SuperWSO

We also have an ethics czar, a copyright czar, auto recovery czar, and a Guantanamo Bay czar. The only thing these all have in common is that the administration needed to be "doing something." In this case, they appointed a doctor? Nope, he is Joe Bidens former Chief of Staff. I'm getting the feeling that I'm in the minority, but it shocks me that for a group who normally defends the freedom of US citizens, everyone is ready to shut down the airports and start anal probing everyone arriving from overseas over a death toll of one person in the US. I understand the losses have been horrific in West Africa, but the US medical system is far better than what they have in West Africa. I've seen medical isolation up close when someone I knew was thought to have active Tuberculosis. It was a week in a hospital with airlock doors and medical staff in full gear. I think the medical system is more capable than the news media give them credit. The whole panic that is setting in reminds me of the early days of AIDS when people worried about getting sick from a toilet seat. If the cases start piling up, I retract my previous statements, but the response is getting far out of hand for the level of the threat. Definitely not something to blow off, definitely something to keep an eye on, but not a full blown panic.

Getting hit by a car probably does have a PK around 70 if the speed is high enough. Motor vehicle fatalities in 2012 were 33,561. We've had one death from Ebola. Its spread by contact with bodily fluids. How often have you been puked on recently? The news media is making this into way more of a panic than it should be. I'm just saying to keep the probability of meeting a contagious ebola patient in the US in perspective.

Hey, this disease has killed 1 and made 2 nurses sick in the US. Time to go full "Contageon". Driving to work poses 10,000 times greater risk to most Americans than Ebola

Being "retired" and in the guard are mutually exclusive.

My impression is that it has nothing at all to do with you personally. The only factor considered is AFSC. I was a T prefix instructor with no bad indicators in an undermanned year group. The only people they kept were pilots that year. I don't think you will have any way to influence the decision.

So to speak.

I think you can write a letter to decline consideration for promotion, but I'm not sure you can decline once selected. Maybe there is a 7 day opt like with PCS?

I'm not sure there are any positives to making a medium sized nation into two smaller ones beyond a temporary boost in Scottish self esteem. Soon they'll be right up there with Luxenberg, Lithuania and Estonia amongst the power players.

That's easy to have fun with. Borrow a few name tags before you leave home. Step 2: visit every building on base in flight suit but keep changing name tags. Make sure your SQ/CC is represented too. Pro-tip: don't do it at a base when you are the only guy there from your squadron. Plausible deniability gets lost that way.

I was in the initial bunch in 2011 that was passed over on their 1 above for Lt Col and separated in 6 months. The board came out around April and I was out effective 1 Nov 11. It wasn't tied to the fiscal year and there was zero flexibility on timing. The only good news was I found out 30 days before I was scheduled to PCS. I'm also one of the guys who landed a job in the ANG and got promoted. PM me if you have any questions on the process.

Tulsa, your second paragraph captures the problem. You didn't make the news because you figured out the problem and broke the mishap chain. Nobody has an accurate count of how many times the A-10 or the B-1 got it right. It doesn't matter how many bridges you built...

THIS explains all those Russians in Ukraine. Their SATNAV was broken. "Re-calculating..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXSLcYQHqFQ Edit: me no good embed video.

We trust you with aircraft, we trust you with weapons, we trust you with the nations secrets, but I can't trust you to manage a six pack of Budweiser. Thats clearly beyond your pay grade.

Saw this and was surprised it wasn't already here. You can check out the full article, but the money quote has to be in the last paragraph. I believe there was a problem with the flow of information in that career field, but I don't think that "commander down" was the direction that they had trouble with.

Found a good article today that addresses some of the points we were discussing here recently. Obama Needs to Find His Inner Cold Warrior

The difference between us and Canada is that we have been promoting/ensuring world peace since WWII because we can. Canada provides an assist from time to time because that's all they can accomplish with the military they have. Same for every other nation that provides UN troops. They help out at the level they are able. If you haven't noticed the capability differential between us and Canada, I can't help you. Restating: We maintained a degree of world order and stability from 1945 to 200X (people here will debate the exact date/administration when we stopped trying). Now we don't because we "can't afford 4% GDP for defense. Note this years downhill trend in Libya, Syria, Iraq, South China Sea, Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan, North Korea, Ukraine, etc.

The first quote I was responding to was... So if we don't continue to provide security, that would mean we are staying home. Thats not a straw man, thats the definition of isolationism. Oil was not my main point - My point is that our defense budget works a little like an insurance policy. When everything is going great, all you see is the cost of the insurance/defense budget. Its hard to compare the costs to that of a theoretical accident. Once shit happens, its very easy to go back and determine that deterrent is cheaper than having to build up to fight a war. Oil is always the relevant commodity in the middle east. Free flow of goods through sea lanes is a bigger issue in the Pacific, and especially now with China asserting control over the South China Sea. In the past, US policy would have been to assert our rights to operate in international waters (Gulf of Sidra?) Our current policy seems to be to leave it to the Chinese to work it out with Japan, Viet Nam, the Phillipines and any other interested parties. As I said before, if we leave it to China to provide a solution, I don't think we will be happy with the answer.

So your jet is solar powered? I don't work for Shell or Exxon, but let's be honest, the green economy hadn't really set us free. Even if we are "energy independent" for the sake of argument, most of our international trading partners aren't. My point, and the point I think Chuck alluded to is that isolationism sounds great but has never worked historically. Rome, the British Empire and the US following WW II all maintained order in their time. Things usually go downhill when a superpower can't or WONT fill that role.

Chuck, I typically agree with your posts, but I've seen this line of discussion from a number of officers. "We cannot afford to be the worlds police." I understand the sentiment, but it fails to ask the cost when peace breaks down. We rely on the free flow of world trade to support our economy. The news is already starting to ask if events in Iraq will effect gas prices. Its important because "every $10 increase in the price of oil shaves 0.5 percent of global growth." When global security breaks down, it comes with a cost. I believe that the cost of ceding our leadership and security role will exceed what we save on decreased military spending. Beyond that, I am not sure I trust another nation to enforce a world order that would still be favorable to our way of life.

Naw, they're hot but they make your next clearance update difficult. Most of the English speaking world is on our team, so reading the other guys literature requires language skills.

Thread bump. For any of the old guys here, I just signed up for AWC and I am pondering the electives. These days, you have an option to take a language course through DLI. Does anyone have any experience going the language route? I don't have any particular background with foreign language since taking Spanish in High School. I have a couple reasons for being interested in taking Russian. So what has your experience been?

CCshaming.com - someone suggest it to SECAF.

And we are all aware how much the current administration and AF leadership loves nukes. All aware of the huge potential target set for nuclear cruise missiles. The numerous historical uses of nuclear cruise missiles. I'll take JASSM capability over ALCM.

This and the arguments about operating in the Pacific. Unless something has changed, the B-1 carries twice as many JASSM as the BUFF and 30% more than the B-2. Although it wouldn't take long to fix, its also the first platform to field the JASSM-ER.