Lord Ratner

It is also important to note that the hacking of Democrats' emails by Russia would have been insignificant had certain Democrats not been engaging in phenomenally unethical shit. This is different than if they had actually hacked voting machines. No one on the left threw a fit when Donald Trump's (authentic) tax documents were illegally obtained and published, so why the sudden fit when illegally obtained (authentic) emails are released? Because both sides will disingenuously ignore data that doesn't support their side, even here. They are all crooked. We know this. But Donald Trump had everything in the world working against him and he still won. If you want to blame Russia as the final 2% that pushed him over the line, fine, but it wouldn't have mattered if the other 98% of factors that contributed to his win had been thwarted-- or in many cases, addressed at all. I sincerely hope Democrats continue on their present path. Focusing only on the president's personality and Russia has set them up for some pretty spectacular policy losses, and they managed to paint themselves in a pretty tight corner with the shutdown over DACA. Congressional Democrats seem to be operating as though they are contending against someone like Paul Ryan, whose ultimate goal is the advancement of Neo conservative principles. This is not Donald Trump's interest; rather, it seems like his primary interest is in undoing Obama's legacy as pay back, and getting legislation passed despite Democratic resistance, even if that legislation is not particularly conservative. For now, it just so happens to be suiting my political interests very well.

Surprising? We had several periods where the base was flying Monday-Saturday and then as many jets as we could fit at the local regional (GTR) on Sunday. Rinse and repeat. If they couldn't keep the base open on Saturday, then the regional was used, and others were sent cross country, but for other-than-navigation syllabus rides. Great times for a FAIP, but the MWS guys weren't thrilled.

Keep the 60 vote rule. The more barriers to legislation, the better.

This is my favorite video of all time

Is my sarcasm detector inop?

This is the same shit that brought us the Black lives matter nothing burger. Try to tell a liberal that blacks in America are committing a hugely disproportionate amount of violent crime, a completely irrefutable fact, and they call you a racist. But in the same breath they scream that we "have to" have a conversation about racist policing in America. Now we "have to" have a conversation about immigration, but call a country a shithole, when that country is by any reasonable analysis exactly that, boom, out comes the racist card. If you dingleberries keep using language restriction and faux outrage to shame people into your way of thinking, Donald is going to tap dance right into another term. Maybe when someone tells you they aren't racist, turn off your inner Maddow and try to figure out what other reasons they have for disagreeing with you.

Which they would be justified in doing. I'm no fan of the GTC, but pilots whining about not getting credit card points from their government funded trips certainly doesn't help support other, actually relevant complaints.

Not really. Law enforcement in America is still working. We are not on track for a massive degradation in police operations. Can the same be said for the Air Force? Just because your commander is a "good dude" who "gets it" doesn't mean he or she is qualified to run a massive organization. I get what you're saying, but the evidence is not on the pilots' side. Also, your analogy would be more accurate if you were saying the mayor of the city should be a cop, which in most cases is not true, or necessary for a city to have an effective police force.

Let's face it, the pilots can't hack it

Major (select) Duck, field grade is an honor and a responsibility. Are you ready?

Thanks for the info, it's good to have perspective shared

One counter point that I think might make it worth the gamble is the retirements for AA. If, big if, the union can get it together in the next 10 years, the opportunity for seniority movement crushes the other carriers. I will say, their hiring process was the friendliest experience I've ever had.

STOP! If we say it two more times he will be summoned...

Go on...

When I spoke with them in 2015, the Italian booms were not fond of the system

Yeah, but 89 of those days were spent arguing about the difference between an aileron roll and a barrel roll.

Being a commander is not a requirement. If you're not interested in performing all of the usual duties for all of your subordinates who are serving in lawful capacities, then just don't be a commander. It would be pandemonium amongst the ranks if the first gay commander only signed certs for gay spouses, and they would be rightly upset.

Dear God yes.

I have an interview with AA in a few weeks. Any areas to focus on other than the usual ECIC?

So an adult job... Like the airlines?

Any vindictive OG would recognize their words being put out online. This only seems to protect the commander, not the poster...

Phase one, voluntary recalls. Phase two, stop loss. Phase three, involuntary recalls. This move makes phase one look more thoroughly applied and paves the way for an inevitable phase two.

This would support my argument in two ways. First, there's nothing that says C-130s can't be like Fighters, where since skill is required to support the mission, there's a higher incidence of skilled pilots in Leadership positions. However, because of the existence of the Phoenix reach program and a general desire to swap commanders into different airframes, bad pilots from other heavies that have distinguished themselves through paperwork are still able to take over C-130 squadrons as commanders, bypassing the requirement to be good at flying C-130 missions. Last I heard there were more C-17 pilots taking over C-130 squadrons than the reverse, so even though C-130 pilots may require more skill to accomplish their mission, the net effect of the system, thanks to Phoenix reach, would be the same.

I could write an entire paper on how the mobility Air Forces delegitimize flying skill. But the bottom line is this: for the most part, you don't have to be good to accomplish our mission. Because you can be quite bad at the actual skill of flying and still get the mobility mission done, guys are able to focus their early careers on superfluous shit, while maintaining only a baseline competency in the jet. Since this strategy optimizes your chances for promotion, especially within Mobility, these people end up in positions of power. And since they weren't competent in the jet, they perpetuate the idea that skill in the jet is not as important as the skill of paperwork, and being an exec, and other non flying related tasks. Since the reality is that you can be bad in the jet and get the mobility mission done, this mindset is able survive. What commander who got where they are by being terrible in the aircraft is going to promote a squadron culture of being skilled in the aircraft? Because people are generally proponents of the way they got to their position in life, these weak pilots deemphasize skill, sometimes actively.

The first round of Metamucil is on me, old man.