Leaderboard

I have no intention of staying in for 20 years so I would love some kind of contribution matching. That being said, those in the AF already should be allowed to choose to switch to the new system or remain on the current. Changing the rules of the game mid career would not be a smart idea.

Jesus, can't a guy enjoy Oshkosh w/o a bunch of internet frat boys hounding him over a chick??? Really? Disclosing a personal relationship in connection with a business recommendation is inviting cyber-stalking...? I stand by my initial response: you have way too much time on your hands. Hypocrisy much? Aren't you the guy who deleted his post of the Air Force Times cover w/ your mug & name included, saying something at the time to the effect of "inappropriate to provide PID on this forum"? Yeah, I s'pose.... Fortunately (for me!), the g/f thinks so, too.... And... we have a winner!

SGOR - Sounds gay on radio

LGPOS standard.

A year late (to the day) but better late than never... My friend's dad (sitting on L) restored this F-6 (recon variant of the P-51K) "Lil' Margaret" to the condition it was originally flown in by Lt. Col Clyde East (sitting center). You can see the two camera portholes aft of the roundel. Someone in the audience asked him about Olds, and I got this video of his reply. My favorite part of his whole talk went along these lines, when he was talking about flying in the ETO [paraphrased]: East: "Well I was supposed to be doing recon missions, but I got pretty good at dogfights too, and so I became an ace in good time. Well, the squadron commander got kinda mad at me saying that I should be taking pictures, and dogfighting only after the enemy engaged me." [East put on this scheisster smile and then said] "And wouldn't you know it... for the rest of my time in the war, every German I saw attacked me from 6 o'clock high, with the sun at his back..." to the Colonel Oshkosh is a great place...

Unless it's extra HDTVs in the lobby to infinitely loop PPT slides that nobody looks at. Plenty of money for that, apparently. You'd think those effing things were an MWS.

We had a CC/call with Schwartz the other day and he was advocating for having a TSP-only retirement where the gov would match a portion of your contribution, similar to a civilian 401K. He also said he was for grandfathering present AF personnel under the old system.

2. But the trend of letting SrA/SSgt Snuffy be a uniform nazi has developed, so there's a failure developing among the NCOs. Who is supposed to fix it? Same technical expert guy/gal who is now the WG/CC and letting the E-9 run wild? At some point, the "technician" has to be the "officer."

CTWFTLOAFA Came to Wizard far too late on a Friday afternoon

ROLL TIDE!

Fail

INDEED! Where Have All The Fighter Pilots Gone? We used to go to the Officers Club or NCO Club Stag Bar on Friday afternoons to drink, smoke and swap lies with our comrades. Think about this when you read the rest of the letter below. What happened to our Air Force (or Military)? Drinking then became frowned on. Smoking caused cancer and could "harm you." Stag bars became seen as 'sexist'. Gradually, our men quit patronizing their clubs because what happened in the club became fodder for a performance report. It was the same thing at the Airman's Club and the NCO and/or Top 3 clubs. Now we don't have separate clubs for the ranks. Instead we have something called All Ranks Clubs/community clubs. They're open to men and women of all ranks....from airman basic to general officer. Still, no one is there. Gee, I wonder why. The latest brilliant thought out of Washington is that the operators ("pilots?") flying remote aircraft in combat areas from their duty station in Nevada or Arizona should draw the same combat pay as those real world pilots actually on board a plane in a hostile environment. More politically correct logic? They say that remote vehicle operators are subject to the same stress levels as the combat pilot actually flying in combat. ----- REALLY!!!??? Now that I've primed you a little, read on. There are many who will agree with these sentiments, but they apply to more than just fighter pilots. Unfortunately, the ones with the guts to speak up or push for what they believe in are beaten down by the "system." Unfortunately there is a lot of truth in the following text - supposedly, Secretary Gates has a force beating the bushes to learn who wrote this.... Where Have All The Fighter Pilots Gone? Good Question. Here is a rant from a retired fighter pilot that is worth reading: It is rumored that our current Secretary of Defense recently asked the question, "Where are all the dynamic leaders of the past?" I can only assume, if that is true, that he was referring to Robin Olds, Jimmy Doolittle, Patton, Ike, Boyington, Nimitz, etc.? Well, I've got the answer: They were fired before they made major! Our nation doesn't want those kinds of leaders anymore. Squadron commanders don't run squadrons and wing commanders don't run wings. They are managed by higher ranking dildos with other esoteric goals in mind. Can you imagine someone today looking for a LEADER to execute that Doolittle Raid and suggesting that it be given to a dare-devil boozer - his only attributes: he had the respect of his men, an awesome ability to fly, and the organizational skills to put it all together? If someone told me there was a chance in hell of selecting that man today, I would tell them they were either a liar or dumber than shit. I find it ironic that the Air Force put BG Robin Olds on the cover of the company rag last month. While it made me extremely proud to see his face, he wouldn't make it across any base in America (or overseas) without ten enlisted folks telling him to zip up his flight suit and shave his mustache off. I have a feeling that his response would be predictable and for that crime he would probably get a trip home and an Article 15. We have lost the war on rugged individualism and that, unfortunately, is what fighter pilots want to follow; not because they have to but because they respect leaders of that ilk. We've all run across that leader that made us proud to follow him because you wanted to be like him and make a difference. The individual who you would drag your testicles through glass for rather than disappoint him. We better wake the hell up! We're asking our young men and women to go to really shitty places; some with unbearable climates, never have a drink, have little or no contact with the opposite sex, not look at magazines of a suggestive nature of any type, and adhere to ridiculous regs that require you to tuck your shirt into your PT uniform on the way to the porta-shitter at night in a dust storm because it's a uniform. These people we're sending to combat are some of the brightest I've met but they are looking for a little sanity, which they will only find on the outside if we don't get a friggin' clue. You can't continue asking people to live for months or years at a time acting like nuns and priests. Hell, even they get to have a beer. Who are we afraid of offending? The guys that already hate us enough to strap C-4 to their own bodies and walk into a crowd of us? Think about it. I'm extremely proud of our young men and women who continue to serve. I'm also very in tune with what they are considering for the future and I've got news for whoever sits in the White House, Congress, and our so-called military leaders. Much talent has and will continue to hemorrhage from our services, because wanna-be warriors are tired of fighting on two fronts - - one with our enemies, another against our lack of common sense. I don't approve of political jokes--I've seen too many of them get elected."

Yep. I wasn't in that unit or anything, just thought it'd make a good avatar. Little Rock has had a few planes pushed around over the years, too. Here's higher res and a different angle. I hope the sheetmetal shop got a bonus after cleaning up that mess. edit: I hadn't seen this one before. You can see part of it on the left edge of the pic above.

After watching that video again, I want to find that fat piece of shit and kick him in the throat

Cut it all. If I can get one more bag of gas out of the deal it was worth it.

Looks to me like it may have been a formation landing judging by the other viper in the background.

One last question, if you want to stay in but are worried about getting the boot why not wait until that happens? Is it that hard to get into a reserve/guard unit if you have been in 15+ yrs?

I think Rated Officers should act like Officers all the time, instead of whenever it benefits them. I agree with what you're saying, however you can point the finger right at yourself and upper level Commanders who allow Enlisted personnel to get away disrespect.

You can toss the "Technical Expert" term Old Man, shoulda/coulda/woulda been a Warrant. Flyers get pissy with queep shit done or said by Shoes, but will rarely do or act against a disrespectful Enlisted person for fear of getting talked to by a higher ranking Shoe O. I expect Officers period to act like Officers and lead. Confused? Go talk to the USMC, their O's seem understand that ideology, even their flyers. NCO's have better things to do (I.e. making the military run) instead of making uniform corrections you're too to make yourself.