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https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2459225/newly-acquired-afrl-test-aircraft-to-aid-personnel-recovery-research/ The Air Force is thinking of using a XCub bush plane for CSAR? Wow. Would be sporty to fly that into hostile airspace.

We'd probably be better off having everyone get a PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) certification instead of SOS. That was more useful than anything I learned at SOS....

The sad thing is everybody are so emotionally invested in programs, we can't even have the discussion about what to cut. People just lose their minds when you bring up their pet thing and refuse to even consider it. For example, Service Academies, two ground branches, EUCOM, etc. Just watch how much flak I will draw for mentioning those few items. I personally think DoD could take a massive cut without significantly endangering our national security IF AND ONLY IF we were willing to make the hard choices.

I really don't get the subdued spice brown patches, nametapes, etc. It's on velcro; if you truly need to be camo'ed, just take them off, like we do with the flight suit.

The people arguing we need to do something about global climate change would have more credibility if they were open to other options (such as technological solutions like Viperman mentioned) but they insist the ONLY option is turning the U.S. into North Korea/Stalinist Russia. Me thinks the objective isn't mitigating climate change but rather it's political power... At any rate, unless you get China and India onboard, anything we do is futile.

Just spent a year and a half running a state nuclear response team (loved the job but to tell you how much the upper management in state government sucks, I just took a job as an AFJROTC instructor-would rather deal with teenagers...), the whole radiation thing is way overblown and the risk of a serious nuclear power plant accident that impacts the public is extremely small. And the safety culture at nuclear power plants makes Air Force aviation safety culture look positively careless from what I could tell.

Hell, I was prior enlisted in the Army Reserve and retired from the USAF as an O-5 but when I go over to Ft Jackson once in a blue moon and see a smokey the bear hat (i.e. drill sergeant), still makes me nervous for a second. 🙂

When I did the COMBAT SHIELD EW Assessment program as my last assignment, it was disheartening to see how some (but most were not like this) SNCO MX types totally throw up roadblocks to the junior NCOs trying to make it happen. For some reason, it seemed to be mostly the pod shops that bore the brunt of that. 'Course some of the MX Os threw up just as many roadblocks. As an aside, for all you CSOs/EWs out there, COMBAT SHIELD is great assignment. Getting to go out on the road with a team of MXers, dragging cables with them on a flightline as an O-5, and watching them coach and mentor the host unit MXers was one of the most rewarding things I did in the AF. Wish I could have done it much sooner in my career instead of as a last assignment.

Back in the Stone Age when I was at Dyess, it would really piss me off to see every summer AFROTC and Academy cadets get rides in the B-1 but most of our own maintainers never got a ride. Ought to be a rule that nobody else gets a flight until at least all the crew chiefs have flown.

I I did three assignments there including an exchange tour at their ACSC. Would love to live there again. The last time I was there several years ago I met a lot of families who told me Korea was their first choice of assignment. Since I've retired I've met civilians around where I live who are big Kpop or K-drama fans who say they want to go on vacation there. Lots of modern stuff, beautiful parks, cell phone service everywhere and cheap high speed internet, safe anywhere you go, and the locals are friendly. What's not to like? Admittedly the weather sucks (either arctic cold or Alabama steamy hot) as does the traffic and parking but besides those...

The Social Security Disability system is even more rife with grift, fraud, and scammers than the VA.

Everybody loves to beat up the VA but nobody talks about all the people clogging up VA services with 100% PTSD or other bogus stuff because they saw a bodybag from 200 yards away after never having left the base during their entire 'Nam or Afghanistan tour.

Interesting video but the irony of a college professor talking about BS jobs....

Words fail. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8396759/Deputy-killed-California-ambush-Air-Force-sergeant.html

I had a waiver for depth perception as WSO. Also, if your depth perception is due to mis-aligned eyes, i.e. strabismus, you may be able to get surgery to correct it. I had it and didn't get the surgery until my mid-40s and yet my depth perception is almost in normal range despite 48 years of brain wiring. I just did the circle test for an annual physical and pre-surgery several years ago I could get 1 out of 9 correct and now I get 6 out of 9 correct. If I had done it in my teens or 20s, results probably would have been a lot better.

We will never get past race in this country unfortunately. Too many people on both sides (for example, David Duke and Al Sharpton) make a very lucrative living stirring up racial animus...

Check out this website. https://gunsafereviewsguy.com/ Definitely some things to be aware of before you buy a safe.

There are bunch of contractor jobs in the fighter squadrons at Shaw doing support stuff on clearancejobs.com. Probably have those in other places too.

Getting the public to trust the decisions being made would be a helluva lot easier if our elites hadn't totally thrown their credibility in the toilet long before. We now live in a world where there is no penalty for failing or being wrong if you are in the elite class. Yet they expect us to do as they say without question....

When I was at Pensacola UNT circa 1998 there was a USN Navy pilot who became a F-14 RIO. Apparently he couldn't pass carrier quals and instead of becoming a land-based pilot (P-3, etc.) he decided he had to do the carrier thing and became a NFO. Likewise there was a USMC pilot who in the pipeline to become a Marine NFO while I was there for reasons I don't remember.

I had a SFS squadron commander at Randolph tell that me that to my face. I mentioned the long line of cars every day outside the gate and the CIA gate shooting and he said, "It's not my problem if it happens out there."

We've spent more on Afghanistan in adjusted dollars than we did on the Marshall Plan FFS. Fellow alum was a PRT commander there about 5 years ago, so like 14-15 years into the war. He and crew rolled up into a valley in western Afghanistan near the Iranian border and the locals thought he and his folks were Russians. Never heard of 9-11 and didn't know there were any Americans in Afghanistan. 14-15 years into the war!

I didn't have any of that and got Korean ACSC as a B-1 WSO. The only thing I had going for me is my wife is Korean. I know I beat out some prior enlisted Korean linguists; how, I don't know. The F-15C guy that came after me had absolutely nothing to do with Korea and didn't even have any foreign schools on his IDE app. And I think the F-16 guy after him had nothing to do with Korea either except a Kun or Osan tour under his belt. My impression was that AFSC was more important than other factors.

I'm surprised this has taken this long for this to happen. When I went to nav school at Pensacola in the 97-98 time frame seemed like half of the Saudis were like, "This is great. Allah can't see me here so I can drink, eat pork, party, etc." But the other half, you could tell, were like, "Ima give all my pay check to Osama Bin Laden."

They, as well as the RAF, were already offered the B-1 from the ones sent to D-M in the early 2000s and they said no.