Blue

Yeah this shit is exhausting. Mainstream media runs with a nothing-burger story because it references Sec Hegseth and the word "Testosterone." And because it has those two things, every one goes wild about it for a week or two until it's forgotten, or overrun by the next nothing-burger story. Meanwhile, if everyone is so concerned about military member's health, where is the reporting on what Hegseth is doing about actually important shit like nutrition? RFK Jr is the Sec of Health and Human Services, and has come out strong on the detrimental effects of things like seed oils in foods. And it's long been known that the Army DFAC's specifically are all-around shitty. What is Hegseth doing in this arena? He talks about things like increased lethality, and logic would dictate the healthier your force, the more lethal they are, but what is he doing in that respect? If he's not doing shit, they where is the media caterwauling about that?

Wyoming ANG wing commander and OG fired.

Finally, Schedule F (now referred to as Schedule Policy/Career) is law. EO here. Fed employees are wailing on cue: Federal employees face reality of Schedule Policy/Career

From an October 2024 article: The cynic in me suspects that Smith didn't like something about what he saw during his visit to Del Pizzo's unit (VMX-1), and the F-35 crash was the most expeditious way to get rid of him. Some GO's are petty and vindictive like that. Hope Del Pizzo goes on to greater things.

No idea on the "who's more strict" question. Poking around yielded this Reddit thread, which had some discussion. I'm sure there is more info out there. It's been a long time for me, and maybe things have changed, but the AF used to use a pretty wonky test for depth perception, that threw a lot of people off. There were various "techniques" for passing it (moving your eyes back and forth while taking it, it's never the first or last dot, etc). Lots of stuff out there. Like @brabus said, your age would be working against you for a ANG slot (albeit not impossible). There are study guides out there for the AFOQT that can help a lot. If you really wanted to fast-track a pilot's license, there are training programs that will allow you to do that too. Regarding "I may eventually need to spend significant money pursuing FAA medical certificate before I can even begin PPL training on my own dime," what makes you think that? To get a PPL, you only need an FAA Class III physical (as far as I know, it's been awhile). An FAA Class III is not a high bar, as I recall, it was just a basic eye exam and physical. As long as you could see decent-ish, and were basically healthy, you were good to go. Certainly, if there is something that is going to be a showstopper for an FAA Class III, it's going to be a showstopper for an Air Force Initial Flying Class I.

Believe Moose has previously identified himself on this board (view post history). Although the change in tone from ~10 years ago and this kind of writing below make me wonder if his account was hijacked, or maybe he wasn't who he said he was initially.

Articles like this are a little exhausting. It's a bunch of innuendo and reports from "anonymous sources." And pulls most of it's content from "MS Now," which I guess is the reincarnation of MSNBC? Very little of it has actual, verifiable facts. Just breathless reporting of "Patel is in full panic mode! Patel is paranoid!" etc.

Quit reading after this.

Not much of value to add, just kudos for going through the process to becoming a crew chief. Going from Legacy FO to Basic Training / Tech School / etc must have been an experience...... Curious if you have any insight into previous new hires at your unit? How many times they interviewed, if they were internal or off the street, etc. For that matter, any insight into who they hired this round?

@Sua Sponte , get over to the hangar, and tell them to get that depot line started back up!

22 states with Guard fighter units. From the article: Brig. Gen. Shannon Smith, head of the Idaho Air National Guard and the state’s assistant adjutant general, told Air & Space Forces Magazine that it was the first time the group collected the signatures of all 22 adjutants general who serve in states with Guard fighter units. I believe every state has at least one ANG Wing, with many states having multiple wings. For a long time, each state had at least one flying wing, but I seem to recall that's not true any more, with at least one state losing all flying missions.

Got intrigued enough to fact check it. Sadly wrong, although still entertaining. Al Gore: Mar 31 1948 Hillary Clinton: Oct 26 1947 John Kerry: Dec 11 1943 Bill Clinton: Aug 19 1946

I mean, y'all are just throwing soundbites past each other, but the Trump administration's efforts to pull back from Climate Change hysteria has definitely been a positive.

How often is it done on a prepared strip, vs unprepared? Just curious, as the TWZ article seems to point to it being on a random patch of ground in the middle of the desert. Either way, understood about it being something that's trained for. Regarding the KISS principle, was more referring to Ospreys being more simple than the MH-6 / C-130 combo. Granted, that's putting a lot of faith in Osprey capabilities...... Again, spitballing from my comfy armchair.

Will be fascinating to read this whole story when it comes out, warts and all. Particularly the planning, and how they chose which assets to use. This TWZ article has more details on the MC-130J landing site in Iran, along with some background on the MC-130J / MH-6 Little Bird combo. Had no idea it was a thing, but apparently something the 160th SOAR trains for. The latest update puts the landing zone at "...............just south of Isfahan. This puts it about 200 miles from the Iranian coastline and roughly 230 miles from a land border." By my Google Maps analysis, maybe 400-ish miles from Kuwait City. This does seem like exactly the kind of scenario where the Osprey was supposed to shine. Shades of Eagle Claw, with us leaving helos and C-130s in the desert. Not to mention, the whole concept of landing C-130s in the desert in order to launch Little Birds out the back seems to run afoul of the KISS principle. Comfy here in my armchair, though.