schokie
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Posts posted by schokie
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My squadron wasn't going to pay for a rental car, so I drove my own POV there. A 12 hour one-way trip turned into $850 in my pocket. I spent much less than that in gas, plus I had my car there. However, I didn't use it much during SOS. Almost everyone else in my flight had a rental/POV, so there was no shortage of transportation for lunch/dinner/booze pushes.
I found out several months in advance of my SOS sentence as well. I guess that's the advantage of being a CGO in an AETC squadron. There wasn't much competition, so SQ leadership was able to plan out the SOS slots well in advance.
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I'm sure it's worthwhile to folks who are often TDY to multiple locations in one trip. However, since I'm almost always simply TDY to one location and back, defensetravel.dod.mil provides all the gouge I need, and for the right price!
I'm just not your target audience, sorry.
It does look promising though. I appreciate folks that are turning out apps specific for the military crowd.
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Is it free?
App store shows $2.99. I didn't download it. Sounds like a good idea, but I don't have crazy AMC style TDY's that require a spreadsheet. For 3 bucks I can just calc it myself.
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Just a quick reminder that the TMO lady doesn't work for Finance and isn't the one that approves your Voucher payment. So who cares what she says. I've had similar issues with folks at SATO during an overseas PCS. They can say whatever they want, but all that matters is what's on your orders and what Finance agrees to pay you.
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Keep in mind that's just a list of AFSCs that a particular unit is authorized. Even if it's listed as not filled it doesn't mean that AFPC is looking to fill it during the next or really any VML.
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To the WFFFFR
him, him
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Im looking for the saying that fighter pilots use when someone says the word head. Goes something like this:
head who said head. ill take some of that. She gave me head and then we f*cked...
Head? Who said head? I'll take some of that, and I did, and it was good, and there was much rejoicing throughout the land. And then we f*cked, for hours and hours, uprooting trees, bushes, and flowers, like vikings, with horns on our heads. Head? Who said head? I'll take some of that, and I did, and it was good, and there was much rejoicing throughout the land. And then we f*cked, for hours and hours, uprooting trees, bushes, and flowers, like vikings, with horns on our heads. Head? Who said head? I'll take some of that, and I did, and it was good...
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I got my XD-45 last fri. Here are some pics of it and my Bersa 380.
M2, what holster do you use to carry your XD? and what do you recommend to carry with? I was looking at Corbon, DPX and some others at a store here in LR. The price was the same on them all, and some were +P's. I know that the +P are a hotter load and have more energy behind them.
Congrats on the XD. I'm still experimenting with the holster. The one that comes with the gun is ok for the range, but not for everyday. I still haven't found one I like. If you're looking for CC it's tough to find one that works for the full size service XD.
I load mine up with Speer Gold Dot 200gr HP +P. The XD loves the +P loads. I'd prefer the 230gr, but Speer doesn't offer that in a +P. Honestly though, any recent offering of premium self defense ammo will work just fine. The particular flavor is just technique.
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Holy crap, reply #1,001. I don't even own a gun right now and I still felt the need to post here. Here's to you guns
You don't own a gun?!? What's your excuse? And you call yourself an American...
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Crewdog v. claimed teabagger, period. 1v1, full up internet muscles on. First post from longtime lurker... Was I in error? If it was out of context and didn't happen as posted, then choose text and context more carefully. 10% true the first time doesn't count here....
The 10% rule always applies. If it didn't this thread would be boring.
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I just started reloading .44 magnum, .375 H&H, and .30-06 this year. It is definitely cheaper than buying factory ammo, and you can make better loads (sts) once you get used to it. The only problem is that the initial set up cost is pretty high and reloading material is hard to find at the moment.
Better quality ammo is what got me interested. I learned reloading from my dad who's been doing it for 20+ years. I started for myself when this ammo craze first kicked off. I don't really save money reloading. I have more ammo for less money, so I shoot so much more that my savings are a wash. The real advantage I've found is that I can enjoy this hobby even when I'm not at the range. Reloading has forced an appreciated increase in my knowledge of firearms. I have almost as much fun tinkering with guns and ammo in my garage as I do shooting at the range.
Components are sometimes hard to find, primers in particular. But I keep my eye out for them and stock up when I can. So far I've had plenty to keep up with my demand.
M2, I know I live on the other side of town from you, but you're welcome to my reloading setup if you can acquire .455 dies. I've already got the .45 ACP dies along with a load that works great in my XD-45.
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I didn't know it was in town! I was actually at Lackland this morning, but wasn't near the flightline, so I didn't notice. Now I'm bummed I didn't check it out. I suppose that's what I get for not paying attention.
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Interesting article Fox News just put out:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/...number-claimed/
The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.While 90 percent of the guns traced to the U.S. actually originated in the United States, the percent traced to the U.S. is only about 17 percent of the total number of guns reaching Mexico.
By William La Jeunesse and Maxim Lott
FOXNews.com
Thursday, April 02, 2009
You've heard this shocking "fact" before -- on TV and radio, in newspapers, on the Internet and from the highest politicians in the land: 90 percent of the weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States.
-- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it to reporters on a flight to Mexico City.
-- CBS newsman Bob Schieffer referred to it while interviewing President Obama.
-- California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said at a Senate hearing: "It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors ... come from the United States."
-- William Hoover, assistant director for field operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified in the House of Representatives that "there is more than enough evidence to indicate that over 90 percent of the firearms that have either been recovered in, or interdicted in transport to Mexico, originated from various sources within the United States."
There's just one problem with the 90 percent "statistic" and it's a big one:
It's just not true.
In fact, it's not even close. By all accounts, it's probably around 17 percent.
What's true, an ATF spokeswoman told FOXNews.com, in a clarification of the statistic used by her own agency's assistant director, "is that over 90 percent of the traced firearms originate from the U.S."
But a large percentage of the guns recovered in Mexico do not get sent back to the U.S. for tracing, because it is obvious from their markings that they do not come from the U.S.
"Not every weapon seized in Mexico has a serial number on it that would make it traceable, and the U.S. effort to trace weapons really only extends to weapons that have been in the U.S. market," Matt Allen, special agent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told FOX News.
A Look at the Numbers
In 2007-2008, according to ATF Special Agent William Newell, Mexico submitted 11,000 guns to the ATF for tracing. Close to 6,000 were successfully traced -- and of those, 90 percent -- 5,114 to be exact, according to testimony in Congress by William Hoover -- were found to have come from the U.S.
But in those same two years, according to the Mexican government, 29,000 guns were recovered at crime scenes.
In other words, 68 percent of the guns that were recovered were never submitted for tracing. And when you weed out the roughly 6,000 guns that could not be traced from the remaining 32 percent, it means 83 percent of the guns found at crime scenes in Mexico could not be traced to the U.S.
So, if not from the U.S., where do they come from? There are a variety of sources:
-- The Black Market. Mexico is a virtual arms bazaar, with fragmentation grenades from South Korea, AK-47s from China, and shoulder-fired rocket launchers from Spain, Israel and former Soviet bloc manufacturers.
-- Russian crime organizations. Interpol says Russian Mafia groups such as Poldolskaya and Moscow-based Solntsevskaya are actively trafficking drugs and arms in Mexico.
- South America. During the late 1990s, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) established a clandestine arms smuggling and drug trafficking partnership with the Tijuana cartel, according to the Federal Research Division report from the Library of Congress.
-- Asia. According to a 2006 Amnesty International Report, China has provided arms to countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Chinese assault weapons and Korean explosives have been recovered in Mexico.
-- The Mexican Army. More than 150,000 soldiers deserted in the last six years, according to Mexican Congressman Robert Badillo. Many took their weapons with them, including the standard issue M-16 assault rifle made in Belgium.
-- Guatemala. U.S. intelligence agencies say traffickers move immigrants, stolen cars, guns and drugs, including most of America's cocaine, along the porous Mexican-Guatemalan border. On March 27, La Hora, a Guatemalan newspaper, reported that police seized 500 grenades and a load of AK-47s on the border. Police say the cache was transported by a Mexican drug cartel operating out of Ixcan, a border town.
'These Don't Come From El Paso'
Ed Head, a firearms instructor in Arizona who spent 24 years with the U.S. Border Patrol, recently displayed an array of weapons considered "assault rifles" that are similar to those recovered in Mexico, but are unavailable for sale in the U.S.
"These kinds of guns -- the auto versions of these guns -- they are not coming from El Paso," he said. "They are coming from other sources. They are brought in from Guatemala. They are brought in from places like China. They are being diverted from the military. But you don't get these guns from the U.S."
Some guns, he said, "are legitimately shipped to the government of Mexico, by Colt, for example, in the United States. They are approved by the U.S. government for use by the Mexican military service. The guns end up in Mexico that way -- the fully auto versions -- they are not smuggled in across the river."
Many of the fully automatic weapons that have been seized in Mexico cannot be found in the U.S., but they are not uncommon in the Third World.
The Mexican government said it has seized 2,239 grenades in the last two years -- but those grenades and the rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) are unavailable in U.S. gun shops. The ones used in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey in October and a TV station in January were made in South Korea. Almost 70 similar grenades were seized in February in the bottom of a truck entering Mexico from Guatemala.
"Most of these weapons are being smuggled from Central American countries or by sea, eluding U.S. and Mexican monitors who are focused on the smuggling of semi-automatic and conventional weapons purchased from dealers in the U.S. border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California," according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
Boatloads of Weapons
So why would the Mexican drug cartels, which last year grossed between $17 billion and $38 billion, bother buying single-shot rifles, and force thousands of unknown "straw" buyers in the U.S. through a government background check, when they can buy boatloads of fully automatic M-16s and assault rifles from China, Israel or South Africa?
Alberto Islas, a security consultant who advises the Mexican government, says the drug cartels are using the Guatemalan border to move black market weapons. Some are left over from the Central American wars the United States helped fight; others, like the grenades and launchers, are South Korean, Israeli and Spanish. Some were legally supplied to the Mexican government; others were sold by corrupt military officers or officials.
The exaggeration of United States "responsibility" for the lawlessness in Mexico extends even beyond the "90-percent" falsehood -- and some Second Amendment activists believe it's designed to promote more restrictive gun-control laws in the U.S.
In a remarkable claim, Auturo Sarukhan, the Mexican ambassador to the U.S., said Mexico seizes 2,000 guns a day from the United States -- 730,000 a year. That's a far cry from the official statistic from the Mexican attorney general's office, which says Mexico seized 29,000 weapons in all of 2007 and 2008.
Chris Cox, spokesman for the National Rifle Association, blames the media and anti-gun politicians in the U.S. for misrepresenting where Mexican weapons come from.
"Reporter after politician after news anchor just disregards the truth on this," Cox said. "The numbers are intentionally used to weaken the Second Amendment."
"The predominant source of guns in Mexico is Central and South America. You also have Russian, Chinese and Israeli guns. It's estimated that over 100,000 soldiers deserted the army to work for the drug cartels, and that ignores all the police. How many of them took their weapons with them?"
But Tom Diaz, senior policy analyst at the Violence Policy Center, called the "90 percent" issue a red herring and said that it should not detract from the effort to stop gun trafficking into Mexico.
"Let's do what we can with what we know," he said. "We know that one hell of a lot of firearms come from the United States because our gun market is wide open."
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On the topic of Skype. I'm interested in using this at Bagram. I've heard third-hand that it can be done. Is there anybody with experience using this? Feel free to PM me.
I tried Skype from my B-hut at Bagram in '07 with limited sucess. I could make a connection, but the quality was horrible, bordering on unusable. The problem was the internet connection the locals offer blows. The bandwidth is extremely limited.
However, other people a few B-huts over were able to use Skype with no problems. I don't know if the internet connection is any better now, but it's worth a try. I would have a backup plan though.
The Rosan cell network's not bad. I used a GSM phone to text at about $1/text. That got a bit pricey, but sometimes that was better than waiting for an hour at the MWR tent to use a morale phone for 15 mins. I didn't look into int'l plans though, not sure if Rosan has any agreements with other networks.
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I once read a story where a fighter dude shaved his 'stache to go chase some stewardess tail while on R & R in Bangkok. Upon his return, he got his unshaven ass shot down. After his rescue, he was ordered to never shave his upper lip again. Anyone have that reference?
Concur with "When Thunder Rolled". I thought someone had uploaded that chapter in a thread a while back, but I can't seem to find it now. If you'd like I can scan it and email it to you. Or you could just buy the book and read it yourself. There's plenty of other good stories in it too.
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I don't know of a book specifically about him, but Fast Movers by Sherwood (mentioned towards the beginning of this thread) has a significant portion of the book about him.
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Realize that the EW course at Randolph is geared around manual RWR and ELINT systems. You can rest confident that, much like many things generated at Randolph, your EWO course skills will serve you little in an operational Strike Eagle squadron. While the EW knowledge won't help too much with your tactical skills, it makes you qualified for lots of bad deals (some mentioned above).
Of the entire 4 months of EWO school, manual ELINT comprises about 2 weeks. EWO school is much more than beeps and squeaks. You will know 3-1vol 2 inside and out from day 1 in your ops squadron. You will learn threat reactions, jamming, weaponeering, and HARM targeting. Will EWO school help you with ACM, 4-ship AOR targeting, or GBU-12 employment? No, it will not. Will it make you a more well-rounded aviator who knows their own systems better, other aircraft capes, and enemy capabilities and tactics? Yes, it will.
Much of the bad gouge regarding EW in the Strike Eagle community is because few people know what goes on at EWO school or how to use an EWO properly. All the EWOs we've had we either crusty old EF-111 guys or brand new Lts with no operational experience who just so happened to have gone through Randolph. The recent influx of the Ops to EWO to Ops folks has shown some promise. They are starting to be put in shops and given opportunities for the community to take advantage of their knowledge.
There are bad deals out there no matter what platform or AFSC. EWOs got a bad rap in the Strike Eagle for this because there were so few of them. If a bad deal came up, and you were the only EWO in the squadron, guess who got it? Now that most squadrons have more EWOs there is a strength in numbers. Also, remember one person's bad deal is another person's game changer. We can't all be Weapons School grads or Ops to Ops folks. Being an EWO gives you options. The AF will always need EWOs.
I remember when the AF section chief at Whitbey came down to Pensacola to sell us to on EA-6Bs instead of Strike Eagles (this was in late '05). He basically said 'I don't really want new guys and think its bad idea, but I have to recruit guys anyway. Now let me tell you about the Prowler...' That was some sales pitch. You'll get such a bigger picture by being a young F-15E WSO than if you went off to be one of three EWOs in an extremely underpowered EW aircraft.I agree that the Prowler community is not best served by getting inexperienced AF bubbas. You joined the AF, so why do you want to fly with the Navy instead? I've learned a lot from working with guys who did the Prowler exchange, but they all already had operational experience first.
The Prowler is an underpowered aircraft when it comes to engines and turn performance, but not when it comes to EW. However, it is going away soon and that exchange might not be available in a few years.
Bottom line: Go F-15Es. If 'trons make you jizz your pants, then do well and let your flight commander in your ops squadron know you want to go to FECOC (Fighter Electronic Combat Officer's Course). FECOC is much more relevant to tactical aviation than the EWO course at Randolph is. Later on, the EA-6B may be an option for you (if its still around).FECOC is watered down EW. There is nothing to be learned there that you can't learn at EWO school. It's more for F-16 and F-15C guys who are going to be wing ECOs.
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I used USAA's Mover's Advantage program when I PCSed a year ago. Like drewpy said, it's kind of hit or miss. The first realtor I was assigned was horrible. He never returned my calls and the only contact I had with him was a listing of his high end houses I received in the mail. I called USAA and asked for another one. The second realtor was great. After I closed on my house her agency cut me a check for a portion of the Mover's Advantage. You do not have to use USAA for your mortgage to take advantage of this. You just have to be a USAA member.
I got a mortgage qualifying letter from USAA, but once I shopped around a bit I actually found better rates elsewhere. USAA's weren't bad, but they weren't the best. I've also heard that they're not competitive at all on homeowner's insurance rates.
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Alright... XD-45 or 1911?
Well, I thought I was at the gunshop for a shotgun, but a barely-used 4" XD-45 made it's way into my hand. I like it! However... I haven't shot an XD. $435; 2 mags but no case or holster...
I'm a little concerned that the XD is gonna be a little too much for my wife's small hands; I don't think the 1911 would be a problem. Since she's 8 months pregnant, going to the range with me is out.
$435 is a fair price, but it depends on how much you want the case and holster. I'm not a big fan of the holster, but I did get my XD45 brand new with case, 2 mags, holster, double mag pouch, and speedloader for $480 back in June at a local gunshow.
My wife has small hands as well and does not like my XD45. The double stack mag make for an odd grip for her. But then again, she doesn't seem to like anything with a grip safety. However, she loves my Sig 229. She even refers to it as *her* gun.
I think you're got a shot at being the first one to make M2 pause to recommend the XD. Deciding between it and a 1911 is tough.
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I know of two guys from my last squadron that went there to be glider IPs. One was a junior Capt, 4FL type. He went there about 3 years ago. The other was a mid-level major IP who just left for this assignment. I'm not sure what sort of connections either one had to use to get the assignment. If you're interested I can ask them for more info.
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Last I heard, they were shooting for a May '10 date for the first class at Pensacola
You are correct. I should have said the last class to finish in FY10 will be at Randolph. All classes finishing in FY11 should be starting in Pcola. I really need to learn to think before I type.
...what I was told was because of my flight hours I would skip some of the training and be put in a class that has already started.I agree with others here that the Col could be referring to IFS, but not UNT. Everyone else that has shown up with previous civilian hours has still had to complete the entire UNT syllabus, regardless of how many they had.
I wouldn't place much stock in what your ROTC instructor says about the current state of Nav training. When I graduated 6 years ago my PAS seemed to be under the impression that that everyone going to Pcola got Strike Eagles. I guess he'd never heard of the B-1.
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All Nav students starting training now until the end of FY10 will be going to Randolph. That is current as of now. If it changes at all I expect it to slide to the right. Last I heard we're still on track to have the first class of FY11 start at Pcola.
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Bracken is much closer to you than the Bullethole on the SW side of town, but it is like $7/gun to shoot whereas the Bullethole is only $7 no matter how many guns you shoot. I like that better, plus it is a more relaxed range.
Agreed. I usually frequent Bracken range since it's quite close to my house, though it's always busy and doesn't allow rapid firing. The few times I've been to the Bullethole I had a whole bay to myself and could do whatever I wanted (double taps, shooting on the move, etc). I just don't feel like driving that far every time I want to shoot.
Please PM if you go. I've been looking for an excuse to hit up the range.
Information on PCS/moves/moving (DITY, TMO, DLA, storage)
in General Discussion
Posted
You can do that, but you need gaining CC approval. I've done that before as well. No paperwork required, the leave gets taken when you file your voucher. But I did have to get approval from my new SQ/CC before I showed up late.
When you signed your RIP you should have put down if you were taking leave en-route. If you change your mind later, see if your local MPF can change it for you. But do NOT just show up after your RNLTD unless your new SQ says it's ok.