gearhog

that is a great concept when when we're talking about the broad direction we seek to take our society, but it's also an oversimplified ideal that cannot be practically applied to all aspects of life in that society. your personal liberty in daily life is restricted by countless rules and laws that cannot be said to directly infringe on the rights of others, and you accept them. i could argue to restrict a great number of your personal liberties by making a tenuous connection to a threat to my right to life (safety and security) and pursuit of happiness. a society should seek to find a balance between allowing it's citizens to do whatever they feel like doing (liberty), and providing a structure that requires them to act with discipline and responsibility (law). you can't teach a person to act with discipline and responsibility without forcing them to make a sacrifice. estimating the amount of personal sacrifice needed to guarantee and equitable amount of personal liberty isn't easy, but it also isn't zero. as a voluntary member of the military, the amount of sacrifices you are making is likely ensuring the liberty of dozens of people (129.24 to be exact). that's noble, but not sustainable. especially when your beliefs are becoming more polarized from the people whom you provide for.

you're using the term "liberty" as if it is a unconditional right with no boundaries. surely you must acknowledge that total liberty, total freedom cannot exist when a nation of 350 million individuals want to thrive, advance, and to defend themselves against exterior threats. in the course of those pursuits for the common good, nearly all individuals are going to be required to make some involuntary sacrifices. Every law is a restriction on liberty and freedom of the people whom left to their own devices, would act conversely. but I think you would agree they are required for our nation to endure. if we agree (and perhaps we don't) that at least some limits to individual liberty and freedom are required for a nation to function, then we only disagree on where the limits are placed, and that's subjective. You can't just point to the Constitution and say it contains the word "liberty". what we seek is a nation that provides the MOST individual freedom and liberty for the most people while still ensuring the nation as a whole continues to succeed. since the time period immediately after 9/11, i believe we're seeing a breakdown of our national values and our national identity. a thing i've learned from my military service is that overall, the connection in values and identity I shared with my military coworkers far exceeds anything i've ever seen outside the military. Why? because we share common experiences, adversities. the amount of personal sacrifice for something dictates the value you place on it. I think it is no coincidence that we are seeing a decline in appreciation for our nation as we're also seeing a decline in the rate of voluntary military participation (sacrifice). I will say i do not believe in "serve or prison" in most cases, but I think compulsory national service could be heavily incentivized, and it need not be military. Our security and prosperity was earned through a great deal of sacrifice and a great deal will be necessary to maintain it. A lot of work needs to be done and if you want to enjoy all the great aspects here, you should be required to do more than simply exist. all the free-loading libertarians should be required to do their part.

just cry "LIBERTY!" when you get stop-lossed. everything should be fine

false. the nation exists because we have a long history of conscription, including the war which founded it.

what do you call forcing someone to pay money? theft or taxes? you're playing word games. labor or money for the common good isn't the same thing as slavery and theft.

i would like to believe your good leader data point isn't a deviation from the avg so far off the chart it's in the next room...

leather jackets are expensive. and they're made of animals. you can be sure this is causing much hand-wringing and consternation among shoe clerks. of course they won't be around much longer.

"dont ever say 'im a c17 globemaster pilot' around me. it will be your last words ever spoken" one of these guys is going to be waiting for us at the airfield some day.

the wife needs wheels. give her the truck and get a small, cheap car to zip around base

as soon as you receive your PCS orders that show you will be accompanied by your dependents to your UPT base, make a TLF (temporary lodging facility) reservation. your TLF will be furnished with washer and dryer in nearly all cases. housing may or may not be available immediately upon your arrival. when you are assigned a house, it will likely not have a washer and dryer nor will it be furnished. pro tip: you may already know this but buy a small enclosed trailer and a used washer and dryer. do a partial (or full if you have few household goods) DITY move. always do partial DITY moves. the amount you will receive for moving the trailer, washer/dryer, and other goods will cover the cost of the trailer/washer/dryer and then some. sell when no longer needed.

are you a pothead, Focker?

say im maxing out my company 18,500 401k limit and receiving the company match and profit sharing that maxes out the 55,000 total limit. i'm also deploying to a tax free location for a couple months. Is there any financial advantage to making TSP contributions? My plan is to spend all my deployed pay on bitcoins. Does this make sense?\

awesome. "stanley, pack a lunch. this weekend our goal is to become proficient in max endurance at cruise ceiling and multi-engine jet PIC"

you have a Dodge Charger rt. why do you need to buy a cheap POS when you already have one

10 bucks says this guy shows up with a prius.

buy a car and drive it to upt you knucklehead. i would have rode a freakin donkey across the usa to get to upt. millennials.

i see we've drastically lowered our standards already.

the more you post, the more you make the case we should be paying dads extra to stick around

for most people that have a family, few things are more important. when you have dependents, many of your values and choices are different than they'd be if you are single. those choices tend to be more measured, more conservative, and less motivated by self-interest. the above example of a single guy owning a garage full of atvs and a corvette supports this. every civilization every nation and therefore our af benefits from a large proportion of its members having the characteristics of a person "with dependents". there's nothing wrong with being single, but having a family brings balance to the force, is critical, and should be rewarded.

looks like they got a hundred different bad ideas to herd lots of new pilots into the same broken organization but they have only a few to keep them. apparently neck and back preventative care is one of their best ideas. funny how many of the common grievances are simply ignored. the answers have been shouted at their faces for years and they refuse to acknowledge them. let the whole thing rot.

ive been trying to log into mypay for over a week. I need to work some math on my taxes and cant. i look forward to never needing this again. I've been on the fence about a Guard retirement right at 20. Stuff like this makes my choice clear. Reserve/Active Military Members Your Leave and Earnings Statements are not currently available via myPay. We will post via Facebook, the DFAS website , and the myPay homepage when they are available. Thank you for your patience. We are Sorry! Due to DFAS system maintenance or high volume, your Account Statement is currently unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try us again later or select Main to view other options.

I hear all the badasses use the “Finger-in-the-hole” trigger technique. because it’s better

FOr f sake. Buy the guy a drink and have chat instead of ridiculing him online.

The AF problem solving and thought processes are simple to understand. Problem: AF needs an enormous amount of drone pilots. Solution: Pull actual pilots out of actual cockpits. Problem: Actual pilots don't want to be drone pilots and quit. Solution: Make E's drone pilots. Problem: There aren't enough T-6s for UPT and drone pilots. Solution: Stop training pilots who already know how to fly. Problem: "Civilian trained pilots are low quality!" Solution: Accept lower quality pilots over not enough pilots.

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