Danger41

As unbelievable as it sounds, I'm a fan of bringing the no notice inspection back. The prep for inspection crap is so stupid and the amount of organizations that think they can prep just for the scheduled test and let everything rot until then is insane.

When I hear a NATO country saying they're "prepared" for anything, I put a very hairy eyeball on that.

Amen. I actually read all of that and if a GS-11 civilian can do this, that is such a massive failure of so many people it’s hard to fathom. I don’t care if they have a strong union or not, you fire that chick immediately (assuming all his allegations are true).

Duke Ellington done good.

Well with all the AFSOC bashing, some good news is the new 1 SOW CC is a stud. And he’s replacing Col Allison Black as she retires after a very long career. Great stuff for Hurlburt and congrats to AB!

ALRIGHT! I'll do it. First order of AFSOC business when I'm in charge is that all aircrew will be wearing Air Commando Bush Hats immediately, everyone will be issued a single can of Sexual Tyrannosaurus chewing tobacco with refills at members discretion, and Cannon will close and everyone will move to Hickam and manifest destiny existing squadron spaces from current occupiers.

Here’s the clip from that interaction.

Farrell is so funny to me. He’s pretty much universally liked but my old squadron was the first he addressed as a new wing commander when we got back from a long deployment over Christmas. Started the brief by welcoming our sister squadron home, then told us to take leave on the weekends to not have use/lose, the duty day shouldn’t end until 1730 (which is why retreat played at HRT then for years), and several other things that were honestly misspeaks due to nervousness. He crashed and burned so hard and my squadron hated him lol. Reminded me of this. I’d hope for Tom Palenske but even he has some negative info from a senior AFSOC guy I know and respect. Can’t win ‘em all.

From a former AFSOC guy still tangentially attached, I can tell you that the command (line flying bros O-5 and down) seem afraid of their own shadow and a culture of Uber compliance has replaced that warrior spirit from the GWOT generation. Pretty sure that’s deliberate and starts from the top down. Honestly, pretty disappointing.

Something to do with CV-22’s?

If anyone had “Iran annexes Antarctica” on a 2024 bingo card, I’d like to subscribe to their newsletter.

In my current role, I’ve gotten very good at foreflight. It’s an amazing tool and I sent a guy in my squadron to that exact course. Learned a ton and definitely worth it. Not sure what your squadron’s mission is and I doubt there’s as much utility in a fighter squadron flying stereos to the same MOAs every day compared to a tac airlift unit but there are still a ton of awesome features. If nothing else, max perform the documents tab and the “procedures” button in the edit tab!

My question is if you’re bringing pilots back, I certainly haven’t gotten the impression that B Course/TX courses are sitting around going unfilled. If they are, this is very much my Milton getting moved to the basement because I’ve been striking out right and left looking for a flying sunset tour.

Quoted for truth. If you want to be in the MAF, don’t rush into a relationship. Stay single for awhile, do all the prestige worldwide trips you can, and enjoy the life as a young Buck.

After 9-11, my dad tried to get back in as a retired 59 year old United pilot. He said he would come back and fly 135’s and they said they didn’t need that but would love for him to help in an AOC. He asked what that was while sitting at the family computer, looking over his glasses at the keyboard and typing with 1 finger at a time and forwarding those infamous chain emails from back then. Needless to say, he didn’t get to contribute to the air war in OEF.

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?

One of my favorite parts of that story was their squadron commander calling an Eagle squadron commander up there who's squadron hadn't gotten any kills yet (through no fault of their own) and offered to come by and give some advice on air to air work.

Just do it over a weekend unless you're planning to make the bar crazy fancy. Also, I'll never forget the rage I felt as I walked into an AFSOC squadron bar after a long day wanting a beer and seeing AFI 34-219 plastered all over the place stating that the higher echelons hadn't approved the drinking beer plan so there was no alcohol. I've never felt more like Colonel Kurtz about how we train young men to rain fire on the nations enemies but don't allow them to have a beer (or write "fuck" on their airplanes because it's obscene). Pursue that at your own peril.

I’m sure these are all poor, tired, huddle masses yearning to be free and not any connection to the CCP and their ideas. The landowner (legal immigrant from Yugoslavia) who got arrested for shooting his gun in the air and the lady who speaks Spanish and says she doesn’t even run into a single Spanish speaker some days is mind blowing.

Apparently the show is very historically accurate in terms of what airplanes were shot down and when. Very interesting. I never really made the connection until I read Robin Olds' book "Fighter Pilot" when he talks about the bravery of bomber crews for not being able to maneuver like he could in the P-38/P-51. Another story from the same time about a guy who flew fighters with him that he could hear crying in his room after missions and he thought he was a coward but then realized how he was actually braver than Robin because he had that amount of fear and still went out every day. He was eventually killed. Truly amazing stories from the USAAF in Europe (not to mention the USN/USMC in the Pacific).

More strikes in Yemen today on Houthis. https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/03/politics/strikes-us-uk-houthi-yemen/index.html

I think they delayed the strikes to not overshadow the return of the remains.

I heard the same thing about 104’s in Germany.

Pretty much the same except they don’t say airframes available (at least they didn’t at Sheppard when I went through with Orville and Wilbur). We wore told how many engines we had in the drop and we all tried to figure out what the combination was when our resident crusty bastard came in and said “It’s 3 Buffs, one with an engine failure, and the rest of you washed out”. God Bless you Guido, wherever you are.

I can't believe we've gone this far without someone rolling in with a "UPT 2.5, wings after T-6, back in my day" rant yet.