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No, that's extreme. If a an A1C has to make a public apology, change the DUI board at the gate, lose a stripe or money, then someone who not only KNEW the rules but ENFORCED the rules as well as a prior Commander/Flag Officer should get someone harsher than being forced to retire.

Gimme a break. No one acts like it's their "right" to live in a good location. But what's wrong with wanting to live in one? Are you even married? Wives don't get to fly every day. They don't get to do things that "contribute directly to the fight." They're stuck trying to raise the kids and/or find a job in the local area. Pretty tough to find reasonable employment relative to education in some of these places. So they end up facing down the majority of the "suck" at places like Cannon while we go off and do the j-o-b. They at least get the right to complain about it.

I'll back up Karl on this one. At the end of the day you cannot make a guard pilot take a TDY against thier will. Therefore the AD gives up the "good trips" to the guard in order to get some sort of support from them. This I understand. The one time this is not true is when said unit is activated. Right now the AF is activating the units about once every two years. While its true that some units are doing stints in the desert, in my opinion it should be ALL units going to the desert. It is one time every TWO YEARS and it is broken up into 30 day stints, and even then not everyone goes! Instead our "leadership" is sending most to Guam, Turkey, Australia ect... This I lay at our Generals feet. It is thier descision to not give us AD guys a break when they have the option, and to instead burn us out. Our leadership makes our deployments so miserable that no one wants to go, not the enemy. I blame them and will continue to do so.

How about we let civil authorities enforce civil laws? Why does the military establishment think it should add more punishment? If A1C Snuffy, MajGen Bigguns, and Joe Blow wallstreet analyst get DUIs, they should all pay the required fines and work the required community service. But that is where the punishment should end. If the civil authorities say that Mr. Snuffy can drive his car to work, why do we in the military only allow him to drive to the edge of the installation and then walk/bike the rest of the way? Mr. Blow can drive back and forth to work at his discretion. My frustration lies with the fact that I've had two individuals subordinate to me get DUI for partying on the weekend, driving and getting caught. They were both just barely over the limit. I do not think that fact exonerates them, but I want to demonstrate that they are not necessarily bad people and they don't have drinking problems. They made a bad choice and need to pay their debt to society. They did. In both cases, the civil court said that they could drive to and from work. We (the AF) however said not only could they not drive their cars on the base, but they could not drive military vehicles on the base. Both were pilots and both had to drive a car for their primary job. Yet, they could fly airplanes but not the car that follows the airplanes in line with their primary job. Asinine- Kuma

The point is: Some dudes are fat dumb and happy with their 95% academic average if it's "pretty close" to the top guy. It doesn't matter if 95% is a good score or a bad score relative to 50 years of UPT students. It only matters where it ranks in YOUR class. If the top guy has a 97%, most of the class has a 96%, and you have a 95%, then you get the min points. You don't get 2 points less than the top guy. There is a curve. Brabus is spot on about not worrying about it and about prioritizing the more important things like checkrides. But every dude comes home dead tired one night with a test/EPQ the next day and has to make a choice...watch Seinfeld reruns and unwind or study a little extra for that test. Maybe a couple questions over the course of a thousand won't make a difference. Maybe it will. I've said it before: I watched a kid miss a T-38 by one spot. When we looked at the numbers, if he had gotten THREE QUESTIONS more correct, he would have gotten that slot. Do you think if he knew that going in he might have studied a little bit more? You bet.

He's Brazilian. I bet his English is better than your Spanish.

Gotcha. Setting a strong example for the young kids in the crowd..."Work hard, and eventually the only way the USAF can punish you is force to to retire with full pay an benefits."

Cannon may suck, but Santa Fe and ABQ are a good time and Lubbock isn't far away either. Not to mention, the AFSOC mission is legit and you'll be directly contributing to the fight. If you want to live on a beach, go work for IBM. Not saying you should be a martyr and volunteer for Cannon, but it's amazing how many people act like its their right to live in a good location, spouses especially. There are positive aspects of every location, but some people will find something to complain about anywhere they go.