TreeA10

Reading an account of the Iranian takeover of the US Embassy in 1979, one of the problems was the Iranians standing on toilet just like that picture adding much more unpleasantness to an already unpleasant situation.

I was thinking that same thing about the Hawg but you have to make the opener out of titanium.

In another IIRC, if we had built the 700+ Raptors, there would have been squadrons with Air-to-Ground as the primary mission in their Doc statement. The software is in the ones currently flying. We wouldn't be reinventing the wheel if we built more.

IIRC, the Bone was built with parts from all 50 states.

You miss the "any excuse for a party" rationale. During a TDY to Vegas, we had 7 guys get promoted. They put together quite the soiree complete with political incorrect implications of excess alcohol and strippers invited but in a non-working capacity. Apparently that whole pole thing is a lot more physically demanding than I thought if the number of ladies wearing knee and ankle braces is an accurate indication. Guys were still rolling back to the hotel at 3pm the next day. So, enjoy what you can, when you can because, otherwise, all there is left is bitching and complaining.

I was stationed at Eielson and we were packed and ready to go as filler for expected losses. Our Intel officer had it all mapped out so we saw the big movement of ground troops positioning for the end around hook and we knew when the shooting was going to start. So, there I was...... in North Pole, AK...... on my roof shoveling 12 feet of snow.......when the shooting started. Damn.

Now there is an awesome early Christmas present! Congrats!

So the best place to start down the path to a CCL in Texas is where?

Where's the animal rights activist? Reptile lives matter!

That would be strafe. Some of that might be from the gunships, too.

Never had allergies until I moved to Texas. Suffered for 10 years taking Claritin or Allegra or Zrytec. Even those didn't work in the heart of allergy (mountain cedar/juniper) season for me. I decided to give the local unfiltered honey a try. A little on toast, on cereal, or in tea. After two years, I can positively say it worked. Might still suffer on a windy day or doing something that kicks up dust. Might not work for you but worth the try.

I fully expect left wing lunacy. It's just when they go full retard and the stupidity breaks the 4th wall of acting interupting the performance.

She had become an American citizen and expressed being ashamed of that fact after the first Republican debate. She could have said she hated Republicans or Conservatives or politicians but threw the whole country under the bus. The irony of this is that she became a US citizen to avoid higher taxes as a British citizen.

The best movies are ones which pull you in and you forget you are watching a film. Does anyone else find epic levels of stupid commentary or behavior prevent being able to watch a film because, in your mind, the actor is a nut job or idiot? Emily Blunt and Tarantino are the two most recent examples. Thoughts?

Saw The Martian last Friday. Movie follows the book almost exactly except for the ending and that is close. I'd still rate the book, or Audio book in my case, as much better if you are into geekery and numbers.

I was landing an A-10 in a freaking snow storm and max crosswind after air refueling 8 times over 11 hours and 22 minutes of flying time. Basic flying skills are just that, basic. Those basic skills are the foundation everything else is built on. Consistently getting air under your ass can build the airmanship that allows a pilot to use that judgement thing to do more skill based or task intensive operations later. Big jet, small jet (I've got lots of hours in both)....doesn't matter. Experienced pilots transition faster and are making better decisions sooner than the less experienced. So I think any flying is better than no flying and if we can get stick time in a T-38, T-1, or Eclipse for the young guys, we get a better product sooner.

I guess I was lucky to survive an 11 hour 22 minute sortie after landing at near max crosswind in a snowstorm in my yanking and banking single seat machine. My 1200 T-38 hours in a prior assignment obviously we're irrelevant, also. Yep, just plain luck saved me.

The seat has a much larger envelope regarding weight as compared to the ACES II. IIRC, in the briefings I attended, pilots would wear a HANS device similar to race car drivers to account for the heavier helmet on smaller statured pilots. But that was over four years ago.

I'm listening to an Audible audiobook. It's expensive relative to book on CD but it's very convenient to purchase from Amazon and streams from phone or iPad and I need anything I can get to make the 14 hour drive (one way) more tolerable.

Listening to the book on a long drive to/from Florida. Good stuff.

I think that goes in the SARC thread.

The other phenomena regarding "privilege" is commercials on television. Usually, there is a person needing or creating a need for a product, this is the person without knowledge of the right thing to do or product to buy. Then, there is the person with the answer, or the right thing to do, that solves the problem. Watch and use your magic gender/race decoder ring to separate the smart or knowing from the ignorant or unknowing. It's not universal but amazingly consistent.

Many years ago, there was an O-4 board with an overall promotion rate of 73%. The rate for minority women was 94.5%. Statistical anomaly? I don't think so.

Currently reading "Colonel Roosevelt" by Edmund Morris. Colonel was Theodore Roosevelt's preferred title after he left the White House and the book is about that part of his life. This excerpt is from a speech in Paris in 1910 you have probably heard but I think it is worth repeating. It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt.

USA Today article on a study done by the Marines. Surprisingly, there is apparently a difference in physiology between men and women. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/09/10/marine-study-finds-all-male-infantry-units-outperformed-teams-women/71971416/