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You guys realize we’ve had combat observers, intel officers, and assistance trainers preceding our participation in every conflict since the First World War right? Like we had people in England during the blitz, we had people observing Japanese action, the Russians had people take active part in combat that we know about in Korea. This isn’t new. And the ones of you acting shocked are either doing it for effect or have clearly never worked in a FID or similar capacity. We had strict rules when I was doing it, we were not direct combatants. Nobody was under any confusion that me or anybody on our team getting killed by some hostile combatant was going to suddenly trigger the US into a war. Likewise it didn’t do anything when we slaughtered a bunch of Russians in Syria. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mid-90s and Iraq does some pump fake maneuver to the border. I'm at Shaw working in Stan/Eval and we get tagged to generate and deploy 2 F-16 and 1 A-10 squadron. The Wing had an upcoming mobility ORI event so we call Langley and ask them to come observe to get the ORI counter complete. They say "No" because it wouldn't meet their grading criteria. WTF? A real world event doesn't match the grading criteria? How inflexibly stupid is that and WTF are you grading?

Perfectly sums up 90% of our NATO partners.

They said operations weren't affected at all. I just hope the museum opens by 21 March [emoji3064] Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

Pretty sure it’s because of their new 737 orders being delayed due to certification issues.

Yes she died differently. The broader point here is the gradual process of radicalization and addiction feeding she allowed to happen. You don't end up in the position of getting shot while trying to bust through a barricaded door in the capitol by accident. Go look her social media history up, she was posting about pizzagate and qanon publicly years prior to January 6th. Both of these people were in intellectual echo chambers consuming garbage for years prior to the violent climax.

oh dear lord.

Ummm, we invaded Iraq because we said Saddam Hussein was an immediate threat due to their WMDs. Wars tend to escalate at times, and for what we think are stupid reasons. Just saying this as a response to your “no basis” as we had no basis to invade Iraq, but I still spent a year deployed there. So seriously, if a NATO country deploys combat troops to Ukraine and kills Russian troops and Putin believes their best response is to attack said NATO country to keep that from continuing to happen, does this invoke the charter?

If they (let's say France) only kill Russian soldiers in Ukraine, then Russia has no basis to attack France. If France launches attacks into Russia, then it's game on for Russia to attack France, but NATO should not have to join in.

Are you taking about filling the time gap between losing your current aircraft and going to training for the next aircraft?

You absolutely will, always, have a reasonable expectation of dying if you are trying to force your way through a locked door with law enforcement behind it. That doesn't make it right. But it is absolutely a reasonable expectation. You have to be fucking delusional to think otherwise.

Being right about covid is like being right against a flat earther. Not a very high bar. So now your argument is that because the European countries are a part of NATO, they are not allowed to engage in military conflict outside of the alliance without the permission of the US? Or of all NATO countries combined? So basically the existence of NATO means, non-nato countries are expressly excluded from any form of direct military support from NATO countries, because that would, in your opinion, necessitate the intervention of NATO as a whole, including the US. What a fantastically interesting argument, and then why wouldn't Russia want other countries excluded from joining NATO? Not only are they not part of the alliance that Russia overtly hates, but they are now fair game for conquest because NATO countries cannot defend non-nato countries by your logic, regardless of their regional interests in the war. Now, if you want to make an argument that the United States should declare ahead of time that they will not invoke Article 5 if NATO ground forces participating *in* Ukraine are attacked *on* Ukrainian soil, that's a more reasonable position. But your arguments is the best advertisement I've heard yet for other countries joining NATO. If you don't join NATO, there are literally no circumstances under which friendly NATO countries will intervene on your behalf. You're on your own, good luck. You're just arguing for pure isolationism. That doesn't have an impressive track record.

https://ktla.com/news/california/panera-bread-exempt-from-following-californias-new-minimum-wage-law-due-to-relationship-with-newsom-reports/ Yeah dude!!! They really care about those poor fastfood workers. Unless you work at Panera Bread. Newsom has a buddy who owns a few in CA. Put those masks back on, it's for your own good.

SS is whole other level of fuckery. I full expect that I won't receive SS in anything close to it's current form, or even at all. I'm not even factoring it into my retirement planning. If I get it, then sweet, more 100LL cash...if we're still allowed to use 100LL in 25 years.

Tangentially related, my mom complains to me yesterday about the gov pulling the rug out from her regarding SS changes. I said, “well yeah, it’s the gov. They’re retarded with money and will screw you over at every opportunity that comes their way.” The gov will always fuck you when convenient for them. The bonus system fuckery is in their wheelhouse!

It's like when our FSS NCOIC came to brief squadron leadership on the new OPR system (already ram dumped the name). She made it a few slides in and said, we really don't know what's going on because this system is terrible and noone seems to be able to answer our questions. OG just laughed and thanked her for her honestly. We backburned it and continued to process OPR's like we always had via e-mail, while the AF unfucked it. Then I retired...thankfully. Lol called it. When that passed that, I told the guys they'd be lucky to see it before 2024, if ever. I was certain I wouldn't see it before retirement. Are they even paying the correct DSG flight pay right now? Or are you still receiving catchup payments because they "can't code the system" or that "the new pay system will be rolled out in Jan of 2020 to fix it all?" 2020 is not a typo, that is when I was told (in 2018) that it would all be fixed and why they wouldn't spend time fixing the current system. Loved getting 6 paychecks a month lol. Agreed, some are probably banking on it. Then you'll get to listen to those who stayed have their "I told you so" moment, as if they they were the smartest people in the room all along. I've seen this song and dance before. Fortunately for me, I never had to come back for orders because whatever happened, I can easily survive at DSG pay...that's a great feeling of freedom. Damn I sound bitter and jaded lol. I'll admit to the latter, but not so much the former. It's just hard not to laugh/cry because you see the cycle repeat itself over and over again. Promises, broken promises, promises, broken promises. It's why when I left I told my guys to always take care of themselves and their families first, because at the end of your career, they're the ones that will be there. The AF will pat you on the back, you'll be replaced that day, the machine will go on and you'll mostly be forgotten in short order. [/rant] But I'm seriously pulling for you guys, you've earned it and truly deserve it. Though I know the likely outcome, if it is ever implemented, here's hoping they're forced to back pay ya'll for this.

Hey guys, excited to be in this chat! I haven't heard much of anything. Last email I received was about if I wore contact lenses and to expect to get orders at the end of March. I'm currently 28 and have my PPL. I know they are prioritizing older individuals, but I know another guy my age that got his orders to Columbus for beginning of June. Another guy here got a date for end of may for Columbus as well, but he is 32 I think.

You aren’t!?

I may need more soap. the last one was expired and didn't seem to work..

There's still an important distinction to be made. One committed a deliberate act to end his life, the other had no reasonable expectation to have her life ended while committing no acts of violence against herself or anyone else. If you're making the case consumption of unhealthy information leads to death, I guess you can do some logical gymnastics to reach that conclusion. But, only on one side do we see the completely irrational conclusion that self-destruction is a reasonable way to achieve a political goal. That's what makes wokeism dumb, and different.

I think of wokeness (or really any form of extremism) more like an addictive drug or junk food, rather than a virus. Calling it a virus implies it can infect any unsuspecting person with almost no individual agency involved. I think addiction is more appropriate because you have to actively feed these ideologies in order for them to take over your life. You don't just wake up one day having caught a bug that makes you burn yourself to death. This dude was living his day to day life in the darkest corners of the anarchist internet for a very long time before he decided to do this. And it's not just limited to the woke side of the aisle. I'm sure Ashli Babbitt spent a considerable amount of time feeding her own addiction in the wacky hyper conservative trump corners of the internet too. The solution, just like with drugs and junk food, is discipline. Hold yourself to a higher informational standard, and make sure your intake is balanced. Affirming what you already think is like eating McDonald's. Do it every day for a few years and you'll probably end up dead. Reading a well-reasoned opinion you don't agree with is the intellectual equivalent of eating your vegetables.

...yeah, and there was no border crisis over the past 3 years...

The Russians are happy to pay for it. They are winning. As evidence I submit the panic in the EU. And nato. Floating ideas of committing NATO ground troops in Ukraine. That type of dangerous rhetoric wouldn’t be happening if Ukraine was winning. so celebrate all your tactical victories as we lose the strategic war. Typical American officer corps.

Bring back the no-notice as an actual test of readiness. Don't fire people or end careers for honest mistakes. Use the the results to provide resources to fix gaps.

And you're in here reading it. rofl

I would say just the sheer amount of time operating in close proximity to Mother Earth and everything sticking out of it not to mention operating off other than pavement raise the odds of a mishap even on a good day. My .69

You'll notice this dude was shit-canned as soon as he started hinting that the disappearance of expensive equipment would need to be reported. As soon as his "antics" transitioned from obnoxiously advocating for his unit to potentially tarnishing the reputation of his leadership, he was toast. You don't get to the top in today's military (college, government, etc) through competence, results, and successful leadership of your subordinates, you get there by protecting those above you. When the consequences for failure are restored, the institutions will resume filtering for and rewarding competence. It's going to get a lot worse before that happens, I fear.

Indeed, P-Diddy is squared away...for a non-pilot.

Well with all the AFSOC bashing, some good news is the new 1 SOW CC is a stud. And he’s replacing Col Allison Black as she retires after a very long career. Great stuff for Hurlburt and congrats to AB!

It will NOT be Dag, it WILL be a surprise and a good one. Almost anything is better than the giant tub of goo.

ALRIGHT! I'll do it. First order of AFSOC business when I'm in charge is that all aircrew will be wearing Air Commando Bush Hats immediately, everyone will be issued a single can of Sexual Tyrannosaurus chewing tobacco with refills at members discretion, and Cannon will close and everyone will move to Hickam and manifest destiny existing squadron spaces from current occupiers.

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

Sounds like Dag Anderson is SOCOM favored. Surprising.

I can't stand looking at Hunter Biden's face and I want Papa Biden to die already. How can this garbage be considered for another run? Also, quit picking Trump for the Republicans. There's gotta be someone else in the United States who can do a better job than both of these clowns, while not dancing with death (from old age) everyday. WTF is wrong with our political parties?

I heard RUMINT at one point that "the plan" was to take both Slife the Knife and Fat Tony and exile them to Korea as a career-killer SOF backwater, but that happened right as KJU started sabre-rattling, suddenly Korea mattered again, and inexplicably they both snatched victory (i.e. more stars) from the jaws of defeat. 🤷‍♂️ It's quite hard to F-kill toxic senior leaders in any large organization, I guess I just had higher hopes that AFSOC would find a way in this case. Here's to hoping those poor bastard USAFA cadets get a (big!) new CC and AFSOC can be rid of the Sith once and for all.

Well, when one of your first initiatives as MAJCOM CC involves trying to kill the SOCOM 4 day holiday weekends, you're gonna leave an impression. Just probably not the one he was hoping for. Our sewing circle thought the next guy in the seat would be Farrell, or possibly Matrie. I get the impression that AFSOC's GO bench isn't that deep right now, but I could be wrong. If they're jumping someone ahead I'd be curious to see who; that also sounds a bit ominous given there's several young AFSOC GOs that I haven't been too impressed with.

Wait, are you against non-US NATO countries sending ground troops into Ukraine?

Tornado at Wright Pat fucked some shit up.