tac airlifter

February 6

2 hours ago, Danger41 said:

During a recent trip to the shitter, I looked into this and was surprised to see ALPA thinks this is bad. Why would they do that? Isn't their motivation to get their members more money/better QOL/better work rules?

APA also against it.

February 6

3 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:

But mostly I'm just tired of the Baby Boomers upending every system for their financial advantage then acting shocked that other generations don't appreciate being left the tattered ruins of a once functional societal pact.

Well put, quoted for truth.

There are good and bad individuals within every group, and I'll note Huggy is a good one. That said, has there been a generation more greedy or who wrecked things more for their kids than boomers? The phenomenon seems unique to the US by the way, Latin America is full of older generations working to leave things better for their kids.

I get it older CAs, you want an extra million bucks before retirement regardless of the impact on others and it makes you feel better to pretend we're all as shallow. Whatever. But don't expect me to endorse it or support it.

February 3

4 hours ago, dream big said:

With you 100%, but this one isn’t necessarily on the brass, our indecisive and lack luster policies are driven by the Ivy League academic liberals that make up the OSD staff and quite honestly run the entire defense enterprise (civilian control and all which I’m a huge fan of with the right people.) I’ve seen a handful of our GOs try to do the right thing in combatant commands only to get handcuffed by the shirks up at OSD.

I used to think this way too but have changed my mind in the last few years. You are right about Ivy League OSD staff being idiots directly responsible for failed policies (how many of those weaklings have ever been in a fight?) but I also blame senior military leaders. Many of them are good people with good hearts, but there is a culture of overly compliant subservience which is unhealthy. They order people to take physical risks, yet they themselves are 0% willing to take moral, administrative or ethical risks on behalf of those people exposed to harm; that is unacceptable.

Think about when our nation used to win wars and the generals who led us to victories: Billy Mitchell, Patton, MacArthur... do we have 4 stars today capable of leading boldly and accepting the consequences, their own career be damned? No.

I have also seen a handful of general officers try to do the right thing or push forward mildly aggressive COAs. However, all of them pivoted at the first sign of resistance for fear of their own progression. The military still attracts hard-core pipe hitting young people, and God bless them. Unfortunately all of our senior military leadership has proven incapable of winning wars, and yes, I blame them for that failure.

February 3

2 hours ago, Skitzo said:

It’s a careful dance…how to respond properly without escalating vertically or horoztonally.

It's not a careful dance, it's limp dick garbage. I want maximum carnage as our response to the Tower 22 attack, instead they are telegraphing the strikes a week beforehand and blowing up empty warehouses while all Iranians forward deployed get a couple weeks off at home. WTF.

No surprises though, the same genius generals who have lost for 20 years are in charge of this retaliatory strike. Of course it's going to be weak bullshit. Bottom line: our enemies don't fear us and so we lose and continue to lose.

I've been hoping to kill Iranians since this attack during my third deployment. Fuck Iran, they are a paper tiger and we need to show teeth. All of our supposedly experienced colonels and generals advocate a measured response but we need our boot on their throat or we need to get the fuck out of that AO. Play to win or go home.

January 28

42 minutes ago, dream big said:

He’s pretty useless but I have a feeling our responsiveness, or lack thereof, is driven by higher echelons than OSD.

You aren't wrong, but I have a particular disdain for Austin due to his decisively harmful meddling in this incident; I was in a position to see up close what a craven political creature he is. Sentiments that have amplified since he became SECDEF and sold us out during the fall of Kabul, where I also witnessed his (and others) deliberate injects which emboldened enemies and hurt friendlies.

Regarding the current thing and authorities at his level: there have been many proactive opportunities which he's declined. We need accountability.

January 28

2 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:

Horrible - will we remain weak or turn loose some whoopass?

Agreed, infuriating.

My guess is another “proportional and measured” response, although with a bit more teeth, but well short of what is required for our enemies to fear us. The SECEEF should resign in disgrace, this outcome has been obviously inevitable.

January 26

26 minutes ago, Sua Sponte said:

I’m sorry, I must’ve missed your peer reviewed academic argument supporting documentation?

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/undocumented_immigrant

Does Cornell Law’s definition suffice for you?

Thank you for posting both articles. This gets at the heart of our nations inability to resolve our conflicts by discussion anymore.

For those not clicking on his first link, it’s a Penn State law opinion piece that basically says ‘no, sanctuary city policies do not violate federal law because they only stop local governments from helping federal immigration authorities.’ The article ignores multiple incentives by sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants that entice them to break the law and ignores countervailing legal opinions that sanctuary cities are in fact, violating the law by aiding and abetting lawbreakers. That in itself is a crime. The article also ignores the crime of conspiracy between NGO’s directly assisting illegal immigrants and sanctuary cities who directly assist those NGOs.

but whatever, I’m uninterested in a tit for tat on the articles or even the legal issue. I appreciate it for a broader reason: it illuminates a phenomenon that has poisoned domestic politics, namely, no matter how threatened and assaulted people feel a democratic lawyer will tell you “actually, as a legal expert, you have to just shut up and take it and you aren’t qualified to have a different opinion.”
Don’t want your car destroyed when you accidentally drive upon a BLM protest? Too bad, you have to take it. Find yourself getting chased by a mob trying to bludgeon you? Can’t shoot them, sorry, you shouldn’t have been there. Democrats always have a legal justification for the injustice you must endure, and that makes conversation impossible because they just want us all to follow the law… which, of course is whatever they say it is.

By their actions they have invited lawlessness into our national conversation, which works both ways. They don’t like it, but that’s too bad, prepare for more.

January 26

1 hour ago, Sua Sponte said:

Homie, I live outside of Denver, that mess is shipped up here daily. It does have to be stopped, but that also doesn’t allow a state governor to flat out ignore the Constitution.

I’ve been to Denver lately too; the border is an order of magnitude more chaotic. People in Democratic cities see only a fraction of the immigration problem and even that seems substantial; the border is where the entirety of the problem manifests. Perhaps if you saw it you would grasp the magnitude of the crime Biden is willfully committing.

And anyway, precedent already exists for states to ignore parts of the constitution they don’t like: democrats initiated this “sanctuary city” thing which flat out ignores federal law. You can’t have it both ways, we either obey the law or we don’t. Currently in America, we don’t. This is what it looks like; prepare for more.

January 26

6 hours ago, Sua Sponte said:

Apparently, Abbott skipped Supremacy Clause day in law school.

Have you been to the border recently? It’s unbelievable and obviously an invasion which must be stopped. You can’t see it and think the Biden administration has any legitimacy in their policy positions. It is a physical threat to residents.

January 24

2 hours ago, SpeedOfHeat said:

Haley could win, easily....

She would absolutely wipe the floor with Biden in a debate.

Good comments, thanks for the thoughts. I disagree a bit: I don't think Nikki can beat Biden. Her numbers are artificially high because of democrat voters. Too many "NeverNikki" folks in the R party; even Ronna McDaniel has advised her to drop out.

Also, I don't think they'll let Biden debate. He's too retarded. But I'm happy to bet a bottle of bourbon on my prediction!

January 24

January 14

3 minutes ago, Majestik Møøse said:

..the nature of our government means no one will ever be held accountable for decisions that provide a short-term benefit with worse long-term outcomes.

You just found the problem with our whole thing.

How do we fix it?

January 14

8 minutes ago, Lord Ratner said:

How is that not the dream job?

Agree, aside from a few speciality assignments an O-6 command at UPT would be awesome. Unless you're a political creature unable to leverage that assignment into someone's front office in NCR. But for a pilot, it's one of the best gigs for an O6.

January 12

1 hour ago, FourFans said:

When did we start looking at flying in the weather and pushing it hard in training as a bad thing? It's the military. We're supposed to be able to deliver anytime, anywhere, in any conditions.

Totally agree. I never WX cancelled for WX at mins. An approach to minimums is something aviators should be comfortable with, and you certainly don’t want your first time to be when it matters versus a training sortie. Now below mins is a different story, I’m not going to divert and buy a new toothbrush…

January 11

Fauci admits 6' social distancing rule was completely made up, no scientific basis.

January 11

12 minutes ago, BashiChuni said:

we don't need to be broadcasting pictures of our strategic bomber mishaps on the internet. danger knows better than that!

A real OPSEC warrior wouldn’t even tell Russia we had bombers.

January 5

1 hour ago, Danger41 said:

I'm sure I will regret weighing in on this...

That's me after about half the threads I roll into 😂

and I'm usually right!

January 4

22 hours ago, timberlin said:

There's a saying in AFSOC in regards to Q3s "those who have and those who will." A Q3 doesn't tarnish your community rep like I would imagine it would in those where they are far more sparse; it just makes life more difficult as a whole to leave/fly outside of AFSOC (TPS, white jets, etc.)....unsure if that's a bug or a feature.....

Yea, that's not an AFSOC thing.

January 3

4 hours ago, ChiliDawg said:

Unlike myself & @ViperStud who not only has been calling you out for your BS claims but also know how to use IFF, we swore oaths to the Constitution of the United States. Not some malignant narcissist & wanta be dictator who appeals to your inner desire....

I don't understand what these words mean.

January 2

Wow. Fuck yea.

January 2

9 hours ago, ChiliDawg said:

The Qanon Shaman just called and said, "Really?" 🤣

Don't know if it's because I'm one of the resident Tailhook guys on BaseOps (casual reader) who knows how to utilize Datalink & PLM as well as Google "Number of times Putin has praised Trump." and the first link that pops up is "80 Times Trump has gone out of his way to praise Putin!" and it was only from 2015-2017???🤨

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/03/politics/trump-putin-russia-timeline/

Malignant Narcissists & wanta-be fascist dictators love other authoritarian/ fascist dictators?!?🤗

Since you probably won't click on my link as it's from CNN let me give you a brief rundown of the article.

Starts in 2015 how Putin is a stronger tremendous leader & better than Obama.

Goes out of way to say, "How nice Putin was to him and how they have a great relationship"

Confiscates transcripts notes from interpreter in meeting w/ Putin.

Sides with Putin over our intelligence agencies regarding Russian interference in Helsinki

Calls Putin, "A genius" for invading Ukraine and launching a "Special Military Operation"

Not a conspiracy tin foil hat guy and doubted there was ever a Pee Tape at a Moscow hotel, but based on his overwhelming flattery & praise of Putin, an downright refusal to EVER be critical of Putin's Russia, I'm sayin maybe?

Perhaps if you would like to differentiate yourself from Bash-schitt you might look to explore other outlets then whatever Right-Wing Ecosystem your currently vacationing in.

Happy New Year! 🤩

.02

I went to your link (which covered far more than 2015-2017, it was an exhaustive archive) and here is some of the hard hitting evidence provided that Trump is a Russian stooge and the pee tape might be real.

This kind of stuff might be damming proof that Trump is a pro-Putin traitor to you, but I do not draw the same conclusions. Do you have anything post-Ukraine invasion, since that was the context of this discussion?

December 31, 2023

2 hours ago, FourFans said:

If you're going to make an argument against them, please do. But put some meat behind it. Otherwise, pull your head out of the sand and do some observing.

I didn't make an argument, I made an observation. Your entire post apparently was written on a presumption of what I said, versus the words I actually said.

if you're going to defend USAFA based on the critical thinking it produces in graduates, I recommend using said critical thinking during dialogue; less irony that way. Or continue providing an emotional reply to things I didn't say, it's certainly amusing.

December 31, 2023

1 hour ago, DirkDiggler said:

One guys opinion (mine), CVS was/is a bit of a dumpster fire across the wing, not just in the OG. Proof in the data pudding is the failed UEI; the report is quite damning. I could write a very long post about all the problems during that time period but it’s already been hashed out here.
On a bright note, I do believe that the current Wg/CC is pushing things in the right direction.

The weirdest thing about that specific firing is that said OG had tendered a resignation letter and put it on the WG/CC’s desk; he had taken responsibility for the Group’s failure. Wg/CC didn’t do anything with it, so after a couple weeks OG/CC decided he’s in the clear. Then (supposedly, I have no direct knowledge of this, only RUMINT) CAT 5 orders the Wg/CC to fire the OG/CC. When the news was announced to CVS leadership a Sq/CC directly asked the Wg/CC what to tell his formation the reason for the firing was, Wg/CC basically gives an evasive/non-answer. Strange times.

I was surprised the WG/CC wasn't fired in addition to the OG.

December 31, 2023

20 hours ago, FourFans said:

Why do we have UPT? Just take civilian pilots with commercial licenses and go straight to the FTU. After a couple years you won't notice the difference.

And why do we have ivy league schools anyway? It's not like you can't become a doctor or a lawyer online. Just do that instead.

Having trained UPT 2.0 students, the answer is clear: You don't realize what you have until you don't have it anymore.

If you want a high quality product, you create competition and a set a high bar. That's what every elite university does, or should do.

Judging that process by the vocal minority of arrogant asshats it creates is not how you measure the quality of the process.

Yes, military academies need to improve (and get rid of the social experimentation bullshit). So does EVERY university. If you can't understand the reason for having a process that's competitive and pursues creation of elite levels of education, university level R&D, and leadership, you're seriously missing the point.

Zero hit the nail on the head. We need USAFA and the other Academies to live up to what they're supposed to do: create and cultivate high quality mission focused military leaders. I think they still do that to a degree, although they've noticeably strayed into social activism. That means they need to course correct, not cease to exist.

During the course of my military career, I saw zero evidence the academies are necessary or beneficial in any way. The same cannot be said for UPT.

December 29, 2023

7 hours ago, ViperStud said:

Unfortunately the front runner for the nomination is on record praising the man repeatedly. Clips are easy to find.

I would rephrase your claim of “using” the Ukrainians to simply state that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, or ally. We spend far more on way less....

I looked and cannot find a single "pro-Putin" quote from Trump. If you could provide something specific, I would possibly better understand your point. FYI, a world leader saying "hey I met this guy, he's not the devil, we can work together" is normal dialogue. Post UKR war Trump maturely stated (paraphrasing) "yes Putin is a killer, but there are lots of killers and I'll work with everyone to secure a peace deal." If you can find actual Putin knob gobbling please post, otherwise your point is disproven.

For your second point, yes, I'm sure you would rephrase it to sound cleaner. However the coldhearted truth is we are sacrificing a generation of Ukrainian youth to attrit our historic geo-political foe. We are military professionals not politicians, I'm not being judgmental about the tactic. But speak plainly to me rather than disguise the action with flowery language.

Yes, paying a UKR dictator to forcibly conscript his citizens to kill Russians, blow up their stuff at scale and ascertain which of our systems work best is effective. Let's sidestep the morality discussion. This tactic is an elegant solution for now, but I don't think we can afford it on the time scale UKR would require to eject all Russian forces from its territory (their definition of "win"). Starting from that assumption on my part (that our country is incapable of multibillion-dollar aid packages in perpetuity) I think it's strategically in our interest to find a new approach forward in UKR to secure our interests. To be clear, that likely involves accepting Russia holds portions of the Eastern territory and we cease NATO expansion eastward. I'm fine with both concessions, we have bigger concerns elsewhere.

1 hour ago, ViperStud said:

Korea, Grenada, Libia, Kosovo, Gulf 1 are some successes off the top of my head. Our involvement in each is arguably larger than current in UKR, especially direct troop support. Take your head out of Trump’s ass long enough to read a book or two 😂

Korea? Not a single Korean War vet I've met thinks the effort was a "success" and worth watching their buddies freeze to death. And the unfavorable situation has continued to plague us.

Libya? Last time I was there (post invasion) it was a total shit show that the world has forgotten but terrorist organizations have not. Our countries interests were much better served with Kadafi holding an iron grip on the country. If you know anything about the war or were involved in fighting it, you'll know that his massive arms stockpiles were stolen and proliferated both to Syria (throwing gasoline on that simmering Civil War) and also across the African continent resulting in the rise of leaders like MBM and organizations like AQIM & Boko Haram.

Kosovo... curious why you think this is successful. Yes we stuck our fingers in a small scale regional conflict and ultimately got our way. But at what cost? I spent some time studying the rise of Jihadi culture in the 1990s, which academically I find an interesting time period for them as the movement rode success against Russia in the 80s with a season of self-discovery (was I merely a regional phenomenon whose time has passed, or do I have a broader, global future?). Lots of informative literature showing we would have been smarter to encourage a generation of Jihadis to spend themselves in the Serb meat grinder. For that matter, we should have encouraged both Chechen wars & used Russia to attrit our foe. We could have done to jihadis (for free) what you're desirous of doing to RUS in UKR. No, Kosovo is not a win.

GW1? That definitely looked like a win in 1994, but once we got bogged down with ONW & OSW then everything post 2002 i'm wondering what about that conflict leads you to conclude it was decisively finalized the way World War II was? In hindsight it looks like a strategic failure to me, managed by weak-kneed leadership convinced of their own intelligence while lacking the fortitude to see enemies vanquished. A consistent theme of our recent history, resulting in consistent failures worldwide.

i'll grant you Granada. Good job USA 🇺🇸

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