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It's also impossible for us to crash seeing as we have both an engineer AND a boom in the cockpit.

- C-17s are newer and nicer with lots of trick avionics and a HUD. KC-10s have mostly original 1977 avionics with a few upgrades and a few more coming. The C-17 is fly by wire with a lot of weird modes that seem to make guys lose their hand-flying skills a bit. Hand-flying the KC-10 is like any other traditional plane. - KC-10s have a very flexible mission. On a typical desert sortie, 2/3 of our ops are figured out on the fly. This gives us a lot of opportunity to use SA to make things better (or worse) in real time. We can refuel any jet in the AOR including ourselves which gives a lot of operational possibilities. C-17s fly the magenta line from point A to point B, but they sometimes get to fly it at low level with NVGs to an assault landing. Both can be fun in their own way. KC-10s fly formation on every local and on many operational missions. Operational C-17 receiver AR is really rare. - C-17s seem to have a harder life on the road from the outside looking in. Their fatigue level is reflected in the incidents they've had. - There are 2 KC-10 bases. Your follow-on assignment options will be to go to the other base or to UPT/UAV then to the other base, followed by whatever path you choose in life. I have no idea how C-17 follow-one go. Edit for stupid small iPhone buttons

The gym is comically small for the amount of people we have here these days. On the plus side, there's a giant BX now that's filled with useless stuff. Who the hell is buying food and formal wear out here?

The Republic of China is AKA Taiwan. Both them and the PRC think they're the "real" China. http://www.flyingsquadron.com/forums/index.php?/topic/16608-u-2-dead-stick-landing-1959/

I'll preemptively vouch for the Hornet pilots. They deal with this limitation virtually every time they move through the Pacific. As req'd, they'll just map the runway threshold and fly their own radar approach as low as they like; at least lower than Cat 1 ILS. Some fields like Iwakuni have radar reflectors at the threshold to help out. At a place like Wake, there's just no other option for them if the weather guessers are wrong.

Screw that. I'll be damned if I ever fly on any jet that doesn't accordion fold their washcloths. Seriously, tri-folding? What am I, a farmer?

I guess having an ABM as SOF is ok as long as they're not trying to give vectors back to the field! We tell CP (or the ADO) our TO times. If the WX is bad, we divert and tell the ADO enroute. Maybe our EPs don't get that complex. Different perspectives, I guess.

While we're at it, someone explain why AWACS need SOFs.

I think this particular passage is extremely relevant: "I recall telling people about the job, and they would all ask what I studied in college to do such a thing. At first I thought they were being rude toward me, because the reality is that I was hired at the age of 25 with my only prior experience having been owning NYCAviation, which was only a small nerd site at the time. One day I’m a bouncer asking a friend to see if she could get me an interview at this charter airline, and weeks later I’m in the Middle East doing the payload math that will bring soldiers to and from war." Yep, that checks. Sketchy as hell. I'm sure the rest of the carriers have much more rigorous training programs.

Looks like the KC-10 continues to do more with less. Kick ass!

Wait, so do they actually hand out DFCs for avionics failures? Any crew that can't join up NORDO with another jet and follow it home to an uneventful landing should have their wings taken away.

I didn't know I could brag about this, now I'll tell my buddies in the DFAC about it after every sortie. Thanks!

Short interview with a former Air Force officer who's releasing a book entitled Bleeding Talent: How the U.S. Military Mismanages Great Leaders and Why It’s Time for a Revolution. It think he's spot on in many ways. Some significant quotes: "In my ideal Navy, Maverick would still be flying his Tomcat. Today, he’s either working on a spreadsheet or PowerPoint in the Pentagon basement, or he’s flying a 747 out of Hong Kong as a civilian pilot for United Airlines. and: "More to the point, Ike would have been rotated out of his role as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe in 1943 to give someone else a turn." Read more: http://nation.time.com/2013/01/21/why-cant-the-u-s-military-grow-better-leaders/#ixzz2IdOS3wm1

The losses were incredible. Considering the overly cautious nature of today's Air Force, it's pretty insane to think about sending a thousand dudes to engage in an airborne machine gun battle with no cover.

I just can't believe that this has all been caused by allegations in a lawsuit. The claims haven't even been vetted in court yet. Using this logic, every single female military member literally has the power to cause a lasting, historic effect on our entire service simply by spending an hour writing down any allegations they like. No evidence required, no one would dare publicly pressure them on it. Aren't these things supposed to go to court for a reason?

Alright guys, we need to get a curtain around this thing ASAP. John Ashcroft style.

It's already in the desert. "Get rid of any offensive materials" was briefed to my crew as we stepped this morning. Hopefully this doesn't include our dorm room walls.

You too. Is that right?

"Johnson, who joined the program in May, listed five major causes behind the ECSS failure, including the Air Force’s lack of a master schedule, a change in acquisition strategy and infrastructure problems that slowed the speed at which the system could share data with Air Force installations." Cause 6: There have probably been 6-9 "Directors of System Integration" since the contract was awarded in 2006. We are terrible at managing our senior leadership. The officer development never stops. Every senior officer job is seen as a stepping stone to the next one, with no one spending more than 12 months at the same desk. Figure 3 months to learn the purpose of the office, 3 months to conference with the contractors, 3 months to compile a 50-page recommendations report (for your newly-replaced boss), and 3 months looking for a new job. Meanwhile nobody reads your report and the contractor continues stealing millions because a new Director is around the corner anyway. It's absolutely ludicrous. It's costing us billions of dollars. This is something I'm glad is being investigated by Congress. IMHO, acquisitions buffoonery (amplified by the Air Force's ridiculous HR management) is our #1 weakness.

These guys are copying Reapers and MRAPs, looks like they've fallen for the "current war" propaganda we've been emitting lately. It was all a ploy!

That timeline checks, they'll also have a homegrown, operational aircraft carrier about 100 years after the Japanese did.

What good is a ######ing stopped treadmill?

If the treadmill was running in the opposite direction at the same speed as you, you would already be stopped. Like landing on a really fast aircraft carrier.

So did this guy actually "retire" at 36 or does the news have this mixed up with "separate"?

Does this mean I should stop posting to baseops.net with mine? Sent from my AMC iPad