[Tyndall to Gain T-38 Detachment]

I'm bettin on the Tyndall guys being dual qual'd 22/38.

Apparently that's not going to happen at Tyndall due to IP workload with sims, flights, academics, etc. They're looking at other options.

Shouldn't be too hard to scrounge up 10 T-38's considering 2 out of the 5 IFF squadrons are closing. Maybe a few lucky Smurf drivers can move from the hinterlands to sunny Florida.

C models would be nice but they'll all be A model T-38s. The initial 15 jets (7 for Langley and 8 for Tyndall) will come from 15 Korean jets that were returned last year from long term 'lease'. Tyndall will get 2 additional jets from Beale to make the 10 total.

[Flyers wearing ABU's]

Keep wearing your one piece flightsuit and those of us who care about function rather than how cool we look will wear the 2 piece ACUs. Two piece flight suits rule.

Definitely not true in fighters/bombers. 1 piece = safer for ejection. Nothing to do with 'cool'. IMO it's also more functional and comfortable.

[Blues on Monday]

It's Monday....morale low....surrounded by bubbas in other services in their flight suits, ACUs, MARPATs, BDUs. "Corporate" Air Force, business-attire jokes as usual....

Can't wait to get back to a flying squadron. Then again, sounds like that won't necessarily solve the problem.

I hate Blue Monday....

[Personal Common Access Card (CAC) reader]

I've been sifting through Apple's Fed Mailing List and I think I might have found a solution. I'll be working on it when I have a little more time.

What card readers are you guys using with OSX and do you have the latest 10.5.6?

As long as you have Mac OSX 10.5.x, you should be good to go using any CAC reader with Safari (No go for me using Firefox unfortunately). I got mine working with safari a couple weeks ago. With 10.5.x, you don't have to go through the extra steps you may find online of 'flashing' the CAC reader or uploading drivers. 10.5.x will find it just fine and you also don't need any 'middleware' stuff like you do in windows or special drivers for the reader. It's built right into the OS for 10.5.x and beyond.

The only catch is that you have to import the DoD Root certificates in the Mac. To do that, go to DISA's certificate site here and follow the instructions on this site CAC on a Mac

Once you're good to go, you'll have to be sure to insert your CAC (sts) BEFORE you start safari. If safari is running, you have to shut it down first, insert the CAC (sts) then restart safari and go to webmail, portal, etc.

Hope that helps. I'll now go kill myself for geeking out this bad.

[Losing Air Dominance]

OK, I don't post much but I have to throw in my $.02.

BeerMan and ClearedHot - Right on.

Caveman,

That is the problem with F-22. I really do not think we need that many of those things. The current theater we are in today quite frankly does not require an F-22.

A stealth fighter does not grant us any edge against guys with RPG weaving and ducking through city streets.

Why do you assume that 'the theater we are in today' will look anything like tomorrow's, or next decade's theater? Today, I agree, Raptors aren't needed in Iraq or Afghanistan, but to use that as you argument not to buy them is just frighteningly short sighted.

no other country is going to ever come toe-to-tow with us again.

Very dangerous assumption in my book.

My point is this, we have F-16 and F-15 that are still capable to deliver. They can augment the fleet of F-22.

Eagles and Vipers are still very capable, assuming we don't face modern SAM systems. As BeerMan states, access is what the Raptor gives you. We won't always have a completely permissive air environment.

We already have aircrafts that can patrol and acquire targets. That is all we need.

Seriously? Wow. Very much disagree.

Ask the A-10 guys whether they can achieve stealth. Now ask them how many kills they have compared to the Viper guys.

A-10s and F-15Es are the stars of this show, no doubt about it. I assume you're just trying to stir the pot here. Because looking only at today's fight when determining the future structure of our force would be a horrible mistake.