Hammer
-
Posts
206 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Blogs
Downloads
Wiki
Posts posted by Hammer
-
-
Were you wearing your reflective belt?
Actually I was! And I think the sidekick was more like this...
-
Not about leadership, but I need to rant. Just finished a long flight and go to have a smoke in the smoke pit. I walk out of the door, light up and make a bee line for the nearest pit. I get about 50 yards from the pit and some joker comes storming up to me yelling "Excuse me, you need to put that out!" to which I reply "I'm walking to that pit." and point to it...we can all see it. He says "Come on, you've been walking with it since over there, lets be honest with each other" and I get a "YEAH!" from his little sidekick. Rather than press the situation farther I flick off the cherry and walk the next 50 yards and relight as the dynamic duo pass. For one, WE ARE OUTSIDE! Does it really bother you that I am having a relaxing post-flight smoke? Two, when I tell you I am walking to the smoking area, do not question my integrity. Was I technically breaking the rules by lighting up outside of the designated area? Yes. Was it going to kill anyone? no Thanks for letting me vent/
-
prefer to not be publicly ridiculed if I don't have to,
You're gonna LOVE UPT!!!!
-
according to CNN they aren't canxing it, just reworking it...but then again the USCG did fire shots on the Potomac last week.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States is overhauling Bush-era plans for a missile defense shield in Europe, based partly on the latest analysis of Iran's offensive capabilities, President Obama said Thursday. President Obama on Thursday says the Bush-era missile defense plan will be replaced with a new system.
The "new missile defense architecture in Europe ... will provide capabilities sooner, build on proven systems and offer greater defenses against the threat of missile attack than the... program" that former President George W. Bush proposed, Obama said.
Obama said the change of gears was based on an "updated intelligence assessment" about Iran's ability to hit Europe with missiles.
The Islamic republic's "short- and medium-range" missiles pose the most current threat, he said, and "this new ballistic missile defense will best address" that threat.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking from the Pentagon immediately after the president's announcement, denied the United States was "scrapping" missile defense. "This new approach provides a better missile defense capability for our forces in Europe, for our European allies and eventually for our homeland than the program I recommended almost three years ago," said Gates, who was defense chief in the last two years of the Bush administration and stayed on when Obama took office.
The Bush-era proposal called for the U.S. to set up a radar site in the Czech Republic and 10 missile interceptors in Poland to counter the threat of Iran launching long-range missiles at America's allies in Europe.
American officials from Obama on down insisted Thursday's announcement does not reflect any lesser commitment to European defense.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev welcomed Obama's move with a televised statement of his own from Moscow. Watch how Obama's plan may affect U.S.-Russian ties ยป
"We appreciate the responsible approach of the U.S. president," Medvedev said, characterizing the new American position as "putting into practice" an agreement he made with Obama earlier this year.
"I discussed this issue with the U.S. president during our meetings in London and Moscow. At that time, in our joint statement, we agreed to, and set in stone that Russia and the United States will seek to work together to assess the risks of missile proliferation in the world," he said.
A top expert at the Council on Foreign Relations backed Obama's decision. "The system that President George W. Bush proposed ... would have deployed interceptor missiles that had yet to be tested under real-world conditions to defend against long-range missiles that Iran had yet to develop," said the council's senior vice president, James Lindsay.
"Meanwhile, the interceptors would have been useless against the short- and medium-range missiles that Iran is rapidly developing," he said in a written statement.
But the change of gears, while making strategic sense, does present Obama with diplomatic problems, Lindsay said.
"Poles and Czechs worry that his decision signals a softening U.S. commitment to their security. Both countries saw the system as a way to tie themselves more closely to the United States and thereby deter an increasingly belligerent Russia," he said.
"Critics will also insist that the Poles and Czechs are right: He axed the Bush program in a foolish and doomed bid to 'reset' relations with Russia," he said. "Here Moscow isn't likely to be of much help to the White House. The Kremlin will claim a diplomatic victory and it won't offer any concessions in return."
Obama has been seeking a stronger relationship with Russia and better cooperation from the Kremlin to support tough U.N. economic sanctions against Iran if it continues to pursue its nuclear ambitions.
Missile defense has been a sore point in relations between Washington and Moscow, with Russia believing the shield would ultimately erode its strategic nuclear deterrent.
But a senior administration official denied a diplomatic motive to scrapping the missile defense program.
"This has nothing to do with Russia," he said. "The notion that we're abandoning missile defense is completely false. It's evolving into a different system."
At the briefing with Gates, the Pentagon's point man on the issue said the new system will have "hundreds" of missile interceptors.
It also will have mobile radars, including some in space, "that can move to wherever the threat actually emanates and wherever we feel we need to defend ourselves," said Gen. James Cartwright, deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Cartwright contrasted the new sensor technology with the radar systems envisioned in the old plan, which he called "basically left over from the Cold War."
The new plan includes three types of missiles to shoot down incoming threats -- Patriot missiles, which defend a single location; SM-3 interceptors, which he said could protect "a general area like the area from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C."; and large ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California.
The first phase of the system is due to be in place in 2011, with the subsequent phases rolling out around 2015, 2018 and 2020, he said.
"It's a more advanced system, more cost-effective and efficient," the senior administration official said before the president and Gates spoke.
"The technology has evolved in a way that allows you to deploy a system that is more effective in countering both short-, medium- and long-range missiles," said the official, contrasting the types of missiles that Iran, for example, is believed to have with intercontinental ballistic missiles of the kind feared during the Cold War.
The Bush administration had cited the perceived nuclear threat from Iran as one of the key reasons it wanted to install the missile shield in Eastern Europe.
But a 60-day review mandated by Congress and ordered by Obama recommended the new approach that was unveiled Thursday.
A U.S. delegation held high-level meetings Thursday in Poland and the Czech Republic to discuss the missile defense system. Officials in both countries confirmed the system would be scrapped.
In a statement, Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer said that Obama told him in a Wednesday phone call that the United States was shelving its plans. Fischer did not say what reason Obama gave him for reconsidering.
A spokeswoman at the Polish Ministry of Defense also said the program had been suspended.
"This is catastrophic for Poland," said the spokeswoman, who declined to be named in line with ministry policy.
Poland and the Czech Republic had based much of their future security policy on getting the missile defenses from the United States. The countries share deep concerns of a future military threat from the east -- namely, Russia -- and may look for other defense assurances from their NATO allies
-
-
I would call ahead to the FSDO.
Absolutely. A few guys tried to show up to the OKC office and were sent away because they had weird hours like only 1 day a week. Make an appointment.
-
After you get a form 8 from Altus you just bring a copy to the FSDO. Same thing you do for the 400 add on.
-
The real crime here is that lady's grammar. Holy hell.
SFC. William B. Woods -
from 11-2KC-135 Vol 3
5.14. Alcoholic Beverages. The MAJCOM/A3/DO may authorize the dispensing of alcoholic beverages. -
Just go to the VW dealership in Tuscaloosa. If you're looking for knowledgeable non dealer Birmingham is your best bet.
amish flyer...isn't that kind of an oxymoron?
-
I was fired from my job at the bookstore in college becuase I got mono thus missed a month of work. Becuase of that my clearance took well over a year with several follow up phone calls from my investigator. Stop wasting brain cells on this and just let it be, you will be fine.
-
-
312
ABSOLUTELY! Anything brewed by Goose Island is GREAT! Just thinking about it makes me miss home. That and Leinie's. Get me out of the beer hell known as Oklahoma. Any state that restricts beer to 3.2% just 'aint right!
-
This belongs But nice try. A for effort. F+ for execution.
-
Used to have tons of Ghostbusters toys...I think the ecto-mobile and firehouse are still in my parents attic.
That HBO intro took me back... haven't seen that since I was probably 4. Some friends and I were talking about these the other day...
HELL YEAH! Are You Afraid of the Dark? and the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stein made me the horror movie fanatic that I am today!
-
-
The 135 gets a 707 type.
-
Just remember, labia flapping in the wind is too much though...tested that boundary.
and to validate this post..
-
Now that is what I call a Scooby Snack!
-
Jughead got most of it, few changes since your last RT. Now pretty much everyone at McConnell gets qual'd on spec ops and the squadrons share the burden on the RT, equally split among all 4.
Don't get me wrong, I think the airlift mission is great, but don't go around thinking all we do is go to the Deid and make left turns for 8 hours a day.
It's March, Scott, Birmingham and Pease for the associated units.
-
McConnell has all 8-ish RT (reciever/tanker) models. From what I know they do the "spec-ops", if you will, missions. The old-heads say that there is a good chance that if you are at McConnell you will be qualed to be a reciever pilot at some point. Anyone with current knowledge please elaborate/correct. Also it doesn't matter who you talk to about which is "better" because everyone will claim their own airframe is the best. I love the Tanker and think it is pretty sweet flying one of the oldest/most historic airframes in the inventory. Realize that no matter what you get you will be happy in.
-
I think Laura Prepon is pretty damn hot, although she dyed it blonde...(unless red isn't her natural color either)
-
The Air Force issues you flying frames. You need six months wearing the approved contacts before flying in them. I was lucky and had been wearing an approved brand my entire life so I just asked to be on the program and I was after a quick visit with the doc.
-
Leadership at the 'Deid
in General Discussion
Posted · Edited by snizz
Good point, and well put. I guess I'm just not that quick on my toes.