slackline

Agreed, but it also ignores that plenty of toxic leaders (that Flt/cc could fit that bill, we don’t know) have driven out highly qualified, good officers. In that case, he’s wrong.

I think we’re on the same page, I just didn’t go into the detail you did. You made the crazy apples to oranges comparison with the AF. The military is 10x more cut and dry and measurable than political appointments. I’ll disagree with you on the idea that “there are highly discernible characteristics” in that arena. Basic qualifications are it, then it all goes into what you discussed, subjective decisions by the one making the call. If it’s a choice between super awesome candidate a vs super awesome candidate b who would be the first whatever to do it, give yourself the win and the headline. If it’s between the win/headline with a clearly less qualified candidate, you’re wrong. BL: all things being equal (to the extent that there is no real difference in the quality of the candidate, the end-product you’ll get) I don’t see the harm in giving a group that has traditionally been excluded a shot over a group that is always in power.

So here’s my take on it. If there are people far and above more qualified that would clearly do the job way better than those he has nominated it is incredibly bad and simple pandering. If the people he’s nominated are close enough in quality/performance to those that are “better” than them, where’s the harm in giving those people that typically haven’t ever even been considered for those types of positions a shot? If there will be no discernible difference in how well the job is being done, I think it is beneficial to add some flavor to what is typically incredibly homogeneous. I’m not married to this idea, and could be talked out of it by sound arguments, but I can see more benefits by going with different over same old, same old when the end product is so close that it doesn’t matter. That other person is still going to be successful. Commence spear throwing.

Is it just me, or are these guardsmen being huge, whiney babies? https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/21/national-guard-troops-vacate-capitol-461220?cid=apn You’re called in to do a specific job, that job is done, you’re no longer needed... That’s a failure on the Guard Bureau if their mission is done and they haven’t redeployed them yet. Same goes for those who requested their presence, if no longer needed, terminate the request. Feeling butthurt because you “feel discarded” is ridiculous. Who let young kids talk to the press? The statement on how few bathrooms there are is not cool if true, but crying about no internet reception is garbage.

https://apnews.com/article/pfizer-study-vaccine-coronavirus-strain-3094dd3cc91b4a20780402476cdcb5ae That article talks about Pfizer’s effectiveness against new strains. https://www.barrons.com/articles/modernas-covid-vaccine-should-work-against-new-strains-for-now-what-its-ceo-said-51609870246 Moderna link. They’re both over 2 weeks old now, and I am struggling to find the one I referenced in my previous post.

I’ll have to look it up, but I saw an article on the Moderna vaccine from the UK that basically said it was covering down on different strains because of the RNA business it does.

Thanks, that’s what I’d always thought, hence not looking into it, but I’d rather look stupid and ask then not ask and be surprised later...

Agreed on the fact that the two don’t correlate. Think about the fact that we’re all basically kids in pilot training as well. Getting singled out by someone you, ostensibly, look up to like your Flt/CC in pilot training is nowhere close to the same thing as the stress of combat where we’re basically taught to have (while respecting their ability to kill you) disdain for the enemy. That’s a complete failure of leadership on the part of the Flt/CC back then. That’s quite a bit of “hindsight is 20/20” on my part since we don’t know the details of the situation from back then. Maybe the Flt/CC saw something in the kid that was a red flag? Who knows. By and large, UPT was way more stressful than coming back with holes in the bird and Winchester on the guns ever was.

Well, that’s a kick in the balls! So much for that one... Is that separate for AD retirement? Sorry for the completely ignorant question. 18 years in, and I never thought about this...

Just read an article this morning that Apple is contemplating making podcasts a subscription/pay based service as opposed to providing a platform for content. Gotta ring every last penny out... Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

One side significantly more... Guess which

I think you'd have a hard time getting anyone that they used a contrived rationale. I'll give you the double standard, and readily admit social media is garbage, poisoning our ability to critically think, but nothing was contrived. Ignoring the double standard, clear violations of ToS were present, warnings were given, and now they finally did what they should have been doing across the globe to left and right a long time ago. Now they need to step up and apply this standard evenhandedly. Here's me holding my breath... I don't use any social media for this reason. I agree, it's virtually impossible to not use Google or Amazon, but Facebook? Nope, have none of it. People value their social media more than they value their real lives, so good luck convincing people to jump ship en masse.

Yes, it will take me to about 22, but I'm happy to do the whole three years. Just curious for the end of the assignment.

I so wish we could close that Pandora's box...

The skills program is open for officers. I approved it for an O working for me, but as you probably already know, is totally dependent on the organization allowing you to leave. It is a net loss for the organization unless you are somehow able to work a drug deal to get a replacement in there anyway. I imagine for me, it won’t be an option, but believe me I’ll give it a shot. I didn’t know about 30 vs 20 for PTDY, so that is nice. That was helpful info, but I don’t know if it answers my question or not, at the risk of sounding obtuse. If an assignment is a controlled 3 years, does retirement trump assignment time? COVID keeps messing with my timeline. Pushed a class start date for me back 4 months, which in turn pushes assignment/retirement time back. So, let’s say it was 1 Sep this year for the DEROS. Can I start terminal prior to that date, or do I have to wait until 1 Sep to get out of there? I know all of this probably makes me look stupid, but I’ve just never dealt with this situation, which isn’t all that weird. My first overseas assignment was my first ops tour, my second was an exchange, so I wasn’t exactly in a position to hear about how retirements went down from overseas. I was either deployed all the time and too junior, or surrounded by Frenchies during those overseas tours. Other thing, can you do your final PCS while on terminal? People I’ve helped retire CONUS were always straightforward and easy.

I guess that's not a problem. Still curious about terminal and overseas moving home.

I should have been more clear. I was referring to the fact that their inaction in their primary legislative roles allows it to continue unabated. For a president to feel like they're accomplishing anything, they have to take action through EOs. All Congress manages to do is fight each other. Only time they pass anything consequential is if one party has a majority. Otherwise, it's bipartisanship is because it's some Mickey mouse policy that doesn't really matter.

I am curious about terminal from overseas assignments. How does that work? I'll be at an embassy, and I'd like to do the disappear thing before it's all said and done, but with my position, they can't really bring in my replacement while I'm still there. They have to PCS me back to where I'm retiring, but can that happen while I'm on terminal? Third overseas assignment, but never really seen anyone retire from one, so in an 18 year career, I haven't seen this particular situation.

Mixed bag today on we of the many EAs Biden is proposed to sign. Some I like, others not so much. My big gripe is the reinforcement of executive power that tacitly happens when he does all this. Congress basically allows it to continue by never saying/doing anything. It's a problem. Checks and balances don't work when they checks only come in times of egregious actions on the part of the executive.

I for one fully support him, and even feel like he was baited by the "woke" crowd just to point out there was someone who didn't agree with them. If you look into what they did, it was clear they were goading the bakery.

Sure thing. I'll get right on that. Cause taken in context of the rest of this thread, it's crazy to think anyone might interpret what you wrote that way...

It's no wonder our country is so divided. Dude was elected back in Nov. Nothing Trump could have done to change it, so for you conspiracy nuts, why wouldn't they have changed immediately after the election was declared for Biden if this was done just to get him elected? You all sound like the upstanding Patriots that stormed the Capitol! It couldn't possibly be that while they recognize that the Rona is serious, they also seriously want to get the economy moving again, could it? Nah, that would be bonkers...

I had the idea in Afganistan in 2008, but who trusts a middling Capt with this? Mark Cuban nailed it. With minor exceptions, don't give any money to industries, give it all to the people. That money will trickle up into the industries where it's needed as people keep living their lives, buying food, paying rent, making car payments etc, and you see actual benefits to taxpayers, not corporations who turn around and pay themselves instead of taking care of their people.

We’ve worried about automation taking people’s jobs at every new innovation that simplifies/eliminates jobs people used to do, and guess what, it’s always for nothing. The market adapts, new markets/niches appear and those people find different things to do. You sound smarter than me in this topic, so I imagine you already know about how this happens. The US has long since moved away from a production based economy to a services based economy. Maybe we’re moving a little back in that direction by bringing some of that production back to US soil, but it’s never going to be like it was in the 80’s and earlier. It might be a rough transition, but our society will adapt and create different jobs for those middle men. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

🤣 careful saying that on here. Some ardent believers in the hoaxness of Russia and Trump.