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We have walked away from what made us great. Every great power I can think of in history that walked away from what made them a great power has completely collapsed. I cannot think of any that have peacefully transitioned from one type of successful society to another. Perhaps Great Britain, but that was also driven by the two worst wars in history and still caused her to fall from the status of a great power. Athens was a great power due to their navy and empire. During the war with Sparta, they built up a land army and rested on their laurels with their navy. Sparta built a navy, took the empire from Athens and Athens has been a marginal power since. Ironically, Sparta's change from a small elite land army to a larger naval power led to her collapse. Similarly, Rome became great largely due to their style of government and incentives for conquered peoples to profit from joining Rome. After Cesar, the government slowly grew to be completely out of control (sound familiar?) and Rome collapsed. The United States became great because of a combination of a limited but effective government, the work ethic of the citizens, the ideal that anyone could rise as high as their talent and effort merited, an abundance in natural resources, and, most importantly, a strong sense of Judaeo-Christian values even if the founders did not always profess that faith. Today our government has grown so far beyond what it started that the founding fathers would almost certainly rise up in rebellion if they were somehow transported in time to be now. The work ethic of our citizens appears to be at a depressingly low level and I personally know healthy, capable individuals that would rather sit at home on unemployment than take a job they were offered. The new 'equity' movement gives the appearance that skin color is more important than merit. Even if you do well, you have combined tax rates pushing 50% in some states that drastically reduce the appeal to work harder to earn more. Finally, we are willingly stopping from using our own natural resources in favor importing those exact same natural resources from other countries. Most importantly, the Judaeo-Christian values that this country was built upon are being actively attacked and portrayed as hateful. Those values are/were the bedrock of the American family which is a microcosm of America in general. Without that traditional American family unit, you cannot expect children to grow up and endorse those values in any significant percentage. As others have mentioned, you cannot rip the foundation out from under a house and expect the house to stand. We are living in a house where members of the household are taking jackhammers to the foundation. If this goes on for too long, the house will collapse and take many of us with it.

We wouldn’t really be talking about this stuff if the dems and this administration weren’t so full retard on all the grooming homo/trans stuff. I’ve never seen a more illogical fanaticism for such unhealthy, immoral, and dangerous ideology. There is nothing beneficial to the individuals involved or the society that allows and fosters this type of insanity. And, it’s downright destructive for the kids caught up in the madness. Heck ole demented Joe and that whack job spokesperson were blaming 9 year old kids in Nashville for their own death at the hands of a trannie. Saying the poor trannies had to respond since all of us are trying to kill them. I know we’re a constitutional republic and that allows complete individual liberty, which i wholly support and swore to defend, but that doesn’t mean the government should encourage and incentivize unhealthy and destructive behavior or ideology. And it def doesn’t mean we should let adults screw up our kids.

You would be surprised at what they teach at "Colonel Charm School." They start by sending you a document attached to a congratulations note. Paraphrasing the document but mostly verbatim: 1. Don't ask to be stationed near your parents because they are ill, all Colonels have older parents and we can not accommodate. 2. Don't ask for an extension in one location so your kid can finish high school, all Colonels have kids in high school. 3. Expect to move a lot, the average Colonel moved every 18 months. The needs of the service were never more true than now that you are a Colonel. 4. Again, don't ask for the above, if you don't like these rules, thanks for your service, bye Felicia. I went through both the Group Commander Course and the Wing Commander Course prior to taking command and both were centered on "here are the things that gets Colonels in trouble: 1. The car - I shit you not...long discussions about the rules for using your White Top. The car went away after my command so I guess it was even more sensitive. 2. Money - Be careful and be sure about how you and those in your command spend govt funds...trust but verify. 3. Your dick - I forget the percentage but as I recall almost half of all instances of being removed from command were caused by misplacing your dick. There was a small section about being a dick...for a brief time the AF was actually going to stop caustic leaders but we all know that was just lip service.

One simply cannot support women and also support trans men competing in women’s sports. It doesn’t matter how you feel about transgender people, it is pure discrimination to allow a biological man to compete against a woman. There is nothing more cut and dry if you believe in science and fairness. I ran Division 1 track; our shittiest dude was faster than our NCAA Championship caliber female. If he had decided he wanted to be a woman, he would have won the NCAA Championship the next day. It’s also not a knock against women that they aren’t as fast or as strong as a man. Trust me, no one gave a crap that our slowest guy on the team was still faster than our best woman. Everyone simply thought our best woman was a hell of an athlete, because she absolutely was.

Korea is the Disney Family PG version of a tour in Asia compared to the stuff going on in my dad’s or my Grandfathers military. Spending 6 months in the Philippines on staff and seeing Clark and Subic in person a lot of old jokes made waaaay more sense. My dad used to say that you could always tell the guys that went to Guam/Japan/etc vs Philippines. The ones that did the PI islands came back “broken” to normal life elsewhere. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

then you resign in protest.

I do think there's a fun question in here to unpack though.. Are the democrats targeting trump because they actually think they can take him down, or are they doing it to prop him up so he wins the nomination? If it's the latter, which it probably is, it's a great move from the left. I think they believe trump is utterly unelectable in a general election so they want to ensure he's the nominee. If they space out the prosecution of the payments, the Georgia fake electors scheme, and the classified documents, they'll keep the media lens squarely focused on trump to the detriment of any other candidates on the right all the way through this year. Trump's significant but non-majority base will galvanize around his martyr status, edge out any viable Republican candidates, and virtually guarantee dems a win in 2024.

The fact no one in the DOD pushed back against bagram being closed and using Kabul to withdraw is the biggest WTF of the entire event. and if you’re not being heard resign. But that takes moral courage…something clearly lacking in senior DOD “leadership”

This time is (D)ifferent.

I'm confused.... so are we allowed to protest in the halls of convening legislative bodies or are we not? Which one is it?

Just another Tuesday night on the boardwalk at KAF… watching another O6 eat ice cream with an E4…. Nothing to worry about…. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

You have to want to do the right thing more than you want to progress your career. That's tough for anyone, me included, but it seems literally impossible for anyone over the rank of O-5. I was convinced they taught colonels a standardized response at whatever charm school they had to attend: I'll be able to do more to fix the problem on the inside. If I just quit I'll be replaced tomorrow.

I can't wait for the tit (😉) for tat that follows. DAs in conservative cities going after dems and vice-versa. There will be no one left to run the country. Show me one politician in DC that hasn't committed some sort of crime that us commoners would serve time for. They've all done something shady to get where they are. All of them.

So by this logic, shouldn't Hillary have been brought up on the exact same charges? She paid for a fake dossier with the expressed purpose (nothing to unpack on intent), of influencing the outcome of a Presidential election.

Very interesting interviews with former pilots of various aircraft, mostly military but some civil. Good technical details, training philosophy, there I was stories, background, etc... https://www.youtube.com/user/Aircrewinterview/videos?view=0&shelf_id=1&sort=dd Watched the F-111, F-14 and MiG-29 videos and worth the time.

Not Aircrew Interview but an interesting video on the Soviets trained their fighter crews and insights into their AF's thinking over time from watching us and their own experiences

The underlying crime being trying to influence the outcome of an election.. you know that little thing. And I'm sure the prosecution wouldn't debut these charges only to get immediately top-roped by a 5 year timer they forgot to account for. Turns out there quite a lot more nuance to that as well which I'm sure will be fiercely argued in court. The legal analysis I've seen of this case that seems legit all zeros in on the prosecution having to prove trumps intent behind the payments. Because the intent speaks to the possibility of a larger crime.

Have you been listening to my conversations with my wife?

Yes. Weirdly enough it took almost 10 minutes of google searching to find out that Reps. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson used a megaphone because, after stating their opinion in the assembled state congress, they didn't like the response they got from both republicans and democrats of all races, so they used a megaphone to shout down their opponents and excite and and embolden protestors. CNN claims it was a "rally" (because rallies happen in congressional chambers...obviously) when in fact it was an assembled session of congress. It was almost like google didn't want me to get the raw facts...weird. This wasn't the first time they disrupted sessions, and obviously the state leaders were tired of their childish behavior. They are 27 and 28 years old and, according to google, haven't done anything with their lives outside of politics. But google and CNN say they were ejected because of their race and the fact they were supporting gun control...not because they were acting like petulant children and refusing to let the state legislative body proceed with it's business. The 60 year old lady with them wasn't expelled, but she says that's because she's white. Seriously, these are people responsible for leading a state. Apparently Jones isn't new to the megaphone. If people don't like what you say, yell louder until they respond the way you want them to, right? They are nothing but entitled bullies.

Interesting. I didn't know former President Trump was the one that decided to leave 1000 American citizens, 10,000 lawful permanent residents, and nearly 100,000 SIV qualified immigrants in a war zone.

Biden administration releases report about decisions around U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan "A summary of the report largely blamed former President Donald Trump's administration for the breakdown that occurred after U.S. troops withdrew." Of course it did because the Clown Penis sitting in the oval office will take responsibility for NOTHING. The blood of 13 dead Americans is on his hands and he blames the previous guy.

It is incredible that religion has both killed and at the same time saved more people than anything else on earth.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I want Trump to go away. Sleeping with a porn star while married but BEFORE you are President, is morally wrong but obviously is not a crime. Just like Clinton having sex in the Oval Office or the long series of trysts Kennedy had WHILE President (including a movie star, a spy and a girl very closely connected to the MOB). Abhorrent non-Presidential behavior, but not a crime (Clinton was brought on charges for lying about it). In your words you said he paid her off with "campaign funds", that is simply not true. The allegation in the indictment is business fraud because he re-categorized business funds and changed the accounting entries. As has been pointed out by BOTH sides, this is only a crime where there an intent to defraud (use those books to raise or borrow money), AND if that was true it is a misdemeanor with a two year statue of limitations. Please look beyond the narrative at the facts, that is what DA should do but as you point out they have political allegiances and they use their position to shape, influence and ultimately charge.

I swear on the Sky trident of all the SEALs of the Sky out there, I never once saw a naked gunner hug in the Gunships community. I did have a Pavelow gunner attempt such a maneuver on several folks on my crew while deployed to Osan (back in the days when the Pavelows were still stationed there). I also saw a group of Pavelow Gunner try said maneuver on Spectre Island, right after the chugged beers from Johnny A's prosthetic leg.

Thank you for the feedback. I’m glad to see that the work I’ve been putting in might actually be worth the sweat I put into it. I don’t want to make this a sob story or anything, but I’ve been working toward a pilot slot since about 6th or 7th grade, only to keep having the goal line pushed farther and farther back. So to have all this work justified gave me another spurt of inspiration and motivation. -TK

Springboarding from what N730 said about the AFOQT, a jump from 80 to 99 in the pilot section of the AFOQT can increase your PCSM 10 or more points. That's something you can study for and achieve if you put in the time and effort. If you want a slot badly enough, it's a no brainer to retake that. The table reading section is what usually gets people. There are resources to practice a table incredibly similar to what they have on the real AFOQT. If you can legitimately finish that section, do as well as you did on the math again, and have general pilot knowledge, you'll be in great shape.

Well one is potentially a crime, and the other is a strategic decision about when to prosecute that potential crime. Seems like a pretty simple distinction to me. And I'm not saying trying to influence an election is bad. That's literally what running for office is. That's why people raise money, and run attack ads, and try to win debates. But the common thread here is: don't be an idiot. If you have skeletons that will hurt your election chances and are going to pay people off, be smart about it and don't get caught. Because you can bet the other team is going to have a field day if they figure out what you did. Im not really interested in making value judgments either way. You all know my opinions on trump but on the flip side of the coin, I don't think the Dems are on some morally virtuous crusade. They're making hay while the sun is shining. That's it.