gearhog

Another tanker seized. We're clearly being provoked. My guess is they're hoping to trigger a political/economic crisis in the West and are willing to risk conflict to achieve it. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1178571/iran-news-iran-oil-tanker-Strait-of-Hormuz-gulf-saudi-arabia-uk-us

That is a wild guess, and wildly inaccurate. As I've said, I've been visiting Prestwick Aviation for 17 years and those folks are on the up and up. Contract fuel prices are set. Lodging and perdiem rates are set. The Turnberry was only offered when it was the only accommodation available. Do you know of an alternative airport that meets all the requirements of transiting military aircraft, crew, and pax with fuel prices 50 cents less? I challenge you to find it. There's quite a bit more to RON planning than the price of fuel. If you've ever been deployed and are looking to save $25K of taxpayer money in Scotland, you're looking in the wrong place. If an FBO/hotel provides a great experience while conducting business within the government rules and government rates, how is that a hustle? That's just good business. This is no Fat Leonard, just another instance of politicians throwing shit against the White House walls hoping something sticks.

Not hating, I know you're just doing you're supposed to. I'm just fatigued with leadership's fascination with and addiction to electronic data collection, be it ORM, MICT, GTIMS, PEX, ASIMS, surveys, etc, etc, etc. All so they can walk over to HQ and present it to more senior leadership in hopes of an "Attaboy!" from people who pretend to be interested in it for 30 sec during a staff meeting. Let's face facts, none of this changes anything for the flyers. We've never cancelled for an ORM score at step time, we're just told to be "extra safe."

Trigger Warning: Unpopular old-guy opinion ahead. 😁 Our ORM sheet is the last remaining untechnologified step in the administrivia process before we head out the door to the aircraft. 5 people can pick up a pencil and scribble a completely subjective number in about 30 seconds without requiring 5 individual logins with certificate-less CACs, computers attempting to connect, and a slow, if not stopped, network. Please don't take that from us.

I stayed at the Turnberry last year. I've been stopping in Prestwick to/from deployments since 2002. We just tell the FBO when and how many people, and they make the arrangements. Last year we arrived right after a snow/ice storm that shut most of the major freeways for days. All of the hotels in Ayre (our usual location) and Glasgow were booked. The Turnberry, an hour drive away, had enthusiastically agreed to give us the government rate. The hotel itself was absolutely incredible and the staff thanked us profusely for our service. The bartender let us sample some of the local Scotch whiskeys. It was too cold for golf, but we toured the course which was an old WWII pilot training base, and some of the old runways/taxiways still exist on the course. The hotel called in a bagpiper to play us out the door as we departed for the sandbox at 5am. It was one of the best deployment sendoffs ever. There was nothing to it other than it was the only place with rooms available at the government rate, and the FBO was proud to have found a place that they thought we would enjoy. The media and politicians are idiots.

LOL. I knew that would get a response. The less inflammatory thought I opted not to post was that the cognitive processes required to visualize whatever you're trying to study yield better overall results than if the visuals are instead simulated for you, in front of you. I think the VR stuff is a great addition to training, but it seems a few might believe it is meant as a substitute, a la downloading Kung Fu directly to your brain via the matrix. Maybe entire training programs should not be built around it, but who cares, technology is neat-O.

Some are always looking for a way to shortcut the process. It takes far more effort, discipline, focus, and time to put yourself through the visual learning process inside your mind than it does to rely on the visuals generated by a piece of technology in front of your face.

It seems like everyone is colluding with the Russians these days.

Make America Great (Britain) again? No thanks, looks like chaos to me.

What exactly is it you're defending? Because you're doing a way better job criticizing PTN than anyone else.

Yeah, they’re highly annoying self-righteous condescending a-holes, don’t ya think?

What if you can’t remember all the names/nationalities of the mothers?

Let the record show W. SHANE COHEN, Colonel, USAF539 Military Judge ...is a badass.

Back in my day, IPs used to give test answers to the hot female students to claim a kill.

Damn. Google says it’s a 1957ish model. It’s had a good run.

Not if the current AF policies stand in direct contradiction to the history, traditions, and culture of the past. Reference: the PC witch hunt a few years back/removal of anything deemed offensive.

I bought a surefire helmet led from the BX and had the base sewing/embroidery shop sew up a square Velcro mount for the chest rank tab on the 2 piece flight suit. Life support had the green filter plastic that I taped over the white led. Ended up working really well.

There's a quote that goes something like "A life without risk is no life at all." How many Air Force programs and policies that are aimed at reducing risk are making us miserable?

What does this tell us about the state of the Air Force? The problems are becoming so large and unmanageable that the only way for leadership to cope is to become apathetic toward them. Apathy allows you to treat everyone like a Harbor Freight tool that’s cheaper to replace than fix or maintain. He’s not the only one, I’m seeing the shrugs from leadership more often and it’s concerning. In fairness, these guys are human, too and are fighting a losing battle against a massively complex, out-of-control bureaucracy. I don’t believe they’re evil or malicious, just susceptible to the same feelings of resignation we are when we decide to punch. I bet they have these same conversations about their own leadership, all the way up.

Prioritize J model units. Wrung out and broke down H models, engine, prop, and avionics upgrades, as well as the ever present looming threat of J model conversions (nav and engineer career uncertainty) is adversely affecting morale in many H units.

You must have missed the now-deleted comments about eating babies.

What about the rest of us in the E-4 to O-5 range? Are we good? Cause I feel like I drive better after a few drinks. I'm more cautious.

I applaud you for what you're attempting to do and hope you fulfill your goals. However. :D. You're insane if you go AD and resign from your position at a FAANG Company. Don't even consider it and block the AD recruiter's number. The opportunity cost for a 20 something to choose the military route is a fraction of what the cost to successful 36 year old with a lucrative and desirable career would be. Go Guard. I would suggest hanging on to your current career while enjoying the USERRA protections afforded to you while you serve. A Guard job can easily be turned into an full-time ADish career with you being significantly more in control of your life and having the ability later on to return to your career on your terms, or not at all. Or, if you find military service isn't exactly what you envisioned, you can remain part time. Serving is rewarding, but completely giving the reigns to the current AD leadership after you have already established a successful life for yourself is not. If you hate your job, that's different. But it sounds like your resume is strong enough to give you options far beyond what the average new AF AD officer has.

AF: “We have a massive pilot shortage! They’re leaving in droves. We need more money to fix this.” Congress: “You’re not getting more money, and It’s beginning to sound like you’ve been mismanaging your organization...” AF: “Actually, we just fixed everything. We’re good now.”