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And, not so incredibly, Pancho Villa knew Huggy.

I try to watch my language in front of the grandkids

Sure, but I don't see behind any curtains anymore. In short, Russia is a dog we cornered that we have to be very careful with. We're probably doing this for the same reason the US Government limited Ukraine's starlink access as they tried to advance into Russian territory: Russia have nukes on functional ICBMs pointed at western nations. Cutting off Venezuela and Iran in Russian oil calculus has made our sanctions that much more effective. I'd imagine we now have to carefully meter just how tightly we squeeze. Too hard and we get nukes airborne. It's a position of power that has to be carefully managed. Again, that's from my non read-in perspective. If I've learned one thing, it's that open source media is never privy to the behind the scenes negotiations that end up changing all the diplomatic calculus of how, precisely, the US is screwing over other countries. I'd guess this article is us seeing 10% of what's actually going on.

Agreed, but the same logic applies. Forecasts of doom and chaos are worthless when the doom and chaos never comes. Your entire point is hypothetical. Maybe you'll be right. But so far the anti-interventionists have been wrong on basically every single Trump engagement, especially WRT Iran. And they can't spell out exactly how this goes sideways. What, we get another Islamo-fascist regime, but with no credibility or military might left by which to threaten the world? Oil goes up because the production of a country viral to our biggest enemy (China) was squashed and the American energy complex gets more money and power? That doesn't mean you should keep quiet. It just means there's not yet any reason to believe the sky-is-falling crowd. If we send in the infantry, I'll happily be the first to agree with you. As of yet there's no evidence we're planning that, and you can't hide troop movements like that. Too many people are still shell shocked from the failures of Afghanistan/Iraq that they are conflating all military intervention with nation-building. Now, if we send in the men with beards to capture and control Kharg Island, all the better. The message is pretty clear to anyone who is listening. Fuck with the US, and we will take your stuff and kill you. I for one am a big fan of that message. If my neighbor woke up every morning and threw rocks at my wife and kids while they left for school, promising to rape and murder them when they got home, I'd light his house on fire and execute him as he fled the flames.

Brother Bill trying un-alive Hillary by pushing her into traffic. Break Break - why does she always dress like Charmian Mao? AQMnD1eaZ9nTx_usU7ZG9njlu_ozqA2WxUQTd-1fD5WSoCNwoLev7nJey670MQM8XbmDOupkxAoKDxMBQe8iVk4KXhHssDh_HEjNqiHPPQtVGA.mp4

Just got notified by my commander, alternate select for fixed wing! Current CSO, first time applying. Scores: 99 Pilot, 95 PCSM. Was also told to expect a PCS within the next 2 months, no base currently.

The issues with the Boeing Starliner were FAR closer to disaster and loss of life than was publicly disclosed. Thanks to a recently completed investigation the event was reclassified a "Type A Mishap." Some key findings are beyond troubling...it appears despite losing two Space Shuttles NASA still has serious safety culture issues AND there was a willingbess to cover up how bad the event was to protect the reputation of the program and Boeing. Here are the key details regarding the investigation and classification: Initial Classification: The mission was not initially labeled a Type A mishap, which is the most serious classification NASA has, often triggered by a loss of life or damages exceeding $2 million. Why It Was Delayed: The initial decision to skip this designation was influenced by concerns about the reputation of the Starliner program. Retroactive Change: Following an independent investigation launched in February 2025, the investigation concluded in November 2025, and in February 2026, NASA officially reclassified the mission as a "Type A mishap" to ensure lessons were fully captured, noting that costs had exceeded the threshold by a factor of over 100. The Findings: The 2026 report revealed serious failures in the propulsion system and criticized both Boeing and NASA for a lack of proper oversight and a problematic safety culture. Astronaut and Starliner first flight commander Butch Wilmore gave a very candid and chilling interview on the Shaun Ryan Podcast.

Excuse me, that's Kim Jong-Clinton to you!

@Negat0ry @Pooter @Sua Sponte @gearhog You naysayers are something else, man. I'll tell you what. It doesn't matter if we can't install a democracy in Iran. If we turn them into Afghanistan, we win. Because they don't have nukes. Last time I checked, they already want to destroy us and our friends, so the bit about them becoming jihadis is a red herring. They're already jihadis. They already hate us. We didn't need to bomb them to achieve that. WhAt's ThE pLaN?? The plan is to destroy their government. This is specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic. I'd be far more concerned if I was hearing soothing sounds of "hearts and minds" and "girls' schools" and the like. Do you guys honestly think there was a different path forward? If you do, I'd love to hear it. And ISIS? Yeah, I remember ISIS. The terror group we bombed the shit out of? Yeah, where are they now? Oh that's right. Their caliphate is gone. Finished. Accomplished almost entirely with airpower. You people need to get it through your head that war is the state of human nature. It will never end. There will never be world peace. We will always be at war. Get over it.

ClearedHot knows that because he hooked Eddie on his first contact check

Ah yes, the hardcore fucking of a... **checks markets**... 4% drawdown. From astronomical highs. Like the economic disaster from Ukraine? Or the social catastrophe that followed Maduro's capture? Or the military disaster of the summer attacks on Iran? How many times does the philosophy have to be wrong before you question the philosophy itself?

Hell, it beats the alternative!

I was driving on 98 heading to the base one day and some clown pulled out in front of me which prompted a response. A few seconds later my three years chimes in from the back seat...."Dad, what's a F@cking &sshole?"

ProQuest published my dissertation. https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/automation-induced-attrition-pilots-manual-flying/docview/3303318551/se-2

Maj Alex Klinner's GoFundMe - https://gofund.me/b45241d2f TSgt Ashley Pruitt's GoFundMe - https://gofund.me/e761976cd

Congratulations I’m so happy for you. I contacted the board earlier in the week actually I believe it was last week to try and advocate for a buddy of mine who was picked up and got helicopters and I wanted to see if there was any possibility to see if we can get him switched over to a fixed wing slot, considering the shortage, but I got told was that the program manager is currently trying to advocate for more people from the UFT list to be considered to help try and fill some of the slots. My body was notified three days ago that he was swapped from helicopters over to fixed wing and the fact that you just got notified sounds like they’re starting to look more at the UFT list

Damn, not news I wanted to wake up to. Prayers for those (and their families) involved. The Wild West is unforgiving - thank you to all the tanker bros crushing it out there, you guys are doing great work in a tough environment.

Correct…Canadian oil is still like $40 or $50 bbl, Venezuelan even cheaper. $70 is the us is very healthy. Creates enough profit for capx, hiring and future expansions. Brent at $70 and above….stupid profits I think what’s being ignored is the squeeze on china. They’re losing 50% of their oil imports, they’ve stopped exporting fuel, the longer this goes the richer irans neighbors get and china starts to bleed out. Read an article last yr how there is a push for a new economic zone with India being the manufacturing hub and moving away from china. They need a fuck load of oil and the products would flow west through the gulf and they railed to Europe. Iran was the only piece in the way.

I just got the email for a 30 Jun IPT date out of Del Rio that was for Prescott. AFPC guy told me that the location changes all the time though due to AETC doing load management/balancing so to take that with a grain of salt. Sounds like its going to be a cluster until were in the student flights getting ready to go

Here is what Mr Trump thinks of you, your service, sacrifice, and your life should it end with his actions; a promotional appearance to sell hats.

Happy birthday to the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron at Beale AFB 113 years old today. In 1916, the 1st invaded Mexico to try to capture or kill Pancho Villa. Probably didn't get much per diem.

Grew up in the Marine KC community smokin a lucky. Old heads would tell of the risk aversion, how we were "high value assets", Corps was lucky to have Herks a' la Key West Agreement and all that. Fast forward to OIF week one: community had already lost one crew the prior year, I had a front row seat to a notable blue on blue, and now crews were coming back with SAFREPs of having to maneuver due to active tracking by AAA on the way into the LZ. Kinda rearranges your worldview right quick. Stay frosty folks.

Firstly, poor taste in photo choice, obviously. Secondly, the offer is par for the course across many presidential PACs that span R and D. Thirdly, this is a PAC, not the president directly - he had zero personal direction associated with wording or picture. Bottom line - whoever in the PAC made the photo choice is a dipshit, but the fake outrage directed directly at Trump is just that.

You'd previously linked this video about Starliner in the Tactical Tanker thread, also from Ellie in Space. I'm not much for YouTube, but I found her reports to be comprehensive yet concise, and very well constructed. That video focused on NASAs report of findings on the Starliner mission, released in February, including a lot of NASA head Jared Isaacman presenting the results. He's pulling from his memo to the entire NASA workforce published last month, worth a read here. The report itself is linked at the bottom of this NASA press release. 311 total pages, including 9 appendices, but a good Executive Summary on page 3-5. In short, just kind of an all around shitshow, with NASA and Boeing both being incredibly inept. Many echoes of Challenger and Columbia. One bright spot of the whole affair was Isaacman. I was skeptical of his appointment as NASA head. I'd previously figured you'd want a politician in that spot; someone who was adept at going to Congress and battling for money. Isaacman seems to be the leader NASA needs. Doing a lot of saying the quiet part out loud, even after only being in the position since December. Couple examples below. Both are from only the past couple weeks, which is exciting to me. After watching NASA falter for so long, are we finally witnessing some real change with the agency? Does NASA need more money? Isaacman: No, the answer isn't more money. We have enough money. We need to focus on the needle-moving objectives. Execute with urgency, in iterative and safe way, and empower the workforce and our partners to get the job done. Then this bit below, which deserves to be quoted in it's entirety. NASA Watch article with the comments, originally pulled from this post on X. This should sound familiar to anyone who's had even a passing association with a NASA program. Layers upon layers of outsourcing, with every associated company taking a skim off the top.

TLDR. 😁 Congratulations! Do we need to start calling you "doctor" around here now?

I’ll see y’all there!

Actually I was referring to Russia. Sorry I wasn't clear. I was making the point how a country might feel backed into a corner and feel like they have no choice but to go on the attack.

That's life. We don't do nothing never we can't do everything. This isn't a Iraq, a country that was by and large doing nothing to the United States in the early 2000s. This is Iran, the country that has been actively and perniciously attacking us for decades. If your analogy holds, and the children of the Ayatollah attempt revenge, how is that materially different? In this case, the worst case scenario is the status quo. It's just not the same as the forever wars we were used to.

Im with you Lord Ratner.

True. What's making a real dent in the oil market...is it the actual loss of oil, or the perception of loss? Not saying it doesn't hurt, but the bounce back will be faster than we think, at least in the USA. Moreover, the USA doesn't need anyone else's oil. The only people severely hurt by this are Russia and China, and even with that it'll be shorter lived than any pundit will acknowledge. We backed a small dog into a corner. Oh no. Their capabilities are insignificant. They'll try, but it will be feeble at best. Their much vaunted Navy of missile destroyers was bodied in a single day. Not that they can't hit, just that they can't actually hit hard. The biggest actual question mark is whatever sleep cells they have in the wind. That op targeted the hardware that man men were using to try and hold their adversaries (mostly middle eastern countries) at threat. They didn't stop, so now we've targeted the mad men themselves. You mean that we're in the middle of an active shooting war and our wild-card of a CinC isn't showing all his cards? Weird. It's almost like that's how he's operated every single time in the past. Definitely time to panic. There is clearly a ground element to this game (spelled in part 'Kurdish'), and I guarantee that it's been in the works for a while now. This is a long game that involves a LOT more players than the US and Iran. Critiquing the man in the arena while the swords are actively swinging is a game played by fools and universally leads to incorrect conclusions. Let it play out.

VA politics is driven by the DC metro folks, which is really an extension of Maryland politics. It didn't go blue, it was just having an affair with a Republican.

James Cameron/Skynet already designed that thing:

Yeah sorry basically any training code that doesn’t have IPT labeled will be your UPT dates

So I’m currently driving to Columbus to drop off two of my vehicles about a week ahead of my PCS. But the information that I can pass along is that once your dates get loaded anybody in your CSS shop should be able to look at your MILPDS records and see what training you’re loaded for additionally, if you don’t know what base you got you can do the EFMP hack on VMPF essentially what you do is you start a new application and you go all the way to the end make sure you don’t hit submit and you will see your projected assignment and then once you see that just go ahead and remove your EFMP application. Lastly, from what my experience was, you’re gonna get an email from the transition flight at whatever base you’re going to to let you know that you’ve been scheduled for IPT and it will have the location on it. I know there are locations in Orlando Pensacola Atlanta, Denton, Texas, and San Marcos Texas. I don’t know if they’re still using the ones out in Arizona. Sorry for any typos I’m currently driving and using Siri

KEND 26-07AU T-38C x5 T-6 FAIP KC-46 Seymour Johnson KC-46 Altus x2 KC-135 Altus x3 KC-135 General Mitchell ANGB KC-135 Pittsburgh KC-135 Beale C-17 Altus C-130J Fort Worth C-130J Little Rock x2

To include Lt LeMay.

Fairly certain @M2 gave Eddie Rickenbacker his first intel brief.

oooffff I remember showing up here as a UPT select and you were still AD. My back hurts...

You’d be pretty surprised at some of the stuff contracting companies will look past if they have a position that needs to be filled.