went into that country two decades ago or not, every 1st-world nation on this planet has failed Afghanistan. Watching Muslims hand their children over a wall to American service members for a better life is eye opening and sickening to watch. It makes me re-evaluate all of the times I bitched about the mold in the trailers or doing the walk of shame through customs at the Died for a month or two.... or heck, complaining that someone is making me wear a mask. Life could could definitely be worse. If you look at pics of some of these Taliban fighters, I bet you most of them were either not born prior to 9/11 or born shortly there after. They're 18-25 years old, which means, we killed their father, their brother.. We made them. For every bad guy we took out, we probably made 2-3 more. These are not old dudes set in their ways not wanting to see Afghanistan change. Most of them are younger than you and I.

You don't have to fill one out, period. Just like an OPR, this is your boss's problem, not yours.

Was the first guy you dogfish?

Q&A is really pathetic. "First part of your question, I can't remember now," he says.

Well yeah he wasn't doing as she instructed him to do.

This is a terrible speech. edit: VEEP rolled her eyes and looked down when POTUS went off script and said “look, mumble mumble mumble”

Another case study from Singapore which concluded that "The mRNA vaccines are highly effective at preventing symptomatic and severe COVID-19 associated with B.1.617.2 infection. Vaccination is associated with faster decline in viral RNA load and a robust serological response. Vaccination remains a key strategy for control of COVID-19 pandemic.". I like finding studies out of other countries because it (at least I think) takes the politicism out of the equation: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.28.21261295v1

It's being reported the State Department intended to charge evacuees >$2K each, and only scrapped the plan after being met with collective outrage. I am just living in the Twilight Zone now. How pathetic, incomprehensible, and incompetent can these people be? What the f&%k is going on?

You know they’re doing a truly shitty job when even the left-leaning press is on their ass! A complete embarrassment and tragedy. Resignations from these clowns at a minimum.

You’re probably right, impeachment would do then. Kamala is hated enough we could probably survive her for 2 years.

I can very much relate, I was a big overthinker while I was rushing squadrons. People say "just be yourself" often, which is great advice, but what helped me the most was to have confidence in myself. I would listen to some music real loud to get hyped on the drive to the squadron, I would tell myself to be confident, and this sounds stupid, but I had a kind of "pre-game" routine to get myself hyped up before I got out of my truck. Do what you need to do to get in the zone, once you are confident and holding your head high, the rest will follow. That being said, don't be arrogant, but dont be a wallflower. No one can tell you exactly how to act in certain scenarios, it just comes with experience. Know that many people have been in your shoes, including the pilots you meet, so they understand some awkwardness or mishaps. As far as visiting often, I would try to visit every drill or every other drill

But think of the fuel savings not having to tanker gas through Kabul...

Do they actually think people are that stupid to not see through their absolute bull shit?

This is worse than Vietnam. In a large way. Our country is going to go through some rough times coming up. We just took a back seat to China and Russia. And terrorists organizations.

Doesn’t matter who leaves. History will show that Biden alone made the decision against recommendations against it. And that his current mental state will likely be blamed.

Until the clock runs out or we run out of capability? THIS IS AMERICA GODDAMNIT. Stop being such fucking losers, wtf. Now that we don’t have to pretend with the GIRoA anymore, start acting like a superpower is supposed to act.

I’m just happy mean tweets went away. The world is a better place because of it. (Sarcasm font)

The Air Force is good at paying me on time on the 1st and 15th of every month...

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/military-doesn-t-have-capability-to-rescue-americans-who-cannot-get-to-kabul-airport-118991941602 “We don’t have the capability to go out and collect up large numbers of people” - Sec Def We are definitely no longer the nation that won World War II, accomplished the Berlin Airlift, and put men on the moon. We can’t even get everyone successfully home from a conflict we lost. We still have individuals in this country that are capable of those feats, but not a single one of them resides in our leadership class anymore.

The Air Force hasn’t implemented a stop loss and approved my separation. They’ve done good work with that and a huge positive !!

If and when we get everyone we want/realistically can out of there no reason we can't make life very miserable from the air for them. Assuming 38 million Afghans and a high estimate of 100,000 Taliban that's 380 to 1. I don't get the feeling they have the hearts and minds of the locals as much as they like based on the videos we've seen and as we all know taking territory is a lot easier than holding it. Crank out GBU-39s (minimize collateral damage) by the truckload and go to town. Effectively were airmailing IEDs to them and they can endure the psychology of being hit with no way to shoot back. Basically if it has a crew served weapon/humvee etc. and 3-4 pax it gets hit and anything else we ID as worth going after. In the 90s they ran amok largely because no one was really looking hard but now we most certainly are. My .02

Dude, don’t do it to yourself. Just ignore it, most everyone else here does, helps keep the threads more on point.

18 AF/CC: I am proud of our aircrew who made tough calls in uncharted circumstances. You epitomized “mission type orders” and why empowered Airmen are so important. OSI is involved because of the tragic deaths of foreign nationals. This is normal anytime fatalities occur. I am not aware of any Q-3s for the crews involved. Thad Bibb

A Taliban Commander who helped seize the Afghan Presidential Palace spent nearly six years at Guantanamo, where he told a guard "we will get you on the outside." In an assessment before he was released, Pentagon officials said that Ruhani posed a "medium" threat to the US, since he had family in "anti-coalition militia entities," and would likely join such groups if released and take part in attacks against US forces in Afghanistan. So that worked out well.

I wonder if the Taliban is training their pilots with VR headsets...

If not already mentioned, C17 landing gear is the last large aircraft gear I would attempt take a ride and survive on. Turn, twist, fold, retract, etc. Not good odds even for me having flown her for well over a decade out of Afghanistan alone. It’s just a mess…

Calculating that Form F, if they even did one without massively WAGing it, makes me nervous just thinking about it.

Now seeking investors for my aftermarket Toyota Hilux parts production startup.

The aircrew will be fine. I hope they will also be fine mentally and remember that they got it done in the craziest conditions possible. They were in an absolutely impossible situation and got the jet home safe along with way more rescued people than anyone could have ever reasonably expected. Pretty sure it isn't aircrews job to establish a security perimeter around the airplane during a literal apocalyptic fall of a country. And at the end of it all they will have the craziest airline interview answer for "tell me about a time when you.."

Politics today. A governor getting recalled, another one about to get legitimately impeached, state legislators on the run, a shell president who is losing his mental capacities, trillions and trillions of dollars being spent, inflation at a 13 year high, open borders, unnecessary lockdowns, people getting paid more to stay home, etc. I’d say things are going really well!

Great, sounds like we're having to buy fuel from the Taliban for our aircraft - at least that is what the weasel words coming out of these bureaucrats' mouths seem to indicate: https://twitter.com/itsSpencerBrown/status/1428372667191734274 The press has these fools tap dancing. I also love how the Army 2-star can't answer a simple question without looking over at the Ministry of Truth (Kirby). ADD HIS NAME TO THE LIST OF FOOLS THAT SHOULD RESIGN!!!

That clip was refreshing. Bravo