SuperWSO

Two months might be a record. It’s normally tough to go from rock star to “loss of confidence” that fast. So what’s the word on the street?

Conspiracy theories all fail when you realize that POTUS couldn’t keep secret the fact that he had an intern blow him under the desk. Two people knew that, pre-social media and it became public knowledge in under 2 years. There is no way we are getting frequent visits from extraterrestrials and keeping it quiet.

The part that bothers me most about this incident is that it was Microsoft that screwed up and left this information exposed. The AF transitioned to Office365/CHES at considerable cost because it was going to put "the experts" in charge of the system. Now we've centralized all our eggs into one cloud-hosted basket rather than spread out across the DoD network. Although it is way more expensive, at least it is still grossly insecure. 🤡

Clearly an amateur. Everyone knows you shoot your watch.

National Enquirer - “ F-22 Pilot with two kills seen purchasing 150 Mylar balloons at Party City”

Seems like we just discovered balloons are “always in the notch”. Now that NORAD is turning off the filters, I think there are going to be a lot more scrambles to check out radar anomalies.

Filthy, I believe you’re having a hard day, and I don’t know why, but if you need help, ask.

I came here looking for USAF commentary, and I’m disappointed. 1. No Frank Luke references. 2. No one said 4 more and our intrepid balloon buster is an ace. 3 Finally, Dos Gringos told us years ago, that when targeting Chinese, “On Tuesdays it was heaters only, Wednesday BFM.”

High altitude balloons.

Seriously? I don’t see them landing troops, but lobbing SRBMs at military facilities? That will be night 1 of China-Taiwan. China is going to try and lay waste to any fixed US military facilities in that region. Chinas demographic decline and the relative unreadiness of US forces will be seen as a closing window of opportunity. The only question is if Russias experience in Ukraine gives them any pause.

In reference to side looking radar, the B-1 has the ability to turn the radar antenna 55 degrees left or right. With the ILST upgrade, we could track up to 120 degrees off the nose. The B-1 isn’t the platform you want for this application, but the ability to get off boresight radar tracks in a fast moving platform is not a new capability.

Hey, practice makes perfect, or so I've been told.

The bar in Cyber isn’t that high. I’ve seen multiple 24-25 year old Airmen with Air Force training and a small amount of OJT step into 6 figure contract jobs. Guys with real talent can command airline level pay. The need across industries for IT Security exceeds the supply by a wide margin.

Glad to hear all is well on the outside. The AF is finally deciding they can’t outsource all their IT and just do Cyber Ops. Also figured out MDTs were too expensive to have at every base. Bottom line is they still don’t know where we are going, but no one likes where we are right now. https://www.afimsc.af.mil/News/Video/videoid/838126/ That video gives me hope that AF leadership has identified some of the problems. Now it’s just a matter of prioritizing the solutions.

Bad news Flea. I’m in the Air Force Cyber community. They are struggling to retain good people because… 1. They think they can outsource most IT work. 2. They aren’t identifying and retaining talent 3. Private industry has a shortage of skilled Cyber dudes/dudettes and is willing to pay big bucks. sound familiar?

The old timers will follow this, new guys will throw spears at me, but hear me out! What if the Ghost of Kiev is actually a special ops fighter pilot? You know, your average Delta Force F-22 patch, finally going toe to toe with the Ruskies? Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.

Putin won’t invade, but he will be “Forced to respond to actions against ethnic Russians.” It’ll be an extremely thin veneer of bullshit to give the press at home what they need to cover his butt. Chance that we will do something? We can’t ignore it but odds are the “something” will be sanctions, a sternly worded statement and further approval of Nord Stream 2. We’ve provided a bunch of Javelins, so hopefully they get put to good use before they’re overrun.

Those of you who have access should check SIPR or ask your Intel troops about these events.

BaseOps has had a pinned thread “Fair warning on political posts” dating back to 2008. My only comment on the topic here is “Noted.”

As Disco used to say, that’s sad but funny, like a clown on fire.

That would be about right for Air Force logic. There are only a handful of us left that still remember/flew/maintained B-1s.

You’d be surprised. Many of them are pilots who got a Computer science bachelors, but there are some who’ve spent a career as 33/17 officers. biggest problem is Cyber still isn’t a priority and senior leaders don’t REALLY believe it could cause them to lose an Air Battle. Some get it but they are few and far between.

Wow, I’m late to the fight but have to throw in my 2 cents. I worked directly for Combo during her time as the ATG/CC. I never heard a raised voice or saw any of the issues you guys cite. She was a competent, professional leader of a very diverse group. I’ll also add to the comments that combat time is occasionally a function of timing and luck. When the war kicked off, my squadron was being shut down and we were denied any opportunity to deploy. I volunteered again in my next two squadrons, but the CC wouldn’t let people go - it would have left him short handed. I got to augment the Army and picked up a BSM, but no air medals.

Am I the only one that sees a disconnect? I’ve been aircrew, then Intel, and now Cyber, so I get both sides. If you fix, load, AND fly the jet, then you truly are worth more than everybody else. But keep in mind that Snuffy May have spent his shift getting your jet code 1. You end by saying that leadership needs to value your people and their mission. That applies to non bag wearers too. i know who the audience is here but you guys occasionally act like you’re singing “Cus I’m a Pilot” by Dos Gringos And taking it seriously. standing by for return fire...

Go Guard! No mandatory 0530 morning events, group PT or scavenger hunts. It’s like the AF 20 years ago, minus the binge drinking.