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Short of a meeting with the OG or WG/CC I will blow off literally anything early in the morning if I debriefed until 0230 the night before, including a sim. You aren't getting training value out of a sim on 4 hours of sleep and if you aren't calling uncle on that to your scheduling shop/DO you're part of the problem. This is exhibit a why people get burned out and leave the Air Force. During normal home station ops there is absolutely no reason you shouldn't get 12 hrs at home at an absolute minimum every night. Pilot training schedulers somehow manage it every day because it's mandated in the syllabus, and I guarantee they have more flights and sims to schedule than anyone else.

First, more does not mean better and I hope you can see the difference. Notice in the chart below the vast majority of what would be considered the mainstream media organizations are well left. Among the worst is NPR which we as taxpayers subsidize, which is simply not right. Second, even if you gave equal credential weight to all of the sites lists, the number of left leaning sites is double what leans towards the right. I would disagree mainly because the problem became FAR worse under Trump. Under his term the Liberal media lost it's mind and went from bias to outright cheer leading and actively working for the DNC to win. They were (and still are), active and willing participants in suppressing news stories in order to shape the election. A bit of denial and hubris here brother. The Dems made great theater of their supposed outrage for most of Trump's term pushing a Russia Collusion lie based on a fake dossier that THEY built...all the way to impeachment in the house. Have you forgotten the live telecast of them slowly and painfully walking the articles of impeachment over to the Senate? They were also active participants in suppressing the Hunter Laptop story which most certainly would have impacted the election. Again, not saying Hunter is guilty, but as has been discussed the amount of evidence CLEARLY cleared the hurdle of an honest an unbiased press investigating what happened. Sadly the 4th estate is dead.

You are completely blinded by bias.

Well, they finally did it. ,

While I don't lay all of the blame for our current situation at the feet of the Biden Administration, I think four big factors would have been very different had Trump won the election. Energy costs - Whatever you think about pipelines and the actual utility of the Keystone Pipeline, the Biden administration launched multiple executive orders at the energy industry which have most certainly impacted the price and availability of oil. The narratives are all over the place but when you attack pipelines, refineries and drilling, you are going to impact the price of oil. The administration is attempting to spin many of these issues like the 9,000 unused leases on federal land without admitting they are holding up many of those leases through lawsuits. Both sides are guilty and there are other factors like Putin going into Ukraine but ultimately Biden's policy has caused the price of oil to nearly doubled since he took office and most of that run up occurred well before Russia launched their attack. Continuing stimulus - Obviously we needed stimulus and support during a pandemic, but Biden continued to dump gasoline on what most knew was a raging fire. $1.9T in relief and payments kept people out of the workforce WAY longer than was needed. All that extra cash without workers available to produce goods caused a huge bubble of demand to surge through the economy. While the supply chain issues are not entirely Biden's fault, some of that blame does fall on the DNC and their unions, just look at the situation at the Long Beach Port. Crane operators making $250,000 a year refusing to work overtime in an emergency, refusing to allow non-union workers to help in an emergency and refusing to surge the port to 24 hour a day operations. I honestly think Trump would have federalized that operation, at least temporarily. I hope we learned our lesson on this one. COVID Lockdown Policy - Biden and his Uber left folks kept things closed WAY too long. The implications have had second and third order effects all across the economy. Fed Policy - While the Fed is meant to be an independent body they do seem to follow the lead of the President. They certainly did under Trump. The Fed COMPLETELY missed the boat on interest rates. They should have been slowly raising rates a year ago but they waited on perception of Biden and partially in response surging energy prices. Now that they are late to the game they are trying to fix everything all at once. When you signal four consecutive 50 basis point raises, the possibility of a 75 point basis raise, openly say interest rates should equal or exceed inflation and out right say the interest rate raises should be "front loaded", you again crush the economy. Most people don't realize the impact of increasing interest rates. Look at the report released today showing 1.4% GDP contraction, if you dig into the numbers you will see a decrease in home sales of over 1.5%. That will further crush the economy as fewer people buy appliances, building materials and other home upgrades. As my wealth advisor put it yesterday, they are going from creating inflation to completely putting out any fire related to the economy. As a frame of reference the U.S. Economy went from 6.9% in Q4 2021 to -1.4% in Q1 2022.

Blame the Aussies. From Google: "The wedge-tailed eagle is the largest bird of prey in the continent of Australia."

The Russians in MiGs killing Americans wasn’t personal? Edit to add: either way, this isn’t personal for the Russians…just one Russian.

Just a few of your many biased points: -You assert republicans aren’t putting forth “reasonable” candidates, yet fail to define reasonable. You and I likely disagree on that definition; it is arrogant to presume you arbitrate what is and isn’t reasonable. - you say democrats aren’t pushing “insane conspiracy theories” but they are. Calling Glen Youngkin a white supremacist racist is in fact an insane conspiracy theory (Curious if you consider him another unreasonable republican candidate) because there is no proof. For that matter all the talk of white supremacy is a fringe conspiracy with no factual basis. Unlike the many factual things censored by democrats, which precipitated this conversation. I could go on. You are blinded by bias while being certain you aren’t.

and if you think that way you better be prepared to go all the way with a full blown US/Russia war. are you down for that mr. tough talk guy? cause one miscalculation and it's on. you ready for it? willing to trade a few nukes back and forth for Ukraine? a country NONE of you bozos cared about jan 1st? such reckless thinking from you.

Have they done a pro app review? As you’re aware, can catch errors one wouldn’t realize they had that could keep even the otherwise best applicant from getting a call.

When 20% of my squadron gets hired within the last 6 months, I'd say the shortage is here. Almost all of them received invites within days of hitting submit. The only ones that didn't get multiple invites/CJOs were the ones that only applied to DAL. One has been at AAL for two years and got interview invites at DAL/FDX/UPS, and is now at DAL after turning down the FDX/UPS invites...that shit is bonkers. My a squadron is now 65% airline guys and I think we have 4 more who are looking to hit submit in the next few months. I suspect they'll get invites quickly after submitting. That would put us at 76% airline...less than a decade ago, we were maybe at 25%. We're living in crazy times.

And that, as the poem goes, has made all the difference...

U.S. GDP SHRINKS 1.4% U.S. Inflation 8.5% from March 2021 - March 2022 No worries as long as we don't have bad tweets from the orange man.

Our acquisitions process is so broken I don't think it even matters what airframe they replace the e-3 with. Whichever way they go it'll be decades behind, billions over budget, and we'll order a quarter of the number we need.

$$$$$$ Also soft promises for lucrative contracts/jobs awaiting our GOs when they retire. Eisenhower mentioned something about this a while back.

A part made in all 50 (or most) states... The Air Force (and GAO) looked under the hood of ABMS and found it...underwhelming. If you want to see how JADC2 (ABMS is the Air Force contribution) should be implemented we should take a look at the Navy and Army portion of the programs. They have/had a focus (where the Air Force focused on "experiments" with no clear end state). Not to mention all the cash Boeing lost when JSTARS recapitalization was cancelled. They'd likely have been in the driver's seat with a P-8 variant... All that said the AUS Wedgetail has some pretty interesting capabilities that have been continually refined since it was introduced 15 years ago. This platform is an interim (albeit too long of a lead time) step to whatever shape ABMS takes.

Nickname.... The Wedgie.

Wedgetail? Seriously? What is that supposed to mean? This has got to be a British thing. I mean... a country that would name a plane a "Nimrod" or a "Beverly" is probably the same one that would name this jet "Wedgetail".

Have to throw their shareholders yet another bone to make up for the other contracts they've screwed recently. "Boeing has lost a total of $1.1 billion so far on costs associated with a deal to modify two 747 jumbo jets to serve as Air Force One." In my admittedly limited experience with the aussies E-7, they were nmc more often than not.

Is that why nobody can seem to get the non-EUA vaccine at any installation?

Can't speak for everyone, but here's one data point for you. Recently started terminal after ten years of flying the line on the C-17. Good resume but absolutely nothing special/unique/better than your average guy. Applied to AA, UAL, DAL, and SWA and was offered interviews at each almost instantly. Never heard from FDX/UPS because I already had a job at my #1 pick before I could finish their apps. Started class a couple weeks ago, life is good. Couldn't agree more!

Prototype aircraft delivered 5 years from now in FY27 when the jet is literally already operational in AUS?? Laughable. Our USAF is broken, and a joke.

Epic...Epic mistake. Sadly they have Stockholm syndrome...Is the Wedgetail better than the E-3, absolutely, but Wedgetail is 15 year old technology and there were other, newer, far more capable options. Sadly the warfighter will get another substandard product. I wonder why South Korea is walking away from Wedgetail....

I looked through the document and the author is pretty spot on from my experience (AD, non-rated ops, heavy Joint time, retired O4). Focusing on the staff jobs/titles, most FGOs know which staff jobs are promotable ones (this is the same across all services). Then there are the HPO designated staff positions, where it's only reserved for the HPOs (AFSC specific) and no one else can touch them. As a matter of fact, we had a manning shortage one time and they were looking for a volunteer (any AFSC) and openly advertised the designated flying HPO staff job as an "on-ramp" to the HPO world. So not all staff jobs are created equal, know the rules of the game early and then decide whether or not you want to play. Unless you were selected as the golden child as a LT, then you really gotta advocate hard for yourself or you'll fall behind your peers. I thought the author was passing his knowledge down, leveling the promotion playing field for everyone. Again, everything in the document is pretty consistent with what I've seen during my career.

A classmate of mine is on the SWA hiring team. Lots of things SWA can be doing better, but hiring criteria has generally been on point. Haven’t flown with a douche during my (almost) 5 years here. The hiring guys attribute that to 2 main factors: an overarching philosophy of “who would you want to fly a four day trip with?” and ultimate pilot control of who gets hired in the form of a decision board of chief pilots and line pilot inputs. Anyways, according to my buddy the number of qualified applicants dropped over 20% between hiring windows earlier this year. The team had to adjust their philosophy to “who COULD you fly a four day trip with?” Also the extra time it takes to hold a decision board means even more candidates are bailing after getting their on-the-spot CJOs from OALs. Add to that the perpetual uphill battle of only offering unsexy flying in an unsexy airplane and suffice to say my buddy’s extremely pessimistic about the candidate pool by the end of the year. Side note: for any of you non-douches reading, do I have a job opportunity for you!

Ok. I've been waiting for this since being passed over last year. Time to make some calls! Thanks for the heads up, if you need info on the process or expectations PM me and I can share what I got.

You do know about that whole ‘Cold War’ thing that we won right? You know, the one where we convinced our former enemies that it was in their interests to become strong democratic allies to the west. The one where we rebuilt a devastated continent that enjoyed relative peace and prosperity for the following seventy years. The one where we avoided nuclear Armageddon when it seemed all but assured. The one where we vanquished a totalitarian dictatorship without firing a shot and brought freedom to millions who hadn’t dared dream about it for decades. You know, the Cold War, four decades of American leadership (that has continued since) that made the world a better place to live for most of the people on it. Of course I suppose it’s possible that you and Putin and Xi are right. All of those things could have taken place without American leadership. Maybe there would be greater peace and prosperity if only the US hadn’t stood in the way of the great people’s communist revolutions of the world. In fact, every American action since the end of WWII has been interventionalist and destabilizing. Who are we to spread ideas like liberal democracy and freedom when there are competent, peace loving leaders like Xi who know that the best thing for their people is maintaining and expanding their own grip on power. Yes, we pesky Americans keep trying to fuck that up for them. We’re like authoritarianism cock blockers and it’s high time we and the free world realize the error of our ways and get out of the way while Putin and Xi date rape their neighbors.

No journalist (aside from extreme fringes, and certainly nowhere in the NYP story) stated that HB was "guilty" of crimes, though they were easy to infer from the existence of the evidence. That the evidence existed, having far exceeded the threshold of journalistic verification, was the thing that was suppressed uniformly by big tech and outright lied about by the intel community. No big deal, right? The question becomes "what is influence", and at what level does that influence become direct interference and outright tampering with outcomes? Start with one of the most seemingly benign forms of "influence" that is so commonplace that it is at this point completely invisible though it is in plain sight: search bar autocomplete. Do you think that this feature has any influence on you or your thinking? Of course not, that's silly, besides, I use _____ (DuckDuckGo, Brave, etc.). I'm not nearly smart enough to answer, so I'll leave you with someone who is: Dr. Robert Epstein.

Wasn't tracking on the Ukrainian supply issues; I had assumed since they were fighting on interior lines over known railheads/LOCs/terrain that logistics wouldn't be giving them as much trouble as it is the Russians. Amateurs talk tactics and all that I guess. Unfortunately most of the artillery systems the West is donating is 155mm while I believe most of the Ukrainian tube artillery is 122 & 152mm. Not going to help their supply chain problems. Wish I was there to help, CDS resupply is a horribly inefficient way of doing business but I could airdrop a lot of shit to guys in need.

Post WWII has been the most peaceful time in human history, largely due to the world order set in place by the U.S. Have politicians made mistakes that costs too many American lives? Sure. However, giving Russia tacit approval to invade Eastern Europe does not make the world safer. I grudgingly admit that the administration is doing a decent job of protecting American interests without getting directly involved in the conflict.

How worried were the Russians about inciting nuclear war while they were supplying, training, and equipping during Vietnam?

The fear of nuclear escalation will ALWAYS be there. However, at some point we'll have to face Russia and China and demonstrate where the line is. To me, Russia did us the favor by invading Ukraine. Now is the time to teach them a lesson. One that hopefully China pays attention to and learns at the same time. The West and the free world seem to be waking up to the fact that Russia and China are not our friends, and welcoming them into and allowing them to reap the benefits of the free world will do nothing to assuage them. Put simpler: F@&k Russia, and F@&k China.

such a poor argument. countries invade other countries all the time. it's not our interest to be involved in policing these actions. fuck man our track record post WWII has been a disaster

I don't think it's in our interests to sit back while large countries invade smaller ones.

If you don't see it I don't think I can help you understand the danger. Justice Thomas said it fair better than I could: Today's digital platforms, Thomas argued, "provide avenues for historically unprecedented amounts of speech," but he said it also concentrates control "of so much speech in the hands of a few private parties." They are NOT acting differently because as you suggest it damages their business, they are doing to to sway an election and seize power. Did you forget they purposely suppressed the Hunter Biden Laptop story which as it turns out is TRUE. It is beyond me how anyone who swore an oath to the Constitution can think that was right. I am NOT saying Trump won the election or that it was stolen. But these companies did manipulate and suppress information that might have impacted the outcome. At the very least the report should have been investigated but they immediately suffocated the story and they suspended a new organization for posting an article about the laptop, come on man...seriously, come on man! To this day Vladimir Putin can post his tripe, the leader of the Taliban can preach hate and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei can tweet calling for genocide but a former President is banned.

I hope Elon puts a knee to the Twitter leadership's neck and exposes the "algorithms" they have been using. Here is a little hint of how the big tech oligarch's think and how "fair" they are when it comes to free speech.

I understand they are under investigation now...I read a story that said their request to perform the stunt was denied.

The vast majority of American's don't want any kind of mask mandate, and are happy the airline mandate went away. The minority of people supporting the mask mandate are: The current crop of Democrats Most of the mainstream press That minority of grown-ass adults who are impressionable and struggle with critical thinking, who buy into everything they are told by the government and the media. Those are the people in your Facebook feed, and quoted in such esteemed rags as The Atlantic and the NYT. White women tend to be overrepresented here, but that's a topic for another time. A special mention goes out to every mid-level white collar employee out there who has been able to seamlessly transition from poking at their laptop in an office building, to poking at their laptop in their home office, while wearing their pajamas. The so-called "Laptop Class." These are the people who are comfy in their homes, and only have to don a mask when going out for groceries, hitting the local Home Depot, or maybe the occasional trip to a restaurant. These are the people who haughtily say "What's wrong with you, masks aren't so bad!!!" They retreat home, with no thought for the rest of the populace out there working masked-up all day long in the grocery stores, restaurants, factories, and elsewhere. The midwits of the world can angrily post to Facebook all day long. No one fucking cares, except their fellow zealots. Everyone else has moved on.

^ Man you really buy into that Russo-centric Manifest Destiny horseshit, don't you?

Ewwww…. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

After watching Russias conventional military, I'm not convinced they can get their nukes airborne.

That’s a fair argument. But I will again posit that we have a far richer media environment than we ever have in the past. By richer, I mean more (LOTS more), not better. We have always been influenced, whether it be television networks, newspapers (Remember the Maine(?)), family, neighbors, political campaigns, etc. Conservatives really like to complain about the media environment lately and how it’s stacked against them. I just don’t buy it. There have never been more conservative media options than there are now. Fox News is as unabashedly biased in its editorial/infotainment coverage (think Tucker, Hannity, Ingraham) as anything from MSNBC or CNN and the Fox shows have the highest ratings by a large margin. If Democrats were just steamrolling Republicans in every election you might have a point, but it seems like Republicans are holding their own just fine. If they would spend some time vetting reasonable candidates who were actually capable of governance (vs just stoking outrage over Hillary’s emails, Hunter’s laptop, Pat’s preferred pronouns, etc) they might find a few more votes (including mine) because the Dems are a mess too & their only real advantage is that they haven’t stormed the Capitol yet & they’re not pushing insane conspiracy theories. In short, stop focusing so much on the supposed outrages of the other side & tell me what you’re actually for.

false comparison vietnam wasn't fought along the border of the united states. neither big state had a nationalistic interest in that conflict. this one? it's personal for the russians.