Leaderboard

http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/combat-dragon-ii-demonstrates-ov-10g-bronco-capabilities/. Combat Dragon II will be killing ISIL in IZ by this summer.

I heard the plane was underwater for at least 45 minutes before reappearing on radar... #thetruthisoutthere

And the best kept secret continues...

Think about the "win" that these guys just got. You're in the first crop of people who participate in this stop-out program, which has a stated goal of letting people take time out of their careers to do other things, and then retain their competitiveness for promotion when they come back... Let's assume that someone doesn't get promoted when that time comes... Now they'll always have the "well, clearly the stop-out made me less promotable" excuse... Which would kill the program. So for the future of this program, it's in the AF's best interest to promote these people. Therefore, simply having been selected for the sabbatical program means that, barring something major like a DUI during all of your new free time, you're virtually guaranteed at least one more promotion.

I bit, but I'm at school right now anyway, so why not. It's an extra 2 years on top of school commitment, but I'm curious as to why, in Rescue, we have a take rate so much higher than everyone. I love our mission, and I have always worked with good people. We're busy though, and that's not changing anytime soon. Curious... I can't wait to get away from Maxwell...

BINGO We can do this right now, it's not cosmic. BUT someone way higher than us needs to step up. I guarantee, you pair an equivalently networked (link/voice/data/FMV) light strike aircraft with an ISR platform they would do serious damage.. I've actually worked/talked with the Textron folks in a the last 6 months or so and I think they may be on to something. They need a buyer bad though. They are getting good inputs from folks with existing knowledge and hopefully are putting it to good use. It ain't sexy but it was purpose built and its operating costs are that of a King Air. Look at it this way, are you gonna base a bunch of F-35s/22s in middle of no where Africa to hunt down a few guys causing trouble? Probably not. But if you have a light strike capability you can operate with a much smaller footprint at a fraction of the cost (pretty sure I saw $50K plus today for F-35 per hour). I don't think we can afford to not have the capability in the future. And I'm sure the F-35 order won't be cut due to funding, that never happens. Or what is also likely is we get ourselves into something where we have to throw a plane together in less than a year and it still won't meet our requirements or will be just good enough. I'm a small plane guy so I'm biased but I think we need to come up with something....OR we just keep spending $500k to blow up guys in Hilux's... Cooter

The fire blankets in the engine bays were notoriously bad and a tiny amount of damage would render them unserviceable according to the TOs. we're talking miniscule tears and cuts in a piece of material that wrapped all the way around the engine. Every time we pulled a motor, it was almost a guarantee that the fire blanket would need to be replaced, oh and guess what, they weren't being made in large enough numbers to keep up with the demand. A 3/4 in tear would ground a jet for weeks. That's the reason they don't exist on the bone anymore. Now there is a chemical that gets painted on the engine bay. In one breath you say that you know about the horrendous making situation on the flightline and in the next you say that you oppose a solid method to help shore up the deficiencies. CUT (cross utilization training) can be a very good thing. There are always one or two shops that either have better manning numbers, or a lower consistent workload. Utilizing that underutilized resource puts warm bodies where they are needed most. It also gives the more backshop oriented maintainers a taste of what it is like to be on the line all day regardless of heat or cold. Granted, the period of time when non crew chiefs are being trained to become a crew chief, can be painful. But over all, the benefits outweigh the negatives (From a mx perspective).

Unconfirmed reports via Facebook that the crew is safe and the jet is on the ground. Edit... Confirmed via command post, jet on the ground, crew safe. Edit 2: I hate when the media catch wind of an EP. They always try to spin it as a disaster in the hope of generating hits. Fuck them in the ear for whipping everyone connected to the tanker community into a panic, especially considering Shell 77 is still a pretty fresh wound.

try giving them your real name instead of your BODN moniker...might help them locate your account.

I was told that it started well before UPT. That their commissioning sources knew that they would all be this awesome and worked with AFPC and AETC early on to ensure they would all be in this same incredible class. Some said it would be too crazy to work...but it did.