Leaderboard

Very little the USAF is doing these days is about keeping America "safe". I was drinking beers the other night with some civilian peers...they barely know about ISIS, think we are done with Iraq and forgot about Afghanistan. Call me to deploy and make sacrifices when we have some strategic objectives for the country and you need my help to solve it. Otherwise, I'll bow out if given the choice. You want a ppt monkey at the CAOC, GFY. Want me to train afghanis to fly...GFY. If you wAnt me to sacrifice my life/family happiness, it better be for more than tax-free and to keep doing the failed strategy we have been going on 15+ years. Otherwise it's just a paycheck, no guilt.

The less aircraft we have at the Deid, the better. I say we all move to bases in Oman and flip the bird on the way out.

We stayed up late that night, and watched a gazillion F-111's taxi and takeoff in waves from Taif. What a sight. I had to launch a few hours later, but there was no way I could sleep. I was keyed up as I was 6 weeks into my first U-2 deployment. That was quite a memorable flight.

And thrust the Herk into the realm of....what, 1980s technology? More than 10 tac plots, an NVIS mode that doesn't dim down the HUD, and the ability to shoot GPS approaches, and I'm a happy camper. Wait, let me guess... "Block 8".

If you're lucky, one of those fish may be an actual woman. Good luck.

So can the tanker crews move into the BPC rooms that are going to be empty? Yea...didn't think so.

Foxtrot Alpha has a wrap up of the numbers and a short CBS interview with Sec. Powell http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/operation-desert-storm-by-the-numbers-on-its-25th-anniv-1753347671 25 years, probably 3+ trillion dollars spent, 6000+ KIAs & 250k+ WIAs, let's get to some point we can call it good (whatever that is) and only engage there when either Israel is about to be overrun or the oil supply is about to be cut off. Somehow Europe, Japan, China, etc... buy oil and don't have a huge military footprint there, we can do the same...

Perhaps it is the organization that has lost its way. I believe that the overwhelming majority of the people on this board and the AF believe what you said, that putting the mission first is also protecting your family. But that implies "the mission" involves a threat to our country and our way of life. The very existence of this conversation is evidence that some members doubt that connection. Nowhere else in America do leaders blame groups of disenfranchised employees for their collective disgruntlement. It violates nearly every theory of organizational leadership, many of which the AF teaches. AF leaders have the burden of their choices potentially leading to death, not an easy or remotely common consideration for a leader to accept. Unfortunately there is almost no accountability for the less dramatic organizational leadership decisions made everyday by senior officers (O-5 and above) who-- by the very nature of our promotions and assignments system-- have no experience in the position they are in. Manning problems are never the peons' fault.

I'm a Sheppard grad and making broad generalizations about how guys that don't get fighters are treated is BS. That's purely an individual thing. Just because all the studs fly T-38's doesn't mean that it's fighter or bust. Case in point, I went through as they made the drops universally assignable. My Flight CC went out to find heavy guys to talk with us about that lifestyle. The dream sheets shifted dramatically afterwards and they went out to align guys as best they could. Total good through winging. Data point, we had 1/3 get fighters and 1 faip. IP's that treat students differently based on their drops are probably the one tour Viper/Eagle douche that got sent to UPT instead of allowed to continue in their community. They're convinced it's politics and not because they suck as human beings.