Clark Griswold

Perhaps all is not loss but I am reasonably skeptical, good article from War on the Rocks: https://warontherocks.com/2015/11/campaign-acceleration-how-to-build-on-progress-and-avoid-stalemate-against-isil/

Yup - Op Run out the Clock then let the next POTUS handle it Syria has some interesting words on our next phase https://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_SYRIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-10-31-07-40-12 What every POTUS fears will be the end of Afghanistan, Iraq, anywhere we get involved in COIN / Nation building after we leave (if ever) ... This image of the evacuation of Saigon must be on the mind of every President, not on my watch but what the hell else can we do besides keep the shit at shoe level by bombing them when we can? Turkey and Iraq don't want or will not let us heavily arm the Kurds, the Iraqi army is a mess, IS is not going away without a fight on the ground by an overwhelming and competent force and then long term occupation / pacification with no guarantee of success. Usually I hate just bitching about the news without being able offer anything of value but I think there is no real solution in Syria, it doesn't exist anymore effectively and that taking the position that a new Sunni state of eastern Syria / Western Iraq is a viable alternative, with NO recognition of the Islamic State but turning the government of this new state to Sunni Arab tribes and local governments. There is precedent for this in the creation of the new nation of South Sudan, accepting the partition of Syria but not the existence of ISIS as the government. How you actually do this is the 64 billion dollar question.

SWEDEN'S MULTICULTURAL CENTER EXPERT ON ISLAMOPHOBIA JOINS ISIS And if the whole ISIS thing doesn't work out, he can always go back to the Islamophobia racket https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/251905/swedens-multicultural-center-expert-islamophobia-daniel-greenfield

Not sure why it took so long for the mainstream but this was the first I had heard of the export of labor from NK to countries they do business with. Export of illicit drugs is the one of the other sources of hard currency for the dear leader. https://thediplomat.com/2014/08/north-korea-chinas-largest-drug-dealer/

Meanwhile from the land of pure evil... https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/29/asia/north-korea-un-forced-labor-overseas/index.html

Here's the original model:

60 Minutes on the Air Campaign against ISIS. https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/60-minutes-takes-a-glance-at-the-growing-costs-of-the-a-1738638898 From the article "...the cost to sustain the air war, which was stated to be $10 million daily." If that number and the likelihood we will just keep dropping iron on jihadi a-holes here and elsewhere into the foreseeable future are not reason enough for the US to buy something that doesn't cost around $60k+ an hour to deliver a PGM then nothing will...

Just two cents offered on BO.net but I would rather be here: New AWACS cockpit (in 2018) https://www.hanscom.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123424407 Than here: That's no offense to RPA dudes either, I had an RPA assignment while on AD, didn't regret it but after about 2 years in the shelter I was ready to go back to anything that slipped the surly bonds of earth.

Yup - Canada is down around 1% GDP as are most of our allies, we're around 4.4% when you factor in everything and not just looking at baseline. If the world wants us to help them keep the place from falling apart or being overrun by the Russians then put your money where your mouth is... 2% GDP is reasonable but the majority of NATO seem to forget that... https://www.wsj.com/articles/nato-calls-for-rise-in-defence-spending-by-alliance-members-1434978193 On the F-35, McCain is now calling for fewer and in the article the incoming CNO said he would re-validate the appropriate number of aircraft the Navy requires." Sounds like I am figuring out a way to hand this off to the AF and USMC to deal with. https://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/air-space/strike/2015/10/21/mccain-f35-reduce-total-buy/74350928/

Valid quibble. On the 13 year UPT commitment, seems an odd number but they could make it 15.5 years and they probably could fill the bucket still, aviation runs on dreams. Well said.

Do you mean the latest you and your phone, computer, post, whatever, etc... are open for scrutiny, search, investigation and you are responsible for every communication that can be judged with out cause ? From JQP: https://www.jqpublicblog.com/in-message-to-wing-commanders-welsh-declares-zero-privacy-doctrine-for-all-airmen/ This is Orwellian.

Done - read more on this and once again I ask how much further down the road to crazyville can the AF go? Thanks btw.

Yup - new PM does not favor 5th gen stealth for Canada https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-election-2015-trudeau-scrap-f35-halifax-1.3235791 From FoxtrotAlpha: https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/big-liberal-win-in-canada-is-bad-news-for-the-f-35-join-1737515488

First time hearing of this bullshit - anyone at Laughlin have more to add? https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/air-force-loses-its-mind-grounds-pilots-over-texting-m-1737596640

The F-35C is getting spiked. https://breakingdefense.com/2015/10/f-35c-a-wrong-turn-for-navy-cnas/ From the article: If the Navy cancelled F-35C altogether, Hendrix writes, “it could afford to purchase two squadrons of 12 Super Hornets [per carrier] (in addition to the two Super Hornet squadrons already present) to replace the two squadrons of 10 F-35Cs and purchase six squadrons of [drones] with 16 aircraft apiece (12 strikers and four tankers) and still be able to return money to the taxpayers.” I've always suspect the Navy was playing it cool to see if it could get out of the JSF business, this is just an article and an argument but it has some valid points, the moolah saving and still buying new Super-bugs might persuade Congress to change heading. Or we could do nothing and just keep driving towards the abyss...

Yep - they put em in shitholes with limited economies, the town becomes dependent and desperate to keep the base / mission and then the AF can leverage that to get a vote for something else - myopic and unconcerned about the second order effects of all that wheeling and dealing Edit for better thought rambling. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ok I won't cast that curse but if it was Pensacola or San Antonio that'd be pretty good IMO Had not heard of the effort to put MCEs in decent locales but given that could raise morale you can be sure that is below the line unfortunately Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I wish that weren't true but damn it.... On spitball ideas, if we cared about the long term viability of the officers careers as pilots (and God forbid, morale) we would put MCEs at UPT bases, when the planes and RPA pilots could fit into the schedule for a CT sortie, go do it. But this is the SAPR-DTS-AAD required-Disco Belt modern day AF, hell bent on forgetting its heritage and reason for being a separate service...

Yep - not the whole bleak picture but probably a good guess at what the Battle of Taiwan would require... a shit load of airplanes, missiles, luck and brass balls to fight. Article on what a PRC invasion of Taiwan might look like or their options for a military solution to re-unification: https://www.businessinsider.com/what-a-chinese-invasion-of-taiwan-would-look-like-2014-6 Probably the best Taiwan can do it make the island one giant IED, machine gun and sniper's nest to make any amphibious or airborne invasion enormously costly to the invasion force, a pyrrhic victory at best via a very long bloody campaign. Article at TNR on that subject: https://nationalinterest.org/feature/taiwans-master-plan-defeat-china-war-12510 The best deterrent is the anticipated reaction of the world: Seizure of foreign investments and good luck getting paid on the 2+ trillion the US owes you, no one except the pariah states would recognize their annexation and everyone around you will now arm themselves to the max extent they can afford and probably cozy up with the US and maybe even Japan. Great you got an island with no natural resources, no one recognizes your claim, you fought a very bloody & expensive campaign and the population hates you - big win.

Same here but I think adding 50% + would be a reasonable WAG figuring the wagon train of logistics to put that JP8 over the AOR Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MacGruber could figure this shit out But we're without him so mere mortals will have to do...there is no solution, just as I am starting to believe there is no Syria anymore, all the nations created by Sykes-Picot are failing apart, let it just partition and separate out...

Probably something like this: Proposed Safe Zone is getting circulated with about 0.69% of happening. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-said-it-will-create-a-safe-zone-on-syrian-border-but-nobody-knows-how/2015/08/12/4c7d0baa-37e4-11e5-ab7b-6416d97c73c2_story.html Just as soon as we commit to an open ended 100k boots on the ground, not holding breath...

No doubt that T-X is or will be on the back burner but I don't think there is really a choice, the Tones, 38s are at a point where they either need recapitalization or replacement and the future of the AF (unfortunately) will probably consist of fewer total number of cockpits and types of cockpits, "de-specialization" is better for this future AF and in reflection of my time in the AF and flying, specialization in UPT created yet another barrier / stovepiping in the AF, Kina touchy feely comment I realize but we bitch about the lack of a unifying experience or identity in the AF, there are no obvious practical solutions to this but in this corner of the AF that tends to produce the senior leaders, we can start them with a common experience to provide amongst this small but important population in the AF the common identity we strive for.

Pretty much spot on

ANG in Vietnam.