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Gravedigger

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Posts posted by Gravedigger

    What's wrong with the Air Force?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Abraham Lincoln once delivered a ten-sentence dedication speech that lasted just a few minutes. That speech followed a two-hour oration by the featured speaker, Mr. Emerson, that was to be the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln's are the only remarks that are remembered and valued by history.

    Study: Nuclear Force Feeling 'Burnout' from Work

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Even if the culture is directed to change by HAF/OSD, I'm not sure it will stick. One of the issues in the missile community is how to differentiate and stratify the CGOs. They go out on alert, they don't fuck anything up, they go home. Everybody looks the exact same on paper, and there is no working interaction with leadership for them to evaluate you. So how do you stand out? You can be fortunate enough to have some emergency happen while you're on alert. There's a joke about crews setting their own capsules on fire to win crew of the qtr. You can also stab your peers in the back by identifying things they did wrong, which is incredibly common. The quickest way to ruin your chances of ever moving to OSS/OGV or having a good follow-on assignment are bombing an eval or having a crappy EWO test. Since everyone can get a 100% on a straightforward test, they make them tricky to help thin the population. In turn, people cheat to stay competitive, and the cycle feeds itself. I'm afraid this is so engrained in all levels of the community that changing the culture would be futile. For their sake, I hope I'm wrong.

    Washington DC

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    I was going to say Old Town would be great for you as well. The friends I have that live there have to fight for street parking everyday; not my cup of tea, but they like to be within walking distance of tons of restaurants/bars/activities/metro. Depending on how much cheddar you're willing to part with, there are some awesome places with garages there too. You'll be 15 minutes from Andrews, and as Hoss mentioned you'll be going counter-traffic.

    Don't live anywhere right outside Andrews. It's garbage.

    Not going to UPT...will I get kicked out?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Thecounterpoint would be that if these people were selected for pilot training, they probably didn't completely suck in college. In my peer group, several of us that voluntarily quit UPT have done very well in the 13S career field (I can't speak to the other AFSCs). For those that failed UPT, the results have been mixed. Some of them are great officers who just didn't have the hands or stomach to fly, and the Air Force is better off having them around doing something else. Some of them had no business graduating college, and have struggled mightily in their new career fields. Many of them have been RIFd, passed over and involuntarily separated.

    What's the moral of the story? Why cut these guys automatically when some of them could be great leaders who just went to the wrong career field initially? If they suck, they will continue to suck, and then they'll be forced out later on.

    Study: Nuclear Force Feeling 'Burnout' from Work

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    How many do we need? Well, since we have launched exactly zero missiles with a nuclear warhead at another country, then I would say we need...probably a lot less than we have now.

    We don't keep ICBMs around to actually use them; we keep them around as a deterrent. Part of the deterrent is that they are dispersed enough to make destroying them all in a strike essentially impossible. Leaving Malmstrom open doesn't cost THAT much more than the other bases, we are talking gallons of gas, really not a huge expense. It does maintain enough geographic dispersion to ensure a credible deterrent.

    • Upvote 1

    Study: Nuclear Force Feeling 'Burnout' from Work

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Gravedigger

    This is going to be the end of the nuke triad. The level of buffoonery going on in the missile fields is going to lead to a report that says we can get by on bombers and sub launched missiles. Mothball the ICBMs, thank all the 13Ns for their time and close FE Warren, Malmstrom and parts of Vandenberg. Massive savings all around.

    We can only hope. The representatives in the areas affected would never let that happen.

    Here's my solution:

    1. Reduce from 3 missile wings to 1. Leave Malmstrom open, because the town would literally die without the base. Minot still has the bombers, and FE could pick up more Hercs or other missions.

    2. Use recycled nuclear material for energy.

    3. Having one wing resolves the issue of having way too many CGOs with one missile tour and nowhere to go.

    4. Give missileers incentive pay, but continue to pull from the bottom 10% of commissioning sources.

    5. Upgrade systems on exisiting ICBMs with savings.

    6. Shut down ICBM WIC...because it's just too stupid to comprehend.

    .....

    12. Profits.

    Washington DC

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    Look right around the Springfield metro station. There are some neighborhoods near there that have pretty nice houses for relativity cheap. Anything in Alexandria near the Huntington station will be more money, and probably a townhouse. If the commute and the cost are your major factors, I think Springfield is your best option.

    I'm stationed at Belvoir, and I would recommend you get yourself and your family assigned here for healthcare. The hospital, dentist, and basically all of the other services are about the best I've seen anywhere. The whole base is great, really. If you do move here you'll be adding a 15 minute drive to your commute to get to either Springfield or Huntington metro station, or you can take 30 minutes and ride the bus that runs through base.

    Return of Friday shirts / patches

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    There are really two ways to view these changes. The cynical view says this is leadership trying to placate the masses with simple things to keep their minds off of the major issues. The optimist view says that this change indicates senior leadership has a pulse on what the masses want and is trying to fix the simple things that don't take an act of congress or any more budget space.

    Personally, I'm more on the optimist side and I'm excited to see these changes.

    • Upvote 1

    Study: Nuclear Force Feeling 'Burnout' from Work

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I am only talking about what I know. Tanker world. Just saying that sometimes we could use an experienced commander, not a rookie like we get every time. Again, I was only talking about the tanker world because that's the lane I am in.

    With very few exceptions, all Sq/CCs in the AF are first time Sq/CCs...that's how it works. Now if you are saying you wish your Grp/CC had Sq/CC experience or Wg/CC had Grp/CC experience, that's a different argument, however, almost all of them will have commanded at the lower levels.

    Expedited TSA Screening for Active Duty Military Effective 20 Dec

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    Got turned away in FLL this morning. Not only did I have my CAC, I had my Global Entry card, both of which mean I don't need shit on my boarding pass. I tried to explain that to the pissed off Mexican-American woman working the line by pointing to the TSA Pre-Check and Global Entry sign hanging above her head. She has been trained that you must have the pre-check on your boarding pass, period, no matter what the rules actually are.

    Academy informant program

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    As a Junior at USAFA, I'd like to give my perspective.

    I don't know if there is a quality difference between the commissioning sources or if the Academy is worth it, but I know it has pretty neat perks for its students.

    That's the right perspective. You'll do just fine.

    Academy informant program

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Gravedigger

    I will add (I think many of us agree) USAFA is an excellent academic institution. It consistently ranks in the top 15 in the country. The idea that there are hundreds just like it is absurd.

    Dude, the problem is you keep posting about how great the Academy is compared to other schools. It's a good school, but it is nowhere near top 20. It is only ranked amongst schools without graduate degree programs...not really a huge pool there. Again, I've got no problem with Academy grads, however, a lot of the ones I have thought were douchebags seemed to think they graduated from MIT because they took a beginner's astro class as a management major.

    http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities

    • Upvote 6

    Academy informant program

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    From your Rhodes Scholar link:

    We hesitate to publish this due to the ease in which these statistics are misused and misinterpreted, but we do so as lists like this are now widely available but frequently inaccurate.

    Please keep in mind though that the Rhodes Scholarship competition has never been a national one, so state and institutional comparisons are not particularly relevant or meaningful.

    I do believe USAFA is a huge waste of money, but that doesn't make all of the people there suck by association.

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