Lawman

It was more too the room, and given how much I was drinking “shitting on” was probably more strongly worded than intended. More making the point that while TopGun/Airshow demos and the like sell movies and get kids to look up at jets and agree later to sign on the paper, they aren’t what wins the geopolitical war on their own. And while in the eyes of some the Mudhen is barely a fighter or whatever, what they just accomplished was bad ass. As this disposable drone warfare and AI synchronized targeting take over the kinetic I think the chances of that fighter on fighter scenario only decrease. What we saw this weekend is probably more in line with the reality of what we need the DCA and Air Defense players to be able to accomplish. I think I’m far more likely to be hit with that than with some random section of SU-24s getting through to the soft, important, vulnerable parts of our order of battle. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

How many MASCALs do the actions of a Robin Olds or Dick Bong etc prevent? I know this virtuous knights jousting in gleaming steel amongst the clouds crap people buy into is sexy, but reality is fighters unless they are sweeping the skies to prevent mass devastation by bombers or in this case drones, mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of geopolitical weight. Now don’t get it wrong, I want them viciously deadly at their job, I just don’t pretend to care it matters more than how many bombs some eod tech defused or how many routes some 19 year old in an MRAP with a roller plow prevented from being effective. We just dont have cool names for that kid. While you guys are shitting on a bunch of mudhen drivers, they may have just helped in actions that prevented a world war. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Call my accounts manager…. Tell him to put half of it in Raytheon. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They will assess people into Ranger Bn (enlisted guys out of AIT for example) who haven’t done Ranger School, but have past RASP. It’s a kind of checks in the mail requirement as they only have so much capacity in the pipeline. They get treated like Ranger privates regardless of rank though until they get their tab, and failure to get it is grounds for putting them back in the regular Army. Outside people trying to get into a Ranger Battalion it’s usually a highly competitive process to get whatever brigade/division slot(s). We called it the Hunger Games when we were offered the opportunity to send 1x Lt/Cpts to it from the Aviation Brigade. Whatever this dude did to get his leadership to fight for those school slots, he is more than likely ridiculously hard charging amongst his peers. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/04/14/russia-sent-70-year-old-t-55-tanks-to-ukraine-without-even-upgrading-them/?sh=41432a5534d2 Surely the only reason they would be doing crap like this is they want to do it… It wouldn’t possibly demonstrate they are consuming their best equipment faster than they can replace it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think like Fourfans is saying though, that’s the problem, and it needs to be retasked or rewritten to understand who has the authority and responsibility. I’d argue State as an Embassy owner does need to play a critical role in researching the scale and scope of a NEO same as a HADR, but in reality it’s going to be the COCOM that ends up resourcing and reaching out for what it doesn’t have and should be where the planning is nested. Have Embassy’s come to a planning event, staff it with SMEs resident in the COCOM with State playing but understanding its job is to keep this plan handy and execute its portion of alerting and organizing on the ground. It would prevent what happened in Afghanistan of no plan being there to execute because State wasn’t really forced to make anything, the DOD being the magic red button, and the immediate action being activate the Global Reaction Force and tell TRANSCOM to just throw all its tails at it in priority. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

State is probably also not the department of government I’d go looking for in depth intelligence on understanding combat power. Be like asking the TSA how to do counter intelligence ops. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

“Well you see Congressman…. All the existing plans started out of BAF….. “ Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Well 20 years ago he was a democrat… Oh wait did I say the quiet part out loud? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Considering 100% turns off property tax in Texas, that’s a steal. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Luckily I’ve still got a few more years to build the ammunition of documents. When I crossed the 15 year mark I started stalking up paperwork. Next year when we get back I’m due a series of MRIs. Sad thing is there have been such an over abundance of weak dicks lately that the benefit of the doubt seems to have shifted for some of our most recent retirees. That assumption that as aviators we went out of our way to not report has been turned into a careful game of start your paper trail far enough out it doesn’t look like fraud. We’ve got guys with 4-5 deployments and 20+ years fighting to get above 50% when they can’t play in the yard with their kids because of recurring back/knee/shoulder/neck issues. Somehow “you made me fly 2000 hours with goggles on my head wearing body armor that is front heavy” couldn’t be linked to any of that. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

So there is the part that’s supposed to have a curve to it… And there is the part that isn’t… Really looking forward to some VA doc that graduated 274 out of 275 in med school tell me none of this is service connected. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tip I got from my chiropractor (Former SEAL): Document things that happen to you any time the military made you be there, that time you rolled down a hill at unit mandatory fun, that time you tweaked your groin jumping down off an aircraft… just everything that could have contributed to the condition you find yourself in as you are older. In that documentation name possible witnesses, dates and times, and then digitally sign the document. Stow it away in your personal email. If you find yourself in a fight with the VA to review your final total these documents effectively serve as evidence to force them to reevaluate your number, and you can hand them one at a time and force multiple reinvestigations of your condition. This is what he had to do because all of his injuries are heavily redacted from his time as a SEAL, only his career ender made it into the normal medical records. All those times he rolled an ankle in a place he couldn’t go to sick call or “fell” off a roof/truck/etc… that stuff was never covered. He just successfully got his rating up to 100% so no more property tax in the state. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No, just making the point of having guys with an Acitve RF missile designed to kill tanks but “hey look it works on drones” isn’t a solution anybody wants. The prox fuse was put there for the FIAC mission over the Gulf. Air Defense of force isn’t in the METL, and nobody wants it there (except maybe Warren, but we all agree that guy is crazy). The fact they did it surprised everybody. It wasn’t planned for that either, there was desire to have something in the back pocket since the KA-52s had started carrying Archers. That ECAB commander was… special. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Gone and I think that means the last flying Comet (granted variant) went with them. Brits bought P8s to replace them. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk