Leaderboard

Mission success! A184C0B3-2E8C-49E1-ACE0-7C5ED5C4793F.mov

I am shocked and saddened to report our friend and longtime forum member Danger41 passed away yesterday after a freak accident. Many of us knew him in real life and it would be an understatement to say he was an American hero. He was an incredible pilot, officer, mentor, weapons officer and a friend to all. More importantly, he was a dedicated husband and father. I had the honor of mentoring him throughout his career and was with him at Nellis the night he put his patch on...there are not enough words to describe how good of a person he was. This is an absolute gut punch and a reminder that every day is a gift, never miss a chance to tell a friend or family member you care. ***** All - Adding an update along with the link to a GoFundMe for his family. https://gofund.me/1ecfa239 As I mentioned above Matt "Macho" Anderson was a great human being. He attended and played football at South Dakota State before going to OTS and then on to UPT. Matt initially flew F-15Cs before he was TAMI-21'd to the U-28. He absolutely crushed it as a U-28 pilot where he quickly upgraded to instructor, attended WIC and eventually became WIC Cadre at the 14th WPS. He was known as the consummate Weapons Officer - Humble, Credible, Approachable. More than anything he would want to be remembered as a great husband and father. Macho leaves behind four children and an incredible wife. If you are so inclined say a prayer for him and his children who were also injured in the accident. Nickle on the grass my friend. 🥃

oh no you don't...we KNEW pretty early on that covid was statistically a non event for young, healthy people. and turns out Fauci and his buddies at Pfizer KNEW it didn't prevent the spread...we were told straight up lies and coerced into taking a shot that provides zero protection and is very harmful...latest numbers i heard were 1 in 800 have side effects. that is a very high number and this shot should NEVER have been MANDATED. so don't give me this 20/20 bullshit....the warnings were being issued very early on but FUCKING CENSORED

I’m currently on mil leave finishing up my retirement but looking at the January Bid lines out of Orlando they varied from 60-80 hours, some of them with 18 days off for the month. Since I’ve been gone for a couple years, I’m not sure what the high time flyers are getting, so I’ll leave that question for an active guy. Before I left though, the sky was the limit and as long as it was legal and you could put it on your board, you could bank $$$. Personally, life is great. I ended up having to take my ex back to court and won full custody of the kids (hence the reason I am putting the airline life on hold temporarily and finishing up the mil career). We are all extremely happy. I did end up getting remarried and she has been amazing and my kids all call her “mom”. My older two have pretty much nothing to do with their birth mom, and my youngest is the only one that goes for any sort of visitation. It’s funny what a little bit of wisdom, maturity and life experience will do for the second time around. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Not as heroic as prior posts, but a night I’ll always remember. It was either Jan or Feb 1991, Desert Storm was raging. Took off in my C-141 from Daharan AB on my millionth flight during that timeframe (over 1000 hrs in 7 months). Anyhow shortly after takeoff, a bright flash explodes off my right side, looked similar to a July 4th firework, the cockpit gets real bright for a second, and as I looked to my right, my Co is ducking down in reaction to the flash. After a few jinks, we hear that the base is under a SCUD attack and the Patriot batteries were responding, hence the explosion, but we’re airborne anyway, so we get outta Dodge ASAP. After the excitement is over, I start teasing my Co about ducking down, and we basically had a good laugh about what happened. The co-pilot was a good squadron Bud, named LeRoy. He looked at me and said “I guess those A-rabs didn’t get ole LeRoy tonight” we just laughed and flew back to Ramstein. Fast forward to 9/11….I’m watching the news, and I read on the bottom news crawl that the crew on flight United 93 that crashed in Shanksville PA included my good Bud..LeRoy Homer (the FO) I still remember the laughs we had after that Scud attack, and his words that night were prophetic. RIP LeRoy

RIP. 🍺 - Chief Warrant Officer 3 Stephen R. Dwyer, 38, of Clarksville, Tennessee -Chief Warrant Officer 2 Shane M. Barnes, 34, of Sacramento, California. -Staff Sergeant Tanner W. Grone, 26, of Gorham, New Hampshire. -Sergeant Andrew P. Southard, 27, of Apache Junction, Arizona. -Sergeant Cade M. Wolfe, 24, of Mankato, Minnesota.

On the USAF side access to mental health care without retribution should be SOP for our service, especially for those in combat operations. I won't go into all the details but I fought an EPIC battle with Big Blue years ago to keep CLEARED Ops Psychs available to our aviators in the AFSOC world. I am obviously not an RPA operator but the RPA community in particular needs this service. I spent a lot of time commanding and working in their world and my battle resulted in me having to brief the Under Secretary of the Air Force when the Manpower people tried to take them away our cleared Ops Psychs. I used the following argument to successfully keep access to this critical care capability: "Sir, a lot of people underestimate and overlook RPA operators believing they are fighting the war from a box and they get to go home every night, someone insinuating that is an easy way to fight a war and it reduces the risk to their mental health. In fact, our RPA operators wage a far more personal form of combat than most and I believe it defiantly impacts mental health, especially in the long-term. I would ask you to consider this small vignette. Many of our RPA operators will observe the same house, watching the same person for a month or more at a time. As they develop a pattern of life they observe the target kiss his kids each day then send them off to school, they watch him interact with his wife, they watch him pray. The interaction while one way becomes very personal. One morning our RPA operator wakes up, has breakfast with his wife and kids, kisses his kids and walks them to the bus stop then heads off to the GCU. He sits down and five minutes later the phone rings telling him or her to kill the target. Our RPA operator professionally runs the approvals and traps and a short time later launches a missile or two that turns the target into pink mist, but it doesn't end there. Our RPA operator stays over the objective and watches the body in high definition for hours to see who responds. He or she can sees the kids face and grief when they discover their father was shredded into a lifeless mass of meat, they see his wife try to put the pieces back together and they watch as the body is eventually carried off by other friends and family. At the end of his or her shift they drive home and sit down at the dinner table where the family asks "how was your day?" How does our RPA operator possibly answer that question to his family. This form of combat is different than our other platforms that deploy. While on deployment manned operators have a separation that provides a buffer to process everything that happens, the live, sleep and eat with the camaraderie of others who are experiencing the same effects of combat, they have the time it takes to get home from a deployment to decompress and adjust, and they have time at home away from combat when their deployment is over. Our RPA operators have none of that, in fact they are so critically manned that they often can't take leave, the only get one day off per week and they do this in an endless cycle that can last for years on end. Make no mistake the person he or she killed was a bad person and they deserved to die, but we never want our warriors to lose their humanity in the process." Ultimately this argument worked and we were able to keep a TS cleared Ops Psych that was with our RPA folks everyday. I will laugh when someone plays Dos Gringos Predator Euology but I will never disparage our folks in this community, they carry a different burden than most and they do it without an end in sight. And, @Danger41 , they may be the SEALs of the Sky, but I hold the Draco's on the same regard. Most don't know the impact a little PC-12 has had on the battlefield or the commitment and cost to your community.

The only uniform item that I derive any morale from whatsoever is the green bag. It serves as a daily reminder that I'm better than the nonners and the paper pushers who convene meetings like the one that produced this worthless uniform reg update. hot take alert: if you wear the two piece flight suit you're a beta cuck flyer who is complicit it the eventual eradication of the green bag. Shame on you and your disrespect for tradition and may god have mercy on your soul

It doesn't have leaders like MG William Zana... An Army general’s final ‘walk’ at the Tomb of the Unknowns MG William Zana, the only guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to reach the rank of general, took a final guard shift on the night he retired. At exactly 10 p.m. on the warm, last night of May, MG William Zana received his orders and began his final guard shift on the smooth marble stone plaza at the center of Arlington National Cemetery. In two hours it would be midnight, a new day and new month. A new guard would relieve him at his post, he would march off the plaza and suddenly, instantly, be a civilian. But for the final two hours of his 37-year career, Zana wanted one last chance to stand a shift he had held as a young sergeant: keeping watch over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. “I was Pvt. Zana when I showed up to the Old Guard,” Zana told Task & Purpose.“You know, all of us who raise our right hand and serve, there’s things that define you. First combat tour, first loss of personnel. For me, volunteering for and serving at the Tomb was absolutely both defining and shaping.” (Full story at the title link) I don't know the man, nor do I know much about his career other than what I read in his bio; but based on this article, I have the utmost respect for him!

Took the A-37 out for an FCF and then a cross country flight of 440 nm on Thursday. First flight since Sept and it flew great. Owner put on an additional set of drop tanks.

Thanks again guys. Unfortunately the CR did not go the way I had hoped. This is definitely not how I had envisioned this journey ending when I started it 6 or 7 years ago, and it hurts about as much as you would expect, but I’m gonna try and still be the best officer I can be wherever I end up.

He was a really good dude who was loved by all and the AFSOC community is justifiably upset. Being a cop is not easy, daily life or death decisions, and as in this case you will be judged for the rest of your life by the choices you make. That being said, training and leadership set the tone and this department is floundering at best. As mentioned above this is the same department that mag dumped a police cruiser with a handcuffed person in the back because a freaking Acorn fell and hit the roof. This community has crime but nothing like other areas of the country. In the history of Okaloosa County the department has lost five officers to gunfire, four of those were domestic violence situations, the last one happened 2.5 years ago. Everything about this call is odd and to some degree the officer was led down a very bad path. HE certainly had poor training and I beleive in most other areas of the country domestic calls get two officers. They won't say who called, but the lady who meets the cop MUST be investigated. She guides the officer to Fortson's apartment then says she heard "something that sounded like domestic violence TWO WEEKS AGO." That is NOT exigent circumstances, there is no warrant, there is only hearsay, no probable cause, but the cop starts pounding away and ordering the door to be opened...a complete fail. Roger has zero duty to open that door and to be clear the courts have ruled that repeated official commands to open a door without a warrant probable cause invoke the 4th amendment. As far as punishment, Roger did not deserve to die, but he was one of the few that stepped forward and swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, I would hope all of us would honor his service and allow for the officer to enjoy the protections offered by that document. He deserves due process and if he is found guilty he should be held accountable, but should not be purposely thrown into the general population for "extra" justice. Rest easy Roger and thank you for your service.

I did both. What I experienced in the army was the product of the times I was in the early 2010s. It was the surge in Afghanistan. Can't hover the helicopter? Can't pass the PT test? Don't know your EPs? Here are some wings... you are now your unit's problem. The only thing that would get you kicked out was a DUI. Going through as a young 24-year-old WO1, it did not try at all. Drinked and partied all the damn time and still got my top choice of CH47s. I thought UPT was way harder than Rucker. But when I went through I was way more mature. I got hired off the street by a tanker ANG unit and had to go through the full UPT. I was the last one to solo in my T6 class, even though I was a 1500-hour combat aviator in a helo. I guess I was just used to taking it slow in a helo. I would joke around telling folks at Vance that I used to do my ILSs at 60 knots... why? because I could. Now, going from Vance to OKC on a Rwy 17-day was a fast and rude awakening. I don't think it's a good metric to compare the two. The army sucks the fun out of everything and will try their hardest to change what should be a good experience into something horrible that will make you want to retire. At UPT, I lived for drop nights and the weekends. Party hard with the bros during those but come Sunday night it's time to hit the books and chair fly. But for your original question, I have the following: ARMY Rucker: Easy - The school program. Memorize a few things here and there. Doesn't matter if you even know what you're talking about, as long as you can spit it out verbatim, you will pass with flying colors.. - Flying VFR. Because flying instruments is very hard for all Apache pilots and MTPs. - The standard and the ability to make it. I had people I graduated with who had no business being aviators. But the Army needed the numbers, so here are some wings. I remember day one at Rucker we had the brigade commander tell us that the flight school policy was "No Flight School Student Left Behind" -I think the flying part is probably way easier nowadays. You fly UH72s in primary (no more TH-67s or OH-58s). The 72 has a pretty advanced flight control system that has studs being able to hover after perhaps an hour or two. Hard -The Army. You will graduate and think you are god's gift to aviation. You are not, and here are some field training exercises and ground training shit to prove it and to make you feel like an infantry guy. Also, here is a two-piece flight suit, a PT belt, and Eye Pro... all of those are inspectable items by the sergeant major at any time, so best be ready. -Being a warrant officer - Oh you think your job is a flying-only track? what a scam... and to prove it, here is some paperwork on stands, safety, and ops that an officer should be doing, but it's easier for the army to make a warrant do it for half the price. -Being a commission officer - oh you want to fly? here are some awards to type and some inventories that need to get done. Nobody will be your mentor and warrants will see you as more of a hazard to the flight since you probably know the ops limits of your computer better than any real helicopter anyway. USAF UPT: Easy -Wearing a one-piece flight suit and finally feeling like a real pilot. -Pulling Gs. Because doing a 60-degree bank in a helicopter is a pretty serious maneuver. Hard -The information overload and the fast pace of things. I remember coming back from a flight at Vance early during T6s. I was tired and beat up from all the U's my FAIP just gave me. I saw a random IP walking straight toward me to ask me what I was doing as soon as sat down in the flight room. Studying I said... Only to hear him say "No your not. We are stepping into another jet so let's GO! You can brief me on what all you need to clean up as we walk to the jet." All finish up by saying that the lifestyle in the USAF is a million times better than the Army. If your post originated as a product of frustration because you're having issues being selected to AD, ANG, or reserves, my advice is to KEEP trying dude. Don't look at going Army simply because the USAF is being too selective. It's supposed to be selective! The army should only be an alternative if age is not on your side. Hope that helps. Cheers

I was traveling last Friday and was kind of tuned out. A week late but……19 Jan was the 33rd anniversary of my first combat mission in DS and the kills #3 and I (#4) got that day while escorting the strike package. 1300z, day mission, 2x Mirage F-1s. AIM-7s. It was a good day. 😜

Trump: Old, loud, unsophisticated, shoots off at the mouth, takes enemy fire up close, they keep trying to get rid of him but he sticks around longer than anyone thought. Harris: Remote controlled, annoying to be around, a threat to US citizens. Goes down a lot.

You may have found it humorous, the rest of us were terrified. I still have no idea why Big Blue thought it was a good idea to bring back a UPT 65-14 grad.

A little squadron souvenir earned while protecting a TF-160 MH-47 one dark night many years ago. 40MM HE impact right on the RPG launcher (and shoulder/neck area of the bad guy).

Isn't it amazing what can be accomplished when everyone isn't so worried about not offending people, and risk aversion instead caring more about killing bad guys and breaking their shit? What if...

All valid, but I'll take this opportunity for a side quest: our NOTAM system is garbage. Why can't they be in priority order, succinct, typed with human grammar, and void of strange acronyms requiring a decoder ring to grasp?

Just increase the flow from Texas A&M, problem solved.

This has so many red flags I am surprised some of you are not trying to date it.

@argstarted the other thread about Gunships in Desert Storm and I recommended a war stories thread because I’m sure this group has some good ones. I’ll kick it off. Decmeber 2, 2014 Nangahar, Afghanistan Flying Draco out of Bagram and a raid comes down that we’re going to support and run the stack for. We weren’t doing hits every night but by dumb luck, I’d been on a few as we rolled through the schedule. As some of you know, they’re usually a bit hectic at first when the helo lands and then it’s pretty chill as they make callouts and not much would happen so that was what I expected. We brief up, get out there, get everyone checked in and ready to go. We had 2 Vipers, a Gunship, a few RPA’s, Compass Call a ways off, and the helos that had a couple DAPs and 4 60’s. TOT hits, all the sensors are assigned and I’m looking out the window and I see multiple 12.7 and 23mm open up from all along this river bank/village that were covered up until we landed (1). We haven’t even made comms with the ground force yet and it’s a madhouse immediately. I vividly remember seeing tracers crisscrossing the village and then under NVG I can see airburst going off above the Gunship and behind where he was (shooting at the sound). The assault force gets out and are immediately under fire. I had some young guys running sensors and a pretty weak swimmer (that got much better but he was a 1st Lt at the time and somewhat weak) as our CSO who, in theory, should be running the show in this instance but kind of locked up a bit and was overwhelmed. I started directing sensors and getting directive to get people sorting and finding targets. We finally get the JTAC on the radio and I unload the situation to him (overly wordy and crappy comms) and he basically tells me to run it because they’re under fire (gunshots and yelling in the background). I had some very good Viper pilots (2 Patch wearers I come to find out) and had them tracking targets, RPA’s on ADA positions, and the Gunship in close on the good guys. I started working with the DAPs and we would find stuff and they’d kill it. Time goes on, we start thinning out targets, the assault force is clearing the northern village and it turns out to be a dry hole so they start moving about a KM south toward the secondary objective. As they move, it’s more of the same with the sensors except we split to help the Gunship escort the assault force and to find targets for the DAPs with the other. As this is going on, I’m starting to realize that the timeline has gone to absolute hell and we won’t be able to support this whole thing so I call back to our TOC and tell them to wake up the crew that would be flying the first line of the day to backfill us (2). Every jet there worked extensions and Tac C2 worked tanker reflows and all that. The whole team came together to support the guys on the ground and we didn’t get any push back. Incredibly awesome teamwork and proud moment for me as a member of the USAF. While I’m neck deep in trying to secure all that, the ground force is moving to the southern area and enemy fighters pop out of VC style spider holes and engage them from about ten feet. By the grace of God, no friendlies get hit and they kill the enemy and continue to move (3). They eventually make it to the southern compound and start to make call outs IAW the ROE. I’ve got two bingos (one for JBAD and one for BAF) and know I’m getting close to having to leave. I didn’t want to go to JBAD because I knew our MX flow at the time we didn’t have enough airplanes to backfill our backfill (jet happened to be in phase) if I went to JBAD but I couldn’t leave until we had another Draco because everyone else was gainfully employed and I assumed we’d lose the Gunship at Dawn (Spirit 03) and didn’t want the ground force to lose their comm lifeline. Personal thought at the time was that this would take until about noon the next day. About this time, my good friend and his crew that got shaken awake and scrambled check in on comms and I start filling them in. I’m doing a handover and they show up and match sensors and see DAPs killing targets under our sparkle and we hand that off (an easy confirmation haha). As they’re making it, I commit to BAF and know I’ll be landing at min fuel but that’s fine. We are about done and their radios all take a shit and lose crypto at the exact same time that an assault force member gets shot and the ground force calls for an urgent CASEVAC (4). Our backfill has no comms and the ground force is relaying the CASEVAC 9-line in rapid fire to my aforementioned weak swimmers who dropped their nuts and did a picture perfect job and made that happen to get the helos back for the exfil (5). My backfill gets one (of their 10) radios working and takes the stack and the situation over and we get out of dodge. I run the numbers and realize we will be at emergency gas when we land so I coordinate to zoom as much as the mighty Draco can and get into a glide profile to enter a 69 mile right base. I call the SOF (A-10 guy) and tell him to get everyone out of our way and he worked with everyone to clear it out for us. He does it and I get cleared to the numbers and land with 78 pounds of gas. I’ll never forget that number haha (it also went up about 70 pounds when I reset the counter on the ground so I didn’t shut down and get towed back). We shut down, get back to the TOC and things are still happening but long story short, we got everyone back a few hours later (6). I’ve never felt anything like that and I was absolutely jacked and when I landed and came down off of that, I couldn’t sleep for a long time and was antsy hearing about the fate of the wounded assaulter because I assumed he died based on how it sounded over the radio. When I found out he lived, I can’t explain the feeling of relief and flush of emotions that happened. He was sent to Germany and ended up being paralyzed, unfortunately but he’s alive today and sounds like he’s thriving. Anyways, I felt like I earned that 1/20th of an Air Medal. 1. Turns out one of our Afghan allies let his Taliban buddies know we were coming and they decided to try to make this a Blackhawk Down scenario. 2. We didn’t have a backfill and a 4 hour gap from when we would land to when those guys would takeoff for the first line of the day to coincide with sunrise. The LPA and junior enlisted that were awake and running our graveyard ops absolutely killed it getting those dudes prepped, getting them food, etc. I was incredibly proud of those folks that didn’t whine or complain at all and just made shit happen. Draco standard. 3. https://www.army.mil/article/147892/1st_battalion_75th_ranger_regiment_honors_its_heroes The dudes that got the Bronze Star with V were for this part. 4. https://www.socom.mil/fighting-on-to-the-ranger-objective The Rangers that got Silver Stars above in 3 were for this part. True heroism. 5. Army helos were sitting at level 1 at JBAD and were there in minutes. They earned DFC’s for this deservedly so. 6. Later on I heard from that intercepted comms said something like “how are they finding us? They’re killing us and we can’t see them.” Over 25 EKIA and a great mission for SSE overall.

“Environmentally unsound” is definitely built for the European audience. Think they’re talking about the fuel dumping or the resultant littering and… littering and… smoking the Reaper?

Behold lads and lasses, a legend is born with the best Selfie ever! Free beers for life my friend!

Didn't realize Iran was employing balloons.

I just watched one of my sons graduate USN bootcamp. He shot expert! He's off to Coronado for SWCC training. The navy did a good job with the graduation. All of the people in attendance were super stoked that their loved ones were now sailors. All walks of life were present. Very cool seeing all different types of Americans being happy together and serving this great nation.

A little mean .... but still spot on and funny.

To piggyback on ViperMan, nuance is great and all, but some things are self evident, no nuance required: - The American political system is better than Russia’s. Despite all our flaws, I’ll take a representative democracy over Putin’s kleptocracy every time. - The liberal world order (again, I’ll remind the less educated amongst us that “liberal” does not refer to US domestic politics here) established after WWII is better than an alternative where strong countries simply take what they want. The “establishment” that Putin and his apologists like to rail against has kept the peace for seven decades. Some of us have become so accustomed to that peace that it’s become hard to believe that it’s not just the de facto state of the world. It’s not. It takes a lot of work. - Invading a sovereign nation, no matter what cultural and ethnic ties you think you have, is wrong. That’s it. No need for discussion (or nuance). Respect for sovereignty is a key to peace in the modern world. It should be defended vigorously by anyone who doesn’t want to see the planet flattened by war. I could go on. Point being, there’s no gray area to hang out in here. No we aren’t perfect. Yes, we have our problems, some of them major. Despite all of that, we are objectively better than the alternative, regardless of which party is in power, regardless of our internal differences. Objectively. Better. Full stop. I choose to support OUR institutions, flawed though they may be, because it’s a far better option than operating in the wilderness of thought where the Russian and Chinese fact twisters want us. There are forces in this world that are true existential threats to our way of life. They are NOT your neighbor with the coexist bumper sticker (naive as he may be) or the Trump flag on his truck. They are not even Nancy Pelosi (who I guarantee you is FAR more of a free market advocate than Putin or Xi), or Mitch McConnell. It continuously blows my mind that some of us continue to point fingers at each other when there is no shit, painfully obvious evil rearing it’s head in the world with despots outright stating their desire to destroy western cultural values. It’s time to recognize what’s right in front of our faces, put our differences aside for a bit, and start pulling in the same direction.

69% of this forum is people talking to themselves on different accounts.

Me laughing at Hezbollah getting their stuff blown off with explosives in pagers while reading this on an iPhone produced in China. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's just SWA being envious of UAL, DAL and AA: now, SWA can say they are "an airline with Wide Bodies".

Great questions. The answer is no. Every GO sold out, repeated the same supportive tripe in public while privately voicing concern at our trajectory, yet continued up the chain of rank and pay. Imagine if we had leaders who said this: “I resign from active service. I love our country but cannot continue in good conscience to lead our men and women into danger with no clear objective or purpose. Indecisive political policies are irresponsible, and I resign in hopes the ensuing attention will cause this matter to be taken seriously and resolved with urgency.” GOs reading this, and I know they are, will doubtlessly guffaw at the simplistic scenario I present above. However, they lacked the courage to take bold action. Everyone with combat experience knows we don’t have bold/courageous General Officers. We have highly intellectual GOs who can stay up 20 hours a day, run miles each morning and work their staff to death analyzing a multitude of variables… but they aren’t bold and can’t win.. So to the GOs readIng this in fury at my condemnation- I’m certain you think I am ignorant of how futile and ostracizing my proposed COA would be. You’d be embarrassed in front of your peers. It would be awkward and socially uncomfortable. But had you played that card, you’d be a hero today. Instead, congrats on the retired rank but you’re forever attached to the ignominy of how those wars ended. FWIW I practice what I preach and burned every bridge on my way out over an issue to help my young squadron members. It was uncomfortable going from #1 to the trash can, my peers and supervisors despised me at the end and I didn’t have a retirement ceremony over this issue. However, I played every card and logged a major win for the young captains 6 weeks before retiring.

Respect your opinion but I think you are wrong for a host of reasons. 1. While not a treaty, in 1994 we negotiated and signed the Budapest Agreement. We promised to provide security for Ukraine in exchange for them giving up the third largest nuclear weapons stockpile in the world. This agreement made the world safer for almost 30 years. Were you upset when we threw our promise to Afghanistan away and fled in the middle of the night? We gave our word and at some point if we want to be respected as a world leader we have to honor our word. 2. For pennies on the dollar of our annual DoD budget we have enabled Ukraine to bleed a near-peer Superpower and relegate them to chump status. Russia has taken STAGGERING losses. Putin's grand plan to rebuild the Soviet Union died on the battlefield of Ukraine. A lot of independent agencies have validated Russian losses. Russia started the war with 3,000 operational tanks, in just over a year over 1,000 have been destroyed and a further 500 captured. Half of their armor gone...HALF. The UK Defense ministry estimates Russia has lost 200,000 soldiers in the war with Ukraine, with 60-80,000 of those being KIA. I almost feel guilty for the average Russian soldier who was lied to by a despot dictator. My sympathy ended when they started murdering civilians. This conflict and our $113B investment has humbled Russia for generations to come. I can't stand this administration for breaking our word to the Afghans and running away during the night but I applaud them for holding the line against Russia. I think this also sends a strong message to China. Again, all of pennies on the dollar and no blood from American soldiers (minus people who volunteered to go fight).

Easier said than done, but the sooner you can adopt a nihilist view of the AF "system," the better. Allow me to wax poetic as an old guy for a minute. I don't mean unprofessionalism towards our craft. I don't mean disrespect for your wingman. I don't even mean insubordination. If you want a masters, great. Get it. If you don't want it, don't get it. The AF might kick you out as a passed over Major at 20 years. Ok. Your check of the month will be $600 less and the gate guard might not salute you quite as crisply when you go to the commissary during retiree hour. Or don't wait around to find out and get out at 12 years. I'd encourage you to go to the ARC, but if you don't want to, don't. If the AF is a lifelong calling for you, great. If it's just a job for your 20s, great. The system doesn't care which camp you're in - it'll be just fine without you and you'll be just fine without it. Your work ethic, intelligence, and expectation of success puts you heads and shoulders above your workplace competition. Unless you go looking for that hot girl Molly, you won't end up homeless on the streets of Portland. If you're panicking about your promotion opportunities with this new bait and switch, I encourage you to go create a LinkedIn account. Seriously. Go look at who's doing ok in the world. Find and follow the people that you think have made it. Masters or not. Promotion or not. You'll be ok.

Russia is and has been a threat to US interests since 1945 (maybe 1918?). China is a bigger threat right now, but if you're fighting two guys at once and one falls to a knee, it isn't time to ignore them, it is time to stomp their face so they are out of the fight for a long time allowing you to focus on the other guy. Is it expensive to fund Ukraine? Yes. Are we getting a way better return on that money compared to much of the other junk we burn our national treasure on? Absolutely. This is another Russia in Afghanistan scenario except the "good guys" aren't Islamic terrorists. We'd be foolish to walk away from this opportunity to spend some money and help an enemy bleed themselves out. Way better to defeat an enemy via a proxy war than face them directly in a war yourself. And that doesn't even address the good of helping a free people defend themselves.

*yawn* more sophistry. I'm already on record, I only timestamp these rants on the interboobs so the forensics can go back in 10 years and go "yep, we knew". We've been through this all the way back to 2018 fam; it is a dilution of quality, definitionally. Tell your bosses to put down the hopium pipe and grow a back bone, and tell their SES overlords at the Puzzle palace to tell SecAf no buck no buck rogers. Kids need new MILITARY trainers and hours with their brain behind their ass at .7M+ and no automation, herbie drivers too. I was a CFII before I touched a single military airplane, let alone instructed in one; I can speak 61/141/135/121/one-WGAF. I was also in academia before the military; I know ballwash pseudointellectual fodder for paper degree issuance when I read it. Hell, I used to teach it! 😄 To the degree which civ-only folks don't understand the historical rigor behind undegraduate USN/USAF military aviator accessions and initial traning, it is also true that many mil-only folks really don't understand the quality control morass that is 141 (forget 61). I won't rehash the dissertation on here, the BLUF is that abrogating our military pilot accessions to 141 is to admit defeat. Considering the US record as a combat operational loss leader for the past 50 years, I guess losing at pilot training is par for the course too. Empire in decay, happens to the best of 'em I guess. Honestly, I'd be more on board if they just cut the shit and 1) admitted they can't effectively lobby Congress for more cowbell for the UPT enterprise, and 2) admitted they have to send it to the civilian prop schools just to pad the logbook with negative transfer hours of little import. Heck, by that cockeyed COA's order of merit alone, again just cut the shit and go full up MPL (Euro standard, sim only) for your copilots (3/4 of pilot accessions for the USAF) and put their money where their mouth is. Padding the 141 with excess federal pork is the only thing this will accomplish anyways. Excess crew deaths down the line in grey jet initial/continuation training are on them though, not on us dinosaurs "getting in the way".

Every once in a while you have a good post. But then I remember one of your best was when you realized how wrong you were during COVID, so I can't be shocked that you are wrong again. Lets begin, and remember, we are comparing the (R) candidate to the (D) candidate, not the (R) candidate to a hypothetical utopia the left has never successfully delivered. And? I'm an atheist, but it's pretty hard to miss the gaping hole left by the decline of Judeo-Christian participation in America. A bunch of well-balanced (i.e. genetic/familial lottery winners) liberals somehow assume that all Americans can live the way they do, but there are lost, troubled, stupid, or weak people out there and they need what religion provided. No replacement has been offered. And does anyone actually prefer the left's alternative? Sorry, but until I hear leftists loudly-and-proudly repudiate the horror show of modern Islam, I'm not going to listen to their whining about the cruelty of Christianity. Casually accusing a bunch of people here of hidden racism is a nice touch. Common trait of the leftist: I'm not just of a different opinion... I'm morally superior and enlightened. Nevermind that states' rights is a fundamental premise of the founding of the nation and a perpetual struggle between the liberals and conservatives for the past 150 years. Nope, its racists! He made it worse with the third (and if I recall, largest) round of stimulus, and the "Inflation Reduction Act." The economy was already well into the recovery at that point. There absolutely would have been inflation either way, and if Trump won in 2020 I am pretty confident he would have also done another round of stimulus, so I personally give him no credit here. But Biden did absolutely make it worse. And Harris is going to do the same if you can believe her current (ever changing) set of policies. Uh Huh... and who approved those permits (and pipelines)? Why do we even have to waste time on this one? Which side openly demonizes fossil fuel production, which side doesn't? Pretty simple, unless you're a liar. Correct, but if inflation is a COVID reaction, so too is the unemployment drop. Can't have it both ways. There's that reasonable human in there, screaming for freedom. Let him out more. Can you reference the Nazi stuff? That's usually (and currently) the attack line of the hardcore progressives. Just pop into reddit to see who thinks they are fighting the Fourth Reich. It ain't the conservatives. Riot, not insurrection. Don't breeze over the huge difference. If it was a riot (it was)... who riots more? Conservatives or liberals? Who supports rioters more? Remember, in an election we compare the candidates to each other, not to the non-existent ideal. Source? Which party supported giving money to the Iranians? Which party helped Iran in the hopes their oil production would bring down gas prices? And which party attacked Netanyahu while Iran used their money to support Hamas and Hezbollah? You're doing poorly. Oh and alienating Saudi Arabia sure did wonders in the fight against Iran, huh? Which president was that again? Neither side (when I say Republican or Democrat I mean the political actors, never the voters) is ever going to castigate their candidate. Lets not forget that Kamala Harris is a serial liar who accused a good man of being a gang rapist just because she didn't want another conservative on the supreme court. She is *every bit* the immoral, lying, narcissistic piece of shit that Trump is. And her current boss is no different. We are in the phase of civilization where the wheels come off. Part of that is an incompetent, immoral political class. We will have better leaders after the great struggle, but not until it gets ugly. I have no objection to calling Trump out for what he is. But the constant fantasy on the left that there is a difference in moral fiber is laughable. The only difference is the policy. Period.

One of the greatest has flown West. Maj Gen Pat Halloran was 95. He had 100 combat missions in the F-84 before being selected for the highly-secretive U-2 Program in the 1957 time frame. Pat went on to be one of only 18 pilots to check out in both the U-2 and SR-71. After retirement, be remained involved in flying experimental aircraft and homebuilts, including some very exotic replica aircraft from the Tom Wathen Collection, like the De Havilland Comet. He was a regular at Oshkosh. Just a fantastic guy and incredible pilot. A toast to the General...

3 words: SERVICE BEFORE SELF.

When judging truth I tend to lean towards the side that does not machine gun and behead babies, but that is just me.

You sound unhinged and you are most certainly all over the intellectual honesty map. I as a conservative do not agree, support or condone MTG's actions...at all. That being said her actions do not wipe the slate clean on the Hunter investigation. You are trying to insinuate everyone is laser focused with an obsession on Hunter when the real issue is did Joe through Hunter commit a crime. You have repeatedly referred to the "evidence" so lets baseline a few issues of fact, please tell me what is not true. In my opinion all of these facts tie together and paint a much bigger picture that calls for an investigation. 1. The Trump Dossier was fake. 2. Hillary Clinton paid for the Trump Dossier. 3. The FBI Knew the Dossier was fake and that Hillary paid for it. 4. The FBI used the Dossier as a basis to pursue FISA warrants on folks in the Trump administration. 5. The Hunter laptop was real. 6. The FBI knew the Hunter laptop was real AND had a copy of it. 7. The FBI sat quietly while Secretary Blinken orchestrated a memo signed by 51 "Intel Professionals" who labeled the Hunter laptop as Russian disinformation. 8. Big tech used that memo as rational to suppress the Hunter Laptop story during the election. 9. The Hunter laptop has a lot of circumstantial evidence that says Hunter promised foreign policy favors from his father in exchange for cash. Notice I said "Hunter" promised, not Joe. 10. As of yesterday the House Judiciary Committee has thoroughly tracked approximately $17M in transactions from overseas donors including China, that went to over 20 shell companies and ended up in the bank accounts of many Biden family members...including his grandchildren. 11. At least one of the Chinese donors has direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party. 12. 150 of those transactions were flagged by U.S. banks in SARs filed with the U.S. Department of the Treasury. 13. The $17M identified by the House Judiciary Committee is from one bank, they are working through the records and flagged transactions at six more banks. There is at least one report that says the total is $100M. 14. The FBI has been approached by multiple sources that say the pay for play scheme is real. 15. The FBI tried to suppress a 2020 unclassified FD-1023 that outlines the pay for play scheme. 16. Tony Bobulinski came forward and gave multiple interviews saying her personally met with Joe Biden. Biden denies that meeting, someone is lying. 17. In 2021, Hunter Biden repaid more than $2 million in past-due taxes after receiving a loan from one of his private attorneys. 18. One of the reasons Hunter owed unpaid taxes is because tried to deduct sex club membership and prostitutes by classifying them as business expense. 19. The purchase of a weapon by Hunter Biden while using drugs was a felony. 20. IRS Whislteblower Joseph Zielger alleges investigators AND assigned attorneys, which included DOJ tax attorneys, all agreed to felony tax evasion charges and misdemeanor charges related to Hunter Biden's 2017, 2018 and 2019 returns. 21. IRS Whislteblowers testified DOJ attorneys stopped the IRS investigators from seeking a warrant for Hunter Biden's Virginia storage unit then notified Hunter's Defense Lawyers that the government wanted to search the unit. 22. David Weiss wrote a official letter stating that he has “ultimate authority” to bring charges against Hunter Biden in any jurisdiction, and he said Friday that this is still the case. 23. IRS Whistleblower Gary Shapley testified he was in a meeting with David Weiss and Weiss told him that he was not the deciding person in whether or not charges were filed. "He told us that D.C. U.S. Attorney had declined to allow charges, he told us that he had requested special counsel authority from Main DOJ.” Rep. Jordan: “And was denied?” Mr. Shapley: “That's correct.” 24. Gary Shapley captured the meeting in a memo which was endorsed by his supervisor who was also in the meeting. Either Weiss or both Mr Shapley and his supervisor are lying. In most neutral investigations the above facts would at least raise the possibility that something illegal happened. If there is even a 1% chance the President committed a crime shouldn't we look? I think we have a right to know and when you look at the situation in totality and have questions, that doesn't make you a nutjob conspiracy theorist. It is way past time for a special prosecutor.

It was a little harder getting ATIS in the Huey single pilot. We were so slow, it'd change several times from the time I was 7 miles out to touch down. So much ATIS. I have nightmares about it.

Sorry to hear that but it sounds like you have a good attitude about it. That’ll serve you very well wherever you end up. Questions: 1. Yes, you’ll be limited to crew aircraft only now. That still leaves most of the inventory. 2. Your wings will only be stripped if they decide to go to a Flight Evaluation Board (FEB) and that’s the decision from it. I know a bunch of guys that washed out of fighter B courses and the vast majority got offered a waiver to a FEB and reassignment to another aircraft. Only one I know that was FEB’d and lost his wings did some truly heinous things that were deliberate and dangerous. 3. It won’t affect you at all. Just do great at your next jet and you’ll be fine. Plenty of fighter washouts have done great, gone to WIC, made rank, etc. It will all come down to attitude and performance on your next assignment. Keep up your honest attitude and that’ll do serve you very well. Don’t hide it at your next assignment and just be honest. Don’t do the “they had it out for me and it was all BS” routine. In terms of future assignments, you’ll fill out a dream sheet and go from there. Let your leadership know what you want and why and they will help you if you’re a good dude. Try to figure out what mission appeals to you and pursue that. And then whatever you get, that is the best jet in the Air Force. Good luck!

Yeah, you're not wrong. I fall into the "I don't know shit about investing" category. But... mainly on other airline websites... I read posts where pilots get on their high horse and admonish other pilots for their "need" to have an 85 hour month. Or they bad mouth this and that, and tell us how smart they are for doing X or Y. And if it works for them, I'm happy for them. But lecturing others is poor form. Some pilots are living on the edge of their finances because they are taking care of a parent suffering from dementia... or devoting their efforts to a special needs child... or dealing with a painful and costly divorce. Some have sick spouses that require treatments that exhaust life savings. Life is tough for many people. And before someone starts pontificating on how other pilots should be saving for college and how they should be more careful with their money... then they should stop... give thanks to God that they are not in a bad situation... and simply pray that others can find a way to become financially secure. Frankly, no financial advice given on this forum is going to make a difference. As such... I will shut my fucking piehole before I offer my less-than-sage wisdom on the subject.

@Lord Ratner Valid points. The bitch for quite awhile has been why are DAL pilots flying record premium pay while simultaneously wanting a new contract. But, it has still worked out, assuming TA passes. The “mission focus” vs. “fuck the company, do only exactly what’s required” is a fine balance. I agree do the right thing, which includes not rushing, cutting corners, completely jumping through your ass to make it happen, or doing anything else that may affect safety/your fitness for duty. But also keep in mind your actions can either make a family’s day/life, or they can destroy it. So if safety is not a concern, then I understand wanting to get flights out and help the people in back. You don’t know who on the plane is trying to make it to see their parent in the hospital one last time or make a once in a lifetime family reunion. Once had a CA give me shit for taking 3 min of my time to source a wheelchair for an old lady because Prospect sucks ass. Got it, not my job, but also that old lady doesn’t deserve the screw job either. We all should remember the human aspect still matters for something.

There are so many kids in this position. It’s heartbreaking. Anyone who champions this trans stuff, especially in kids, is a huge POS and a truly awful human being…and too many of them are teachers, superintendents, etc.

It's the classic Jurassic Park illusion of control. You use a shitty website to search job listings that you have the quals/year grp/knee pads for, and rank your top choices. If the CC who posted the listings also swipes right on you then you get a match. AFPC takes this match and does the following:

Tomorrow’s the day everyone. I managed to write a pretty killer show cause letter acknowledging my mistakes and outlying my plans to get back on track, and I got a fair few letters from others as well. Hopefully it all works out. Thanks for all your insights, advice, and encouraging words.