Clayton Bigsby

Maternity BDUs. Irony enough? Need I say more?

no split tails.

Yup, she sure won't shut up at all. At least Montel called her out on it. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/03/...tplayboy070305/ Airman scolded on talk show for posing nude By Erik Holmes - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Mar 6, 2007 16:39:04 EST Senior Airman Michelle Manhart, the former Air Force training instructor who gained notoriety for appearing nude in the February issue of Playboy magazine, got another taste of the national spotlight Monday. Odds are she won’t be asking for seconds. In a brief appearance on “The Montel Williams Show,” the host — and retired U.S. Navy officer of 22 years — criticized Manhart’s decision to appear in the magazine and said he thinks she deserves to be separated from the service. “If I go back into my 22-year military [mind-set] as an ... O-4 in the Navy,” Williams said, “had you been employed by me, I would have been one of the people to help process you out of the military. ... As an officer, ... I don’t want you to step in before a formation of 350 young troops that I know just saw you in the PX with your clothes off.” Manhart, who was demoted from the rank of staff sergeant and tossed from active duty after the pictorial hit newsstands, told Williams that she still believes she did the right thing. “At no time did I ever feel that anything I did was wrong or would get me in trouble,” she said. “I never thought there was going to be a big issue when the military saw this.” Williams had a hard time swallowing that line of reasoning, saying this is not the first time a woman has been reprimanded for appearing nude in a magazine. “A precedent has been set for this,” he said. “There have been women before you who have appeared in Playboy, Penthouse, in other branches of the service, all of whom have been removed from active duty.” Manhart, as in past comments, defended her right to appear in the magazine as a free-speech issue. Service members who fight for their country and the rights it provides others should be allowed to exercise those same rights, she argued. She also said there is a double standard in the military — and that male troops who have appeared nude in magazines such as Playgirl have not been removed from active duty or kicked out of the service. “I understand that some people have a problem with it, and I respect that,” she said. “What I think [people] truly need to understand is the differences” for men and women. Manhart’s commander at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, informed her Feb. 9 that she was being demoted to senior airman, removed from “extended active duty,” returned to the Iowa Air National Guard and given a letter of reprimand. She has applied for an honorable discharge from the Guard, she said, and the application is pending. Manhart told The Associated Press that the military’s action against her hinged on the fact that she was pictured in Playboy wearing her Air Force uniform. She was photographed in uniform yelling and holding weapons under the headline “Tough Love.” The following pages showed her partially clothed wearing dog tags and fully nude. After the pictorial hit newsstands in January, Manhart was relieved of her duties pending an investigation.

+ 1 for the Bug-Out bag. I'm on my second one, and for 50 bucks, it's a badass bag.

To clarify, she actually wasn't kicked out...turns out she was a Guardsman the whole time, and her Extended Active Duty orders were cancelled/rescinded - so she reverts to traditional guardsman status. The punishment was they busted her to SrA! Drill sergeant who posed nude in Playboy removed from Air Force active duty By Associated Press Thursday, February 15, 2007 - Updated: 07:34 AM EST SAN ANTONIO - An Air Force drill sergeant who posed nude for Playboy magazine has been removed from active duty, she and the Air Force said Wednesday. Michelle Manhart, who appeared in a six-page spread in Playboy’s February issue, said she got word Friday that she was removed from ”extended active duty” and was also told that she was demoted from staff sergeant to senior airman. ”I’m disappointed in our system,” Manhart told The Associated Press on Wednesday. ”They went too far with it.” Manhart said that she was reverted to her Air National Guard status and that she submitted a ”resignation” to the Guard, which she said is pending. Manhart was a member of the Iowa Air National Guard before going on extended active duty. Oscar Balladares, a spokesman for Lackland Air Force Base, confirmed that Manhart was removed from extended active duty Friday but said Lackland did not discharge her. ”She was removed from active duty status, and thus reverted to National Guard status,” Balladares said. ”It is not up to the Air Force _ it is not our jurisdiction to discharge her.” Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood, a spokesman for the Iowa National Guard, said that because the Guard did not have ”documentation of her separation” from the Air Force, it did not have her on duty status. Manhart, a 30-year-old mother of two, said the military’s action against her hinged on the fact that she was pictured wearing her uniform. She was photographed in uniform yelling and holding weapons under the headline ”Tough Love.” The following pages showed her partially clothed wearing dog tags and fully nude. After the pictorial hit newsstands in January, Manhart was relieved of her duties pending an investigation. so, what a ######ing retard! If you're a reservist/guardsman and you're on active-duty orders, and you do something stupid, the first thing they do is cancel your orders! But it's cool, she's a tradionalist now who can do whatever she wants...like "go into Hollywood and entertainment." She's got some notoriety, but that's about it. Coming soon to a stripper pole near you!

Umm...if it's gonna catch me shit, then...yes! okay, back to not opening my mouth and catching shit...

I've actually found that it's more useful job-wise for me to keep the flap than it is to cut it off - raising my hands to marshall a vehicle, forklift, or k-loader up to the aircraft usually results in the pens squirting out onto the ground, which is annoying at least, a FOD risk (in case I don't notice them going out) at worst. Plus I'm kind of sick of losing morale patches by brushing up against the side of the aircraft or cargo, or against the cloth curtain between the cockpit and crew rest area. I'm still gonna do morale patches, but I think I'll just sew the velcro onto the flap...that way when I brush against something it'll just pull the flap up, instead of ripping off my patch. It's not like I go to Turkey every trip, I might want to hang onto some of those...

The most I've brought back was 3 cases, and I definitely got a funny look from the dude from customs. He mumbled something about paying a duty or something like that...but never collected. So, are you flying on an all-Mormon crew or something?

Yeah no shit. Anybody ever found a distributor in the US? Somebody's gotta sell it...

[sarcasm] so if Loots can sandbag, and that doesn't help them at UPT but is a ton of fun, then can a C-17 load start making calls to sandbag too? 'Cuz it'd be wicked fun. [/sarcasm]

The stupid, it burns!!! [ 28. January 2007, 19:50: Message edited by: Jumper Bones ]

I'd say these days the difficulty is from tech to master, not staff to tech, and gets exponentially difficult from there on out.

If you like skiing or snowboarding, while Targhee may be a bit further a drive than Bogus or Sun Valley, it does get a whole shitload of snow...

okay, does anybody agree that for an AD member, and especially an MTI, that this might be the wrong (or at least not most professional) thing to do? I hate to toe the PC party line but it seems she's placing her desires and wants above her office. I mean listen to her interview - "I want, I want, I want..."..great role model for trainees when you're trying to cram core values BS down their throats. However, her office is probably what got her into Playboy in the first place... Bust her to SrA, and give her the boot for high-tenure (can't exceed 10 yrs of service as a SrA), like they did that tech school SSgt that unknowingly had sex with a student @ Sheppard...shiiit, that chick didn't even know what she was doing (thought she was hooking up with a guy at a bar), and SSgt Manhart definitely knew what she was up to. See ya! [ 22. January 2007, 11:48: Message edited by: Jumper Bones ]

Ever notice how every celeb or American Idol wanna-be goes to sing the anthem, and has to jazz it up or dress it up all special as their own, and make a spectacle of it? It's the fVckin' national anthem. Sing the b1tch with dignity and pride and get it done RIGHT, not to see who can make the best show of it.

I'd think side sticks would make sliding into and out of the seats dramatically easier - no gymnastics involved. Also I believe Airbus has a full QWERTY keyboard on the A380, that slides out from the top of the footwell, and pops in right where a yoke would normally be. That way you can do the Electronic Flight Bag/Mission Computer thing with a REAL keyboard instead of a hunt-and-peck keypad, surf the internets for porn, and do some word processing through the flight.

almost as retarded as a Honda Element. If ure gonna do a Toyot SUV, go with a WhoreRunner new Chevy Camaro coming...and Dodge Challenger...yeYEAH!

All the Embraer Junga Jets have those too, I think it's called the "motorcycle yoke" or something like that. Think BAe had it on some of their products too. btw Boeing wins the award for dorkiest name for an airplane...the 747-400 LCF has been dubbed the "Dreamlifter" gay!

plus it's $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

oh f*ck yeah, she's a TI? The AF could do well to keep ones like that around, instead of bulldog dykes... "Do something amazing", don't think that's what they had in mind! [ 12. January 2007, 00:18: Message edited by: Jumper Bones ]

I live in Lakewood, and it really isn't that bad. It's worse closer to the bases. Most of the COPS episodes were filmed awhile ago, I guess Lakewood and the Pierce County Sherriff had some sort of agreement with COPS that had them filming a bunch here - before they got a clue and figured out it made their cities look bad. It isn't paradise, but it isn't nearly as bad as people say. However there are plenty of other nearby places people live that are fine - University Place, Puyallup, Graham, Orting, Bonney Lake, Gig Harbor, Steilacoom, Lacey, Olympia, etc. Traffic can be a real factor, and having to drive on I-5 to get home during rush hour straight out blows, IMO. Plenty of places to live that don't deal with that. C-21, we've had a pretty active and dramatic winter, far more than usual - usually it's rain/drizzle/mist, and less windy. However you'll love the summers - usually temps in the 70s and 80s, little humidity, sunny skies, etc. It's beautiful! It's usually nice enough to make most places not have air conditioning; however that can make those few days of 90+ or so really painful. But that only happens about 3 or 4 times all summer long. [ 09. January 2007, 09:39: Message edited by: Jumper Bones ]

Kyrgyzstan threatens to evict Air Force By Erik Holmes staff writer A diplomatic flap between the U.S. and Kyrgyzstan has escalated to the point that Kyrgyz lawmakers are threatening to evict the U.S. Air Force from Manas Air Base, the only remaining U.S. base in a central Asian country other than Afghanistan. But observers say that is unlikely to happen and wouldn’t be more than an inconvenience to the Air Force even if it did. “The risk of [the U.S.] getting kicked out … I think is fairly low,” said Olga Oliker, a senior international policy analyst at the Rand Corp., a defense research organization. “We’ve been using Manas for a while, [and] it’s certainly important. [but] it doesn’t mean we couldn’t get by without it. We could. We will find work-arounds.” The U.S. has flown refueling and airlift missions supporting Operation Enduring Freedom out of Kyrgyzstan since 2001, but the relationship between the two countries has grown increasingly strained. The most recent disagreement stems from the Dec. 6 shooting of a Kyrgyz truck driver by an airman from the 376th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron at Manas. The incident is still under investigation, but the Air Force said Dec. 8 that the airman acted in self-defense after the truck driver threatened him with a knife. Kyrgyz officials have demanded access to the airman, but the U.S. State Department has agreed only to allow Kyrgyz authorities to submit questions to the airman and to observe questioning by Air Force investigators. That offer apparently was unacceptable to Kyrgyz authorities. The Kyrgyz parliament passed a resolution Dec. 15 calling for the government to review whether the U.S. should be allowed to continue operating its base in the country, the publication EurasiaNet reported. The resolution said a “list of incidents connected with the airbase [has] provided a negative perception of the U.S.” Recent incidents include a Sept. 26 collision between a KC-135R Stratotanker and a Kyrgyzstan commercial airliner, the expulsion of two U.S. diplomats in July and the Sept. 5 disappearance of Air Force Maj. Jill Metzger, who was found and quickly flown out of the country despite Kyrgyz requests for more access to her. Oliker, an expert on central Asia, said Kyrgyzstan is unlikely to expel U.S. forces in part because the U.S. pays the Kyrgyz government about $150 million per year for the right to operate the base. “They’re not going to give that up,” she said. “Kyrgyzstan isn’t terribly wealthy, and it’s kind of at a place where it needs all the help it can get.” Kyrgyzstan’s government had a 2005 budget of about $540 million, according to the CIA’s World Factbook. The more significant concern, he said, is the importance of Kyrgyzstan — which borders China — as a strategic foothold in the region. “We should look at this in a long-term perspective rather than just worrying about what we need to support Afghanistan,” he said. “What do we need to support our interests in that whole region?” https://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1...925-2441183.php

Just going in to pay for the gas was an event of itself - you have to sign like 40 identical forms, and 100% of the writing on them is in Cyrillic - you have no idea what you're signing. Plus when you get into the van, like 6 other locals all hop in too, surrounding you - feels like you're getting rolled up or something.

...Saparmurat Niyazov, the President-for-life of Turkmenistan, has died. Wonder if we'll still be able to stop in Ashgabat for overpriced gas, once the succession settles...looks like he left the lines of succession as clean-cut as Saddam did. https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6198983.stm Turkmenistan's 'iron ruler' dies State TV said Nizayov's death was a "great loss" to the Turkmens Turkmenistan's authoritarian president Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled the Central Asian country for 21 years, has died aged 66, state TV has reported. Mr Niyazov, who named cities and airports after himself in a personality cult, left no designated successor. Turkmenistan, which has large gas reserves, now faces an uncertain future with rival groups and outside powers scrambling for influence, analysts say. Mr Niyazov died at 0110 local time (2010 GMT Wednesday) of a heart attack. Last month, the president publicly acknowledged he had heart disease. His funeral is set to take place on 24 December in the capital, Ashgabat. BBC correspondents quote witnesses as saying the capital has been quiet since the news broke, with many people staying at home, shocked and unsure of what may happen next. Deputy Prime Minister Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has been named head of the commission handling the funeral, state television said. According to Turkmen law, the president is succeeded by the head of the legislative body, the People's Assembly. But this post was held by Mr Niyazov himself. Turkmenistan has called an emergency meeting of its highest representative body for 26 December to decide on Mr Niyazov's succession, the government said. Mr Berdymukhamedov has also been named acting head of state until then, according to government sources. The cabinet of ministers and the National Security Council in Turkmenistan have held emergency sessions to discuss the situation. Uncertainty Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called for power in Turkmenistan to be transferred "in the framework of the law" to ensure stability in the region. "We hope that a new leadership will act to benefit co-operation with Russia and to benefit the region as a whole," he said. The president of neighbouring Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, said he was saddened at the news of Mr Niyazov's "unfortunate" death. Mr Karzai said Mr Niyazov "played a key role in strengthening bilateral relations" between the two countries. Many in the region fear it is less the bizarre style of his rule and more the lack of political institutions that could prove to be the real legacy of Mr Niyazov, says the BBC's Natalia Antelava in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Education, healthcare and society generally are regarded as having crumbled under his rule. "President Niyazov was in effect the state and what he decreed on any subject, from politics, to culture to science, was absolute law," says Michael Hall, Central Asia project director for the International Crisis Group. A mostly Muslim nation, Turkmenistan boasts the world's fifth largest natural gas reserves as well as substantial oil resources. Cult of personality Mr Niyazov became Communist Party chief of what was then a Soviet republic in 1985 and was elected first president of independent Turkmenistan in 1991. In 1999, he was made president-for-life by the country's rubber-stamp parliament. During his reign, Mr Niyazov established a cult of personality in which he was styled as Turkmenbashi, or Leader of all Turkmens. He renamed months and days in the calendar after himself and his family, and ordered statues of himself to be erected throughout the desert nation. Cities, an airport and a meteorite were given his name. Mr Niyazov was intolerant of criticism and allowed no political opposition or free media in the nation of five million people. His laws became increasingly personal. It was forbidden to listen to car radios or smoke in public, or for young men to wear beards. An alleged assassination attempt in 2002 was used to crush his few remaining opponents. All candidates in the December 2004 parliamentary elections, at which there were no foreign observers, were his supporters. SAPARMURAT NIYAZOV Became head of Communist Party in Turkmenistan in 1985 Styled himself Turkmenbashi, Father of the Turkmen Built up a cult of personality, with cities, airports and months named after him Introduced bizarre laws, banning young men from wearing beards and listening to car radios Poverty remained rife in the energy-rich country

...and if you don't do things our way, we'll kick you out. Even though you are, by far, our biggest moneymaker. https://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1...925-2426163.php Kyrgyzstan government reconsidering U.S. presence The Associated Press BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Kyrgyzstan’s Parliament on Friday questioned further U.S. military presence in the country after a U.S. serviceman fatally shot a Kyrgyz civilian. Lawmakers in the former Soviet republic voted unanimously for a resolution asking the government to reconsider “the expediency” of allowing the U.S. military to maintain the Manas Air Base on Kyrgyz territory, following an incident on Dec. 6 in which a U.S. airman shot to death a Kyrgyz truck driver at the base. In an official statement released soon after the incident, the base said the serviceman fired in self-defense after the driver threatened him with a knife. Lawmakers accused officials at the base of hindering an inquiry into the incident by not allowing Kyrgyz investigators to question the airman and examine his gun. “The Kyrgyz people are seriously indignant at the fact that the American side is slow in responding to, or completely ignores, Kyrgyzstan’s requests,” the parliamentary resolution said. The resolution also called for the lifting of immunity of U.S. troops deployed in the country. Status of Forces Agreements between the U.S. and countries where U.S. military personnel are stationed grant American service members varying levels of legal immunity. In the resolution, the Kyrgyz Parliament also said the shooting “extended a list of incidents linked with the base that create a negative U.S. image among our people.” In September, a U.S. servicewoman deployed at the base vanished while shopping in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital. She reappeared several days later, claiming she had been kidnapped. She was flown out of the country hours after reappearing and Kyrgyz investigators complained they could not properly complete their inquiry. Kyrgyz authorities also blame the crew of a U.S. military tanker plane for a September collision with a passenger jet that caused a fire, but no injuries, at the nation’s main airport. The U.S. air base near Bishkek supports operations in nearby Afghanistan.