brabus

I also have an immunocompromised family member, and of course I’m concerned. But, he doesn’t leave the house except for his doc appointments or a walk where he remains well clear of others and doesn’t touch any surfaces. I don’t expect others to curtail their liberties and economic/mental welfare over questionable data and my attachment to an individual (who I love very much)...nobody going to business X or playing in the park will have any direct affect on him, unless he stops giving a shit and starts frequenting the same places while touching surfaces and wiping his hands on his face. In which case, that’s on him, not the other people. God forbid emotional people for one second put this kind of reaction toward auto deaths or heart disease (which are encased by substantially more accurate/valid data). Are we cool with all of our cars being taken away and being told what and how much we’re allowed to eat? Because those two things would save millions of lives, yet we’re not rabble rousing about that. To close the loop on the analogy, I could choose to never travel by road to decrease my chance of death, just as people can choose to self quarantine if they don’t want to be around others. But that’s my choice in a free society, nobody else should be required to curb their liberty from 0600-0630 since that’s when I’ll be driving to work, as I selfishly demand everyone else needs to stay off the road so I’m not threatened with possible vehicular death. Yes, it’s as illogical and anti-liberty as it sounds...

No it doesn’t. But I’m also not saying you’re wrong about what’s going on in DC, I’m not there and you are. However, the majority of what people are talking about is state power. The federal government has far less control in stuff like this than people think, welcome to a federalist system. It makes a lot of sense that governors should make these types of decisions for their states, because as you highlighted, situations vary drastically between areas. Also, New Yorkers actually have liberty too, as much as that bums out some Americans (not saying you’re one of them).

It is in my state, that’s a fact. And that’s what the governor has been using to drive decisions. 1) Nobody knows how many, but there are people who had it and aren’t counted because they never went to the hospital and got a test. That number is probably a ton higher than people give credit. To this point, it’s fairly accurate on capturing who has died from it, but very inaccurate on who has recovered (i.e. a critical piece of the denominator in this equation). 2) Any swinging dick who dies from anything that even hints of respiratory, etc. is deemed corona as the cause, even without a test/confirmation. 3) People in hospice are dying and being counted in the deaths. Those facts above are enough to highlight how unknown the true rate is. I’m willing to bet our death rate tracking is a hell of a lot more than a 5% error. Or you could put out things like violating 6 ft or walking around public while actively sick gets you fined. Only close business that are unable to operate while also adhering to social distancing. Do that and you have means to throw the book at the idiots while not fucking over the economic and mental welfare of the tens of millions who won’t fuck those things away. Guess I’ll never be a senior leader in big blue, because I certainly don’t fit the mold of lazy leadership that hits the easy button and hides behind a bullshit excuse like “but the masses...”

Well we’re #11 on the list of deaths per million, so our healthcare system is doing better than 9 other first world countries (some of whom are 2x and 3x our death rate and are “beacons of socialized medicine”), plus Iran. We’re likely also doing better than several other countries who’s reporting is questionable (China, DPRK, etc.) Now I’m not saying our system is perfect or even “awesome,” but it’s certainly doesn’t “suck.” Healthcare workers are being laid off and temporary hospitals are not being used/torn down, all while leaders around the world walk back their doom-and-gloom predictions. The data simply doesn’t support many of the draconian measures, notably the ones crushing the world economies. It certainly supports measured responses like quarantine for high risk individuals (or those who cannot avoid contact with them), isolation for those who are sick, social distancing, etc. It doesn’t support Lowe’s closing the garden center or shutting down John’s toy store (where people could still shop while maintaining social distancing). It doesn’t support telling people they can’t ride their bike outside, go for a walk, or take a drive. The level of police power were seeing does not match the numbers (especially when considering the margin of error in the models). Anecdotally, our governor has made every decision based off data that has been wrong by a factor of 2, since day one through this week...a solid month+ of decisions based on wildly inaccurate data. He’s not alone. Edit: This a holistic perspective, I acknowledge if you break this down granularly, some places are far more affected than others. But that doesn’t change the overarching reaction as a country/world towards this thing.

Danger’s list of comparisons + the pics in the above link are one of several things demonstrating how we are fucking this away. Measured response, not freak-the-fuck-out-and-shut-down-the-world response.

@SocialD Been ANG for 3 years and didn’t know that, thanks for the save! I undoubtedly would have fucked that up at some point.

What’s interesting, and makes sense imo, is about a week ago I read on the CDC website a recommendation that while cloth masks will do little to help individuals, it would be good to tell people to wear them so they choose that over hoarding N95, etc. masks. The intent was clear that general mask wear was not a high Pk virus stopper, but rather the masses were going to do it anyways, so let’s at least get them to not waste the masks that healthcare workers desperately need. That’s paraphrasing, but that was the message of the recommendation. Fairly smart tactic on their part.

Don’t cough or sneeze on people, stay home if you’re sick. It’s pretty simple, don’t need to walk around with a mask on for the next year...unless you just can’t handle those easy steps, then by all means slap that maxipad on your face and have fun at the grocery store!

Why is the 4-place market largely untapped by exp? I would go that route in a heart beat, but my primary family mission keeps me out of the exp world. Now if someone would make an exp similar to a 180/185, I imagine there’d be a lot of folks all over that.

9/10 times I’d say follow the directions explicitly (attention to detail and all that), but this is a case where you don’t really have anything to lose, other than your time, to send your apps to those “no thanks” units. Our last board we didn’t have a limitation set, but we all had our minds set on 30-31ish being the limit. We ended up interviewing several who were older (I think 34 was the oldest). The first thing that grabbed our attention was the cover letter, which then piqued our curiosity to turn the pages to grades/scores (which were stellar), then to LORs, etc. Bottom line, a strong cover letter will pull someone in to at least taking an additional 6-9 min to look at the rest of your app. You will have to have a very strong resume, grades, etc. behind that cover letter to have a real chance at an interview. Visiting (when all this BS is over) is likely required to push it over the line to an interview invite.

Already planned to buy around next fall/winter, so hopefully this’ll work out in our favor. Also interested in anyone’s thoughts on leading purchase pitfalls/don’t-buy aircraft.

Concur, just putting it out there for anyone else who finds themselves in a USERRA situation. Even if you think you won’t need it, doesn’t hurt to have it done right. You know, for the next panic session that fucks up airline plans.

To be clear, only authority to quarantine those who have been exposed. Prove I’ve been exposed and then you can legally quarantine me in my house. Until then, go fuck yourself, I’ll leave my house when I damn well please. Doesn’t mean I won’t be smart about it (6’ distancing, won’t go throw a block party, etc.) There are people saying we shouldn’t be allowed to go for a run or ride a bike; that’s the line they’ve fully crossed.

From some minor amount of research yesterday, law allows feds and states to legally isolate sick people to prevent/minimize spread, and it allows them to quarantine those who have been exposed. For those of the populace who are not sick or there’s no probable cause to say they been exposed, it is not legal to prevent interstate travel or force quarantine. Ethicists generally don’t have a legal problem with social distancing, but they do have a problem with forced business closures that could operate semi-normally, while taking social distancing measures. So, while I hate CA and NY politics as much as I hate China, it’s anti-liberty (and illegal is most cases) to say those people can’t travel elsewhere or have to imprison themselves in a house for any amount of time (unless the two exceptions stated above). I realize there are no interstate travel bans yet, but there already are illegal quarantine measures telling people they can’t leave the house except for a couple destinations. We are absolutely starting to unravel liberty in the name of “safety,” something that has happened many times throughout history and is something that must be fought. “History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.” Nailed it.

Make sure your training orders have the USERRA exempt statement on it, IAW the SAF USERRA memo. It matters in case down the road your employer says you’re out of 5 years (as in the above example of doing 5.5 yrs total). Even if you think you’ll never hit 5 years gone, you really don’t know for sure (reference Corona), so get it right while the orders are fresh. Of note, MEST (post-training course orders, commonly referred to as seasoning) are also exempt.

When this eventually blows over and the politicians boast how “only X amount died/we saved Y amount,” keep an eye on the 2020-2022 suicide rates. I bet the increase dwarfs any “saves” by the draconian steps we’re taking right now.

And what does the rate of transmission mean without context? This is a serious problem, but look at data with context and it’s not nearly the Black Death the media is pedaling...we are crushing ourselves for many years to come because we’ve bought into the hysteria and are overreacting in some ways (but certainly reacting appropriately in other ways). Aggressive action needs to be taken in some ways, but to peg our total response to one side of the spectrum is asinine. I think this is part of Brick’s point.

That’s a innovative way to minimize risk while continuing the mission, good on ‘em. What would be short-sighted is completely ceasing the mission for x weeks/months.

This may be unpopular, but take emotion away for a second: we have an obligation as the military to not cease everything and cower in the darkest corner of our home. Leadership must keep the longterm/“big pic” at the forefront of their decision calculus to prevent a short term problem from causing catastrophic longterm effects (readiness, an even worse pilot shortage, opening up room for unchecked adversary advancement, geopolitical fallout at our country’s expense due to a weakened US military, etc.) I think most people and orgs (AF included) are taking reasonable mitigation measures, as they should. But to take draconian measures and shut down important activities for weeks or months (because 2 weeks isn’t going to accomplish much) is incredibly short-sighted, and will have significant effects.

That’s Army 101, sorry “joint 101.” Inability to comprehend the idea of desired effect vs. emotional attachment to a specific platform/MDS/weapon.

Not to say shiny pennies who spend too much time out of a combat sq don’t exist, but this has not even remotely been my experience in the fighter world, at least post TAMI.

Sounds like the key is inflexibility/lack of room to be free-thinking and problem solve. A few years ago when I had some direct interaction with AMD, they had zero interest in helping solve some real problems, the excuses abounded. The primary one that pissed me off was talking about how the crews wouldn’t be able to hack it...bullshit, i’d sat up front with several and had plenty of time to BS; the crews would have risen to the occasion and won...but AMD wasn’t in it to win it, they were there to make donuts and nothing else. As I think back to all my experiences with the MAF, it is very frustrating to think about all the good dudes who are held back by AMD, TACC, etc.

I like the sentiment, but there is not an 11F need for more new guys as stated previously. Secondly, the fighter community is not a social change mechanism - putting people here for that reason is right out. Why is it that the MAF is so incapable of getting out from under queep and refocusing on the mission? I’ve heard this from many heavy friends - I feel for you guys, and I’ve felt some pain as a “customer.” There are tons of good dudes in the MAF who have the right mindset, yet they appear unable to cause a shift...what’s stopping them? I assume it’s a cultural problem that could change with mission-focused DO, SQ/CC, OG/CC, etc. who aren’t pussies. Why is no one who fits that bill making it to these positions? a cross flow doesn’t solve that...maybe the MAF needs a coup; anyone there have any favors they could call in with the Clintons? 1st step in the shoe clerk playbook - deny common sense until a person can prove to you directly from one of YOUR regs that they’re right. Definitely one of the top things wrong with the military.

It’d be crazy not to take this deal, unless you’re on wife #2+ and/or have been financially retarded in the past.

What problem are we trying to solve? We don’t have a fighter pilot shortage in general, we have a shortage of experienced IPs/guys on staff. The last thing we need is more inexperienced fighter pilots. Retainment is the only way to actually solve the issue; everything else are just half-assed attempts to bandaid the sinking ship because the AF accepts the fact it’s not willing to do things that will actually retain those with 10+ years of fighter experience.