gearhog

Lebanon was already in an economic freefall. Their currency was becoming valueless. What a tragedy. “"The main grain silo, which holds 85 percent of the country’s cereals, was destroyed. Even more, the port will no longer be able to receive goods. Lebanon imports 80 percent of what it consumes, including 90 percent of its wheat...60 percent of imports come through the Beirut."

Please clarify: would you say we shouldn't have Presidential debates prior to a Presidential election, or should we not debate as to whether there should be Presidential debates? LOL. As to the Clintons: would you say they have not, and do not continue to have political influence with regard to the topics being discussed in this thread? Just giving you a hard time. Didn't want you to go around thinking anyone here fails to realize the dismissive mocking and scoffing isn't a common and cliche tactic.

You shouldn't need to wait long. 😄

I don't think the ability to purchase another rifle is the issue. Having your weapons confiscated is.

These are just for cockpit selfies, right?

LOL. Cancel culture strikes again. https://www.salon.com/2020/07/08/martha-mcsally-women-in-the-military-get-pregnant-to-skirt-deployment/

I was venting out of frustration after some text convos with friends who are still in. Shouldn't have posted that in this thread. I'm recently retired and my assessments aren't as relevant as I'd like to think.

Heartbreaking. Losing two of our talented and heroic young men is not a trend, and I'm not saying it is. However, I hope the investigations for these two most recent incidents start at day 1 of UPT and examines each and every training event of the syllabus, every break in training, and every hour they flew or didn't fly an actual aircraft.

Damn. 🥃

Say you're Lori Lightfoot and you're trying to explain to your police force exactly where that "distinct" line is, how would you do it? Once you've explained it to them, how effective do you think the police force you've openly lambasted and critqued are going to be at enforcing the policies you'd like enforced against people who are clearly on the other side of the "F the Police" movement? My next door neighbor is a childhood friend and 20 year city cop. We've talked for hours. They're getting tired, depressed, and morale is at an all time low. What you believe is right or wrong doesn't matter much if we lose the ability to enforce it.

Damn it. So sorry to hear this. 🍻

More bad news. The search is on. Here's hoping. 2020 sucks. https://news.sky.com/story/us-f-15-fighter-jet-crashes-into-north-sea-off-yorkshire-coast-as-major-operation-underway-12007159

It doesn't make sense because the upheavel is not entirely about race. This race issue is a part of the larger generational cycle taking place. We've seen an abrupt increase in mass civil unrest around the globe the last few years. People are having an impulse to upend the world, and searching for an explanation, or excuse. Race happens to be it at the moment. Check out the theory of the "4th Turning", or the "Crisis Generation" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory

Don't get suckered. You are here:

If I had to live in CA, i'd opt for an Fightlite ARES SCR lower with your choice AR upper. Any Remington 1100 stock will fit. Been thinking of getting one just because I have a few refinished 1100 stocks in my garage and I think it looks pretty f'n cool for a CA compliant AR. Made in USA. (at the Orlando-Melbourne, FL international airport to be exact). Fly in and check em out. https://fightlite.com/

Yeah, I figured if the RR worksheet can look at AROWS and list the orders as "Potentially Qualifying" or "Not Qualified", it should be able to transfer the files directly into the system, but who knows... Your extra 4 years of retirement pay is decent chunk of change!

Based on my recollection, for every 90 days of qualifying sets of orders, you can begin receiving your ANG/AFR retirement paycheck 90 days earlier than your 60th birthday. It amounts to a substantial sum of money. Details are on the ARPC or VPC website which lists which orders qualify. Search for "Reduced Retirement". You have to sign up, get approved, get access to the online worksheet, upload, have it reviewed, processed, and approved. The whole process took months for me. Definitely start now and here's a pro tip: Don't try to figure out which orders do and do not qualify. I downloaded every individual set of orders from AROWS that were listed as "potentially qualifying" on the RR worksheet. I went all the way back to 2008, even for short 2-3 day TDYs. (With the exception of State "ST" orders). I renamed all the files with my name, date of the orders, and some official sounding keywords such as "Activation, Contingency, Deployment, Afghanistan, etc..." Then, I uploaded every individual file to the Reduced Retirement worksheet. Over 150 orders and it took 2-4 minutes per order - a real ass pain on a gov network. It took days. Apparently, an airman sits there and downloads the .pdfs and reviews every set of orders to determine if they qualify - or do they just look at file names and descriptions? I don't know. I'll say nearly all of mine were deemed "qualifying" and i will begin receiving my Guard retirement 2.5 years earlier (if the country is still solvent).

Hong Kong TV is saying Kim Jong dead.

Have you considered the Navy?

I get what you're saying, and I get what joe1234 is saying. I managed to do almost 22 years and never had a position that wasn't flying, instructing, or evaluating and my thoughts have been all over the map on this issue. There's always been the constants in the Squadron: A few stick and rudder guys that just nailed everything, few GK gurus, a couple deadbeats, and then... everyone in the middle. For whatever reason, I marked 2012 as the year when I saw a notable decline in the middle of the squadron's "give a shit" attitude and emphasis toward flying skills. That's also around the time I noticed a massive increase in complexity of simply being a pilot/member of the Air Force. It was around this time when the Great PC Witch Hunt occurred, more inspections, budget sequestrations/less flying, new finance policies, etc. After a while, every checkride/training folder began with conversations along the lines of "Hey, I'm just trying to get through this. I've been working on MICT checklists for the past month and have been cancelled for MX/WX/Ops six times." And they weren't lying. So then I go to the SQ/CC with my concerns and he says, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I just got back from a conference and had to jump on a line and seat swap with 2 other pilots last night to get my one to/app/landing for the month. Maybe we should schedule a GK/tactics briefing this week to up everyone's game." Surprise, no one dropped their deployment prep, CBTs, OPRs/EPRs, Wing staff circlejerks, training summary reports, FEF reviews, travel voucher puzzles so Petey Patchwearer could lecture everyone how to calculate a tactical descent profile into Baghdad international. So I would debrief the flight, I'd try to offer techniques, get in the weeds a little, and they'd rapidly nod while checking their watch. They all had to make slides for the next morning's staff meeting, send an email, meet some sort of deadline for more important matters. My point is it's a math problem. I don't think the quality/character of the average pilot of the squadron has declined. But if you increase the complexity of the job and therefore reduce the time available to dedicate to improving flying skills, the result is the result. On top of that, the Air Force doesn't require or reward you for being better than you were yesterday in your primary duty. I 100% agree that everyone should strive to be better than the minimum. Challenging oneself and being the best pilot you can be for your country and coworkers should be reward in itself, but it still competes with, and is secondary to, the other time and tasks the Air Force requires.

When you're flying with a student, how do you define your expectations? How do you ensure they meet them?

I should have quoted the relevant posts. Pooter posted something about letting religious people gather so natural selection could take its course. Homestar calls him out. PooterBilbo defends by saying, "No, I said.." Not that it matters. Just odd.

Why are you using two accounts? Why are you in the military? Why are you a pilot?