pawnman

He might have my vote anyway if Santorum wins the nomination. Godspeed to the guys offed by their Afghan counterparts. Looks like this hearts and minds thing could be a lost cause.

An O-7 rubber-stamps whatever his first shirts put in front of him.

Takes a lot of talent to play good cop/bad cop all by yourself.

Our side, yes...but not, by and large, the people on this board. I've seen confrontations between O-3 and O-4s and E-9s...generally, it ends with whoever can pull the most rank on their side of the chain, which is usually the E-9 whining to his O-7 boss.

I'm sure no one will ever pull one of those strings inadvertently when they trip over the damn thing while putting on their uniform and wake up the entire compound.

I can't tell...is this sarcasm, or do you really think we need an anti-religious crusade?

We should probably go ahead an eliminate chaplains entirely, right? I mean, separation of church and state being what it is, how can we employ religious leaders? If you really have that much of a problem with bibles being available for people who want them on the deployment line, it might be time to find a better outlet for your problems. Spiritual health is one of the DoDs stated priorities, although they are very clear about not endorsing any single path to spiritual well-being. You are now crossing the same line, going in the opposite direction...hammering people for showing any sign of belief, which is just as bad as hammering someone for believing differently than you do. I can't believe that as college-educated, professional military officers, we can't fucking live and let live with regards to other people's personal beliefs.

If your belief system is so weak you can't stand someone talking about theirs, it's probably time to abandon your belief system. I'm pretty much an atheist, but I have the ability to sit quietly and bow my head respectfully when the chaplain starts his invocation. I also have the ability to listen to really religious superiors make references to God in their briefings without getting bent out of shape. We take this stuff WAY to seriously. Unless your boss is giving you a worse rating for not going to the same church, or sending people who don't agree with his religion to terrible assignments, or in some way forcing the squadron to follow his religious beliefs, then let it go...like an adult.

B-1 nose art: http://www.targetlock.org.uk/b-1/nose_art.html Some of my favorites:

Are there actually enough stalls for every squadron to have one? I guess you have to figure out which cadillac your stall is in and stick with that, huh? Or, just lie about your organization. Good luck enforcing this one, Chief!

It would be tasteless, but it wouldn't trigger this kind of reaction.

So what we have taught the insurgents is that they can use Korans to pass hidden messages because we refuse to destroy them when we find them. Perfect.

There is, at no time, any kind of weapons training.

"A base so secret the Air Force won't acknowledge it"...but once you are there, you can buy mugs, hats, and t-shirts with the name of the base plastered all over them.

Oh, it doesn't count because the F-4 crew punched out before missile impact?

It's not about kool-aid, it's about not getting thrown the fuck out of their country.

The dude shot down a US fighter. Are you kidding me? What is fratricide, if not taking a shot (and succeeding) at your own side?

I'm not sure most people would count a fratricide as a kill.

I don't know why Hollywood feels the need to embellish these things. The same went for 300. The actual story is phenomenal, it doesn't need to be re-written.

I wonder how I managed to get along in the civilian world for almost 26 years without getting run over, and almost 10 years driving without running someone else over. It must only be for the grace of God that I made it to the Air Force where I learned about reflective belts.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/16/travel/suspected-drunk-pilot/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn An airline pilot showed up to work drunk. It's a good thing the hotel shuttle bus driver was on the ball, eh?

http://gizmodo.com/5884963/drinking-vodka-makes-you-talk-more-better When you're stuck in a staff meeting, drink some vodka and start sounding really articulate.

I'd submit there's a difference between late-to-rate and career broadening.

Especially if they hire a cadre of PR folks to prevent anything negative from staying posted.

We had a guy called on his out-of-regs 'stache during Moustache March...he shaved it down to the Hitler 'stache, but did so not realizing that day was also the Holocaust Remembrance Pancake Breakfast. His response when questioned about it was "It's in honor of the great Jewish actor, Charlie Chaplin".