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I find it weird that we accept the fact that we're allegedly the world hyperpower, and the Taliban are the ones giving all the orders. I find it weird that the withdrawal was planned in such an appallingly catastrophic fashion. I find it weird that the administration was absolutely obsessed with meeting some meaningless deadline. I find it weird that no one can seem to nail down how many Americans were in Afghanistan, how many were airlifted, and how many were truly left behind. I find it weird that the Taliban allegedly offered us the opportunity to police and secure Kabul, and we said, "No thanks." I find it weird that leaving any number of Americans behind is acceptable to this administration. I find it weird that so little effort was made to disable or destroy the military hardware left behind. I find it weird that we seemingly made so little effort to prioritize American evacuees ahead of Afghanis. I find it weird that a presidential administration could survive this calamity. I find it weird that the administration claims they had no inkling the AFG government would collapse in this manner, but that is constantly being proven false. I find it weird that the President told the press we are not leaving until every American who wants to leave is airlifted, and today...meh. What can you do? Americans are stranded overseas all the time. I find it weird (no offense meant) that people like you think there is nothing weird about all of this.

Godspeed to all of you serving still and Thank You. What a crock of Crown Royal as many stations have already started spinning this into “a President who got us out of Afghanistan” while ignoring the HOW it was done and anyone who thinks otherwise knows better. As veterans of Bagram, Kabul, Kandahar, etc., we all knew well before the loss of lives that there would be losses and now it’s far from really over. Amazing that you never had to step foot in country to know this as well. Just that obvious. Be safe on whatever “assignment” you’re on as it’s apparent some higher echelons of leadership in various positions all the way to the top does not have your back aside from those right next to you. Watch your tails Cowboys.

That was powerful and also very accurate. I've been working for weeks trying to get people who deserve to get out of Afghanistan, out of Afghanistan. There was absolutely no clear method for how a person gets onto HKIA other than winning the fricken lottery. Unless you had the number to someone who was in country, on the ground, and had access to the gate, your people were hosed no matter how great their case. Once we started sending planes back with empty seats, that was telling of how much the system had failed. Say nothing of the C-17 that departed the last day stocked full of supplies like paper towels and napkins, rather than human beings. I want to believe this is a success story guys. But you don't get to sink the titanic and then brag about how many life boats you have. There are THOUSANDS of vulnerable Afghans still in country who may be killed any day now. How in the world will anyone ever trust the USG again?

Point taken. I'm not trying to be adversarial; you are correct that this was always going to be a horrific band-aid to tear off. But holy sh!t. This did not have to be like this.

Oh, I'm not arguing this was well executed. It's just that I'm more surprised that people are coming out of the woodwork to feign horror about this, when they were just fine with us freeing the leader of the Taliban and then inviting them to Camp David for cookies. We more or less agreed to hand the country over - poorly executed, yes, but where was the pearl clutching when we set this in motion well over a year ago?

Strange how Biden claims he had to go forward with the “previous agreement” from the last administration…and yet at the same time has changed many other agreements/policies set by the last administration…it’s almost as if it’s all political, on both sides. But since Biden is in charge, Biden owns it since he could have went a number of different ways. This is coming from someone who supported the pullout, just not the horrible execution.

Weird how? When we freed the leader of the Taliban, then invited them to Camp David to discuss the transfer, you were expecting some other outcome? Without dumping tens of thousands back into Afghanistan, to augment the 2,500 we started the year with, I don't see that this was going to end any other way.

It's all so unbelievable it's just beyond words. Something very very weird is going on in Washington, and it's giving me the heebie jeebies.

While I don’t disagree with you that a lot of people unfortunately vote/don’t for people based on things that shouldn’t matter…ie someone’s race or gender, let’s not pretend that the left won’t go after the right even if the person running is the skin color the left says they care about/want to see in office.. “Column: Larry Elder is the Black face of white supremacy. You’ve been warned” https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-20/recall-candidate-larry-elder-is-a-threat-to-black-californians

Please stop quoting the window licking moron. It defeats me blocking him.

Rent is the most you'll pay to live in a place. The mortgage is the minimum amount you'll pay to own the place. Just because you're giving someone else money to live in their building doesn't mean it's the worst option. You're still getting a place to live, without the hassles of home maintenance, no worries about the market tanking, no issues trying to sell the place BVR when you move again.

Attack the man instead of his message? While you call us p*ssies. Brilliant. You must be real fun to go on the road with. I went to public school but it seems his message was, “I’m gonna bring the whole f*cking system down.” So yeah, the ball’s in his court to really flush that plan out a little more.

Nice to know Biden considers everything that happened a “tremendous success”

"Hey, Nav... can you take a picture of us flying the plane?"

Looks like every airshow I've ever worked. Are you sure this wasn't taken at Oshkosh? I bet the guy in the right seat started crying when mom said he had to get up so the next group of nice people could sit in the pilot's seat.

Absolutely. It's the way I handled an 8 year stint at my last duty station. Super easy transition during the eventual PCS; a twofer since I'll never landlord as a matter of personal preference and life priorities. Of course, I also rented cheap with a young family and put that whole spread into other aspects of my life (to include a mammoth war chest that might just be enough to not have to even dabble in the airline d!ck dance after .mil retirement). In fairness, a scheme most of these haughty m'fers I call my vocational peers generally consider beneath them, but that's neither here nor there. LOL 😄 Cheers!

You would think the way Big Blue pushed us to wear that reflective belt and make sure our PT shirt was tucked in and free of sweat stains was the only way to victory!

Retention could tank even further. I think it is a false assumption that those 30% were staying anyway. The IDE, Staff, DO, SQ/CC, School, Staff hustle to stay Tier 1 and survive until 20 years becomes A LOT less appealing if you pay them $245,000 or more less...

I heard they're hiring Nav's......

Get ready for this kinda take rate being used as justification to kill the bonus altogether… I give it one more FY, tops. Makes a perfect compliment to the $300+B in cuts coming to the Pentagon… Rough roads ahead. Chuck

It’s the one true American political tradition… Chuck

There are already a few exemptions that exist for the COVID vaccine mandate in the military, so chill out dude.

Can you afford a major market drop? Don't sucker yourself into a bad situation. If you can take the hit, it's probably a more acceptable risk. Is this a normally increasing market, or is this rise an abnormality in a usually stable market?

Interesting how? Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, if he gets rolled up trying some delusional one man Hollywood style "rescue mission" (without any military background whatsoever, according to the article) then I'm of the opinion that we shouldn't risk any of our guys' lives to get him back. All decisions have consequences.

Buy a BADASS fifth wheel and ride out the market until 1) you see the pricing you want 2) can’t take the tiny living any longer.

Depends where you are at and potential for upside/crash/future rental possibility, how long you will stay etc.

Old Dyess tail

Let’s see, there’s some C-130 gouge on Baseops.net, maybe that will help?

Learning to fly their “new” C-130

Cool, they should also charge an extra $200 for anyone with a BMI > 25, to keep it equitable. And if they were truly genuine, they should probably charge $400 for BMI > 30, which probably accounts for 50% of their workforce

Exactly. You'd have to be retarded to think an F-16 is harder to fly than a KC-135. One was designed to let the single pilot execute multiple mission types simultaneously while communicating with air and ground units, the other was repurposed 1950's airline technology with steel cables moving the controls. Now, harder mission? Ten times out of ten the fighter mission is orders of magnitude harder than the tanker mission. It's not even close.

Yep. We need to very narrowly define victory and then effing stick to it. Cheaper, and more effective militarily and strategically. Since when has the US military been an armed version of habitat for humanity???

Sure..."for that"... Context clues say that Gates didn't like the way AF leadership was trying to prep for high-end fights at the expense of another couple dozen Pred CAPs over Iraq.

I think if 2020-2021 has taught me, or better yet, has “reassured me” one thing, is that most people in this country actually don’t want or love freedom. They’ll tell you they do, but then caveat with, “but…”. This is on the right and the left. ”Freedom for me, but not for thee”

One of the challenges we have as a nation, is our love of freedom, and assuming everyone in the world wants our version of society. Do I think there’s anything better, no. But if your country has never known “Western Democracy”, you won’t embrace it like we do. I’m my opinion, the civilian and military leadership, ascribe to that US dominate worldview, and it shapes the decisions they support. We need to divorce ourselves from endlessly “spreading democracy” across the globe. And just perform, limited and targeted ops. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

https://time.com/6092818/iraq-afghanistan-unnecessary-wars/ Interesting opinion piece written by Karl Marlantes (if you haven't read the book Matterhorn I'd highly recommend it). I don't agree with everything he says in this piece but some of it definitely resonates with me. Now that our brothers and sisters are finally out of that worthless excuse for a country, I truly hope the US military starts a serious, thorough internal look at why we went (fairly self explanatory), why we stayed, and why things ended the way they did. I don't believe history repeats itself but it does rhyme; if we don't generate an honest, brutal debrief this could happen again.

Trick is to tell them you are final outing in a couple days despite what the checklist says. Shit starts flying off that list with ease.

So standing your ground makes a person a "bully?!?" If so, we need more bullies! You are suggesting he ever started in the first place?!?

Desantis is a bully (my opinion) and I despise bullies. And the next President should be under 60yo. Biden is done. 1. He is incompetent and I'm being kind with my words right now; probably well into dementia. He will get heavier and heavier to prop up. Any decision he makes is dangerous because he lacks the mental ability to make them. 2. The fucked up AFG exit will stick to him and his administration forever. There isn't a story or image available to paint a better picture. From people falling off the C-17 on takeoff, to the picture of the Marine holding a baby that was then killed in the Kabul attack, to the story of former operators going in on their own to rescue people they worked with and promised a better life, this complete and utterly inept group must go. Every time I see Bidens picture ...... When he said he will make them pay in regards to the Kabul attacks, he should include himself. 3. No leader of any country, organization, company, or political entity will, nor should they, ever trust Biden and his inept administration ever again. He is completely ineffective. Zero influence, or more accurately, zero positive and most likely just negative influence. Out

No, I am not. I am simply admitting I do not have enough information to take a life. Therein lies the fundamental difference between us. You would kill over vaccination status. I would not. In just a few posts, we've reached the impasse that all of society will soon face. Words don't solve it.

Having seen these shit heads carry out their dead, then drag dead civilians into the rubble to use as propaganda, tend to jade ones view on "suspected civilian casualties." I'm not saying it didn't happen, and with this rusty coat-hanger abortion of an operation, nothing would surprise me. I'll just forever be skeptical of these types of reports.

There’s a red line that’s quickly approaching and it’s not going to be pretty. There’s a big can of kerosene labeled “careers & livelihoods” that the DoD is about to dump into this raging debate. Judging by the small sample size I’m exposed to…it’s gonna be a total sh*t show to actually implement.

Some of you guys are just looking for shit to be mad about. I flew one flight in a Japanese UH-60J, I made sure that ARMS folks put that thing in my flight records cause I thought it was cool. Should I feel terrible about it? Give me a break.

I’m not a Commander or anybody worth much of a crap in the military, but I’d be willing to be a part of that movement. I don’t think those actions are disloyal or anything like that. Hell, I’d say Lt Col Scheller’s actions epitomize the USAF’s core values in asking for integrity, putting the service before the individual, and a demand for excellence.