BFM this

They've exposed themselves to way to much competition (Hulu, Amazon, Blockbuster) with their buffonery. They had dominant market share (still do, but declining), but are going to finish on the other side of this struggling to recapture thier niche, which they'll never get back. Hollywood is happy with this just as any supplier would be; who wants to sit across the table from a distribution monopoly that constantly rakes you over the coals? Will they still be around in 10yrs? Probably, but a decent growth stock? Nope.

Their price restructure wasn't random. Acquisition costs were about to skyrocket: the price model that NF was working under was based on an old "lets see where this internet streaming idea goes", and was about to increase fivefold as Hollywood now has a good handle on the profit potential. Likewise, although the USPS woes are only now making the MSM front page, companies who's entire distribution (for the disk side) depended have had a finger on the pulse of that trainwreck for some time. Random they weren't. Heavy handed and without regard to the consumer, yes. Believe it or not, despite all of my bitching on this board, I still subscribe to the old-school sentiment that says the AF shouldn't give two shits about my personal desires; that, yes, Needs of the Air Force should be the trump in management and decision making. But I also see things happening, beyond the AF and even DoD, that has the potential for long term unintended consequences. The operative question here will be how the AF navigates these unpredictable events. Bang-bang, like always? (like NF, in this case?) And like MMoose in his original post, I think that might be worth thinking about.

Netflix swung, and missed. So before you cleverly type how Netflix isn't an "ideal" or that the AF isn't a business, forfuxsake, read the OP and the slides! Netflix isn't necessarily a perfect parallel with BigBlue, but might not be too far off. From 25m subscribers, some by design (and some NOT) they're down a cool 1M from that peak. In two months. And they're surprised by this. https://blog.netflix.com/2011/09/explanation-and-some-reflections.html If AF leadership ever leads with "I messed up", we're already fucked.

Don't tease me.

AAaaand there's the hook. Priceless.

This is my surprised face. Task a group of shoes to work on solutions to a customer service problem, and "reducing service hours" is bound to percolate to the top of the idea list.

I bet that "cabin" smells like spring flowers.

Sadly he is probably not engaging O's, certainly not the ones in bags. Like any other self righteous busybody, he's likely picking on SrA or at most SSgts. So only the first half of beating him at his own game would likely work for the end user. Unless of course an A/C caught said E9 rolling in on one of your own crew, then it's fights on since the E9 has wandered into the threat of his own low SA accord.

For the FB crowd. A lot of good discussion, information sharing, and ideas: Here And Here

All sarcasm. No idea and barely care.

I call BS. That would require the AF to admit, even if only on a minor point, that they were wrong to pass on the T-45. AF leadership would rather put out a burning oil well with their own face than ever do this. I predict us buying used T-50s from the DAKs before the first T-45 says USAF on the side.

I think you have to say his name 2 more times.

That was part of my consideration as well, but it was specifically why I went with AAFMA. I wanted coverage during my prime earning years--years before I had my own nest egg/financial foundation built. Those are the vulnerable years in my mind. 20 years from now, I will have eclipsed what that policy would offer, so it will at that point be redundant.

It's not matching, it's defined contribution (govt will contribute x amount to tsp automatically). In fact I don't recall the DBB proposal mentioning matching specifically.

Just after a two year record high retention rate. Weirdest thing!

Fast forward a few years. Assuming these changes take place, how or would your advice change for... the 17yo that is thinking of enlisting 17yo thinking about a service academy junior at the zoo thinking about pilot training 7yr SSgt weighing thier options (ranging from defense contracting job to going back home to be a cop) I've got my ideas, just thinking through the second order effects for discussion sake.

I was really young during 40%. I remember a lot of bitterness. A LOT. In conjuntion, a lot of E-6's were getting kicked to the curb at 16-17 years. I was like a young pup that could smell something bad in the air, but didn't quite know what it was...

$289 retail according to the website, but $150 according to the catalog once they have your impressions. Might be questionable value at that price, but I love mine, and will be getting a spare set.

All great thoughts, but I wanted to point something out. When my unit transitioned to ACCES we had a very smart LSO working at the group. He rightly predicted that the user would have to get accostomed to these new earpieces. Second, since Westone already had our molds, it was very little additional cost to order everybody stereo earphones specifically to ease the acclimation process. And yes, they legitimately helped. If your unit is about to transition to ACCES, I would drop this idea off with your LSO. The earphones are pretty awesome--could be better with lower freq's, so if you're a full-up audiophile you prob won't be impressed, but I like them. If your unit has already tx'd, you're not out of luck. Westone keeps all molds for 5 years; call them up--it's prob way cheaper to get a set of headphones with a ready mold. I haven't looked into it yet, but even if mine don't wear out/break/get lost I'm planning on ordering another set in 3-4 years. They are hands-down the best fitting earphones I've ever had. Sorry for the hijack--Back to the discussion.

That dude made O6. And got a Wing. ...

Neither have you. Noted.

It's ok. They had radar SA.

First off, this is an ACSC paper. C'mon, how often do those get any traction? Second, agree with Brother Brabus-Johnson: you'll get your AR intro in the B-course (MQT often enough). You won't remember what the big deal was two weeks into your first deployment. Two months into said deployment, you'll stay on the boom while using a piddle-pack. In the last month of the deployment, you'll see which booms catch that you're giving the ops desk dsn every time they ask for your tail number.

If you need to reference an education office that is up and running with this, call Moody. They've got two schools approved. I didn't use them for my ATP due to scheduling complications, but they know the regs and certification requirements.

How long had he been gone? Was this a result of the "return to fly board"?