Danger41

I don’t think the Iraqi Air Force would agree with that.

Thanks for the videos. I watched all you linked and would offer a perspective from someone pitching in as an outsider. Is it possible that “your mind is already made up” on some of these? I suffer from a condition where I try to look at things objectively and it’s hard to do that in 15-30 second clips. *All of the below are for personal edification so please take the questions as such* 1. Rubber bullets at the house. What was the situation in that area that required that level of police presence? Had they been threatened and/or shot at from porches in that neighborhood? They were repeatedly told to go inside and continued filming. I don’t know the context. 2. Beating the cuffed suspect. Looks bad, is bad. What is the objective legal criteria for when a cop has a suspect under control? I doubt it’s handcuffs because someone can still thrash and do a lot of damage while cuffed. Once again, I don’t know. 3. Shot at while being recorded. This one shows me absolutely no proof where that came from and is the ultimate case of a pre-conceived notion fitting a narrative. 4. Proud Boys treatment. Should they get directly in their face and demand that they disperse with force? Or should a cop defuse a situation and get some guys to leave an area? Looks like the type of de-escalatory policing that everyone says they want. A key element of this one is the posture of the suspects. They were standing around and drinking a beer for crying out loud. The tactics work there. Can’t do that with a group screaming into your face. However, it’s once again a short clip that I don’t know the context. 5. Getting in the protesters way. Look at the manner in which that protester is conducting his protest. I don’t buy it, but I can see how an argument could be made that the cop felt threatened by his actions. I thought this one was very cut and dry that cops were in the wrong here. 6. Chokehold on the woman. Looks terrible from where the video started. No idea what happened before it to justify that. It was very rough, but I don’t see the cop doing anything excessive to secure her. You could tell how hard he was choking her (not very) by how well she was able to talk less than 15 seconds after he released her. I absolutely think that policing (and the criminal justice system in this country as a whole) needs a major overhaul. The fact that many police are acquitted in the deaths of suspects (Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, and Rodney King are three that still make zero sense to me along with many others) is unbelievable and pisses me off. It also pisses me off that leadership at various levels of the government allow something like Portland or CHAZ/CHOP to occur. Protesting is great and I encourage concerned citizens to exercise their first amendment rights. However, if it devolves into an ugly riotous situation, it’s going to look ugly as it’s broken up and everyone with a phone can get that ten second video of a cop smashing a suspect. This post is partly me playing devil’s advocate (probably a poor phrase given context) and partly me being genuinely curious to understand the issues from both sides.

If you were really “passionate” about CAS, you wouldn’t have that list. You’d have A-10, AC-130, F-16, F-15E, etc. And UPT is a great meritocracy to a point. I can’t guarantee you wouldn’t end up in an unmanned cockpit, but you can control everything in your power to prevent that. The better you do there (ties directly to how hard you work, your attitude, your aptitude, and a few breaks), the more likely you’ll end up with something you want.

First of all, this is 100% not an A-10 replacement. It’s simply not designed to be survivable enough in MCO nor have the anti-armor capabilities. It is going to be a dedicated attack aircraft designed to support SOF from austere environments. As such, the austerity is a big emphasis but (as you correctly ID’d) everything has a trade-off. Some of the proposals are very austere but are lacking in some other area. And vice versa.

Just an FYI for the masses, the “Armed Overwatch” program is different from the “Light Attack” program. The Light Attack experiment with the A-29, AT-6, etc is done and is not simply being continued into Armed Overwatch. The analysis of several proposals is taking place now. Now that’s not ammo for Tank to get out of the scotch bet. Just saying.

A story from the U-28 within AFSOC. The U-28 flies more combat hours annually than every other AFSOC MWS combined. This was brought up for bullet writing on OPR/PRF and the Bob said that those hours are “different” and “don’t count as much” as a CV-22 guy. Also, the U-28 community hasn’t been around long enough to get a purebred Sq/CC (about to change) and above. As such, it’s natural for the single engine doctor plane with some sensors on it to be pushed to the side in favor of AC/MC-130 or CV-22 people. Additionally, not a single DFC has been rewarded to a U-28 aircrew member. There are many, many missions where Draco crews have done outstanding work to save friendlies on the ground and some fantastic work in the counter VEO fight, but no DFC. Reason? “They’re just doing their job”. This includes the most meritorious military sortie of the entire year in the entire Air Force (https://www.afsoc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2020763/u-28a-draco-crew-receives-2018-mackay-trophy/). During that same time, over 2 dozen AC-130 crew members were awarded DFC’s (https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2018/05/14/distinguished-flying-crosses-awarded-to-23-ac-130-crew-members/). Those guys absolutely deserved to be recognized for their awesome job on the referenced missions. However, it’s just an interesting comparison. I think a big part of the lack of Draco recognition comes from classification of certain missions, but it’s still unfortunate. U-28 people get school and other jobs, but there is definitely a outsider feel to the community. I don’t have a quantifiable comparison, unfortunately. However, the mission satisfaction and impact you get to have against some really bad people is amazing.

JFC that pisses me off. Reminds me of my last PT test where there were 15 people and somehow 13 of them were on profiles. The only two healthy enough to test were me and another pilot. Shocking.

First step to fixing staff issues is to eliminate the Group staff. Single most useless organization I’ve seen. They exist to be middle men. I’ve actually been counting, and my last 7 interactions with them have produced exactly zero. Outside of the directorates, the number of execs they’re pulling from ops units to do nothing but forward emails and work on a rack and stack is a joke.

Great read. The author completely nailed it.

I can’t believe I’m weighing in on this thread, but I’m curious about opinions on this. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/russia-afghanistan-bounties.amp.html Russians apparently offer bounties to Taliban to attack American troops in Afghanistan. Typical uproar about Trump not doing anything about it and his alleged Russian relationship and such. No verifiable proof that anything came of this and no linked casualties to the program. Of course this is along party lines. Ironically, the same people that are up in arms about this are the same that thought killing Qasem Soleimani was the worst thing ever. Of course there were literal hundreds of smoking guns tied directly to him and the Quds force. Hundreds of dead Americans and many more grievously wounded. But that doesn’t matter. I really hate weighing in on political shit online but this one is really pissing me off for some reason.

Honestly, not sure of the exact details. I just know they left the local area against guidance. Unknown if there was any lying ASW that action.

I wouldn’t recommend that COA. I know a guy that did that and got absolutely crushed and several guys that got booted out of WIC for similar action in the last class.

JFC please tell me he received a code red. I always crack up hearing stories of people like that when I talk to fellow dads about how the newborn was up 5 times last night prior to our 0500 showtime.

They’re still open in Mississippi ? I thought they got ran out of town by the FAA. Signed, Accessible Aviation ATP Alum

That whole part about control and performance concept I mentioned is basically the opposite of this.

Remember that practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. From what you’re telling me, you sound like you haven’t grasped the control and performance concept yet. Really nail those known pitch and power settings and trim the control forces off from there. NEVER lead with trim or you’ll spend all of your time fighting that and making it worse. And knowing nothing about you other than what you wrote, I’d be willing to bet you spend a lot of time talking while you’re flying. I see so many young guys talking through every action they’re doing because they think it demonstrates superior GK to the IP and that it should help them. STFU! Learning to fly and talk is really an IP level skill in crew airplanes that a lot of people struggle with. If you put your brain bytes toward listening/talking on the radio, looking out the cockpit to build spatial SA, cross-checking your instruments (not stare at them), and shacking those control and performance concepts I talked about earlier, it will help you. Last thing is to evaluate your perspective on UPT. What I mean by that is you’re living out your dream here and getting a chance to show what you’ve got. Each sortie is a chance to excel and get better, not a minefield you’ll hopefully survive. CAP is a good thing for the development of confidence. You’ll get focused instruction and help on what you need and will start excelling before you know it. FWIW, I know guys that are flying basically every MWS in the USAF (myself included) that were on CAP at some point. Don’t sweat it.

If you are looking for a career change that needs further education, consider the Pat Tillman foundation. Great opportunity and awesome networking. Very competitive but you sound like you have a very good resume. https://pattillmanfoundation.org

If you’re deployed when the bonus hits, is it tax free?

Lol, have you seen her?

I was blown away at the cockpit compared to the Apollo and Shuttle layouts.

I took a much more direct/kinetic approach to my squirrel problem aka BB gun.

Need to be ejection rated or not? Prior to the most recent uniform guidance, Solomon makes some good boots that a lot of AFSOC folks wore that were nice.

I find that very difficult to believe. I’ve flown with dudes that couldn’t have been over 5’3” all the way up to 6’6”+ in a variety of jets and way more than 40% of the women I know fit within those bookends. Admittedly, I’m from the upper Midwest with a bunch of Viking shield maidens running around, but that figure seems crazy low.

Are you kidding? This baby is off the charts!

Not a movie, but “The Last Dance” documentary about Michael Jordan and the 90’s Bulls was great.